“The mental grandchildren of Monsignor John A. Ryan”: George G. Higgins, John F. Cronin, S.S., and the Role of the National Catholic Welfare Conference in Post-War American Politics

In the 1930s Monsignor John A. Ryan strove to wed Catholic social reform and American liberalism through his interpretation of papal encyclicals, appropriation of Progressive thought, and positive evaluation of New Deal economic policies. In the postwar period, two of Ryan’s students extended his engagement with liberal reform through their own work for the U.S. bishops. From 1945 to 1966, Monsignor George G. Higgins and Father John F. Cronin, S.S., collaborated in using the Social Action Department of the National Catholic Welfare Conference as a national platform from which they could bring the principles of Catholic social theory to bear on national debates. By examining their individual and collective work regarding labor and economics, their approaches to communism, and their advocacy of racial integration and civil rights, this article argues that Cronin and Higgins were “mental grandchildren of Monsignor John A. Ryan,” adapting the principles Ryan had gleaned from the social encyclicals and applying them to the pressing concerns of their own time.