Description
George Mundelein administered the Catholic church in Chicago from 1916 to 1939, becoming a cardinal in 1924. He wanted Catholic churches in Chicago to become fully American, while remaining distinctively Catholic. He did this by applying American business techniques to the institution of the church. Mundelein also believed immigrants should 100% assimilate into American culture and society. He believed that ethnic churches’ transitional period of immigrant accommodation needed to end in order for immigrants to be assimilated. In 1916, he commanded all Catholic instruction to be in English, not the native tongue of the immigrant communities. Due to his beliefs regarding assimilation, many parishes founded during Mundelein’s were territorial, not ethnic.
Source
Kantowicz, Edward R. "Cardinal Mundelein of Chicago and the Shaping of Twentieth-Century American Catholicism." The Journal of American History 68, no. 1 (1981): 52-68.
