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98-473: James Cardinal Gibbons (July 23, 1834 – March 24, 1921) was an American Catholic prelate who served as Apostolic Vicar of North Carolina from 1868 to 1872, Bishop of Richmond from 1872 to 1877, and as Archbishop of Baltimore from 1877 until his death. Gibbons was consecrated a bishop on August 16, 1868, at the Baltimore Cathedral . The principal consecrator was Archbishop Martin J. Spalding . He

196-718: A cardinal priest and on March 17, 1887, assigned him the titular church of Santa Maria in Trastevere . He was the second American cardinal after Cardinal John McCloskey . In 1885, the bishops in the Third Plenary Council in Baltimore decided to build the Catholic University of America in the District of Columbia . The university opened on March 7, 1889, with Gibbons serving as its first chancellor. In 1903, Gibbons became

294-491: A 2015 study by Pew Researchers, 39% of Catholics attend church at least once a week and 40%, once or twice a month. Although the issue of trusteeism was mostly settled in the 19th century, there have been some related issues. In 2005, an interdict was issued to board members of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church (St. Louis, Missouri) in an attempt to get them to turn over the church property to the Archdiocese of St. Louis . In 2006,

392-660: A child. Slight of build and a little under than average height, James Gibbons suffered from gastric problems and consequent periods of anxiety and clinical depression . Thomas Gibbons died in Ireland in 1847; in 1853, Bridget Gibbons moved the family back to the United States, settling in New Orleans, Louisiana . While attending a Catholic retreat in New Orleans, Gibbons heard a sermon by Reverend Clarence A. Walworth , co-founder of

490-543: A diocese though national in scope, the ordinariate is based in Houston , Texas, and includes parishes and communities across the United States that are fully Catholic, while retaining elements of their Anglican heritage and traditions. As of 2024 , 8 dioceses out of 196 are vacant ( sede vacante ). The central leadership body of the Catholic Church in the United States is the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops , made up of

588-560: A number of their settlements after Catholic saints, such as St. Louis , Sault Ste. Marie , St. Ignace , St. Charles and others. The Catholic, culturally French population of Americans, descended from this colony are today known as the Louisiana Creole and Cajun people . During the 19th century, territories previously belonging to the Catholic Spanish Empire became part of the United States, starting with Florida in

686-546: A priest was accused of stealing $ 1.4 million from his parish, prompting a debate over Connecticut Raised Bill 1098 as a means of forcing the Catholic church to manage money differently. Related to issues of asset ownership, some parishes have been liquidated and the assets taken by the diocese instead of being distributed to nearby parishes, which in violation of church financial rules. In 2009, John Micklethwait , editor of The Economist and co-author of God Is Back: How

784-587: A priest, Gibbons' audiences included many Protestants wanting to learn about Catholicism. He wanted to recommend books on Catholicism to interested Protestants, but he found the existing apologetical works to be inadequate for Americans. To fill that need, Gibbons in 1875 published The Faith of Our Fathers: A Plain Exposition and Vindication of the Church Founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ. Understanding that many Americans viewed their faith as coming directly from

882-420: A regular diocese, the vicar apostolic may appoint priests as vicars exercising limited jurisdiction over the apostolic vicariate. Normally, a titular bishop is appointed to administer the apostolic vicariate. When someone who does not qualify or has not been ordained as bishop is appointed ad interim , he may be styled Pro-vicar . An apostolic vicariate is to be distinguished from an apostolic prefecture ,

980-444: A similar type of territory whose chief distinction from an apostolic vicariate is that its prefect is not a titular bishop , but a priest. The prefecture is not considered organised enough to be elevated to apostolic vicariate. The less developed instance is the mission sui iuris , which other than the ones mentioned before is not a particular church, although it shares some similarities to one; at its head, an ecclesiastical superior

1078-526: A strange land.' " Only 2 percent of American Catholics go to confession on a regular basis, while three-quarters of them go to confession once a year or less often; a valid confession is required by the Church after committing mortal sin to return to the State of Grace, necessary to receive Holy Communion. As one of the precepts of the church, it is also required that every Catholic makes a valid confession at least once

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1176-478: A whole. Over his lifetime, Gibbons met every American president, from Andrew Johnson to Warren G. Harding , and served as an adviser to several of them. During the Second Plenary Council in 1866, Gibbons advocated for the creation of a Catholic university in the United States to educate priests and laymen. However, the proposal remained in limbo for the next 19 years. In 1869 and 1870 Gibbons attended

