John LaFarge and the limits of Catholic interracialism, 1911-1963
By: David W. Southern.
Publisher: Louisiana State University Press
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Baton Rouge
Language: eng
Number of pages: 420
Subjects: La Farge, John, 1880-1963.; Jesuits -- United States -- Biography.; Civil rights workers -- United States -- Biography.; African American Catholics -- History -- 20th century.; Church and social problems -- Catholic Church.
Description: Before Vatican II, before the race riots of the 1940s, the white Jesuit priest John LaFarge decried America's treatment of blacks. In the first scholarly biography of LaFarge, David W. Southern paints a portrait of a man ahead of his church on the race issue who nevertheless did not press hard enough in ridding it of an institutional bias against African-Americans.

Based on extensive archival research, John LaFarge and the Limits of Catholic Interracialism fills a serious gap in Catholic social history and race-relations history. An impressive, engrossing biography, it also casts light on the broader historical issues of the Church's attitudes and practices toward African-Americans since the Civil War, Catholic liberalism before Vatican II, and the seeds of unrest that manifest themselves today in the rapidly growing black Catholic community.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 387-405) and index.