We often hear the claim that the United States was built on the foundation of Judeo-Christian principles and that we have always been a Christian country. From a certain perspective, that is certainly true. Though I have to admit, it is a concept that I personally struggle to completely buy into.
The American Revolution was heavily influenced by the Enlightenment movement that was taking place in Europe, which, among other things, represented a seismic paradigm shift to a more secular way to interpret the world, an interpretation that focused on personal liberty and rejection of authority…including the Catholic Church.
At least some of our founding fathers were not Christian at all, but rather Deists, at best, and many of them were actually Freemasons, which are extremely anti-Christian in their philosophical views.
In fact, there is a line in our Declaration of Independence that is specifically targeted against Catholicism.
Fun fact for you, if this line had not been in the Declaration of Independence, there is a chance that Quebec (a very Catholic Quebec at the time) would have joined the American Revolution.
As much as it has become a joke on the internet recently, without this line in the Declaration of Independence, it is quite possible that Canada really could be part of the United States.
The line from the Declaration of Independence I am referring to goes like this, “Abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies.”
Just hearing the words, perhaps it doesn't sound so bad, but in fact, the cousin of the one and only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence was excommunicated for this one line.
The backstory of this line is that in 1774, the First Continental Congress of the American revolution condemned Quebec for “establishing the Roman Catholic religion and erecting a tyranny there”. Circumstantial evidence that the founding philosophies of our country, at the very least, included a belief that Catholicism equates to ’tyranny’.
We see the unfortunate fruits of the Enlightenment philosophy and secular worldview, not only in statements like this one from the Declaration of Independence, but in many aspects of our lives today. Our governments are broken. Our society and culture are broken. Perhaps even some of our families are broken.
We conflate liberty and freedom to the point that we are no longer free. We must remember that liberty is the right to do what you want to do. Meanwhile, true freedom is so much more powerful. Freedom is the power to do what is morally right. Freedom is the power to do the will of God.
When we choose to exercise liberty over freedom, we are not really free at all. We become slaves to something. At the highest level, we risk becoming slaves to…this country is slave to…human secularism.
Human secularism is the fruit of the Enlightenment taken to its extremes. This fruit of the Enlightenment has been promulgated by Freemasonry and sadly even many non-Catholic ecclesial communities.
But there is hope. If we look back through the short history of the United States, we can see the fingerprints of Mary. We see Mary forming a Catholic Culture within the one sole Catholic colony that bears her holy name still today as a state. Maryland. Mary’s land, a land where Catholic Culture was established, nurtured, and expanded into the new republic.
It was Catholics in the Maryland colony that initially fought for the Maryland Toleration Act, which allowed specific groups to practice their faith without the risk of retribution.
Components of the Maryland Toleration Act would later serve as inspiration for the first Amendment to the Constitution.
There is a pious legend of an apparition of our Lady at Valley Forge, encouraging the troops to continue on during some of the darkest days of the Revolutionary War.
If the legend is true, then it most likely is not because the United States has some special role in salvation history. After all, we are not Millennialists, nor are we Christian Nationalists. It seems to me that it would be so we, each and everyone of us, could have the privilege of being Catholic today.
In 1790, President George Washington would formally recognize the “important assistance” of Catholics in the Revolution. In fact, there is wide-spread belief that George Washington, perhaps influenced by the events at Valley Forge, would die a Catholic and that the Mount Vernon estate contained a pastel painting of the Blessed Virgin.
Fast forward to the War of 1812, the United States was perilously close to defeat when the Battle of New Orleans started.
Had England won this battle, the war would have most certainly been over and the existence of the United States extremely short.
In a way, this was like the Battle of Lepanto for America, where Our Lady of Prompt Succor delivered a decisive victory over a hopelessly overwhelming force.
In 1815, General Andrew Jackson (far from being a Catholic), would state, “The divine providence of God through the intercession of Our Lady of Prompt Succor has shielded us and granted this stupendous miracle.”
While our country, our society, and our culture is currently captive to the real tyranny of human secularism, we must always remember where our true hope lies. We must always remember where our true strength lies. We must always remember where our true freedom lies. We must always remember that reality is grounded in the sacramental life of the Catholic Church and through living out the beatitudes by the grace of God. In short, to be like Matthew, to follow Him.
As we celebrate our independence today, let us truly be grateful that we live in a land where we have license to practice the faith of the Apostles to the fullest extent possible.
Therefore, let us never, ever take the Eucharist, and the sacramental life of the Catholic Church for granted.
At the same time, let us always remember the ultimate source of our true independence: the absolute Truth of Jesus Christ as He continues to communicate His Truth to us through His One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. Through the sacramental life, He speaks his peace to us.
As we enter now into the fullest expression of Thanksgiving possible through the Liturgy of the Eucharist, let us truly give thanks to the Lord for He is good to those who live in His freedom, His peace, and His Truth.
Thanks be to God!