1274-426: A year. According to Matthew Bunsen's analysis of a Real Clear poll of American Catholics in late 2019: Since 1970, weekly church attendance among Catholics has dropped from 55% to 20%, the number of priests declined from 59,000 to 35,000 and the number of people who have left Catholicism has increased from under 2 million in 1975 to over 30 million today. In 2022, there were fewer than 42,000 nuns left in

1372-452: Is an (apostolic, patriarchal, or archiepiscopal) exarchate . An apostolic vicariate is led by a vicar apostolic , who is usually a titular bishop . While such a territory can be classed as a particular church , according to canon 371.1 of the Latin Code of Canon Law , a vicar apostolic's jurisdiction is an exercise of the jurisdiction of the pope —the territory comes directly under

1470-600: Is animated partly by religious jealousy and partly by commercial rivalry." He feared that the British Government, along with British merchants and Protestant missionaries, were conspiring to expel Catholic missionaries from the Congo. According to the historian John Tracy Ellis , rival business and religious interests were indeed supporting the Congo Reform Association. However, Leopold was exploiting and oppressing

1568-585: Is established by the Holy See for the pastoral care of Eastern Catholics in an area outside the territory of the Eastern Catholic Church to which they belong. It is headed by a bishop or a priest with the title of exarch . The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter was established January 1, 2012, to serve former Anglican groups and clergy in the United States who sought to become Catholic. Similar to

1666-573: Is offered. Apostolic vicariate It is exempt under canon law , directly subject to the missionary Dicastery for Evangelization of the Vatican in Rome. Like the stage of apostolic prefecture which often precedes it, the vicariate is not part of an ecclesiastical province . It is intended to mature in developing Catholic members until it can be promoted to a (usually suffragan) diocese. The Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church counterpart

1764-723: The American Civil War , Gibbons served as a chaplain for Confederate Army prisoners at Fort McHenry in Baltimore. In 1865, Archbishop Martin Spalding appointed Gibbons as his personal secretary. Gibbons helped Spalding prepare for the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore in October 1866. At Spalding's prompting, the Council fathers recommended the Vatican created an apostolic vicariate for North Carolina and appoint Gibbons head to it. On March 3, 1868, Pope Pius IX appointed Gibbons as

1862-620: The Archdiocese for the Military Services ), there were 17,007 local Catholic parishes in the United States in 2018. The Catholic Church has the third highest total number of local congregations in the US behind Southern Baptists and United Methodists . However, the average Catholic parish is significantly larger than the average Baptist or Methodist congregation; there are more than four times as many Catholics as Southern Baptists and more than eight times as many Catholics as United Methodists. In

1960-631: The Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh and the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia . The apostolic exarchate for the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church in the United States is headed by a bishop who is a member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. An apostolic exarchate is the Eastern Catholic Church equivalent of an apostolic vicariate. It is not a full-fledged diocese/eparchy, but

2058-720: The Dominicans , Congregation of Holy Cross , and Franciscans followed suit. In the 1890s, the Americanism controversy roiled senior officials. The Vatican suspected there was too much liberalism in the American Church, and the result was a turn to conservative theology as the Irish bishops increasingly demonstrated their total loyalty to the Pope, and traces of liberal thought in the Catholic colleges were suppressed. As part of this controversy,

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2156-702: The First Vatican Council in Rome . Gibbons voted in favor of the doctrine of papal infallibility . He assumed the additional duties of apostolic administrator for the Diocese of Richmond , Virginia , in January 1872. Gibbons was named by Pius IX as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Richmond on July 30, 1872. He was installed as bishop on October 20, 1872. On May 29, 1877, Pius IX named Gibbons as coadjutor archbishop of

2254-455: The Know Nothings in the 1840s. American Protective Association in the 1890s, and the second Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s, were active in the United States. But even as early as 1884, in the face of outbreaks of anti-Catholicism, Catholic leaders like James Cardinal Gibbons were filled with admiration for their country: "The oftener I go to Europe," Gibbons said, "the longer I remain there, and

2352-669: The Northern Mariana Islands , the Territory of American Samoa , and the Territory of Guam —are members of the Episcopal Conference of the Pacific . No primate exists for Catholics in the United States. In the 1850s, the Archdiocese of Baltimore was acknowledged a Prerogative of Place , which confers to its archbishop some of the leadership responsibilities granted to primates in other countries. The Archdiocese of Baltimore

2450-524: The Paulist Fathers . Inspired to become a priest, Gibbons in 1855 entered St. Charles College in Ellicott City, Maryland . After graduating from St. Charles in 1857, he went to St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore. He suffered a severe attack of malaria while at St. Mary's, leaving him so debilitated that the staff doubted his ability to handle the priesthood. Having recovered from his malaria, Gibbons

