Catholic Committee of the South Records

The Catholic Committee of the South (CCS) was formed as a reaction to two studies, one by Howard W. Odum titled Southern Regions of the United States and another titled, Report on Economic Conditions of the South, prepared by the U.S. National Emergency Council. These studies offered a critique of failures within the economic, social, and educational systems within the U.S. South. The idea for a Southern Catholic organization that could tackle some of these issues came from Paul D. Williams, a layman from Richmond, Virginia. Williams thought there should be a connection between economic betterment and moral principles. At the National Social Action Congress in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1939, Williams coordinated two successful forums on the agricultural and industrial south that helped to galvanize other church laymen into implementing programs with social justice doctrines that could attract new believers to the faith.

The function of the Catholic Committee of the South was largely tied to its ten conventions that were held from 1940 to 1953. At the first annual meeting in 1940, the organization was known as the Catholic Conference of the South, but by the second annual meeting in 1941, the name was changed to the Catholic Committee of the South. Henry L. Caravati was chosen as president, T. James McNamara as Chairman of the Executive Board, and Paul D. Williams as Executive Secretary. The participants were an interracial group that consisted of Catholics and non-Catholics, Northerners, Southerners, men, women, clergy, and laity. The status of African Americans in Southern society and issues of race dominated the early conventions. World War II interrupted the organization's activities and they were not instrumental in enacting any social change within the South and were increasingly beset with financial problems that were never resolved by its members. These financial burdens led Williams to resign as Executive Secretary. The Catholic Committee of the South was not an activist organization, but served as an outlet for Catholics to imagine a South built upon economic and racial equality. During the latter periods of 1951-1953, CCS members mediated labor disputes and performed minor voter registration in Natchez, Mississippi. The organization was most active in New Orleans, which had the largest Catholic population in the South, where in 1947 Father Louis J. Twomey formed the Institute of Industrial Relations and, in 1949, Father Joseph Fitcher S.J. established the Commission on Human Rights, the New Orleans archdiocesan unit of the CCS. The organization declined and became defunct after 1953.