The Prophetic Burden for Philadelphia’S Catholic Puerto Ricans, 1950-1980
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THE PROPHETIC BURDEN FOR PHILADELPHIA’S CATHOLIC PUERTO RICANS, 1950-1980 ______________________________________________________________________ A Dissertation Submitted to The Temple University Graduate Board ______________________________________________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILSOPHY ______________________________________________________________________ by Adán E. Stevens-Díaz May 2018 Examining Committee Members: Dr. Terry Rey, Advisory Chair, Department of Religion Dr. Nyasha Junior, Department of Religion Dr. Zain Abdullah, Department of Religion Dr. Pablo Vila, Department of Sociology, Temple University © Copyright 2018 by Adán E. Stevens-Díaz All Rights Reserved ii ABSTRACT This dissertation focuses on lay Catholic ministry to Puerto Ricans in Philadelphia when Frank Rizzo was mayor. Gramsci’s concept of “organic intellectuals” is employed to explain the praxis of the Philadelphia Young Lords, an organization formed in a Puerto Rican neighborhood during the confrontational politics of the 1970s. The dissertation advances previous scholarship on the Young Lords by offering reasons to consider these youthful leaders as lay Catholic advocates of social justice in Philadelphia and describes the role of faith convictions as they pursued social justice in the style of the biblical prophetic burden. Through interviews and textual analysis, the dissertation traces the evolution of lay volunteerism before the Second Vatican Council as foundational to the Young Lords’ application of liberation theology. The Young Lords in Philadelphia also followed the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party’s definition of the people’s multiracial identity and the Nationalists’ defense of Catholic principles. Their experiences are inserted into the general history of Philadelphia, a city which Quakers had founded as a cluster of urban villages, producing a distinctive pattern of ethnic enclaves of Philadelphia’s row house neighborhoods. The city’s Catholicism had structured parish life upon the civic culture, and initially extended this model to its Puerto Rican ministry. However, racial polarization at a time of municipal crisis under Rizzo invited new pastoral strategies towards civil right and the Vietnam War. Despite the Young Lords’ reliance on Marxist principles and the confrontational politics of the Black Panthers, local Catholic clergy supported many of their efforts. The dissertation explores the symbolic capital gained by the Young Lords which made them into a vanguard organization in the city’s fields of political and pastoral interaction. iii DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to the memory of my grandparents whose Puerto Rican and Hungarian heritages have built within me a strong and personal multi-ethnic identity; to my parents, who not only have kept this heritage alive, but, through example, teaching and dialogue, have also instilled in me a deep appreciation for the place of religion both in my personal life as well as in the development of a humanizing society; and to my Puerto Rican and Latino community, for the tenacity and hope they have always demonstrated in their unceasing struggle for justice and a better life for our people today for their children and for generations to come. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Writing a dissertation requires long lonely hours of research, thought and analysis. It can be an isolating experience. I wrote this dissertation “standing on the shoulders,” as it were, of the scholars who before me developed methodologies and theories for understanding the forces that impel the historical development of society. I have learned from the teachers in my life what to do and, at times, what not to do. At Temple University, my mentor, Professor Terry Rey, encouraged me to employ the approaches of Antonio Gramsci as my main conceptual tools and sagaciously tempered my references to other theoretical methods that help explain religious influences on social struggles. His guidance was invaluable in my analysis of the role of the Young Lords in the history of Puerto Ricans in Philadelphia. Sadly, Professor John Raines passed away before he could serve as a reader for this dissertation. He was an inspiration in the classroom before I embarked on this study, not only for his clarity as a teacher, but also for his example as an anti-war and civil rights’ activist. During the comprehensive examinations, his enthusiasm for my choice of topic for this dissertation greatly encouraged me. I wish to thank my other Temple professors for the wisdom they shared in the classroom with me when I was a graduate student and still more to Temple University Professors Nyasha Junior and Zain Abdullah of the Department of Religion