2548-630: The Russian Empire . In 1903, he condemned the Kishinev pogrom in present day Chișinău, Moldova , in which rioters killed 49 Jews and injured hundreds more. He pleaded for the public to assist Russia's Jews. When Jewish leaders in 1915 in Ohio were opposing a state law that would promote bible readings in public schools, Gibbons sent them a letter of support. During World War I , he supported American Jewish Relief fundraising in Baltimore. Gibbons initially opposed

2646-528: The Spanish–American War , the United States took control of Puerto Rico , Guam and the Philippines , and Cuba for a time, all of which had several centuries of Spanish Catholic colonial history, though they were not made into states. The number of Catholics surged starting in the 1840s as German , Irish , and other European Catholics came in large numbers. After 1890, Italians and Poles formed

2744-518: The pope . With 23 percent of the United States ' population as of 2018 , the Catholic Church is the country's second-largest religious grouping after Protestantism , and the country's largest single church if Protestantism is divided in the separate denominations . In a 2020 Gallup poll, 25% of Americans said they were Catholic. The United States has the fourth-largest Catholic population in

2842-584: The women's suffrage movement in the United States. However, when the nineteenth amendment to the US Constitution passed in 1920, allowing women to vote, Gibbons urged women to exercise that right, describing it "...not only as a right but as a strict social duty." Gibbons advocated for the protection of working people and their right to organize in labor unions. He believed that industrials in America's eastern cities were exploiting Catholic immigrant workers. He

2940-636: The 13th Universal Peace Congress in Boston, Massachusetts, with Congo being on the agenda. The Belgian Government protested this topic because the organizers had not invited Leopold II to send a representative. At the request of the Belgians, Gibbons wrote a letter to the organizers, asking them to drop discussion of Congo. Gibbons' efforts not only failed to sway the organizers, but made him the target of much criticism. Gibbons responded to his critics, saying "I fear, that this agitation against King Leopold's administration

3038-636: The 1820s. Most of the Spanish American territories with a Catholic heritage became independent during the early 19th century, this included Mexico on the border of the United States. The United States subsequently annexed parts of Mexico, starting with Texas in the 1840s and after the end of the Mexican–American War an area known as the Mexican Cession , including what would become the states of California , Nevada , Utah , most of Arizona ,

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3136-558: The 2.5 million population of the 13 colonies. Another estimate is 35,000 in 1789, 60% in Maryland with not many more than 30 priests. John Carroll, first Catholic Bishop, in 1785, two years after the Treaty of Paris (1783) , reported 24,000 registered communicants in the new country, of whom 90% were in Maryland and Pennsylvania. After the Revolution, Rome made entirely new arrangements for

3234-456: The American Navy," also played an important military role. In a letter to Bishop Carroll, Washington acknowledged this unique contribution of French Catholics as well as the patriotic contribution of Carroll himself: "And I promise that your fellow-citizens will not forget the patriotic part which you took in the accomplishments of their Revolution, and the establishment of their government; nor

3332-639: The American Revolution. In 1756, a Maryland Catholic official estimated seven thousand practicing Catholics in Maryland and three thousand in Pennsylvania. The Williamsburg Foundation estimates in 1765 Maryland Catholics at 20,000 and 6,000 in Pennsylvania. The population of these colonies at the time was approximately 180,000 and 200,000, respectively. By the time the American War for Independence started in 1776, Catholics formed 1.6%, or 40,000 persons of

3430-519: The American population are Catholics tied to a specific parish. About 25% of US Catholics say they attend Masses once a week or more, and about 38% went at least once a month. The study found that the number of US Catholics has increased by 3 to 6% each decade since 1965, and that the Catholic Church is "the most diverse in terms of race and ethnicity in the US," with Hispanics accounting for 38% of Catholics and blacks and Asians 3% each. The Catholic Church in

3528-494: The Bible, Gibbons took pains to explain the biblical roots of Catholic doctrine and rituals. He also wanted to show readers that Catholicism was an American faith, rebutting the claims by anti-Catholic nativists that Catholicism was a heretical belief imposed by Europeans. The first printing of 10,000 copies, a large number for that era, sold out quickly. By 1879, 50,000 copies had been sold. Sales reached 1,400,000 by 1917 and it remained

3626-521: The CDF would conduct a doctrinal assessment of the LCWR, expressing concern that the nuns were expressing radical feminist views. According to Laurie Goodstein, the investigation, which was viewed by many U.S. Catholics as a "vexing and unjust inquisition of the sisters who ran the church's schools, hospitals and charities", was ultimately closed in 2015 by Pope Francis. Some anti-Catholic political movements appeared:

