Brother
John M. Samaha, S.M.
The
Year of Faith proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI marks the 50th
anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council and the 20th
anniversary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. From October 11, 2012, to November 24, 2013,
we are invited to open the door of faith and re-value our U.S. Catholic origins
and catechetical efforts.
After
the American Revolutionary War was settled in favor of the colonies and the new
nation formed its independent government, John Carroll was appointed the first
Bishop of Baltimore. He was ordained
bishop on August 15, 1790, and soon after named his cathedral church for Mary’s
Assumption.
John
Carroll, a native of Maryland, was ordained to the episcopacy on the feast of
Mary’s Assumption in 1790 in St. Mary’s Chapel at Ludworth Castle in
England. This was the Weld family’s
ancestral home. The Weld family had been
staunch Catholics for centuries before, during, and after the Protestant
Reformation. John Carroll of Maryland
chose this historic setting, and Bishop Charles Walmsley was the ordaining
prelate.
The
new diocese included the entire U.S.A., and Bishop John Carroll became shepherd
for about 35,000 Catholics in a national population of four million. Catholicism began to flourish in many areas.
For the next quarter-century the new bishop set
the pattern for the growth of the Catholic Church in the United States. He shaped a creative and dynamic role for
Catholicism in a new type of country guided by a new form of government.
When
the new diocese was a year old, Bishop Carroll convened a synod, a formal
meeting of his clergy. The diocesan
synod addressed the pastoral needs of the faithful and set pastoral
policies. Twenty priests gathered at the
bishop’s house in Baltimore on November 7, 1791. The
first session of the diocesan synod dealt with policies for administering
Baptism and Confirmation. The following
four sessions
developed guidelines for admitting children to
First Holy Communion and Reconciliation, faculties for the priests of the
diocese, Matrimony, and religious education.
This synod was acclaimed a success both at home and abroad. Its organization and manner of governance
influenced the provincial and plenary councils of the nineteenth century and
beyond. Already the seeds were being
sown for the Baltimore Catechism. Bishop
Carroll’s commitment as an attentive, teacher, bishop, and shepherd was clearly
evident.
In
the ensuing years Bishop John Carroll continued to promote the establishment of
Catholic schools, the institution of religious congregations, and the creation
of new parishes and dioceses. He was
effective in molding a healthy Church in his far-flung diocese, which included
the original thirteen states, the Northwest Territory, and the vast Louisiana
Purchase. He is rightly credited with
building a firm foundation on which the American Church would grow.
When
Pope Pius VII established in 1808 the dioceses of Boston and Bardstown, Baltimore
became an archdiocese and John Carroll the first archbishop in the U.S.A.
In
1815 Archbishop John Carroll died.
Catholicism had grown steadily.
The number of faithful increased fourfold, and the clergy doubled in
number. Carroll had established three
seminaries, three colleges for men, and several academies for women. He encouraged religious congregations to
spread to the frontiers, and they flourished across the country. Archbishop Carroll had guided the infant
Church in the new republic with faith, wisdom, and kindness.
This
Year of Faith affords us a special opportunity to recall and appreciate our
past history, and to review and renew our baptismal commitment to the present
and future. In celebrating this year the
twentieth anniversary of the Catechism of
the Catholic Church, let us value also the contribution of the Baltimore Catechism to our early
religious education.
.JPG)
