FIDES News Service–
12 April 2008
FIDES
DOSSIER
The Map of
the Catholic Church
in the United
States of America
Introduction
The Catholic Church in the
History of the United States of America
History
of official relations between the Holy See and the USA
The
United States Catholic Bishops' Conference (USCCB)
The Catholic Church's commitment
in the USA and during emergencies of the 21st
century
Secretariat
for African American Catholics
Catholic
Campaign for Human Development
Justice,
peace and human development
Migration
and Refugee Services
2008: 100th anniversary
of “missionary independence” of the U.S.
Church’s
Testimonial
of Cardinal O’Connor
The
Archdiocese of New Orleans
Conclusion
Appendix
Bibliography and Linkography
INTRODUCTION
Vatican
City (Agenzia Fides) – This study, which traces the map of the
Catholic Church in the United States of America, is presented in view
of Pope Benedict XVI 's imminent Apostolic Journey to that country.
Starting with the history of how the Catholic religion arrived and spread
among the colonies in this part of the New Continent, with successive
waves of migration from the 16th to the 20th century,
our analysis also treats the origin and the achievements of the new
Republic.
With
the creation in the last century of its governing body, the United States
Catholic Bishops' Conference, the activity of the Church was structured
at the local and national levels, in the mission of evangelisation and
service to the community faced with various humanitarian and social
problems imposed by the century which closed only a few years
ago; nevertheless the size of the new problems and those still unsolved
in this 21st century is significant and in the field there
remain many battles -– old and new - to ensure social justice, human
rights and to fight poverty, debates in which the Catholic Church in
the United States today is actively involved.
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The
history of the United States of America is complicated, often contradictory
and includes in very few centuries discoveries, extermination, colonisation,
exclusion, freedom, segregation. Analysis is not easy in a country whose
complex vicissitudes reflect a political and social result, unique in
its kind and deserving careful assessment above all given the role this
country plays today on the world scene. The history of emigration and
colonisation in the new continent, and particularly in north America,
is connected with the spreading and rooting of religions, a process
by which, to some extent, it was inspired and by which it was necessarily
influenced; in this regard it is interesting to see first of all how
and with what changes, over such a difficult territory, the Catholic
religion inserted itself and took root, to become today in percentage
the United States' most numerous confession, accounting today for almost
25 per cent of Americans. This result was achieved first of all through
careful work of evangelisation which distinguished itself in these lands
for respect for others, for each human person and his or her inseparable
background of cultural, social and geographical differences. With these
characteristics, despite a fabric still inaccessible and always in movement,
today the Catholic Church is established among the most consistent religious
communities on the continent of north America.
It
was in the colonial era that Catholicism began to spread in the territories
which today we call the United States of America, before they became
a nation: it came first, in the 18th century with Spanish
explorers and colonisers, mainly to what is today Florida in the south
east of the country; but the most powerful impulse to the Catholic religion
in those lands came from successive migratory waves: in a period which
went from the late 18th century to the early 20th
century, the greatest movement of Catholics was that which left Europe
for the Americas, pushing every further west the frontiers of colonisation.
Massive immigration of Scottish, Irish and German Catholics was documented
already at the end of the 18th century, but in the second
half of the 19th century other Catholic peoples crossed the
ocean, coming from eastern and southern Europe (Poles, Italians, Portuguese).
In those years, large nuclei of Catholics, mainly of Eastern Rite, came
also from the Near East and the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires.
And in such a varied context, this religion soon distinguished itself
for its tolerance, especially compared with the first British colonies
and their Protestant extremism; in these circumstances, the path of
evangelisation was often arduous and, - along with others - Catholic
minorities suffered racism and segregation, when the country's protestant
identity saw Catholics, Jews and free blacks as a threat.
Today
the world is quite different and while the ongoing process of globalisation
shows its rich and multiform cultural side, it can easily give rise
to doubt at the social, political and economic levels. However from
the very beginning, what is so interesting is precisely that the history
of the United States, here treated only very briefly, produced in this
country so many struggles for human rights and freedom, for social justice
and equality of peoples, leaving the rest of the story written between
the lines of those same battles, at times intrinsic with pain and blood.
It should not be forgotten however, that parallel to the process for
rights and freedom, the seed of intolerance surfaced and in some cases
acutely, being first of all religious, but also hiding interests linked
with economic hegemony. This is nothing new, since down through the
centuries it was always the economic and power processes which ideologies
so cunningly masked. Nevertheless, although all political and historical
change is registered under the banner of culture, the growth of religious
fundamentalism is today an obvious signal of the importance and the
role of these changes. However to seek an answer or a path along which
to tackle the problem does not mean taking refuge in particularisms,
or univocally proclaiming the power of single identities, one's own
virtues; instead it is necessary to launch and open projects of “ethical
research”, a purpose which strives to comprehend– in the twofold
acceptance of comprehending as understanding and welcoming– what part
of one's roots can be put at the disposal of others, in communion with
others, in the conviction that our own growth in “humanity" can
be based only on a procedure of openness to others, the only path for
laying universal foundation and working together for the common good.
