Catholic history of Civil War era blends scholarship, storytelling

(CNS photo)

"Faith and Fury" by Father Charles P. Connor aptly describes the atmosphere that 19th-century American Catholics must have experienced. Then, waves of Irish and German Catholic immigrants invigorated the church and also encountered nativist rage and violence from the Protestant majority.

Debates about slavery's morality swirled everywhere, not only in the halls of government but also in the churches. There was no respite from sharply divisive conflicts and moral soul-searching. When war finally came in 1861, Catholics on both sides, convinced of their righteousness, implored God to grant them victory.