Figure 1.--America was founded as a Protestant country, but developed a tradition of religious toleration which became enshrined in the Constitution by the First Amendment. Catholics were at first reluctant to emigrate to the United States, except for the Irish who fled their country in desperation because of the Potato Famine (1840s). This changed after the Civil War when a flood of emigrants, many from Catholic southern Europe, reached America. Here we see a priest and altar boys in an unidentified immigrant Catholic church around the turn-of-the-20th century. The Roman Catholic Church is today America's largest church, although there are still more Protestants. With the decline of religiosity in Europe, America is increasingly becoming the bed rock of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Roman Catholic Church like the Eastern Orthodox Church did not begin with the Great Schism, but the Schism did formally mark its existence as a separate church. Of course neither the pope in Rome nor the patriarch in Constantinople accepted the separation. Both claimed to be the one true church. For the first milenium of Christianity there was no formaly declared Roman Catholic Church or no Eastern Orthodoxy let alone Protestantism. What existed was theoreticallt the "one, holy, catholic church" affirmed by the early creeds which was the body of Christian believers all over the world. Catholic in fact means universal. Even so, there wide differences in the early church. Some of these differences were judged to be heretical and either supressed or driven underground. Over time major differences developed between the Western and Eastern churches. Roman Catholicism thus traces its roots to the apostles, especially Peter who founded the church in Rome. St. Peter as the first bishop of Rome is considered the first pope, and every pope since him is regarded as his spiritual successor. Peter is derived from the Greek 'petros' meaning rock. And Jesus told Peter, "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." [Matthew 16:18] The bishops of Rome who adopted the title 'pope' used this passage to justify their spiritual auhority over the early church. The hisdtory of the Roman Catholic Church is interwoven with that of the papacy. A Catholic source writes, "Through trials like persecution, heresy, and the Reformation, the notion that the church leadership represents the continuation of an unbroken line from the apostles and their teachings ('apostolic succession') has contributed to the survival of Christianity."

Created: 10:39 PM 1/28/2011
Last updated: 10:39 PM 1/28/2011