Catholicism, the antebellum south
Catholicism and American slavery, let’s go to the antebellum south. Did all the bishops support slavery? No. Not even close.
This is a little piece looking at a great historical retcon—the smearing of John England, the first bishop of the Diocese of Charleston.
Gregory XVI’s Papal decree
Pope Gregory XVI issued a strong condemnation of slavery in 1839. The pope denouncing slavery, in 1839, cannot be understated. There were contemporaneous Catholic slave owners in the US—but it never even was close to the amount of slaves owned by non-Catholics. The Jesuits had some plantations with slaves, but slave ownership was essentially not a thing among Catholics in America.
These interventions and these sanctions by Our Predecessors did not a little, with the help of God, the Indians and the other aforesaid in defending them from the cruelty and greed of the invaders, that is, of the Christian merchants, but not enough to ensure that this Holy See could he rejoice at the full success of his efforts in this area; so that the trade in Negroes, although it has greatly diminished in many parts, is nevertheless still exercised by numerous Christians. For this reason We, wishing to make this crime disappear from all Christian lands, after having maturely considered the matter, also using the advice of Our Venerable Brother Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, following in the footsteps of Our Predecessors, with Our Apostolic authority admonish and we strongly implore in the Lord all faithful Christians of every condition that no one, from now on, dares to use violence or deprive anyone of their possessions or reduce anyone to slavery, or lend aid or favor to those who commit such crimes or wish to practice that 'unworthy trade with which the Negroes are reduced to slavery, as if they were not human beings, but pure and simple animals, without any distinction, against all rights of justice and humanity, sometimes assigning them to very hard jobs. Furthermore, whoever offers a hope of profit to the first raiders of the Negroes also provokes revolts and perpetual wars in their regions.
You won’t get kicked out of the church or refused communion, but there are very few things a Catholic can do that will actually entail excommunication. The subtext is clear enough in that quote and should become clearer by the end.
Unfortunately, for bishop John England, the historical record has been rewritten.
In—American Catholics: A History of the Roman Catholic Community in the United State, James J. Hennesey, published in 1983—there is an attempt to smear the man who not only was opposed to slavery, but opened a school for black children in Charleston, South Carolina, in the first half of the 1800s.
No Catholic bishop spoke for abolition in the prewar years. In 1840 John England explained to Van Buren's Secretary of State, John Forsyth, that Pope Gregory XVI had condemned the trade in slaves, but that no pope had ever condemned domestic slavery as it existed in the United States. The bishop's own fierce antipathy to abolitionists, as well as Forsyth's political use of the pope's letter to tar the Whig presidential candidate with a Catholic brush, led England to defend slavery with arguments from scripture and Christian tradition. Even the man who had opened a school for black children on his first arrival in Charleston, and who had been forced by local pressure to close it, and who declared that he was not "friendly to the existence or continuation of slavery," ended by going on record in its favor.
The citation for the previous quote can be found here. It’s a posthumous publication, supposedly composed of letters by John England to the secretary of state under Martin Van Buren.
John England died April 11, 1842. This was published posthumously in 1844. There are no signatures. There are no stamps.
Forgery
This quote is from the Introductory Note, not written by John England. Could it be any more clear? O’Connell is Daniel O'Connell, the Irish Catholic patriot.
The intemperate course which Mr. O'Connell has chosen to pursue in relation to a large portion of the American People, and his late most unwarrantable attempt to impart the semblance of religious authority, to his incendiary appeals concerning slavery, to his former fellow subjects, now citizens of these United States, have rendered it expedient, in the judgment of many persons, to reprint, together with the recent apostolical letter of the Sovereign Pontiff on the slave trade, the celebrated letters of Bishop England to the Honorable John Forsyth, on domestic slavery, in a form accessible to the great majority of readers.
Later on, supposedly penned by John England.
We have then in the teaching of the apostles nothing which contradicts the law of Moses, but we have much which corrects the cruelty of the Pagan practice.
If you don’t get it yet, Christians do not celebrate the law of Moses. Catholics believe in salvation through Jesus Christ. Passover is not a feast day among any Christians, and definitely not Catholics. The Nicene Creed, ring a bell? I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. The adjective apostolic, meaning relating to the Apostles, is in the Catholic equivalent of the Shahada.
This text is the result of someone creating a forgery with John England’s name, after he died. This is not a compilation of genuine historical documents authored by John England. Maybe I’m wrong, but I think not.
The historical record has been poisoned, an Irish Catholic bishop in antebellum South Carolina is being presented as a villain—but in his life, he lived to make the the descendants of people brought on boats in chattel slavery as prosperous as he could. And for that, he is a good man.
Unfortunately, goobers like Suzanne Krebsbach publish ridiculous articles like this. On the Charleston Diocese official website by the way.
Bishop Patrick Lynch, third bishop of Charleston, was a slave owner. He defended slavery, as did every other Southern bishop, but he did not consider it to be a “positive good,” in the language of other apologists, for the institution.
What a glib attitude. It’s not true, she probably knows it’s not true, but publishes it anyway.
Pope Gregory XVI was clear, it’s wrong to treat others in an unjust manner because of their race, and the Catholic church deeply condemns the practice of slavery. And John England believed that too.
Eventually reality with shine through.