July 5, 2026 • Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Dear Parish Family,
Did you know that many Catholic patriots not only took part in the American Revolution but distinguished themselves in fighting for independence and forming our Constitution?
Irish-Born Philadelphians
Commodore John Barry stood tall in both physical height and accomplishments. He was born in Ireland and settled in Philadelphia. Standing at 6’4”, he would earn the title “Father of the American Navy.” On April 7, 1776, in Delaware Bay, weeks before July 4, he engaged a British war vessel and brought it back to Philadelphia as the first warship captured by a commissioned Continental naval officer. Barry later joined Washington in the Battles of Trenton and Princeton.
Stephen Moylan, another Irish immigrant who settled in Philadelphia, was a successful city merchant. He volunteered for Washington’s Army and rose quickly in the ranks. He was Washington’s first secretary and later was appointed commissary general of the Continental Army. He was part of the winter encampment at Valley Forge and fought in the Battle of Yorktown. He became quartermaster general of the Continental Army. His brother John also served in the Continental Army, but their brother Francis remained in Ireland and became the Bishop of Cork.
Irish-American Philadelphian nurse Mary Waters was a tireless worker in the Revolutionary Army’s hospitals. She worked with Doctor Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Irish-born Philadelphian, merchant Thomas FitzSimons served in the Continental Congress of 1774 and was the first Catholic chosen for public office in Pennsylvania. He became a commander in the Continental Army. After the war, he became one of only two Catholics to become a framer of the Constitution. FitzSimons was then elected to the first House of Representatives.
The Carrolls from Maryland
Charles Carroll of Carrollton served on the Board of War during the American Revolutionary War. Out of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, Charles Carroll was the only Catholic.
Charles Carroll’s cousins were Daniel Carroll and Father John Carroll. Daniel, along with Thomas FitzSimons, were the only Catholics at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. It was Daniel who made the motion in the debates crafting the Constitution that the president of the United States be elected, not by the legislature, but by the people.
During the Revolutionary War, Father Carroll ministered to Catholic colonists as well as the European Catholics who joined the cause. After the war, the Vatican created the Diocese (later Archdiocese) of Baltimore in what became the new United States. Father Carroll was appointed the country’s first bishop and untiringly helped the Church in America grow.
Happy 250th Birthday, America!
Father Neil Sullivan