Don’t Know Much About American Church History?

Class 4: Reconstruction, WW I, Al Smith, FDR, JFK, WW II, Korean War, Catholic Culture, Vatican II

Last Week •We left off with America at the end

of the Civil War, 1865

•Catholics distinguished by bravery

•Irish more integrated

•Problem of 3 million newly freed slaves

Church Response•Second Plenary Council of

Baltimore (1866)

•Should we evangelize 3 million African Americans?

•At the same time- how to deal with Catholic immigrants coming into the country.

Church Response

•Strategic decision made to hold onto the Europeans flowing in instead of evangelizing African Americans

Church Response•This does not mean that the Church totally

ignored African Americans

•Religious groups setup schools

•Catholic parishes setup for African Americans

•National collection for the Black and Indian Mission

•Rome- foster African American vocations to evangelize other African Americans.

Fr. Augustine Tolton

Conclusion

•African American Catholicism pretty much lay led

•National Conference of Black Catholics

Sidebar: Developments 1870--1917

•1850- 1,347 nuns and 1,109 priests

•1900- 40,340 nuns and 11,636 priests

•Catholic population 12,041,000

•June 29, 1908- Pope St. Pius X issued apostolic constitution Sapienti Consilio

•Removed from jurisdiction of Congregation de Propaganda Fide

World War I Begins

•War begins in Europe in August, 1914

•United States stays neutral until 1917

World War I•Bishops decide to meet about this new

situation

•First time since 1890 Catholic Church in America had met.

•Meeting thanks to the singular vision of Fr. John Burke, CSP

•Editor of the Catholic World

•Founder of the Chaplains’ Aid Association

The Meeting•Burke and otherscalled the

meeting to be held for two days, beginning on August 11, 1917 at the Catholic University of America

•115 delegates from 68 dioceses attended

•Establish National Catholic War Council

National Catholic War Council

•For the next year and a half, the council coordinated Catholic efforts to assist with the war.

•At the end of the war, the Bishop of Rockford, Peter Muldoon, calls for a similar organization in peace

•This organization, the National Catholic Welfare Council, first met in September, 1919

NCWC Meets Opposition •Not all were happy about this

•Some bishops go to the Vatican to protest- Benedict XV draws up a decree dissolving it, but dies

•Pius XI signs the decree weeks later.

•Bishop Schrembs of Cleveland rushes to Rome and wins approval for the council

•1923- changed to conference

•Forerunner to USCCB

Msgr. John A. Ryan• Head of NCWC Social Action Department

• A Living Wage, 1906• Social Reconstruction: A General Review of the Problem

and Survey of the Remedies, 1919• Collective Bargaining• Minimum Wage Act• Social Security System• Unemployment and Health insurance • Child labor laws• Public housing• National Employment Service

Resurgence of NativismAt the same time the

Church was organizing nationally, a new wave of anti-Catholic propaganda

began to be circulated

1928 Presidential

ElectionThese two factors come to a head in the 1928 presidential

campaign

First major political party nominates a Catholic

Al Smith

Al Smith’s Biography•Born in Brooklyn in 1873

•Attends St. James School until age 14

•At 30- Runs for NY State Legislator

•At 40- Becomes Speaker of the Assembly

•At 45- Elected Governor

•Decides to run for President

Nominated

• Al Smith was nominated by FDR• FDR runs for governor

of NY• Base did not like him

because he wanted to end prohibition.

• Criticized personally greatly- unusual• Alcohol Smith•Newsboy Al•Degree from FFM

GOP Nominee

•Herbert Hoover

•Quaker

•Greatly respected

• “A chicken in every pot, a car in every garage.”

• If Al Smith wins, “Rum, Romanism, and Ruin”

The October Surprise•Charles C. Marshall wrote an article

challenging Smith

•How do we know you aren’t going to turn the country over to the pope?

•Primacy of pope or constitution?

•Where will you come down on issues, e.g. marriage, divorce, education, censorship?

The Response• Al Smith has one week to respond

• Meets with Jesuits to respond

• Governor of New York for four terms- never choose religion over constitution

• Favor public education

• I do not read encyclicals

• “In this spirit, I join with fellow Americans of all creeds in a fervent prayer that never again in this land will any public servant be challenged because of the faith in which he has tried to walk humbly with his God.”

The Result

Catholic Culture

•After this defeat, 20 million Catholics make a conscious decision to build their own culture and organizations, which would stay in contact with the culture, but they would not.

Examples•Newspapers

•“The Catholic Hour”

•Life is Worth Living

•Catholic Digest

•Catholic Associations of Professionals

•Knights of Columbus

•Era of Catholic Films

Work of NCWC• Takes on Hollywood • Originally a Catholic town• Bishop John Cantwell becomes

bishop- horrified• “Fatty” Arbuckle• WC Fields • May West

• William H. Hays Office formed- censorship

• Legion of Decency

FDR

•Realigned the country politically with his new deal coalition

• Key in this coalition were Catholics

American Catholics and WWII

•Archbishop of Detroit, Edward Mooney, wrote President Roosevelt two weeks after Pearl Harbor, assuring him of Catholic support

•NCWC writes a letter in 1942- “Victory and Peace”

•Saw US and Allies in a deadly conflict with nations bent on enslaving the world

Archbishop Spellman

• Archbishop Spellman, the Archbishop of New York was also head of the military chaplains

• 3,036 military chaplains

• Traveled to Africa after the disaster at Kasserine Pass

• 25-35 percent of total US military Catholic

End of the War• American Catholics were concerned as

more people fell behind the Iron Curtain

• Many Catholics were in these countries

• Toward the end of the war- a concern about bombing cities

• Yet after the atomic bombings, 53.5 percent of Catholics approved of the bombings and many bishops said nothing.

Korean War

•We shall see the Korean War through the eyes of a chaplain who has local connections and has now been proposed for sainthood

• Fr. Emil J. Kapaun

Fr. Kapaun•Born in Pilsen, Kansas, on Holy

Thursday, April 20, 1916

•Attended Kenrick Seminary and ordained for the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas on June 9, 1940

•Entered US Chaplain Corps. in 1944, discharged in 1946, and reentered in 1948

To Korea•July, 1950- ordered to Korea

•November 2, 1950- POW

•Over the next seven months, served his fellow prisoners without distinction heroically

•Got a blood clot in his leg and was soon sent to a “hospital”

•Died on May 23, 1951

John F. Kennedy, 1960

•Democratic Candidate for President

• Again, another anti-Catholic response

• Kennedy responds

Second Vatican Council•1959- Pope John XXIII calls the Second

Vatican Council

•United States part of the “change” countries, along with Germany, France, England, Canada, and Australia

•216 bishops at Vatican II

•Ecumenism, hope of new unity of Christians, cooperation on social issues

American Contribution•Dignitatis humanae- Declaration on

Religious Freedom

•Often referred to as the American Document

•John Courtney Murphy, SJ

•Views on Religious Freedom got him on the outs with the Roman authorities

•Brought to the council by American bishops

Dignitatis humanae

•At the third session, Murphy began to tutor the American bishops

•During debates- all the American bishops began talking off the same points

•Approved 2,308-70

Reflection Questions

•Anything strike you?

Until Next Time...