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The Catholic Church, the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and Labor in the United States, 1930-1950

Father Reynold Hillenbrand-Samuel Cardinal Stritch Correspondence

Title: Monsignor Reynold Hillenbrand

Source: University of Notre Dame Archives

Date: n.d.

Father Reynold Hillenbrand (1905-1979), more than any one person, was responsible for Chicago's vibrant social-Catholic activism. The rector of St. Mary of the Lake Seminary from 1936-1944, Hillenbrand oversaw the training of dozens of priests, introducing them to the liturgical and labor-priest movement. Moreover, he helped organize labor schools throughout the diocese and encouraged the Catholic Workers. Samuel Cardinal Stritch (1887-1958), his superior, did not always agree with everything that he did, but he seldom more vigorously expressed his disapproval than when Hillenbrand attacked the Illinois Manufacturers Association, several of whose officers were Catholic. The Cardinal undoubtedly had this incident of Hillenbrand's class-specific Catholicism in mind when he dismissed him as rector after he joined a picket line of clerks on strike against Montgomery Ward in 1944.

 

Title: Samuel Cardinal Stritch to Father Reynold Hillenbrand

Source: Chancery Collection, The Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Archives & Records Center, Archdiocese of Chicago

Date: Nov. 17, 1941
Title: Father Reynold Hillenbrand to Samuel Cardinal Stritch

Source: Chancery Collection, The Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Archives & Records Center, Archdiocese of Chicago

Date: Nov. 16, 1941

Question

As you read these documents, reflect on the following question:

1. How did Stritch's and Hillenbrand's vision of Catholicism differ?