Joseph Reiner and Acting

This is the second of three blog posts dealing with the Rev. Joseph Stephen Reiner, SJ, my great uncle.  The first post dealt with the Eucharist and Education, and this post will deal with actions he took to advance social justice.  As I noted in my first post, I see Joseph Reiner having had three main approaches to advance this passion: educating, acting and establishing.  All three are inseparable, they work together in conjunction with his dependence on the Eucharist.  In instituting these approaches he consistently follows his pedagogical methods which match that of Jesuit education--with formation and discernment key for a person to see, judge and act.  He would act for his country, his community, his school, and his church.

The Loyolan 1926

Joseph Reiner was not one to have knowledge lie on the sideline.  He put his depth of knowledge as a historian and sociologist to use by being involved in the community.  However, he used his forum, as Dean of Arts and Sciences at Loyola, to form and shape students for action in social justice.  Robert Hartmann, SJ notes that Joseph Reiner shared a conviction with John Dewey, "that school life should be something more than a sealed-off remote preparation for adult-life.  As Dean he wanted students to avoid the narrowness of being merely, what he called, 'campus minded.'"  This whole ideal goes along with the six main principles of a Jesuit education which are:

CURA PERSONALIS. Latin phrase meaning "care for the person," cura personalis is having concern and care for the personal development of the whole person. ...
MAGIS. ... magis embodies the act of discerning the greater good in a given situation to better glorify or serve God. Magis does NOT mean to always do or give “more” to the point of exhaustion. Magis is the value of striving for the better, striving for excellence.
MEN AND WOMEN FOR AND WITH OTHERS. ... This value embodies a spirit of giving and providing service to those in need and standing with the poor and marginalized.  We are encouraged to pursue justice on behalf of all persons.
UNITY OF MIND AND HEART. ... Our hearts and minds are not divided; they are congruent when the whole person is educated and engaged. This speaks to the diversity of people who go forth to set the world on fire with the Ignatian mission all across the world.
CONTEMPLATIVES IN ACTION. ... Although we are thoughtful and philosophical, we do not merely think about social problems, we take action to address them. Developing the habit of reflection centers and strengthens one's spiritual life and guides our actions.
FINDING GOD IN ALL THINGS.  This may be the one phrase that sums up Ignatian Spirituality. It invites a person to search for and find God in every circumstance of life; God is present everywhere and can be found in all of creation. (from Regis University)

These Jesuit principles set the basis for Joseph Reiner and my discernment of his three approaches to social justice.   According to Bielakowski, Fr Reiner's 1933 "Plan for Catholic Social Action" related to the premise of a Jesuit education and Reiner's phrase "that 'attitudes are more important than knowledge" is a statement of value, and Bielakowsi goes on  "which Bauer—a De Paul graduate student in Education—later described as 'the fundamental idea behind Catholic training,' was a deft paraphrase of the Jesuit mission of educating 'the whole person,' character as well as intellect." (Bielakowski p. 104) The education of a whole person allows for one to make judgments and to act.    Attitude is important as it will play to a persons discernment of a situation.  Fr Reiner believed that a properly formed conscience will lead to proper attitude which will inform a person to act.  Without attitude there is no action.  Action is important, as it is what allows a society to function.  Alexis de Tocqueville, in his iconic 19th Century work Democracy in America wrote that the "The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by its private citizens."  Fr Reiner, as a historian and sociologist understood this.  Proper formation was necessary, which Reiner realized:

Valuing the approach over and above the content, Reiner’s plan expressed admiration for the extracurriculum as a forum in which students already taught one another the attitudes, priorities, and leadership skills that they perceived as crucial to their aspirations. “Social habits, attitudes, and skills are generally developed more effectively through informal rather than through formal methods of instruction,” it observed, pointing to student government, debating societies, and student publications as examples. According to Jesuit ideals, a Catholic college graduate would leave campus knowing how to use information; at that point he would be equipped to acquire the information itself more or less on his own. (Bielakowski pp 104-105)

Loyola Chicago, c 1926

This is critical, for Fr. Reiner did not teach just facts.  He wanted to students to gain knowledge and to act on their own.  Fr Reiner pedagogy provided a formula for students to learn, discern attitudes, and form leadership skills from one another.  This would become part of the whole idea of see, judge, and act--for them to come to their own conclusions.  This action, by Fr Reiner is critical to a democracy.  An informed citizenry, is what de Tocqueville said is important to a functioning democracy.  But, Reiner also matched another critical observation that de Tocuqueville made regarding the United States--"Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith."  Joseph Reiner had a method of allowing the individual to see, judge and act, but he did so within the Catholic moral and social justice theology, much of what goes back to Pope Leo XIII encyclical Rerum Novarum. The formation of conscience, however, required a difficult balancing between a variety of factors that are at interplay in college life.

Part of Address to Catholic Education Assoc
Nov 1924

His goal was to form good citizens.  While we know that he contributed to the "Jones and Smith Discuss Socialism" in Our Sunday Visitor starting in 1903, Bielakowski believes that his actions during and  just after World War I formed and shaped his ability to deal in a variety of situations and with a variety of people, she writes:

While teaching at Xavier University in Cincinnati, he crossed the Ohio River to help soldiers stationed at Fort Thomas in Newport, Kentucky, through the devastating influenza pandemic of 1918. During the war he also served on a Red Cross committee on disabled soldiers, and afterward helped to found a local committee on employment for ex-servicemen. While involvement with social welfare agencies was not unusual for
volunteer and military chaplains, whose concern for the soldiers often led them beyond
the standard duties of counseling and public worship, Reiner’s service seems to have
been particularly valuable: in 1945 Sister Mary Roberta Bauer noted that the U.S. War
Department had awarded him “special recognition for his outstanding work." (p. 98)

It is important to note that during WWI armed forces chaplains were not well organized and were not paid.  During WWI most chaplains would work closely with a variety of social service agencies. (Coffman) Yet, Reiner was not overseas, but served in the United States at Fort Thomas. Ft.Thomas was an army induction center and over 80,000 were processed thourgh the fort for WWI and WWII.  It seems that most of Fr Reiner's work was done 102 years ago during that generations Coronavirus, the Spanish flu.  According to the Kenton County Library, the Spanish Flu reporting started nationwide in September. It noted that Spanish Flu cases in that area of Kentucky grew in Oct and Nov, held steady for December and then started to decline.  Just before Christmas Churches and schools were allowed to reopen.  It is estimated that over 25% of the army had the flu at some point in 1917-1918. By October four out of every 1000 soldiers in the US Army died of the Spanish flu. (Coffman, p. 82) 

Fort Thomas Soldiers during Drill
1918
Source: Ft. Thomas History website

But Joseph Reiner's work did not end with tending to soldier needs at Forth Thomas, KY, where he would have had done Catholic and non-Catholic services. He was to soldiers at Fort Thomas a WWI version of Fr. Mulchay, popularized in the TV show MASH.  He took his duty beyond chaplaincy and assisted with disabled soldiers, and went even further in forming a committee on employment for the dough boys. The United States was a late entry into WWI, but from entry into Europe April 1917 to the Armistice on 11 Nov 1918 the US had over 4.7 million soldiers involved.  That is a massive amount of persons to mobilize and would cause a great disruption here on the home front.  And, it also meant adjustments as soldiers reentered civilian life.  His actions during the war are critical to his further actions in social justice. His experience in WWI, would according to Bielakowski contribute to his later involvement in local communities:

Reiner’s experience of volunteer chaplaincy, which required him to minister to non-Catholic as well as Catholic soldiers in a time of crisis, probably increased his skill and confidence in relating to non-Catholics; also, it probably helped to stretch his perception of community identification and responsibility beyond Catholic enclaves to include the city and the nation, as well as lending a sense of urgency to his reform impulses. 

