Why do Catholics Fight Among Themselves

It's easy to generalize about who runs the Catholic Church and how. It is run by the Pope and his Bishops the claim is made. The history of the U.S. Catholic church, however, is one of very different Catholic groups. The Catholic faith arrived from different parts of the world and different times in the U.S. each setting up shop to reflect where and when they arrived. Each had a different history. These differences set the stage for the disagreements that remain in the faith today.

Early on Spanish armies forced Catholicism on native people in Mexico and the states of California, New Mexico and Texas. The thrust of this Catholic brand was the Virgin of Guadalupe. Later the French version came to the Midwest and this version was different than that of the Southwest and West. Still later came the version from England and Ireland that landed on the East coast. Still later was a wave of immigrants from Germany and Ireland. 

Today 1/5 of the U.S. are Catholic. Those who are Democrats have lots of disagreement with those who are Republican. Such folks disagree on moral values. There are differences even about women's rights to abortion and those who are opposed to abortion. Differences include support of gay marriage. Just as German Catholics are in favor of gay marriage so do a large percentage of U.S. Catholics. No one can argue the majority favors birth control.  

To hear some Catholic pundits the denomination was always opposed to slavery and segregation. Reality is the majority of Southern Catholics favored slavery and segregation. Lots of Catholics claim the faith was at the forefront of fairness to black people. Unfortunately it was not true Catholic fought for racial justice.

Black clergy were not to be found for much the faith's history. There were factions on both sides of the issue. The South's version of Catholicism was at odds with the version of the North.

It's hard to find evidence Catholics made our country better.