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“In the face of such injustice toward the Jews of Germany, I express my revulsion, disgust and grief.”
These words of then-Bishop John Mark Gannon of Erie went out to the nation in a live radio broadcast on November 16, 1938, just one week after Kristallnacht, an uprising many scholars point to as one of the earliest events leading to World War II. During this one night—the night of broken glass—over 1,300 Jewish synagogues were burnt to the ground, thousands of businesses were destroyed and untold numbers of Jewish homes were ransacked. It was also the first occasion on which the Nazis arrested Jewish men on a massive scale, sending 30,000 souls to concentration camps.
Scholars and historians will continue to debate the role individual Catholics may or may not have played when the Nazis came to power, but a recording recently unearthed in the archives at the Catholic University of America (CUA) reveals a heretofore unknown national role Erie’s native-son bishop played regarding Kristallnacht.
It seems that well before the ease today’s technology provides, the university made arrangements to host a national broadcast just one week after the terror that had filled the streets of Germany. Bishop Gannon was the only non-trustee of CUA who spoke, along with Archbishop John Mitty of San Francisco, Bishop Peter Ireton of Richmond, Va. and Al Smith, who had run for president of the United States in 1928. Each was patched in from his own region to a joint broadcast by what were then the only two national broadcast outlets—CBS and NBC. In an article announcing the great find of the broadcast, Maggie Master discloses in CUA magazine that the question of why these particular men were chosen to speak is still being investigated.
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“(The archivists) speculate that the group’s members were chosen not only for their prominence within the church and Catholic University,” Master writes, “but also for their prior radio experience and vocal opposition to anti-Semitism.” Archbishop Gannon is certainly well-known for the boundless energy and vision he gave to the Erie Diocese during his 46 years as a bishop. (He confirmed 10,000 people in the diocese during the first year of his episcopacy alone.)
“He was, perhaps, the bishop for his times,” says Msgr. Robert Barcio, archivist for the Erie Diocese and author of “That You Love One Another: The Life and Times of Archbishop John Mark Gannon.” “He was a builder and at the same time, he treated his priests well. He was a great man.” Yet while Archbishop Gannon is known for laying the cornerstones for dozens of churches, schools and other institutions such as St. Joseph Home for Children and St. Mark Seminary, he was also deeply involved on the national and international scene.
He played a pivotal role in helping to preserve the Catholic Church in Mexico as it faced brutal persecution at the beginning of the 20th century. Chairing a national committee, he helped establish the Montezuma Seminary in New Mexico to train young Mexican men for the priesthood at a time when only 197 priests remained to serve 16,000,000 Mexican Catholics. He also served as founding director of the Press Department for the United States Bishops, stating that “the printed word…is the most powerful weapon in our possession to fight off the evils besetting the church today.”
Archbishop Gannon led an international effort to restore the Catholic Christian ownership of the Upper Room in Jerusalem after it had been purchased by a Muslim family and closed off to Christians. He brought the sainthood cause of a group of 116 United States martyrs to Rome. Although he was unsuccessful in promoting this cause, he did write the preface to a popular book on the life of Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton, who later became the first American saint. Clearly, Archbishop Gannon was a man of considerable standing with the American hierarchy. And so, when he took the microphone on the night of Nov. 16, 1938, his message was well received.
“Persecution,” he said, “like a crawling serpent, has raised its loathsome head in every age and among almost every race of men to the horror and paralyzing fright of those who look on. Alas, in our very hour of existence on this old earth we, the most civilized, free and cultured, are forced to look with burning shame and indignation on scenes of mob madness, protected rowdyism and religious persecution which compares in stark horror to many of the infamous persecution s of the past history. When and where did this horrible thing of persecution first appear?” he asks. He points to Lenin in Russia, and then to Mexico, where he reported on the ten years of “subtle, systematic persecution of faithful people.”
At the end of his brief talk, Archbishop Gannon offered hope, saying, “The Jewish people must turn to God in their hour of sorrow. Comfort and strength are found in prayer and the sympathy and respect and support of their fellow citizens to stand up with them in protest. To share their grief,” he concluded, “I accept as a privilege and an honor.” It was a courageous message for this “bishop of his times,” one in which he truly lived out the motto on his coat of arms: “That you love one another.”
