Catholicism in Kentucky: Father Stephen Theodore Badin
In the history of the early United States, religion plays a prominent role. In many cases, this history is that of various Protestant denominations, including Methodists and Presbyterians. However, Catholicism also played a vital role. Catholics first came to America and settled in Maryland, a colony which Lord Baltimore, a Catholic, founded. Maryland allowed religious freedom, to the benefit of Catholic immigrants to America. This is of course, exempting French and Spanish Catholics in the colonies or territories of those nations in America, in which Catholics and Catholic clergy were numerous. However, when it comes to Catholicism in the English colonies, Maryland is its center. Baltimore became the first Catholic diocese in America and Father John Carroll, a former Jesuit priest, became her first bishop in 1789. [1] As settlers expanded westward in the U...