ALERT: New Anti-Catholicism Sweeps America!

The anti-catholic cartoon above was published by Harper's Weekly in 1875.

The anti-catholic cartoon below was published by the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2007.

(WND) - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport in Connecticut has filed a federal lawsuit following assertions by a state official that rallying church members at the Capitol in Hartford constitutes a violation of lobbying law.

Six weeks after 4,000 Catholics in Connecticut rallied in opposition to a proposed state law known as Bill 1098, which dictated local parishes reorganize their governing structures to substitute lay leaders for priests in oversight of finances , the Diocese of Bridgeport received a letter from Connecticut's Office of State Ethics informing it that an investigation was underway to ascertain if the diocese had violated state law by failing to register as a lobbyist organization.

"Following the surprise introduction of Bill 1098," said Diocese Bishop William E. Lori in a statement, "a proposal that singled out Catholic parishes and would have forced them to reorganize contrary to church law and the First Amendment, our diocese responded in the most natural, spontaneous, and frankly, American, of ways: we alerted our membership – in person and through our website; we encouraged them to exercise
their free speech by contacting their elected representatives; and we organized a rally at the State Capitol. How can this possibly be called lobbying?"

Nonetheless, the lawsuit states, in a meeting with church representatives one month following the investigation letter, the ethics enforcement officer of the state OSE, Thomas K. Jones, told church representatives that the rally in Hartford and statements on the diocese website constituted a sufficient basis to file a complaint.

Consequently, a complaint from Jones could lead to imposition of a $10,000 fine and even possible criminal charges against the diocese. Furthermore, to become a registered lobbyist, the diocese would have to comply with reporting requirements, submit to audits and wear badges at the Capitol...

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THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: This is the beginning of a long trend which will define the civil rights of Catholics for the next few decades. Yes, the United States of America has ALWAYS had an anti-Catholic streak going all the way back to pre-Revolution English colonial days. The State of Maryland (originally the "Mary Land Colony") was founded as a safe haven for Catholics seeking refuge from Protestant driven persecution in the other twelve English colonies. Originally American anti-Catholicism was a Protestant driven phenomenon. Then in the 1800s it became a Freemason driven phenomenon. We saw the last gasp of Protestant/Masonic anti-Catholicism during the 1928 presidential election, when Governor Al Smith (a Catholic) was defeated in a negative campaign that questioned his ability to serve as president because of his Catholic loyalties to the Church and the pope. When all the votes were counted, he only carried two New England states and the deep South states.

A lot of time has passed since 1928, and since then America has had it's first and only Catholic president in 1961 through 1963 - who happened to be assassinated by the way. While the old Protestant anti-Catholicism still remains in some Evangelical and Pentecostal circles, the Masonic anti-Catholicism has faded into the history books (at least in the United States anyway). It has been replaced by a new Secular Liberal anti-Catholicism which is far more venomous and much more willing to abuse the power of government to express itself. For example; in 2006 the City of San Francisco passed a resolution condemning the Catholic Church outright, and called upon San Franciscan Catholics to rebel against Church teaching. In 2007 the Louisiana Democratic Party launched an anti-Catholic campaign blitz against then gubernatorial candidate Bobby Jindal based entirely on his staunch Catholic beliefs. During the confirmation hearings of practicing Catholic nominees to the Supreme Court (John Roberts and Samuel Alito) the mainstream news media went on an anti-Catholic frenzy. Some Democratic senators conducting the confirmation hearing followed up with questions that called the patriotism of Roberts and Alito into question, with the implication that their staunch Catholic faith somehow disqualified them. The list of examples goes on and on.

The new Secular Liberal anti-Catholicism is far more insidious and more subtle than it's predecessors among 19th century Masons and 18th century Protestants. Basically this is how it works. Cafeteria Catholics, who oppose the Church's teachings, are rewarded in every way possible. For example; you won't see a high ranking Catholic in the Democratic Party unless he or she specifically opposes Church teaching on most social issues.  Virtually all high ranking Catholics in the Democratic Party are high ranking specifically because of their opposition to the Catholic Church.  This is how the Secular Left rewards them.  While Practicing Catholics, who believe and obey the Church's teachings, are villainized and marginalized in every way possible.

In recent years, however, what we're starting to see is something more bold. As we saw in the article above, and in the 2006 anti-Catholic measure in San Francisco, City and State governments controlled by Secular Liberals, are now passing resolutions and regulations that actually target the Catholic Church specifically, even to the exclusion of all other churches and charitable institutions. In the years ahead we can only expect this to get worse, and it will probably be the defining civil-rights issue for Catholics over the next few decades.  Expect to see a lot more anti-Catholic legislation coming out of the West Coast and the New England states in the years ahead, where Secular Liberalism is concentrated and controls most of the governing authorities.