Toronto St. Mike's College and St. Basil's Seminary Graduate: The populist US priest who set up an antisemitic militia

 

At the height of the Great Depression in the early 1930s, 30 million Americans tuned their dials every Sunday afternoon to listen to the words of a Catholic priest from the Detroit suburbs.

But Father Charles Coughlin had long strayed beyond children’s catechism classes.

Instead, the so-called “radio priest” served up a mix of economic populism, staunch anti-communism and conspiracy theories — ones in which, as the decade dragged on, Jews would inevitably come to figure ever-more prominently.

Although now largely a historical footnote, Coughlin, who was born 120 years ago this week, prefigured the later rise of talk radio, has drawn comparisons with Donald Trump, and offers a historical perspective on current debates around the role of media companies in policing the boundaries of free speech.

Born in Canada, Coughlin attended a seminary in Toronto before being ordained a priest in 1916. After 10 years teaching at a Catholic college, he accepted the invitation of the Bishop of Detroit to establish a new parish in Royal Oak, a working-class suburb of the city, where he went on to build his church, the Shrine of the Little Flower.

Coughlin later claimed that, a few weeks after his arrival, the Ku Klux Klan — which targeted Catholics as well as Jews and African Americans — burned a cross in the churchyard. A sympathetic Irish-Catholic businessman, who owned Detroit’s WJR radio station, allowed the priest time on air to explain Catholicism to the community.  (more...)

The populist US priest who set up an antisemitic militia

On Wikipedia:

Charles Coughlin

‘Loophole’ in child abuse reporting in historic cases: advocates

 

If a child told you they’d been sexually assaulted by an adult what would you do? Would you call police? Would you report the allegations to a children’s aid society? Or would you do neither?

For most of us, the moral choice is clear. So why has the obligation to report often been ignored by many who claim to be doing God’s work?

Sister Nuala Kenny is a pediatrician who has spent decades examining the sexual assault scandal rocking the religious institution she’s given her life to. As a nun, she calls the Catholic Church’s response to the abuse of children “a contradiction to what we’ve been called to be as Christians.”

A CityNews investigation has uncovered several child sexual assault claims against an order of Catholic priests based in Toronto. Dating back decades, the Basilian Fathers were made aware of abuse allegations against their own priests, but historically, cases were never reported to police or a children’s aid society. Instead, allegations were dealt with internally, resulting in alleged predator priests continuing to work in schools and churches.

“If the Church had reacted more effectively and properly, we would not have the catastrophe that we have today.”

It’s a scenario lawyer Rob Talach has seen again and again.

“This is the repetitive story in the Catholic cases, these priests are often reported and moved. I term it ‘the silent shuffle,’” he says. “If the Church had reacted more effectively and properly, we would not have the catastrophe that we have today.”  (more...)

‘Loophole’ in child abuse reporting in historic cases: advocates