On 17 June 1839, King Kamehameha III issued an Edict of Toleration permitting Catholics in Hawaii to freely practice their religion which had been facing severe persecution.

Under the influence of Congregationalists from New England, Kamehameha III’s mother had been baptized and the Congregationalists encouraged a policy preventing the establishment of a Catholic presence in Hawaii. Catholic priests were forcibly expelled from the country on 24 December 1831. Native Hawaiian Catholics accused King Kamehameha and his government of imprisoning, beating and torturing them.

On 10 July 1839 a French frigate sailed into Honolulu Harbor on the justification that it was sent to protect the rights of the Catholic Church. Its captain had been ordered to:

Destroy the malevolent impression which you find established to the detriment of the French name; to rectify the erroneous opinion which has been created as to the power of France; and to make it well understood that it would be to the advantage of the chiefs of those islands of the Ocean to conduct themselves in such a manner as not to incur the wrath of France. You will exact, if necessary with all the force that is yours to use, complete reparation for the wrongs which have been committed, and you will not quit those places until you have left in all minds a solid and lasting impression.

King Kamehameha feared a French attack on his kingdom and so issued the Edict of Toleration permitting religious freedom for Catholics in the same way as it had been granted to the Protestants. King Kamehameha also donated land on which the first permanent Catholic church would be constructed, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, and paid $20,000 in compensation to the Catholics who had been persecuted.

More on the Edict of Toleration in Hawaii

On 13 June 1691, an expedition of Spanish missionaries and explorers including Fr. Damian Massanet and Domingo Teran de los Rios, the leader of the expedition, arrived at the river and Payaya village which they would name “San Antonio” in honor of Saint Anthony of Padua whose feast is celebrated on this day.

Fr. Massenet wrote:

On this day, there were so many buffaloes that the horses stampeded and 40 head ran away. These were collected with the rest of the horses by hard work on the part of the soldiers. We found at this place the rancheria of the Indians of the Payaya nation. This is a very large nation and the country where they live is very fine. I called this place San Antonio de Padua, because it was his day. In the language of the Indians it is called Yanaguana [The Clean Water]….I ordered a large cross set up [on the 14th], and in front of it built an arbor of cottonwood trees, where the altar was placed. All the priests said mass…Then I distributed among them rosaries, pocket knives, cutlery, beads and tobacco. I gave a horse to the captain [the Payaya chief].

The first mission at San Antonio would not be established until 1718. This is the date usually understood as the founding of the city.

For more on this event

On 31 May 1821, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was consecrated in Baltimore, Maryland. The Basilica was the first Roman Catholic cathedral built in the United States.

The Basilica was built under the impetus of Bishop John Carroll and the architectural design of Benjamin Henry Latrobe. The building was intended to model the architectural style of the US capital and be seen as something “American”.

The seven pontifical councils and three plenary councils of the United States Catholic Church would take place at the Basilica, including those which established the Catholic University of America and commissioned the Baltimore Catechism.

As author George Weigel has said, “No other Catholic edifice in America can claim to have seen so much history made inside its walls.”

The Baltimore Basilica

On 30 April 1991, Priests for Life was approved as a Private Association of the Faithful by Archbishop John Quinn of San Francisco.

Priests for Life was founded by Fathers Lee Kaylor and Francis P. Filice to work for the promotion of life particularly through the end of abortion and euthanasia. It seeks to encourage and educate priests, bishops, and deacons in the promotion of life within their ministry. While the membership is primarily Catholic clergy, there are also lay auxiliary membership. Its present head is Father Frank Pavone.

In 2003, it received NGO status in the United Nations.

Priests for Life

On 16 April 1962 Archbishop Joseph Rummel of New Orleans excommunicated three Catholics for their public opposition to his plan to desegregate Archdiocesan schools.

New Orleans’ parishes and schools of the Archdiocese had been segregated since the failure of Reconstruction in the 1870s. Earlier Archbishops had sought to improve educational opportunities for black Catholics by establishing separate schools, but these schools were generally not as well funded or supported as the schools attended by white Catholics.

In 1948, Rummel admitted two black students to the Notre Dame Seminary. In 1951, he removed “white” and “colored” signs from the Catholic Churches and opened Saint Augustine High School – the first high school dedicated to the education of young black men. In 1953, he officially ordered the desegregation of the entire archdiocese. He wrote:

Ever mindful, therefore, of the basic truth that our Colored Catholic brethren share with us the same spiritual life and destiny, the same membership in the Mystical Body of Christ, the same dependence upon the Word of God, the participation in the Sacraments, especially the Most Holy Eucharist, the same need of moral and social encouragement, let there be no further discrimination or segregation in the pews, at the Communion rail, at the confessional and in parish meetings, just as there will be no segregation in the kingdom of heaven.

In 1956 he issued another pastoral letter proclaiming segregation incompatible with the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Desegregation faced a significant amount of opposition. One parish was ordered closed in 1955 when it refused to accept a black priest. Some Catholics sent a letter to Pope Pius XII seeking a papal decree in support of segregation, but Pius XII responded by declaring racism to be a major evil. Opposition to desegregation throughout Louisiana would delay school desegregation until the 1962-1963 school year.

In response to desegregation, there were public protests and threats to transfer children to segregated public schools. Archbishop Rummel threatened opponents with excommunication which caused most to accede to segregation but he would excommunicate three particularly vocal opponents for defying his authority. Again, opponents of desegregation sought support from the Vatican, but L’Osservatore Romano called Rummel’s actions “admirable”.

Eventually desegregation would be accepted throughout the archdiocese.

See Time Magazine articles on the subject
See article on one of the excommunicated