Pierre Thorsen

Overview

Main Ideas

According to the foregoing narrative section, Samuel Cardinal Stritch stressed caution and decided to combat communism indirectly. Cardinal Stritch emphasized a subdued public image of anti-communism while he gave funds to Catholic organizations fighting communism, provided information for lobbyists, and supported anti-communist initiatives. By personally interceding in the decisions of the Catholic publication New World, the Cardinal was able to present his anti-communist sentiments to Catholic readers. The New World gave Catholics an identity, a Catholic analysis of world news and an overall understanding of world events and Church decisions through Catholic history. The Catholic Church used speakers attempting to combat communism through education. The Archdiocese of Chicago also began a spiritual war through an Adoration Crusade, Marian Piety, praying the Rosary, and Novenas. The Cardinal's strongest campaign against communism came through an attack on secularism. The Archdiocese of Chicago addressed a growing concern of the disintegration of the traditional family, confused gender roles, and a besieged masculinity. By reinforcing traditional family values, the Archdiocese of Chicago hoped to offset and blunt any advances made by communism.

Connection with the Curriculum

These activities can be part of a springboard to study the foundation of the Cold War, the Roman Catholic Church, and various forms of crusades. This material can also be used in advanced U.S. history, Illinois, Chicago and religious courses. These activities may be appropriate for Illinois Learning Standards 16. A.4a,16. A.5a,16. A.4b,16. A.5b, 16. B. 4a,16.B.5a,16. B.4b,16. B.5b,16. B.5c, 16. C.4c, 16. C.5c, 16. D.4,17. A.4a, 17. B. 5, 17. C. 5c, 18. A.4, 18. B.4, 18. B.5, and 18.C.4a.

Teaching Level
Grades 9-12

Materials for Each Student

• Activity 2 map of Europe
• Activity 3 worksheet
• Activity 5 quotation from The Humanist

Objectives for Each Student

• An understanding of the basic tenets and history of the Roman Catholic Church.
• To identify the basic ideological beliefs, events, and people of the Cold War.
• Analyze and evaluate the impact of the Roman Catholic Church upon Chicagoan Catholics' view of world events relating to communism.
• To compare and contrast the Roman Catholic Church's crusade against communism and the crusade against Islam starting
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in the eleventh century.

• To study the various forms of governments during the Cold War.
• To analyze the reason for the Roman Catholic Church's opposition to and defense against modernist, secular humanism enhanced by the rise of communism.

SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHING THE LESSON

Opening the Lesson

Depending on the history courses your students have already taken, it can be assumed that the students will need to become familiarized with the Cold War and the Roman Catholic Church. Therefore, have the students refer to the "Sources of Information" on the Activity 1 worksheet and/or other sources of your selection before reading the narrative section of the article.

Developing the Lesson

• To further the students' background knowledge of the topic, distribute the map of Europe, post WWII (Activity 2). Have them label which countries were a part of the Warsaw Pact and which supported NATO during the height of the Cold War. Discuss what determined the boundaries of each side. The map key is on page 32.
• Have the students read the narrative section of the article. Then distribute the worksheet (Activity 3) and review the students' answers with them.
• The crusades against the Muslims, starting in the eleventh century, were a campaign by the Roman Catholic Church against a different people. Tens of thousands of knights and commoners traveled to the Middle East to retake the lands from the Muslims. Activity 4 should focus around a discussion that compares and contrasts those crusades and the crusade against communism. Analyze the differences in the motivations, goals, method in which the Catholic Church raised support for them, the ways in which the crusades were executed and their results.
• The last activity (Activity 5) will draw upon the students' critical thinking skills. Towards the end of the article, the Catholic Church's effort to resist modernist ideas that threaten the family role in society is discussed. The "modernist" trends can be traced back to the rise of humanism in the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods. Some humanistic beliefs were the foundation for communism. Have the students read the humanist goal according to John J. Dunphy in the January/February 1983 issue of the The Humanist. Discuss the apparent reasons why the Roman Catholic Church would see secular humanism and its communist offspring as a threat. Use the quote and the students' reactions to inspire a discussion on the war over ideologies.

Concluding the Lesson

• Discuss the main points of the lesson with the students.
• If possible, invite a Roman Catholic priest to come and talk to the class about the positive impacts the Church has made in Chicagoland, such as education, civil rights and poverty. This activity will help create a sense of awareness regarding the local role of the Roman Catholic Church. Students then will be able to further evaluate the effectiveness of Cardinal Stritch's efforts to deal with modernism.

