The opening session of the Tamiment Economic and Social Institute was told last night by the Rev. Francis Talbot, S.J., editor of the Catholic periodical America, that Father Charles E. Coughlin was arousing anti-Catholicism as well as anti-Semitism in this country.
Replying to a question on the activities of the “radio priest,” Father Talbot declared: “There is a divided Catholic opinion on Father Coughlin. Catholics are definitely not anti-Semitic. Whatever problem there is about Coughlin, this problem can best be handled by his right of freedom of speech as an American citizen. They will also take into consideration Father Coughlin’s the best interests of the Catholic Church in the United States, which stands for religious and racial peace. If Father Coughlin is a thorn in the side of the Jews, he is also a thorn in the side of the Catholics. If he is arousing anti-Semitism, he also is arousing anti-Catholicism.”
Father Talbot and other speakers assailed Nazism, Fascism and Communism as the enemies of true religion, social and international peace. Speakers included the Rev. Dr. Henry Smith Leiper, of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, and Rabbi Edward Israel of Baltimors.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
