Trusteeism Revived: The Federation of Polish Catholic Laymen

Controversy over polity, particularly on the parish level, agitated the American Catholic church in the antebellum period. Condemned as “trusteeism,” demands for a strong lay role in parochial government seemed settled in the bishops’ favor by the Civil War. But in the early twentieth century, a prominent Polish American editor reopened the issue. Michael Kruszka, an ethnic nationalist and anti-clericalist, established the Federation of Polish Catholic Laymen in 1911, providing institutional form to demands for parish democracy, the appointment of ethnic bishops, and other goals. He utilized the common Polonian structure of a fraternal benefit society to undergird his ideological appeal. Dozens of lodges appeared in Polish parishes, mostly in the Midwest. The Federation quickly aroused opposition from bishops and loyalist Polish priests, igniting quarrels, and dividing many parishes. Since promotion of the Federation was conducted in a foreign language and Kruszka made no effort to seek non-Polish allies, the episcopate was able to confine the controversy to one ethnic group. The outbreak of World War I in 1914, which offered new prospects for independence of the homeland, drew Kruszka’s attention to matters of nationalism and his interest in the Federation waned. His death in 1918 removed the main promoter of polity change. By the end of the war, the Federation had shifted its focus to fraternalism and the movement for change in governance receded into history.