The Right Reverend

John A. Ryan
Born
John Augustine Ryan

(1869-05-25)May 25, 1869
Vermillion, Minnesota, US
DiedSeptember 16, 1945(1945-09-16) (aged 76)
Saint Paul, Minnesota, US
Ecclesiastical career
ReligionCatholic Church
ChurchLatin Church
Ordained1898
Academic background
Alma mater
Influences
Academic work
DisciplineTheology
Sub-disciplineMoral theology
School or traditionThomism[7]
Institutions
Notable worksA Living Wage (1906)
InfluencedPhilip Murray[8]

John Augustine Ryan (1869–1945) was an American Catholic priest who was a noted moral theologian and advocate of social justice. Ryan lived during a decisive moment in the development of Catholic social teaching within the United States. The largest influx of immigrants in America's history, the emancipation of American slaves, and the industrial revolution had produced a new social climate in the early twentieth century, and the Catholic Church faced increasing pressure to take a stance on questions of social reform.[9]

Ryan saw the social reform debate of the early twentieth century as essentially an argument between libertarian individualists and collectivists concerned with equality, and thus contended that an emphasis on human welfare framed in natural law theory provided the most promising means to combine conflicting concerns over individual and social welfare.[10] Ryan's influential response was the development of a Catholic critique of the American capitalist system that emphasized the existence of absolute natural human rights.[11]

While Ryan identified himself primarily as a moral theologian, he also made important contributions to American political life and economic thought. He supported a number of social reforms that were eventually incorporated into the New Deal, and have become elemental to the modern welfare state. Ryan's most well-known contribution to American economic thought was his argument for a minimum wage presented in A Living Wage, a reformulation of his doctoral dissertation.[12]

Ryan recognized the importance of a "synergistic relation among scholarship, moral teaching, and political activism," which led to his vigorous application of moral thinking to the political arena.[13]

Early life

Ryan was born on May 25, 1869, in Vermillion, Minnesota, to William Ryan and Maria[h] Luby. Raised in the Populist tradition on a farm homesteaded by his Irish Catholic parents alongside his ten younger siblings, Ryan's childhood experience with the challenges faced by farmers informed his early investment in economic justice and the role of the Catholic Church in promoting social change.

Ryan's interest in moral reflection on contemporary economic issues and empathy for the poor was further cultivated in his early teenage years when Ryan read Henry George's Progress and Poverty. While Ryan later confessed to not fully understanding the book at the time, he cites his first reading of George's work as the beginning of a lifelong commitment to questions of social justice.[13]

Education and academic life

Ryan attended secondary school at the Christian Brothers School in 1887, and continued his studies at the St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, now named the University of St. Thomas. He graduated valedictorian of his class in 1892. Ryan was a member of the inaugural class at the Saint Paul Seminary in 1894.[14] Graduating in 1898, Ryan received his holy orders from Archbishop John Ireland of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. With Ireland's permission, he then moved to Washington, DC, to pursue graduate studies at the Catholic University of America the same year. At the Catholic University of America, Ryan received his licentiate in literature in 1900 and his Doctorate of Sacred Theology in 1906.

Ryan saw his own vocation as the teaching of moral theology and economic justice to the American electorate, emphasizing in particular his influence on Catholic voters and politicians.[15] While much of his instruction emerged from the numerous articles and pamphlets he wrote throughout his lifetime, Ryan also held official professorships. He taught moral theology at the St. Paul Seminary from 1902 to 1915, and then returned to Washington where he served as a professor at the Catholic University of America from 1915 until 1939, teaching graduate-level courses in moral theology, industrial ethics, and sociology.[16] During his tenure at the Catholic University of America, Ryan also taught economics and social ethics at Trinity College in Washington, now known as Trinity Washington University.

