St Elizabeth Oakland CA Schutz 1994

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German Catholics in California: The German Origins of St. Elizabeth's Parish, Oakland, and

the Early Move to a Multicultural ParishAuthor(s): Oliver M. SchtzReviewed work(s):Source: U.S. Catholic Historian, Vol. 12, No. 3, German-Catholic Identities in American Culture(Summer, 1994), pp. 63-72Published by: Catholic University of America PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25154033 .Accessed: 28/12/2011 12:31

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German Catholics in California: The GermanOrigins of St. Elizabeth's Parish, Oakland,and theEarly Move to aMulticultural ParishOliver M. Schiitz

German Catholicism in California never reached the unity and strength itdeveloped in other parts of the United States. The particular conditionsof California gave rise to limited manifestations of the German Catholic

milieu. Only in the larger cities did it become possible to establish GermanCatholic congregations in the latter half of the nineteenth century: in SanFrancisco, Oakland, San Jose, Sacramento, Oxnard, and Los Angeles.

Most Germans who made their wayto the Golden State came for gold, mildclimate, and the prospects of a better life. Soon non-Catholic German denomi

nations, fraternities, and sects prospered among the Germans in California.German Lutherans and German Jews had their own congregations. Masonicsocieties and German associations (Vereins) proliferated. The German elementalso became visible in some major celebrations, such as a large German paradein August 1909, commemorating the 1900th anniversary of the battle in the

Teutoburger Forest inwhich the Roman legions were defeated by the Germans.Such groups and activities posed a threat to German Catholics. While the

German Catholic communities were small and weak, non-Catholic Germansocieties satisfied their nostalgia for the fatherland that persisted among many

Germans in America: "The German on reaching the United States naturallyclings to his mother tongue ? mingles with people who talk his language andjoins the clubs at which his mother tongue is employed.1

Feeling stronger about their national bond than about their religion, manyGerman Catholics converted to Protestantism because they preferred otherGerman-speaking denominations to non-German (mostly Irish) parishes orthey found a strong identity in one of the many German fraternal and Masonicsocieties.

Far removed from the main ports of entry, German immigrants arrived in

1.CP. Conrad, "The German Catholics of California," in The Catholic Herald, Sacramento, October22, 1910.

63


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64 US. Catholic Historian

small groups in California and were scattered all over the state and its cities.Moreover, German Catholics moving to California differed from those in theEast and Midwest; Seraphim Lampe, O.F.M., commissioned in 1892 to formOakland's German Catholics into a congregation, observed:

With the Germans here it is not the same as with the Germans in the East. ManyGermans here were born in America; they do not care for German culture. Others cameto this country very young, stayed for many years in the East, went through many experiences and are alienated from German habits. Direct immigration from Germany to thisplace can hardly be found.2

A similar assessment was made by Archbishop Patrick Riordan of SanFrancisco: "The Germans of Oakland were and are very few in number andscarcely any of them are from Germany itself; they are rather descendants of

German people."3 He found them "listless and unconcerned" and not too anxious to preserve their national identity, even less their religion, and estimatedthat out of 10,000 only 500 still practiced their faith.4 Intermarriage both interms of religion and ethnicity was common. Given the indifference of German

Catholics to their religion on the one hand and the tendency to find a place innon-Catholic groups on the other hand, something had to be done.Archbishop Riordan started with the German Catholic community that had

already existed in San Francisco. There was a lack of German-speaking priestsin California, a condition that alienated many German Catholics. Therefore,Riordan approached the Redemptorists who had successfully worked withGerman Catholics; he knew them while he was a diocesan priest in Chicago.This attempt failed however, because the Redemptorists found little prospect inworking with the Germans of San Francisco. Finally, the Franciscans of theProvince of the Sacred Heart in St. Louis agreed to take on the task. They werewell-suited as most of them had come from Germany in 1875 as a result ofOtto von Bismarck's Kulturkampf. These expelled German friars revived theFranciscan tradition of California that had faded after the missions had beensecularized by the Republic of Mexico in 1834. They took charge of some ofthe old Franciscan institutions and consequently managed to set up friariesthroughout the Pacific West. A Franciscan "commissariat" in the west wasestablished in 1896. The aim was to erect an independent province whicheventually was established in 1915 comprising the states of Arizona,

2. Fr. S. Lampe to Provincial Reichardt, Oakland, September 21, 1892, Archives of the FranciscanProvince of Santa Barbara.

