IMMIGRANTS and CATHOLIC SCHOOLS

Do You Know…. that the American Catholic school system was formed largely to save Catholic immigrants from bigotry and discrimination in colonial and state schools? 

The public schools established by colonists from the mid-1600s to the mid-1700s taught from a distinctly fundamentalist Protestant point of view. Anti-Catholic bias was open and widespread, mostly  because of the fear that the Pope would “take over” America if Catholicism was not controlled. Even our Founding Fathers bemoaned the spread of Catholicism in the new nation. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson corresponded about their concern with the talents that the Jesuits had as teachers, printers, and writers.  As recently as 1960, President John F. Kennedy still faced questions about Catholic allegiance to the Vatican. 

At the height of Irish, Italian, and Polish immigration in the 19th and early 20th centuries, political campaigns warned of the need to “limit foreign influence”.  The “Know-Nothing” Party and the Ku Klux Klan dedicated themselves to “wiping out Papists, Jesuits, and Catholicism”.  Convents, churches, and missions were burned.  Nuns and Priests were murdered.   Laws were passed that were blatant bigotry against Catholics. The legislation included limiting Catholic immigrant children’s access to public schools and requiring schools to use a Protestant curriculum.

Catholics in America faced this hatred with courage and determination.  Schools for Catholic children opened in missions in the 1600s and were flourishing in crowded cities in the 1900s. Orders like the Sisters of Charity, the Ursulines, the Franciscans, the Dominicans, and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament led the way in educating poor immigrant, Native American, and former slave children.  Their work continues to enrich our diverse American culture today.

The Justice & Peace Ministry is proud to recognize this history during Catholic Schools Week.