[Kerberos]

”Most of the immigrants who came to the United States were Catholic, but enough were assimilated that the percentage of Catholic has never risen above 25%. ”

And wasn’t it true that the Catholics saw the state run school system as a propaganda machine that did not necessarily teach the values that they wanted to teach their children? So much so that they developed their own school system so that they wouldn’t be subjected to it.

[RobbyS]

The schools were indeed very Protestant, and one reason for the lessening demand for Catholic schoools after the 1960s was the elimination of overtly Protestant influences in the public schools. But the many reason for the loss of members was the natural attraction to the opportunities of apostasy. Anti-Catholicism is deeply imbedded in Anglo-American culture.The Church has long been aplit between those who favored and those who opposed assimilation to the values of the American elites. These elites have tended to become more agnostic, but this has not made the work of the assimilationists easier since anti-Catholicism is just as strong among liberals as it ever was among Protestants.