COVE

In this display case, four published items from between 1876 and 2022 present the often contentious relationship between private Catholic schools and their surroundings. Though Catholics were present and active in the U.S. from its earliest days (the state of Maryland was founded to provide freedom to Catholics fleeing England; one Catholic signed the Declaration of Independence), they were not immune to sometimes violent persecution, as they were often negatively associated with "foreigners" or "immigrants" in early U.S. history and, more recently, are often negatively associated with Western ideologies seen as oppressive. Pennsylvania had plenty of "Catholic trouble." In Philadelphia in 1844, intense rioting and bloodshed occurred when Irish American homes and Catholic churches were attacked by anti-immigrant mobs. A 1919 article on Catholicism refers to the “intense prejudice against all things Catholic entertained in certain portions of Central Pennsylvania by the descendants of the original German protestant settlers”; a 2023 Letter to the Editor in PennLive expresses disgust with the "Cathlolic hierarchy" and a Harrisburg-area Catholic-school coach who "whined" about a match outcome from a game against a public school. In the clippings and images here, we find further evidence of generally anti-Catholic views, and one very positive report on a Catholic school's participation in a social event in Harrisburg.

1. "Tilden's 'Wolf at the Door - Gaunt and Hungry' - Don't Let Him In"

In this poster from the PA State Archives, an 1876 political drawing by the well-known cartoonist Thomas Nast that first appeared in Harper's Weekly is reproduced. A group of diverse public- school children, with school books and slates nearby, struggle to hold a snarling wolf from breaking down the door of their schoolroom. Behind them, Uncle Sam is ready to help protect them, his hand on his rifle. And on the wolf's collar is a tag naming the beast: "The Foreign Roman Church." The cartoon references public concerns over Catholic schools potentially receiving public money ( already available to public schools, which had been established in PA in 1834, with the Free School Act). The tug of war resulted in a strong anti-Catholic-school backlash. At about the time this was published, Harrisburg had approximately 25,000 Catholics, and there were already several Catholic schools established within the city's diocese. It was not until 1975 that the Supreme Court struck down aid to parochial schools in Pennsylvania, including aid for services to support disabled students.