3724-513: The Catholic Church in the United States became the subject of controversy due to allegations of clerical child abuse of children and adolescents , of episcopal negligence in arresting these crimes, and of numerous civil suits that cost Catholic dioceses hundreds of millions of dollars in damages." Because of this, higher scrutiny and governance as well as protective policies and diocesan investigation into seminaries have been enacted to correct these former abuses of power, and safeguard parishioners and

3822-552: The Congolese population. Furthermore, Gibbons had based his support on the views of the Belgian government and intermittent reports from Catholic missionaries. Said Ellie; "For one of the few times in Gibbons' long life, his normally keen judgment went astray and exposed him to the charge of partisanship and of ignorance of the facts governing an issue. The cardinal should have steered clear of

3920-609: The French in New France , now part of Canada. Maryland was founded by a Catholic, Lord Baltimore , as the first 'non-denominational' colony and was the first to accommodate Catholics. A charter was issued to him in 1632. In 1650, the Puritans in the colony rebelled and repealed the Act of Toleration. Catholicism was outlawed and Catholic priests were hunted and exiled. By 1658, the Act of Toleration

4018-657: The Global Revival of Faith Is Changing the World , said that American Catholicism, which he describes in his book as "arguably the most striking Evangelical success story of the second half of the nineteenth century," has competed quite happily "without losing any of its basic characteristics." It has thrived in America's "pluralism." In 2011, an estimated 26 million American Catholics were " fallen-away ", that is, not practicing their faith. Some religious commentators commonly refer to them as "the second largest religious denomination in

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4116-621: The Hebrew race, when I consider how much we are indebted to them. We have from them the inspired volume of the Old Testament which has been consolation in all ages to devout souls. Christ our Lord, the Founder of our religion, His Blessed Mother, as well as the apostles, were all Jews according to the flesh. These facts attach me strongly to the Jewish race. In 1890, Gibbons condemned pogroms targeting Jews in

4214-657: The Hecker biography for Americanism. In response, Gibbons and other American church leaders assured the pope that the opinions in the book preface belonged to Klein, not Hecker. They further asserted that Hecker never promoted any deviation from or minimization of Catholic doctrines. During his tenures in North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland, Gibbons established cordial relationships with local rabbis . In an 1890 letter, Gibbons said: For my part I cannot well conceive how Christians can entertain other than most kindly sentiments toward

4312-503: The US "represents perhaps the most multi-ethnic organization of any kind, and so is a major laboratory for cross-cultural cooperation and cross-cultural communication completely within the nation's borders." It is as if it wishes to forge a broader ecclesial identity to give newcomers a more inclusive welcome, similar to the aspirations of 19th century church leaders like Archbishops John Ireland and James Gibbons who "wanted Catholic immigrants to become fully American, rather than 'strangers in

4410-652: The USCCB, there are several dioceses in the nation's other four overseas dependencies. In the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , the bishops in the six dioceses (one metropolitan archdiocese and five suffragan dioceses) form their own episcopal conference , the Puerto Rican Episcopal Conference ( Conferencia Episcopal Puertorriqueña ). The bishops in US insular areas in the Pacific Ocean —the Commonwealth of

4508-441: The United States, James Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore . Cardinal Gibbons believed that the Congo reform crusade was the work of "only a handful of discontented men... depending largely upon the untrustworthy hearsay of the natives." Leopold later awarded Gibbons with the Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown for his assistance. His support of Leopold gained the recognition of Pope Pius X . During his many speaking engagements as

4606-524: The United States, a 76% decline over 50 years, with fewer than 1% of nuns under age 40. The RealClear poll data indicates that the Latino element has now reached 37 percent of the Catholic population, and growing. It is 60 percent Democratic, while the non-Latinos are split about 50-50 politically. Although many Americans still identify as Catholics, their religious participation rates are declining. Today only 39% of all Catholics go to Mass at least weekly. Nearly two-thirds of Catholics say that their trust in

4704-532: The United States, there are 197 ecclesiastical jurisdictions: Eastern Catholic Churches are churches with origins in Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa that have their own distinctive liturgical, legal and organizational systems and are identified by the national or ethnic character of their region of origin. Each is considered fully equal to the Latin tradition within the Catholic Church. In the United States, there are 15 Eastern Church dioceses (called eparchies ) and two Eastern Church archdioceses (or archeparchies ),

4802-424: The United States." Recent Pew Research survey results in 2014 show about 31.7% of American adults were raised Catholic, while 41% from among that group no longer identify as Catholic. In a 2015 survey by researchers at Georgetown University , Americans who self identify as Catholic, including those who do not attend Mass regularly, numbered 81.6 million or 25% of the population, and 68.1 million or 20% of

