My dissertation addresses how Catholic belief, devotional culture, and tradition were transmitted from generation to generation between 1940 and 1980. Since it has historically been within the institutions of family and parish that Catholics have communicated beliefs and pious practices to new generations, understanding the role of these institutions in this process is essential. Therefore, I seek to answer these questions: How do the functions of family and parish as communicators of religious values change over time, and in what ways do they retain continuity? How do changing ideas about family and institutional authority within US culture and society shape the content and transmission of religious values taught within Catholicism in the United States? Where have Catholic leaders exploited cultural and social developments to their benefit, and where have they found themselves at a disadvantage in their cultural and social environment? How have both global and local cultural forces shaped the transmission of Catholic beliefs and practices in the United States? Investigating an international devotional movement called the Family Rosary Crusade, as well as the dynamics of parish life in the Archdiocese of Boston, Massachusetts, I seek to show how family and parish, as well as the discourses around their meaning, shaped the contours of modern Catholicism and the contested role of Catholic tradition in the United States.