The British Empire and American Catholicism

Spencer York, University of Alabama

From the arrival of Catholics under Lord Baltimore in the 17th century to massive waves of Irish immigration in the antebellum era, the British empire had a hand in the growth of Catholicism in colonial British North and the antebellum United States. This influence on the Catholic Church in the United States continued and reverberated well into the 20th century. Initially, with the royal charter granted to Lord Baltimore in the 17th century, the Catholic community in colonial North America was exclusively Anglo, wealthy, slave-owning, and centered around the Chesapeake Bay. The earliest Catholic immigrants were from the British landed and gentry. Even though they moved to North America to avoid persecution, they were not refugees. They brought substantial wealth with them and used that wealth to construct expansive tobacco plantations worked by slaves and centered on the Chesapeake Bay. This was Catholicism in British North America for nearly 200 years. However, the Catholic Church in North America changed as the British continued to oppress the Irish overseas. Over the course of the 19th century, millions of Irish men and women immigrated to the United States. Their arrival fundamentally changed Catholicism in the United States. With their arrival, Catholicism in the United States shifted away from Maryland to urban centers across the Northeast and Midwest. The Church also grew exponentially while becoming materially poorer, owing to the socio-economic background of the immigrants. Furthermore, American Catholics became far more tied to events and developments in continental Europe, in a way making the Church appear “less American” to Protestant Americans. This Irish character of the Church, particularly among the hierarchy, would last well into the 20th century. The British Empire, from the colonial to antebellum eras, had a deep and abiding influence on the Catholic Church in the United States.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 178. Politics and Social Change in Catholic Contexts