Tihen: Time of Trial (1917-1931)
Bishop J. Henry Tihen served the shortest term as bishop of Denver; yet this great orator guided the Church through two of its most severe trialsthe challenge of the Ku Klux Klan and the beginning of America's Great Depression. These twin trials threatened to shred society into economic, ethnic, and religious factions.
While Bishop Matz had ignored the anti-Catholic crusade of the American Protective Association during the 1890s, Bishop Tihen felt that the Church had to defend itself against the Klan, an organization powerful enough to elect its members mayor of Denver, governor of Colorado, and U.S. senators. Through the resistance of the Denver Catholic Register, the diocese helped to end this nightmare of the 1920s.
The Great Depression that began in 1929 and the deeper problems of poverty and unequal distribution of wealth were also addressed by the Church during the Tihen years. Catholic Charities, subsequently reorganized as Catholic Community Services, became one of the largest and most effective arms of the diocese.
When John Henry Tihen was selected by Pope Benedict XV as the third bishop of Denver on August 6, 1917, few expected that the bishop "with a smile like the Colorado sunshine" would face a time of trial. The toughest times seemed to be over for the diocese: The rift between Bishop Matz and some of his priests was healing, and the fiscal chaos at the turn of the century had been resolved with the help of the laity. Colorado Catholics were learning to support their Church. J.K. Mullen and many other generous souls had enabled the diocese to complete a majestic cathedral as well as first-rate churches, schools, a home for nurses, and a home for the aged.
Tihen seemed just the man to bring Colorado Catholicism into its golden age. Unlike Machebeuf and Matz, he was American-born, the son of Herman B. and Angela (Bruns) Tihen, immigrants from Hanover, Germany. Their son was born in a farmhouse in Oldenburg, Indiana, on July 14, 1861. Soon afterwards, Tihen's family moved to Jefferson City, Missouri, where he was raised on the family farm.
The Tihens soon realized that this personable, bright boy was destined for college. He packed his bags and boarded the train for St. Benedict College in Atchison, Kansas. After graduating with a liberal arts degree in 1881, he entered St. Francis Seminary in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was ordained April 26, 1886, for the Archdiocese of St. Louis. After three years as assistant pastor at St. John parish in St. Louis, Tihen went to work for the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, where he was made chancellor and then vicar general. On July 6, 1911, he was consecrated bishop of Lincoln, Nebraska.
Colorado Catholics knew of Tihen as bishop of a neighboring diocese and as an orator. Tihen knew and loved the history of the Church and delighted in sharing it with Catholic and non-Catholic audiences, who welcomed his powerful pipe organ voice. After his initial 1907 tour, when he delivered sixty lectures in thirty days, he joined William Jennings Bryan and other distinguished Americans as a favorite attraction on the national Chautauqua lecture circuit.
Monsignor Thomas P. Barry, a young Irish priest brought to America to serve the Diocese of Denver, recalled in a 1986 interview:
Bishop Tihen was a stately bishop, a walking example of kindness. He would take in any priest, give him work and play pinochle with himBishop Tihen was a great lover of pinochle. He was a German prince of the church who never forgot a face. He would tap us youngsters on the head and say, "Boy, you ll make it."
Unlike his predecessors, Tihen was noted as a broadminded socializer, a man who welcomed most modern contraptions such as automobiles and radios. Tihen loved many things in life, ranging from Notre Dame University football to motor tours of the Colorado Rockies. His musical taste, however, remained traditional. Of jazz, Tihen declared that the poet Dante would "undoubtedly have put the writers of it in his inferno and would have made their everlasting punishment the forcible listening of their own compositions."
Whereas European-born Machebeuf and Matz had been wary of liberal and secular trends in the American Church, Tihen was far more comfortable with non-Catholics, with secular society, and with liberal causes such as women's suffrage and the labor movement. By approaching even the touchiest problems with a smile and an open mind, Bishop Tihen gained many new friends for the Diocese of Denver.
His early days in Denver
Tihen's smile was especially radiant at his installation as bishop of Denver on November 28, 1917, according to an eyewitness, Monsignor Gregory Smith. Monsignor Smith recalled the bishop well:
Tihen was sent here to straighten out Matz's problems and did. His first priority was straightening out a fractious clergy. He was a young man's bishop who put his trust in the next generationin the healthy classes of new seminarians he brought to St. Thomas Seminary. He ordered that any Denver diocesan student had to study at St. Thomas. If the man could not pay his way, Tihen would.
When you rang the doorbell at the chancery at 1536 Logan, Tihen often answered it himself. He was six feet tall, stocky and strong as a horse. He was always at home, always kind to his priests. If he chastised a priest, he kept it quiet.
Tihen was a grand master of ceremonieshe really knew the rituals and the liturgy. He and Monsignor McMenamin took pride in the cathedral's upon its Pontifical High Masses, with the wonderful choir of Monsignor Bosetti. Tihen knew we must have beautiful churches and grand, appealing ceremonies.
