Anti-Catholic Sentiment

My American Church History class has prompted me to think about a number of issues. One such topic has unfolded as follows:

I have heard it said that the only prejudice that the American culture remains willing to tolerate is the not so subtle anti-Catholic mentality that seems to permeate much of American civil life. Most of us have heard of the fears from the 60’s that John F. Kennedy would become a puppet president whose administration would only be a front for the workings of the Pope in America. I suspect an equal number of us have seen the proliferate anti-Catholic propaganda that is passed out among certain Christian sects. Others of us have experienced the Ash Wednesday stare - that look you get when you go out in public after you receive your ashes. Many of us have been labeled as misogynistic, intolerant, old fashioned, or just plain ignorant because of our faith in the teachings of an “archaic” Church.

I’m not sure that all of these things add up to bigotry or prejudice, but I do think they bespeak a certain ignorance. It cannot be ignored, however, that unambiguous prejudice against Catholics has been a part of American history. From the unwillingness of colonial governments to permit Catholics to hold public office, to the hesitation on the part of President Grant to allow Catholic missionaries on the Indian Reservations, to the worries about President Kennedy in the 60’s, Catholics in America have, at best, been tolerated. At worst, they have suffered outright persecution.

Intolerance of Catholics takes on a more personal meaning for me when I consider, for instance, the stories that my grandfather told of the Ku Klux Klan and a churchyard cross burning that occurred at his parish during his childhood. The Klan was active in trying to scare Catholics out of Western South Dakota. Besides some of their typical scare tactics, it is claimed, though it remains unproven, that they were also responsible for the murder of a priest in the Diocese of Rapid City.

The question that arises out of all of this is, “Why the Catholics?” What have Catholics done to provoke such ire? Why are we so frightening to people? Though history offers some insights, it can provide no satisfactory resolution to this question. I’m certainly no martyr, but I can’t help but consider the words of the Beatitudes. Blessed are they who are hated and persecuted for my sake . . .