The EWTN News portal reports on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the United States’ Declaration of Independence, presenting a list of twelve “Catholic Americans” whose lives allegedly demonstrate that “love of God and love of country can go hand in hand.” The article, authored by Francesca Pollio Fenton, enumerates figures ranging from the first bishop John Carroll and the only Catholic signer of the Declaration Charles Carroll of Carrollton, through the Franciscan missionary Junípero Serra, the foundresses Elizabeth Ann Seton and Frances Xavier Cabrini, the journalists Daniel Rudd and Dorothy Day, the naval commander John Barry, the Americanist Archbishop John Ireland, the convert Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, the Black priest Augustus Tolton, to the media personality Fulton J. Sheen. The piece functions as a hagiography of the Americanist synthesis, canonizing the Masonic republic itself under the guise of Catholic patriotism. This celebration of the United States’ semiquincentenary by a putative Catholic media outlet constitutes a formal adhesion to the condemned heresy of Americanism, substituting the Social Kingship of Christ with the idolatrous worship of a nation conceived in rebellion against the Catholic order.
The Heresy of Americanism Enthroned as Catholic Virtue
The article’s central thesis — that “Catholics were not always welcomed with open arms in the new America, many Catholics went on to play an indispensable role in building the country, demonstrating that love of God and love of country can go hand in hand” — is a textbook definition of the heresy condemned by Leo XIII in Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae (1899). The Pope denounced the “phantom” of Americanism which “confounds the license of nature with the liberty of the sons of God” and holds that “the Church in America would prosper more if, without abandoning her doctrine, she accommodated her discipline to the genius and customs of the people.” The EWTN piece does precisely this: it accommodates the Catholic faith to the “genius” of the American republic, presenting the two as harmonious partners.
The Syllabus of Errors (1864) explicitly condemns the proposition that “The Roman Pontiff can, and ought to, reconcile himself, and come to terms with progress, liberalism and modern civilization” (Error 80). Pius IX further anathematized the assertion that “In the present day it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion should be held as the only religion of the State, to the exclusion of all other forms of worship” (Error 77). The United States Constitution, with its First Amendment establishment of religious indifferentism, is the institutional embodiment of these condemned errors. To celebrate Catholic participation in “building the country” is to celebrate the construction of a society explicitly founded on the denial of Christ’s Kingship over nations.
Pius XI in Quas Primas (1925), provided in the context files, teaches unequivocally: “When God and Jesus Christ – as we lamented – were removed from laws and states and when authority was derived not from God but from men, the foundations of that authority were destroyed, because the main reason why some have the right to command and others have the duty to obey was removed.” The American founding did exactly this: it derived authority from “the consent of the governed” rather than from God. The article’s praise of Charles Carroll of Carrollton for helping “ratify the Constitution” is praise for the entrenchment of this anti-Catholic principle.
The Carroll Dynasty: Architects of the Americanist Compromise
The article leads with Archbishop John Carroll and his cousin Charles Carroll of Carrollton, presenting them as paragons of Catholic patriotism. John Carroll, the first bishop of the American hierarchy, was the principal architect of the “Americanist” accommodation. He advocated for the adaptation of Church discipline to republican ideals, supported the lay trusteeism that undermined episcopal authority, and famously wrote in 1790 that “the Catholic religion in this country will flourish more by being free from the shackles of a foreign jurisdiction” — meaning the Holy See. His “Georgetown College” became the seedbed of the liberal Catholicism that would later produce the Modernist crisis.
Charles Carroll, the only Catholic signer of the Declaration, is held up as proof that “one could be both faithfully Catholic and deeply patriotic.” This is a lie. The Declaration of Independence is a Masonic document rooted in Lockean naturalism, asserting rights derived from “Nature’s God” — the deist watchmaker — not the Triune God of revelation. By signing it, Carroll legitimized a political order that placed the Catholic Church on equal footing with “all other forms of worship” (Syllabus, Error 77). His subsequent service as a U.S. Senator under the Constitution cemented the subordination of the Church to the secular state. The article’s celebration of the Carrolls is a celebration of the concordia discors — the discordant harmony — between the Church and the Masonic republic.
Junípero Serra: Missionary of the Cross or Agent of Colonialism?
