"The Apostle of Industrial Peace": Brother Elzear Alfred, F.S.C., the La Salle College Civic and Social Congress, and Catholic Labor Education in Philadelphia, 1938-1952
This article provides a history of the La Salle College Civic and Social Congress, a workers' education program established by Brother Elzear Alfred, F.S.C. at Philadelphia's La Salle College in 1938. Although only in existence for six years, the La Salle Congress played an important role...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
American Catholic Historical Society
2007
|
| In: |
American catholic studies
Year: 2007, Volume: 118, Issue: 3, Pages: 55-81 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This article provides a history of the La Salle College Civic and Social Congress, a workers' education program established by Brother Elzear Alfred, F.S.C. at Philadelphia's La Salle College in 1938. Although only in existence for six years, the La Salle Congress played an important role in a shift toward more harmonious industrial relations in the Philadelphia region, and through the training given to local labor officials, continued to shape labor politics in the city well into the post-war period. Espousing a form of Catholic Action that embraced state-centered economic reform and cooperative consumer organizing, the La Salle College Civic and Social Congress represented the liberal wing of Catholic labor programs in the United States during the New Deal and wartime eras. The story of the program's rise and sudden decline gives new detail into the often conflicting Catholic laborist visions of this time period, the political climate in Philadelphia's archdiocese in the mid-twentieth century, and the reasons for the eventual eclipse of Catholic labor schools after 1945. The article is drawn primarily from the collections of the La Salle University and St. Joseph's University archives and the Philadelphia Archdiocesan Historical Research Center. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2161-8534 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: American catholic studies
|