Economic thought

Ryan viewed the separation of economic thought from religious and ethical rules as the root of practical economic problems faced by Americans in the early half of the twentieth century.[17] While at St. Paul Seminary in 1894, Ryan read Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum novarum in which he found Leo's statement that all laborers had a right to adequate worldly goods in order to live in frugal comfort, and the state was obliged to guarantee that right.[18]

In 1902, American Catholic Quarterly Review published Ryan's essay, "The Morality of the Aims and Methods of Labor Unions", a piece supportive of unions.

Ryan's licentiate dissertation, Some Ethical Aspects of Speculation, investigated the morality of speculation. His Doctor of Sacred Theology dissertation was an influential early economic and moral argument for minimum wage legislation. It was published as A Living Wage in 1906. Ryan insisted in the text that all men had a right to a living wage, adequate to support himself and his family. Always grounding his political thought in moral theology, Ryan argued that Rerum novarum converted the living wage "from an implicit to an explicit principle of Catholic ethics".[19]

Published in 1916, Ryan's second major scholarly work was the book Distributive Justice: The Right and Wrong of Our Present Distribution of Wealth, in which he provided an examination of rent from land, interest on capital, profits from enterprise, and wages for labor in relation to moral principles.[20] As with A Living Wage, Ryan drew on both ethical and economic reasoning; he claimed that all four agents of production – the worker, entrepreneur, capitalist, and landowner – had a claim to the finished product because each contributed an indispensable element to its production.[21] Ryan further objected at a practical and moral level to both the Puritan industrial ethic and the "gospel of consumption" that encouraged increased consumption through the production of new forms of demand, such as luxury goods and services.[22] Ryan again saw both these flawed economic views as the outcome of a historic separation between ethics and economic life. Ryan based his own vision of economic progress in America on equitable wealth distribution, decreased working hours, and a guaranteed minimum wage. Clear in Ryan's economic thought was a disciplined commitment to both ethical and practical analysis of his country's economic problems.

While A Living Wage has achieved a higher degree of recognition, Ryan stated in his autobiography, "Distributive Justice is unquestionably the most important book I have written."[23]

In these early publications Ryan staked out an economic position that maintained the primacy of private property but spurned overly acquisitive and unregulated free-market capitalism as economically unhealthy and morally bankrupt. He would argue this economic philosophy for his entire life.

Public life

Just as Ryan's economic thought was guided by a commitment to moral theology, his political action was inextricably connected to his religious beliefs. Though Ryan was primarily an intellectual and moral theologian, his deep conviction that the church had a proper role to play in public affairs led him to maintain a consistent engagement in American politics throughout his lifetime. Ryan avoided political labels such as liberal or conservative, but eventually settled on "papalist" to describe his public position, meaning "an orthodox commitment to the Holy See."[24] Ryan viewed the proper role of the state as the active promotion of the common good only to the extent that it cannot be realized through the family or voluntary associations. Ryan was among the earliest advocates of minimum wage laws in the United States.

Program for social reconstruction

Aside from his influential texts A Living Wage and Distributive Justice, and a number of other political and economic pamphlets, Ryan authored the "Program for Social Reconstruction" in 1919, a text that was adopted by the Administrative Committee of the National Catholic War Council as a statement of their social and economic objectives and became the Bishops' Program of Social Reconstruction.[25] A number of authors have cited the text as a blueprint for the New Deal legislation, though others have also stated that such connections have been exaggerated.[15] However direct Ryan's influence was on the New Deal, the text offered liberal social reforms that emphasized an active role for the state in promoting social justice, many of which were enacted during President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration. Yet, the text also involved a number of less successful reforms that defy popular interpretations of Ryan as a strictly liberal political thinker, such as a federal ban on the dissemination of information on birth control and rigid support for abortion laws. What is most evident in the "Program for Social Reconstruction" is Ryan's systematic application of Catholic ethics to social reconstruction.[25]

Political activities

Beyond authoring political texts, Ryan also took a number of decisively political actions. While teaching at St. Paul Seminary, Ryan took an active interest in trade unions, promoting their cause to outside groups, addressing union gatherings, and helping to author and promote social legislation.[26]

In 1923, Ryan initiated the Catholic Conference on Industrial Problems.