3. Archbishop Riordan to the apostolic delegate, Diomede Falconio, (San Francisco), January 4, 1907,Archives of the Diocese of Oakland.

4. James P. Gaffey, Citizen of No Mean City (Wilmington, N.C.: Consortium Books, 1976), 191.


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German Catholics inCalifornia 65

California, Oregon, and Washington with headquarters in Santa Barbara.These German friars became the pastors of most German-American Catholiccongregations in California.

The Dangers Of AmericanizationAmericanization was often perceived as responsible for the loss of faith in

German Catholics in America. Two opinions emerged over the question ofhow to prevent apostasy. Most of the German clergy reasoned that, sinceAmericanization was the cause for the loss of faith, the process ofAmericanization had to be obstructed. Under the slogan, "language saves thefaith," they demanded exclusively German parishes where the German language and culture could be preserved, and thus religion would be preserved.On the other side, many of the non-German clergy thought thatAmericanization was inevitable and necessary for all Catholic immigrants.Riordan, taking the side of the Americanizers, was initially opposed to nationalchurches. Therefore, in his first years as archbishop of San Francisco, he wasaccused of neglecting the needs of the German Catholics in his archdiocese.5However, confronted with the situation of the German Catholics in his archdiocese, Riordan had to make compromises. Between either the enforcement orthe rejection of Americanization, he advocated a controlled Americanizationfor the sake of the immigrants' faith. Riordan stressed the importance of ministry in the native language of the believers:

The truth of religion is combined with the first notions of our national nature and therefore religion has more influence when united with our native tongue. And as we have toteach religion it is wise to do so in the mother tongue.6

The archbishop therefore supported national churches and believed that they are a necessity for the present and as our work is in the present and with the people now living, it isour duty to keep them in faith. Whether the German language will die out or not is aquestion that does not concern me. When that happens those who are to deal with achanged condition of things will I hope be wise and prudent enough to adjust difficulties

which are in the future.7

Clearly, national churches were a transitory phenomenon for Riordan. In

5. Ibid., 194-195.6. Archbishop Riordan in California Volksfreund, San Francisco, October 28,1893.7. Archbishop Riordan to Fr. L. Bruener, San Francisco, April 9, 1893, Archives of the Franciscan

Province of Santa Barbara.


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66 U.S. Catholic Historian

fact, he was personally convinced that "the German language exists only temporarily, but after some years everything in the church will be in English."8Consequently, Riordan initiated national churches not only for the Germansbut also for the Italians, Croatians and Slovenes, French, Japanese, Chinese,and Portuguese.

Planting A German Parish In FruitvaleAfter having successfully organized the German St. Boniface parish in San

Francisco, Riordan in 1891 took the initiative to establish a German Catholiccongregation in Oakland with the Franciscans in charge. WHtien asked for theiropinion, some German families showed interest in a national parish. Unlike the

Germans in San Francisco and many other places, they had not attempted toorganize themselves. In ameeting in Oakland's St. Mary's Church with aboutone hundred German-speaking persons on July 17, 1892, Archbishop Riordanofficially instituted the new German congregation.

The question arose whether the new congregation should form a nationalparish within a particular territory or be a territorial parish. Since the Germanswere not concentrated in a particular neighborhood but were widely spreadover the East San Francisco Bay area, a territorial parish, which naturallywould have to include the English-speaking Catholics of its territory, wouldhave vitiated the purpose of a German national community. The proposal also

met the violent opposition of the established parish priests of Oakland. Anexclusively German church without any territory, however, was not very likelyto be sustained since the Germans in the area were generally poor. Moreover,the Franciscans were interested in a prosperous parish which would be helpfulin their aim to set up a province in the Pacific west.

Riordan tried to bring about a compromise by suggesting that the newparish be located on the outskirts of Oakland so that it would not interfere withexisting parishes and where Germans could easily settle. The Franciscansaccepted the proposal to build a parish in Fruitvale, a suburb of Oakland, butinsisted on a territorial parish. In such a remote area, they argued, only a territorial basis could assume the vitality of the parish. Riordan denied the

Franciscans' request and gave in to the protest of the pastor whose parish alsoincluded the Fruitvale district. In response, the friars threatened to retreat fromthe project.

The German Catholic newspaper, California Volksfreund, accused Riordanof restraining the work of the Franciscans and of being prejudiced against the

8. Fr. S. Lampe to Provincial Reichardt, Oakland, September 21, 1892, Archives of the FranciscanProvince of Santa Barbara.


