This paper studies the dramatic changes and upheavals Roman Catholicism has faced in its three hundred year history in the
U.S. The paper discusses how individual Catholics and their church have at times been the targets of glaring religious prejudice and discrimination. The paper also
examines the relationship between the American church and Rome, citing that while the the church was established by Rome, it was actually later condemned by the Pope himself. The paper then examines how the American Catholic church settled back into a period of calm obedience with the Papacy, before once again becoming a noisy, fractious divided place of
worship over the last four decades.