After teaching at the Catholic University of America, Ryan became head of the Social Action Department of the National Catholic Welfare Conference, a position that allowed him substantial opportunities to influence politicians in Washington. He was a noted supporter of the failed Child Labor Amendment to the US Constitution, despite opposition from the influential Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal William Henry O'Connell.

Ryan also worked actively with the National Consumers' League, which attempted to encourage consumers to push for decent working conditions.[27] In 1927, Ryan founded the Catholic Association for International Peace.

Ryan was such a fervent supporter of the New Deal that he was nicknamed "Monsignor New Deal".[28]

1n 1931, Ryan urged the federal government to develop a $5-billion public works campaign.

In 1933, the Roosevelt administration enlisted Ryan's assistance in mustering support among Catholic clerics for its NRA codes. In 1934, Ryan was elected to the three-person Industrial Appeals Board of the National Recovery Administration.

One of Ryan's most controversial ventures into American politics was his national radio endorsement of Democratic Party candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt when he ran for re-election as president in 1936.[29] When the "Radio Priest", Charles Coughlin, turned vehemently against Roosevelt and the New Deal during the 1936 presidential campaign, and encouraged his listeners to vote instead for William Lemke of Coughlin's new Union Party,[30] Ryan countered with an overtly partisan political speech ("Roosevelt Safeguards America") broadcast on national radio on October 8, 1936, urging Catholics to repudiate Coughlin and support the New Deal and Roosevelt. Wary of the potential controversy his speech could arouse, he began the endorsement by stating, "I am making tonight what is liable to be called a political speech. It is not that. It is mainly a discussion of certain political events in the light of moral law." Nevertheless, the endorsement led Ryan into open conflict with Coughlin, who gave Ryan the sarcastic sobriquet "The Right Reverend New Dealer". The speech also cost Ryan the confidence of Archbishop Michael J. Curley of Baltimore.[29]

On January 20, 1945, he gave the benediction at the inauguration of President Franklin Roosevelt's fourth term.

Reception

During his lifetime, Ryan met fierce criticism for his economic and political thought. He was at times labeled a socialist for his endorsement of policies such as public housing, social security, medical insurance, unemployment insurance, and women's rights in the work place as well as for his critique of unregulated free-market capitalism.[31]

Refusing to prescribe to either a liberal or conservative political doctrine but instead choosing to support policies based on his theological beliefs, Ryan displeased both liberal and conservative politicians at times. Ryan's overtly political acts also earned him disapproval within the Catholic Church.[29]

Yet Ryan was also a deeply respected moral theologian throughout his lifetime. With his position with the National Catholic Welfare Conference, he was authorized by the bishops as their principal Catholic spokesman for social reform within the United States, and became the first Catholic priest to deliver the benediction at a presidential inauguration in 1937.[31]

Death and legacy

After a short illness, Ryan died on September 16, 1945, in his home state of Minnesota. He is remembered today as an early and essential advocate for social reform in the first half of the twentieth century. He maintains a unique role in the history of the American Catholic tradition as a pioneer in the application of Catholic theology to questions of social justice in industrial society.

The John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought at University of St. Thomas explores the relationship between the Catholic social tradition and business theory and practice by fostering a deeper integration of faith and work.[32]

Published works

See also

Notes

  1. ^ This is a revised edition of The State and the Church.

