USA ... it seems that there’s a basic conflict between Catholicism and the principles that are increasingly defined as normative by public authorities in America. So what do we do?

Cultural Assimilation: A Threat to Catholic Identity

by James Kalb

For the most part, American Catholics have wanted to be like other people. They arrived in America as immigrants from places where they had a definite (if sometimes lowly) position. They left that for a country where social positions were fluid, they would be held in contempt if they stayed as they were, and they could rise to the heights if they Americanized.

So they became dedicated Americans. They were used to being part of the social whole, and that was the way to be part of it here. What they lost in security of position by moving to the New World they could, if they gave themselves whole-heartedly to their new way of life, gain in eminence and (as it seemed) freedom to go their own way.

And going their own way is what people want here. America’s the land of opportunity, where anybody can become anything. We’re all independent individuals, and we don’t like labels, so background and connections aren’t supposed to matter. If a candidate for office is Catholic that’s not supposed to be an issue. Each of us has a mind and will of his own, so we should be judged individually and not lumped together.

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