The
United States of America are a country which has based it political
and constitutional foundations on the principle of freedom understood
in this way, rendering itself probably because of this more vulnerable,
as the September 11th events demonstrated; but could it be
that in this fragility the USA can rediscover its strength, without
losing that essential component of its cultural identity which could
be creatively defined “culture of differences”? Perhaps the answer
is positive, and in this sense it is important to reread those attacks
on the heart of New York as an event which was also symbolic, over and
beyond the dramatic and unforgettable tribute of death and desperation:
an event of great symbolic power for the United States therefore and
for the whole world. It would seem in fact that those attacks laid bare
all the negative which is endemically produced by our society, which
is living its profound “crisis of significance”, but where terrorism
explodes like a verdict, a sentence which the world passes on itself.
The disclosure is sudden, absurd, just as sudden and absurd is the visual
impact of the event; yet the event sheds light on the circumstances
which produced it, and at the same time illuminates future steps: if
the goal were to cause a change, we could consider ourselves to be at
a decisive turning point, because a crisis is always an opening, a breach,
a wound. And if it is true that the United States has a fundamental
role in this course, with the authentic crisis of significance which
marks the present times, then the position of this country is clearly
decisive even in the area of the faith professed by the people who live
there, with an openness for dialogue and respect for the secular nature
of the State and the States; this is why, on the scene today the mission
of the Catholic Church in the United States of America is a most important
element of reference from the religious, social, and political point
of view.
History of official
relations between the Holy See and the USA
The
question of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the United
States of America, today undisputed, is a chapter of fundamental interest
for the role of the Catholic Church in the United States, a country
marked by religious pluralism, and at the same time a rigorously secular
state. Our thoughts go far back to 1788, when through one of his diplomats,
a certain Benjamin Franklin, George Washington informed Pope Pius VI,
that in the brand new Republic there was no need for the Holy See to
request permission before appointing a bishop. Nevertheless, almost
two centuries, marked by events of alternate outcome although in reciprocal
respect, were to pass before Congress and the government eventually
reached a decision to recognise a personal representative, an ambassador
to all effects. After 1981, during the presidency of Reagan, diplomatic
relations were at last to reach complete maturity: coinciding with revolutionary
changes happening in Europe in the 1980s, in 1984 the United States
took a difficult but most important decision to raise its diplomatic
representative to the rank of Ambassador to the Holy See.
William
Wilson, diplomatic representative in the Vatican since 1981, on 10 January
1984 was nominated by Ronald Reagan first United States of America Ambassador
to the Holy See. This was how diplomatic relations initiated in the
last quarter of the 18th century and, marked by highs and
lows through two centuries, were definitively consolidated in the years
that followed the development of effective activity of utmost international
importance. On 19 December 2007, Mary Ann Glendon was nominated United
States of America Ambassador to the Holy See. Eighth diplomatic representative
since the appointment of William Wilson, former Professor of Law at
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Ambassador Glendon had
been appointed in March 2004 President of the Pontifical Academy of
Social Sciences, the first woman to hold one of the highest positions
in a pontifical academy. In 1995, John Paul II, appointed her, the first
woman ever to fill this role, head of the Vatican Delegation to Conference
on Women promoted by the United Nations in Beijing.
This
brief but eloquent parenthesis on the fundamental diplomatic relations
is motivated by the political and social significance of Holy See diplomatic
sees around the world. Of course these are not places for establishing
trade relationships or issuing visas, the purpose of an embassy to the
Holy See is to come to convergence and agreement on matters of global
urgency, such as terrorism, peace in the Middle East, religious freedom,
human rights, hunger, extreme poverty, human trafficking, all critical
issues difficult to solve and on which the whole world has to duty to
examine itself and to act tirelessly.
United
States Ambassadors to the Holy See 1984 - 2008
Ambassador
Duration of office
Pope
US President
William
Wilson
1984 - 1986
John
Paul II
Ronald Reagan
Frank
Shakespeare
1986 – 1989
Thomas
Patrick Melady
1989 – 1993
George H. W. Bush
Raymond
Flynn
1993 - 1997
Bill
Clinton
Corinne
Claiborne Boggs
1997 - 2001
James
Nicholson
2001 – 2005
George
W. Bush
Francis
Rooney
2005 - 2008
Benedict
XVI
Mary
Ann Glendon
in office
The United States Catholic
Bishops' Conference
(USCCB)
In the light of what has been
said hitherto, it is important at this point to trace in more detail
the map of the Catholic Church in the United States, analysing first
of all the role and the activity of its governing body (the Bishops'
Conference), but with attention necessarily addressed also to the activity
of the dioceses present on the territory.
The United States Catholic
Bishops' Conference (USCCB), is formed of archbishops and bishops of
the United States and the Virgin Islands who exercise pastoral functions
of evangelisation. The roots of the Conference date to 1917, when the
Catholic Bishops of the United States formed the National Catholic War
Council (NCWC), a council to collaborate - with funds and personnel
- in the spiritual and human assistance for troops serving in World
War One. Later the name and finality of the body changed, the word Council
was replaced with Conference and in 1922 the National Catholic Welfare
Conference was established with head offices in Washington, D. C., whose
commitment regarded important issues such as education, immigration
and social work, according to a model which remained unchanged until
1966, when the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and United
States Catholic Conference (USCC) were established.
