Catholicism and American Freedom: A History

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Catholicism and American Freedom: A History

Author: John T. McGreevy
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Copyright: 2003
Pages: 432
Cover Price: $ 21.95

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In the seventeenth century, England was very intolerant of Catholics, and the colony of Maryland was established in the hopes of creating a place where Catholics and others could enjoy complete religious freedom.

Putting the current sexual-abuse scandal in the Church and the media's response in a much larger context, this stimulating history of both Catholicism and anti-Catholicism is a model of nuanced scholarship and provocative reading.

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Background Information

Catholics in America have had to contend with the idea that they owe more loyalty to the Pope in Rome than to their own country. Maryland was founded as a colony based on religious tolerance, with particular focus on Catholics. The Roman Catholic Church was virtually the only Christian church in the former Western Roman Empire until the Protestant Reformation.