4900-417: The Vatican not to condemn the Knights of Labor and defended the rights of workers to organise. In early 1904, Congolese activists established the Congo Reform Association in England to protest atrocities and injustices against the people of the Congo Free State in Africa. It was a colony under the direct control of King Leopold II , the Catholic king of Belgium . In October 1904, organizers were staging

4998-407: The archdiocese of Baltimore. He automatically succeeded as archbishop on October 3, 1877, after the death of Archbishop James Bayley . For the first twenty years of his administration, Gibbons had no auxiliary bishop to assist him. He therefore travelled extensively throughout the archdiocese, coming to know the priests and parishioners very well. On June 7, 1886, Pope Leo XIII created Gibbons as

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5096-443: The case." Author Adam Hochschild ’s book, King Leopold’s Ghost, gives a less flattering account of Gibbons' involvement with the Congo issue; "[King Leopold’s] representatives in Rome successfully convinced the Vatican that this Catholic king was being set upon by unscrupulous Protestant missionaries. A stream of messages in Latin flowed from the Holy See across the Atlantic to the designated Catholic point-man for Leopold in

5194-442: The centuries, and were sponsored by the aristocracy. But there were very few rich American Catholics, and no aristocrats. Religious orders were founded by entrepreneurial women who saw a need and an opportunity, and were staffed by devout women from poor families. The numbers grew rapidly, from 900 sisters in 15 communities in 1840, 50,000 in 170 congregations in 1900, and 135,000 in 300 different congregations by 1930. Starting in 1820,

5292-416: The church from further abuses and scandals. One initiative is the " National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management " (NLRCM), a lay-led group born in the wake of the sexual abuse scandal and dedicated to bringing better administrative practices to 194 dioceses that include 19,000 parishes nationwide with some 35,000 lay ecclesial ministers who log 20 hours or more a week in these parishes. According to

5390-411: The church leadership has been undermined by the clergy sex abuse crisis. Nevertheless, 86% of all Catholics still consider religion important in their own lives. Catholics gather as local communities called parishes, headed by a priest, and typically meet at a permanent church building for liturgies every Sunday, weekdays and on holy days. Within the 196 geographical dioceses and archdioceses (excluding

5488-425: The church, Latin, due to its universal nature. Sociologist Andrew Greeley , an ordained Catholic priest at the University of Chicago, undertook a series of national surveys of Catholics in the late 20th century. He published hundreds of books and articles, both technical and popular. His biographer summarizes his interpretation: In 1965, 71% of Catholics attended Mass regularly. In the later 20th century "[...]

5586-695: The creation of an American diocese under American bishops. Numerous Catholics served in the American army and the new nation had very close ties with Catholic France. General George Washington insisted on toleration; for example, he issued strict orders in 1775 that " Pope's Day ," the colonial equivalent of Guy Fawkes Night , was not to be celebrated. European Catholics played major military roles, especially Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette , Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau , Charles Hector, comte d'Estaing , Casimir Pulaski and Tadeusz Kościuszko . Irish-born Commodore John Barry from Co Wexford , Ireland , often credited as "the Father of

5684-411: The cultural and religious needs of people of that region. They also ministered to miners in Colorado, to Native Peoples in several states, and to Hispanics in New Mexico, "building churches [in the latter state], publishing books and newspapers, and running schools in both the public and private sectors." By the beginning of the 20th century, approximately one-sixth of the population of the United States

5782-494: The development of the Archdiocese of Dubuque , the work of Bishop Loras and the building of St. Raphael's Cathedral , to meet the needs of Germans and Irish, is illustrative. Noteworthy, too, was the contribution of 400 Italian Jesuit expatriates who, between 1848 and 1919, planted dozens of institutions to serve the diverse population out West. By century's end, they had founded colleges (later to become universities) in San Francisco, Santa Clara, Denver, Seattle and Spokane to meet

5880-455: The effect of increasing ethnic intermarriage and diluting ethnic nationalism. Leadership was increasingly in the hands of the Irish. The Irish bishops worked closely with the Vatican and promoted Vatican supremacy that culminated in Papal infallibility proclaimed in 1870. The bishops began standardizing discipline in the American Church with the convocation of the Plenary Councils of Baltimore in 1852, 1866 and 1884. These councils resulted in

5978-473: The faithful. This was less than 2% of the total population in the Thirteen Colonies. In 1776, after the Second Continental Congress unanimously adopted and issued the United States Declaration of Independence and the Continental Army prevailed over the British in the American Revolutionary War , the United States came to incorporate into itself territories with a pre-existing Catholic history under their previous governance by New France and New Spain ,