On 1 July 2001, on the threshold
of the new millennium, these two bodies were merged to form the United
States Catholic Bishops' Conference (USCCB), which carries on the mandate
of the two previous institutions, with the mission is to support the
ministry of the bishops with special attention for evangelisation. Besides
the mission of evangelisation, the USCCB and the individual dioceses
are also involved in humanitarian and social campaigns, as well as concrete
activity of collaboration on issues crucial for the Church and society,
in communion with the local Church and the Catholic Church in other
countries.
The subdivision of Catholic
dioceses in the United States (details in Appendix) is
as follows:
31 Catholic archdioceses
of Latin Rite
146 Catholic dioceses
of Latin Rite
2 Catholic archdioceses
or archeparchies of eastern rite
15 Catholic dioceses
or eparchies of eastern rite
1 Military Ordinate
Among them the Archdiocese
of Baltimora enjoys a sort of pre-eminence similar to a primacy, not
foreseen for the United States. In 1850 what is called Prerogative
of Place was assigned to Baltimora, being the first diocese to be
established in the country: it was 6 November 1789 when Pope Pius VI
promulgated the Ex Hac Apostolicae apostolic bull, with which, given
the growing number of Catholic faithful in those territories, he instituted
the diocese of Baltimora appointing John Carroll as the first Bishop.
In 28 October 1989 Pope John Paul II wrote in a Letter addressed to
the Bishops of the United States of America:
«Dear Brothers: throughout
two hundred years filled with joys and sorrows, with blessings and trials,
the Catholic faith has indeed been “preserved and extended” in your
country. The members of Bishop Carroll’s small flock have been multiplied
many times over, chiefly through waves of immigration that he could
not have foreseen. When people left their homelands for America, very
often they considered their principal gain to have been precisely the
newly found freedom to practise their religion. Through immense efforts
at religious education in Catholic homes, parishes and schools, and
through generous support of missionary activity at home and abroad,
the Church in the United States has done much to “preserve and extend”
the Good News of salvation in obedience to Christ’s command..»
Evangelisation is therefore
the first mission of the USCCB, we read in its Premise which cites Pope
Paul VI's apostolic exhortation,
Evangelii Nuntiandi
(8 December 1975):
«Evangelising is in fact the
grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists
in order to evangelise»
However as all over the world,
the mission of evangelisation does not exist on its own, because serious
social, political and religious situations present the Church with a
daily challenge. In the United States, the 195 dioceses or archdiocese
which have a total of more than 19,000 parishes, have to tackle the
numerous problems of a country which often experiences dramatic and
contradictory situations at the social and human level. Activity in
the territory weighs considerable on the community, given the ever more
urgent need for targeted intervention: integrate healthcare which the
public system cannot guarantee for the neediest sectors of the population,
enhance education services, especially in the most critical social contexts,
fight spreading poverty and homelessness, and not forgetting that besides
the immigration question, the country has to deal with the most dramatic
aspects of the phenomenon, such as human trafficking and the problem
of political refugees which are real emergencies in the southern most
exposed frontier states (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Florida).
In recent years the Church
has launched various important humanitarian campaigns - first of all
the battle for a moratorium on the death penalty in the country - under
the aegis of the United States Catholic Bishops' Conference (USCCB),
in keeping with the mission of the Catholic Church in the world, and
in a spirit of reciprocal respect with other religious confessions present
in the country, promoting authentic interreligious and intercultural
dialogue.
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH'S COMMITMENT
IN THE USA AND IN 21ST CENTURY EMERGENCIES
Besides its evangelising mission,
the USCCB is actively committed to helping in many emergencies in the
country in the field of social justice and human rights. Since we cannot
mention all the activity co-ordinated or undertaken by the Bishops'
Conference, we will illustrate a few interventions and contributions
of various departments within the Conference, significant for the socio-cultural
context.
Lastly, since we cannot dwell
on the work of every diocese, we have chosen to focus on one city and
one state struck by the fury of nature and wounded by human injustice:
we give below reports on specific activity, interventions and testimony
from the archdiocese of New Orleans, in Louisiana, which suffered in
2005 the effects of one of the worst hurricanes in the history
of the United States, in terms of casualties and economic and environmental
damages.
Secretariat for African
American Catholics
The Secretariat for African
American Catholics, SAAC is the official voice of the community
of African American Catholics. This Secretariat within the USCCB
articulates needs and aspirations of African American Catholics with
regard to ministry, evangelisation, social justice, matters of worship
and other issues of community interest. The basic role of this Secretariat
for African American Catholics is to support the bishops of the African
American Catholic community, but it also represents a resource for all
the Catholic Bishops of the United States, given its special attention
addressed to the socio-cultural dimension of the African American Catholic
community, where resources are identified, activated and created for
authentic integration of the African American cultural riches of the
Catholic Church in the United States.
Catholic Campaign for Human
Development
The Catholic Campaign for
Human Development, CCHD was instituted in 1970 within the US Bishops'
Conference, with the purpose of promoting change in the life of the
community, with serious efforts to interrupt the cycle of poverty in
thousands of communities in the United States. The CCHD has a twofold
mandate to fund projects for the needy and to educate Catholics on the
root causes of poverty. Its programmes are funded with an annual collection
in parishes across the country and the solutions are usually studied
at the community level, without prejudice or race or religion. The Campaign
focuses mainly on conditions of extreme poverty in the United States.
