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6 The Catholic Action Social Apostolate Catholic Action does not concern itself only with the support and defense of the Catholic faith. It concerns itself with all divine and human interests in this world: with morality, economics, social movements, legislation. The great problems with which every nation is wrestling—economics, social justice, international peace, human rights—are fundamentally moral. —Stanislaus Riley, “Place of the Laity in Catholic Action,” March 22, 1935 From the turbulent days of the general strike in July 1934 to Pearl Harbor, Sylvester Andriano, Archbishop Mitty, and their Catholic Action colleagues publicized and expanded what Andriano called “this new crusade” in a multifaceted campaign to establish “real Catholic Action” in northern California. Given the prominence of labor relations issues in San Francisco during the first decade of his service in the city, it is not surprising that Archbishop Mitty placed a high priority on the social apostolate aspect of Catholic Action, defined by Vatican spokesman Cardinal Pizzardo as “concerned with the spread of Catholic social teaching and the realization of Catholic principles in social institutions.”1 And Mitty used his office as a “bully pulpit” in public events and expressed himself in a forthright manner in private communications. Early in his administration the new archbishop lectured one of the city’s business leaders, shipping executive Hugh Gallagher, saying that he should pay more attention to the principles laid out in Pope Leo XIII’s labor encyclical. Mitty expressed his concern about the future, reminding Gallagher that “there is, then, grave danger of a THE CATHOLIC ACTION SOCIAL APOSTOLATE 67 duplication of the events of the summer of 1934—a general strike, violence, bloodshed and loss of life.”2 “To avert this calamity,” he continued, “both groups should be willing to submit disputed points to an impartial board of arbitration. When conciliation and mediation have failed, this appears to be the only rational method of settling an industrial dispute on the basis of justice and equity, rather than on the basis of the economic power of the employers or the numerical strength and organization of the employees. San Francisco wants not a temporary truce but a permanent peace.” Throughout the first decade of his tenure Mitty rarely missed an opportunity to publicize the importance of conducting labor relations according to the principles expressed in the labor encyclicals. Mitty made sure that the Monitor, the official weekly newspaper of the archdiocese, provided its readers with front-page coverage of local and national news of the labor movement. News of events that included speeches on labor issues by church leaders often ran as the lead story, and the text of the sermon or speech was reprinted in full on the editorial page. The Monitor added its voice to the public discussion of a proposal by the Chamber of Commerce to formulate a cooperative, institutionalized working relationship with citywide central bodies of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). The paper promoted the need for such cooperation as a precondition for the future economic prosperity of the Bay Area. This issue and many others involving labor and capital were rivaled only by those of Communism and World War II for frequency of coverage in the Monitor’s editorial columns. These editorials consistently invoked the labor encyclicals, alternately emphasizing the rights of workers, the need for labor and capital to cooperate, and the responsibilities of the state.3 The archbishop also took advantage of a variety of public events to promote the labor encyclicals. Many of these events were directly related to either the city’s workers in general or organized labor in particular. The celebration of Labor Day provided one such opportunity . Designated in 1910 by Archbishop Riordan an occasion for special ceremonies dedicated to the working man, the Labor Day Mass had become a city tradition by 1935. Archbishop Mitty used 68 CHAPTER 6 the Mass both as a forum in which to preach at length on labor issues and as an opportunity for the church hierarchy to appear in public with labor leaders in a dramatic gesture of support for unions. And in May 1937, when Archbishop Mitty presided over the funeral services for the long-time president of the San Francisco Teamsters’ Union Michael J. Casey, he used the occasion to once again spread the Catholic Action social apostolate message. He praised Casey for his solidarity with members of his union who had voted their support for the general strike, even though Casey...

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