Katie Douglas

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-10-2025

Abstract

When the Church had officially declared that an Italian who supported the unification of Italy could no longer be a Catholic in good standing, the question became this: to be a patriot, or to be a Catholic? This question of allegiance brought about anticlerical sentiments. When the wave of “new”-- mostly Eastern and Southern European– immigrants started coming to the United States starting in the 1880’s, they were met with pushback from many of the “old”-- particularly Irish and German– immigrants who held their clergy in high esteem. Many non-Catholic Americans simply used the label “new” vs “old” to describe the immigration trends. This wording was, however, sometimes being used to justify mistreatment and viewing of the recent (almost all Catholic) immigrant wave as inferior, foreign, and strange. Because of this, the Church was cautious about adopting such terminology in fear of making Catholicism and foreignness being viewed as synonymous. Instead, as Richard Linkh detailed, Bishop Francis C. Kelley put the “new” immigrants into two categories that, while not everyone used the same wording, most Catholics unanimously agreed with. These were “self-supporting”, like the Poles and the Germans who actively kept their faith without the help of other ethnic groups in the Church, and the “missionary” group, those that were at risk for losing their religion. Who was thought of most under the latter label was the Italians.

Comments

Undergraduate Division - 2nd Place

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