The Catholic Bogeyman

By Rev. Jerry J. Pokorsky The ribald - and often insightful - 1960s comedian Lenny Bruce once quipped: "Everybody knows which church you're talking about when you talk about The Church." The Catholic Church reveals God, and God alone is our Judge. But the Church, as the Mystical Body of Christ, is The Bogeyman for many people. Anti-Catholicism has deep American roots going back to colonial days. In early America, Catholics could not fully practice their faith. Catholic commissioners enacted the Maryland Toleration Act in 1649, granting religious freedom to all. But Protestants rather quickly repealed it in 1655. Anti-Catholicism continued after the Revolutionary War, though Catholics fought alongside Washington. Priests were allowed to cross the Potomac River and celebrate Sunday Mass in Saint Mary's Church in Alexandria. But Virginia law prevented them from spending the night. In 1844, after anti-Catholic rioters in Philadelphia torched churches, Archbishop John Hughes of New York famously invoked the specter of Russia's scorched-earth strategy as Napoleon approached: "If a single Catholic church were burned in New York," he warned, "the city would become a second Moscow." Before the Civil War, the "Know-Nothings" spread fear of Catholics as "un-American." Yet at Gettysburg, Holy Cross Father William Corby granted general absolution to the renowned Irish Brigade before the carnage of the Wheatfield. After the victory, nonetheless, battle-weary Union soldiers suppressed anti-draft riots by mostly Irish Catholics in New York. Well into the 20th Century, the Ku Klux Klan burned crosses on the properties of Blacks, Catholics, and Jews alike. Al Smith, the first Catholic presidential candidate, lost the election in 1928 because of anti-Catholic sentiment. John Kennedy's jousting with anti-Catholics culminated with his mostly capitulating Houston speech to Protestant clergymen. In recent decades, the center of anti-Catholic gravity moved to atheists - and pro-abortion "anti-Catholic Catholics" such as Biden, Pelosi, and Gavin Newsom. During the papacy of John Paul II, old-time Protestants - such as Jerry Falwell, became political allies of traditional Catholics (especially in support of the pro-life and anti-Communist agenda of Ronald Reagan.) In a touching 2020 essay explaining his Catholic conversion, GOP Vice-President nominee Senator J.D. Vance writes, "I came eventually to believe that the teachings of the Catholic Church were true, but it happened slowly and unevenly." In the rough and tumble world of partisan politics, he continues to work out his understanding of Catholic morality. In June 2024, Vance and all 49 Senate Republicans signed a letter stating their support for in vitro fertilization (IVF). They accused Democrats of "false fearmongering" over the GOP position on the treatment. (Unborn babies often take it on the chin from politicians.) God is not absent from America's founding documents, of course. The Declaration of Independence declares that God endows us with certain unalienable rights, such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The U.S. Constitution is rooted in the Catholic-based English Magna Carta of human rights. The U.S. Capitol and the Supreme Court buildings depict historical lawgivers, including Moses and the Ten Commandments. Recent sound bites aside, the nation is not a democracy. The U.S. is a democratic republic protected (theoretically) by enumerated powers in the Constitution and the separation of government branches. The entire process depends upon honesty, integrity, and respect for the rule of law. The Constitution is an exceptional legal and social document. But like most Church pronouncements, the Constitution is not infallible. Slavery remained unresolved until the 13th Amendment abolished it in 1865, following the deaths of 700,000 Americans in the Civil War. As they stand - and as amended - the founding documents are compatible with the Catholic understanding of governance (...