Abstract

The Catholic Church in Quebec has oftentimes been regarded as an institution which had, for many years, thwarted the economic and social growth of Quebec. The aim of this thesis, however, is to argue that the Church understood, at least to a certain extend, the need to keep up with the pace of industrialization and urbanization in Quebec. In order to substantiate this hypothesis I will investigate the rise of the consumer society in Quebec, focusing primarily on the sale of religious goods in major Quebec newspapers. I argue that there is a definfite link between these sales and the role of the Catholic Church at the time. I posit that a conclusion can be reached from them which will allow us to better understand the ways in which the Church took its place within the consumer society. The adaptation of the Roman Catholic Church to "modernization" is the subject of my analysis and the advertisements in major Quebec newspapers are the object. By connecting these two it is my intention to unveil a new perspective on the Church: how it used Capitalism and was used by it.