religion and society in america the “immigrant church” week 8 – lecture 1
TRANSCRIPT
The “Immigrant Church”
The Formation of the “Immigrant Church”Divisions with Catholic leadershipDivisions among the laityThe Articulation of American
Catholicism “Americanism”
The “Immigrant Church”
These two historical develops raise larger questions concerning:The place/relationship of immigrants
to American religious lifeIdeas about American exceptionalismThe affect of democracy upon
religious traditionsWhat is the essence of religious
identity/meaning in light of modernity?
The Formation of the “Immigrant Church”
(1880 – 1920) In each decade over 1 million Catholic immigrants come to the United States
(1901 – 1910) 2 Million Catholics arrive
19th Century migration of Catholics was chiefly from northern European countries (Ireland and Germany)
The Formation of the “Immigrant Church”
1st and 2nd Wave Immigrants By the turn of the century, 80% of
Catholic immigrants come from southern and eastern Europe
Italians, Hungarians, Poles In 1890, four out of every five people
in greater New York City were either immigrants or children of immigrants
The Formation of the “Immigrant Church”
6,259,000
16,363,000
0
5,000,000
10,000,000
15,000,000
20,000,000
Growth of Catholicism in U.S.
1880
1910
The Formation of the “Immigrant Church”
75,609,000
16,363,000
010,000,000
20,000,00030,000,000
40,000,00050,000,000
60,000,00070,000,000
80,000,000
1910 Population
Non-Catholics
Catholics
The Formation of the “Immigrant Church” Immigration among Catholics raises key
questions concerning ethnicity and cultural heritage
Internal divisions: French-Canadian Catholics begin southern
migration French parish opens in Burlington, VT in
1850 Irish population clashes with new wave of
“foreigners” who worked longer hours for less pay and did not tithe to the church on the level of Irish-Americans
The Formation of the “Immigrant Church” Bishop Louis de Goesbriand of Burlington
complains in 1886 the new wave of immigrants were in “complete ignorance of religion”
Concerted effort at weeklong “parish missions” in the region; efforts borrow heavily upon Protestant paradigms
Catholics hold a form of revival meeting where preaching, not sacrament, is emphasized
The Formation of the “Immigrant Church” Concerted campaign within the press to
attract attention to the missions program Religious enthusiasm breeds nationalist
expectations Québec nationalist Louis La Flèche, Bishop
of Trois-Rivières prophesied in 1889 about New England’s annexation to Québec
Such claims aroused profound suspicion among New England Catholics of their immigrant coreligionists
The Formation of the “Immigrant Church” Other issues, such as temperance,
could divide Catholics along ethnic lines and social standing
John Ireland, pastor of a church in St. Paul, a region of the nation heavily settled by German Catholics, incurred the scorn of German-Americans when he lead the Irish-American Temperance Society in the 1870s
The Formation of the “Immigrant Church”
Flood of new immigrants to America arouses Protestant fears as well
In 1884, Presbyterian minister Samuel Buchard, a prominent supporter of presidential candidate James G. Blaine denounced the Democratic Party as “the party whose antecedents are rum, Romanism, and rebellion.” Blaine loss the necessary electoral votes in New York state because of this slur and some speculate the presidential election as well.
The Formation of the “Immigrant Church” Speaking of late-nineteenth century
and early twentieth century Catholics, one historian writes: “Catholicism fit awkwardly with established Protestant American patterns. It became preeminently the church of laborer and city-dweller, of ghetto and slum, and kept that image until the post-World War II flight to the suburbs.”
The Formation of the “Immigrant Church” Why did the pattern of Catholic
immigration to America differ from Protestants?
What features of Catholicism did not permit it to spread like American Protestants?
What are the prevailing ideas concerning the relationship of church and state among American Catholics?
The Formation of the “Immigrant Church” A division emerges among American
Catholics over the relationship of the Church to American democracy
Liberals: John Ireland (1838-1918) – archbishop of St.
Paul, Minnesota diocese. John Gibbons – bishop of Richmond (1872)
and coadjutor bishop of Baltimore (1887) John Keane – bishop of Richmond (1877)
and founding rector of Catholic University in the District of Columbia (1889)
The Formation of the “Immigrant Church”
A division emerges over these questions within the Catholic leadership
Conservatives:Michael A. Corrigan (1839-1902)
Archbishop of New York (1880)Frederick Xavier Katzer (1844-1903)
Bishop of Green Bay
The Formation of the “Immigrant Church”
Ireland advocates mainstreaming immigrant Catholics into American society wherever doctrine allowed
“There is no conflict,” Ireland told the Third Council, “between the Catholic Church and America.”
