The Promise and Peril of Religious Freedom for Catholics in America

Even before the founding of the United States, America was known as a land of liberty, particularly for religious minorities fleeing persecution. This included Catholics, who founded one of the original thirteen colonies. Unlike for other religious groups, however, the promise of religious freedom often fell short for Catholics. During this Religious Freedom Week, beginning June 22^nd, in an important anniversary year, I’d like to look briefly at the ups and downs of religious liberty for Catholics in the United States.

Seeking Freedom

Today, we might take it for granted that Europeans were willing to sail across the Atlantic in search of freedom and opportunity. Many obstacles stood in the way, including costs, the risk of sailing, and the sheer difficulty of establishing new colonies while fending off starvation. Religious freedom drove many across the sea, particularly religious dissenters from the Church of England, such as Puritans in Massachusetts, Quakers in Pennsylvania, and, yes, Catholics in Maryland.

In general, those seeking toleration were not very tolerant of others. The Puritans established the Congregationalist Church in Massachusetts, leading Roger Williams to flee it to establish Rhode Island with a royal charter stating that no one could be “molested, punished, disquieted or called in question for any differences in opinion in matters of religion.” Most of the colonies, even after some initial openness, as in New Jersey, often singled out “Papists” as exceptions to freedom of conscience. Even in tolerant Pennsylvania, the only place where Catholics could conduct public worship freely throughout the colonial period, they were barred from voting and holding public office.

Maryland: A New Way?

Catholics tried to establish an alternative path in Maryland, the colony established by Cecil Calvert, Second Baron Baltimore. The Maryland Toleration Act, also known as the Act Concerning Religion, was passed on April 21, 1649. It made blasphemy illegal, penalized those who used disparaging language toward other religious groups (including Papists, of course), and ordered “that noe person or persons whatsoever within this Province … professing to believe in Jesus Christ, shall from henceforth bee any waies troubled, Molested or discountenanced for or in respect of his or her religion nor in the free exercise thereof within this Province or the Islands thereunto belonging nor any way compelled to the beleife or exercise of any other Religion against his or her consent.”

It was repealed five years later during the English Civil War, reinstated three years following, and then repealed a second and final time in 1692, following the Glorious Revolution. Even worse, Maryland then forbade public Catholic worship and withdrew the right to vote, leading many Catholics to migrate to Pennsylvania and, later on, to pioneer new communities in Kentucky.

The First Amendment

Due to these restrictions on worship and public life in the colonies, Catholics accounted for only about 1.5% of the population of the newly founded United States. Nonetheless, the Maryland Toleration Act set a precedent that would be taken up in the First Amendment to the Constitution, which stated: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

This prohibited the federal government from establishing an official church (though five states maintained one) or barring public worship. (It did not mean that there should be no public expression of religion, an interpretation that was given to the amendment in the twentieth century.)

This amendment may have given Catholics greater freedom to peaceably found churches throughout the United States, but it did not immediately open the door to public life. Thankfully, Article VI of the United States Constitution stated that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” It took longer for most states to repeal religious tests that repudiated “papism” and even transubstantiation, such as Maryland in 1810, North Carolina in 1835, and New Hampshire not until 1877.

The Fight for Religious Freedom

Catholics would find a generally peaceful and prosperous home in the United States. The battle for religious freedom, however, has never ended.

Catholics have suffered violence, as when Know Nothing mobs burned churches and convents in the 1830s through 50s, German Catholics were targeted by riots in Cincinnati in 1853 and 1855 and the KKK harassed Catholics alongside African Americans and other minorities.

Catholic education has been attacked by hostile legislatures, such as through the Blaine Amendments added to 38 State Constitutions prohibiting any funding for religious schools and Oregon’s passage of the Compulsory Education Act in 1922 that prohibited attendance at Catholic schools (thankfully overturned by the Supreme Court).

More recently, Obamacare attempted to force Catholic institutions to cover contraceptives for their employees, a provision valiantly opposed by the Little Sisters of the Poor and other groups.

Some Catholics object to religious freedom, thinking it implies relativism or a denial that faith should be lived out in public life. Even in a Catholic society, however, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that freedom of conscience must be respected as flowing intrinsically from human dignity.

“The right to religious liberty is neither a moral license to adhere to error, nor a supposed right to error, but rather a natural right of the human person to civil liberty, i.e., immunity, within just limits, from external constraint in religious matters by political authorities. This natural right ought to be acknowledged in the juridical order of society in such a way that it constitutes a civil right” (2108).

This preserves the Church’s ability to exercise her ministry freely while also respecting the fact that faith itself must be freely accepted.

The 250^th anniversary of the founding of the United States is a time to reflect on America’s role in pioneering religious freedom. Catholics have contributed to this development while also courageously offering witness in the face of persecution. The promise and peril of this history should inspire us to continue to fight for the legitimate right to religious freedom while we boldly and charitably share the invitation of the Gospel.