Our Latest
Lilies of the Field: The Back Story
Sidney Poitier won the first Oscar by a black man for his role in Lilies of the Field. The 1963 movie was produced on a shoe string budget in 14 days.
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St. John Neumann
Born in Prachatice, Bohemia, St. John Neumann was the fourth bishop of Philadelphia and a Redemptorist. He was known for humility, and deep concern for souls.
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The Carmelites of Port Tobacco
In 1790 four Carmelite nuns established a monastery at Port Tobacco, Maryland, making it the first women’s religious community in the new United States
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Revisiting Frank Capra
Frank Capra made good Catholic films, even when rarely using religious imagery and themes. Revisit him on this 75th anniversary of It’s a Wonderful Life
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Bernard Nathanson: Abortionist to Catholic Convert
Abortionist Bernard Nathanson co-founded NARAL and helped make abortion legal in the US. He later abandoned abortion and then became Catholic.
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Fr. Aloysius Schmitt & Pearl Harbor
Navy Chaplain Father Aloysius Schmitt had just finished Mass aboard the USS Oklahoma when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He died helping men to escape.
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Racial Integration of Catholic North Carolina
Bishop Vincent Waters led the integration of Catholic North Carolina as bishop of the Diocese of Raleigh before the Civil Rights Act passed the U.S. Congress.
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Lawrence Welk
Lawrence Welk was born in North Dakota, where his parents instilled a strong Catholic faith. The leader of The Lawrence Welk Show was a daily communicant.
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Father Augustus Tolton
Fr. Augustus Tolton was the first black priest in American history. He was born a slave, eventually studied in Rome, and was a beloved pastor.
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Father Francis Duffy
Father Francis Duffy was a seminary professor, chaplain to the Fighting 69th during World War I, and was a parish priest in New York City. He is memorialized in Times Square.
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St. Frances Xavier Cabrini
St. Frances Xavier Cabrini overcame odds her entire life to make a huge difference for Italian immigrants in America, through trust in God’s providence, and her own tenacity
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Wizard Clip
After the death of a stranger, manifestations of demonic possession required an exorcism by Fr. Prince Gallitzin in a place known as Wizard Clip.
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Tom and Noelle do a great job of telling the story of American Catholicism. Each episode is well researched and conveyed in a lively and interesting way. Highly recommend!
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Find The Stories from Your State!
Sharing the stories of the many and wondrous Catholic parts of American history.
Catholics around the globe remember and honor great men and women from all over the place, and all through the ages. We are a religion of tradition, a religion which remembers events, and cherishes places where those events took place. So many of these places are in Europe, the Middle East, the north of Africa, and east Asia, where great missionaries and great teachers spread the Gospel. Men like Peter and Paul, Augustine of Hippo, Francis Xavier, Patrick, Francis, Thomas Aquinas, Jerome, and so many more. And there are women like Teresa of Avila, Gertrude, Catherine of Siena, Mary Magdalene, Bridget, Veronica, Clare, and many, many more.
These men and women, and the things they did, are rightly venerated the world over.
But we Catholics in America have a remarkable history of our own. The men and women who brought the faith to these shores, who helped it to spread, who poured themselves out for Christ, all have stories and give examples that we owe it to ourselves to come to know.
And the story of the growth of the faith here is interwoven with the stories of our national history. In fact, Catholics were already active across much of the continent long before the founding of the United States.
American Catholics played significant roles in the founding of the United States, and then the growth and development of her laws and national customs. Catholics founded a number of her great cities. Catholics have been important members of every aspect of American life from government to popular culture, plus education, health care, athletics, civil rights activism, and more.
But far too few Catholics know these things.
This American Catholic History podcast exists to help introduce people to these remarkable men and women, the incredible events, and the sacred places that are our own right here in America.
Celebrating the Catholic History of America!
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