Archbishop of New Orleans John W. Shaw and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, 1918-1933
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University of New Orleans ScholarWorks@UNO University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations Dissertations and Theses Spring 5-13-2016 “Fixing the Italian Problem”: Archbishop of New Orleans John W. Shaw and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, 1918-1933 Emily E. Nuttli University of New Orleans, New Orleans, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td Part of the Catholic Studies Commons, History of Religion Commons, and the Other Italian Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Nuttli, Emily E., "“Fixing the Italian Problem”: Archbishop of New Orleans John W. Shaw and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, 1918-1933" (2016). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 2178. https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/2178 This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by ScholarWorks@UNO with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights- holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. This Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UNO. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “Fixing the Italian Problem”: Archbishop of New Orleans John W. Shaw and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, 1918-1933 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of New Orleans in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History by Emily Nuttli B.A. Louisiana State University, 2014 May 2016 Dedication To my grandmothers, LaVerne and Marylynn. ii Acknowledgments This work would not have been possible without the guidance of so many at the University of New Orleans Department of History. Dr. Atkinson, my thesis chair, lent me hours and hours of coffee shop advising, even in the early days of this project when I seemed to have a new topic every month. Without you encouraging me to write this story, and suggesting new angles to approach it from, none of this could have been possible. To Dr. Mosterman, the professor I worked with for three semesters as a graduate assistant, thank you for making me feel so welcome in the department and for your constant encouragement. To archivist Remesia Shields at the Archives of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, thank you for assisting me in finding these letters and documents and for allowing me so many appointments in your archives. I am grateful to Dr. Leumas at the Archdiocese of New Orleans for your research, which inspired my own, and for your suggestions on my work. Thank you to Matt Martin at the Oblate School of Theology Archives in San Antonio. You made my trip to San Antonio fruitful and enjoyable. Thanks also to the late Carl Muckley Sr., whose scholarship fund allowed me to travel to San Antonio to gain crucial parts of my research. Thank you to the History Department at UNO for selecting me as recipient of the Muckley Fund scholarship. My research trip to San Antonio gave me not only the Oblate side of the story, but also a renewed enthusiasm for the subject. Thank you to PJs Coffee on Metairie Road and Rue du la Course for supplementing my writer’s block with heaps of caffeine and good wifi. Thanks to all my incredibly supportive friends, especially Caroline, Caroline, Liz, Mallory, Marilyn, Mary, and Molly: I don’t deserve you queens. To my family: Mom, Dad, Tommy, Annie, John, you all know best how much I love to argue. Thanks for tolerating my discussions on religion over the years; you played along iii wonderfully. Thanks to my parents, Thomas and Mary Nuttli, for everything, especially for allowing me a place to live and delicious meals to sustain me while in graduate school. iv Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. vi Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1-5 Historiography ................................................................................................................. 5-9 Shaw’s Motives .............................................................................................................. 9-16 Establishing an Italian Parish ....................................................................................... 16-25 Favoritism and Discontent ........................................................................................... 25-33 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 34-36 Appendices ................................................................................................................... 37-39 Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 40-41 Vita .....................................................................................................................................42 v Abstract In 1918, Archbishop Shaw invited the Texas Catholic religious order, Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, to New Orleans to manage the St. Louis Cathedral and its filial parish for Southern Italians, St. Mary’s Church. This thesis will look at the personalities and preferentialism that affected this early 20th century transfer of religious power from secular priests to a religious order. Comparing the language used by Archbishop Shaw in correspondence with Oblate Fathers with the language he used with his secular priests will determine that Shaw displayed favoritism in his decision to invite the Oblates. This decision was affected by four primary factors: Shaw’s prior relationship with the Oblates as Bishop of San Antonio, his concerns with archdiocesan finances, his perceived threat of encroaching Protestantism, and politics of discontent amongst his secular clergy. Shaw’s distinct idealistic pragmatism shows the dynamic nature of the institution of the Catholic Church in Louisiana. Key Words: Archbishop John W. Shaw, Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Sicilian immigration, St. Mary’s Church, New Orleans vi “I do not let personalities influence me in any of my appointments. Salus animarum, suprema lex has always been my rule.”1 - John William Shaw, 1933 On the morning of May 11, 1919, Archbishop John William Shaw of New Orleans sat at his writing desk in the Archbishop’s House, located on Esplanade Avenue on the edge of the French Quarter, and opened a letter from the superior general of a missionary order of Catholic priests, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI). 2 Augustin Dontenwill, former Archbishop of Vancouver and then seated in Rome, wrote to inform Archbishop Shaw that he would be unable to send the Archdiocese of New Orleans an Italian priest to minister to the Sicilian immigrants in the city. Shaw had appealed to the Oblates for an Italian-speaking priest since the time he was first appointed to New Orleans in January of 1918, fearing that the poor Southern Italian immigrants living in the French Quarter would soon abandon their Catholic faith without an Italian-speaking priest from this particular religious order. In the letter, Superior General Dontenwill had written, “that possibility is out of the question.”3 As the superior general explained, World War I had rendered Europe unable to send foreign missionaries to minister in America, as had long been the custom, especially in 1 Letter from John W. Shaw to Joseph Cozad, January 10, 1933, “Provincial Correspondence, Diocese New Orleans, LA Antoine 1909-38,” Box 3, Oblate School of Theology Archives, San Antonio, Texas. Taken from The Code of Canon Law, translated “salvation of souls is the highest law.” 2 The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, OMI, is a missionary congregation of Catholic priests and brothers who take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Founded in 1816 by Saint Eugene de Mazenod in the south of France, their ministry is focused on poverty, peace, and social justice. In 1857, Pope Pius XI, impressed with the Oblates’ ministry toward impoverished communities in the Church, prompted the Oblates to more specifically define their duties as “service to the poor and marginalized through contemporary spirituality.” In 1849, The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate established a headquarters in Brownsville, Texas, at the request of Bishop Jean Marie Odin. By 1884 Oblate missionaries expanded and settled in San Antonio. In 1904 the order’s headquarters moved to San Antonio, due in part to the newly established Oblate School of Theology, which allowed the Oblates to provide their own priestly religious education and expand their missionary efforts. See James Talmadge Moore, Through Fire and Flood: The Catholic Church in Frontier Texas, 1836-1900 (College Station: Texas A&M, 2000). See also James Talmadge Moore, Acts of Faith: The Catholic Church in Texas, 1900-1950 (College Station: Texas A&M, 2002). 3 Letter from Augustin Dontenwill to John W. Shaw, May 11, 1919, Oblate Fathers Correspondence Prior To 1935, Archdiocese of New Orleans Office of Archives and Records, New Orleans, Louisiana. 1 New Orleans. Despite this setback, Shaw continued to press the Oblates for this favor through correspondence with the Oblate