Fr Reiner would involve himself in a variety of social causes.  However, I suspect as sociologist he well understood the local and national picture.  Fortman and Hartnett indicate that Fr Reiner was involved in a rather expansive undertaking that would keep most persons occupied for a lifetime.  While in Cincinnati, Fr Reiner was on the Board of Director's of a number of Protestant dominated organizations, which included:  Cincinnati Consumer League, Better Housing League, Juvenile Protection Association, the very secular Social Hygiene Committee, and the highly Protestant, elite, philanthropic City Club.  But, he was also a member of the Milk Commission while in Cincinnati. (I think it important to recall Hartnett's comment in the first blog post, "that these reformist interventions had more than a little to do with Father Reiner's removal to the more progressive climate of Wisconsin.")  Was his proposals on some of these commissions met with disdain?

Joseph Reiner WWI Draft Card

I was intrigued by the Milk Commission, probably because I am from the Dairy State, so some basic  research took me back to a time when I was in college and taking sociology courses to recall the purpose of a Milk Commission.  While today milk prices are in a free-fall in part due to a lack of demand by the Millennial and I generations, 100 years ago access to quality milk was viewed as important. As the nation urbanized cows became less frequent in individual households, think of the urban legend of Mrs O'Leary's urban cow knocking over the lantern and starting the Chicago fire in 1871. As Henry Erdman wrote in 1921 in the Marketing of Whole Milk, milk became a problem when producers and consumers became more separated.  As cows ceased to be part of the home life in the urban area, at first the producers would go to town with their milk to sell the product.  As urbanization increased the distance increased and they "farmed" the supply out to milkmen.  That too became more difficult and middle men were brought in.  This then led to the issues of supply and demand, and also quality.  Affecting the supply-demand relationship is that milk is highly perishable, and the need a stronger quality control (think watering down); in that era milk was important to the diet. When I think if this situation it brings to mind the movie  the Cinderella Man  where James Braddock waters down the milk for his children, as he cannot afford to buy more.  However, milk production-and its distribution can not easily adjust to increased market in a growing city.

Speech to Catholic Education Assoc
Nov 1924

Cities grew because of industrialization, and it was in this era when mass movements from farm to city started to occur.  Industrialization of course also meant that labor issues arose (think Braddock working on the docks). Fr. Reiner was a member of the American Association of Labor Legislation body.  He worked to limit work hours of women and children, and perhaps realizing the potential lack of security in the streets of an urban area, he worked to limit how late in the day women could work, probably so as to have a mother at home to put her children to bed.  He was not always successful in his reform efforts.  Given his interest in labor, he would assist in seeing the formation of cooperatives by varied organizations, and in this respect he was a member of the Cooperative League of the United States.

Oak Park "Parker" 11 Nov 1927

In another month the United States will hold its decennial census.  It is on the census that seats for the US House of Representatives will be apportioned to states, and how each state will set the boundaries for those districts, state office districts, and county and local office districts.  I used to work on census maps for the community I worked for, and I am glad I do not have to do such this year.  Seeing the squabbles at a local level I can imagine what it is like at the state level.  Anyway, Joseph Reiner was a member of the Proportional Representation League, which actually was formed during the Columbian Exposition in his hometown of Chicago, to promote just apportionment maps.

His action carried over to other areas, such as the more sectarian Catholic Industrial Conference, and the Catholic Association for International Peace (CAIP). While, the CAIP was formed in 1927, mainly due to the action of Msgr. John Ryan, its creation came about after the 1926 Eucharistic Congress held in Chicago.  The Eucharistic Congress led to the creation of informal committees that discussed the issues of international peace and its relationship to Catholic teachings.  The CAIP undertook studies and publications related to war and world hot spots.  Msgr. Ryan is often considered the main pioneer of Catholic Social action, and I suspect that Reiner and Ryan met during the Eucharistic Congress in 1926, if not before.  In the epilogue of his autobiography Msgr. Ryan would mention the now deceased Fr Reiner, as being one of the "handful of pioneers in this field" of Catholic social justice and action. (Hartnett)  Hartnett also says that it was Fr Reiner who taught Fr Lord, SJ (who seems to have coordinated the Sodality movements) "whatever the latter learned about Catholic social thought and action." Reiner was a recognized pioneer in urging the study of social problems in the United States.  His syllabus was distributed to 165 Catholic colleges and universities in the nation.

Mission Statement "Federated Colored Catholics"
c 1927

Fr Reiner also was a pioneer in ecumenism 35 years before Saint John XXIII "officially declared this policy to be authentic Christian attitude."  (Hartnett)  Inn this regard, Hartnett notes, that Fr. Reiner had a few Jesuit tongues waging when he invited a speaker from the YMCA, who was a leader in Protestant missionary work, to speak at Loyola. In 1920 he spoke at Hebrew Union College on Catholic social teaching and Rerum Novarum.  But, there was more.  In what could be the start of a bad joke, there was a priest a minister and two Jewish Rabbis break bread at a banquet, but it was not a joke, rather part of a newspaper headline (Lancaster, OH Daily Eagle, Dec 3, 1926).  Fr, Reiner was the priest who spoke at this Chicago event "attended by 70 prominent Chicago Jews."(Daily Eagle)  However, it was what Fr, Reiner said at that event that is important and provides a look into his life of social justice: "I preach to you intolerance of intolerance.  Be it social, religious, industrial or racial" the paper quotes Father Joseph Reiner, SJ, Dean of Loyola University saying. But the Daily Eagle also provides this: "'Most of all I preach intolerance of ignorance,' he declared in holding that 'our tolerance of ignorance is the source of our intolerance of each other.'" This quote well follows from the Fr Reiner quote, noted by Bielakowski  (p. 104), that "attitudes are more important than knowledge."

