During the summer of 1844, rising anti-Catholic sentiment in Philadelphia boiled into the streets of Kensington and Southwark, leaving 14 dead and dozens injured. It was hardly an isolated incident.
From the mid-19th century and well into the 20th century, Catholics were the target of nativist factions that sought to keep them from practicing their faith or educating their children in Catholic schools – despite the guarantee of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that “Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion.”
Now, these and other stories come to life in a new documentary, “Free Exercise: America’s Story of Religious Liberty” that makes its Philadelphia debut Oct. 29, with a free screening at 6 p.m. at the Museum of the American Revolution in Old City, Philadelphia. All are welcome.
The event features a panel discussion moderated by William Ewald, the John J. O’Brien Chair of international law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. Panelists include historian and film narrator Richard Brookhiser; Father Philip Bochanski, Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia; and the Rev. Carolyn Clarene Cavaness, pastor of Bethel A.M.E. Church of Ardmore.
“Free Exercise” takes a detailed look at the tumultuous history of religious freedom in the United States, as told primarily through the eyes of six American faith communities – Quakers, Baptists, Black churches, Catholics, Mormons, and Jews – before widening its focus and turning to more contemporary challenges.
The documentary, which includes interviews with dozens of historians, constitutional law scholars, and a variety of faith leaders, is currently being broadcast on PBS member stations around the country (check local listings). WHYY in Philadelphia intends to show the film later this fall.
“This film documents the history of the greatest experiment in religious liberty that the world has ever known,” said Thomas D. Lehrman, the film’s executive producer. “Among the blessings of liberty endowed by our Creator and secured by our Constitution, none surpass the free exercise of religion.”
In the film, Brookhiser chronicles the rise of anti-Catholic and anti-Irish nativism and tours the same Kensington streets where blood flowed and St. Michael Church burned before a militia put down the riots.
Brookhiser then turns his attention to St. Philip Neri Church in South Philadelphia where the second outbreak of violence occurred.
“All I can imagine is the great fear of the people that all that they had worked for to create this beautiful edifice to be the center of their lives — a life they shared with God — the fear that this would be burned as the others had been burned,” Father Edward P. Kuczynski, current Pastor of St. Philip Neri Parish, said in the film.
“Free Exercise” tells another Philadelphia story as well: the founding of Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church in Philadelphia and the pioneering work of the Rev. Richard Allen in the fight against slavery.
The film also takes viewers on a journey with Quakers from the fields of Flushing, New York; to an existential debate over religious liberty in Virginia involving upstart Baptists that led to the First Amendment; to a synagogue in Newport where George Washington made it clear that American religious freedom included the Jewish people; to a trip up the Ohio River and a stop on the Underground Railroad where Christian faith leaders helped enslaved people journey to freedom; and on an epic journey to the mountain desert of Salt Lake in Utah where the Mormons sought a place to practice their religion in peace.
Finally, the film lands in the 21st century as the American people continue to grapple with this most fundamental question: What does the Constitution’s commitment to the free exercise of religion mean?
“Religious liberty will not survive and thrive unless it lives in the hearts and minds of the American people,” said Yale legal scholar Akhil Amar in the film.
Others interviewed in the Catholic segment of the film include Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York; Patrick Kelly, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus; John Garvey, former President of Catholic University of America; Dr. Robert P. George, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University and Mark Rienzi, President of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
“Free exercise is an epochal principle. But even the greatest principles are not self-enacting. They need to be understood and upheld in every generation,” Brookhiser said.
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For more information and to register for the event at the Museum of the American Revolution, please visit this link:https://www.eventbrite.com/e/free-exercise-americas-story-of-religious-liberty-film-screening-tickets-1013868426757
See more information about the film here: https://freeexercisemovie.com/.
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