Joseph H. Fichter, S.J., Papers (Part II)

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: Collection 12b

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Special Collections & Archives received this addition following Fr. Fichter’s death in 1994. This addition complements the original acquisition of Fichter papers organized as Collection 12. The types of material—mainly correspondence, manuscripts, transcripts of interviews, and printed material—as well as Fr. Fichter’s principal concerns—the sociology of religion and the quest for social justice—remain very much the same. However, this addition does make new contributions to the papers. It includes substantially more photographs as well as a new series of datebooks. It also extends the years covered. Materials in the original acquisition tended to end in the early 1980s, whereas this addition includes materials—especially in the correspondence series and the research projects series—beginning at that time and continuing through the early 1990s. Some of the research projects and activities that engaged Fr. Fichter were also new. Prominent among these were his involvement with The National Catholic Reporter and his research into clerical celibacy, the prospects for clerical marriage, clergy alcoholism, and the Unification Church.

Dates

Created: 1934-1994
Other: Date acquired: 11/30/1993

Creator

Fichter, Joseph Henry, (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

These papers are open for research use. The audiocassette tapes are fragile and not open for research use, but they have been digitized and may be listened to on a Special Collections computer. No duplications of the audiocassette tapes are allowed.

Conditions Governing Use

Physical rights are retained by the J. Edgar & Louise S. Monroe Library, Loyola University New Orleans. Copyright is retained in accordance with U.S. copyright laws.

Biographical or Historical Information

Joseph H. Fichter, S.J., was a prominent priest, scholar, and social reformer. Fr. Fichter was born in Union City, New Jersey in 1908. He entered the New Orleans province of the Society of Jesus in 1930 and was ordained in 1942. He received the Ph.D. in Sociology from Harvard in 1947 and subsequently taught at Loyola University New Orleans and other universities in the U.S. and abroad; from 1965 to 1970 he held the Stillman Chair at Harvard Divinity School. He was a prolific scholar, publishing some thirty books or major research reports, dozens of journal articles, and hundreds of reviews and articles in newspapers and magazines. A pioneer in the sociology of religion, his writings often explored controversial subjects such as clerical celibacy and marriage, alcoholism among priests, race relations, and the Unification Church. He was also active in professional associations of sociologists and was president of both the Southern Sociological Society and the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. Beginning with his support for integrating Loyola and other southern Catholic institutions in the late 1940s, he was a champion of social justice. He was, for example, a member of the National Organization of Women and considered himself a feminist. And for many years he served on the board of The National Catholic Reporter.

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