Invitation to Speak At Hebrew  Union College, 1 May 1920
Source:  https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86069180/1920-05-01/ed-1/seq-3/

His intolerance of ignorance also was applied to racial issues.  Fr. Reiner encouraged more African-Americans to attend Loyola. Reiner also favored the formation of the Loyola Guild.  A group of Black Catholics at Loyola created the Guild under the auspices of Fr. Arnold Garvey, SJ, then an English professor at Loyola.  According to Johnson, the Guild attempted to alter white stereotypes of blacks by bringing prominent black speakers to campus.  (p. 35) It also "worked to improve black perspectives on the Catholic Church."  (Johnson p. 35)  But, his involvement went well beyond academia. Fr. Reiner was the moderator of the Federated Colored Catholics (FCC) 1931 national convention. (Johnson, p. 35) Catholics were looked down upon, so can you imagine the double whammy of being an African-American Catholic. Fr. Reiner's actions at assistance for African Americans would not, as you shall see in the blog on Establishing, end with the creation of the Loyola Guild or moderating the FCC event.

Part speech to Chicago Jewish Group,1926
Quoted in Daily Eagle

If racial justice is a hot button and a challenge for the nation, one of the greatest challenges that Fr Reiner would face was internal to his faith, and Church as an institution.  It is the issue of birth control.  In 1930 Pope Pius XI, issued Casti Connubii in which he declared that contraception was inherently evil. Fr Reiner, was drawn into this controversy by trying to find a way for the faithful to meet Church teaching on birth control.

This would roil the Catholic world, but no where more so than Chicago. Leslie Woodcock-Tentler , a professor at the Catholic University of America in her book Catholics and Contraception notes that she "found only one single instance of a bishop's responding to the encyclical by directing his priests to alter their practice as confessor's." (p. 81) That bishop would be Archbishop George Mundelien of Chicago.  Showing a statement that only a single male who is shut off from larger society could make he "instructed confessors in 1931 to question married female penitents about the sin of birth control."  I can already see heads steaming.  In 1932 he changed the demand to includes males, not out of some altruism, but due to what he heard from  his priests.  "In some cases they (males) are the real offenders."  (Woodcock-Tentler, p 81). Wives were implicating their husbands.  (Woodcock-Tentler, p 82).  Why should they be the only ones to take the blame.  Contraception was a difficult issue for a priest to bring up in the confessional, although that did not stop George Mundelein.  That difficulty was recognized by Joseph Reiner, and I quote Woodcock-Tentler: "A Jesuit stationed in Chicago offered heartrending testimony to the costs of the archdiocese new regime. 'Every priest who is close to the people admits that contraception is the hardest problem of the confessional today' according to Father Joseph Reiner." (Woodcock-Tentler, p 82)

Loyola Chicago, c 1926

Father Reiner did not live in a vacuum.  He had spoken to missionaries about the issue of contraception (pardon the potential pun), and many pastors regarding birth control.  A graduate nurse told Fr Reiner that over 50% of Catholics use birth control.  So, Woodcock-Tentler (p. 82) says Reiner asked a pastor what he knew.  The pastor responded that he did not think so, he knew so.  She goes on to say:

Many such Catholics, according to Reiner, had persuaded themselves that birth control was not invariably wrong. For this reason they were not accustomed to mention their contraceptive lapses in confession.  More scrupulous penitents avoided confession, eventually find[ing] themselves outside the Church.  Chicago's now pro-active confessors presumably came into repeated conflict with those in the former group, at least some of whom would have responded by staying away from confession.  As for those in the latter group, the new regime might arguably work to drive even more from the Church. Fr. Reiner for one feared "that Catholics are leaving the Church in 'droves' because of her stand in regard to contraception.'

Although it seems that Archbishop Mundelein's proclamation would not last too long, due mainly to the length of confessional lines.  One monsignor says he was taught in seminary to only question those who had not confessed within six months. Chicago priests, Woodcock-Tentler says would eventually leave it to the penitent to bring up. (pp 82-83) It would be interesting to know what Fr Reiner would say today about the continued obsession with sex by and in the church. 

Source: Family archives

Fr Reiner attempted to find a way for penitents to be successful in Catholic teaching.  He would again be a pioneer, but scorn would come his way.  Just as Pope Pius came out with his encyclical there was the advent of a "scientifically plausible method of fertility control by means of periodic abstention from intercourse, or the rhythm method, as this practice quickly came to be known" (Woodcock-Tentler, p. 104)  Tentler goes on to say that it is unknown to what level rhythm was practiced much less what efficacy, but it did have an effect on Church politics of birth control. (p. 104).  Tentler does not quote the old joke that those who practice rhythm become parents.  She quotes Fr Reiner as saying that rhythm was an "enormous help" in the confessional.

Cincinatti Directory

The issue of a "safe period" for sexual relations was taught in seminaries since the mid nineteenth century, and as a result "Most Catholic moralists assumed that couples might licitly confine their intercourse to the putative safe period." (Woodcock-Tentler, p. 105)  This is important to the following discussion, about  Fr Reiner and Dr. Leo Latz.  Dr Latz, a physician from Chicago had read up on emerging European literature regarding the Knuas method of fertility control.  Dr. Hermann Knaus arrived at his conclusion independently, but about the same time as Dr. Kyusak Ogino in Japan.  They both concluded a safe time for sex "being 12 to 16 days before the anticipated first day of the next menstrual cycle." (Woodcock-Tentler, pp. 105-106) Dr. Latz would self publish The Rhythm of Sterility and Fertility in Women, which according to Woodcock-Tentler was followed by other books including one by a Belgian moral theologian. (p. 106)  Thus, at least when Latz's book came out, the theological grounds were not in high dispute.

In 1933 Latz and Fr Reiner appeared before the Catholic Physicians Guild for Chicago, and as noted in the "Guild Notes" of the Linacre Quarterly, Latz explained his research methods and showed that the methods of Drs. Orgino and Knaus could be applied to shorter and longer fertility cycles.(p. 32) Fr Reiner went on to emphasize that while he "was expressing a purely personal opinion, he declared that it was his conviction, in view of the European literature that he had read, that the rhythm of sterility and fertility as explained in Dr. Latz 's book is correct. He called upon the doctor's present to  investigate the theory thoroughly." (p. 32) Showing paralysis by analysis, which is more common in the Catholic Church then even in the city of Madison, the head of the Chicago Catholic Hospitals noted they should proceed slowly. The article ended on somewhat of a bright note for Fr Reiner and Dr Latz, as it had a Dr Miller "pointing to his own observations and to more recent discoveries, maintained that the periods of sterility and fertility, as outlined by him and Dr. Latz, were accurate." (p 32)

Dr Leo Latz

Latz had obtained an imprimatur on his book from none other than George Mundelein, but the Archbishop withdrew it when Jesuit doctors at  Loyola University School of Medicine argued that the Knaus-Orgino method was based on "tenuous medical grounds."  (Woodcock-Tentler, p 106).  Woodcock-Tentler notes that while the imprimatur was withdrawn, Mundelein allowed Latz to advertise his book.  The story does not end there.  Fr Reiner had given an introduction to Dr Latz's book and my own grandfather would later become involved in publication.  I quote Woodcock-Tentler:  "Latz had the additional consolation of a flowing introduction by Father Joseph Reiner, a Jesuit widely known in Chicago for his leadership work in various social action ministries."  (p. 106)  Latz believed that married couples had a "veritable right to regular fear-free intercourse."  (Woodcock-Tentler, p 107).  I could go much more into what Woodcock-Tentler has to say about Latz and his pioneering work, but Latz received significant criticism, and it came from a variety of sources, many clerical.  (Woodcock-Tentler, pp 114-115)

