Theresa Sanders

What does a Catholic look like?

THE LOOK OF CATHOLICS: PORTRAYALS IN POPULAR CULTURE FROM THE GREAT DEPRESSION TO THE COLD WAR
By Anthony Burke Smith
Published by University Press of Kansas, $34.95

In the 1944 movie “Going My Way,” Fr. Chuck O’Malley (Bing Crosby) didn’t look like a Catholic. Instead of a black cassock, he wore a St. Louis Browns sweatshirt. Instead of pacing sedately with his breviary, he hurdled bushes on his way to church. And instead of singing solemn hymns, he belted out catchy little tunes while playing ragtime on the piano.