He was born in 1889 in a small town southeast of Boston to an upper-middle class family that, although Irish Catholic, had more in common with the local protestant Yankees. He attended the local public school before he went to Fordham. He was ordained in May, 1916 after completing five years at the North American College in Rome. Back in Boston, he was quickly in Cardinal O'Connell's doghouse for his lack of tact and piety. It took eleven years to escape the man who called him "a fat little liar" by ingratiating himself with old friends in Rome. Nonetheless, Spellman learned from the Cardinal how to totally immerse oneself into local politics and to become a power broker throughout your realm. He obtained a transfer to Rome, where he was appointed as liaison with the Knights of Columbus and became a fixer between rich Americans and the Vatican, currying favors on both sides of the Atlantic. He was a close friend to Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, a staunch anti-communist and the future Pius XII. Spellman returned to Boston as auxiliary bishop in 1932.
Although he continued as Cardinal O'Connell's sworn enemy, he managed to be Cardinal Pacelli's tour guide throughout a months-long trip to the US in 1936. He became close to Joe Kennedy and arranged Cardinal Pacelli's visit to see FDR at Hyde Park. In 1939, Cardinal Hayes died in NY, Pius XII was elevated and Spellman went to St. Patrick's. New York had an archbishop who charged full-speed ahead. He demanded loyalty to himself and his conservative political and social causes. He restructured the archdiocese's finances, centralized purchasing and control, refinanced all of its debt and let NY's business community know that the archdiocese would no longer be their patsy. He exerted his typical Catholic Irish suppression of human sexuality by opining about and condemning movies, books, professors at local colleges, and shows on Broadway. He exercised his deft political touch so well that it was quickly concluded that he had more power in the city than the mayor himself.
His role on the national stage was confirmed when he facilitated the exchanges between the Vatican and FDR that led to the US opening up diplomatic contact with Rome. FDR propelled him into international affairs. "For the next quarter-century, he was destined to be the celebrated prelate who blessed the crusades of the American empire..." He was appointed Vicar to the US armed forces by Pius XII and an unofficial ambassador by Roosevelt, empowered to deliver the president's messages outside of normal channels. On his first trip, he met with Franco, Pius XII, Eisenhower, Churchill, de Gaulle, de Valera, the Shah, King Farouk, and Haile Selassie. As the war wound down, both the Pope and the Archbishop knew who the real adversary was, and Roman Catholicism began the crusade against the true enemy - godless communism. Now as a Cardinal, he led the charge throughout the US, often in collaboration with Hoover, against the Reds. He had a role overseas and led American support for the Christian Democrats against the Communists in Italy's first post-war election in 1948. He began the Alfred Smith Memorial Dinner, which to this day remains a major political event and more importantly, a fundraiser for the archdiocese. He pursued an extremely conservative agenda by personally leading seminarians to Calvary Cemetery to dig graves and break a strike. He felt organized labor was susceptible to communism. He backed MacArthur when Truman relieved the general. He supported fellow Catholic McCarthy until the bitter end. He endorsed the aggressive anti-communist actions of the Dulles brothers and helped them in Latin America where he had befriended Batista, Trujillo and Somoza. He tried to get the US to provide additional help to the faltering French efforts in Vietnam. Vietnam would eventually prove his undoing, both within the church and at home. He was a supporter of the young Vietnamese Ngo Dinh Diem whom he met when Diem was a Maryknoll seminarian in Ossining in 1950. He and Joe Kennedy formed a pro-Diem lobby in Washington. He was the Catholic kingmaker throughout the hemisphere and controlled the appointment of monsignors and bishops in North and South America. He wielded vast power through the Catholic Relief Services and the the Propagation of the Faith. He appointed Fulton Sheen as director of the Propagation just as Sheen's television work took off and brought millions into the organization. In the sixteen years Sheen ran the entity, he raised $200M and refused to follow Spellman's directions on how to spend the money. On one particular matter, Sheen appealed to the Pope and prevailed, having trapped Spellman in a bald-faced lie. The Cardinal's response was, " I will get you. I will get even. It may take six months or ten years...." The cognoscenti said, "They hated each other for the love of God". He pulled the plug on Sheen's tv show. The financial position of the Propagation dropped and Sheen was asked why. He told reporters to ask Spellman about the money"since he took it." The death of Pius XII in 1958 was the beginning of the end of Spellman's run atop American Catholicism.
Angelo Roncalli, a 77-year-old progressive became JohnXXIII. The Cardinal's observation was , "He's no Pope. He should be selling bananas". The new Pope promoted Richard Cushing of Boston, Spellman's despised adversary, to Cardinal. Cushing became the Kennedy insider, while Spellman supported Nixon and fell completely out of favor. He reluctantly attended Vatican II and announced, "that no change will get past the Statue of Liberty". He was 75 in 1964 and beyond making any course adjustments. He opposed the civil rights movement and supported the war in Vietnam. He was now out of sync with not just the country but his own flock. Even the new Pope, Paul VI, was opposed to the war and spoke out against it at the UN. His local political power waned, while on a national level, LBJ befriended him. His warmongering brought on protests, even inside St. Patrick's. By the time he died on Dec. 2, 1967 he was an old man with only memories of past greatness. Few mourned the end of his era.
My earliest recollection of discomfort with the church's political role was as a young man wondering why Spellman was supporting the Vietnam War. Over the years, I have developed a deep and abiding distaste for all religions' involvement in politics. I know my beliefs are naive and fly in the face of history. My reading of the Establishment Clause leads to a conclusion that for these entities to take millions of tax-deductible dollars, along with their vast real estate tax exemptions and be so deeply political is the height of hypocrisy. This book has only furthered my feelings. Spellman was a Machiavellian extremist who wielded political power with vindictiveness and personal spite. The only slightly redeeming fact learned here is that in the 19th and early twentieth century, in the era long before the welfare state, the church provided a valuable role in delivering social services to the poor. This is a well-done interesting read, but I suspect only for those with a long history with New York and the church. I wish the author had tried to explain more about why he was such a mean-spirited little man (he was 5'5"), above and beyond ambition and deep seated anti-communism.
No comments:
Post a Comment