Two Churches: 1924
On November 9, 1924, at the morning Eucharist, it was announced that Father Sheehan had been authorized to organize a new church in Chicago, on the North Side of the city. Bishop Irving Cooper stated that the new church was to be an experiment in bringing new people. Mr. Sheehan had agreed to work entirely with people who were not members of the present Church, as it would not be fair to weaken the center established by Dr. Beckwith.
The first service of the Church of St. Raphael the Archangel was held the following Sunday, November 16, 1924 at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. S. H. Fish, on Burling Street, with a congregation of 14 people.
Christmas Eve Schedule: 1925 (pdf)
The Great Depression
Warren Harding, 29th President of the United States, was the sixth president to die in office. His administration was rocked by scandal, but he died on August 2, 1923 before the investigation reached him. He was succeeded by Vice President Calvin Coolidge. Coolidge was elected to a full term of his own in 1924 under the slogan “Keep Cool With Coolidge.”
Coolidge declined to run again in the 1928 election and the Republican Party nominated engineer and Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, who was elected by a wide margin. Hoover had said, "We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land." On October 28, 1929, a few months after his election, the stock market crashed and the nation's economy spiraled downward into what became known as the Great Depression
The Wall Street crash triggered a world-wide depression, which led to deflation and a great increase in unemployment. In the United States between 1929 and 1933, unemployment soared from 3% of the workforce to 25%, while manufacturing output collapsed by one-third. Where it existed, local relief was overwhelmed. Thrown out of their homes, the unemployed and poor moved into homemade shacks and tents. Some slept in open piano crates or local water mains. Cardboard was used to line shoes when the sole was worn through. Many begged for food or found a meal at a soup kitchen.
Unemployed men queued outside a depression soup kitchen opened in Chicago by Al Capone. The storefront sign reads "Free Soup, Coffee and Doughnuts for the Unemployed." February 1931. National Archives and Records Administration
The Great Depression was particularly severe in Chicago because of the city's reliance on manufacturing, the hardest hit sector nationally. Only 50 percent of the Chicagoans who had worked in the manufacturing sector in 1927 were still working there in 1933. African Americans and Mexicans were particularly hurt. Nor were white-collar employees necessarily safe. By February, 1933, public school teachers were owed eight and a half months' back pay.
Financial problems also plagued the two Liberal Catholic congregations in the Chicago area. While St. Raphael’s was in fair shape, St. Francis was in grave financial difficulty. After much discussion, it was decided to close St. Raphael’s, the younger of the two, and merge that parish with St. Francis. Edmund Sheehan, priest-in-charge of St. Raphael’s, was heartbroken at the decision. But Sheehan proceeded with the merger and he was installed as rector of St. Francis on November 19, 1933.
The New Deal
Elected as President of the United States in 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt created the “New Deal” to provide relief for the unemployed, recovery of the economy and reform of the economic and banking systems. Although recovery was incomplete until almost 1940, many programs initiated in the Roosevelt administration continue to have instrumental roles in the nation's commerce. One of Roosevelt’s most important legacies is the Social Security system.
Mayor of Chicago Assassinated: 1933
In the 1931 mayoral election Anton Cermak challenged the incumbent Republican mayor William Hale “Big Bill” Thompson. Thompson used ethnic slurs in his campaign, and Cermak, who had immigrated from Bohemia in 1873, responded, "It's true I didn't come over on the Mayflower, but I came over as soon as I could.” Capturing 58% of the vote, Cermak’s victory ended the Republican Party’s power in Chicago.
While shaking hands with President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt at Bayside Park on February 15, 1933, Cermak was shot in the lung and died after being taken to the hospital. Giuseppe Zangara was alleged at the time to be attempting to assassinate Roosevelt, but hit Cermak instead. Later, rumors circulated that Cermak had been the intended target, as the mayor’s promise to battle the city’s lawlessness posed a threat to Al Capone and Chicago’s organized crime syndicate.
1933-34 A Century of Progress
The Century of Progress International Exposition was held to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of the City of Chicago. Opening on May 27, 1933, the exposition occupied 424 acres, mostly landfill, along the shore of Lake Michigan. The fair was meant to be open for one year only and closed on November 12, 1933. Due to its popularity, and to retire its debts, it reopened on May 26, 1934, finally closing on October 31, 1934.
Its lights were turned on with energy from the rays of the star Arcturus. The star was chosen as its light had started its journey at about the time of the previous Chicago world's fair in 1893.The rays were focused on photo-electric cells in a series of astronomical observatories and then transformed into electrical energy which was transmitted to Chicago.
