The Catholic Radical Alliance was founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

 in 1937 by Roman Catholic priests Charles Owen Rice

Charles Owen Rice

Monsignor Charles Owen Rice was a Roman Catholic priest and an American labor activist.He was born in Brooklyn, New York, USA to Irish immigrants...

, Carl Hensler

Carl Hensler (priest)

Carl Hensler was an American Roman Catholic priest of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. He was trained at St. Vincent Seminary in Latrobe, Pennsylvania and at the North American College in Rome. He was a pupil of minimum wage proponent, John A. Ryan. After an initial spell in Braddock, Pennsylvania, he...

, and George Barry O'Toole. , with the approval of their bishop, Hugh C. Boyle. It supported the unionization of workers in the H.J. Heinz Company and the Loose Wiles Biscuit Company in Pittsburgh. In addition to union activities, it founded a house of hospitality

House of hospitality

A house of hospitality is an organization to provide shelter, and often food and clothing, to those who need it. Originally part of the Catholic Worker Movement, houses of hospitality have been run by other organizations, including organizations that are not Catholic or Christian...

, St. Joseph's

Saint Joseph's House of Hospitality (Pittsburgh)

St. Joseph's House of Hospitality is a home for homeless men in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1937 by the Catholic Radical Alliance on the principals of the Catholic Worker Movement, and like a few other such places, is named for St. Joseph the Worker...

, which was still active in 2008. It dissassociated itself from the Catholic Worker Movement

Catholic Worker Movement

The Catholic Worker Movement is a collection of autonomous communities of Catholics and their associates founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in 1933. Its aim is to "live in accordance with the justice and charity of Jesus Christ." One of its guiding principles is hospitality towards those on...

 in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, over a disagreement with the Catholic Worker's pacifist stance.

Sources

• Contemporary Flyer from the Catholic Radical alliance http://www.library.pitt.edu/labor_legacy/images/ACTUCatholicRadicalAlliance.jpg