The Catholic War on Poverty Notes

The Catholic War on Poverty

In May 1966, over 300 individuals, primarily black women and children, alongside priests and anti-poverty activists, marched on Madison Avenue in New York, demanding increased funding for the poor from the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO). This demonstration, organized by a coalition of community anti-poverty groups with religious affiliations, protested federal budget limits on New York City's anti-poverty programs. Protesters carried signs with slogans like, "OEO, we've got the poverty, where's the dough?"

Some pastors expressed hostility towards the demonstration and some individuals in the offices of Young and Rubicam, a prestigious advertising agency, threw water balloons at the demonstrators. This event was portrayed in an episode of the television show Mad Men, in which an employee of Young and Rubicam says of the protesters, "That's all there is, cops and Negroes and priests."

This event highlights the significant role of Catholic priests and religious figures in the War on Poverty, their support for the Economic Opportunity Act and anti-poverty programs, and their challenges to the OEO. It also underscores debates about the proper role of religious leaders and organizations in addressing poverty and the societal divisions this created and the relationship between race and the War on Poverty. By 1966, the community action focus of the federal anti-poverty effort had become controversial.

Sargent Shriver and His Catholic Faith

In September 1965, Sargent Shriver, Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, spoke at the Ohio Catholic Education Association convention. Shriver, a devout Catholic, directed both the Peace Corps and the OEO. His religious beliefs profoundly influenced his leadership.

Shriver's biographer, Scott Stassel, emphasized the importance of religion in Shriver's upbringing. His grandfather considered joining the priesthood, and his seminary roommate, James Gibbons, became the Archbishop of Baltimore. Gibbons frequently visited the Shriver family home, profoundly impacting young Shriver. Catholic religious figures and seminary students regularly visited the Shriver family home. Religious discussions were a staple at family meals and Shriver remained dedicated to his Catholic faith throughout his life, attending daily Mass and engaging in theological discussions until Alzheimer's disease affected him.

Bill Moyers described Shriver as a Christian who exemplified service to others. Shriver's Catholic faith shaped his vision of the War on Poverty, viewing it as a Christian's duty to advocate for social justice and care for the poor and needy. He advocated for a central role for religious organizations in the War on Poverty, believing they were essential for community-based anti-poverty initiatives. Shriver engaged with Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish leaders, encouraging them to develop anti-poverty programs within their respective religious institutions. One scholar noted that Shriver infused spiritual values into societal responses to poverty. He believed in the importance of religious activism and commitment to eliminate poverty in America.

Catholic Anti-Poverty Efforts

Shriver praised individual Catholic parishes, priests, and nuns involved in anti-poverty programs and challenged those who questioned religious involvement in federal initiatives. He emphasized ecumenical collaboration and praised the Catholic Church's innovative approaches. The chapter will explore the development of a national Catholic war on poverty, from the National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice (NCCIJ) to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, examining the NCCIJ's evolution and the roles of priests like Gino Baroni and John Egan.

Fathers Baroni and Egan were prominent community organization priests. Exploring their activism reveals connections between the civil rights/black power movements and the War on Poverty, the impact of evolving Catholic theology, and the intertwining of Catholic social activism and anti-poverty efforts. Many Catholic social activists had been involved in civil rights efforts prior to the War on Poverty. The NCCIJ was formed in 1959 to unite Catholic interracial councils from cities like Chicago, Pittsburgh, New York, and Los Angeles.

Father John LaFarge, a friend of Sergeant Shriver's parents, established the first CIC in New York in 1934. CICs addressed segregation in schools and Shriver joined the Chicago CIC in the early 1950s, heading its school committee to integrate Catholic high schools. In 1955, Shriver became chair of the CIC board and president of the Chicago School Board. The Chicago CIC's success led to a national meeting in 1958, where delegates pledged to end racial discrimination. Father LaFarge emphasized the grounding of interracial justice in church doctrine. This meeting led to the establishment of the NCCIJ in 1959, with Matthew Amman as executive director.

NCCIJ and Civil Rights

Headquartered in Chicago and New Orleans, the NCCIJ worked to combat discrimination and promote interracial justice. Led by liberals like Shriver and Amman, it connected civil rights activism with the church, supporting open housing laws, civil rights legislation, and organizing the Ecumenical National Conference on Religion and Race in Chicago in January 1963. Amman, Rabbi Philip Hyatt, and Reverend Oscar Lee planned the conference. King encouraged conference attendees to lead civil rights and anti-poverty initiatives. King's speech urged religious institutions to challenge segregation and advocate for economic justice, emphasizing that economic insecurity hinders the growth of its victims.

