Immigration
and
Anti-Catholicism
1800 - 1920
Immigration
Statistics on Catholics in U.S.:





By
By
By
By
By
1800
1820
1850
1860
1820
-
40,000
195,000
1½ million
3 million
18 million
The increase is almost entirely due to
immigration
French



1790 – 1800
Caused by French Revolution
Influences:




Highly authoritarian
Love of ritual
Devotion to Blessed Virgin
Early 19th century, majority of bishops
were French immigrants
Bishop DuBourg of
St. Louis
Bishop Machebeuf
of Denver
Bishop Flaget of Bardstown
Bishop Lamy of
Santa Fe
German




1820 – 1920
Caused by search for economic
opportunity and, after 1870, persecution
of Catholics in Germany
Mostly farmers and tradesmen
Settled in “German Triangle” between
Cincinnati, St. Louis and Milwaukee

Influences:


Involved in their local parishes
Catholic schools
The first Catholics to settle in Ohio were
German immigrants who settled near
Somerset
Irish




1820 – 1900
Came fleeing persecution in Ireland,
famine, and looking for economic
opportunity
Settled in large cities of East Coast and
Great Lakes
Mostly under 25, illiterate, unmarried

Influences:



Importance of education
Stress religious vocations in their children
Rely on clergy – the priest is the most
important person in the parish
By 1900:



50% of all Catholics are Irish
65% of clergy are Irish
70% of bishops are Irish
Hispanics



U.S. conquered 1/3 of Mexico in 1848 –
California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas,
Colorado
80,000 Hispanic Catholics became part of
the U.S.
Immigration has increased the number –
Hispanics are nearly 25% of American
Catholics
Influences:
 Popular devotions
 Importance of homebased religious
traditions
 Our Lady of
Guadalupe –
patroness of the
Americas
Anti-Catholicism
Historic Roots of Anti-Catholicism



English attitudes towards Catholics
Feeling that Catholics are not loyal to the
government because of their allegiance to
the pope
Protestant beliefs that Catholicism is not a
Biblical religion because of its reliance on
papal teachings, its veneration of Mary
and saints, and rituals
Nativism
(Part 1)


1820 – 1846
Caused by –




Increased immigration
The rise of Protestant Revivalism
An economic downturn and the fact that
immigrants were willing to work for lower
wages
Question of teaching religion in public schools



1830, magazine “The Protestant” founded
to “inculcate Gospel doctrines against
Romish corruptions.”
1834 burning of Ursuline convent and
school in Charlestown, Mass.
1836 publication of “The Awful Disclosures
of Maria Monk” – a supposed memoir of
life in a convent in Montreal
Frontispiece from an edition of
The Awful Disclosures of Maria
Monk
Philadelphia Riots


Over the issue of
allowing Catholic
students to use the
Catholic Douay-Rheims
Bible in religion class in
public schools
Led to anti-Catholic
riots during which
several churches were
burned and 14 people
died
Nativism
(Part 2)


1854 – 1860
“Know Nothing Party” established


Only “native born” Protestant Americans of
European ancestry should be allowed to be
citizens
Attempted to prevent Catholic citizens from
voting

“Bloody Monday” – Louisville, 1855


Became majority in
Congress – able to
pass anti-Catholic
laws (all of which
were overturned in
the courts)
Died out by 1860
because they had no
stand on the slavery
issue
Idealized portrait of a member of
the Know Nothing Party
“I have been educated to enmity toward
everything that is Catholic; sometimes, in
consequence of this, I find it easier to
discover Catholic faults than Catholic
merits.”
Mark Twain
Nativism
(Part 3)


1887 – 1898
Main Issue: Catholic Schools


Belief that Catholic education is subversive
and students are being taught to be loyal to
the pope rather than good American citizens
Fear that Catholics will overthrow the
government and replace it with a theocracy,
getting rid of the Bill of Rights


Immigration is still an issue, especially as
more immigrants from Eastern Europe are
entering the country
Important spokesperson – political
cartoonist Thomas Nast
The Ku Klux Klan


1920s
See themselves as protecting America for
white, Protestant Americans against
Blacks, Jews, Catholics and Mexicans
Against Al Smith,
the first Catholic
candidate for
president

Most organized anti-Catholicism ends with
the election of John F. Kennedy to the
presidency

"I am not the Catholic
candidate for President. I
am the Democratic
Party's candidate for
President who also
happens to be a Catholic.
I do not speak for my
Church on public matters
— and the Church does
not speak for me.“
Kennedy to the Greater
Houston Ministerial Assc.
In 1960
Anti-Catholicism Today




Little organized anti-Catholicism
A few Fundamentalist Christian groups –
especially Jack Chick Publications
Anti-Catholic attitudes are still fairly
common – it has been called “the last
acceptable prejudice” recently
The clergy pedophilia cover-up brought a
lot of those attitudes out