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Catholic Germans. In the following issue of the same paper, Riordan expresseda strong commitment to the German Catholics. He insisted, however, on anexclusively German church in Fruitvale. The Franciscans, after receiving theimpression that a territory would be assigned to this parish at a later time,finally agreed to the proposal. Many non-German Catholics of Fruitvale, mainly Irish, Portuguese, and French, expressed their disappointment that they

would not belong to the Franciscan parish and were forced to take the streetcarto Oakland to attend church. The request of the small community of GermanCatholics tohave theirparish established in the center of Oakland had not beenheeded.

St. Elizabeth's: Germans, Franciscans, and OthersIn his ministry, Seraphim Lampe, O.F.M., the first pastor of the German

congregation, was soon frustrated because he found the Germans in Oaklandwere small in number because many had lost their faith; their means werescanty, their children already Americanized, and ongoing immigration waslow. In addition, there was constant rivalry from the Irish priests of Oaklandand an irritating inconsistency in the archbishop's decisions.

Despite all these problems the construction of the German church inFruitvale began with space for a school and a friary on the first floor and thechurch on the second floor. The building was dedicated on October 22,1893 toSt. Elizabeth who represented both the German and the Franciscan tradition ofthe parish. A separate house was erected for the Dominican Sisters of MissionSan Jose who agreed to send teachers for the parish school. Since the church

was to be strictly German, at least the parish school would be mixed. Classeswere held in English to attract both German and English-speaking pupils.According to Father Seraphim, the underlying strategy was: "If we get thechildren we get the parents, and ifwe get the people we will certainly get a territory."9 Sermons were preached inGerman or English depending on the occasion. The Franciscans hoped that the English-speaking Catholics of Fruitvale

would write a petition in support of amixed parish.The parish school thrived. Quite untypically for a German parochial school,a variety of nationalities could be found among its students from the beginning. Gradually the Franciscans expanded their ministry to include more andmore English-speaking Catholics of the area but not without protest from the

pastor of the neighboring territorial parish. Soon most of the non-GermanCatholics of Fruitvale were attending St. Elizabeth's. However, the number of

9. Fr. S. Lampe to Provincial Reichardt, San Francisco, May 25, 1893, Archives of the FranciscanProvince of Santa Barbara.


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Germans who decided to move to Fruitvale remained small. In this situationthe Franciscans launched another move to obtain a territorial basis for St.

Elizabeth's. In 1906, Riordan declared St. Elizabeth's amixed parish and finally a territory was assigned. Thereupon, Rev. Peter Yorke, known as the "Fatherof the organized labor movement of San Francisco,"10 and at that time pastor ofthe Oakland church which had to cede territory to St. Elizabeth's, appealed tothe apostolic delegate to protest the dismemberment of his parish. The case

was sent to arbitration and was settled in favor of St. Elizabeth's keeping itsterritory; this status, however, meant that the parish lost its exclusively Germancharacter. Existing ministry to non-German Catholics was encouraged andexpanded. This meant an important step towards amulti-cultural parish.

Parish Life and OrganizationsThe early years of St. Elizabeth's were characterized by enlarging and

embellishing existing buildings and erecting new ones, such as a parish hall, anew friary, and a gymnasium, which encumbered the parish with debts.

Parish life and lay involvement in German Catholicism was characterizedby Vereinswesen, associational organization. Vereins, societies, and sodalitiesembraced almost all of the parishioners and allowed them to play an active partin one or several institutions or activities in their parish. At the same time,these groups cultivated German culture and customs. By virtue of restrictionson membership, use of the German language, and affiliation with otherGerman groups in or beyond the parish, an "ethnic self-consciousness" and acertain "distinctiveness in American society" were cherished.11 In 1896, St.

Franciscus Unterstiitzungsverein, the St. Francis Benevolent Society, wasfounded for the self-support of the German Catholics of Fruitvale and the EastBay. Membership was restricted to German-speaking men. The St. FrancisBenevolent Society was associated with the State Federation of GermanCatholic Societies in California, organized in 1899, and was thus also affiliatedwith the Central Verein, the national union of German Catholic societies. St.Elizabeth's hosted the meeting of the State Federation in 1905 and its regionalsuborganization in 1910.

Sacred music was one importantfeature of German Catholicism and

"German churches had an elaborate and ritualistic liturgy embellished withmusic."12 Singing German hymns was away to connect with the fatherland and

10. Jay P. Dolan, The American Catholic Experience (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company,1985), 339.

11. Philip Gleason, The Conservative Reformers (Notre Dame: University, 1968), 10.12. Kathleen Neils Conzen, "Germans", in Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups, ed.