Take an online tour of The Century of Progess Expositon
A Great Man Passes to Higher Service
Charles Webster Leadbeater, consecrated bishop on July 22, 1916, was the Presiding-Bishop of the LCC from 1923 until his death in 1934. During those years, he worked to advance the church and wrote a number of books, including The Christian Creed (1899), The Inner Side of Christian Festivals (1920) and, The Science of the Sacraments.
His life is eloquently recounted at CWL World
Many of C.W. Leadbeater's books are available for download from the web:
Ananda Gholap Web Site
Canadian Theosophical Association
Books still in print are available from Quest Books
Edmund Sheehan: Auxiliary Bishop
In May of 1935, Edmund W. Sheehan was elected to become the Auxiliary Bishop for the USA. He was raised to the Episcopal office by Bishop Hampton, assisted by Bishop Wardall on Sunday, June 23, at St. Alban’s Pro-Cathedral in Los Angeles.
On Sunday, July 14th, he was welcomed to St. Francis, Chicago, not only as their rector, but now as their bishop. Unfortunately, Sheehan’s term as Auxiliary Bishop was short-lived. In November of 1938, Sheehan tendered his resignation as Rector of St. Francis, due to personal reasons, and also requested a two year leave of absence from all Episcopal duties. At the end of those two years, Edmund Sheehan did not resume his duties as Auxiliary bishop.
World War II
The Second World War was the combination of two conflicts, one started in Asia and the other beginning in Europe, splitting the world into two opposing camps: the Allies and the Axis. At the height of the Axis’ powers, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan dominated large parts of Europe, Asia, Africa and the Pacific Ocean; but the war ended with their total defeat. Like the Allies, membership of the Axis was fluid, and some nations entered and later left the Axis during the course of the war.
In their efforts to maintain “the purity of the German Master race," Nazi Germany undertook programs targeting "weak" or "unfit" people, killing tens of thousands of disabled and sick Germans. These techniques of mass killing would later be used in the Holocaust, resulting in the systematic killing of nearly 12 million political, social and racial minorities. Gypsies, African Americans, Slavs, people with mental or physical disabilities, and homosexuals were targeted; six million were Jews.
The plans to isolate and eventually eliminate Jews in Germany began with the construction of ghettos, concentration camps, and labor camps. In 1942, Nazi officials made clear their intention to eliminate all Jews in Europe. Extermination camps, such as Auschwitz in southern Poland, used gas chambers to kill as many Jews as possible and cremate the bodies. Personal valuables were seized, as well as gold fillings extracted from teeth.
At first, the United States declined to enter the war, limiting itself to giving supplies and weapons to the Allied nations of Britain, the Republic of China, and the Soviet Union. Their involvement changed drastically with the sudden Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The U.S. enthusiastically went to war against the Empire of Japan, Italy, and Nazi Germany.
World War II erased the distinction between civil and military resources and saw the complete mobilization of a nation's economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities for the war effort; nearly two-thirds of those killed in the war were civilians. In all, 60 million people died over the course of the war, making it the deadliest conflict in human history.
Unemployment problem ended with the beginning of World War II, as stepped up wartime production created millions of new jobs, and the draft pulled young men out. Mass production in factories was implemented to meet the wartime quota of a thousand planes a day, and women were hired to fill the workforce.
Production stopped on many civilian items, such as automobiles, new houses, and appliances. People car pooled or took public transportation, which was seriously overcrowded. Trains were heavily booked, so people limited vacation and long-distance travel. Many commodities, such as meat, sugar, butter, coffee, gasoline, tires, shoes, and clothing, were rationed.
By the end of the war, the average Chicago block had given seven residents to the military. Those who remained at home attended massive rallies and bought heroic amounts of bonds, endured food rationing, and grew victory gardens. The neighborhood was the building block of these home front activities that almost immediately enveloped every family. Twenty thousand elected block captains held ceremonies for those departing for the military and erected small shrines for those who did not return. Neighbors held civilian defense drills and drives to collect scrap metal, paper, and rubber.
In Chicago over 1,400 companies produced everything from field rations to parachutes to torpedoes, while new aircraft plants employed 100,000 in the construction of engines, aluminum sheeting, bombsights, and other components. Just over half of all military electronics used in the war came from 60 local plants. Although Chicagoans frequently worked double shifts to aid the effort, such production levels created labor shortages that brought the physically disabled, the elderly, and tens of thousands of women into the workplace.
"With a canvas tarpaulin for a church and packing cases for an altar, a Navy chaplain holds mass for Marines at Saipan. The service was held in memory of brave buddies who lost their lives in the initial landings." Sgt. Steele, June 1944.
National Archives and Records Administration
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