The Formation of the “Immigrant Church”
Corrigan accused Ireland and others of holding a “spirit of false liberalism” that was ultimately damaging to Catholicism
“Our love for country must not in any way blind us to error which are serious” Corrigan warned the Church and liberals within.
The Formation of the “Immigrant Church” Immigration touches of a key question for
American Catholic leadership, namely: “How could the leadership provide the kind of pastoral care needed to sustain the faith of immigrants in their new environment?”
Some responses reflect efforts in the past: John Ireland forms “Catholic Colonization Society” in 1876 for speculation of Catholics in the West to relieve them of ghetto life
The Formation of the “Immigrant Church” Third Plenary Council of Baltimore meets in
1884 to debate this question Proposed Solutions:
Parochial Schools – parish supported schools, usually elementary schools
Growth spurred by immigration and conflicts over curriculum with public schools and fear of a type of pan-Protestantism
Motto: “Every Catholic child in a Catholic school”
The Formation of the “Immigrant Church” While there is agreement on the need for
education of Catholics for social improvement, a great debate existed over the methods
Ireland and other liberals assert Catholics should be taught strictly in English
Ireland proposes plan to have Catholic schools within two Minnesota districts to be funded with public money
The Formation of the “Immigrant Church”
Ireland’s plan raises the ire of Katzer whose constituency (German Catholics) have no interest in learning English nor blurring the lines between parochial schools and state
The Formation of the “Immigrant Church”
Proposed Solutions: Guarded or cautionary stance toward
Catholic membership in organizations known in Europe as “secret societies” (e.g. Freemasons or the Knights of Labor)
Divisions with Catholic Leadership
Example: Knights of Labor American Catholics debate if Knights
should be condemned as a secret society or supported for the sake of workers’ social betterment
The Formation of the “Immigrant Church” Knights of Labor - labor organization, started by
Philadelphia tailors in 1869 by Uriah S. Stephens. Initially secretive, it grew rapidly after 1881 when its
secrecy character was abandoned. Organized on an industrial basis, with women, black workers (after 1883), the Knights aided various groups in strikes and boycotts
With the motto “an injury to one is the concern of all,” the Knights sought to reform—an 8-hour day, abolition of child and convict labor, equal pay for equal work, elimination of private banks, cooperation—which, like its methods, were highly idealistic.
In 1886 its membership reached 702,000 members under Terrence Powderly, mayor of Scranton, PA.
The Formation of the “Immigrant Church” Powderly’s ideological leanings were
questioned by many despite his repudiation of socialism and radicalism
Bishop James A. Healey of Portland, Maine, excommunicates those belonging to the Knights
Knights condemned by Roman Catholic Church in Canada (1884)
1884 U.S. Bishops appeal to Vatican not to condemn the Knights.
The Formation of the “Immigrant Church” Gibbons (liberal) secures Vatican
toleration for the Knights with his “memorial” submitted to Rome in 1887.
Continuous appeals to the Vatican by American bishops leads Pope Leo XIII to once and for all resolve issue about Catholicism’s place in American culture
The Formation of the “Immigrant Church” Among Liberals a type of American Catholic
Messianism is born Roots of thought grounded in American
thought Denis O’Connell would argue in his 1897
address before the International Catholic Scientific Congress in Fribourg that for the Catholic Church to remain vital, it must adapt in areas of “nonessentials” to the current age
“Americanism”
Americanism: 19th Century term for “patriotism”
Enters the lexicon of Catholic theology in 1889 when Pope Leo XIII used the term in his apostolic letter Testem Benevolentiae
This letter censured certain ideas being espoused by the liberal leadership of the American Catholic Church
Eventually “Americanism” was condemned as a heresy by Pope Leo XIII in 1899.
“Americanism”
Main issue which was debated in a series of events (1884-1899) was the extent of accommodation to American culture
“Accommodations” included:The espousal of American Catholic
messianism held by progressiveEfforts of the international Catholic
reform movement (1887-1899)