According to official information issued in 2006 by the US Census Bureau,
the principal federal government statistics agency responsible for population
census, the number of Americans living in 2006 in a state of extreme
poverty was 36.5 million or, 12 per cent of the national population
(cfr. Report: U.S. Census Bureau, Income, Poverty and Health
Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2006). Since 2000, the number
of persons living in extreme poverty has increased to more than 6 million,
where extreme poverty means an income lower than the poverty line established
by the government on the basis of 2005 data for each family nucleus,
(for example for a family of four the poverty line is 20,614 US dollars).
Again the Census Bureau in 2006, put the State of Mississippi in first
place for poverty percentage rate, 21.1 per cent, followed by the District
of Columbia (DC where the US capital Washington is situated) with 19.6
per cent, and again: Louisiana 19.0 per cent, New Mexico 18.5 per cent,
Arkansas 17.3 per cent, West Virginia 17.3 per cent, Kentucky 17,0 per
cent, Oklahoma 17.0 per cent, Texas 16.9 per cent, Alabama 16.6 per
cent, to cite the first ten positions.
The aim of CCHD is to promote
a spirit of solidarity people who are less well off and those trapped
in the grip of poverty, but with concrete action to eliminate injustice
and destitution in the United States of America: the CCHD is one of
the most important funding bodies in this field which promote programmes
of self-help among the poor. We give below just a few of the success
stories in which the CCHD is among the main players.
An urban oasis in Washington
D.C.: On an abandoned lot in the southeast corner of the nation’s
capital, volunteers work at a community garden. This is “Urban Oasis,“
an acre of tomatoes and beans, squash and okra, herbs and sunflowers,
grown in an impoverished neighbourhood where the nearest supermarket
is two bus rides away. Community Harvest, the organising group for the
garden, began its work here a few years ago, when the last grocery store
pulled out of the area — leaving the residents without access to good
food or nutrition.
Now, residents and volunteers
grow their own food for farmers’ markets in the city and to donate
to local soup kitchens. Better yet, the group teaches nutrition to residents
and has opened more farmers markets in the city. Today 37 million Americans
live in poverty. But even a small seed of an idea can begin to change
hunger to hope”.
Children's Centres in
New Mexico: In a rural corner of New Mexico, children rest after
lunch and hear a story. Not so long ago, their days would have been
very different. While their parents worked in the surrounding fields,
these children would have been left on their own at home. Or they’d
go into the fields with their parents, spend the day sitting in a hot
car, and sometimes going to work themselves.
Now, at this
guardería
, or daycare center, the children
are learning their numbers and letters. They play on a computer or on
the playground. They have nutritious meals. And both parents can go
to work, knowing their children are safe and well cared for. All thanks
to
Las Mujeres en Progreso
, five women in the community
who dreamed of affordable daycare for local families — and worked
to make it a reality. Today, 12.9 million American children live in
poverty. But with help, they can live in hope.
Winds of Change
in South Dakota:
On South Dakota's Cheyenne
River Sioux Reservation, where 75 percent of the residents are poor,
the Catholic Campaign for Human Development has been hard at work providing
crucial start-up money to the Four Bands Community Fund to help them
to spur entrepreneurship among the Lakota people. Through micro-loans
as small as $1,000, and small business training for residents, the locally
run loan fund is sowing the seeds of economic stability and self-sufficiency
that will one day reverse the cycle of poverty on the reservation.
Justice, peace and human
development
http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/whatwedo.shtml
The USCCB
Justice, Peace and Human Development Share works to apply Catholic
social teaching to major contemporary domestic and international issues
which have significant moral and religious dimensions. It is involved
in humanitarian campaigns which express the Church's position on issues
of it human life, human dignity, human rights and the pursuit
of justice and peace. One important national issue is the anti death
penalty campaign; a programme of environmental justice; other proposals
related with health, global poverty and immigration reforms.
With regard to the founding
material relative to capital punishment, the Catholic Campaign
to End the Use of the Death Penalty,
CCEDP, has become the official arm of the Catholic Bishops of America
for the abolition of the death penalty in the United States. The US
bishops have been active in this battle for almost thirty years - the
first official statement of the US Bishops was made in 1980 - the new
Campaign was officially presented in March 2005. The US Bishops renewed
their call for a decisive impulse in agreement with the Bishops' Conferences
of the individual States: they considered it necessary to clarify their
position, encourage reflection and call for unanimous Catholic action.
Precisely with these goals they issued a Pastoral Statement, A Culture
of Life and the Penalty of Death, underlining the teaching of Christ
and therefore the Church's mandate to reach total abolition of the death
penalty from the judiciary system of all the States of the USA. On 21
March 2005, the Campaign was presented at a press conference at National
Press Club, in Washington D.C., in the presence of Cardinal Theodore
McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington between 2001 and 2006, and today
Emeritus Archbishop of Washington. Also present Bud Welch, father of
23 year old Julie, one of those killed in the Oklahoma City attack,
and Kirk Bloodsworth, erroneously given a death sentence and rehabilitated
by a DNA test. During the presentation on 21 March 2005, Bloodsworth
said that from the moment he was unjustly sentenced to death for raping
and killing a nine year old girl, the Catholic Church provided him with
support in every need. Bloodsworth became a Catholic in 1989, while
he was still in prison. “Every little piece of my story”, he said,
“is an example of the implicit problems of the capital punishment
system. The same mistakes which led to my detention, that is, mistaken
identification, inadequate representation, wrong procedural behaviour,
in other words fundamental human errors, still put innocent people in
prison or on death row ”.
