BEING AMERICAN AND CATHOLIC - #12

	To return to the story of English –speaking Catholics in the 
17th century – 18th century British America is to revisit an 
environment quite different from the religions cornucopia of today.  
It is true that Catholics found some religions elbow room in 
Maryland and Pennsylvania.  However, religious freedom could 
evanesce as quickly as the morning dew.  Catholics could find 
tolerance today and hostility or persecution tomorrow.
	Catholicism in British America faced large obstacles – how 
do Catholics survive and thrive in this new land?  How do we fit in, 
yet remain faithful to Christ and the church?  How do we show our 
loyalty to a nation being born and a church often regarded with 
suspicion and disdain?
	Catholics in British America were a minority.  Recent 
historical studies indicate the struggles that Catholic clergy and laity 
endured and the pastoral challenges that they encountered.  First, 
Catholics were often scattered and churches were at a distance.  
Secondly, it took a lot to leave the farm and travel by horseback or 
wagon to Sunday Mass.  Third, there were only a handful of clergy.  
Most of these priests were English Jesuits who had migrated across 
the Atlantic.  They sacrificed a lot – they knew that they would 
probably never see their families again back in old England.  These 
priests were itinerant missionaries.  They often traveled for hours 
and over many miles to visit their flock.  Consequently, many 
Catholics were unable to attend weekly Mass on Sunday or to go to 
confession when they needed to.  In addition, many Catholics 
sought to deepen their faith through catechesis, preaching, a 
lending library of spiritual and devotional reading, and a variety of 
religious practices in their home.
	Recent historical work by Robert Emmett Curran and Gerald 
Fogarty has yielded information on the organization of early 
Catholic/Jesuit parish life, missions, plantations, apostolic service, 
and spirituality.  I have found the work of Father Joseph C. Linck, 
S.J., an invaluable study on Catholic preaching in Anglo-Colonial 
America. (Fully Instructed and Vehemently Influenced.  
Philadelphia; Saint Joseph's University Press, 2002, $35).
.Catholics not only listened to sermons; both clergy and 
laity also read sermons.  Since the clergy were often busy with travel 
and pastoral care, they read sermons, that served as models for their 
own preaching in America.  Laity, especially the more wealthy, read 
sermons, to "comfort or strengthen their faith"
(This is not far from the custom of reading from the Big Book and 12-
step literature).
	What did preaching stress in America?  First, they were 
based on the Word of God in sacred Scripture.  Second, sermons 
focused on a personal experience of salvation.  Early Catholic 
preachers were very practical in their suggestions for spiritual 
growth and deepening commitment to Catholicism.  Third, preaching 
was a means of introducing people who often found themselves too 
busy for adult learning.  This preaching focused on the meaning of 
the Mass and other sacraments, as well as how to shape a life of 
character and virtue.  Fourth, preaching helped Catholics remain in 
the fold when they faced hostility from the social environment of 
Colonial America.  Fifth, the sermons are more concerned with 
helping people overcome vices that break down the social fabric and 
less concerned with the 6th and 9th commandments.

			John J. O'Brien, C.P.







Note to Press: This document printed at: 12/4/02 1:46 PM