Isn’t Catholicism what the pilgrims were running away from?!
No.
Anglicanism which they felt was too Catholic.
To some extent they were. Technically they were dissenting from the Church of England, but the reason they were dissenting was because they believed the Church of England was too contaminated with “Romish doctrines” and “Popery”.
The Puritans so despised the Elizabethan church that when Cromwell took over the government, they actually dug up Archbishop Parker’s body and burned it.
Ab-so-lootely. They were being forced by the Pope's Swiss Guards to dig a tunnel to Rome. Furthermore, their children were forced to attend parochial schools in which their hands were slapped with rulers for making mistakes in their Latin prayers.
They then escaped; sailed to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, but were so dismayed by meeting the heavy-drinking Catholics there, that they sailed over to Plymouth, where some years later they joined the Puritans in whipping Quakers naked through the streets of Boston and attempted to gain Biblical Knowledge of nubile Native Americans.
Ab-so-lootely. They were being forced by the Pope's Swiss Guards to dig a tunnel to Rome. Furthermore, their children were forced to attend parochial schools in which their hands were slapped with rulers for making mistakes in their Latin prayers.
They then escaped; sailed to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, but were so dismayed by meeting the heavy-drinking Catholics there, that they sailed over to Plymouth, where some years later they joined the Puritans in whipping Quakers naked through the streets of Boston and attempted to gain Biblical Knowledge of nubile Native Americans.
Yes, in a way, Catholicism “once removed” by Henry the VIII.