Can anyone point me to any actual persecution or mass discrimination of Catholics in the US today?

[BainsBane]

29. Here is a summary

"Discrimination Against Catholics
The founders of the United States, like the early population, were almost entirely of Protestant background. Catholicism met much resistance in the United States until sheer numbers forced its integration into American society. A deep anti-Catholic sentiment, inherited from Great Britain, existed in colonial America. Some colonies had laws restricting or banning Catholicism. The settling of the colony of Maryland by English Catholics was perhaps the only exception. At the time of the Revolution, Catholics made up just over one percent of the American population. While the First Amendment to the Constitution guaranteed freedom of religion, it did not compel Protestant Americans to accept Catholic newcomers. Protestants resented Catholicism on theological grounds, often making fun of and belittling Catholic religious rites and customs. The common Christian link between Protestantism and Catholicism meant little.
As American Catholicism spread during the 19th century, anti-Catholic violence saw churches burned, Catholics massacred, property destroyed, and the growth of anti-foreigner and anti-Catholic organizations like the “Know Nothings.” Beyond violence, Catholics routinely became victims of discrimination in employment and housing.

By the turn of the 20th century, growing numbers, especially in the big cities, gave Catholics political power, and yet the struggle continued. The unsuccessful presidential campaign of Al Smith in 1928, in which Smith’s Catholicism became a divisive political issue, underscored the century of struggle. The Catholicism of candidate John F. Kennedy nearly cost him the 1960 election, but Kennedy did win by an extremely small margin against Richard Nixon. During both elections, opponents of the candidates suggested that a Catholic, if elected president, would “take orders” from the Pope. The success of Kennedy’s presidency and the tragedy of his assassination made Kennedy a mainstream and iconic American figure whose religion became truly incidental. Kennedy’s election showed, perhaps, the last vestiges of endemic anti-Catholicism.

In the 21st century, anti-Catholicism is mainly the purview of a small group of bigots, who also hate everybody else. Young Catholics today are simply not aware of the hardships their ancestors had to face. Religion-based prejudice is hardly gone, however. Islamic Americans today face equivalent misunderstanding and intolerance."
http://www.lifeintheusa.com/religion/discrimination.htm



This was a Catholic home where the Klan burned crosses on lawns, as they did on my grandmother's farm in Iowa.

Second KKK
In 1915, the second Klan was founded in Atlanta, Georgia. Starting in 1921, it adopted a modern business system of recruiting (which paid most of the initiation fee and costume charges as commissions to the organizers) and grew rapidly nationwide at a time of prosperity. Reflecting the social tensions of urban industrialization and vastly increased immigration, its membership grew most rapidly in cities, and spread out of the South to the Midwest and West. The second KKK preached "One Hundred Percent Americanism" and demanded the purification of politics, calling for strict morality and better enforcement of prohibition. Its official rhetoric focused on the threat of the Catholic Church, using anti-Catholicism and nativism.[3] Its appeal was directed exclusively at white Protestants.[21] Some local groups took part in attacks on private houses and carried out other violent activities. "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan

There is a long history of discriminatory hiring practices against Catholics, which is why so many Italian and Irish communities kept to themselves. When JFK ran for president, there were rampant charges of Papism, similar to what we see on DU today. He is the only Catholic in US history. Every other President has been Protestant.

There has long been a racial dimension to anti-Catholic nativisim. The Irish were not seen as white in the 19th century, nor were the Italians when they immigrated. They were defined as racially inferior, and their religion was part of that. The same holds true for Latinos today. Latinos are subject to widespread discrimination in hiring, public policy, and a host of areas. The long-association with Catholicism as being foreign, or subject to foreign papist influence endures today. Since most practicing Catholics in the US are now Latino and most masses in Spanish, racism, nativism, and anti-Catholicism remain linked. People here have had that pointed out several times, but they do not care that they are deliberately condemning the second largest Democratic voting block and instead expressing preference for Protestants, religious denominations that vote overwhelmingly Republican.

Children in some parts of the country are subject to ridicule from Protestants who tell them they aren't even Christian:
http://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=13

The belief that Catholics aren't really Christian is widespread, particularly among conservative Evangelicals. They have an uneasy alliance with the Catholic hierarchy but despise the ordinary Catholics they seek to have expelled from this country through border fences and "voluntary deportation."