Tihen arrived in Denver in the middle of World War I. As the son of German immigrants who led a Church filled with many foreign-born people, Tihen headed off bigots who charged that Colorado Catholics were "un-American" and disloyal to the United States in its war on Germany and her allies. Bishop Tihen became an enthusiastic supporter of Liberty Loan bonds and of the National Catholic War Council, which was renamed the National Catholic Welfare Council after the war. Pupils in Catholic schools were organized as the U.S. Boys Working Reserve and the Children's Red Cross Campaign. He required every Catholic school to fly the American flag. In recognition of the Church's support for the U.S. war effort, Denver Mayor William F.R. Mills appointed Bishop Tihen a delegate to the Mid-Continent Congress for a League of Nations, which met in St. Louis in February 1919.
In 1921, Bishop Tihen made a pilgrimage to Rome, where some still remembered the embarrassing financial problems of bishops Machebeuf and Matz. To improve Denver's reputation, Bishop Tihen presented a $5,000 gift to Pope Benedict XV. Colorado Catholics vicariously shared Bishop Tihen's grand tour of Europe through his travel letters published in the Denver Catholic Register. Among American bishops, Tihen was one of the firstif not the firstto address his flock by radio, a practice he initiated with his August 29, 1922, sermon, "Love Your Neighbor."
An enthusiastic reception persuaded Tihen to begin radio broadcasts of solemn high masses from the cathedral. The bishop also considered establishing a diocesan radio station but decided to focus instead on the Denver Catholic Register, which was fast gaining readers and respectability during the 1920s.
Tihen healed the rift between Irish Catholics and the chancery by his strong support of Irish groups such as the St. Patrick's Catholic Mutual Benevolent Society of Denver, which had been organized on March 17, 1884. J.K. Mullen served as the founding president of this all-male lay group organized to do "works of charity and benevolence," to encourage "Christian education," and to "further elevate our social and moral standard in this community." In order to "bring out some of the latent Irish talent that is supposed to exist in Denver," reported the Rocky Mountain News on April 9, 1884, the society planned to sponsor literary meetings, reading rooms, debates, lectures, and band performances, as well as St. Patrick's Day festivities.
The late Most Reverend Hubert Michael Newell, retired bishop of Cheyenne, recalled after Tihen's death: "Bishop Tihen was a brilliant speaker who employed flawless English. He loved to hold a pontifical mass on St. Patrick's Day and preach on St. Patrick on St. Patrick's Day."
Bishop J. Henry Tihen served the shortest term as bishop of Denver; yet this great orator guided the Church through two of its most severe trialsthe challenge of the Ku Klux Klan and the beginning of America's Great Depression. These twin trials threatened to shred society into economic, ethnic, and religious factions.
While Bishop Matz had ignored the anti-Catholic crusade of the American Protective Association during the 1890s, Bishop Tihen felt that the Church had to defend itself against the Klan, an organization powerful enough to elect its members mayor of Denver, governor of Colorado, and U.S. senators. Through the resistance of the Denver Catholic Register, the diocese helped to end this nightmare of the 1920s.
The Great Depression that began in 1929 and the deeper problems of poverty and unequal distribution of wealth were also addressed by the Church during the Tihen years. Catholic Charities, subsequently reorganized as Catholic Community Services, became one of the largest and most effective arms of the diocese.
When John Henry Tihen was selected by Pope Benedict XV as the third bishop of Denver on August 6, 1917, few expected that the bishop "with a smile like the Colorado sunshine" would face a time of trial. The toughest times seemed to be over for the diocese: The rift between Bishop Matz and some of his priests was healing, and the fiscal chaos at the turn of the century had been resolved with the help of the laity. Colorado Catholics were learning to support their Church. J.K. Mullen and many other generous souls had enabled the diocese to complete a majestic cathedral as well as first-rate churches, schools, a home for nurses, and a home for the aged.
Tihen seemed just the man to bring Colorado Catholicism into its golden age. Unlike Machebeuf and Matz, he was American-born, the son of Herman B. and Angela (Bruns) Tihen, immigrants from Hanover, Germany. Their son was born in a farmhouse in Oldenburg, Indiana, on July 14, 1861. Soon afterwards, Tihen's family moved to Jefferson City, Missouri, where he was raised on the family farm.
The Tihens soon realized that this personable, bright boy was destined for college. He packed his bags and boarded the train for St. Benedict College in Atchison, Kansas. After graduating with a liberal arts degree in 1881, he entered St. Francis Seminary in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was ordained April 26, 1886, for the Archdiocese of St. Louis. After three years as assistant pastor at St. John parish in St. Louis, Tihen went to work for the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, where he was made chancellor and then vicar general. On July 6, 1911, he was consecrated bishop of Lincoln, Nebraska.
