Father Patrick Sullivan, C.S.C., Named to “Irish Echo” Labor 50

October 4, 2012 - Father Patrick Sullivan, C.S.C., a King’s College faculty member and noted labor historian, was named to the 2012 Labor 50 List published by “The Irish Echo” newspaper.

The list is an annual effort to honor 50 leading Irish American men and women active in the labor movement and reflecting on the work of those who paved the way to labor’s central role in contemporary American life.

The contribution of the Irish in America to the cause of labor has been nothing less than immense. Indeed, it could be argued that the American labor movement would not exist at all in its current form without the efforts of standout Irish men and women down the years, both immigrant arrivals, and American born.  Those named to the list were honored at a recent ceremony held in New York City which featured guest speaker Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein.

Father Sullivan has honored as teacher, writer, administrator, and speaker on behalf of workers in Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Indiana, and Washington, D.C.

Father Sullivan, a member of the King’s sociology department, was previously director of Ethnic Community Outreach at King’s.  In 2009, he left King’s to become to become the Executive Secretary and Chaplain of The Labor Guild in Boston.  He returned to King’s in August 2012.

A noted labor rights scholar and practitioner, Father Sullivan is also a member of the steering committee of the Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice and has been active locally in labor management issues.

A former faculty member and associate director of the Higgins Labor Research Center at the University of Notre Dame, Sullivan has authored several books on the Catholic Church and labor management relations, including “U.S. Catholic Institutions and Labor Unions, 1960-1980,” “Blue Collar-Roman Collar-White Collar: U.S. Catholic Involvement in Labor Management” and “Catholic Social Teaching on Labor-Management Issues: Vatican & International Hierarchies.” 

He is currently preparing publications on labor priests in the Church, labor unions and labor schools and institutes of industrial relations.

Father Patrick Sullivan, C.S.C.

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