Claims Against the Catholic Church

[Laurie Verge]

Just a sidebar, but the Jesuit Order here in Southern Maryland owned slaves until 1843. So did Georgetown College. There were four large estates owned by the Church in Southern Prince George's, Charles, and St. Mary's Counties on Maryland's Western Shore and two estates on its Eastern Shore. Altogether, the six plantations had 12,000 acres.

One would assume that the slaves worked in the fields to provide food for the Jesuits and saleable items for profit. However, much of the wealth from slave-holding by the Church in Maryland came from slave breeding and sales to the South. When they finally dissolved the system, the Catholic Church gave the proceeds to high schools in New York and Philadelphia and also some to Fordham University.