Philadelphia’s First Bishop

..., the city and county of Philadelphia had over 100,000 inhabitants. As the number of Catholics in the United States grew, Bishop John Carroll of Baltimore suggested that his immense diocese be divided, and in 1808 the Dioceses of Philadelphia, New York, Boston and Bardstown, Kentucky were established. The newly

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American Federation of Catholic Societies

...that the Church had experienced in the mid-1800s. Despite these concerns a number of archbishops and bishops supported the new organization and it slowly started to expend. In 1903, the Pennsylvania Federation was founded with the goal of “cementing the bonds of fraternal union among the Catholic laity and the

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Thomas Nast Anti-Irish Cartoons

...er a hundred wounded, along with two churches and a convent burned to the ground.[6] These anti-Catholic feelings stemmed from the allegiance of the Irish Catholics, who were seen by many Americans as loyal to the pope over the United States. Indeed, many believed that Catholicism was incompatible with democracy

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Cornelia Connelly, S.H.C.J.

...for the Sacraments. Pierce, who wanted to become a Catholic priest, asked around Rome how to start the process. Even though there were rare exceptions for married priests, it was suggested by Vatican officials that “his usefulness would prove greater as a married man than as a priest.” [3] After

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