Independence Day
By Father Scott Archer July 4, 2021 “I have compassion on the multitude” (Mark 8:2). Loyalty, freedom, revolution, and patriotism were just some of the moral issues facing our forefathers during the conflicts leading to the Declaration of Independence. These were issues which tore families and communities apart. Benjamin Franklin's own son, William, was a Loyalist and the royal governor of New Jersey, causing his father to disinherit him. In my own family, there were both Loyalists and Patriots. My fifth great-grandfather, Isaac Cornwell, was a Patriot and served in Captain Butler's Company of Major Sheldon's Light Horse Regiment during the Revolutionary War. His brother, Captain Jacob Cornwell, was a Loyalist. Jacob took refuge in Canada and was granted 350 acres in Nova Scotia by the Crown. The two brothers never saw each other again. The central question is the morality of rebellion against one's rightful sovereign. Catholicism teaches the need of remaining obedi...