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Catholics. Word study
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CATHOLICS
By the Civil War, over a million Irish Catholics, many driven by hunger, had come to the United
States. Most were working people. Anti-Catholic prejudice was so strong that, on a few
occasions, it broke out in mob violence. In 1844, two Catholic churches were burnt and 13 people
died in rioting that swept through the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. More often prejudice took the form of discrimination, particularly at the polls. By 1960, however, John F. Kennedy's presidential election victory put to rest the Catholic religion as an issue in national politics. (Kennedy was a Roman Catholic. )
Catholics were not shut out of public schools and hospitals but they wanted their own institutions. So they built their own schools, colleges and hospitals. Catholics believed that these institutions were needed to preserve their faith. Many Catholics now attend public schools and secular colleges. But Catholic institutions, especially in large cities, still serve large numbers of Catholics and a growing number of non-Catholics, who are attracted by the discipline and education offered in these schools.
By the 1950s, many Catholics had risen to positions of leadership, not only in labor unions, but in business and politics as well. As Catholics grew more confident about their place in American life, they began to challenge, not the basic idea of separation of Church and State, but the way American courts interpreted it. The costs of modern education had made their schools very expensive to maintain.
Catholics began to seek some way in which they could obtain public funds to help meet these expenses. Other private schools, not necessarily religious in origin or concern, also sought this help.
The lawmaking bodies of many states were sympathetic to these demands. But most attempts to provide help for religious schools were ruled unconstitutional (declared to violate the Constitution) by the Supreme Court of the United States. Giving public money to a religious school was held to violate the clause, or part, of the First Amendment which prohibits the establishment of religion. Public money for religious schools remains an issue in American politics in the 1980s.
If Catholics feel that government should support the non-religious aspects of private education, other American groups call for even less government connection to religion. Sunday closing laws were a real hardship to Jews and Seventh Day Adventists. In effect, they were forced to observe two Sabbaths, or days of rest—their own and the majority Christian one as well. Non-believers, and some religious people as well, objected to prayer and Bible reading in public schools. They thought that a modern government in a free society should be basically secular.
In 1962, the Supreme Court declared that prayer and Bible reading could not be used to start the day in public schools. Such activities, the court ruled, amounted to an establishment of religion. The Court decision was extremely unpopular. In 1983, a survey showed that eight out of 10 Americans favored amending the Constitution to allow prayer in school.
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GUIDE
WORD STUDY
I. Join the words to make word combination:
1. Temperance a. preacher
2. Lay b. consensus
3. Protestant c. movement
4. Circuit d. sin
5. Remorse for e. riders
6. Religious f. rest
7. Mob g. colleges
8. To put to h. violence
9. Secular i. enthusiasm
II. Give synonyms to the following words:
1. to disapprove
2. to accept
3. teetotalism
4. to exclude
5. baptism
6. ardent
7. crowd
III. Insert the required prepositions:
1. Evangelical religion was fervent …….. America and especially …………. the frontier.
2. Conversions or religious experiences …. God’s grace and remorse …… sin, were often very dramatic.
3. The slavery question caused a splitting ….. the Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian denominations which lasted ….. the 20th century.
4. Anti-catholic prejudice was so strong that, …… a few occasions, it broke … … mob violence.
5. John Kennedy’s presidential election victory put …. rest the Catholic religion as an issue …. national politics.
6. Catholics were not shut ….. …. public schools and hospitals.
7. Catholics grew more confident ….. their place in America.
8. But most attempts to provide help … religious schools were ruled unconstitutional …. the Supreme Court of the US.
IV. Define the following words;
1. Sabbaths
2. Denomination
3. Clergyman
4. Circuit rider
V. Form derivatives to the words in the table.
| Adjective | Noun | Verb |
| Condemn | ||
| Sinful | ||
| Exclusion | ||
| Remorseful | ||
| Immersion | ||
| Violate | ||
| Favourable | ||
| Confidence |
COMPREHENSION
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I. Explain the following:
1. Welcome to the ‘Second Awakening’.
2. Preach the message of man’s sinfulness and Christ’s redeeming grace.
3. These groups were interdenominational.
4. Lay preachers.
5. Teaching the theory of evolution to the exclusion of religious teaching.
6. Kennedy’s victory put to rest the Catholic religion as an issue in national politics.
7. Catholic prejudice broke out in a mob violence.
II. Answer the following questions:
1. How is Evangelical religion different from Liberal Protestant?
2. What did preachers do to attract more believers and convert non Christians into their religion?
3. How did evangelical preachers spread their dogmas?
4. What was their attitude towards slavery?
5. How were Catholics accepted in the US?
6. What is today’s position of Catholics in the American society?
7. What are the demands that contradict the USA lawmaking?
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