VOL. 30, NO. 26
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Friday, June 27,1986
FALL RIVER, MASS.
Liberty's torch brighter today for U .8. Catholics
Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly
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58 Per Year
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1886-1986
As the nation prepares to 1986, is that American Catholics celebrate the centennial of the have arrived in the American mainerection of the Statue of Lib- stream," the monsignor added. Aerty, it is an opportune mo- mong their other attributes, he said, "they are rich. The U.S. is ment for U.S. Catholics to teeming with Catholic millionreOect upon their unique role aires." in American history. But in 1886, not only were AmerForced by prejudice for ican Catholics targets of bigotry many years into what has been but Catholic church officials themtermed the Catholic ghetto, selves expressed doubts about separation. 'the U.S. church developed an church-state During the 1884 presidential camall-encompassing ministry that paign, only two years before the produced parish, educational Statue of Liberty's dedication, the and health systems second to Rev. S.D. Burchard, a Protestant none. How it served immi- who supported Republican presicandidate James G. Blaine, grants and how it has grown dential had described the Democratic Party to its present dimensions is as a bastion of "rum, Romanism the topic of the following arti- and rebellion." That slur was not received kindly by Irish-American Catholics, subWASHINGTON (NC) - When sequently credited with dashing Americans dedicated the Statue of Blaine's chances for the presidency Liberty 100 years ago, Catholics by their votes. enjoyed religious liberty under the In 1887, a year after Liberty was Constitution but faced religious erected, Midwesterners organized bigotry in their everyday lives. the anti-Catholic American ProAhead of them lay the rantings tective Association. of the Ku Klux Klan, questions as The association saw papal plots to whether a Catholic should be behind American economic and president, and declarations from agricultural setbacks, opposed parochurch leaders that American chial schools and fought governchurch-state separation was barely ment grants to the Bureau ofCathtolerable. ' olic Indian Missions. By the According to church historians, mid-1890s it had won 2.5 million the torch of religious liberty is members, founded 70 newspapers brighter today than in 1886 and and was a potent political force. following years, thanks to changes Eventually, after Protestant leadboth in American society and the ers repudiated the association and church itself. William McKinley had refused its Anti-Catholism "has greatly faded," said Msgr. John Tracy Ellis of backing and won the presidency in 1896, it crumbled. the Catholic University of AmerBut from its remains and those ica, dean of U.S. church historiof the original post-Civil War Ku ans. "In the general mass of people Klux Klan grew a new, powerful it is no longer a serious problem anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish, antiimat all. migrant and antiblack Klan in the However, "I think it would be a mistake to say it's extinct," he cau- early 20th century. Klan members thought "the only tioned. "It's not quite a dead issue' but it's largely dormant and dying." way to cure a Catholic is to kill Msgr. Ellis suggested that Ameri- him" and it wasn't until 1930 that cans have made "tremendous pro- Klan power waned, although it gress" in overcoming religious preju- and kindred groups still exist. dice while Catholics have signifLate 19th century Catholics also icantly advanced in society. confronted conflict in their own church, according to Msgr. Ellis As examples, he cited the 1968 and to Father R. Emmett Curran, presidential candidacies of CathoS.l., of the Georgetown Univerlics Robert Kennedy and Eugene sity history department. McCarthy, after the 1960 resurIn 1886, there was "at best a tolgence of some anti-Catholic feelerable acceptance" of the princiing when John F. Kennedy ran for ples of church-state separation and president. He also cited the presence of Catholics in governors' neutrality of the state toward all offices, oIJiudicial benches, in state religions and denominations, said Father Curran. "That was unthinklegislatures across the country and able in Rome." in the current Congress. "That According to Msgr. Ellis, Pope would have been unheard of in the Leo XIII (1878-1903), often regard1880s," Msgr. Ellis said. "Part of the changed picture ed as a reformist pontiff, "was very Tum to Page Six . between these two dates, 1886 and
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