Colorado Catholics knew of Tihen as bishop of a neighboring diocese and as an orator. Tihen knew and loved the history of the Church and delighted in sharing it with Catholic and non-Catholic audiences, who welcomed his powerful pipe organ voice. After his initial 1907 tour, when he delivered sixty lectures in thirty days, he joined William Jennings Bryan and other distinguished Americans as a favorite attraction on the national Chautauqua lecture circuit.
Monsignor Thomas P. Barry, a young Irish priest brought to America to serve the Diocese of Denver, recalled in a 1986 interview:
Bishop Tihen was a stately bishop, a walking example of kindness. He would take in any priest, give him work and play pinochle with himBishop Tihen was a great lover of pinochle. He was a German prince of the church who never forgot a face. He would tap us youngsters on the head and say, "Boy, you ll make it."
Unlike his predecessors, Tihen was noted as a broadminded socializer, a man who welcomed most modern contraptions such as automobiles and radios. Tihen loved many things in life, ranging from Notre Dame University football to motor tours of the Colorado Rockies. His musical taste, however, remained traditional. Of jazz, Tihen declared that the poet Dante would "undoubtedly have put the writers of it in his inferno and would have made their everlasting punishment the forcible listening of their own compositions."
Whereas European-born Machebeuf and Matz had been wary of liberal and secular trends in the American Church, Tihen was far more comfortable with non-Catholics, with secular society, and with liberal causes such as women's suffrage and the labor movement. By approaching even the touchiest problems with a smile and an open mind, Bishop Tihen gained many new friends for the Diocese of Denver.
His early days in Denver
Tihen's smile was especially radiant at his installation as bishop of Denver on November 28, 1917, according to an eyewitness, Monsignor Gregory Smith. Monsignor Smith recalled the bishop well:
Tihen was sent here to straighten out Matz's problems and did. His first priority was straightening out a fractious clergy. He was a young man's bishop who put his trust in the next generationin the healthy classes of new seminarians he brought to St. Thomas Seminary. He ordered that any Denver diocesan student had to study at St. Thomas. If the man could not pay his way, Tihen would.
When you rang the doorbell at the chancery at 1536 Logan, Tihen often answered it himself. He was six feet tall, stocky and strong as a horse. He was always at home, always kind to his priests. If he chastised a priest, he kept it quiet.
Tihen was a grand master of ceremonieshe really knew the rituals and the liturgy. He and Monsignor McMenamin took pride in the cathedral's upon its Pontifical High Masses, with the wonderful choir of Monsignor Bosetti. Tihen knew we must have beautiful churches and grand, appealing ceremonies.
Tihen arrived in Denver in the middle of World War I. As the son of German immigrants who led a Church filled with many foreign-born people, Tihen headed off bigots who charged that Colorado Catholics were "un-American" and disloyal to the United States in its war on Germany and her allies. Bishop Tihen became an enthusiastic supporter of Liberty Loan bonds and of the National Catholic War Council, which was renamed the National Catholic Welfare Council after the war. Pupils in Catholic schools were organized as the U.S. Boys Working Reserve and the Children's Red Cross Campaign. He required every Catholic school to fly the American flag. In recognition of the Church's support for the U.S. war effort, Denver Mayor William F.R. Mills appointed Bishop Tihen a delegate to the Mid-Continent Congress for a League of Nations, which met in St. Louis in February 1919.
In 1921, Bishop Tihen made a pilgrimage to Rome, where some still remembered the embarrassing financial problems of bishops Machebeuf and Matz. To improve Denver's reputation, Bishop Tihen presented a $5,000 gift to Pope Benedict XV. Colorado Catholics vicariously shared Bishop Tihen's grand tour of Europe through his travel letters published in the Denver Catholic Register. Among American bishops, Tihen was one of the firstif not the firstto address his flock by radio, a practice he initiated with his August 29, 1922, sermon, "Love Your Neighbor."
An enthusiastic reception persuaded Tihen to begin radio broadcasts of solemn high masses from the cathedral. The bishop also considered establishing a diocesan radio station but decided to focus instead on the Denver Catholic Register, which was fast gaining readers and respectability during the 1920s.
Tihen healed the rift between Irish Catholics and the chancery by his strong support of Irish groups such as the St. Patrick's Catholic Mutual Benevolent Society of Denver, which had been organized on March 17, 1884. J.K. Mullen served as the founding president of this all-male lay group organized to do "works of charity and benevolence," to encourage "Christian education," and to "further elevate our social and moral standard in this community." In order to "bring out some of the latent Irish talent that is supposed to exist in Denver," reported the Rocky Mountain News on April 9, 1884, the society planned to sponsor literary meetings, reading rooms, debates, lectures, and band performances, as well as St. Patrick's Day festivities.
The late Most Reverend Hubert Michael Newell, retired bishop of Cheyenne, recalled after Tihen's death: "Bishop Tihen was a brilliant speaker who employed flawless English. He loved to hold a pontifical mass on St. Patrick's Day and preach on St. Patrick on St. Patrick's Day."