Religion: The Bishop's 25th

The banker was astonished at the bishop. It was 1939, the packinghouse workers were on the verge of striking for recognition of their C.I.O. union, and here was the Most Rev. Bernard James Sheil, senior auxiliary bishop of Chicago's Roman Catholic archdiocese, accepting "as a great privilege" the invitation of John L. Lewis to appear on a C.I.O. platform in the stockyard district. "I want you to remember, Your Excellency," said the banker, a Catholic layman, "that the minute you step on that platform, you lose your chance to become archbishop."

For a moment,...

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