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6076-452: The first American bishop in 1789. In 1803, the Louisiana Purchase saw vast territories in French Louisiana transferred over from the First French Republic, areas that would become the following states; Arkansas , Iowa , Missouri , Kansas , Oklahoma , Nebraska , Minnesota , Louisiana , South Dakota , Wyoming and Montana , half of Colorado , and North Dakota , parts of New Mexico , Texas , and North Dakota . The French named

6174-406: The first American cardinal to participate in a papal conclave . He would have participated in the 1914 conclave but he arrived late. During World War I , Gibbons was instrumental in the establishment of the National Catholic War Council . He allowed Reverend William A Hemmick to serve American troops in France during the war. Hemmick became known as the patriot priest of Picardy . At the end of

6272-469: The first apostolic vicar of North Carolina and titular bishop of Adramyttium . He received his episcopal consecration on August 15, 1868, from Spalding, with Bishops Patrick Lynch and Michael Domenec serving as co-consecrators , at the Cathedral of the Assumption in Baltimore Cathedral. At age 34, he was one of the youngest Catholic bishops in the world and was known as "the boy bishop." Gibbons' vicariate contained fewer than 700 Catholics spread over

6370-412: The form of worship ("liturgical rite") in a church community owing to cultural and historical differences as well as differences in practice. However, the Vatican II document, Orientalium Ecclesiarum ("Of the Eastern Churches"), acknowledges that these Eastern Catholic communities are "true Churches" and not just rites within the Catholic Church. There are 14 other churches in the United States (23 within

6468-455: The founder of the Paulist Fathers , Isaac Hecker, was accused by the French cleric Charles Maignen  [ fr ] (in French) of subjectivism and crypto-Protestantism . Additionally some who sympathized with Hecker in France were accused of Americanism . Nuns and sisters played a major role in American religion, education, nursing and social work since the early 19th century. In Catholic Europe, convents were heavily endowed over

6566-428: The fourth of six children, to Thomas and Bridget (née Walsh) Gibbons. His parents were from Tourmackeady , County Mayo , in Ireland. The family left Ireland to settle in Canada, then moved to the United States. After contracting tuberculosis in 1839, Thomas returned with the family back to Ireland, hoping the Irish climate would help him recover. He opened a grocery store in Ballinrobe , where James Gibbons worked as

6664-422: The global Catholic Church) which are in communion with Rome, fully recognized and valid in the eyes of the Catholic Church. They have their own bishops and eparchies . The largest of these communities in the U.S. is the Chaldean Catholic Church . Most of these churches are of Eastern European and Middle Eastern origin. Eastern Catholic Churches are distinguished from Eastern Orthodox, identifiable by their usage of

6762-416: The hierarchy of bishops (including archbishops ) of the United States and the U.S. Virgin Islands , although each bishop is independent in his own diocese , answerable only to the Holy See . The USCCB elects a president to serve as their administrative head, but he is in no way the "head" of the church or of Catholics in the United States. In addition to the 195 dioceses and one exarchate represented in

6860-630: The important assistance which they received from a nation in which the Roman Catholic religion is professed." Beginning in approximately 1780 there was a struggle between lay trustees and bishops over the ownership of church property, with the trustees losing control following the 1852 Plenary Councils of Baltimore . Historian Jay Dolan, writing on the colonial era in 2011, said: President Washington promoted religious tolerance by proclamations and by publicly attending services in various Protestant and Catholic churches. The old colonial laws imposing restrictions on Catholics were gradually abolished by

6958-403: The largest numbers of new Catholics, but many countries in Europe contributed, as did Quebec. By 1850, Catholics had become the country's largest single denomination. Between 1860 and 1890, their population tripled to seven million. Historian John McGreevy identifies a major Catholic revival that swept across Europe, North America, and South America in the early 19th century. It was nurtured in

7056-591: The more I study the political condition of its people, I return home filled with greater admiration for our own country and [am] more profoundly grateful that I am an American citizen." Animosity by Protestants waned as Catholics demonstrated their patriotism in World War I , their commitment to charity, and their dedication to democratic values. In the era of intense emigration from the 1840s to 1914, bishops often set up separate parishes for major ethnic groups, from Ireland, Germany, Poland, French Canada and Italy. In Iowa,

7154-457: The more religious parents. Intermarriage with Protestants was strongly discouraged. It was tolerated only if the children were brought up Catholics. The parochial schools effectively promoted marriage inside the faith. By the late 19th century dioceses were building foreign language elementary schools in parishes that catered to Germans and other non-English speaking groups. They raised large sums to build English-only diocesan high schools, which had

