September 21: The Colorful Cardinal

Welcome to the American Catholic Daily Reader podcast. Today is September 21st, and our story is The Colorful Cardinal. It's not every day that an American cardinal offends both Nazi leaders and the international brotherhood of painters, paper hangers, and decorators.

In May 1937, however, Archbishop George Cardinal Mundelein of the Archdiocese of Chicago did just that. The fury arose when the Cardinal delivered an address condemning Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church in Germany. As he spoke, he wondered aloud, how is it that a nation of 60 million people, intelligent people, will submit in fear to an Alien, an Austrian paperhanger, and a poor one at that, I am told.

Within days, the Nazis responded by denouncing Mundelein at a massive rally, and demanding that the Vatican censure the Cardinal. When the Vatican refused, attacks against Catholics in Germany intensified. At the same time, in Philadelphia, outraged decorators denounced Mundelein for including paper hanger in the disparaging remarks he leveled against Hitler. They took no comfort in the fact that the Cardinal qualified his statement by noting that Hitler wasn't a very good paper hanger. The controversy generated by Mundelein's remarks was colorful, but not unusual.

The Manhattan-born prelate tended to generate controversy wherever he went. Ordained to the priesthood in 1895, Mundelein was consecrated Auxiliary Bishop of New York on September 21, 1909, and installed as Archbishop of Chicago in 1916. An outspoken political liberal and theological conservative, Mundelein championed labor unions, President Franklin Roosevelt, and the New Deal with the same vigor that he opposed contraception, divorce, and the film star Mae West.

Mundelein's liberal politics, however, didn't stop a Chicago-based anarchist from lacing his soup and the soup of a hundred other city leaders with arsenic at a 1916 event celebrating his installation. Only the quick thinking of a doctor present at the dinner saved the whole party from sudden death. Besides his well-aired opinions, Mundelein's most lasting legacy was his work renewing priestly vocations in Chicago, a renewal he made possible by founding Quigley Memorial Preparatory Seminary and reopening St. Mary of the Lake Seminary. Although Cardinal Mundelein lived loudly, he died quietly, passing away in his sleep in 1939.

Mundelein's life reminds us that leadership often invites opposition. Courage and truth-telling, especially when combined with service, can provoke discomfort, yet still advance justice and faith. Reflect on an area of your life where leadership and courage could serve others. Take one action to speak or act with integrity this week.

Thank you for listening to the American Catholic Daily Reader podcast. Join us tomorrow, September 22nd, for another story of faith and courage in America.