Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul marks start of Paulist 150th celebrations

View a slide show of Paulists in their communities and across America over the last 150 years

photos in slide show:             

by Jeanne Trott

The United States was a divided nation on the brink of the Civil War in 1858 as Abraham Lincoln debated Steven A. Douglas; Minnesota was admitted as the 32nd U.S. state; President James Buchanan sent the first trans-Atlantic telegram to Queen Victoria of England; and R.H. Macy opened his first store in New York City. It was also the year Isaac Thomas Hecker founded the Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle, the Paulist Fathers.

As the Paulists celebrate their sesquicentennial during 2008, Paulist historian Father Paul Robichaud is gathering evidence to support the cause of Isaac Hecker for sainthood. Emerging from the records and writings of Paulists is confirmation that the history of North America and the history of the Paulist Fathers coincide.

“The Paulist story, the American story, the American Catholic story all go hand in hand together, hand in glove,” Father Robichaud said. “It's an extraordinary story of generations of Paulists and the imaginative, practical and powerful ways in which they brought an adaptive type of ministry to the church across America.”

Paulist history, of course, begins with Isaac Hecker, the young New York baker who emerged from his sojourn with the New England Transcendentalists at Brook Farm into the embrace of the Catholic Church in 1844.

“Hecker had a vision of a vibrant Catholic America that would transform the world,” said Father Robichaud.

The work of the Paulists was to foster that vision. Their mission was energized, then as now, by an enduring optimism.

“It was Hecker's fundamental optimism that as long as one was in touch with the promptings of the Holy Spirit, in spite of conflicts, crises and difficult choices, all would be well,” he said.

Father Robichaud cites stories from Paulist history to illustrate Hecker's vision and the force of his optimism as the Paulists and the country grew together:

• Fathers Hecker, Augustine Hewit and George Deshon, all original Paulists, wading into the crowds to calm the violence during the New York City draft riots in 1863.

• Paulists on the streets in San Francisco following the earthquake and fire of 1906, ministering to people amid the rubble as they did once again in New York on Sept. 11, 2001.

• Paulists bringing the solace and strength of the Good News to troops both in peacetime and in every war the United States has fought.

Father John Lynch, C.S.P., Paulist archivist, cares for the artifacts of Paulist history at St. Paul's College in Washington, D.C. Primary among the treasures there are Father Hecker's papers, now being digitized for wide dissemination. Father Lynch also cites the papers of Monsignor John J. Burke, C.S.P., who founded what has become the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the Civil War papers of Father Walter Elliott, C.S.P., whose biography of Father Hecker raised eyebrows and contentions during the Americanist controversy at the start of the 20th century.

Father Lynch says his biggest question is how to decide what to keep, and he betrays his amusement at the items the archives was asked to lend for a museum exhibition on the 200th anniversary of the Archdiocese of New York City: a ticket to a lecture on photography in 1885, a flyer announcing a great mission by the Paulist Fathers in 1891, and a ticket to the 1928 Midnight Mass at St. Paul the Apostle Church.

History shows that the Paulists did some of their best work during times of crisis in society, in the church, in the Paulist community, Father Robichaud said. He finds a reason for this phenomenon in the Paulists' enduring tradition of practicality.

“The practical nature of the Paulists enables them to respond to the needs of the times with the vocabulary of the times and the tools of the times,” he said. “It works for them.”

Paulist president Father John F. Duffy named two other historical Paulist characteristics that will work for them during what he calls an “apt time for the Paulists, when people are seeking, are hungry for God.”

The community, he said, has always been able to build on the gifts and talents of its members, to utilize those gifts in the service of the church. Further, he said, the Paulist commitment to seeking Christian unity and interfaith dialogue is critical in a broken world, a world of divisions.

For more information or to register for the Paulist 150th Anniversary Convocation June 19-21 in Washington, D.C., click here!

Read past Paulist Profiles here