Baptism at St. George Church Chicago, Illinois 1950 Courtesy: Chicago Historical Society ICHi-34691

Extending the Lesson

• This article and the accompanying activities can be a great entrance into studying many different topics about communism, the Roman Catholic Church, the rise of secular thought, and the Cold War. Some possible activities would be for the students to watch any of the movies about the last czar of Russia and the fate of his family. Then the students can research what occurred during the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and the last days of the Czar. The students can also research the 1919 Red Scare in America and explore the reaction of Chicagoans to the spread of communism.
• The students could also explore the lives of other cardinals from the Chicago area and their impact on Chicago, such as Joseph Cardinal Bernadin.
• Lastly, the class could study the Roman Catholic Church's response /reaction to the rise of fascism and the Nazi Party.

Assessing the Lesson

• Rate the group presentations for Activity 1.
• At the beginning of the lesson, encourage every student to participate in the discussions. Rate their participation.
• Have the class write a one-half-page summary of the information learned from the lessons. In addition, and most importantly, have the students write a minimum of one page analysis/commentary on the material covered.
• Have students who belong to other religious affiliations investigate their efforts to fight or support communism during the Cold War.

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Activity 1-Key Concepts

Divide the students into five groups. Provide a list of key concepts, places, beliefs, events and people that each group is responsible for studying. The groups are then to provide to the rest of the class a short presentation of the material they researched. Discuss or elaborate on any point you feel needs to be emphasized to better understand the article. Possibly have any Catholic students research the concepts pertaining to their denomination, which would foster a deeper understanding of their own religion.

Sources of information:

1. For Catholicism <www.newadvent.org>

2. For the Crusades <www.newadvent.org/cathen/0454c.html> <www.newadvent.org/cathen/04543c.html>

3. For United States history <netcolony.com/news/presidents> <academicinfo.net/histus.html>

4. For world history <http://history.evansville.net> <www.scholast.org/history/>

Group 1 The basic tenets of Catholicism Rosaries (family, block, living, holy) Novena Lady of Fatima Lady of Lourdes Virgin Mary	Group 4 Karl Marx Socialism Communism Vladimir Lenin Joseph Stalin Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R) Warsaw Pact The Kremlin
Group 2 The crusades starting in the eleventh century, which should include: reasons for them, goals, method in which the pope raised support for them, the ways in which the crusades were executed, and their results.	Group 5 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Direct vs. Indirect Democracy Korean War President Harry S. Truman Truman Doctrine
Group 3 Pope Cardinal Archdiocese Bishop Parish The Vatican Martyr Cleric

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Activity 3 - Samuel Cardinal Stritchs Crusade

The Three Fears ?

1. What are the ways Samuel Cardinal Stritch privately attacked communism?

2. What strategy did Samuel Cardinal Stritch use to fight communism?

3. What was the Cardinal's view regarding publicly attacking communism within his archdiocese? Provide an example.

4. Why do you think the Cardinal chose this view regarding the public attack of communism?

5. What role did the Cardinal have in the struggle against communism in Poland and Italy?

6. What was the New World and how did the Cardinal use it in his fight against communism?

7. What are the four ways the New World affected its Catholic readers?

8. Describe the way in which the Holy Name Society combated communism.

9. Describe the crusade that the Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women started.

10. The Adoration Crusade was one of the spiritual weapons used by the Catholic Church against communism. What are the other three ways mentioned in the article that the Church spiritually fought communism?

11. What are the three fears Marian Devotions brought to Catholics in regards to society?

12. Why do you think the Catholic Church undertook the war against communism by addressing the status of families in society?

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Activity 4-The Humanist

"These [Humanist] teachers must embody the same selfless dedication

as the most rabid fundamentalist preachers, for they will be ministers of another

sort, utilizing a classroom instead of a pulpit to convey humanist values in

whatever subject they teach, regardless of the educational level—preschool

day care or large state university. The classroom must and will become an

area of conflict between the old and the new—the rotting corpse of

Christianity, together with its adjacent evils and misery and the new faith of

Humanism, resplendent in its promise of a world in which the never-realized

Christian idea of 'Love Thy Neighbor' will finally be achieved."

Dunphy, John. The Humanist. Quoted by David A. Noebel in Understanding The Times. Manitou Springs: Summit Press, 1991.

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Activity 2-Map/Answer key

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