I think American Catholics know better because they remember WW2 and the same old tired baloney before, and it cost us thousands of Christians worldwide....
Catholic opinion in America is strong (about a quarter of the population of U.S.A. are Catholic). Hence Catholic opinion assumes quite an importance in relation to American public life.
Much publicity was given to the anti-Nazi utterances of the late Cardinal Mundelein, and the world has also become aware of Roosevelt's close co-operation with Cardinals of the Catholic Church, and of his decision to send Mr. Myron C. Taylor to the Vatican as his special envoy. Probably this co-operation has achieved more than any other measure in spreading the fallacious belief In democratic circles that the present policy of the Pope is anti-Fascist, and that in the present struggle the Pope and his Church stand arrayed against the Dictatorships. If that were the case, Catholic opinion in America would have been hard at work to break through the isolationist tendencies in American politics . Actually it has been the backbone of Isolationism. In America, as in England, the Roman Catholic community has been divided in its attitude to Hitlerism and the existing war. The New York Times reported, in connection with the Presidential election, the declaration of a body of 60 Roman Catholics (including 2 Bishops) calling for " all possible help to Great Britain" as "Hitlerism, like Communism, seeks to subvert Christianity." Taking Catholic opinion as a whole, however, in its political significance in America, its influence has been on the side of extreme isolationism. The following facts substantiate that charge.
The Catholic Herald has stated: "Catholic opinion in the States is virtually all in the Isolationist camp." "War -- We Stay Out," is the front-page slogan of American Catholic papers. The Jesuit weekly, America, has since the outbreak of war proclaimed the need for the strictest Isolationism. In its columns the American President has been condemned for having deserted "any semblance of neutral feeling." He is asked:
"Is it the fixed purpose of the President to disregard the authority of Congress and bring this country into an undeclared war against Germany and Italy? . . . No policy merits national support except a policy for adequate protection against attack. To say that our first line of defense is to come to the aid of Britain is to say that we are justified in attacking Germany and Italy. I do not think that claim can be sustained. As the Archbishop of Cincinnati has said, we have no moral justification for making war against these nations. . . . It is our duty to prepare to defend this country, in the unlikely, but possible, event of attack. It is no part of our duty, morally, or because of legitimate commitments, to prepare armaments to be used in England's aid." (Catholic Herald, July 19th, 1940.)
The insolent refusal of Henry Ford to supply aeroplane motors for Britain can well be mentioned in this connection, since his contact with Catholic circles, and particularly Catholic Fascist circles is so close. His own son, Edsel, married a Roman Catholic and turned Roman Catholic himself. Ford's grandson, Henry Ford II, has been received into the Catholic Church prior to his marriage to a Roman Catholic. It is reported that the elder Henry Ford is receiving instruction from a priest prior to his own entry into the Catholic Church. His contact with the Catholic pro-Nazi Fascist, Father Coughlin, is well known. During recent labour troubles in Detroit Father Coughlin's assistance was used to bring about a settlement. Incidentally, Free Europe (of October 4th, 1940) quoted a report of P.M., a New York evening newspaper stating that Ford has received the Order of the German Eagle, an emblem of honour given to "distinguished foreigners who have deserved well of the Reich." Certainly Coughlin's loyalty to Nazi Germany is not in doubt. He writes of that country:
"Perhaps, nothing is greater proof of the rottenness of the empire system than that one single unified, clean-living people, fired by an ideal to liberate the world once and for all from an orientalist gold-debt slave system of finance can march tireless over nation after nation, and bring two great empires to their knees."
In his own paper, Social Justice, he speaks of the future in terms of which the following is a summary:
" Great Britain is doomed and should be doomed. There is no danger of Hitler threatening the United States. We should build armaments for the purpose of crushing Soviet Russia in co-operation with the Christian Totalitarian States: Italy, Germany, Spain and Portugal." (See League for Human Rights Bulletin, Cleveland, Ohio.)
A campaign is on foot headed by Coughlin's movement and the International Catholic Truth Society to outlaw Gunther's book, Inside Europe, from the schools and libraries of America.
American Archbishops have used their influence in the same direction against the "rising war hysteria," and in furtherance of the slogan: "Leave Europe to God." The Cardinals of Boston, Pennsylvania, Curley and Philadelphia are notorious for their Isolationist propaganda. The following are typical statements of leading dignitaries of the Church.
Mgr. Duify of Buffalo declared that if the United States went to war with Soviet Russia as an ally, he for one would publicly ask Catholic men to refuse to fight. Archbishop Curley made thrusts at the European democracies saying:
"I ask you today not to be swayed by war propaganda. Many of us recall the propaganda of 22 years ago in this country and other countries. I am speaking particularly now of this country. We were asked to make the world Safe for Democracy. What Democracy? Our country was not invaded then; it is not being invaded now. We shall willingly and courageously defend America if needs be, but there is no reason why we should fight the battles of war-mad countries in Europe. We have done nothing to stir up strife in Europe. We are not responsible for what is going on over there. We want to live in peace and we must be determined to live in peace. Where are the democracies in Europe which we are called upon to save? I am not an exponent of totalitarian states, but again I ask, where are the democracies in Europe? "
Cardinal Dougberty of Philadelphia uttered this warning:
"Meddle not with what does not concern you lest you be used as a cat's paw by others."