7252-657: The most popular book in the United States until the publication of the novel Gone With the Wind in 1939. Gibbons wrote essays for the North American Review and Putnams' Monthly . He was also a contributor to the Catholic Encyclopedia . Catholic Church in the United States The Catholic Church in the United States is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in communion with

7350-509: The most recognizable Catholic figures in the country. He defended the rights of organized labor and helped convince Pope Leo XIII to give his consent to labor unions . In 1886, Gibbons was appointed to the College of Cardinals , becoming the second cardinal in American history, after Cardinal John McCloskey , archbishop of New York. James Gibbons was born on July 23, 1834, in Baltimore, Maryland ,

7448-400: The pope as "universal bishop", and the pope exercises this authority through a "vicar". This is unlike the jurisdiction of a diocesan bishop, whose jurisdiction derives directly from his office. Like any ecclesiastical jurisdiction, an apostolic vicariate may be administered by the bishop of a neighbouring diocese, or by a priest appointed transitionally as an apostolic administrator . As in

7546-547: The preface to the French edition contained controversial opinions about individualism and liberalism. The translator, Abbé Félix Klein , had attributed those views to Hecker. The book inflamed an ongoing dispute over Americanism , liberal attitudes on obedience to papal authority in the United States that the Vatican considered a heresy . On January 22, 1899, Leo XIII sent Gibbons an encyclical , Testem benevolentiae nostrae ("Concerning New Opinions, Virtue, Nature and Grace, with Regard to Americanism"). The encyclical condemned

7644-596: The promulgation of the Baltimore Catechism and the establishment of the Catholic University of America . Jesuit priests who had been expelled from Europe found a new base in the U.S. They founded numerous secondary schools and 28 colleges and universities, including Georgetown University (1789), St. Louis University (1818) , Boston College , the College of Holy Cross , the University of Santa Clara , and several Loyola Colleges. Many other religious communities like

7742-765: The rest of New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming. To an even greater extent than the French, the Spanish had named many settlements in the colonial period after Catholic saints or in reference to Catholic religious symbolism, names that they would retain after becoming part of the United States, especially in California ( Los Angeles , San Francisco , San Diego , Sacramento , San Bernardino , Santa Barbara , Santa Monica , Santa Clarita , San Juan Capistrano , San Luis Obispo and numerous others), as well as Texas ( San Antonio , San Juan , San Marcos and San Angelo ), New Mexico ( Santa Fe ) and Florida ( St. Augustine ). In 1898, following

7840-532: The rosary, a devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and meatless Fridays. There was a deeper respect for bishops, and especially the Pope, with more direct control by the Vatican over selecting bishops and less autonomy for local parishes. There was a sharp increase in Mass attendance, religious vocations soared, especially among women. Catholics set up a parochial school system using the newly available nuns, and funding from

7938-637: The sisters always outnumbered the priests and brothers. Their numbers peaked in 1965 at 180,000 then plunged to 56,000 in 2010. Many women left their orders, and few new members were added. On April 8, 2008, Cardinal William Levada , prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Pope Benedict XVI , met with the Leadership Conference of Women Religious leaders in Rome and communicated that

8036-472: The state of North Carolina. During his first four weeks in office, he traveled almost a thousand miles, visiting towns and mission stations and administering sacraments . During his road trip, Gibbons befriended many Protestants , and was invited to preach at Protestant churches. Gibbons made a number of converts to Catholicism. Gibbons became a popular American religious figure, gathering crowds for his sermons on diverse topics that could apply to Christianity as

8134-420: The states, and were prohibited in the new federal constitution. In 1787, two Catholics, Daniel Carroll of the Irish O'Carrolls and Irish born Thomas Fitzsimons , helped draft the new United States Constitution . John Carroll was appointed by the Vatican as Prefect Apostolic, making him superior of the missionary church in the thirteen states. He formulated the first plans for Georgetown University and became

8232-430: The stigma of degradation which had been branded upon it", adding that "Christ is ushered Into the world not amid pomp and splendor of imperial majesty, but amid the environments of an humble child of toil. He is the reputed son of an artisan, and his early manhood is spent in a mechanic’s shop". He concluded that "every honest labor is laudable, thanks to the example and teaching of Christ". In Rome in 1887 Gibbons implored

8330-484: The term Catholic. In recent years, particularly following the issuing of the apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007, the United States has emerged as a stronghold for the small but growing Traditionalist Catholic movement, along with France , England and a few other Anglophone countries. There are over 600 locations throughout the country where the Traditional Latin Mass

8428-558: The two premier European Catholic powers active in North America . The territorial evolution of the United States since 1776 has meant that today more areas that are now part of the United States were Catholic in colonial times before they were Protestant. Anti-Catholicism was the policy for the English who first settled the New England colonies, and it persisted in the face of warfare with

