Robert W. Bullock Papers 1940-2006 MS.2006.024 http://hdl.handle.net/2345/1006 Archives and Manuscripts Department John J. Burns Library Boston College 140 Commonwealth Avenue Chestnut Hill 02467 library.bc.edu/burns/contact URL: http://www.bc.edu/burns Table of Contents Summary Information .................................................................................................................................... 3 Administrative Information ............................................................................................................................ 4 Biographical Note .......................................................................................................................................... 5 Scope and Contents ........................................................................................................................................ 5 Arrangement ................................................................................................................................................... 6 Other Finding Aids ........................................................................................................................................ 7 Collection Inventory ....................................................................................................................................... 7 I: Artifacts and ephemera ............................................................................................................................ 7 II: Awards .................................................................................................................................................... 8 III: Correspondence ..................................................................................................................................... 8 IV: Director of Campus Ministry meetings ................................................................................................ 8 V: Facing History and Ourselves ................................................................................................................ 9 VI: Photographs ......................................................................................................................................... 10 VII: Sermons and talks ............................................................................................................................. 10 Robert W. Bullock Papers MS.2006.024 - Page 2 - Summary Information Creator: Bullock, Robert W. Title: Robert W. Bullock papers Collection Identifier: MS.2006.024 Date [inclusive]: 1940-2006 Physical Description 12 Linear Feet (19 containers) Physical Description 40 Gigabytes (396 files with approximately 67 hours of audio plus digital documents) Language of the English Material: Abstract: Papers document the religious career of twentieth-century Boston Catholic priest Robert W. Bullock. Materials include correspondence, sermons and talks, photographs, ministry documents, awards, artifacts and ephemera, and a scrapbook. It also contains material relating to Bullock's work with the non-profit organization Facing History and Ourselves. Preferred Citation Identification of item, Box number, Folder number, Robert W. Bullock papers, MS.2006.024, John J. Burns Library, Boston College. Robert W. Bullock Papers MS.2006.024 - Page 3 - Administrative Information Publication Information Processed by Sarah K. Nytroe, November-December 2006; minor updates 2009; Rachael Young in 2018. This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace. Conditions Governing Access Collection is open for research. Materials from Series VII. Sermons and talks, including Subseries D. Sermons and Subseries E. Talking Religion radio shows, were received digitally. This content has been migrated from source media; digital use copies can only be accessed onsite in the Burns Library Reading Room. Provenance Gift of the Bullock Estate and Padriac O'Hare of Facing History and Ourselves, in 2006. Restrictions on use These materials are made available for use in research, teaching and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source. The original authors may retain copyright to the materials. Robert W. Bullock Papers MS.2006.024 - Page 4 - Biographical Note Robert W. Bullock was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1929. He attended St. Sebastian's Country Day School. In 1951 he earned a degree in economics from Boston College. He entered St. John's Seminary and was ordained a priest in 1956. Between 1956 and 1966, Bullock served at numerous parishes in Massachusetts, including St. Camillus in Arlington. He joined the Boston Archdiocese's campus ministry in 1964 and was appointed its first director of campus ministry in 1966. In addition, Bullock served as Catholic chaplain at Brandeis University from 1969 to 1978. After working in campus ministry, Bullock was assigned to Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in Sharon, Massachusetts. He served at Our Lady of Sorrows from 1978 to 2004. Bullock's interest in interfaith relations, particularly Jewish-Christian relations, surfaced and developed while he served as the Catholic chaplain at Brandeis University. He read extensively on the Holocaust. In 1976, he began collaborating with Facing History and Ourselves, an organization that focuses on helping teachers and students engage with issues of racism, prejudice, and anti-Semitism. During his thirty year relationship with Facing History and Ourselves Bullock traveled around the country talking with students and teachers about the past and its implications for the present. Bullock traveled to Israel, Germany, and Poland in 1973 where he studied Jewish-Christian relations within campus ministry. He led several interfaith trips to Israel from 1973 to 1980. In addition, Bullock was engaged in a variety of other religious organizations. From 1964 to 1974, Bullock served as a member of the Archdiocesan Ecumenical Commission. Bullock also regularly participated on the WBZ Sunday morning broadcast of "Intersect." Bullock became a vocal critic of the Church's handling of the sexual abuse crisis in the Boston Archdiocese. He signed a letter along with other priests calling for the resignation of Boston Cardinal Bernard Law and founded a support and network group for Boston priests, the Priests' Forum. Diagnosed with liver cancer in the spring of 2004, Bullock died at home on June 19, 2004 at the age of 75. Source: Rourke, Mary. "Robert Bullock, 75; Priest, Critic of Church's Role in Sex Scandal." Los Angeles Times, June 23, 2004. Accessed on December 17, 2020, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-jun-23- me-bullock23-story.html Scope and Contents The papers primarily document the religious work of Robert W. Bullock, a twentieth-century Catholic priest in the Boston area. The collection includes a significant body of sermons and talks, correspondence, ministry meeting information, photographs, a scrapbook, awards, and artifacts and ephemera. Many of Bullock's talks focused on spirituality, the relationship between the Vatican and the American church, Jewish-Christian relations, issues of anti-Semitism, and the sexual abuse crisis in Robert W. Bullock Papers MS.2006.024 - Page 5 - the Catholic Church. Additional materials relate to Bullock's activities with the non-profit organization Facing History and Ourselves. Arrangement Arranged in seven series: I. Artifacts and ephemera, II. Awards, III. Correspondence, IV. Director of Campus Ministry meetings, V. Facing History and Ourselves, VI. Photographs, and VII. Sermons and talks. Robert W. Bullock Papers MS.2006.024 - Page 6 - Other Finding Aids More detailed description for the digital content in this collection is available in the form of a directory tree with a file listing. Please request these materials from Burns Library Public Services. Collection Inventory Series I: Artifacts and ephemera, 1951-2006 Arrangement Alphabetical. Processing Information Both the Our Lady of Sorrows scrapbook and the untitled scrapbook were disassembled for preservation purposes; their original presentation (through photocopying) and contents (individually foldered) have been preserved. Address book, undated box 9 folder 25 Apostolic Blessing and Plenary Indulgence for the Hour of Death box 16 folder 2 -- certificate, 1955 Artwork by Sam Henderson given to Robert Bullock, undated box 16 folder 1 Bachelor's degree from Boston College, 1951 box 13 Business card, undated box 9 folder 15 Crocheted cross, undated box 12 Ephemera from the occasion of Mary Bullock's death, 1978 box 9 folder 19-23 Holy Year Program of Renewal and Reconciliation for Priests -- box 7 folder 78 schedule and participants, undated In memoriam book, undated box 13 Newspaper articles, 1964-2006, undated box 9 folder 26-27 Our Lady of Sorrows Diamond Jubilee Road Race -- program box 9 folder 24 ribbon, 1981 August 29 Our Lady of Sorrows -- invitation for Robert W. Bullock's box 7 folder 70 thirteenth anniversary, 1991 September 15 Our Lady of Sorrows -- parish scrapbook, approximately 1991 box 6 folder 9-105 box 7 folder 1-67 Our Lady of Sorrows -- program for the installation of Reverend box 7 folder 69 Robert W. Bullock, 1978 June 27 Robert W. Bullock Papers MS.2006.024 - Page 7 - Passports, 1978, 1983, 2000 box 9 folder