History Archives - Page 3 of 4

Catholics tangled with KKK during Klan’s 1920s resurgence
- Sep 6, 2017
The intersection of the KKK with Catholics came to an ugly head in the 1920s, when the second version of the Klan was making inroads not just in the South but throughout the nation. In the 1920s, the Klan mushroomed in membership. Estimates put its number at between 3 million and 5 million — staggering numbers when the total U.S. population in 1920 was 106,021,537.

By Mark Pattison
Haunted by its history, Berlin debates restoring kaiser’s gilded cross
- Jun 11, 2017
Catholic Archbishop Heiner Koch said the cross was “the sign of the good news of the Christian faith for all people” and should not become a political football. “By putting the cross on the cupola, its builders showed they had a special responsibility to be rulers accountable to God,” he said. “Even today, recalling this attitude would mean a lot for Berlin.”

By Tom Heneghan
In a changing city, look back at the Irish archbishops who built the Church in New York
- Mar 17, 2017
Ireland has played an important role in the life of the Catholic Church in America, and nowhere is this more apparent than in New York City, where every archbishop has been of Irish heritage. A new book – ‘Sons of St. Patrick: A History of the Archbishops of New York from Dagger John to Timmytown’ – looks at this history.

By Kathryn Jean Lopez

For the ex-slave who blessed Denver, a path to sainthood opens

Dec 19, 2016

Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila of Denver opened a cause for the canonization of Julia Greeley during an early morning Sunday Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. Greeley was born into slavery in Hannibal, Missouri where her life of devotion and service continues to inspire.

Maybe Nero didn’t persecute Christians after all

Dec 18, 2016

Although a persecution of Christians under Nero after a fire in Rome is part of the Christian imagination, one scholar says the evidence is thin both for the persecution and even for the possibility that Romans could so early have recognized Christians judicially or religiously.