From the Archives

Anti-Catholic prejudice was certainly alive and well in the early years of the Church in Oklahoma. There were isolated incidents of cooperation between Catholicism and other Christian denominations, but it was not the norm by any means.

The fear of immigrants as foreigners and their European bishop and clergy stoked the fires of hate. From statehood until the mid-1920s, persecution of the Church was pronounced. There was something decidedly un-American about not sending children to public schools and the Knights of Columbus was viewed as a dangerous organization. Attempts were even made to pass legislation to inspect convents. Publications vilifying the Catholic faith were rampant, as were lecturers who toured the state making a living off attacking the Church.

In 1917, the Bone-Dry Law prohibited alcohol from being imported or manufactured in Oklahoma. No exemption was thought to be needed until it became painfully obvious the prohibition included sacramental wine. The effect was devastating because the law rendered Mass illegal.

Chancellor of the Diocese of Oklahoma, Father Urban De Hasque, hired the team of Frank Wilson, Mont Highly and John Shirk to challenge the law. Eventually, it was appealed to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, and the court ruled in favor of the diocese and overturned the sacramental wine prohibition.

To prove their patriotism during the First World War, parishes participated in bond drives and school children joined the Oklahoma School Patriotic League.

The end of the war saw an upswing in membership in the Ku Klux Klan in Oklahoma. It is believed that over 70,000 belonged to the Klan in the early 1920s and the “Catholic Home” diocesan publication stated, “deep-rooted prejudice has a hold on the Southwest in general and Oklahoma in particular.”

In 1922, a petition circulated to require all children to attend public schools. The governor’s race was between Jack Walton, Oklahoma City mayor, and R. H. Wilson, superintendent of public instruction an prominent Klan member. Catholics voted in sizable numbers to help defeat Wilson and the Catholic vote became a force in Oklahoma politics.

The tide began to turn after this election, and prejudice against Catholics waned, but was not alleviated entirely.

Father Jim White, a historian, believes that “the man who would do much to raise the cloud of suspicion that hung over the catholic Church in Oklahoma was Francis Clement Kelley, the state’s second bishop.” 

Those who despised the Church pointed to the Belgian Bishop Meerschaert, the first bishop of Oklahoma, as evidence of foreign interference. Kelley was a dominate personality and possessed an imposing literary acumen. Articulate and insightful, he befriended such public figures as Frank Phillips of Phillips Petroleum and the governor of Oklahoma, Bill Murray.

Bishop Kelley made it a priority to alter the public perception of Catholicism – a feat he achieved with remarkable success. The ironic twist is that Kelley was not an American. He was born in Prince Edward Island, Canada.

Photo: Kingfisher, 1918. Victory Bond Drive.