Father John O'Brien and Fr Reiner believed the discovery of the Knaus-Ogino method was providential.  (Woodcock-Tentler, p 110).  Reiner understood that Catholic families, often due to their working class nature (think again of James Braddock and his difficulties finding work in the movie Cinderella Man) were subjected more to economic downswings, and hardships.  Woodcock-Tentler notes:

That the method seemed almost heaven-sent to men not overly given to sentimentality in matters of faith and morals, suggests how heavy a pastoral burden contraception had become.  Rhythm provided a welcome way out.  "I may be over-enthusiastic about the matter," Joseph Reiner conceded in a private letter defending Leo Latz, "because of the enormous help that the theory has given me in the confessional and because of happy results that I have observed in cases where it was and is being applied"

Fr Reiner's thoughts of efficacy of the matter ran counter to the current prevailing joke about rhythm, although at least one study claimed it to be 70% effective.  Other studies more so.  (Woodcock-Tentler, p 110).  Opposition was highly pronounced in the Jesuit community, and America magazine ran a piercing editorial against rhythm publicity early in 1933."  (Woodcock-Tentler, p 115)  Woodcock-Tentler would say that "Leo Latz himself eventually felt the sting of Jesuit opposition.  At the time he published his book, Latz was on the faculty of the Loyola Medical School, and he was abruptly fired in August 1934. The firing, according to Woodcock-Tentler, was almost certainly a direct result of Latz's prominent association with the cause of rhythm, though the extant documents do not explicitly say so." (p 114)  Some at the Univeristy say it was part of downsizing, others that he failed to get clearance for the publication of his book, which Latz was able to disprove. (p 115)  This firing would hit personal to my Uncle Joseph Reiner Sweeney when he would meet a son of Dr Latz who would go on to criticize  Reiner  for ruining his father's career.

Photo of Reiner and collegues.  note Ahearn to the right
Source: Family archives

But, was Reiner implicit in the firing of Dr. Leo Latz?  The short answer is no, and the long following exchange in the Woodcock-Tentler book is perhaps the best way to cover the whole situation:

But correspondence between Latz supporter Joseph Reiner and two high-ranking Loyola officials suggest that rhythm was fundamentally at issue.  Certain members of the medical faculty at Loyola had been hostile to rhythm from the outset, although Regent Terence Ahearn, SJ seems not have been among them.  But Ahearn was implacably opposed to the theory by 1934, perhaps because of anxieties over its broad dissemination.  The dismissal was devastating to Latz, a devout Catholic who earmarked proceeds from The Rhythm for various Catholic charities.  Reiner alone, as Latz confessed in 1933 "knew the anguish and dishonor I...suffered, when people said: 'I heard you were thrown out of the University.'

It is funny how events happen and their timing. The method by Ogion and Knaus came out just a few years before the release of the papal document. There was also  Mundelein's harsh demand that priests question penitents, starting with women, which in part led Fr Reiner to act. What is odd, is that the negativity at Loyola was not that the Latz book was based on bad science (although some believed that), or even to his having published the book.  The objection was to its being publicized and its wide dissemination. Nor did they object on theological grounds, although others may have had that complaint. Of course, the publicizing may have been a proxy for outright angst against the book on theological, and medical grounds, which they probably had a difficult time countering, given Reiner's research into European thoughts on the morality of the rhythm method.  Tentler would go on to say that "Not every Jesuit was opposed to the publicizing of rhythm.  No friend to the system was more whole-souled than Father Joseph Reiner."  (pp. 115-116)  But, did Latz and Fr Reiner get the last, albeit late, laugh?  Pope Pius XII sanctioned the rhythm method as a natural method of birth control in 1951.  My Uncle, Joseph Reiner Sweeney in an email had told me that "Tom, Yes, Fr. Reiner was right in the front of those seeking the Vatican to loosen up."  The Barque of St Peter turns exceedingly slow.

Front cover of Dr. Leo Latz's Book

In the Church teaching on contraception, Father Reiner, saw a problem, made a judgement and he acted. (He was quite prescient of the state on the Church, and perhaps it did all begin with birth control and the Churches teaching,  but  the institution failed to properly take action against what was going on inside its own walls.) Unfortunately, many did not like the result of the action undertaken by Father Reiner and Dr Latz, in finding a safe time for marital intercourse.  As an obituary in The Queen's Work noted, Joseph Reiner had "a willingness to take rebuffs and come back for more...." He would have found solace to the anguish that would befall him, by his trust in prayer, "a prayer that was deeply intense" (The Queen's Work)  Fr. Mertz, a colleague at Loyola said of Joseph Reiner upon his death in 1934:  "The little or bigger misunderstandings that will come into life of an enthusiastic and religious educator, he took with that grace, strength and patience which distinguished him as a man guided by the spirit of charity and self-denial, whose setbacks are but advances to a goal that is in God."

Front of Prayer Card, 1934
Source:  Univ of Dayton

Fr. Reiner undertook action to further the call of social justice that he received while in Innsbruck, Austria.  Fr Reiner acted in a variety of ways to better the human and social conditions of the Church, community, country and world in which he lived. He served his country at Fort Thomas, earning recognition from the War Department; he acted to create and teach coursework to examine the social and economic consequences of  social action; and he served his community by involvement in varied committees.  But, he was also a leader in ecumenism, and race relations; and he accepted and helped promote a natural method of conception  for Catholic couples against the intransigence of those around him.  Thomas Paine once said, "Reputation is what men and women think of us. Character is what God and the angels know of us." Fr. Reiner was a man of high reputation and even higher character.  The following quote I received from Dr. Leslie Woodcock-Tentler of the Catholic University of America, by email well sums up his activism, "I did indeed quote your great uncle, who was surprising (sic) candid when it came to the pastoral problems around birth control. Thoughtful and humane, as well."  (Bold by author)  His reputation lives to this day.  He was a pioneer in educating and in taking action.  Yet, as we shall see, he was a pioneer in establishing to carry on his highly valued work.

Sources:  

2018 Johnson, Karen.  One in Christ Oxford University Press. NY, NY.

1986 Coffman, Edward.  The War to End all Wars University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, WI

Bielakowski, Rae, "You Are in the World: Catholic Campus Life at Loyola University Chicago, Mundelein College, and De Paul University, 1924-1950" (2009). Dissertations. 161.

2004 Woodcock-Tentler, Leslie, Catholics and Contraception: An American History. Cornell University Press, Cornell, NY

Fortman, Edmund, SJ 1989 "Lineage: A Biographical History of the Chicago Province, Chicago, Loyola University Press pp 49-51. Family archive from Joseph R Sweeney

"Fr Joseph Reiner: A Great Sodality Leader." "The Queens Work". Family archive from Joseph R Sweeney (no date on clipping)

Harnett, RC, SJ April 14, 1965 lecture at Loyola University Community Conference on "Rev Joseph Reiner, SJ, 1881-1934 Dean of College of Arts and Sciences Loyola University 1923-1931". Family archive from Joseph R Sweeney

1933 Catholic Physicians' Guild"Guild Notes," The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 1: No. 2, Article 4.

