Why would a Catholic priest’s friends jokingly refer to him as “the Right Reverend New Dealer”? 

As we celebrate the 90th birthday of Social Security on Aug. 14, most people don’t realize the role of the Catholic Church in instituting not only this life-saving program, but much of the groundbreaking social reforms of the FDR’s domestic policy program, the New Deal. 

While people from every background and walk of life dream of building a future that’s better for us and our communities, not everyone has the chance to put such a dream into action. We can only stay faithful to the work and hope to build something lasting. But in the case of Monsignor John Ryan (1869-1945), we have a vivid example of a faith-filled justice-seeker making a monumental contribution to the common good. 

The basis for this seismic contribution emerged over 40 years earlier, with the publication of Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical letter Rerum Novarum (“On New Things”), which addressed issues of capital and labor amid the Industrial Revolution. Pope Leo called for, among other things, the rights of workers to form unions and engage in collective bargaining. This was the start of a modern chapter of justice advocacy in church that most of Leo’s successors have continued to develop.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt drew on Catholic Social Justice teaching to shape his New Deal policy agenda, thanks to the influence of Msgr. John Ryan.

However, when Msgr. Ryan came to work at the newly formed National Catholic War Council in Washington, Rerum Novarum was essentially the sole source of teaching on these issues. The War Council (soon renamed the National Catholic Welfare Conference, the precursor of what is now USCCB) was one of many of the church’s efforts to respond to the unprecedented global destruction of World War I. The Vatican established its own diplomatic corps and beefed up its humanitarian aid. And in the U.S., the NCWC published “The Bishops’ Program for Social Reconstruction” in 1919. 

The document was Msgr. Ryan’s brainchild, and among its many proposals (a living wage, labor rights, public housing, government regulation, abolishing child labor), the Program for Social Reconstruction called for the creation of social insurance, by which the government would provide financial support for the elderly, sick, and unemployed. It wasn’t until the election of a new President, Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, that Msgr. Ryan found a collaborator open to putting the plan into action. This framework of Catholic Social Justice shaped the Administration’s domestic policy agenda profoundly and extensively. Hence Msgr. Ryan’s “New Dealer” nickname. 

Social Security is now 90 years old, and the Trump administration destructively targets so much progress of the last century. It’s up to justice-seekers to mobilize against this threat and to continue pushing for the implementation of a framework that builds the common good through federal policy – the intended purpose of NETWORK from its inception. Let us proceed, pushing for universal access to health care, affordable housing for all, without exception, and even bold visionary proposals such as universal basic income (an idea that found its way into the bishops’ text over 125 years ago). We should proceed with confidence knowing that our path has a rock-solid foundation and that we join countless fellow pilgrims along an ongoing journey of justice. 

Thank you, Msgr. Ryan!