Category Archives: American Catholic History

Tom and Noelle Crowe finds the hidden gems and compelling stories of Catholic Americans who have contributed to their nation by virtue of their faith over the past three centuries.

Kentucky Catholics and Bourbon

The histories of whiskey and Catholicism in Kentucky have close ties. Tom and Noëlle Crowe tell us of the Kentucky pioneers who established ... Read more

Gene Kranz

Gene Kranz was an unsung hero of NASA's golden age of manned spaceflight. Tom and Noëlle Crowe tell us that as director of mission control, he ... Read more

Happy Easter from StarQuest

From all of us at StarQuest, we wish you a Happy and Blessed Easter with this brief message from our chaplain, Fr. Cory Sticha. Read more

Yogi Berra

Yogi Berra was perhaps the greatest catcher in baseball history, but he might almost be better known for "Yogi-isms," his homespun, ... Read more

The 1918 Spanish Flu and Philadelphia’s Catholics

The Influenza pandemic of 1918 hit Philadelphia particularly hard, killing up to 16,000 people. Tom and Noëlle Crowe explore how the Catholic ... Read more

John Dubois

Bishop John Dubois is one of the most important figures in American Catholic history that most people don't know. Tom and Noëlle Crowe follow ... Read more

St. Josaphat Basilica

At the beginning of the 20th century, Polish Catholics in Milwaukee planned to build a massive new church for their community. Tom and Noëlle ... Read more

Fr. Pierre Gibault and Francis Vigo

Two Catholics--a priest and a layman--were instrumental to the American victory over the British in the Northwest campaign of the Revolutionary ... Read more

Mother Beasley

Mother Beasley was a free Black woman who married into wealth and then gave it all away as a widow in order to found one of the first Catholic ... Read more

Pierre Toussaint

Pierre Toussaint was a slave brought from Haiti to New York City in the late 1700s, where he became a celebrated and in-demand hairdresser and ... Read more

Julia Greeley

Julia Greeley was a former slave and Catholic convert who lived much of her life after the Civil War. Tom and Noëlle Crowe relate her zealous ... Read more

Daniel Rudd

Born a slave before the Civil War, Daniel Rudd was a Catholic journalist, who was the first black man to own a national newspaper of any kind. ... Read more

Blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich

Bl. Miriam was the first American to be beatified on US soil in 2014, but before that, as Tom and Noëlle Crowe tell us, she was a Ruthenian ... Read more

Father Peter Whelan: The Angel of Andersonville

Fr. Peter Whelan was an elderly Irish priest in Georgia and South Carolina who brought Christ to the sick and imprisoned during the Civil War. ... Read more

Blessed Stanley Rother

Bl. Stanley Rother was an Oklahoma farm boy who became a priest and then missionary in Guatemala during the height of its civil war. Tom and ... Read more

Cinderella Man

James Braddock was a rags-to-riches-to-rags-to-riches story of the 1920s and 30s, and was heavyweight boxing champion, winning in a stunning ... Read more

Annie Moore and Catholic Immigration

On January 1, 1892, Annie Moore was the first immigrant to pass through the gates of Ellis Island and as Tom and Noelle Crowe tell her story, ... Read more

Frank Capra

You may know his name as director of It's A Wonderful Life, but as Tom and Noelle Crowe reveal, Frank Capra was a talented Catholic storyteller ... Read more

St. Mary’s, Galveston

St. Mary Cathedral in Galveston is the Mother Church of the Catholic Church in Texas. Tom and Noelle Crowe tell the story of St. Mary's and of ... Read more

Fr. Leo Heinrichs, OFM

Fr. Leo Heinrichs was a Franciscan martyred during Mass in his Colorado parish in 1908. Tom and Noëlle Crowe reveal the story of this humble ... Read more