YEAR FOR PRIESTS
Tragedy in Birmingham Remembering the 1921 slaying of Father James E. Coyle
PHOTO: Bill Fex Collection, Birmingham, Alabama
by Sharon Davies FATHER JAMES E. COYLE, an extraordinary priest and to convince a grand jury to return an indictment, and when it Knight of Columbus in the early 20th century, courageously finally did, the Klan ran a statewide drive to raise funds to hire stood up against widely-held anti-Catholic views at the risk, a young lawyer named Hugo Black to lead Rev. Stephenson’s and then cost, of his life. defense. Black would later be elected to the U.S. Senate and apThe Irish-born priest was scarcely in his 20s when, after his ordi- pointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. nation in Rome, he was dispatched to Alabama to begin his priestThe Klan’s presence at Rev. Stephenson’s October 1921 trial hood. The Catholic population in Alabama had exploded with a was manifest. Historians would later report that the jury foreman promise of jobs, especially in and around Birmingham’s network of and the presiding judge were both Klansmen. Hugo Black himcoal mines, steel mills and iron foundries. Father Coyle arrived in self would join the ranks of the KKK less than two years later to the city shortly before a wave of antiforward his own political aspirations. Catholicism flooded the country, and the On the eve of trial, Rev. Stephenson’s revived Ku Klux Klan (KKK) rebranded lawyers announced they would amend his itself as a “patriotic” fraternity, targeting plea to “not guilty by reason of insanity” blacks, Catholics, Jews and foreigners. to permit the argument that Rev. It was a tense time in America, and Stephenson was not responsible for his acfear of the new immigrants gripped more tions after he learned Father Coyle had than a small band of hysterics. A number married Ruth to Pedro. The minister and of states passed “convent inspection his wife both claimed that “the Catholics” laws,” which authorized the warrantless had tried to seduce Ruth away from her search of convents, monasteries and even Protestant faith; news of their daughter’s Catholic hospitals. Investigators looked marriage was the last straw. for Protestant women and children purThough little remembered today, Rev. portedly being held against their will and Stephenson’s weeklong trial was a nafor weapons and ammunition the tional sensation. Reporters from farKnights of Columbus had supposedly flung cities raced to Birmingham to stashed there. Knights were plotting an observe the spectacle. The jury, however, insurrection, the fear-mongers said. They took only a few hours to return their verFather James E. Coyle (1873-1921), a were the pope’s secret foot soldiers and dict: “Not guilty.” Knights of Columbus chaplain, courageously spoke could never be “true Americans.” Catholics in Birmingham have never against anti-Catholic prejudice in the South. He Against these baseless accusations, forgotten the outrage. “It is our hope Father Coyle defended the faith and the that the sharing of the life and death of is pictured here several months before being killed. Order, becoming a lightning rod for atthis holy man may promote greater untacks. Federal agents warned Bishop derstanding, reconciliation and peace Edward Allen of Mobile, Ala., of threats against Father Coyle’s among all of God’s children,” writes James Pinto Jr., a member life and of plans to burn his church to the ground. of Father James E. Coyle Council 9862 and an organizer for Then, on Aug. 11, 1921, Rev. Edwin R. Stephenson, a the Father James E. Coyle Memorial Project. Methodist minister and Klansman, stepped onto the porch of St. Before his death, Father Coyle served as the chaplain of Paul’s rectory with a loaded handgun. About an hour earlier, Fa- Birmingham (Ala.) Council 635 and was a charter member of ther Coyle had officiated the wedding of Rev. Stephenson’s 18- Mobile (Ala.) Council 666. He remains a model of faithful and year-old daughter, Ruth, to Pedro Gussman, a Catholic migrant courageous priestly service today. from Puerto Rico. Like many other Klansmen, Rev. Stephenson For more information about Father James E. Coyle, visit despised Catholics. When he learned that Father Coyle had mar- www.fathercoyle.org.♦ ried his daughter to Gussman, he was livid. He shot the priest in SHARON DAVIES is the John C. Elam/Vorys Sater Designated Professor of cold blood, and Father Coyle died within minutes. The climate for bringing Rev. Stephenson to justice could Law at the Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University, and author of not have been worse. A veteran prosecutor spent weeks trying Rising Road: A True Tale of Love, Race and Religion in America (Oxford, 2010). O B S E RV E T H E Y E A R F O R P R I E S T S W I T H A S P E C I A L P R AY E R C A R D AVA I L A B L E AT W W W. KO F C . O RG / Y E A R F O R P R I E S T S
MARCH 2010
♦ C O L U M B I A ♦ 31