One of the presidents of the American United Steel Workers Union was a very devout Catholic. He was Phillip Murray (1886-1952), an Irishman whose family emigrated from Scotland in 1902 when he was sixteen years old. Murray, who had worked … Continue reading
Category: Catholic America
Bluegrass Belgian: Kentucky’s Missionary Dynamo, Father Charles Nerinckx
“Mitte Belgas” (send Belgians), implored Saint Francis Xavier in a letter written from India to his Father General, Saint Ignatius Loyola. The Indian mission of the East required religious who were not only proven in virtue but strong in physical … Continue reading
The Father of California: Saint Junípero Serra
(The title of this artcile was changed from “…Blessed…” to “…Saint…” after the September 23, 2015 canonization of our subject by Pope Francis. The body text of the article has not been edited.) “For I trust that God will give … Continue reading
A Letter Home
This is the only complete letter from the first thirty-five years of Blessed Junípero Serra’s life. Today it is kept in the Capuchin Convent (monastery) in Barcelona. “Most Dear Friend in Jesus Christ, Father Francisco Serra, “Words cannot express the … Continue reading
West Virginia in Heaven’s Eye
There are several interesting facts in the history of West Virgina that highlight the footprints of the Catholic Church in the most mountainous state east of the MIssissippi. The first is a tradition handed down from the eighteenth century that … Continue reading
Our Lady of America and the Obama Nation
Brian Kelly has written on this site about Our Lady of America and her apparitions to the holy religious in Ohio, Sister Mary Ephrem (Mildred Neuzil). These apparitions are approved by the Church, as the recent canonical study of the … Continue reading
Québec and French America: What Might Have Been
In a country like the United States, which has never been Catholic – nor in which has the undiluted Faith taken root deeply enough to shape to any extent the life of society – those who still cling to the … Continue reading
Blessed Père Frédéric Janssoone
BOOKSELLING is a word that has special meaning to the disciples of Father Leonard Feeney. While historically it has been a noble profession, in the twentieth century the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary elevated the art and profession … Continue reading
Bishop Francis Clement Kelley (1870-1948)
The only thing I knew about Bishop Kelley was that he authored Blood Drenched Altars, the story of the persecution of the Church in Mexico under the freemason, Plutarco Elias Calles, in the 1920s. The martyr, Blessed Miguel Pro (1891-1927), … Continue reading
The Catholic America Tour: De Pere and Necedah Wisconsin
Brother André Marie will soon be on the road with the “Catholic America Tour” (CAT). Traveling across our land, Brother will lecture on the subject, “Toward a Catholic America: History, Goals, and Methods.”
Slaves Held Washington Became a Catholic on His Deathbed
The following two pieces appeared in the Denver Register in the 1950s: From the Denver Register, February 24, 1957 CONVERSION OF GEORGE WASHINGTON New York- It was a long tradition among both the Maryland Province Jesuit Fathers and the Negro … Continue reading
The Vision and Vocation of Orestes Brownson
The life of this great American thinker, Orestes Augustine Brownson, which spanned the major part of the nineteenth century (1803-1876), found its meaning in a vision and a vocation. His vision was to make America Catholic.