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b Gaillardetz 1990, p. 120.
  2. ^ Meyers, Arthur S. (July 6, 2018). "Social Justice Warrior". Commonweal. Vol. 145, no. 12. ISSN 0010-3330. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
  3. ^ L. V. Ryan 1991, p. 523.
  4. ^ Schmiesing 2003, p. 115.
  5. ^ Helstrom 2016, p. 29.
  6. ^ Gaillardetz 1990, p. 109.
  7. ^ Gaillardetz 1990, p. 114.
  8. ^ Helstrom 2016, p. 5.
  9. ^ Gearty 1953, p. 6.
  10. ^ Gaillardetz 1990, p. 110.
  11. ^ Gaillardetz 1990.
  12. ^ Hunnicutt 1983, p. 384.
  13. ^ a b Beckley 2001, p. 7.
  14. ^ Kennedy et al. 2001, p. 1.
  15. ^ a b Beckley 2001, p. 6.
  16. ^ Gearty 1953, p. 35.
  17. ^ Hunnicutt 1983, p. 392.
  18. ^ Broderick 1969.
  19. ^ Broderick 1969, p. 2.
  20. ^ Gearty 1953, p. 36.
  21. ^ Broderick 1963, p. 91.
  22. ^ Hunnicutt 1983, p. 391.
  23. ^ J. A. Ryan 1941, p. 136.
  24. ^ Broderick 1969, p. 1.
  25. ^ a b Hunnicutt 1983, p. 385.
  26. ^ Gearty 1953, p. 33.
  27. ^ Broderick 1963, p. 80.
  28. ^ Neuhaus, Richard John (February 2001). "The Two Politics of Election 2000". First Things. ISSN 1047-5141. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
  29. ^ a b c Beckley 2001, p. 8.
  30. ^ See Stegner 1949, pp. 243–247.
  31. ^ a b Kennedy et al. 2001, p. 2.
  32. ^ "John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought". Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of St. Thomas. Archived from the original on February 3, 2009. Retrieved May 9, 2009.

Bibliography

  • Beckley, Harlan (2001). "Reflections on the Life of Monsignor John A. Ryan". In Kennedy, Robert G.; Athans, Mary Christine; Brady, Bernard V.; McDonough, William C.; Naughton, Michael J. (eds.). Religion and Public Life: The Legacy of Monsignor John A. Ryan. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America.
  • Broderick, Francis L. (1963). Right Reverend New Dealer: John A. Ryan. New York: Macmillan Company.
  •  ———  (1969). "The Encyclicals and Social Action: Is John A. Ryan Typical?". The Catholic Historical Review. 55 (1): 1–6. ISSN 1534-0708. JSTOR 25018342.
  • Gaillardetz, Richard R. (1990). "John A. Ryan: An Early Revisionist?". The Journal of Religious Ethics. 18 (2): 107–122. ISSN 1467-9795. JSTOR 40015110.
  • Gearty, Patrick W. (1953). The Economic Thought of Monsignor John A. Ryan. Washington: Catholic University of America Press.
  • Helstrom, Carl IV (2016). Father Coughlin, John A. Ryan, and Catholic Social Teaching (BA thesis). Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan. hdl:2027.42/139670.
  • Hunnicutt, Benjamin K. (1983). "Monsignor John A. Ryan and the Shorter Hours of Labor: A Forgotten Vision of 'Genuine' Progress". The Catholic Historical Review. 69 (3): 384–402. ISSN 1534-0708. JSTOR 25021636.
  • Kennedy, Robert G.; Athans, Mary Christine; Brady, Bernard V.; McDonough, William C.; Naughton, Michael J., eds. (2001). "Introduction". Religion and Public Life: The Legacy of Monsignor John A. Ryan. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America.
  • Ryan, John A. (1941). Social Doctrine in Action: A Personal History. New York: Harper and Bros.
  • Ryan, Leo V. (1991). "American Protestant and Catholic Social Concerns Circa 1890 and the Ely–Ryan Relationship". Review of Social Economy. 49 (4): 514–531. doi:10.1080/00346769100000043. ISSN 1470-1162. JSTOR 29769579.
  • Schmiesing, Kevin (2003). "John A. Ryan, Virgil Michel, and the Problem of Clerical Politics". Journal of Church and State. 45 (1): 113–129. doi:10.1093/jcs/45.1.113. ISSN 2040-4867. JSTOR 23920161.
  • Stegner, Wallace (1949). "The Radio Priest and His Flock". In Leighton, Isobel (ed.). The Aspirin Age, 1919–1941. New York: Simon & Schuster (published 1963). pp. 232–257. ISBN 978-0-671-20062-6. Retrieved September 12, 2020.