Mertz, James, J. SJ, article, Family archives, from Joseph R Sweeney.

Regis University

Kenton County Library website

Joseph Reiner--Educating

On this date, March 2, in 1881, 139 years ago, my great uncle Rev. Joseph Stephen Reiner, SJ was born in Chicago, IL.  He had a passion for social action, in which he was engaged in the first third of the last century, so about 100 years ago.  While Joseph Reiner lived a relatively short life, passing away in October 1934 at age 53, he was highly involved in social justice activities.  However, his was a non-violent approach based  on a strong belief on the social significance of the reign of Christ.  The Eucharist provided not only the foundation, but the sustenance for this undertaking.  Following from the Eucharist, I see him having established  three main approaches to further his life's passion: educating, acting, and establishing. All three are important, but they are also integrated in his development of social justice--identify, become knowledgeable so as to trust your judgement, and then undertake implementation. In other words, discern the situation, then act in an appropriate manner to further advance social teaching and improve the common good.  While SJ stands for Society of Jesus in this case it may also be used to stand for social justice. In this post I will focus on the Eucharist and the first of the three approaches--educating. The other two approaches will be discussed in separate posts. First, some context and background.

Reiner Family Photo--1901
Source: family archives

When Joseph Reiner was ordained in 1913, WWI had not yet started and the progressive movement was nearing its peak.   At the end of the war, things had changed. The US was now becoming a super power both politically and economically.  The end of the war spurred growth, although there was a recession at the beginning of the decade and a depression started at the end.  The 1920's saw significant growth in the US economy  growing by 42% nationally. However, as during other spurts of major growth, income growth was uneven.   In 1922, the top 1% of the population received 13.4% of total income. By 1929, they earned 14.5%. Yet, 42% of the population was below the poverty line.  The gross domestic product would rise from $687 billion to $977 billion from 1920 to 1929. Yet, the nation struggled with prejudice to blacks, Catholics and Jews, as shown by Nativist movements, and the KKK. Immigration laws passed in the 1902's not only limited immigration and set a quota system, but the quota favored those from Northern Europe, i.e. WASP's.  Industrial growth before the twenties required immigrant labor, but native growth during the twenties was apparently now more capable of meeting supply in the strongly industrializing nation. But, industrial growth in the early part of the century usually meant poor work conditions, long working hours, and quickly installed housing in urban areas. Wages were uneven by industrial sector, leading to labor issues. In agriculture farmers struggled with high costs and low prices for goods. (For a look at agriculture at this time see this link.)  Discrimination--racial, ethnic and religious--could be obvious, recurrent or subtle.  Eugenics was also at its peak in the early 1920's.  These were some of the main social justice issues of that time.  Social justice today is, for some (not all), more about political correctness than appropriateness, self-aggrandizement over self-effacement or humility, and a measure of being perpetually offended. They look to criticize and divide rather than to engage and dialogue.  It was a different climate and set of circumstances 100 years ago.

Joseph Reiner, WWI Draft Card
Source:  Ancestry.com

Before delving into the life of Joseph Reiner, let me provide some information on his pedigree. His parents, Stephen Eireiner and Franziska Leidenheimer Eireiner were both born in Germany.*  Stephen, his father, was born in Ehingen Germany, and his mother Franziska was born in Diedeshem. His father immigrated to the United States in 1871 by himself and arrived in the United States a few weeks before his 23rd birthday.  I lack a record of Franziska's arrival, but she noted, in a 1925 US Passport application, that she arrived in the United States in 1872.  Stephen and Franziska married in 1877 in Chicago. Their union produced seven children; two of Joseph's sisters would become nuns.  Stephen passed away in 1893, so he and his wife were married less than twenty years.  My grandmother, Amanda, was in her terrific (as it is lent I am being more positive than to say terrible) twos when her father died.  Franziska would, after Stephen's death have to bear the family burden by herself.  Joseph's older sibling, Sr. Mary Basil, passed away less than three months after him.  On October 15, 1934 upon hearing of his death she said:  "Now I will have no one to say Mass for me."

The Loyolan, 1929
Source:  Loyola University

At the time Stephen Eireiner arrived in the United States he was a shoemaker, an occupation he still held in 1875.  However,  by 1880 he, with a partner, operated a grocery store at 3017 Archer Avenue in Chicago.  In 1885 he was still a grocer, by himself, but located at 1025 31st Street.  Interestingly, in 1889 his grocery is now a saloon (information from Chicago Directories).  I can imagine Joseph being put to work stocking shelves, and sweeping floors of the grocery store.  Stephen, Franziska and their children were not born into wealth or privilege. They worked hard to provide opportunities to their children.  Joseph, a first generation American, grew up in a city known for immigrant labor, and its strong ethnic neighborhoods.  Essentially the family was not unlike the other millions who arrived on US shores to begin life anew.  It was a family of strong faith, but whose faith was tested, and perhaps made stronger, when Stephen died at the young age of 44. That faith would instill critical lifetime values for Joseph, such as self-effacement, dedication, hard work, and prayer.  Joseph, was said to have a temperament that bordered on the Puritanical, and he was extremely abstemious", and did not engage in "diversions which characterize a man as human and typically American" (Hartnett, SJ)  However, Hartnett also said "what impressed me most was the way in which grace had overcome certain limitations of nature in his make up," such as not being gregarious, warm, spontaneous, or buoyant. (Hartnett)  The most common term I have seen used to describe him is self-effacement. His most commonly cited expression was his smile, about which someone at Xavier wrote a poem.  Some of his disposition may have developed from the genes of a good German, and part may be informed by being the oldest male in the family at the age of twelve upon the death of his father.  He possessed a faith nurtured mostly by his mother, and life circumstances that would inform his mission of Catholic action and justice.

