Patrick W. Carey

The Roman Catholics

Preface Roman Catholicism: A History Mission Catholicism: 1492-1840 A Free Church in Republican Period: 1776-1815 Crises and Immigrant Catholicism: 1815-1866 Toward Americanism: 1866-1899 Progressive Era Catholicism: 1900-1920 Alienation and Activism: 1920-1945 Cold War Catholicism: 1945-1965 Reform, Pluralism, and Conflict: 1965-1990 Biographical Dictionary of Roman Catholic Leaders Biographical Sketches Chronology Bibliographic Essay Index

John F. O. Fernandez: Enlightened Lay Catholic Reformer, 1815–1820

The American republican form of government and the effects of the Enlightenment upon the European Catholic church provided fertile ground for theological reflection and ecclesiastical adaptation in early nineteenth-century American Catholicism. A number of immigrant Catholic laymen were influenced by their previous European Catholic experiences and by the American enthusiasm for republicanism to reform their understanding of the laitys role in the American Catholic church and to adapt ecclesiastical structures to American political institutions. In light of these experiences, some of these laymen began to reflect upon the Christian Scriptures and tradition, and to formulate a democratic conception of the laymans role within the church.