Why America’s First Saint Stopped Trying to Convert Her Neighbors to Catholicism

In the Early 19th Century, Elizabeth Seton Concluded That Proselytizing Undermined Social Harmony

Elizabeth Seton, for whom hundreds of Catholic parishes and schools are named, was the first native-born American citizen to be made a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. Her 1975 canonization was the result of decades of labor by admirers who sought evidence of Seton’s “heroic virtue”—and miracles. Those admirers, who oversaw Seton’s presentation in Rome, also shaped an enduring story about the society in which Seton, who was born in 1774 and died in 1821, lived.

Emphasizing Seton’s courage in the face of anti-Catholic prejudice, the story fits …

by Catherine O’Donnell | July 1, 2019

The ‘Black Catholic Movement’ That Reinvigorated American Catholicism

In the Industrial North, African Americans Witnessed a Flourishing of Liturgical Innovation, New Preaching Styles, and Activist Scholarship

By Matthew J. Cressler | June 7, 2018

The story of how Roman Catholics “became American” is very well-known. Beginning in the 19th century, Catholics were a feared and despised immigrant population that Protestants imagined to be inimical …

God Calls My Name, but the Church Won’t Let Me Answer

The Roman Catholic Ban on Female Priests Is Leaving Women—and Thousands of Parishes—Idle and Powerless

By Jamie L. Manson | March 22, 2016

“What do you do when God calls you and the church blocks you from answering?” a journalist once asked me.

It was the pithiest articulation I’d ever heard of the …

What the Devil Is Up With People Who Believe in Satan?

When Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Professed a Belief In Lucifer, It Caused Gasps and Titters Among the Elite. But His Point Should Be Taken Seriously.

by Jeffrey Burton Russell | November 25, 2013

When U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia recently told New York magazine that he believed in the devil, some readers seemed to view this statement as further proof that Scalia …

The Saints of Skid Row

The Stories of Saints and Streets Intersect All Over L.A., and Especially at San Julian Street

by J. Michael Walker | October 25, 2013

A dozen years or so ago, I set out to find connections between the stories of 100 saints and the streets that bear their names here in Los Angeles, a …

How On Earth Did Crystal Cathedral Go Catholic?

An Orange County Evangelical Church’s Flameout Shows Us How Quickly America’s Spiritual Landscape Can Change

by Jim Hinch | October 25, 2013

This summer, thousands of Catholics from Orange County and beyond, responding to invitations sent out in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese, packed a sun-drenched plaza in Garden Grove. They were there …

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