What Is Anti-Catholicism In The Church?

You have no doubt heard the children’s rhyme: “Sticks and stones may break my bones / But names will never hurt me.” That is not exactly true as we all know. In the case of Catholicism in America, it is a “both/and.” In the history of the Church, anti-Catholicism has taken the form of both physical violence and hate speech. This article will examine episodes of violence against American Catholics, considering the sticks and stones, the broken bones, and the words that encouraged such violence.
If the presence of anti-Catholic violence in American history is unknown to many, it is for good reason. We as Catholics do not usually like to talk about being a minority; we do not like to talk about being persecuted. For generations, our immigrant ancestors and their descendants fought to be considered “100% American” – not “hyphenated” Americans – Irish-American, German-American, Polish-American, or Italian-American. We as Catholics have spent decades trying to assimilate to White Anglo Saxon Protestant (“WASP”) America and have consequently downplayed our distinctiveness. We wanted to fit in – to get good jobs, get a college education, move to the suburbs – and to achieve the American dream.
In considering some episodes of anti-Catholicism, it should be noted that not all violence against Catholics been exclusively religiously motivated. In many cases, religious misunderstanding blended with nativism to bring about a toxic reaction to the United States’ Catholic newcomers. Consequently, anti-Catholic groups that included the Know-Nothing party, the American Protective Association, and the Ku Klux Klan espoused a form of bigotry both religious and racially/ethnically motivated.
It must also be acknowledged that most manifestations of a...

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... by persecution. Though the Church is often seen only as perpetrator of violence – as seen in the overblown narratives assigning “Catholic blame” for the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, and the Holocaust, the Church has also been afflicted by violence motivated by religion. If history teaches us anything it is that the memory of the past is so often selective.
Yet this discussion should not end by recalling the broad, if only tacit, role of religion in bringing about violence, but should recall the role of religious faith in promoting love between diverse peoples. Fundamental to the Church’s centuries-old teachings is the importance of humanity’s dignity a sons and daughters of the Creator. Violence, if even in part motivated by religion, contradicts what St. John taught us about God – “God is love” – a divine love that humanity is called to mirror and extend.