Monsignor William Joseph Kerby, S. T. L. (February 20, 1870 - July 27, 1936) was a writer, sociologist and a Catholic social worker.

William Joseph Kerby was born in Lawler, Iowa, on February 20, 1870. He attended school in his hometown and graduated from St. Joseph’s College, Dubuque, Iowa in 1889.^[1] He went to St. Francis Seminary in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he was ordained in 1892 at the age of 22. Kerby then furthered his studies at the Catholic University of America (CUA), receiving a Bachelor of Sacred Theology and a Licentiate in Theology. Kerby’s mentor was Belgian moral theologian, Fr. Thomas Bouquillon, a proponent of social science and analysis in moral living in addition to more established seminary curriculum. His interest became focused on sociology, and he studied abroad in order to help direct the developing field’s new department at CUA. Kerby studied in Bonn and Berlin, Germany and Louvain, Belgium, where he receiving a Doctorate of Social and Political Science from the University of Louvain in 1897. His doctoral dissertation was an examination of American socialism.^[2]

In 1897 Kerby returned to CUA as its first professor of sociology. He often spoke of the need to get to the root causes of poverty rather than solely focusing on immediate relief for those in need.^[1] Kerby advocated using social remedies to alleviate poverty. He embraced the progressive reforms of the period calling for child labor laws, fair wages, and public health reforms. Kerby was a strong supporter of high education for women.^[3]

In 1910 Msgr. Kerby was selected the first executive secretary of the National Conference of Catholic Charities.

Kerby received an honorary doctorate of Laws from Notre Dame University in 1913.^[1]

• Le Socialisme aux États-Unis, J. Goemaere, 1897.
• The Social Mission of Charity: A Study of Points of View in Catholic Charities, The Macmillan Company, 1921.
• Prophets of the Better Hope, Longmans, Green & Co., 1922.
• My Mass Book, The Macmillan Company, 1929.
• The Considerate Priest, Catholic University of America Press, 1950 [1st Pub. 1937].
• Democracy: Should it Survive?, The Bruce Publishing Company, 1943.

• John A. Ryan

• Lavey, Patrick Bernard. "William J. Kerby, John A. Ryan, and the Awakening of the Twentieth-Century American Catholic Social Conscience, 1899-1919." Ph.D. Diss., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 1986.

• The American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives: William J. Kerby Foundation
• Barga, Michael. "Monsignor William Joseph Kerby", The Social Welfare History Project

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