Catholic Constitutionalism from the Americanist Controversy to Dignitatis Humanae

Anna Su*

This Article, written for a symposium on the fiftieth anniversary of Dignitatis Humanae, or the Roman Catholic Church’s Declaration on Religious Freedom, traces a brief history of Catholic constitutionalism from the Americanist controversy of the late nineteenth century up until the issuance of Dignitatis Humanae as part of the Second Vatican Council in 1965. It argues that the pluralist experiment enshrined in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution was a crucial factor in shaping Church attitudes towards religious freedom, not only in the years immediately preceding the revolutionary Second Vatican Council but ever since the late nineteenth century, when Catholicism became a potent social force in the United States. This history offers an opportunity to reflect on what the new global geography of Catholicism portends in the future.

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© 2016 Anna Su. Individuals and nonprofit institutions may reproduce and distribute copies of this Article in any format at or below cost, for educational purposes, so long as each copy identifies the author, provides a citation to the Notre Dame Law Review, and includes this provision in the copyright notice.

*Assistant Professor of Law, University of Toronto Faculty of Law. Thanks to Pasquale Annicchino for his comments. I received research support from a SSHRC Institutional Grant. I am grateful to Kevin Kaczmara and Annika Wang for research support and the student editors of the Notre Dame Law Review for their editing assistance.