The NCCIJ lobbied for President Kennedy's civil rights bill and participated in the March on Washington. Amman gave a speech and served as one of 10 chairs of the march. NCCIJ leaders met with Kennedy to discuss his civil rights legislation. NCCIJ members, along with priests and religious figures, participated in the Selma to Montgomery march in 1965 and the Meredith March Against Fear in 1966. By the mid-1960s, Catholic interracialists were central to the civil rights movement.

NCCIJ leaders advocated for civil rights from a moral standpoint, viewing racism, discrimination, and segregation as sins against God's creations. The NCCIJ insisted that civil rights was a moral issue and that support for the civil rights bill should be universal among Catholics. The NCCIJ acted as theological neo-abolitionists, advocating for the elimination of racism and segregation to create a socially just society. The NCCIJ organized interracial conferences to raise awareness and persuade individuals to eliminate discrimination. NCCIJ activists supported President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty, using similar moral arguments.

Father Gino Baroni

Father Gino Baroni, pastor of St. Paul's and Augustine Parish in Washington, D.C., and an NCCIJ leader and civil rights activist who participated in the March on Washington and the Meredith March Against Fear, stated poverty as moral issues and the proper business of the Church. Baroni argued that a divide had formed in the Catholic Church between the middle class and the poor and that affluent Catholics did not perceive poverty and civil rights as moral issues. Baroni, who served on the NCCIJ board of directors from 1965 to 1978, advocated for African Americans and the white ethnic poor.

Born to Italian immigrant parents and ordained as a Catholic priest in 1956, he served in white ethnic working-class parishes. After experiencing depression, he relocated to Washington, D.C., where he studied at Catholic University and served as a parish priest. In 1960, he went to St. Augustine's Parish, an all-black congregation established during the Civil War, leading him to focus on the African American urban experience and the civil rights movement.

St. Augustine merged with St. Paul's, an all-white parish, presenting an opportunity to address racial and economic inequality. Bishop Patrick O'Boyle of Washington, D.C., supported civil rights and desegregated parishes and Catholic schools. With O'Boyle's support, Baroni spearheaded NCCIJ civil rights and anti-poverty efforts becoming a leading voice in Catholic Social Justice activism. O'Boyle created the Office of Urban Affairs with Baroni at the helm, through which Baroni led community anti poverty efforts.

Baroni published articles expounding on the theology behind Catholic involvement in civil rights efforts and the fight against poverty. In "The Church and the War on Poverty", Baroni emphasized the significance of the Second Vatican Council to the increasing engagement of Catholic priests and parishes in social justice. Vatican II urged Catholics to embrace the causes of the poor and underprivileged. Vatican II inspired greater involvement by locating the Church in the people. Liberation theology also influenced the emphasis on the church's role in aiding the poor. According to Baroni religion must provide a voice for the poor of the community. Thus, for Baroni, participation to aid the poor was not optional, but a requirement.

Baroni advocated for the parish as the central force in the church's network to address poverty. Through activist anti-poverty efforts, intercity parishes could demonstrate a new relationship to the poor with the parish neighborhood center providing assistance through education, housing referrals, employment services, health and welfare referrals, and a Community Action Volunteer program. The center would also involve poor people in planning and delivering the programs. Baroni saw community action programs as central to the War on Poverty and an extension of the civil rights movement.

For Baroni, the community action aspect of the War on Poverty represented a shift from breaking down legal barriers to achieving genuine equality in jobs, education, and housing, empowering the poor to solve their own problems. Baroni saw a direct connection between poverty and racism. Baroni asserted that poverty and racism were dual sins in American society and that to deny man goods is to deny them the right to participate in creation. It was a Christian's duty to work to expunge poverty and racism from society in order to improve both the economic and spiritual lives of the poor. The war on poverty would provide a vehicle for Baroni to continue his activism, his efforts at social justice, and his attempts to be more like Christ.

Baroni recognized differing views among priests, with some viewing the church as a guardian of the past and others advocating for a more direct role in social change. Experience in civil rights direct action led many priests, including Baroni, to advocate for parishes' involvement in community action and the War on Poverty. By 1966, Baroni had already established a parish neighborhood center at St. Paul and Augustine with the active participation of residents, complete with a volunteer program, employment services, job opportunity workshops, a parish credit union, and a summer youth educational and job training program. Prior to the creation of the federal legislation establishing the OEO, Baroni and its members of St. Paul Augustine Parish were already fighting their own Catholic war on poverty prior to the federal government, even declaring one.

A colleague of Baroni's John Egan was one of the foremost advocates for Catholic involvement in the War on Poverty and a prominent community organizer.