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American Catholics and the Second World War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Thomas T. McAvoy C.S.C.
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Extract

Catholic activity in the United States since our entry into the war has been the subject of much writing. The singular position of Pope Pius XII, the head of the Church, now in the path of the fighting armies in Italy, Catholic opposition to Communism and Fascism, the multiple national origins of the Catholic group, together with the unquestionable generosity of Catholic men and women in the service of the country, have raised some interesting questions about the position of American Catholics on the war. It is too soon to write a definitive account even of what is now history, but the picture of the manifold activity of Catholics in America is an enticing, if difficult, picture to draw.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , April 1944 , pp. 131 - 150
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1944

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References

1 Greene, E. B., Religion and the State, (New York, 1941) has made a sensible examination of the American origins of this problemGoogle Scholar.

2 The Nation, 154:334–6, 621–3; 156:231–3, 329–30, 893. The Nero Republic, 107:710–2, 775; 108:278–80, 305–9, 751. Cf. Catholic Action, 25 (no. 8 08, 1943):18–9. The Protestant (formerly the Protestant Digest), which has attacked Catholics, has been repudiated by prominent Protestants. It seems to be a relic of the Communists'Google Scholar trojan horse policy of a few years ago.

3 New York Times, Jan. 13, 1944, Feb. 4, 1944.

4 New York Times, July 21, 1943.

5 New York Times, Dec. 30, 1942; The New World (Chicago) 01 8, 1943Google Scholar.

6 Some critics, such as G. Salvemini and G. La Piana, are definitely unfriendly to the Church. They are endeavoring to introduce a kind of continental anti-clericalism previously unknown in this country. The criticisms of DrShuster, George N. are probably well intended but are usually superficial and tainted with personal animosity. Cf. his “Conflict among Catholics” in The American Scholar, 10:5–16 (01. 1941)Google Scholar, reprinted in digest in Contemporary Jewish Record, 4:44–50 (Feb. 1941.

7 Catholic Action, 23(no. 5 May 1941) :3–5.

8 Catholic Action, 22(no. 1 Jan. 1940) :4.

9 America (Nov. 29. 1941), 66:201–3.

10 Catholic Action, 24(no. 1 Jan. 1942):4.

11 “Victory and Peace,” Catholic Action, 24(no. 12 Dec. 1942) :8–10.

12 Catholic Action, 25(no. 1 Jan. 1943) :10.

13 Catholic Action, 25(no. 1 Jan. 1943) :11.

14 New York Times, Oct. 7, 1943; also The Christian Century (Oct. 13, 1943), 60:1158–9, 1179–80.

15 Catholic Action,25 (no. 12, Dec. 1943) :3–5.

16 The criticism of the Bishops' statement by Hollis, Christopher in the (London) Tablet (11. 27, 1943) was ineptGoogle Scholar. He shows himself inadequately informed on American religious conditions and does not seem to have read carefully the entire pastoral.

17 The Church and the Social Order. (Pastoral of 1940. There are several printings).

18 Archbishop Francis Spellman is the Military Vicar, Bishops John F. O'Hara, C.S.C. and William T. McCarthy, C.SS.R. are his Military Delegates. They confer faculties and spiritual jurisdiction only and are not members of the armed services.

19 Spellman, Francis J., Action This Day, Letters from the Fighting Fronts (New York. 1943)Google Scholar.

20 Cf. Binchy, D. A.. Church and Stale in Fascist Italy (London, 1911)Google Scholar.

21 I Pope Pius XI tried to deal with the Soviets for an amelioration of religious conditions in 1922 but was rebuffed. Cf. Fischer, Louis, The Soviets in World Affairs (2 vols. London, 1930) I:p. 437Google Scholar.

22 Binchy, op. cit. pp. 707–26, has a discussion of English Catholic reaction to the Spanish situation that helps to understand the more complex American Catholic reaction-

23 New York Times, Aug. 20, 1943.

24 Foreign Policy Reports, 19:278–88 (Jan. 15, 1944).

25 New York Times, July 21. 1943.

26 Catholic Action, 24(no. 10 Oct. 1942) :3–14.

27 Many Catholics breathed easier afler Father Coughlin, Charles E. severed his connection with Social Justiceat the insistence of Archbishop Mooney, New York Times, 05 5. 1942Google Scholar.

28 The National Catholic Educational Association Bulletin. 29 (no. 1 August 1942):66–9.

29 A sample of state directed education that is also not desirable is the announced “Philosophy of Secondary Education” in the Stale of Indiana Department oif Public Instruction Bulletin, no. 148 (1943), pp. 16–20Google Scholar. Apparently Mr. Clement T. Malan intends to force this philosophy of education into the State s schools through his new program outlined in the Bulletin.

30 N.C.E.A. Bulletin, cited above, pp. 81–97.

31 Catholic World,158 (no. 944–5): 44–56 and 256–69.

32 Theological Studies, 3:315–32; 4:159–82, 257–86, 314–6, 467–74.

33 Ryan, John A., “Labor and Reconstruction after the War” in the American Catholic Sociological Review, 4(no. 206, 1943):65–75CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

34 (DesMoines, 1944).