We stand on the shoulders of giants.
This truism holds special meaning for American Catholics. The churches,
the schools, the hospitals and the spiritual and social services which
many contemporary Catholics take for granted were provided by the heroic
sacrifices of a mosaic of immigrant people who brought to America not
only their hope but especially their faith. That faith, first introduced
to the Americas five centuries ago by Columbus, has helped to define the
cultures of Latin America and of French Canada. In no nation of the world,
however, is the Church so truly "catholic" as it is in the United States,
where there are Catholics of every race, of every rite, of every ethnic
group, of every social and economic stratum of society. For that reason,
Catholics are possibly also the most "American" of all churches, because
they exemplify so well the motto, "E pluribus unum" - "From many, one."
This history should help us be grateful to God for what we have received
and grateful to our forebears in the faith from whom we have received
the light of faith in the land of the free.
Archbishop John P. Foley
Vatican City
The
History of
Catholic
America
From Columbus through
the Twentieth Century
Detail from the Christopher Columbus window which commemorates the discovery of America. All the windows and black and white details shown are in Queen of Peace Church, North Arlington, New Jersey. They were designed and produced by the Rambusch Studios.
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