Scholar Q&A: Deborah E. Kanter

ByIACS Staff December 9, 2025

Deborah E. Kanter is Professor of History Emeritus at Albion College. She is the author of Chicago Católico: Making Catholic Parishes Mexican and Hijos del Pueblo: Gender, Family, and Community in Rural Mexico.

What led you to research and write this book?

My previous book, Chicago Católico: Making Catholic Parishes Mexican, explored the Claretian Missionaries’ pioneering ministry in Chicago. I realized that no book existed on the Claretians in the US. I took the story national, from California to Illinois, Texas to Oregon, and beyond including missions in Guatemala. Telling the Claretian story allowed me the opportunity to explore the energetic, evolving world of Catholic America in a way that centers Latinos.

What is the most important idea you hope readers will take away from your book?

Pioneers of Latino Ministry tells the story of the Claretian Missionaries, a male Catholic congregation, dedicated to Latin American immigrants and their families on the margins of US society since 1902. The Claretians’ accompaniment of Latinos makes them distinct in American Catholic history. When the first Claretians arrived from Mexico, Spanish speakers were a small, often unrecognized part of Catholic America. Today Latinos constitute half of US Catholics. If there is one religious community that provides a history in miniature for 20th-century Latino Catholicism, it is the Claretians.

What surprised you the most about Claretian history?

Given the historic antipathy between Spaniards and Mexicans, I was surprised by how easily Spanish priests and Mexican laypeople found common ground in the missions and pioneering parishes throughout the US. The earliest generations of the Claretians were all from Spain. This was the case for the Claretian individuals who arrived here in 1902, and they dominated the US province until 1950. Despite differences in accent and culture, the Claretians and Mexican laity shared a faith and a common experience as newcomers. Laypeople and Claretians worked together to foster strong foundations, identities, and voices for Latino Catholics.

What does your next research explore?

My next project examines Mexican priests and migrant ministry in the rural US. Mexico’s Catholic hierarchy partnered with US bishops in the 1950s to send Mexican priests to minister to braceros. These short-term Mexican contract workers traveled here to work in agriculture and Mexican bishops feared their loss to protestantes. Based on letters I uncovered in the archdiocesan archive in Guadalajara, my research concentrates on the experience of these bracero-misioneros.