Catholic Church and The Age of Discovery - Emergence of The American Catholic Church

Emergence of The American Catholic Church

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the Roman Catholic Church experienced unique difficulties within America. “Unlike all Protestant churches in America, the Roman Catholic church depended for its identity upon keeping doctrinal and administrative unity with a European-based authority." The papacy was cautious of the freedom found in America as it showed similarities to the attitudes behind the French Revolution. The papacy wanted to preserve the hierarchy of the church in America. At this time, Catholics were chiefly located in Pennsylvania and Maryland and were greatly influenced by their Protestant neighbors. They, too, wanted a church that empowered the laity. In 1788 Charles Carroll was elected the first American Bishop. He struggled to balance the desires of the American trustees to adapt and empower the laity and hold church property with the requests of the bishops and hierarchy oversees to preserve the doctrine. This controversy ran from approximately 1780 to 1850. In the end, the power and authority were too differential and the bishops won. This marked the creation of the “American Catholic Church with the laity subordinate to priest and bishop.” This system remained until the mid-20th century.