This Is the Catholic Church’s Podcast in the USA on the Occasion of the 250th Anniversary of Independence

(ZENIT News / Washington, D.C., 05.06.2026).-The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops presented a special series of its podcast, “Catholic Current”, to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence titled “America 250.”

The podcast aired its first episode on April 14: «Catholics and the Foundation,» a conversation between host Mara Moser and historian Michael Breidenbach, Ph.D., author of “Our Dear-Bought Liberty: Catholics and Religious Toleration in Early America”, is Associate Professor of History at Ave Maria University, and co-editor of “The Cambridge Companion to the First Amendment and Religious Liberty”.

“America 250” is just one of the many resources the Bishops are preparing to help Catholics celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. They will also be distributing articles, prayer resources, and special initiatives such as 250 Hours of Adoration and 250 Works of Mercy.

The first episode of America 250 depicts the lives of Catholics in the early 13 colonies, perhaps a little-known aspect of the Church’s role in the settlement of the South and West, where, according to Breidenbach, it was a minority and concentrated primarily in Maryland.

They practiced their faith quietly, Breidenbach says: «Devotion usually consisted of reading the Bible, attending Mass frequently, and receiving the Sacraments when possible. And sermons. The sermons we have are excellent, for example, those of Bishop John Carroll, the first Catholic Bishop (…). They focused on a virtue, whether a natural virtue like temperance or a theological virtue like charity, deeply rooted in Scripture.»

They were few in number and discreet in their devotion, but Catholics had a profound influence on the formation of the new nation. One form of change, says Breidenbach, was broadening their perspective of America. They were an international community, and the immigration of Catholics from all over the world to the colonies brought the diversity that became the defining characteristic of American society and the Catholic Church in the country.

The founding was a global phenomenon with people from England, Ireland, France, the German states, and the Caribbean. Breidenbach comments: «We have enslaved Catholics (…). And there is literature from England about the American Catholics who arrived. And that European Catholic immigrants came, and from the Caribbean, from the southern Spanish colonies, who shaped the American Catholic Church.»

Perhaps the most powerful contribution of Catholics to the founding of the United States, Breidenbach argues, was the role of Founding Catholics like the Carrolls, who secured religious freedom as a fundamental principle. Bishop John Carroll wrote newspaper articles against the existence of a religious examination for elected officials, and Charles Carroll, one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence, helped define the language on religious freedom in the First Amendment.

Catholics, Breidenbach notes, were initially viewed with suspicion among the predominantly Protestant colonists. But Catholics today can be proud of their role in building the new nation.

Breidenbach adds: «As we celebrate the 250th anniversary on July 4th, I think American Catholics should take stock not only of the incredible journey America has made, from a colonial experiment in which people frankly risked their lives to come to the colonies, construct shaky settlements, and try to carve out a place for themselves in a foreign land, with many arduous journeys from that time to today. And also of how Catholics were not only almost enemies — the Papists, as Protestants called Catholics in early America — but were also founders. Not just foreigners, but founders and founding editors!»