Beginning in the 1830s and ’40s, the assurance of religious freedom was an added attraction for millions of Catholic immigrants who made their way to the United States for economic reasons, and by 1850 Catholicism was the single largest Christian church in the country. Cultural differences between the new immigrants, most of whom came from Ireland or Germany, and the general population led to conflict with the established Catholic community and aroused suspicion and hostility among Protestants. A nativist Protestant crusade, characterized by intense anti-Catholic prejudice, manifested itself in various ways. Anti-Catholic histories were produced by Protestant scholars, and literary accounts of the sexual improprieties of priests and nuns also appeared. Many Americans, including Samuel F.B. Morse, the inventor of Morse Code, believed that immigration was part of a papal plot to take over the United States. In 1849, anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant sentiment led to the formation of the Know-Nothing party. Opposition to Catholicism also led to acts of violence, such as the burning of a convent in Boston in 1834 and the anti-Catholic riots in Philadelphia in 1844.
Lithograph of an anti-Catholic riot in Philadelphia in 1844.Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Despite these problems, American Catholicism endured. Its ranks were greatly increased by immigration, and it attracted a large number of converts—as many as 700,000 during the 19th century, according to some estimates—including the first American-born saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton. The church built an extensive educational system that ranged from parochial elementary and secondary schools to colleges and universities. Parochial elementary schools received further impetus in 1884 when the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore decreed that every parish was to have a school. Through these institutions, Catholic leaders enabled their parishioners to combine religious loyalties to Rome and civil loyalties to the United States.
Ironically, one of the most divisive events in American history, the Civil War, contributed to the growing acceptance of Roman Catholicism in the United States. The issue of slavery, one of the main causes of the war, was not a particularly problematic one for the church. Many Catholics owned slaves, and Catholic moral teaching accepted the existence of slavery as a consequence of the sin of Adam. Catholic workers opposed emancipation, fearing increased competition for jobs. Although the Catholic church was not rent by the issue as were many Protestant churches, it did teach that slaves must be treated humanely, and many northern Catholics came to oppose the institution. When war broke out, Catholics on both sides enthusiastically joined the fight. The bishops of New York and Charleston were sent on diplomatic missions, and Catholic priests served as chaplains in both the Union and the Confederate armies. Their support for the Northern or the Southern cause made Catholics more visible and brought them increased acceptance after the war.
In the second half of the 19th century, the Catholic church in the United States sought to end its internal divisions and respond to the challenges of the broader world. The Second Plenary Council, held in Baltimore in 1866, addressed matters of discipline and organization, emphasized the importance of the doctrines of the faith, and condemned beliefs such as unitarianism and transcendentalism. In 1869–70 American bishops participated in Vatican I, where they were among the minority that opposed the declaration of papal infallibility. Closer to home, the church took steps to evangelize the freed slaves, though it offered them no material assistance. Of greater concern for the church was the continued immigration of Catholics and increasing tensions between immigrant communities, particularly German and Irish. Archbishop John Ireland exacerbated the problem by praising public education and by supporting English as the sole language of instruction in all schools. Such tensions contributed to the controversy over “Americanism,” in which American Catholics were charged with innovating in doctrine and practice and diluting church teachings in order to win converts. Despite these adversities, the church continued to prosper.
During the 20th century Catholics in the United States struggled to find an identity and a place for themselves in American society. In the early part of the century they faced continued hostility from Protestants. A law passed in 1924 limiting immigration from the Catholic countries of Europe was rooted in religious bias. In 1928 anti-Catholic prejudice contributed to the failure of the presidential campaign of Democrat Alfred E. Smith, the governor of New York and the first Catholic presidential candidate. Meanwhile, the church in the United States reshaped its institutions to broaden its perspective and to bring itself closer to the American mainstream. During World War I the National Catholic War Council was formed to demonstrate Catholic support for the American war effort, and after the war it promoted the cause of social justice. During the Great Depression and afterward the efforts of Catholic political activists and reformers such as Dorothy Day received national attention.
The revival of Thomism, the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, was also important. The revival, also known as Neo-Scholasticism, began in the 1850s, and by the reign of Pope Leo XIII (reigned 1878–1903) it contributed to a flourishing of Catholic theology and biblical studies. Thomism came to be taught in all Catholic schools and, by the 1920s, strengthened the intellectual identity of educated American Catholics.
As in World War I, the patriotism shown by American Catholics during World War II helped to abate anti-Catholic prejudice. In 1960 a Roman Catholic, John F. Kennedy, was elected president—an office previously thought to be out of reach for Catholics. Increasing numbers of Catholics held political office at the local and national levels, though tensions over church-state issues persisted, especially with regard to abortion and aid to Catholic schools. Greater prosperity and demographic changes such as the growth of suburbs increased contact between Catholics and non-Catholics, and the ecumenical movement brought about better relations between the faiths. By the early 21st century Catholics accounted for 22 percent of the American population. With 200 dioceses, the American hierarchy is the third largest in the world.
The church in the United States, as in the rest of the world, endured a period of great turmoil following Vatican II (1962–65), one of the most important councils in the church’s history. Vatican II brought much of Catholic practice up to date (to paraphrase Pope John XXIII), revised the liturgy, altered relations between clergy and laity, and permitted the vernacular mass. It also encouraged dialogue between the faiths and a more collegial relationship between the bishops. These changes, which profoundly affected the lives of all members of the church, were welcomed by many, though they inspired a minority to leave. A more sizable number of Catholics left the church in the 1960s and ’70s because of what they saw as the church’s failure to fulfill the promise of the council. Many Catholic laity were particularly alienated by the prohibition of birth control, a ban that was subsequently widely ignored. In addition, the church’s emphasis on clerical celibacy led many clergy to renounce their vows or to choose other vocations. Although American Catholics in the late 20th century continued to be devoted to the church—Pope John Paul II remained a beloved figure for most Catholics—many took it upon themselves to decide which strictures they would follow.
In the early 21st century the American church was shaken by accusations of child molestation on the part of many clergy. A study commissioned by the National Review Board of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops showed that some 4 percent of American priests (more than 4,000) had committed such crimes, in some cases repeatedly and over a period of several decades. More than 10,000 cases of molestation were authenticated, though victims’ groups asserted that additional cases went unreported because the victims were ashamed to come forward. It also became evident that some bishops had made a bad situation worse by shielding priests who had sexually abused minors or by transferring them to other pastoral assignments. When faced with the immensity of the problem, the church, after some halting steps, dealt with it publicly and worked to prevent abuse from happening again. By 2004 the Catholic church worldwide had paid out more than $1 billion (U.S.) in jury awards, settlements, and legal fees, leading some dioceses to consider protection under bankruptcy law.