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Peter SchinellerNovember 25, 2009

A bit of history of religious tolerance and Jesuit history,  with Fr. Andrew White, S.J. in 1634

at St. Mary's City,    in colonial Mary-land.  Quite fitting for Thanksgiving week. See

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/24/AR2009112403653.html

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Bill Collier
15 years 4 months ago
The WaPo article doesn't really capture the full extent of the tolerance and enlightened (at least for that time) management by the Calverts of what was a "proprietary" colony given to the first Lord Baltimore. And while true that the Calverts were turned out in the early 1700's as the result of events taking place in England, they regained their authority in the colony about 10 years later. On the whole, the Calverts were good colonial masters by 17th century standards. They maintained good relations with the Native Americans in the colony, they quickly established a representative assembly that had significant legislative authority, and they showed a great degree of religious tolerance. Protestants soon outnumbered Catholics in the colony, and for the most part, there was little religious friction among the colonists. Not so with the adjacent colony of Virginia, however, which resented the commercial success of its Papist neighbor.

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