Америкалық кардинал Джозеф Риттердің өмірі мен қызметі

Catholic cardinal from the United States
the German historian

Joseph Elmer Ritter (July 20, 1892 – June 10, 1967) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of St. Louis from 1946 until his death in 1967, and was created a cardinal in 1961. He previously served as auxiliary bishop (1933–1934) and bishop (later archbishop) (1934–1946) of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. Ritter was one of the cardinals elector who participated at the papal conclave in 1963. Ritter is noted for ending racial discrimination in church schools in both of his archdioceses long before it became mandatory in the United States. He also ended hospital segregation in the Archdiocese of St. Louis and supported the education of African American students.

Born July 20, 1892, in New Albany, Indiana, Elmer Joseph Ritter was the fourth of Nicholas (1859–1944) and Bertha (née Luette) (1865–1941) Ritter's six children. His father owned and operated the Ritter Bakery (where the family also lived). Both of Ritter's parents were of German descent. As a 1946 newspaper article said "It was one of those shops, now rare, in which the whole family, the mother, father and the whole family had to help, either in the store part, which was in the front, or in the bakery which was in the rear." Ritter said his father had a great reverence of education, saying, "Dad gave us all a chance to go to college, but only if we applied ourselves."

During the seventh grade, Ritter decided to enter the priesthood. Ritter said "There was no vision, no voice from heaven. I simply wanted to be a priest." In 1907, he enrolled at St. Meinrad's Seminary in Saint Meinrad, Indiana, where he completed his studies in 1917. His first assignment was as a curate at St. Patrick's Parish in Indianapolis. His decision, made 16 years before Brown v. Board of Education, was met with opposition by the Ku Klux Klan, whose members protested outside of SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral, and even by his fellow members of the clergy. Ritter also reorganized the diocesan Catholic Charities, introduced the Catholic Youth Organization, and completed the construction of SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral. He reduced the diocese's debt by $3 million, 3000000.0 in 1945 is equivalent to about <calculated amount> in recent years. The Diocese of Indianapolis was elevated to the status of an archdiocese by Pope Pius XII on October 21, 1944, and Ritter was installed as its first archbishop on December 19, 1944.

Ritter was appointed the fourth archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. Louis by Pius XII on July 20, 1946, succeeding the late Cardinal John J. Glennon. An able administrator, without the authority to tax or compel, Ritter nevertheless raised more than $125,000,000 (125000000.0 in 1963 is equivalent to about <calculated amount> in recent years) to build sixty new parishes, sixteen high schools, and the Cardinal Glennon Memorial Hospital for Children in St. Louis during his tenure there.

As one of his first acts as archbishop, Ritter announced that Webster College would accept black students, endorsing the Sisters of Loretto's wish to enroll black women (which Ritter's predecessor, Archbishop Glennon, had ruled impossible). He also allowed the senior class of St. Joseph's High School, then the city's only black Catholic high school, to graduate for the first time at the Cathedral alongside white Catholic high school students.

On August 9, 1947, Ritter announced an end to racial segregation in all five St. Louis diocesan high schools before the fall term. Ritter sent a memo to all parish school superintendents, saying they must begin to "accept all children into parish schools without regard to race". In one stroke, Ritter had desegregated the Catholic St. Louis area schools, seven years before the 1954 US Supreme Court's Brown vs Board of Education decision. The parochial schools represented one quarter of all St. Louis area students. calling themselves the "Catholic Parents Association of Saint Louis and Saint Louis County", threatened to sue him. The association claimed that his order violated Missouri state law. Association Co Chair William T. Rone said "We do not want Negro children alongside our children in the schools." Ritter refused to meet with the association leaders, his spokesman saying, "He is the father of the whole flock and must care for all, regardless of race." Ritter then issued a pastoral letter in which he warned of possible excommunication for "interfering with ecclesiastical office authority by having recourse to authority outside of the church". While the association rejected any civil action, it did send a letter of protest to the apostolic delegate to the United States, Amleto Giovanni Cicognani. Cicognani responded to the letter by saying "I am confident that everyone will readily comply with what has been so clearly proposed by the ecclesiastical authority of the Archdiocese". He declared that Catholic students must get written permission from the archdiocese to attend secular or non Catholic colleges. Ritter was one of the first bishops to create a diocesan mission, specifically in La Paz, Bolivia. Until that time, most Catholic missions had been run by religious institutes or societies of apostolic life. Parishioners in St. Louis regularly contributed more money to these foreign missions than any archdiocese of its size. Ritter served as president of the National Catholic Educational Association from 1955 to 1956, and was named an assistant at the pontifical throne on October 5, 1956. He also protested against the Roman Curia's oppressive actions

Ritter died on June 10, 1967, at DePaul Hospital in St. Louis after suffering two heart attacks earlier in the week. His body lay in state at the Cathedral.

Ritter's requiem mass was celebrated on June 15, 1967, at St. Louis cathedral. At his request, it was a "Low Funeral Mass". Cardinal designate John Patrick Cody, archbishop of Chicago, formerly an auxiliary bishop under the late cardinal in St. Louis, was the main celebrant. Cardinals Richard Cushing, James Francis McIntyre, Lawrence Shehan, and Francis Spellman attended, together with cardinals designate John Krol and Patrick O'Boyle. Ten archbishops, forty eight bishops, and four abbots were also in attendance. Some fifty Protestant, Jewish, and Orthodox Christina leaders were present, representing the Episcopal Church, Missouri Synod Lutheran, United Church of Christ, Greek Orthodox, Baptist, Disciples of Christ, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Salvation Army. In his sermon, Kansas City Bishop Charles Helmsing, another auxiliary bishop who had served under Ritter, spoke of Ritter's liturgical leadership, particularly "his concern for a liturgy of the Word that would truly inform and enlighten the people of God."

Ritter was buried in the priest's lot at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis. He had said he did not want to be buried in the cathedral. On November 2, 1994, Archbishop Justin Rigali of St. Louis had Ritter's remains removed from Calvary Cemetery and re interred in the crypt of the new cathedral, now the cathedral basilica of St. Louis.

Ritter is commemorated by a mosaic tile depiction in the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis showing him reaching out toward a group of people from other faiths on one side, and also an integrated group of school children on the other. Ritter was a friend of Lionel Hampton and Cardinal Ottaviani. He also authorized the first English Mass in the United States. Ritter was "dismayed" and "indignant" after the rector of Catholic University of America, Monsignor William McDonald, refused to allow certain liberal theologians to speak at the university. His birthplace and childhood home in New Albany, Indiana, was to be turned into a museum about Ritter's life (he remains the only Indiana born Cardinal in the Catholic Church's history, and up until October 2016, when Pope Francis named Indianapolis's incumbent Archbishop, Joseph William Tobin, to the cardinalate [effective in November 2016], Indianapolis or any other Indiana diocese was not a cardinalatial see) in three stages. The Cardinal Ritter Birthplace Foundation is promoting this project. The museum will occupy the Ritter family's bakery—its storefront was part of the 1874 Queen Anne style home. A one hour documentary of Ritter's life was filmed. Cardinal Ritter High School in Indianapolis is named in his honor. Cardinal Ritter College Prep High School in St. Louis is named in his honor.

Ritter received an honorary Doctorate of Theology from Pope Pius XI in 1922. Ritter was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree by Eden Theological Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, 1965.