News Article on his death
Source: family archives

The United States at the time was a predominantly Protestant nation, and, quite frankly, many persons looked down upon Catholics.  Many Catholics who arrived in the United States in the early part of the 20th century were from southern Europe.  The acronym WASP, for White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, as a descriptor of the predominant and ruling class did not arise for no reason.  The anti-Catholic bias went back generations to thoughts of some of the founding fathers, it was seen in the know-nothing movement, the nativists, and other movements in US history.  I could argue that the prejudice against Catholics helped form the Catholic educational system which in which Joseph Reiner was involved.  In her 2009 PhD Dissertation Rae Bielakowski noted the following:

Dogged by religious prejudice, in the early twentieth century young Catholic universities—such as Loyola and De Paul--had particular reason to co-opt and control undergraduate “campus life” in support of institutional reputation. Widespread skepticism regarding the intellectual value of Catholic higher education led to feelings of ostracism and insecurity in Catholic university communities. Catholic educational institutions had experienced slights which both students and educators interpreted as discriminatory. In the early 1920s, for instance, the University of Chicago prohibited Catholic schools from competing in its national basketball tournament. (p 30)

Yet it was not only the University of Chicago that discriminated against Catholic colleges. The now premier Catholic University, Notre Dame, was denied admission to the Big Ten in the mid nineteen-twenties.  An article by Ohio State University on 247 Sports discusses the prejudice which prevented their entrance at that time:

It is hard to imagine today just how prevalent and intense anti-Catholic sentiment was in the 1920s, much of it stemming from fundamentalist anti-immigrant emotions. The Ku Klux Klan was flourishing across large swatches of the nation, spreading a vitriolic message denigrating Catholics. To the Klan, the Pope was worse than Kaiser Wilhelm because the Pope already had “foreign emissaries” operating in the United States in the form of parish priests.

Xavier College Catalog, 1917
Source: Xavier College

It was into this anti-Catholic milieu that Joseph Reiner grabbed the opportunity presented to form and advance Catholic social action.  God had given him a mission, and grace to overcome his personality traits, and he ran with that mission. Fortman, noted that "The dominant impulse, the ruling passion, of his life was a supernatural zeal for the betterment of his fellowmen through social justice, and the practical, actual realization of the dream of Leo XIII through organization, mass movements, education, and personal efforts."  The compilation of Catholic social teaching is generally thought to have begun with Pope Leo XIII's 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum.  That groundbreaking work looked back in time to, not only the bible, but also the great Catholic thinkers such as Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Augustine.  While the social teaching of the church can be complex, and controversial, let me lay out seven basic  principles that form the basis of the ever evolving social teaching of the Church.  These principles, which are generally self-explanatory, are:
1.  Life and Dignity of the Human Person.
2.  Call to Family, Community, and Participation.
3.  Rights and Responsibilities.
4.  Option for the Poor and Vulnerable.
5.  The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers.
6.  Solidarity (Which, generally is to recognize others as our brothers and sisters and work for their good.)
7.  Care for God's Creation.

Fr Joseph Reiner, SJ
1926, The Loyolan
Source: Loyola University

Fr Reiner was trained in the United States and Europe.  He first attended, and obtained his BA in 1900 (age 19), from  St Francis Seminary in Milwaukee (Hartmann, RC). Attendance at St Francis, may have, according to Fr. Hartnett, introduced in Joseph Reiner an interest in the Catholic social tradition.  Milwaukee was settled by many German Catholics who likely brought with them the Catholic social doctrines inherent in that era of Germany. In her 2009 PhD dissertation Rae Bielakowski  noted the following about Fr Reiner:  "When in Austria studying theology at Innsbruck Reiner had broadened his concept of religion to include political and social organizations." (p 97)  Fr Edmund Fortman, in a brief  biography of Fr Reiner provides evidence of this when he noted that Fr Reiner had contributed a series of articles, beginning in 1903 titled  'Jones and Smith Discuss Socialism' in Our Sunday Visitor." **  Hence, it is in Austria, where he studied from 1900 to 1902,  that his Aha moment occurred, or where God provided Joseph's calling.  Bielakowski quotes a 1935 document (p. 97)  which has Fr Reiner saying to a student:  “When I was in Austria studying theology at Innsbruck, I became deeply impressed with the social significance of the reign of Christ,”  She then provides further evidence of his calling when she quotes a document which said  “...'somewhere in the long course of his studies in sociology and theology, perhaps in Innsbruck, Austria, he saw in blinding light how much social significance lay in the reign of Christ in the world,' stated the pamphlet, further adding the pious exclamation 'If all were Christ-like!'”  (pp 97-98)   However, Bielakowski, in what I find a jaded comment, and without any proof, makes the assertion that in the free-wheeling atmosphere of study at Innsbruck, this was probably not unusual, or unexpected. (p 98)  Did she understand his heart and passion, not to mention his history?

Statue at Jesuit Retreat House
Barrington, IL
Source:  Family archive, author photo

His studies would instill additional virtues to advance his passion on the Catholic notion of social justice through integration of approach. While in Austria, and only two years short of  ordination, he decided to become a Jesuit.  He would study and teach for the next 11 years before being ordained in 1913.  Robert Hartnett, SJ presented a lecture on Fr Reiner at Loyola University in 1965.  In this lecture he noted that Reiner must have established some type of record for ecclesiastical training --taking all of 20 years.  Interesting is that 15 of those years were spent at seven different seminaries, so, on average, just over two years at each.  My Mom's brother, my Uncle Leo, would often chide my brother John (1952-2014) that he was a professional student.  (John would earn a  BA, MA. and a JD.)  This makes me wonder if Uncle Leo knew how long his Uncle Joseph Reiner was in formation as a Jesuit.  Uncle Leo was eight years and two months old when his Uncle Joseph Reiner died in October 1934.

Plaque at base of above Statue
Source: family archive, author photo

One thing is quite clear from articles on his death, the Eucharist was important to him, and it was the foundation of his vision for the use of integrated methods to advance the cause of social justice.  In fact, these facets were likely inseparable given determination and calling. Fortman stated that Fr Reiner "lay sleepless many a night mulling over the problems of social justice."  He then went on to say that "His early work and writings in connection with the laymen's retreat movement were born of this."  Fortman's commentary is similar to that expressed in The Queens's Work newspaper for the Sodality movement, when after his death the writer commented on his social justice work and then wrote: "Back of all this was his great motivating force: the conviction that 'it is the Mass that matters.'  He built his own spiritual life round the Mass...he was a man with a broad vision, and the light that illuminated that vision was the light from the lifted Host."  The Eucharist and his belief in Jesus and his message is what drove him in a quest that some contemporaries feel claimed his life.  Is there no further proof that he received in Innsbruck this message from Christ to take forth to the masses?  If Bielakowski had known, or understood, this motivating factor perhaps she would have been at least more understanding if not charitable in her commentary relative to his involvement in social action.  The retreat movement was more than invoking one's spiritual relationship with God, properly done Fr Reiner believed it would form one's conscience in social action.

Talk in July (year Unknown) Developing Social Sense of our Students

Showing the importance he placed on one's personal relationship with Christ, Joseph Reiner was instrumental in starting the first lay retreat group in the Midwest.  His brother John, a man who would support Joseph, was the captain for the first Midwest lay retreat at Techny, Illinois, the home base of the Divine Word Missionaries.  John, at the urging of his brother, recruited seventeen men to join him at that first retreat.  John would continue his involvement in the lay retreat movement for at least fifty years, as he led the fiftieth reunion in 1955 at Techny.  The closing mass for the 50th reunion was said by Thomas Cardinal Tien, exiled Archbishop of Peking (now Beijing), China, who was then residing at Techny.  Showing the connection John had to his brother Joseph, John and his wife Lena donated a statue of Jesus which is located at the Jesuit retreat house in Barrington, IL, in recognition of Joseph pioneering the first lay retreat movement at Techny in July 19-22, 1906.

