Background

William Joseph Kerby was born on February 20, 1870 at Lawler, Iowa, United States, the third son and fifth child in a family of ten. His parents, Daniel Riordan and Ellen (Rochford) Kerby, were devout Irish immigrants. His father, a successful small-town banker, had been well trained in the classics and early taught his son Latin and Greek.

Education

After attending the local public school, young Kerby received his high school and college education at St. Joseph's College (later Loras College) in Dubuque, Iowa, graduating in 1889. He trained for the priesthood at St. Francis Seminary, Milwaukee, and was ordained at Dubuque on December 21, 1892. During the academic year 1893-1894 he studied at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D. C. , where Thomas Joseph Bouquillon interested him in the study of the influences of late-nineteenth-century European social movements on the United States. He continued his social studies at the universities of Berlin, Bonn, and Louvain during the years 1895-1897, receiving his doctorate from Louvain in 1897 with a dissertation on American socialism. In 1913 he received an honorary doctorate of Laws from Notre Dame University.

Career

In the autumn of 1897 Kerby began his teaching career as associate professor of sociology at the Catholic University of America. He subsequently became professor in 1906, a post he held until his death. Upon his return to the United States, Kerby found the Catholic Church in the United States in a turmoil over the issue of "Americanism": i. e. , what concessions should the Church make to its new environment in order to fulfill its mission? The liberal clergy, led by Archbishops John Ireland of St. Paul, Minnesota, and John J. Keane, former rector of Catholic University of America, advocated the development of an American Catholicism adjusted to the republican, pluralistic environment of the United States. They were opposed by many of the conservative German and eastern clerics, led by Archbishops Michael Heiss of Milwaukee and Michael A. Corrigan of New York, who argued that the liberals would compromise Catholicism out of existence in the prevalent Protestant atmosphere of the United States. The open controversy was concluded in January 1899 by papal condemnation in Pope Leo XIII's letter Testem benevolentiae of the liberal or "Americanist" position. The issue, however, remained central for any Catholic cleric interested in social reform, if only because such work involved close cooperation with non-Catholics.

Kerby, whose mentor Bouquillon had been vigorously attacked by the conservatives, took care to avoid any suspicion that his teaching contained opinions condemned in the papal letter. He maintained privately, however, that "the most fault is on the conservative side because it identifies liberalism with heresy". Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum novarum (1891) had offered a broad charter for social reform, and it was this encyclical that Kerby stressed in the course of lectures on the American labor movement which he gave for several summers, beginning in 1898. Throughout his teaching and writing Kerby continued to defend labor organization, but he soon turned his major reform efforts to the field of Catholic charitable work.

His first aim was the consolidation of local units into a central organization in order to eliminate needless duplication of effort. Using as a springboard his intimacy with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, whose Quarterly served as the information bulletin for the various charities, Kerby, in association with his faculty colleague Charles P. Neill, persuaded all the bishops to permit Catholic societies to participate in an exhibit of charitable organizations at the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904. The public's favorable reception encouraged him to carry forward his efforts at consolidation; these efforts reached ultimate success with the organization of the National Conference of Catholic Charities in September 1910. For the next ten years Kerby served as the Conference's secretary. His indefatigable work moved one bishop to observe in 1918: "I repeat the same old story when I say that the Conference is practically Dr. Kerby. " Meanwhile he lent his interested support to the founding of the National Catholic War Council (1917) and to its subsequent work.

In 1916 Kerby began publication of the Catholic Charities Review. His firm belief that charitable work should be put on a scientific basis led to the founding in 1921 of the National Catholic School of Social Service, in Washington, for the training of social workers. For many years Kerby taught the courses in sociology there, in addition to his classes at Catholic University and (1902 - 1932) at nearby Trinity College for Women. He was a provocative teacher, who sought to make his students think for themselves. Many priests and laymen, after leaving his classes, entered social service.

Kerby's activities in social work led to his frequent participation in social welfare conferences, such as the 1919 White House Conference on Standards of Child Welfare. In June 1920 President Wilson appointed him a member of the District of Columbia Board of Charities for three years, and he was subsequently reappointed by Presidents Harding and Coolidge. On April 19, 1934, Kerby was raised by the Pope to the rank of Domestic Prelate.

Achievements

• Kerby was known as the pioneer in arousing the American Catholic social conscience. He helped unite Catholic social workers in the creation of a number of organizations and was instrumental in organizing the National Conference of Catholic Charities in 1910. He was also the founder of Catholic Charities Review, which emphasized statistical research in social problems, and National Catholic School of Social Service in Washington. His most famous works were "The Social Mission of Charity" (1921) and "Prophets of the Better Hope" (1922).

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Social Mission of Charity: A Study of Points of View in Catholic Charities (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from The Social Mission of Charity: A Study of Po...)

  • Prophets of the Better Hope (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Prophets of the Better Hope Christian perfe...)

  • Social Work of the Catholic Church in America

    (Lang:- eng, Vol-30, Pages 14, It is the reproduction of t...)

  • The Considerate Priest

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • Catholic Education
  • Reform and Reformers. A rare original article from the American Catholic Quarterly Review, 1903.
  • The Socialism of the Socialist. A rare original article from the American Catholic Quarterly Review, 1901.
  • Catholicity and Socialism. A rare original article from the American Catholic Quarterly Review, 1905.
  • The Laborer and His Point of View. A rare original article from the American Catholic Quarterly Review, 1901.
  • Introduction to Social Living.

Religion

In his teaching Kerby criticized "Catholic isolationism" and urged his students to cooperate with all--including non-Catholic--charitable organizations.

Politics

During the early years of the New Deal Kerby lent his support to the National Recovery Administration, speaking on one occasion in a nationwide broadcast. As early as 1912 Kerby had advocated laws setting minimum wages and maximum hours and providing for safety and health measures, better housing, and various forms of old age, accident, and unemployment insurance. His ready participation in efforts to formulate legislation to meet social want provoked criticism among some Catholics.

Views

Kerby promoted to use social means against the poverty. He was an advocate of the progressive reforms in the field of child labor laws, fair wages, and public health. He was a strong supporter of high education for women.

Quotations: "Full duty toward the poor cannot be done without regard to the processes of legislation. . It would be a poor service to Christian charity were we to remain away from legislative halls and to hold indiscriminately to the belief that the service of the poor in the tedious and exacting ways of legislation lacks any of the moral grandeur that our traditions attach to simpler works of relief. "

"The priest who identifies himself with the wider life of his time is like a sensitive organ through which the Church becomes aware of currents in the world about her and is enabled to adapt herself to changing times".

Connections

Father:

Daniel Riordan Kerby

banker

Mother:

Ellen (Rochford) Kerby

References

• The Founding Of Cliff Haven: Early Years Of The Catholic Summer School Of America