Plenary Councils of Baltimore

The Plenary Councils of Baltimore were three meetings of American Catholic bishops, archbishops and superiors of religious orders in the United States.

These three conferences played major roles in the 19th century in the establishment of Catholic education in the United States.

The Vatican granted the petition and appointed Archbishop Francis Kenrick of Baltimore as apostolic delegate, responsible for convening the first plenary conference in 1852 and presiding over it.

Teachers in many of the public schools were forcing Catholic students to read the Protestant bible and listen to derogatory information about "popery".

Major schisms had occurred in Norfolk, Virginia (1818) and Charleston, South Carolina, (1816) when Baltimore Archbishop Ambrose Maréchal fought with lay trustees over the appointment of priests.

[6][7] Bishop Francis Kenrick faced similar disputes with lay trustees in the 1830s in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania over the appointment of pastors and the ownership of parish property.

[1] Pope Pius IX approved the decrees in September 1852 after asking for the inclusion of language on the celebration of certain feast days and Kenrick published them the same month.

The First Council was viewed with alarm by many American Protestants, who feared that a strong Catholic hierarchy in the United States would give the pope more power in that country.

The nativist reaction to the increase in the Catholic population spawned anti-Catholic riots in Washington, D.C., St. Louis, Baltimore and other cities during the 1850s.

During this period, the need for Catholic schools had become more pressing as many states had enacted compulsory education laws for children.

The following topics are some of the topics that were covered: As with the First Council, the Second Council placed a great emphasis on Catholic education: Title III set specific standards of conduct for priests: Title XII forbids Catholic men from joining any fraternal society that requires an oath of secrecy.

[9] Pope Clement XII had specifically banned Catholics from joining any Freemasonry group in 1738 due to suspicions of the fellowship's activities.

[1] Part of Title 1 focuses on new religious sects and philosophical movements that the Vatican considered to be heresies: The decrees of the Second Council were approved by Pope Pius IX.