LATROBE, PA – Dr. Jerome C. Foss, assistant vice president of academic affairs and Core Curriculum at Saint Vincent College, recently penned a commentary for the National Catholic Register discussing how the Declaration of Independence marked the beginning of Catholic freedom in the English-speaking parts of North America.
The commentary, titled “How the Declaration Paved the Way for Catholic Freedom in America,” was published on July 31.
Foss contends that American Catholics have forgotten much of their history, including the fact that it was illegal to practice the Catholic faith in the original 13 colonies. The few priests in existence in colonial America remained mostly hidden, celebrated Mass in private homes and traveled great distances to administer sacraments.
“Virtually all Catholics in colonial America were disenfranchised and barred from holding public office,” Foss wrote. “They could not fully participate as coequal members of their local communities.”
Foss also discusses the Carroll family of Maryland, including Charles, who was the only Catholic signatory of the Declaration of Independence. His cousin, John, became the nation’s first Catholic bishop, overseeing the Diocese of Baltimore. Another cousin, Daniel, served in Congress and helped defend the language of what would become the First Amendment to the Constitution.
“All Americans should spend this year of the semiquincentennial celebrating our republic. American Catholics, however, have an additional reason to celebrate. The past 250 years have seen tremendous growth for the Church in America,” Foss wrote. “We should be proud to join Charles Carroll in pledging our lives, fortunes and sacred honor to the political principles that have provided, ‘with a firm reliance on divine Providence,’ fertile ground for the works of the Holy Spirit—the true spirit of 1776.”
Foss also serves the College as the founding director of SVC Honors and as a professor of political science in the Alex G. McKenna School of Business, Economics and Government. He is also the founding director of the Center for Catholic Thought and Culture at the College, and in November 2021 earned the Thoburn Excellence in Teaching Award.
