Though it officially formed within the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in 1935 to organize industrial unions, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) left to form its own separate organization in 1938. From the start, the official stance of the Catholic Church, and of SAD in particular, was full support of the CIO and its membership. Church leaders believed that the CIO presented the best way to institute economic democracy - a Christian economic order. This alignment with the CIO was not without internal strife, as several priests and others protested the Church's involvement, mainly due to the presence of communists within the CIO. The Church, though, would continue its support until 1955, when the CIO re-merged with the AFL.
(More on this subject can be found in the exhibit "The Catholic Church, the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and Labor in the United States, 1930-1950")