Further reading

  • Abell, Aaron I. (1946). "Msgr. John A. Ryan: An Historical Appreciation". The Review of Politics. 8 (1): 128–134. doi:10.1017/S0034670500040183. ISSN 1748-6858. JSTOR 1403975. S2CID 145176666.
  • Andelson, Robert V. (1974). "Msgr. John A. Ryan's Critique of Henry George". American Journal of Economics and Sociology. 33 (3): 273–286. doi:10.1111/j.1536-7150.1974.tb02203.x. JSTOR 3485407.
  • Beckley, Harlan (1992). Passion for Justice: Retrieving the Legacies of Walter Rauschenbusch, John A. Ryan, and Reinhold Niebuhr. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster/John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-21944-4.
  • Bender, Reginald George (1974). The Doctrine of Private Property in the Writings of Monsignor John A. Ryan (STD dissertation). Washington: Catholic University of America. OCLC 26332966.
  • Betten, Neil (1970). "Social Catholicism and the Emergence of Catholic Radicalism in America". Journal of Human Relations. 18 (1): 710–727.
  •  ———  (1971). "John A. Ryan and the Social Action Department". Thought. 46 (181): 227–246. doi:10.5840/thought197146217.
  • Broderick, Francis L. (1959). Broderick, Francis L. (ed.). "Liberalism And The Mexican Crises of 1927: A Debate Between Norman Thomas and John A. Ryan". The Catholic Historical Review. 45 (3): 309–326. ISSN 1534-0708. JSTOR 25016581.
  • Gouldrick, John W. (1979). John A. Ryan's Theory of the State (STD dissertation). Washington: Catholic University of America. OCLC 6519503.
  • Higgins, George G. (1942). The Underconsumption Theory in the Writings of Monsignor John A. Ryan (MA thesis). Washington: Catholic University of America.
  • Lavey, Patrick Bernard (1986). William J. Kerby, John A. Ryan, and the Awakening of the Twentieth-Century American Catholic Social Conscience, 1899–1919 (PhD dissertation). University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. OCLC 15533552.
  • McGill, Theodora E. (1952). A Bio-Bibliography of Monsignor John A. Ryan (MS thesis). Washington: Catholic University of America. OCLC 45303553.
  • McShane, Joseph M. (1986). "Sufficiently Radical": Catholicism, Progressivism, and the Bishops' Program of 1919. Washington: Catholic University of America Press. ISBN 978-0-8132-0631-8.
  • Meagher, Timothy; Shepherd, John; Turrini, Joseph (2001). "Laboring for Justice: Archival Resources for the Study of George Higgins and Catholic Social Action at the Archives of the Catholic University of America". U.S. Catholic Historian. 19 (4): 51–56. ISSN 1947-8224. JSTOR 25154792.
  • Medhurst, Martin J. (1988). "Argument and Role: Monsignor John A. Ryan on Social Justice". Western Journal of Speech Communication. 52 (1): 75–90. doi:10.1080/10570318809389626. ISSN 1745-1027.
  • Miscamble, Wilson D. (1990). "The Limits of American Catholic Antifascism: The Case of John A. Ryan". Church History. 59 (4): 523–538. doi:10.2307/3169147. ISSN 1755-2613. JSTOR 3169147. S2CID 154218879.
  • Preston, Robert M. (1970). "The Christian Moralist as Scientific Reformer: John A. Ryan's Early Years". Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia. 81 (1): 27–41. ISSN 2573-9778. JSTOR 44210708.
  • Purcell, Richard J. (1946). "John A. Ryan: Prophet of Social Justice". Studies. 35 (138): 153–174. ISSN 0039-3495. JSTOR 30099649.
  • Smylie, James H. (1960). "The Roman Catholic Church, the State, and Al Smith". Church History. 29 (4): 321–343. doi:10.2307/3162214. ISSN 1755-2613. JSTOR 3162214. S2CID 162411233.

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