SNIPPET: In the 1830s, unskilled laborers in America received about a dollar per working day, but a decade later wages had dropped to less than 75 cents, although business boomed. The situation erupted in 1844, when a bitter feud divided Philadelphia's weavers, most of whom toiled at home on commission from merchants. Irish Catholics objected to what they felt were exploitative conditions and went on strike, without the support of Protestant weavers, who continued to work as before. When angry Catholics attacked the home of a Protestant nonstriker, destroying his work and equipment, the struggle took on denominational overtones. In Charlestown, MA, "nativists," believers in the intrinsic inferiority of all immigrants, burned a Catholic convent to the ground. Eventually, the violence cooled, and the strike ended. A similar fate befell Irish immigrants to Canada, of whom there were 90,000 in 1847. Their numbers rose so dramatically that by 1871 Irish Canadians were the most populous ethnic group in every city and major town except French Montreal and Quebec City. This situation was short-lived, however. Prospects were so limited that most of the immigrants migrated again - to the United States. By the 1860s thousands had made this second journey, and the trend continued into the 20th century. (By 1988, only Saint John, the capital of Newfoundland, and Protestant Ontario, known as the "Belfast of America" had large Irish-Canadian communities.) Those who joined the Irish in America found that cities there were bigger, jobs more numerous, and that the U. S was an independent nation, free of British rule. Even so, conditions were grim. Because there were no unions in those days, laborers had no leverage to combat exploitative employers, and the sudden influx of foreigners willing to accept any wage panicked native workers who were already underpaid. In NYC, the main port of entry for newcomers, Irish immigrants took the blame for lowering wages, which declined during these years despite an enormous leap in merchants' profits. The nation at that time was overwhelmingly Protestant, and anti-Catholicism inevitably became the battle cry of political factions. The 1840s and 1850s saw the rise of the American party, whose bland title disguised a policy of discrimination against anyone who was not white, Anglo-Saxon, and Protestant. Popularly called the Know-Nothing party - because its members, when asked about their secret intentions, invariably replied, "I know nothing" - this group singled out Catholics, especially those from Ireland. Less radical Americans also found Catholicism suspect. One reason was that Protestants thought that the church hierarchy, still centered in Rome and presided over by the pope, smacked of the same corruption that had inspired LUTHER's revolt. Just as importantly, the church required that religious loyalty precede national patriotism in the thinking of its members, a priority that intensified the suspicions directed at immigrants who were already perceived as aliens. At first these suspicions were justified. The staunch Irish Catholics who arrived in North America in the 1840s and 1850s believed that governments should be subordinate to the church, that Catholicism was the only true faith, and that all others were sinners if they failed to convert. So narrow a view, at odds with the freethinking principles at the core of American democracy, alarmed a Protestant majority already walled in by distrust. Gradually, however, Irish Americans molded their religious outlook into conformity with the prevailing values of the New World. Without lessening its spiritual loyalty to Rome, the American Catholic church began to adapt to the new moral climate, less out of a desire to placate Protestants than out of necessity. As the rallying point for nearly all Irish Catholics, the churches had no choice but to become all-purpose community centers for immigrants. For Irish Americans, the local church not only offered sanctuary from prejudice; it also helped immigrants ease into the larger society by mediating between Irish traditions and American customs. The parish priest, in particular, became an important symbol. In urban slums and the frontier towns where a few bold immigrants ventured, priests served as educators, healers, and counselors, and also supervised hospitals, asylums, and orphanages, often staffed by Irish nuns. In Europe the ideal priest had been a monastic figure devoted to the spiritual side of his calling, someone to be revered because he had renounced the temptations that brought about the downfall of lesser men. But in America a new kind of priest was emerging, equally chaste but more worldly, even activist, someone who could fend for himself on a dangerous street corner or a rough western outpost, who could stand up to a bully and also invoke the lessons of Christian brotherhood. -- Excerpts, "The Irish Americans," J. F. Watts/1988 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.701 / Virus Database: 458 - Release Date: 6/7/2004