Catholic Action: The Comic Book

The phrase “Catholic Action” was an all-encompassing term that came into wide usage at the turn of the century. It referred to various groups of lay people attempting to bring a Catholic
imprint to bear upon society at large. In his book The Soul of the Apostolate, Dom Chautard recalls a conversation Pope St. Pius X had with a group of cardinals:

“What is the thing we most need, today, to save society?” the Pope asked them.

“Build Catholic schools”, one said.

“No”, he replied.

“More churches”, said another.

“Still no”.

“Speed up the recruiting of priests”, said a third.

“No, no,” said the Pope. “The most necessary thing of all, at this time, is for every parish to possess a group of laymen who will be at the same time virtuous, enlightened, resolute, and truly apostolic”.

Some groups tried to influence political life, like the Christian Democratic parties in Europe. Others tried to bring a Catholic influence to bear on social issues, and became involved in the labor movement, both in America and Europe. In America, Catholic Action included the fight for racial justice and feeding the poor. In that sense, Dorothy Day’s Catholic Worker fell under this umbrella. The term fell out of usage by the 1960’s. But it its day, it was a phrase that generated real excitement, as this 1950’s cartoon from Treasure Chest, a Catholic comic book
distributed to parochial schools between 1946 and 1972, attests.