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Did you know a U.S. president arranged a Catholic wedding at the White House?
Editor’s Note: This post is adapted from 150 People, Places and Things You Never Knew Were Catholic (Our Sunday Visitor).
Everyone knows John F. Kennedy was the first Catholic U.S. president. He overcame a long history of anti-Catholicism in America and won at the polls despite cries of alarm that he would take “orders from the Pope.”
Yet Catholics have been connected to the White House throughout U.S. history. Multiple presidents, cognizant that they served all Americans, notwithstanding their religious affiliation, forged personal connections with Catholics that went beyond mere political considerations and revealed an underlying respect and appreciation for Catholicism.
John Adams, the second president, came from an old line of austere Congregationalist New Englanders. Yet his presidency enlarged his religious sympathies. After he left office in 1801, he wrote, “Ask me not whether I am Catholic, or Protestant, Calvinist or Arminian. As far as they are Christians, I wish to be a fellow disciple with them all.”
A staunch deist, Thomas Jefferson was initially accommodating to Catholicism — but only to a point. Before becoming president, he served as a diplomat in France and enrolled his beloved daughter, Martha, in a convent school. Ignoring the shrill criticisms of Protestants in America, he believed a Catholic education was best for her.
Continued below.
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Editor’s Note: This post is adapted from 150 People, Places and Things You Never Knew Were Catholic (Our Sunday Visitor).
Everyone knows John F. Kennedy was the first Catholic U.S. president. He overcame a long history of anti-Catholicism in America and won at the polls despite cries of alarm that he would take “orders from the Pope.”
Yet Catholics have been connected to the White House throughout U.S. history. Multiple presidents, cognizant that they served all Americans, notwithstanding their religious affiliation, forged personal connections with Catholics that went beyond mere political considerations and revealed an underlying respect and appreciation for Catholicism.
John Adams, the second president, came from an old line of austere Congregationalist New Englanders. Yet his presidency enlarged his religious sympathies. After he left office in 1801, he wrote, “Ask me not whether I am Catholic, or Protestant, Calvinist or Arminian. As far as they are Christians, I wish to be a fellow disciple with them all.”
A staunch deist, Thomas Jefferson was initially accommodating to Catholicism — but only to a point. Before becoming president, he served as a diplomat in France and enrolled his beloved daughter, Martha, in a convent school. Ignoring the shrill criticisms of Protestants in America, he believed a Catholic education was best for her.
Continued below.
The Friendship of Pope John Paul II and President Reagan — Plus More Commanders-in-Chief’s Catholic Connections
Did you know a U.S. president arranged a Catholic wedding at the White House?