Stephen Thernstorn (Cambridge: Harvard University, 1980), 418.


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its traditions. Consequently a choir was formed shortly after the establishmentof the German congregation of St. Elizabeth's. German hymns and some buildings of the parish have remained the most obvious witnesses to St. Elizabeth'sorigins up to this day.

Besides the German element, however, another factor was influential inparish life: Franciscan spirituality. While the German traits had an exclusivetendency, the Franciscan element was a unifying force, the Franciscans attracted many non-German Catholics, and Franciscan devotions, liturgies, and institutions were very popular. These two antithetical forces merged with the

Franciscan dimension gaining the upper hand as the German element, whichnever had been as strong as in other parts of the United States, faded.The clearest manifestation of the effects of the Franciscan element was theThird Order of St. Francis which was formed early in St. Elizabeth's history.The Third Order was seen as "an association of the faithful consecrated to thepursuit of Christian perfection according to the spirit of St. Francis," and wasaimed at people who were "barred from the religious life of the cloister, butdesirous of leading a religious life, as perfect as possible in the world."13 Worksof charity were a central requirement of the association. Among Germans, as

well as English-speaking Catholics in Fruitvale and Oakland, the Third Orderquickly spread. It offered its members the possibility of learning more abouttheir Catholic identity and the Franciscan tradition, of living a Christian lifeand of involving them in the functions of the parish. Moreover, the Third Orderbrought together friars and lay people, Germans and English-speaking members.

Other parochial groups embraced more or less both, the German andFranciscan components. The youth were organized in sodalities. For thewomen the Christian Mother's Altar Society was founded with a German andan English-speaking branch holding joint meetings and finally merging. St.Elizabeth's also had an association of altar boys which became a great sourceof young Franciscans and other religious vocations. The parish's societies andthe students of the parochial school presented an abundance of entertainmentsfor beneficial purposes, mainly in English.

In 1906 St. Elizabeth's parish sheltered, fed, and clothed victims of the devastating San Francisco earthquake. The Franciscans of Fruitvale also took spiritual charge of several institutions for religious, orphans, sick, and elderly inthe area.

The devotions of the parish were a blend of Franciscan traditions andGerman folk Catholicism. Liturgical celebrations were characterized by solemnity, long duration, and an emphasis on music. Franciscan saints, especially

13. Ildephonse Moser (ed.), Souvenir ofthe Fortieth Anniversary St. Elizabeth's Church (Fruitvale: St.Elizabeth's Parish, 1932), 24.


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Francis of Assisi, Saint Clare, and Saint Elizabeth were the center of piousveneration. A prominent position was kept by devotions to Saint Anthony ofPadua. Popular Franciscan spirituality prevailed in the religious life of St.Elizabeth's blending with various German traditions. Franciscan ministry wasmade accessible to outsiders, especially through the use of the English language. With the transformation of St. Elizabeth's into a territorial parish, multiethnicity was cemented as the basis of the parish. The parishioners ralliedaround St. Francis, and the German element began to fade already before thedisaster of the First World War that constricted German activities in the UnitedStates to a great extent.

Serving A Broader CommunityAlthough St. Elizabeth's parish was originally intended to be a national

parish for German Catholics, in reality it became a multi-ethnic parish fromthe very beginning. The German Catholics in Oakland did not possess a consistent ethno-religious identity. Nor did they follow the example of so many

German Catholics in the United States in founding their own parish on thebasis of lay trustees. Rather, the parish was initiated by the church hierarchyand organized by the Franciscans who had a vital interest in a new, productiveparish. By providing services in German, the parish satisfied first generationGermans, but the Franciscan traditions led St. Elizabeth's beyond narrownational parish concerns. On the one hand, the use of English in the school andto some extent in the church services accelerated the Americanization of theGermans, but on the other hand, it reflected the fact that the German Catholicsof Oakland were already somewhat assimilated.Different ethnic groups, Germans, Irish, Portuguese, Italians, and others,contributed their own traits to the shape of the parish with a clear predominance of the German element. The cultural diversity was harmonized and unified by the Franciscan leadership of St. Elizabeth's. This variety of influencescreated its own dynamic and made St. Elizabeth's a creative community. Inthis respect, the parish is an example of a positive acculturation of an ethnicgroup. The structure of the parish brought the Germans and other ethnicgroups into contact with each other and enabled them to gently find commonground and to enrich the community.

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St Elizabeth Oakland CA Schutz 1994