Techny, IL 50th Anniversary of first Midwest Lay Men's Retreat,
led by John Reiner brother of Joseph
1955
Source:  Family archives

The retreat movement was just one aspect. Reiner seems to have presaged the advent of Vatican II by creating a system within the liturgy to advance lay participation.  His actions for involvement of the laity in the mass, and liturgical reform, may not have been as involved as that of  Fr. Virgil Michel, OSB of St. John's University in Collegeville, MN, but nonetheless are important to understand for his belief that for the liturgy and the Eucharist provide strength and that required higher levels of lay participation in the mass.   Bielakowski notes that in 1928 Reiner introduced students in the College of Arts and Sciences at Loyola to methods to foster lay participation in the liturgy, I quote:

As early as 1928, he and Mertz took the step of introducing Loyola Arts students to a version of the Missa Recitata, wherein students joined in selected prayers and choral songs—presumably using a draft of Reiner’s own “Mass Prayers and Hymns for Congregational Use,” which Queen’s Work published in 1930. In preface to this pamphlet, Reiner expressed its goals as “… [t]hrough congregational praying and singing to make the Mass, as it should be, a corporate, public act of homage to the Divine Majesty; to “bring out in relief the structure of the Mass… especially of Communion as a sacrificial banquet…”; and to “enable the faithful to join the priest, to follow him, if not with the precise words that he uses, at least with the same general idea and sentiments.” Overall, Reiner hoped “to make attendance at Mass more intelligent, more devotional, more attractive, more fruitful”--aims that reflected Liturgical Movement influences.  (p. 196)

Reiner seems, by his publication in The Queen's Work, to have recognized the need for a meaningful liturgy in order to draw persons to the mystical body of Christ.

Joseph (L) with his brothers August and John
Source:  Family archives

But all was not friendly.  Fr. Reiner, preferred students to come to their own conclusion, whether it be in the theology of the Mass or in other parts of their daily life.  This can be shown by the following discussion Bielakowski had in her dissertation:

However, rather than aggressively re-educate students in liturgical theology, Reiner gently urged students to sing the Mass with the help of his book, which he hoped would ease them gradually into engagement with the full text of the Mass and its underlying theology. “As a further result [of this Mass book],” he explained, “it is hoped that many of those using this method will be led to use the method most desired by the Church, the Missal.” At Loyola, he personally requested that students “have their Mass books so as to participate fully in the offering up of the sacrifice." (196)

However, this more hands-off approach was frustrating to some, including Sister Himebaugh, OSB, of St Scholastica School.  She criticized Reiner's liturgical teaching methods to Fr. Virgil Michel in a letter in which she noted:  “…[I]t seems to me that merely teaching persons to use the Missal, without instructing them in the real meaning of the Sacrifice, is not getting very far along the road of the liturgy,” (Bielakowski, p. 196-197).  Bielakoski in her dissertation offered this in relation to the comments, in which she has Fr Reiner saying: "As with student leadership in general, Reiner offered students the semblance of personal choice and initiative in matters of liturgy, trusting habit and peer pressure to imperceptibly provoke their intellectual curiosity and guide their ideological formation." (pp 196-197) (Bold by author)  While Fr. .Reiner may not have indulged Sr Himebaugh to her liking in changing his method of teaching regarding the liturgy, (Bielakowski notes that people often referred to Fr Reiner as unwilling to change a decision, this may be part of the reason for that observation, or German stereotype of stubbornness)  Fr. Harnett, SJ a student at Loyola in the mid-twenties, noted in his 1965 address at Loyola on Fr Reiner noted that "he (Reiner) himself made all the arrangements for our weekly student Mass at St. Ignatius Church and personally supervised it."  I believe Fr. Reiner came mainly from a collegiate background and and he maintained consistency in teaching methods.  (I wonder if Fr Reiner knew the difficulty of winning an argument with a nun.)  In my mind, Fr Reiner's thinking  was based on the concept to provide the means for students to increase their knowledge, from which would flow involvement. This whole idea fits with the following observation of Fr. Hartnett, SJ where he said:  Reiner  was "a great believer in democracy and self-determination, he was a full-fledged exponent of student self-government.  Without being naive, doctrinaire of what might be called 'populistic' about it, as Dean he was wholly committed to developing processes of democratic participation among students."  As examples Hartnett notes that Fr. Reiner suggested the use of parliamentary procedures for student activities, and also had compulsory student assemblies.  We see a clear method pedagogical method through encouragement and participation.  Although Hartnett also noted he could be rather "wooden" about enforcing attendance standards.  This demand of attendance at class makes sense to me, one who missed only one class in college (due to illness).  You attend class to learn, engage in discussion, and then discern for yourself.  Knowledge is more readily gained at lecture, and discussion than not attending the class and solely depend on a text book.  Going to class would instill a good habit.

Xavier College Course Description 1919
Source:Xavier University

Joseph Reiner encouraged self-formation.  Bialakowski says  that what Joseph Reiner desired "was to encourage good habits and trust the students themselves to seek knowledge as they desired it" (p. 196)  It is that forming of conscience through educating or learning, and then discernment which he believed would allow persons to inform their innate abilities for good by formalizing values and beliefs in their own conscience and on their own accord.  I suppose it is a very Jesuit method of education.  In fact, his approach is not unlike that of what Pope Francis, a Jesuit, promotes:  See, Judge, Act.  

Prayer Card of Fr. Joseph Reiner, SJ front and back
Source: Family archives

Fr. Reiner would see his first notable position at Xavier College (now University) in Cincinnati, OH.  Xavier College would be where he could make his first imprint of his views on social justice.  Bialakowski makes this observation:   "At Xavier University in Cincinnati, where he served as founder and regent of the School of Commerce and Sociology, he reportedly worked “to introduce his ‘new’ Catholic Action into the college sodality” (p. 100).  A look at some of the courses, he taught for the 1919-20 school year, of which I was fortunate to find on-line, introduces us to his interest in social justice:  (1) The Economic Groundwork of Social Services, (2) The Social Question and Non-Catholic Solutions, (3) The Catholic Solution of the Social Question.  Bielakowski said that "administrative assignments in Jesuit higher education allowed Reiner to integrate his views into the curriculum and the religious practices that Catholic college students encountered on campus."  (p 99)  Jesuit management flexibility assisted his ability to introduce his ideas.  Would he have had the same impact as a diocesan priest?  Certainly some, as his contemporary Msgr. John Ryan (who was perhaps the preeminent voice of social justice in the US) was a priest of the Diocese of St Paul.  In light of Fr. Reiner's experience at Innsbruck, on which Bielakowski was less than charitable, he may have realized the flexibility of teaching and management in the Jesuits and its freewheeling dynamics on which Bielakowski commented would provide the platform and flexibility required to advance God's message of social action on earth.

