Catholicism in America

Catholicism in America
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In the late 19th Century and early 20th Century, Catholics were mostly concentrated in industrial towns and mining centers in the Northeast, unlike the South dominated by Protestant farmers. At the time, the Catholic population was a tiny majority mainly being from English backgrounds. Immigration during the time played a role in transforming the American Catholic population, and subsequent changes of laws from the 1920’s introduced restrictions to the number of immigrants to America. Demographics shifts, urbanization and increased independence from Rome showed the trending trends among American Catholics.
In the late 19th century and early 20th century, increased immigration of Irish Catholics led to a dramatic increase in the number of Catholic adherents in the U.S. The population became more diverse transforming from a minority who were rich and educated to a population that settled in rural areas but increasingly chose urban areas. Nonetheless, the immigrants also came from a diverse background resulting to diversity among the Catholic faithful. As the immigrants tended to come from poorer backgrounds, the main aim of migration was to seek better opportunities in America away from economic hardships in Europe with the Irish and to an extent Italian, German and Polish Americans being the predominant Catholic communities.
The American society increasingly became industrialized during the late 19th century and early 20th century. The result was that more people moved to urban areas and this influenced Catholicism in America. Catholics increasingly favored the separation of State and religion like Protestants, and this caused rifts with Rome. This showed that despite changing...