Tuesday, June 30, 2026

The forgotten history of the Catholic Church and the American Revolution

by James T. Keane June 25, 2026

Soldiers in Revolutionary War uniforms participate in a military parade to commemorate the U.S. Army's 250th Birthday in Washington June 14, 2025. Credit: OSV News photo/Carlos Barria, Reuters.

What provoked the American Revolution?

Economic conflict, Enlightenment ideologies and historical trends aside, among the leading proximate causes were the Coercive Acts of 1774, a number of British parliamentary decrees that came to be known on this side of the pond as the “Intolerable Acts.” The first four might fairly be considered revenge for the Boston Tea Party. First, the Boston Port Act authorized a blockade of Boston’s harbor until the locals paid up for the losses incurred by the British East India Company; next, the Massachusetts Government Act and the Administration of Justice Act both severely curtailed the authority of local government in the colonies (including over trials); and then the Quartering Act required locals to pay for the lodging of British soldiers in the colonies.

Migrants from Haiti near Huixtla, Mexico, are pictured in a file photo walking in a caravan heading to the U.S. border. Credit: OSV News photo/Jose Luis Gonzalez, Reuters

The hostility to immigrants enabled by yesterday’s Supreme Court decisions marks a profound moral failure in the American understanding of our national heritage. The court handed down two decisions in immigration cases that validate executive powers to reject and deport immigrants from the United States, no matter how terrible the outcomes or how xenophobic the executive’s motives.

The court allowed the administration, in one case, to terminate temporary protected status for Haitians and Syrians, making them unable to work in the United States and subject to deportation. Regarding Haitian T.P.S. holders, in particular, this would mean returning more than 300,000 people to a country dominated by gang violence, largely without a functioning government, to which Americans are warned against traveling and to whose capital city American commercial airlines are forbidden to fly.

A file photo shows a U.S. flag and a copy of the Pledge of Allegiance being held during a naturalization ceremony at the White House in Washington July 2, 2021 (OSV News photo/Kevin Lamarque, Reuters).

For several days in late June, a black Ford F-250 pickup with Wyoming plates took over multiple parking spaces on a street in my Brooklyn neighborhood. An outsized exhibit of compensatory masculine menace—knobby tires, raised suspension, bulging fenders—it was for good measure bristling with aggressively pro-Trump bumper stickers, decals, and banners. There were warnings and wisecracks about immigrants and trans people, the “Biden crime family” and “stolen” elections, the deep state and “leftist communist Democrats”—who, one message further declared, “suck.” Another wittily likened “wokeism” to sexually transmitted diseases. More than one depicted Trump as Jesus. Many insisted not only on the right to own firearms, but the duty to use them. “Don’t California My Wyoming,” said another, in petulant summation. Resting on its haunches like an AI-generated cryptid, the truck appeared ready to leap at the first passerby heedless enough to utter a liberal platitude. I took consolation in the fact that high gas prices resulting directly from the president’s war of choice in Iran would make the drive home a very expensive one.

Pope Leo proclaims Catholic Church's best-kept secret in 'Magnifica Humanitas'

Opinion

Pope Leo proclaims Catholic Church's best-kept secret in 'Magnifica Humanitas'

Thomas Reese, Religion News Service ncr

Bicentennial birthday greetings to America — including Dorothy Day's one-word message

A man dressed in a period costume including powdered wig speaks to crowds while a giant cake sits beside him in Washington, D.C., July 4, 1976, during celebrations for the nation's bicentennial. (AP)

News

Bicentennial birthday greetings to America — including Dorothy Day's one-word message

NCR Staff

At Border Mass 250, US bishops urge immigration reform, emphasize migrant dignity

Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, Archbishop John C. Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Phoenix Bishop John P. Dolan, and Bishop James A. Misko of Tucson, Arizona, lead a procession following Border Mass 250, at Sacred Heart Church in Nogales, Arizona, June 26, 2026. (OSV News/Bob Roller)

At Border Mass 250, US bishops urge immigration reform, emphasize migrant dignity

News

ncr

Anita Snow

'Neighboring the Dear Neighbor' workshop equips Catholics to support migrants

June 30, 2026

'Neighboring the Dear Neighbor' workshop equips Catholics to support migrants

Christine Schenk ncr

Monday, June 29, 2026