In 1776, at the time of the Declaration of Independence, there were no more than twenty-five thousand Catholics in all of the thirteen colonies, mostly located in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York — 1 percent of the two-and-a-half-million total population. There were only twenty-three priests in all, and the next highest authority was the … Read more
One hundred years ago, just before the turn of the last century, Pope Leo XIII addressed an apostolic letter to James Cardinal Gibbons and the American hierarchy condemning “the opinions which some comprise under the head of Americanism.” To this day, traditionalists proclaim and progressives lament the move as the papal suppression of a new … Read more
In 1776, at the time of the Declaration of Independence, there were no more than twenty-five thousand Catholics in all of the thirteen colonies, mostly located in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York—1 percent of the two-and-a-half-million total population. There were only twenty-three priests in all, and the next highest authority was the vicar apostolic in … Read more