Description
This paper, part of a larger project on the religious history of American policing, explores the early history of the St. Jude Police League. The St. Jude Police League was a Catholic fraternal organization for police officers that was organized in 1932 by Claretian priest Fr. James Tort. Under the League banner, thousands of officers would routinely assemble for mass and host large gatherings for the wider community, often as fundraisers for Chicago-area Catholic initiatives. St. Jude, known as the patron saint of hopeless causes, meant many things to American Catholics. But through the Police League he offered Chicago officers two unique gifts: a supportive Catholic community and a sense of vocational purpose as enforcers of the law. Both proved valuable to officers around mid-century, yet would also be increasingly contested as the CPD was challenged by reformers in the 1960s and after.
About the Speaker
Aaron Griffith is Assistant Professor of American Church History at Duke Divinity School. His work focuses on evangelicalism, religion and American politics, and religion and criminal justice. His first book, God's Law and Order: The Politics of Punishment in Evangelical America, was published in 2020 by Harvard University Press and won the 2022 "Best Book in History & Biography" award from Christianity Today. He is currently at work on a book on the religious history of American policing.
Commentator
Kevin Schultz
About the Religion and Culture in the Americas Seminar Series
The Religion and Culture in the Americas Seminar explores topics in religion and culture including social history, biography, cultural studies, visual and material culture, urban studies, and the history of ideas. We are interested in how religious belief has affected society, rather than creedal or theological focused studies. Seminars are conversational and free and open to faculty, graduate students, and members of the public, who register in advance to request papers.
Registration
This event is free, but all participants must register in advance and space is limited. To register and request a copy of the pre-circulated paper, click below. Please do not request a paper unless you plan to attend.
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