Religious liberty in brick and stone, not just ink and paper

The story of the Catholic faith in America is one of increasingly acceptance and assimilation of the Catholic population by a traditionally Protestant majority.  From a despised and vilified group representing only a few percent of the American population in the colonies, to the largest single religious group in the United States today, the story of Catholicism in the U.S. is a big part of the broader story of American religious liberty.  And that story is demonstrated not only in documents and the law but in the physical structures of Catholicism in America -- its churches, cathedrals, hospitals, universities, schools and social welfare institutions.

And so it was from the beginning.  With the establishment of American independence, the Church turned to ensuring that it would have a suitable "mother cathedral" for the new American nation. Headquartered in Baltimore, the traditional center of the Catholic population in America, the Church began its work.  And what a work it was, as this short book review over at The Imaginative Conservative recounts: America's First Cathedral. Well worth a read!