At a "Sword of the Spirit Meeting" in London a Catholic speaker, Mr. Christopher Hollis, waxed indignant about the role of Continental and American Catholics in relation to the present war. Referring to America which he had recently visited he said:
"The main obstacle to pro-British sentiment, and one which has been giving the gravest concern to the authorities at Washington, has been the attitude of American Catholics. In America it is very easy, for instance, to publish accounts of the persecution of the Church in Germany in the non-Catholic Press; it is almost impossible to get Catholic publishers of papers to print anything of the kind. They suspect that it is a dodge to bring America into the war. There are, of course, notable exceptions among individual American Catholics, but it is somewhat humiliating that the most we can prove is that the Catholic support of Hitler has not been unanimous!'' (Catholic Herald, November 15th, 1940)
When the discussion of the Burke-Wadsworth Conscription Bill was before the country, Roman Catholic Prelates of eminence and Authority were in the vanguard of the opposition. True, they viewed the Bill with dismay for private reasons, because in its original formulation it did not exempt the clergy, lay brothers and seminarians from compulsory military service. But the American correspondent of the Catholic Herald at the time pointed out (see issue dated September 13th, 1940) that Catholics were opposed to the principle of the Bill since:
"There is a spreading alarm that the conscription is intended to build a huge army . . . that such an army would be called to the defense of Great Britain. It would be unfair to English Catholics to reveal the continued opposition on the part of very many American Catholics to any sort of aid being lent England.... England's cause has not been helped any, in the view of American Catholics, by the policies of the Pétain Government. The banishment of Freemasonry, the purge of Government officials, the restoration of the Family in France, Vichy's good relations with the Church ‹ all these serve to build the esteem with which American Catholics are ready to view the Pétain Government."
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| Cardinal Pacelli, later Pius XII, with Joseph P. Kennedy [left] (1936) |
To crown all came the comment of the late Catholic American Ambassador to Britain, Mr. Joseph Kennedy, who on his return from this country to America is reported to have declared publicly that "Democracy is finished in England"; England's not fighting for Democracy; that's the "bunk stuff." And according to Sir Norman Angell's message from America, Kennedy's chief occupation since his return from England to America have been to raise the bogey that the socialists are running Britain, and that therefore schemes to associate closely America and Britain must be treated with due caution. It is obvious that the visit of Mr. Wendell Wilkie to this country early in 1941 was, in part, prompted by such alarmists talk. Both Mr. Kennedy and Henry Ford are prominent members of the "America First Committee" -- the latest form of organised Isolationism. Even after the Presidential Election and as late as January 3rd, 1941, the Catholic Herald in this country referred to the fact that:
"The Catholic community in America appears to be one of the strongest centres of isolationism, but it will find it increasingly difficult to maintain its point of view in the face of the majority decision."
And on March 14th, I941, that paper spoke of the "maintenance of a Catholic opinion" against the Lease and Lend Bill.
In considering the motives which possibly inspire Catholic Isolationism, the following points are worth mentioning. Naturally they are sustained both by general anti-war sentiment and the arguments of pro-Fascist saboteurs.
(1) As long as the Catholic Church, or more correctly her leaders, see a hope that the Fascist States and the Universal Church can work in harmony, or at least reach an agreement of sorts, no better perspective for the Church being in view, the advance of Fascism in general and Nazism in particular will not be regarded as a major disaster by Catholic forces. Many Catholics are Fascists at heart. But even the Catholics who have no love for the Fascist System are more easily reconciled to Fascist victories when those victories are accompanied by concessions to the Church or promises of these. Democratic Catholics found the Fascisms of Franco, Mussolini, Salazar and of Dollfuss tolerable because their Church gained ground at the same time.
(2) The Catholic creed in many of its fundamentals coincides with certain Fascist tenets (Authoritarianism and the Corporate State, for instance), so that Right-wing Catholic opinion very often veers round to the view that a "Christianised Fascism" offers more to the cause of Catholicism than is offered by Democracy, which is considered too tolerant towards Catholicism's opponents. Experience in Italy, Portugal, Spain, Austria (under Dollfuss) and now in Petain France strengthens this view, whilst the differences between the Church and the State in Germany are considered by the long-term diplomats of the Church to be too short-lived to present a decisive argument against the possibility of a Nazi-Catholic alliance.
(3) Should America become embroiled in the war as an ally of Britain, and the American Bishops become linked up with a patriotic campaign against Fascism, this might cause an acute cleavage within the Church at a time when, in some countries, she may have reached a tolerable understanding with Hitler and a whole bloc of Nazi-controlled Fascist States. The Pope would assuredly find such a state of affairs difficult to handle. We must not forget, in this connection, that almost all his funds come from America at the present time.
(4) Unquestionably the strongest reason for Catholic Isolationism in America is that which springs from the rabid anti-Bolshevism which is almost an obsession in practically all Catholic circles. lt is probably feared that should America join forces with Britain, this will drive Germany into a position of greater dependency on Russia, which may result in a further "peaceful expansion" of Soviet territory and rule with the tacit consent of Germany. On the other hand, Catholics in America may believe that a Britain which is denied full American aid will be eventually compelled to seek a solution with Germany on the basis of an anti-Russian orientation in international politics . An alternative perspective is also not to their liking, namely Russia and America as allies in this war.
For such reasons as these, influential sections of the Catholic population of America try to hold America aloof from equal participation with Britain in the present struggle. Before the Presidential Election the democratically-inclined wing combined this with the advocacy of restricted assistance to Britain whilst the Right-wing and avowed Fascist circles advocated the refusal of every aid to Britain in her emergency. Since the presidential election, and as a result of the fall of France, there has been a greater tendency to regard assistance to Britain as inevitable, the President's line of policy being what it is. Consequently the key point at issue now is the extent and kind of assistance to be granted.