Migration and Refugee
Services
Since this nation was born,
the Catholic Church in the United States has assisted migrants and refugees.
At the beginning of the 20th century, these efforts were
organised at the diocesan or parish level, but already in 1920, under
the aegis of the National Catholic Welfare Conference (NCWC), the US
Catholic Bishops had set up a Migration Department at the national level.
Between 1920 and 1930, the Migration Department, present also on Ellis
Island, had already assisted more than 100,000 immigrants and following
World War II and the approval in 1948 of the Displaced Persons Admissions
Act (a law on admittance of refugees to the USA), the local Catholic
community had guaranteed assistance and all necessary services to more
than 100,000 European refugees. This intervention expanded as time passed:
in the 1950s the NCWC Migration Department guaranteed assistance during
the whole visas and citizenship requesting process, even from the legal
and normative point of view; with the institution of the United States
Catholic Conference (USCC) in 1965, a Migration and Refugees Services
department was created (MRS), and began to deal with the protection
of political refugees, with an office in Miami for migrants and refugees
coming via the sea from Cuba and Haiti. By 1975, through every
diocese in the country, the MRS had assisted more than 800,000 refugees.
In 1999, the MRS extended its work to care for refugee minors
- foreign and unaccompanied - and in 2002 started working more actively
with victims of human trafficking, which involves many minors in need
of care, shelter and specialised services. Between 2000 and 2003, the
US Catholic Bishops issued three important Pastoral Letters on the subject,
(Welcoming the Stranger Among Us: Unity in Diversity; Asian and Pacific
Presence: Harmony in Faith; and Strangers No Longer: Together on the
Journey of Hope, written in collaboration with the Catholic Bishops
of Mexico). Another important initiative in this period was assistance
to diocesan leaders, mainly at the local level, to welcome the newcomers
and ensure adequate pastoral care. Given the concerning situation of
child migrants who make the dangerous journey from Mexico to the United
States alone and of victims of human trafficking, in recent years the
US Catholic Bishops have sent delegations to the USA/Mexico border,
in order to see for themselves the situation of unaccompanied minors
and victims of human trafficking. The MRS is in front line also for
legislative initiatives for refugees, immigrants and migrants.
In 2000, the bishops of this department fought for the approval of unprecedented
laws to punish those who trade human persons and to guarantee protection
for the victims of the atrocious crime against humanity.
2008:
100th
anniversary of “missionary independence” of the U.S. Church’s
Monsignor John E. Kozar, National
Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States has
officially launched the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the
U.S. Church’s “missionary independence.”
“From 1822 until 1908, we
were the biggest beneficiaries of the collective charity of the rest
of the Catholic world,” Monsignor Kozar said. “With the grace of
God and the infusion of faith brought here by missionaries, we flourished.
So much so that in 1908 Rome determined we were no longer mission territory.”
As the National Director of the PMS recalled, the United States was
“one of the first recipients of financial assistance from the Society
for the Propagation of the Faith” in those early years, although the
Church in America “started contributing to world mission in 1833 with
our first humble gift of $6.”
This year, the Church in the
United States celebrates the 100th anniversary of their so-called missionary
independence, “marking our ability as a Church to support our own
pastoral and evangelizing needs.”
According to Msgr. Kozar, this
celebration is an opportunity “to tell young people about our Church’s
rich mission history, and have them learn about the Missions today.”
With that goal in mind, all missionaries from Asia and Africa that work
in the country, as well as immigrants living there, are being encouraged
to share their testimonies with the youth.
The PMS in the United States
has published online the first issue of its 100th anniversary newsletter,
“Pentecost Continues...,” which examines the founding of both the
Society for the Propagation of the Faith and the Holy Childhood Association,
looks at a 19th century missionary journey, and also contains an article
on the local Church in Ethiopia. For the remainder of 2008, each monthly
issue will spotlight the rich mission history of the Church in the United
States, as well as the stories from the Missions of our day, in Asia,
Africa, the Pacific Islands and remote regions of Latin America.
Testimonial of Cardinal
O’Connor
Cardinal John Joseph O’Connor
(1920-2000) was Archbishop of New York from 1984 until his death
which happened on 3 May 2000. Shortly before he died he had entrusted
his country, the United States of America, to the Mercy of God, so that
though Christ and through the Gospel his country would rediscover the
precious values of solidarity and charity. We offer here his spiritual
testimony which may serve for reflection for his own dearly loved people
and for everyone (this testimony from Cardinal O'Connor was taken few
days before the Cardinal returned to the House of the Father, by Luca
de Mata, Fides News Service editor)
Here are the words of Cardinal
O'Connor: "It was perhaps an English poetess who said, as anyone
might have said many centuries ago, that the quality of mercy is not
tension, because it falls from heaven like a gentle dew. Mercy softens
all tension, because it is the voice of God himself. How greatly we
need mercy in our world today, in the United States and in the entire
universe...!
If we are seeking a gift from
almighty God, perhaps the greatest would be mercy. Each one of us needs
mercy. Those in high and powerful positions, treat almost without
mercy those under their power and command. Mercy is the opposite to
power in the world today. Power is often used to crush, to control.
