John Philip Gleason (1927–2024)

John Philip Gleason (1927–2024) Steven M. Avella Click for larger view View full resolution John Philip Gleason (1927–2024) The American Catholic Historical Association mourns the passing of J. Philip Gleason, professor emeritus of the University of Notre Dame, and president of the Association in 1978. Professor Gleason was born on November 30, 1927 in Wilmington, Ohio, one of three sons of John Gleason and Ann Bergin Gleason. Phil's earliest years were on a farm and after his father passed away when Phil was a child, he moved to the town of Wilmington and was raised by his mother and members of his extended family. He excelled in his grade and high school classes. In 1946 he joined the U.S. Army and was part of the occupation forces of Japan. Even from his grade and high school days, he developed a love for history. He began his higher education at The Ohio State University, but later transferred to the University of Dayton. After graduation, he spent a year teaching the eighth grade. Phil was a devout Catholic. His formation in the pre-conciliar years left a significant imprint on his life. He often admitted being disoriented by the changes in the Church after Vatican II. Fortunately for scholars and students, he devoted his life to explaining the reasons for his discomfort and helping people understand the nature of the transition that affected many in the same way it affected him. In class End Page 447 he often echoed the comment of William F. Buckley: "What on earth is happening in the Roman Catholic Church?" Gleason entered the University of Notre Dame in 1953 and there tested a potential vocation to the priesthood. When he found that life option unattractive, he moved quickly to date and marry Maureen Lacey Gleason in 1957. She worked for many years at the Library of the university and their union produced four children. When he completed his dissertation, in 1959 McAvoy asked him to remain at Notre Dame after he completed his doctoral work. His first book, The Conservative Reformers: German American Catholics and the Social Order (1968), was drawn from his doctoral thesis and described the evolution of the German Central Verein as a case study of the Americanization of Germans in the U.S. He published two articles early in his career. One was on Benjamin Franklin that appeared in the William and Mary Quarterly and another for Agricultural History that was his M.A. thesis. In the course of his years, Phil chaired the history department (1971–74). In 1996 his graduate students hosted a symposium in his honor. Phil was a faculty member until his retirement in 1996. His serious academic scholarship revolved around several distinct but intertwined interests: intellectual life, immigration and ethnicity, Catholic higher education, and American Catholic ideology. This research made him an accomplished historian of immigration and ethnicity. In these fields, Gleason was the master of the scholarly essay, publishing deeply researched and carefully written pieces in various journals. He later gathered these works into well-received anthologies grouped around themes relevant to his inquiries. Keeping the Faith: American Catholicism Past and Present (1987) was perhaps the most revelatory of his works regarding the transitions of U.S. Catholicism over his life. Speaking of Diversity (1992) was another grouping of eleven essays on the complex subject of semiotics and ethnicity. His masterwork, Contending With Modernity: Catholic Higher Education in the Twentieth Century (1995), had the same autobiographical trajectory—examining the changes in the field of higher education where he had worked since 1959. His published articles are too numerous to mention. In addition, he chaired the Catholic Commission on Intellectual and Cultural Affairs (1985–87). As a classroom instructor, he was superb. His classroom lectures were distinctive by their clarity, depth, and the carefulness of every word delivered. He unraveled complex social and intellectual issues with precision, good humor, and an innate sense when he had to "translate" complex concepts and academic jargon into understandable discourse. Those of us who were his graduate students were doubly blessed to spend time with him in his office and discuss things great and trivial with him...