The inclusion of Junípero Serra is particularly insidious. The article acknowledges the “debate due to the broader Spanish colonial system and its effects on Indigenous communities” but quickly dismisses it by claiming Serra “often advocated for better treatment of Indigenous peoples within that system.” This is the language of the modernist apologist, not the Catholic missionary. The true Catholic missionary seeks the conversion of souls to the one true Faith, not “better treatment” within a colonial system. The Spanish missions were indeed instruments of the Reconquista spirit, extending the Social Kingship of Christ. But the article frames Serra’s work in secular terms: “centers of evangelization, agriculture, education, and community life… playing a significant role in the early development of what would later become the state of California.” The “state of California” is a Masonic entity; the Kingdom of Christ is the only end that justifies missionary labor.
Moreover, Serra’s canonization by the antipope Francis in 2015 — after a process that ignored the traditional requirement of miracles and was driven by political expediency — renders his “sainthood” null and void in the eyes of the true Church. The article’s uncritical use of the title “St.” for a post-conciliar “canonization” is an act of communion with the usurpers.
The Americanist Hierarchy: John Ireland and the “Fully American” Catholic
Archbishop John Ireland is presented as a hero who “championed public education, welcomed immigrants, encouraged civic participation, and promoted the idea that Catholics could be fully American while remaining faithful to the Church.” This is the precise error condemned in Testem Benevolentiae: the belief that the Church must become “American” to thrive. Ireland was the leader of the “liberal” faction at the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore (1884), pushing for Catholic participation in public schools — a direct violation of the Syllabus (Error 47: “The best theory of civil society requires that popular schools… should be freed from all ecclesiastical authority”). He founded the Catholic University of America as a vehicle for Americanizing the clergy. His “fully American” Catholicism produced the Modernism of the 20th century. The article’s praise of Ireland is praise for the dissolution of Catholic identity into the secular state.
False Saints of the Conciliar Sect: Seton, Cabrini, Tolton, Sheen, Day
The article lists five individuals declared “saints,” “venerables,” or “servants of God” by the post-conciliar antipopes: Elizabeth Ann Seton (canonized 1975 by Paul VI), Frances Xavier Cabrini (canonized 1946 by Pius XII — the last valid canonization before the vacancy, but celebrated here in an Americanist context), Augustus Tolton (declared Venerable 2019 by Francis), Fulton Sheen (beatification scheduled 2024 by Francis), and Dorothy Day (cause opened 2000 by John Paul II).
Since the death of Pius XII in 1958, the See of Peter has been vacant. The men claiming to be popes — John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Francis, and now Leo XIV (Robert Prevost) — are manifest heretics who have automatically lost all jurisdiction (ipso facto) according to the teaching of St. Robert Bellarmine, Wernz and Vidal, and Canon 188.4 of the 1917 Code, as documented in the provided “Defense of Sedevacantism” file. Bellarmine states: “A manifest heretic cannot be Pope… he cannot be the head of something of which he is not a member.” The “canonizations” and “beatifications” performed by these antipopes are null, void, and of no effect (nulla, irrita, et invalida). They are acts of a pseudo-magisterium with no authority.
Elizabeth Ann Seton’s “Sisters of Charity” became the engine of the parochial school system that eventually capitulated to state accreditation and secular curricula. Frances Xavier Cabrini’s work among immigrants, while corporally merciful, was co-opted into the “melting pot” ideology that stripped immigrants of their Catholic culture. Augustus Tolton’s tragedy was real, but his “venerable” declaration by Francis serves the conciliar sect’s narrative of “inclusion” rather than the conversion of the Black population to the integral Faith. Fulton Sheen, the “first religious media personality,” represents the novus ordo of evangelization: television replacing the pulpit, personality replacing doctrine. His scheduled beatification by Francis is a canonization of the media age. Dorothy Day, the pacifist anarchist who praised Castro and Ho Chi Minh, is the patron saint of the “Catholic Left” — her cause is a political project of the conciliar sect.
The article’s uncritical use of “St.,” “Venerable,” “Servant of God” for these figures is not mere journalistic convention; it is an act of recognition of the false magisterium of the antipopes.
Daniel Rudd and the “Black Catholic” Identity Politics
Daniel Rudd is praised for founding the “American Catholic Tribune” and organizing the “National Black Catholic Congress,” believing “the Catholic Church had a unique role to play in promoting racial equality and justice.” This is the language of Masonic fraternity (liberté, égalité, fraternité), not Catholic theology. The Church’s role is the salvation of souls through the sacraments and the preaching of the Gospel. “Racial equality and justice” as primary goals are the substitution of the City of Man for the City of God. Rudd’s project was the precursor of the “Black Catholic” identity movement that today serves the DEI agenda of the conciliar sect. The article’s framing reveals its secular humanist anthropology: man is defined by race and rights, not by his supernatural vocation.