Mercy is exactly the opposite. Mercy is not dominion, it is not thirst
for power, it is the exact opposite because it is God's voice speaking
with tenderness and humility, knowing that people who are condemned
by others, instead of being healed, saved and treated with mercy, will
receive mercy from those who truly love, from those who are not proud,
from those who are ready to live and to give with humility and without
arrogance. In a word, who do not act as the world of today acts.”
The Archdiocese of New Orleans
We chose to look at the activity
of the Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans, to see how the local Church
intervened in a city devastated by the fury of nature with hurricane
Katrina, the natural disaster in August 2005 which caused death and
destruction in the city of New Orleans and in the whole state of Louisiana,
and will be recorded in history as one of the most serious Atlantic
hurricanes. Although it affected most of the region which includes the
states along the Gulf Coast of the United States– we recall massive
destruction all along the coast in Mississippi and Alabama - the greatest
loss of life and most serious damage to infrastructures were registered
in Louisiana: the embankment system of New Orleans proved to be catastrophically
useless and 80 per cent of the metropolitan area and bordering zones
were completely flooded. Difficulties and extremely bad management of
rescue work added to the tragedy: at least 1,836 people were killed
by the hurricane or ensuing floods. It is estimated that Katrina caused
80 billion US dollars economic damage, and was the worst natural disaster
in the history of the United States of America. It also had serious
impact on the environment: the wave caused substantial erosion of the
beaches, in some places devastating whole coastal areas; lands destroyed
included zones for the reproduction of marine mammals, tortoises or
fish, and other migratory species, and a variation in the natural habitat
of many marine species was registered. Lastly, about 20 per cent of
the local swamps were permanently submerged; after cleaning-up operations
during which the flood waters which covered New Orleans were pumped
into Lake Pontchartrain - a process which lasted 43 days – the
waste water was found to contain batteries, pesticides, toxic chemicals
and about 24.6 million litres of petroleum, with evident concern of
the scientific community for the number of dead fish and the proportions
of the environment disaster.
However the tragedy was first
and foremost a humanitarian catastrophe, perhaps the most serious
registered in the developed North in recent years; with this in mind
Fides asked representatives of the Archdiocese of New Orleans to explain
how the local Catholic Church intervened in that time of grave calamity.
Sarah Comiskey, head of Communications in the Archdiocese of New Orleans,
said that the Archdiocese has worked in many emergencies in the area
New Orleans, but “two critical questions take absolute priority, especially
at this moment: racial harmony and the problem of homelessness”. In
this regard in December 2006, the Archbishop of New Orleans, the Right
Reverend Alfred Clifton Hughes issued a Pastoral Letter, Made in the
Image and Likeness of God, dealing with racial questions and promoting
a culture of respect for every person and proclaiming the dignity of
every human being. In 2006, the Archdiocese opened a Racial Harmony
Office, which offers formation programmes on the theme of integration
for priests, parish leaders and school children.
With regard to the problem
of homelessness, Ms Comiskey recalls that the Archdiocese has a centuries
old tradition in this field, especially with CCANO Catholic Charities
Archdiocese of New Orleans; however “in these two years since Hurricane
Katrina, the problem of homeless people in New Orleans has rocketed,
also due to the housing shortage”. The official figure for the area
of New Orleans alone is about 12,000 homeless, but the causes of such
a high number are complex; Ms Comiskey says the problem is not only
a shortage of housing, “many homeless people have mental problems,
or are fleeing domestic abuse and violence ”. The Archdiocese is involved
in various ways to deal with the situation: among many activities before
and after the hurricane, Catholic Charities and other Catholic organisations
in New Orleans worked not only to protect the homeless but also to prevent
the number of people living on the streets from increasing, guaranteeing
services of work training and direct assistance at the Archdiocesan
Community Centres.
Ms Comiskey told Fides “there
is no way to measure exactly the effectiveness of the work undertaken
by the local Catholic Church” connected with the hurricane, but she
adds “the Catholic Church was the first to re-open schools in a New
Orleans, in October 2005 – less than two months after the disaster–
and undertook prompt operations to empty and rebuild homes”. During
the days of the hurricane and those which followed, “ at the
Superdome and the Convention Center and all over the region, priests
and chaplains offered valuable collaboration with general assistance
for the evacuees ”, Ms Comiskey concluded.
There would be many stories
to tell, but at the suggestion of the Archdiocese of New Orleans we
give the most significant information on the activity and role of the
local Church during an immediately following that immense tragedy:
Assistance and shelter:
Assistance to
over 45,000 families
Over 10 million
dollars financial assistance for flood victims
2,000 homes emptied
and 50 houses rebuilt
Some 1,795 homes
under repair and preparation for another 3,000 homes
Shelter and healthcare
guaranteed for 2,561 individuals
Food and nutrition:
50.000.000 Kg
of food distributed to families and food aid agencies all over the state
About 65 million meals distributed to the needy
Mental health:
Intervention
and crisis counselling for about 850,000 persons, and clinical
assistance for about 5,000 persons
Assistance in
Catholic schools for about 4,000 people, children parents and teachers
Healthcare:
Guaranteed medical
assistance for about 2,500 individuals
Education:
Primary instruction
to 627 children
After-school
e summer school Services guaranteed to 2,298 children
Varied formation
services to about 1,000 young people and adolescents
Economic development:
Work Formation
services supplied to over 2,500 individuals
CONCLUSION
The map we have traced of the
Catholic Church in the United States of America reveals how the Catholic
community had to face through the years emergencies and changes connected
with the nation's geography and society. As Pope Benedict XVI prepares
to make his first visit as a pontiff to the United States, the auxiliary
Archbishop of Washington, Archbishop Francisco Gonzalez, S.F., told
Fides: “When the Holy Father comes he will see the human mosaic and
listen to the voices of many parishes with communities coming from 60
different countries. In the 140 parishes, the Holy Eucharist is celebrated
in more than 20 different languages and the faithful sing hymns from
far away homelands, all anxious to share their own experience of faith,
customs and culture”.
