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John Cogley’s Dissent from Humanae Vitae Rodger Van Allen J ohn Cogley (1916-1976) is a rather neglected figure in American Catholic history. Perhaps for some his life and meaning were somehow negated by his decision in 1973 to change his affiliation to the Episcopal Church. Such a narrow perspective would certainly be historiographically wrong, and moreover would ill befit this “most prominent American Roman Catholic journalist of his generation ”1 who was himself never narrowly sectarian in spirit. We will begin with a brief overview of the quite remarkable life of the Chicagoborn Cogley, and a description of the fundamental commitments of his life. Then we will turn our principal focus to his decision to express his dissent to the 1968 encyclical on contraception, Humanae Vitae, by ceasing the writing of his syndicated column that appeared in the diocesan Catholic press. Some confusion in interpreting the meaning of his dissent, led to some extremely interesting correspondence which we will explore in detail. Finally, we will assess the meaning of this episode on the subsequent trajectory of his life. The Journey of John Cogley John Cogley, described by many friends as shy, lived with no sense that his life was historically significant. There was, however, one moment when Cogley himself realized that the event he was a participant in might really be worthy of some preservation . During his work as a campaign staff member for John F. Kennedy in 1960, he was preparing Kennedy for his famous speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association. Hoarse from campaigning, Kennedy was being coached by Cogley for the audience questions he might likely face. Cogley would pose a question, and 69 1. From his obituary, Edward B. Fiske “John Cogley Dies at 60; Expert on Catholicism,” New York Times (March 30, 1976). Preparation of this manuscript has been assisted by a Travel and Research Grant from Notre Dame’s Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism. Kennedy, in order to save his voice for the evening’s televised proceedings, would write on a tablet how he would reply. These scribblings were being thrown in a wastebasket as they proceeded, until Cogley thought that it might be important to save at least one of these. One thus finds in the Cogley Papers at Notre Dame, JFK’s written comment: “It is rather hard for a Harvard man to answer questions on theology. I am sure my answers will cause a good deal of heartburn at Fordham and B.C.”2 The trail to such an historic moment began when Cogley’s mother died giving birth to him on March 16, 1916 in Chicago. After attending parochial grammar school, he won a scholarship to St. Philip High School, run by the Servites. In sophomore year, he switched to the Servite’s prep seminary for those who intended to enter the order. After graduation, and one year in their novitiate in Granville, Wisconsin, he decided he would not continue with the Servites, and returned to Chicago.3 In 1937, he found a copy of the Catholic Worker, and attended a meeting of a new Catholic Worker group that was being organized by a black physician, Arthur G. Falls. This led to full time work and life with the Catholic Worker that included direction of a soup kitchen and a house that provided shelter to as many as three hundred men. It also led to Cogley’s first journalistic work as editor of the Chicago Catholic Worker. Through the Catholic Worker, Cogley met and worked with James O’Gara, Ed Marciniak, Tom Sullivan and Theodora Schmidt, a graduate of the University of Chicago who worked as secretary to Saul Alinsky, the social activist. The Catholic Worker was officially pacifist. Gradually, Cogley and his colleagues came to believe that Hitler had to be stopped by force and so they entered military service. This happened shortly after Cogley married Theodora Schmidt on April 6, 1942. By the war’s end in 1945, they were the parents of two children, and with the benefit of the G.I. Bill of Rights, Cogley finished his undergraduate degree at Loyola in Chicago, and then continued on for graduate studies in...

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