8526-400: The war, Gibbons supported American participation in the new League of Nations . James Gibbons died on March 24, 1921, in Baltimore at age 86. In 1899, Gibbons became embroiled in a controversy with the Vatican about a biography of Reverend Isaac Hecker , the founder of the Paulist Fathers . A biography, Life of Isaac Hecker , had recently been published in French. The Vatican decided that

8624-664: The world , after Brazil , Mexico , and the Philippines . Catholicism has had a significant cultural, social, and political impact on the United States. One of the Thirteen Colonies of British America , the Province of Maryland , "a Catholic Proprietary," was founded with an explicitly English Catholic identity in the 17th century, contrasting itself with neighboring the Protestant-dominated Massachusetts Bay Colony and Colony of Virginia . It

8722-485: The world of Catholic urban neighborhoods, parishes, schools, and associations, whose members understood themselves as arrayed against, and morally superior to the wider American society. The Catholic Revival is called "Ultramontanism." It included a new emphasis on Thomistic theology for intellectuals. For parishioners it meant a much deeper piety that emphasized miracles, saints, and new devotions such as, compulsory Sunday attendance, regular confession and communion, praying

8820-441: Was 34 years of age, serving as the first apostolic vicar of North Carolina . He attended the First Vatican Council in Rome where he voted in favor of defining the dogma of papal infallibility . In 1872, Gibbons was named Bishop of Richmond by Pope Pius IX . In 1877, Gibbons was appointed Archbishop of Baltimore , the oldest episcopal see in the United States. During his 44 years as Baltimore's archbishop, Gibbons became one of

8918-407: Was Catholic. Modern Catholic immigrants come to the United States from the Philippines , Poland and Latin America , especially Mexico and Central America . This multiculturalism and diversity has influenced the conduct of Catholicism in the United States. For example, most dioceses offer Mass in a number of languages, and an increasing number of parishes offer Masses in the official language of

9016-541: Was especially precarious for Catholics. For this reason, Calvert wanted to provide "a refuge for his fellow Catholics" who were "harassed in England by the Protestant majority." King Charles I, as a "Catholic sympathizer," favored and facilitated Calvert's plan if only to make evident that a "policy of religious toleration could permit Catholics and Protestants to live together in harmony." The Province of Pennsylvania , which

9114-467: Was given to Quaker William Penn by the last Catholic King of England, James II , advocated religious toleration as a principle and some Catholics lived there. There were also some Catholics in the Province of New York , named after King James II. In 1785, the estimated number of Catholics was at 25,000; 15,800 in Maryland, 7,000 in Pennsylvania and 1,500 in New York. There were only 25 priests serving

9212-712: Was named after the Catholic Queen Henrietta Maria , the wife of Charles I of England . Politically, it was under the influence of Catholic colonial families of Maryland such as the Calvert Baron Baltimore and the Carroll family, the latter of Irish origin. Much of the religious situation in the Thirteen Colonies reflected the sectarian divisions of the English Civil War . This predicament

9310-521: Was once quoted as saying, "It is the right of laboring classes to protect themselves, and the duty of the whole people to find a remedy against avarice, oppression, and corruption." Gibbons played a key role in the granting of papal permission for Catholics to join labor unions. Regarding manual labour Gibbons said that "the Savior of mankind never conferred a greater temporal boon on mankind than by ennobling and sanctifying manual labor, and by rescuing it from

9408-510: Was ordained a priest on June 30, 1861, for the Archdiocese of Baltimore by Archbishop Francis Kenrick at St. Mary's Seminary. After Gibbons' ordination, the archdiocese assigned him as curate at St. Patrick's Parish in the Fells Point section of Baltimore for six weeks. They then named him the first pastor of St. Brigid's Parish and as pastor of St. Lawrence Parish, both in Baltimore. During

9506-555: Was reinstated and Maryland became the center of Catholicism into the mid-19th century. In 1689, Puritans rebelled and again repealed the Maryland Toleration Act . These rebels cooperated with the colonial assembly "dominated by Anglicans to endow the Church of England with tax support and to bar Catholics (and Quakers) from holding public office." New York proved more tolerant with its Catholic governor, Thomas Dongan, and other Catholic officials. Freedom of religion returned with

9604-476: Was the first diocese established in the United States, in 1789, with John Carroll (1735–1815) as its first bishop. It was, for many years, the most influential diocese in the fledgling nation. Now, however, the United States has several large archdioceses and a number of cardinal -archbishops. By far, most Catholics in the United States belong to the Latin Church of the Catholic Church. Rite generally refers to

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