Rose Hawthorne Lathrop and Dorothy Day: Sentimental Humanism Masquerading as Charity
Rose Hawthorne Lathrop (Mother Mary Alphonsa) is celebrated for “pioneering a ministry that anticipated many aspects of modern hospice care” and “witnessing to the dignity of every human person.” Dorothy Day is lauded for “houses of hospitality,” “peace, human dignity, and social justice.” Notice the vocabulary: “hospice care,” “human dignity,” “social justice,” “marginalized.” This is the language of the United Nations and the Masonic “Rights of Man,” not the language of the Gospel. Catholic charity is caritas — love of God poured into the heart (Rom 5:5) — ordered to the eternal salvation of the recipient. It is not “end-of-life care” or “social activism.” The article reduces the corporal works of mercy to secular social work, stripping them of their supernatural finality. This is the “horizontalism” condemned by Pius XII and the very essence of the conciliar deformation.
Fulton Sheen: The Media Messiah of the Conciliar Church
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen is presented as “one of America’s first religious media personalities” whose “engaging style brought Catholic teaching into millions of American homes.” Sheen’s “Life Is Worth Living” was a television show, not a mission. His “clarity and humor” made Catholicism “accessible” — i.e., palatable to the modernist sensibility. Sheen never publicly resisted the liturgical revolution, the doctrinal ambiguities of Vatican II, or the New Mass. He died in 1979, fully incorporated into the conciliar structure. His scheduled beatification by Francis is the conciliar sect canonizing its own propaganda apparatus. The article’s description of him as “one of the country’s most influential evangelists” measures success by audience share, not by conversions to the integral Faith.
The Silence on the Social Kingship of Christ: The Gravest Accusation
The article’s most damning feature is what it omits entirely: not a single mention of the Social Kingship of Christ, the duty of the State to profess the Catholic Faith, the condemnation of religious liberty, the Syllabus of Errors, Quas Primas, Testem Benevolentiae, or the Masonic nature of the American founding. The “12 Catholic Americans” are presented as heroes of a nation that Pius IX called a “pest” (Socialism, Communism, Secret Societies section of the Syllabus) and that Leo XIII identified as the theater of the Americanist heresy. The article celebrates the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place (Matt 24:15) — the Masonic republic — as a field for Catholic apostolate.
Pius XI in Quas Primas declares: “Let rulers of states therefore not refuse public veneration and obedience to the reigning Christ, but let them fulfill this duty themselves and with their people, if they wish to maintain their authority inviolate and contribute to the increase of their homeland’s happiness.” The United States has refused this duty for 250 years. The article calls this refusal a “lasting mark on the United States” worthy of celebration.
EWTN: The Propaganda Arm of the Conciliar Sect
The source — EWTN News, the media network founded by Mother Angelica — is the premier propaganda organ of the “neo-church,” the “paramasonic structure” occupying the Vatican. Its “staff reporter” Francesca Pollio Fenton covers “faith-based movies and entertainment,” interviewing actors like Jonathan Roumie (star of the sentimentalized “The Chosen” series). This is the cult of man in its purest form: Catholicism reduced to content, entertainment, and “inspiring stories.” The article is not journalism; it is liturgy for the civil religion of Americanism.
The article concludes with a subscription prompt: “I agree to receive communications from EWTN.” The true Catholic agrees to receive communications from the true Church — the remnant faithful to the integral Tradition, the valid sacraments, and the true Pope (sede vacante since 1958).
Conclusion: The Nation as Idol
The EWTN article is a profession of faith in the American idol. It takes twelve Catholics — some genuinely holy, some Modernist tools — and presses them into the service of the Masonic republic’s 250th birthday. It declares that the City of Man and the City of God are not only compatible but mutually enriching. This is the non serviam of Americanism: we will serve Christ, but only on America’s terms. The true Catholic response is that of the Cristeros: ¡Viva Cristo Rey! — not “God and Country,” but Christ the King, and Country only insofar as it submits to Him. The United States, founded on the denial of His Kingship, can never be a Catholic nation until it publicly abjures its Constitution, recognizes the Catholic Church as the sole true religion, and consecrates itself to the Sacred Heart — not as a private devotion, but as a public act of the State. Until then, every “Catholic American” who “helped shape the United States” helped build the civitas diaboli. The article is not a tribute; it is an indictment.
Source:
12 Catholic Americans who helped shape the United States (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 04.07.2026