The Loyolan 1926, Fr Reiner is lower left
Source:  Loyola University

Reiner would advance his ideas on Catholic social action and move it to other forums.  In a September 1920 address to the Sixth Biennial Conference of Catholic Charities at the Catholic University of America (a big thank you to Shane MacDonald of the Catholic University Archives for providing me a copy of Proceedings) Reiner notes on page 47 that "I think it is a cardinal point in the Catholic program of reform as distinguished from that of the liberal school, that sound legislation is an important means of securing the natural rights of our people....I heartily take the view that through securing such legislation the state is safeguarding  our rights." He would go on to present discussion with Ohio legislators on varied measures of interest.  However compelling this is, he believed it was incumbent on individual Catholics to involve themselves in charity.  Father Reiner further noted in that same address (p. 48), "...I hope the day will never come when good Catholic people will grow remiss in performing the works of charity and in imitating the example of the Good Samaritan...." Charitable acts are one of the legs of Catholic social action.  Charity is tied, in large part, to the preference for the poor, as we hear from Pope Francis.

Heading , and part of first paragraph of Address to 1920 Catholic Charities
Source:  Catholic University of America

Joseph Reiner was branching out in Social Justice and action and demanding rights secured by legislation.  He would go on to create a 97 page syllabus on social action for use by Catholic Colleges and Universities.  Fr Reiner would teach at Xavier from 1915 to 1921.  In 1921 he was transferred to Marquette University in Milwaukee where Fr Hartnett says he taught social sciences and history.  I found that he was a professor of education and religion at Marquette. In 1923, his capabilities would be demanded back in Chicago, and Fr Reiner would receive the appointment, in 1923, as the first Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Loyola University.  In his first five years enrollment in the college, would almost double, and the classes offered would increase from 35 to 57 and then to 95.  Yet, he also devised a method to weed out unsatisfactory students. (Hartnett) Such an increase would come with administrative headaches, relating to capacity--sufficient staff, sufficient classrooms, and activities. Such a number would be sufficient to keep a Dean occupied, but he gave more.   Bialkowski notes that:

In Chicago he initially promoted his views in less dramatic ways, perhaps due to the existence of entrenched leadership and lack of a fully-formed organizational plan. Father Siedenburg already had founded and now presided over Loyola’s School of Sociology; likewise, James Mertz, S.J., was moderator of Loyola’s Sodality. Until the 1926-27 school term Reiner reportedly confined his student interactions to a course in religion (“and did he make that class work!” one student later enthused); and to coaching Loyola’s debating team, to whom he reportedly stressed the importance of social issues."

Regardless of what subject he taught, it seems that Fr Reiner made his views known. He was a man, as we would say today, in his element.

Poem about Fr Reiner's Grin
15 Feb 1921 "Xaverian"

If he was a man comfortable at Xavier, and in his "element," I find myself asking why the move to Marquette University from a program, and community, in which he was so invested?   Reiner belonged to a variety of committees and organizations during his time at Xavier, some dominated by Protestants.  To these committees he would bring his passion of social justice and Catholic social teaching.  Bilakowsdi noted that "Reiner reveled in organization and did not hesitate to support even non-Catholic efforts for social welfare."  (p. 99)  But, the following statement of Fr. Hartnett, who was a student at Loyola when Reiner was Dean, believes, "that these reformist interventions had more than a little to do with Fr Reiner's removal to the more progressive climate of Wisconsin in 1921, though I never heard this from him.  He was too good a soldier to complain."  Those with knowledge of Wisconsin history may well appreciate Hartnett's supposition, as Wisconsin was the leader in the progressive movement (which lasted from 1895 to 1925) started by Robert LaFollette, Governor of Wisconsin from 1901-1906.  So, perhaps criticism was leveled  and the Jesuits realizing what a good warrior they had moved him to a geography more acceptable to his message.

The Loyolan, 1930, Photo of Fr Reiner, SJ

This post has focused on my great uncle, the Rev. Joseph Reiner, SJ (1981-1934) in his finding social justice in the reign of Christ, and his pedagogical method to trust the individual to learn and form their own conscience. His year of death, 1934 is almost a generation closer to the Civil War era than to 2020, in other words it was a different culture.  Fr. Reiner correctly recognized that longer term gains arise from a person being taught how to inform themselves.  He taught students at school, and laymen through retreat, how to inquire, to gather information, and to act.  But he did not leave education as the completion of his message.  A future post on Fr. Reiner will feature more information on what I call his Action element.  Fr. Reiner was not one to let knowledge sit on the sideline, in his mind it had to be put in action. For action was what could produce results to better the living conditions of his fellow men and women.

*Joseph Reiner Sweeney, my Uncle, says that Joseph S. Reiner convinced his mother to change the name from Eireiner to Reiner.  If we can rely on census records, the change occurred between 1910 and 1920.

**My understanding, from Fortman's biography is that this work was also published in pamphlet form by Our Sunday Visitor.  I have located the probable pamphlet online at both the Univ. of California and Boston College.  This document is authored by S. Shell.  So, I am not sure what he contributed since there is no credit to Joseph Reiner provided in the online document.  Was S Shell a pseudonym?  In 1903 Reiner had not yet been ordained.  You may find the link to the online pamphlet I located  here.


Sources:
Bielakowski, Rae, "You Are in the World: Catholic Campus Life at Loyola University Chicago, Mundelein College, and De Paul University, 1924-1950" (2009). Dissertations. 161. Quoted page numbers are page numbers in the document not pdf image number. (Note, a ctrl f search of Reiner  provided 163 hits.)

Xavier College Course Catalogs, located on-line

Menology Of Sr. Mary (born Eireiner) Basil (Dec. 1934) from IHM Mother House Archives

Fortman, Edmund, SJ  1989 "Lineage: A Biographical History of the Chicago Province, Chicago, Loyola University Press pp 49-51.  Family archive from Joseph R Sweeney

"Bishop Speaks and Presents new Moderator to CISCANS".  Family archive from Joseph R Sweeney, no date or paper provided on clipping (no date on clipping)

"Fr Joseph Reiner: A Great Sodality Leader."   "The Queens Work".  Family archive from Joseph R Sweeney (no date on clipping)

https://247sports.com/college/ohio-state/Board/121/Contents/ND-wanted-to-join-the-Big-Ten-at-one-point-must-read-36555843/  Accessed 2/25/2020

Harnett, RC, SJ April 14, 1965 lecture at Loyola University Community Conference on "Rev Joseph Reiner, SJ, 1881-1934 Dean of College of Arts and Sciences Loyola University 1923-1931".  Family archive from Joseph R Sweeney

"Proceedings of the Sixth Biennial Meeting of National Conference of Catholic Charities" Catholic University of America, Washington DC, Sept 12-16, 1920.  "A Program for Social Legislation" by Rev. Joseph Reiner, SJ.  Regent, School of Commerce and Sociology St Xavier College, Cincinnati, OH.  (Provided by Catholic University of America Archives, on 13 Feb 2020).

Chicago City Directory, for years 1875, 1885, 1889

https://www.thebalance.com/roaring-twenties-4060511 (accessed 9/26/2020)