and Professor Pablo Vila of the Department of Sociology, who became the readers to review this dissertation. I wish to acknowledge the generosity and sincerity of those I interviewed about Philadelphia’s Catholicism and the Puerto Rican community. My sincere thanks go to Monsignor Vincent Walsh, Reverend Roger Zepernick, Father David Ungerleider, Anna v Vázquez and Mari-Gloria Arroyo for sharing their insights about church structure in Philadelphia and pastoral efforts at the local level. Their recollections helped outline the central importance to Puerto Rican community development from the Casa del Carmen and its eventual Director, the late Father Tom Craven. From Puerto Rican leaders during the period under review, I wish to acknowledge the cooperation of Juan Ramos, a Young Lord then and a Catholic Deacon now. As with my in-depth interviews with Izzy Colón and Wilfredo Rojas, their contributions helped color the bare outlines of the Puerto Rican participation in the history of the city of Philadelphia. I also acknowledge the support of the Oral History Project of Hunter College’s Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños, where I was a field investigator during the summer of 2016. Thanks to this project, I was able to supplement my core interviews with insights from Judge Nelson Díaz, a distinguished leader of Philadelphia’s Puerto Rican community; Oscar Rosario, who was liaison to the community with Mayor Rizzo; Juan González, a Young Lord and a reporter with the Philadelphia Daily News for many years; and Dr. Carmen Febo San Miguel of Taller Boricua. Taking a walk down memory lane is not always pleasant. but I hope this experience of remembering has been as helpful to them in better understanding and appreciating the events and the players as it has been for me. I want to thank the Temple University Library and its staff for opening to me their archival collections on Puerto Ricans and pointing the way to additional sources. I am especially indebted to the staff at the Connelly Library of LaSalle University for providing me with archival collections of The Catholic Standard and Times. vi Finally, I gratefully acknowledge the indispensable contribution of Paula Heeshen for her thorough editorial assistance in preparing the final manuscript. I was rewarded not only by the professionalism of her work, but also by her conversations about the struggles for social justice and her perspectives on Puerto Ricans and the history of Philadelphia. As always, thanks to Mom and Dad, who not only supported me but also urged me to continue on this scholarly path and bring this task to fruition. They have never ceased to inspire me with their own dedication to scholarship, their love for the acquisition of knowledge and their devotion to the wellbeing of the Puerto Rican and Latino community in this country. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………………………iii DEDICATION ………………………………………………………………………....iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………………………….v CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………1 Endnotes to Chapter 1………………….………………………………………22 2. THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL CONSIDERATIONS …………………...26 Endnotes to Chapter 2……………….…………………………………………49 3. THE MAKING OF PHILADELPHIA IN CRISIS AND CELEBRATION ……......55 Endnotes to Chapter 3………………………………….………………………74 4. CONTENTMENT AND CORRUPTION IN TWENTIETH CENTURY PHILADELPHIA ……………………………..78 Endnotes to Chapter 4………….……………………………………………..113 5. PUERTO RICO’S BURDEN OF COLONIALISM ……………………………....120 Endnotes to Chapter 5………………………………………………………...162 6. PASTORAL MODELS IN PUERTO RICO AND PHILADELPHIA………….....173 Endnotes to Chapter 6………………………………………………………...218 7. MISSION AND MINISTRY TO PUERTO RICANS IN PHILADELPHIA….......228 Endnotes to Chapter 7………………………………………………………...279 8. THE PROPHETIC BURDEN OF THE YOUNG LORDS IN PHILADELPHIA ..289 Endnotes to Chapter 8………………………………………………………...347 viii 9. CONCLUSIONS ………………………………………………………………......357 Endnotes to Chapter 9………………………………………………………...374 BIBLIOGRAPHY ……………………………………………………………….…...376 APPENDICES A. LIST OF INTERVIEWS…………………………………………………………..401 ix 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The term “prophetic burden” evokes the message of the Hebrew prophets, who felt compelled by divine command to describe the consequences of living outside the law of God.1 Their prophecies did not offer clairvoyant pictures of the future, but rather described the inevitable moral consequences if social injustices went unaltered.2 Although defined by the particular circumstances of their times, these prophetic messages carry a general warning to all ages, especially when the people’s collective action is necessary to avert a society’s perceived downward moral spiral.3 I view the role assumed by the Philadelphia Young Lords, as they responded to the social justice needs of the Puerto Rican