Despite difficulties and adversities,
the map today is concretely that of one community of faith which speaks
different languages and moves with its many different colours, under
the banner of dialogue and integration.
APPENDIX
Provinces and dioceses of
Roman Rite in the United States of America
Archdiocese
of Anchorage, suffragan dioceses: Diocese of Fairbanks, Diocese
of Juneau
Archdiocese
of Atlanta, suffragan dioceses: Diocese of Charleston, Diocese of
Charlotte, Diocese of Raleigh, Diocese of Savannah
Archdiocese
of Baltimora, suffragan dioceses: Diocese of Arlington, Diocese
of Richmond, Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, Diocese of Wilmington
Archdiocese
of Boston, suffragan dioceses: Diocese of Burlington, Diocese of
Fall River, Diocese of Manchester, Diocese of Portland, Diocese of Springfield,
Diocese of Worcester
Archdiocese
of Chicago, suffragan dioceses: Diocese of Belleville, Diocese of
Joliet, Diocese of Peoria, Diocese of Rockford, Diocese of Springfield
in Illinois
Archdiocese
of Cincinnati, suffragan dioceses: Diocese of Cleveland, Diocese
of Columbus, Diocese of Steubenville, Diocese of Toledo, Diocese of
Youngstown
Archdiocese
of Denver, suffragan dioceses: Diocese of Cheyenne, Diocese of Colorado
Springs, Diocese of Pueblo
Archdiocese
of Detroit, suffragan dioceses: Diocese of Gaylord, Diocese of Grand
Rapids, Diocese of Kalamazoo, Diocese of Lansing, Diocese of Marquette,
Diocese of Saginaw
Archdiocese
of Dubuque, suffragan dioceses: Diocese of Davenport, Diocese of
Des Moines, Diocese of Sioux City
Archdiocese
of Philadelphia, suffragan dioceses: Diocese of Allentown, Diocese
of Altoona-Johnstown, Diocese of Erie, Diocese of Greensburg, Diocese
of Harrisburg, Diocese of Pittsburgh, Diocese of Scranton
Archdiocese
of Galveston-Houston, suffragan dioceses: Diocese of Austin, Diocese
of Beaumont, Diocese of Brownsville, Diocese of Corpus Christi, Diocese
of Tyler, Diocese of Victoria in Texas
Archdiocese
of Hartford, suffragan dioceses: Diocese of Bridgeport, Diocese
di Norwich, Diocese di Providence
Archdiocese
of Indianapolis, suffragan dioceses: Diocese of Evansville, Diocese
of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Diocese of Gary, Diocese of Lafayette in Indiana
- Archdiocese of Kansas
City in Kansas, suffragan dioceses: Diocese of Dodge City, Diocese
of Salina, Diocese of Wichita
Archdiocese
of Los Angeles, suffragan dioceses: Diocese of Fresno, Diocese of
Monterey in California, Diocese of Orange, Diocese of San Bernardino,
Diocese of San Diego
Archdiocese
of Louisville, suffragan dioceses: Diocese of Covington, Diocese
of Knoxville, Diocese of Lexington, Diocese of Memphis, Diocese of Nashville,
Diocese of Owensboro
Archdiocese
of Miami, suffragan dioceses: of Orlando, Diocese of Palm Beach,
Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Diocese of Saint Augustine, Diocese
of Saint Petersburg, Diocese of Venice
- Archdiocese of Milwaukee,
suffragan dioceses: Diocese of Green Bay, of La Crosse, Diocese of Madison,
Diocese of Superior
Archdiocese
of Mobile, suffragan dioceses: Diocese of Biloxi, Diocese of Birmingham,
Diocese of Jackson
Archdiocese
of Newark, suffragan dioceses: Diocese di Camden, Diocese of Metuchen,
Diocese of Paterson, Diocese of Trenton
Archdiocese
of New Orleans, suffragan dioceses: Diocese of Alexandria, Diocese
of Baton Rouge, Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, Diocese of Lafayette, Diocese
of Lake Charles, Diocese of Shreveport
- Archdiocese of New
York, suffragan dioceses: Diocese di Albany, Diocese di Brooklyn,
Diocese di Buffalo, Diocese of Ogdensburg, Diocese of Rochester, Diocese
of Rockville Centre, Diocese of Syracuse
Archdiocese
of Oklahoma City, suffragan dioceses: Diocese of Little Rock, Diocese
of Tulsa
Archdiocese
of Omaha, suffragan dioceses: Diocese of Grand Island, Diocese of
Lincoln
Archdiocese
of Portland, suffragan dioceses: Diocese of Baker, Diocese of Boise
City, Diocese of Great Falls-Billings, Diocese of Helena
Archdiocese
of Saint Louis, suffragan dioceses: Diocese di Jefferson City, Diocese
di Kansas City-Saint Joseph, Diocese di Little Rock, Diocese di Springfield-Cape
Girardeau
Archdiocese
of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, suffragan dioceses: Diocese of Bismarck,
Diocese of Crookston, Diocese of Duluth, Diocese of Fargo, Diocese of
New Ulm, Diocese of Rapid City, Diocese of Saint Cloud, Diocese of Sioux
