WEST COLLINGSWOOD — Author and historian Edward F. Mannino visited Transfiguration Parish here to discuss the role Catholic belief and thought have played in America throughout the past 200 years, and the responsibilities American Catholics have when electing the leader of the country.
On Oct. 3, the same night as the first presidential debate between President Barack Obama and Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Mannino discussed the themes of his latest book, “Faith of Our Fathers: An American Catholic History,” which examines Catholic belief from colonial times to the present, and covers the contributions of notable American Catholics, including politicians Robert F. Kennedy and Al Smith and writer Flannery O’Connor.
In America’s history, Mannino argued, Catholics have influenced the nation in recognizing the importance of implementing Catholic spiritual values in the larger society, and that must continue.
A practicing attorney, Mannino has taught at the University of Pennsylvania, Chestnut Hill College, and Temple University Law School.