Social Reconstruction: American Catholics Radical Response to the Social Gospel Movement and Progressives.

At the fin de siècle the Industrial Revolution created egregious physical, emotional and spiritual conditions for American society and especially for the worker but who would come forward to alleviate those conditions? Protestants implemented their Social Gospel Movement as a proposed cure to these problems. Secular Progressives engaged in a more activist role both materially and through legislation. Both of these groups had limited successes with disappointing outcomes. America’s Catholics, more accustomed to living and working in industrialized neighborhoods, eventually developed their own programs and agenda to address social and labor concerns. However some scholars believed that Catholic efforts merely replicated what others had achieved. It was the actions of America’s Catholics in answer to these issues that propelled them onto the national scene with a sense of purpose, inclusion and equality. This paper examines each group to ascertain their programs, relevant accomplishments and demonstrate how resolutions to solve social and labor problems proceeded yet stagnated for some. For America’s Catholics their agenda for social reconstruction empowered them to assert themselves as equals with a long lasting viable program of future corrective action

Social Encyclicals and the Worker: The Evolution of Catholic Labor Schools in Pennsylvania

Many often identified the Catholic Church with the cause of labor and worker’s rights in the United States. However that was not the common situation encountered by laborers throughout most of the nineteenth century. The proclamation of the social encyclicals: Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum (1891) and Pope Pius XI’s Quadragesimo Anno (1931) elevated the status of the worker, endorsed worker associations and placed the Catholic Church as an advocate of worker’s rights. But for the worker to clearly understand this change as well as his rights and duties education was vital. For workers in Pennsylvania, especially in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, the formation of Catholic labor schools was the catalysis for education and guidance in labor-management issues. Eventually their programs expanded to include anti-communist instruction. This paper examines the historical narrative of the Catholic labor schools in Pennsylvania and the curricula and policies developed mutually by the laity and clergy to educate workers (both Catholic and non-Catholic) about their rights and duties and how to apply Christian social teachings in the workplace. These schools became a fundamental part of the labor movement where Catholic labor education endeavored to build a Christian partnership of labor and management to ensure industrial democracy

Catholic Labor Education and the Association of Catholic Trade Unionists. Instructing Workers to Christianize the Workplace

This article analyzes the effect of the American Catholic Church, through its program of specialized labor education, on the growth and development of organized labor in the twentieth century. With the proclamation of Pope Pius XI’s encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, he requested that the Church complete the work began by Pope Leo XIII in 1891 with his landmark social encyclical Rerum Novarum. However, the American interpretation and utilization of the social encyclicals varied from their intended European meaning. The cumulative effect of these two encyclicals was support for the workers’ rights to organize and create Christian labor associations. From these papal social encyclicals evolved the diocesan labor schools that existed in many Catholic dioceses in America from the early 1930s until the 1970s. Their purpose was to assist workers through education in the basics of labor organizing and management and to provide philosophical and religious instruction. The ultimate purpose was to Christianize the workplace to ensure industrial democracy through education. Résumé Cet article analyse l’effet produit par l’Église catholique américaine, par le biais de son programme d’éducation spécialisée des salariés, sur la croissance et le développement du syndicalisme au XXe siècle. Lors de la proclamation de son encyclique Quadragesimo Anno, le pape Pie IX a demandé que l’Église termine l’œuvre entreprise par Léon XIII en 1891 avec son encyclique sociale historique Rerum Novarum. Toutefois, l’interprétation et l’utilisation des encycliques sociales par les Américains diffèrent de la signification qu’elles ont eue en Europe. L’effet cumulé des deux encycliques a été de soutenir le droit des travailleurs à s’associer et à créer des syndicats chrétiens. L’évolution des écoles diocésaines d’enseignement professionnel qui existaient dans de nombreux diocèses américains aux États-Unis à partir des années 1930 jusqu’aux années 1970, est le fruit de ces encycliques sociales papales. Elles avaient pour objectif d’aider les salariés en leur apprenant les bases de l’organisation et de la gestion des associations travailleurs, et en assurant leur instruction philosophique et religieuse. L’objectif ultime consistait à christianiser le lieu de travail pour assurer la démocratie industrielle au moyen de l’enseignement. Resumen Este artículo analiza los efectos de la Iglesia Católica Estadounidense, a través de su programa de educación especializada del trabajador, sobre el crecimiento y desarrollo de la organización laboral en siglo XX. Con la proclamación de la encíclica Quadragesimo Anno, el papa Pío XI, solicitó que la Iglesia completara el trabajo iniciado por el papa León XIII en 1891, con su encíclica social referencial, Rerum Novarum. Sin embargo, la interpretación estadounidense y el uso de las encíclicas sociales variaron del significado europeo pretendido. El efecto acumulativo de estas dos encíclicas fue la de apoyar los derechos de los trabajadores a organizarse y crear una asociación de trabajadores cristianos. De estas encíclicas papales sociales, evolucionaron las escuelas de trabajadores diocesanas que existían en muchas diócesis católicas en los Estados Unidos de inicios de los años 30 hasta los años 70. El objetivo era ayudar a los trabajadores a través de la educación y las bases de la organización y gestión laboral y proveer instrucción filosófica y religiosa. El objetivo último era cristianizar el lugar de trabajo para asegurar una democracia industrial a través de la educación

Ohio History Fall 2017

https://kent-islandora.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/node/10123/OH-v124n2-thumb.jpgOHIO HISTORY Contents for Volume 124,&nbsp;Number 2, Fall 2017 Contributors ...... 4 &nbsp; Ladies of Lockbourne: Women Airforce Service Pilots and the Mighty B-17 Flying Fortress Jenny Sage ...... 5 Pathmakers: James and Mary Jane McCleery Lawrence S. Freund ...... 28 From the Parish Hall to the Union Hall: Catholic Labor Education in Cleveland Paul Lubienecki ...... 49 &nbsp; Book Reviews ...... 85 Cover image courtesy of the National Archives.</p