Falls, Diocese of Winona
Archdiocese
of San Antonio, suffragan dioceses: Diocese di Amarillo, Diocese
di Dallas, Diocese of El Paso, Diocese of Fort Worth, Diocese of Laredo,
Diocese of Lubbock, Diocese of San Angelo
Archdiocese
of San Francisco, suffragan dioceses: Diocese di Honolulu, Diocese
of Las Vegas, Diocese of Oakland, Diocese of Reno, Diocese of Sacramento,
Diocese of Salt Lake City, Diocese of San José in California, Diocese
of Santa Rosa in California, Diocese of Stockton
Ruthenian
Diocese
s
Byzantine
Catholic Archeparchy
of Pittsburgh,
suffragan eparchies: Eparchy
of Parma, Eparchy of Passaic, Eparchy of Van Nuys
Diocese
s of the Ukrainian Church
Archeparchy
of Philadelphia,
suffragan eparchies: Eparchy
of Saint Josaphat of Parma, Eparchy of Chicago, Eparchy of Stamford
Eastern Rite Eparchies immediately
subject
Eparchy
of Newton Our
Lady of the Annunciation in Boston (Melkite Catholic),
Eparchy
of Newark Our
Lady of Deliverance (Syriac Catholic),
Eparchy
of Los Angeles
Our Lady of Lebanon (Maronite Catholic),
Eparchy
of Canton Saint
George (Romanian Catholic),
Eparchy
of Brooklyn
Saint Maron (Maronite Catholic) ,
Eparchy
of San Diego
Saint Peter the Apostle (Chaldean Catholic),
Eparchy
of Chicago Saint
Thomas the Apostle (Syro-Malabar Catholic),
Eparchy
of Detroit Saint
Thomas the Apostle (Chaldean Catholic)
Other ecclesiastical circumscriptions
Military
Ordinate in the United States of America
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND LINKOGRAPHY
Sources on migration
historic archives of Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples,
Giovanni Pizzorusso – ASEI, Archivio storico dell’emigrazione italiana,
2005 http://www.asei.eu/index.php?opion=com_content&task=view&id=77&Itemid=1
L’affermazione del cattolicesimo nel
Nord America. Elite, emigranti e chiesa cattolica negli Stati Uniti
e in Canada, 1750-1920,
Matteo Sanfilippo - Viterbo, Sette Città, 2003
USA e Santa Sede.
La lunga strada - Jim Nicholson, I libri di 30 giorni, 2 edizione, Roma,
2002
USCCB, United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops
http://www.uscb.org
Secretariat for
African American Catholics SAAC
http://www.uscb.org/saac
Catholic Campaign
for Human Development CCHD
http://www.usccb.org/cchd/
Justice, Peace
and Human Development SDWP
http://www.usccb.org/sdwp
The
Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty CCEDP
www.ccedp.org
Catholic Campaign
to End the Use of the Death Penalty
http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/deathpenalty/
A Culture of
Life and a Penalty of Death
http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/penaltyofdeath.pdf
Statement on
the moratorium of the death penalty by Archbishop John J. Myers, of
Newark and chairman of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of New Jersey,
9 January 2006 -
http://www.njcathconf.com/NJCC%20Statement%20on%20Dealth%20Penalty%20Moratorium.htm
Migration &
Refugee Services MRS
http://www.usccb.org/mrs/
U.S. Census Bureau,
Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States:
2006; http://www.census.gov/prod/2007pubs/p60-233.pdf
Four Bands Community
Fund, http://www.fourbands.org/
Catholic Charities
USA http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/
Catholic Charities
Archdiocese of New Orleans
http://www.ccano.org/
Archdiocese of
New Orleans http://www.arch-no.org/
John Paul II
Letter to the Catholic Bishops of the United States –Vatican City,
28 October 1989 http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/letters/1989/documents/hf_jp-ii_let_19891028_vescovi-usa_it.html
Evangelii Nuntiandi - Apostolic Exhortation Pope Paul
VI –Vatican City, 8 December 1975
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_p-vi_exh_19751208_evangelii-nuntiandi_it.html
Ecclesia in
America - Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation John Paul II to the
bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated persons and lay faithful on the
encounter with the living Jesus Christ for conversion, communion and
solidarity in America
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_22011999_ecclesia-in-america_it.html
Discourse John
Paul II on the occasion of the presentation of credentials by Ambassador
William A. Wilson, 9 April 1984, Roma, Embassy Vatican files.
Interview with
Ambassador William A. Wilson, 23 July 2002, Rome, Embassy Vatican files
(Agenzia Fides 12/4/2008 –
Dossier by F.M.)