This study examines a series questions on the evolution of American Catholic social thought: What shaped social Catholicism from the 1930s to the 1980s? What was the relationship between Catholics and liberals during this time? How did reform liberalism influence the Catholic vision of a just economy? What does the life of John Cort tell us about themes in history of 20^th century Catholic social thought?

The development of American social Catholicism has been examined by many scholars, though the number of historians investigating the post-World War II narrative is small. A central theme of this historiography is the Vatican's primary role in shaping American Catholic understanding of a just economy. In particular, scholars have emphasized two papal encyclicals, Rerum Novarum (1891) and Quadragesimo Anno (1931). Because of assumptions about the singular importance of these encyclicals, scholars have stressed social Catholicism's uniqueness within the reform movement. Terms such as a "Catholic New Deal" suggest a separate Catholic approach to the economy. When examining the relationship between social Catholicism and liberal reform, scholars have argued that the two matured along separate, though, complimentary lines of thought and action.

The historiography overlooks the impact of liberal thought and policy on Catholic notions of a just economy. This is seen, for example, in the influence of the New Deal on American Catholic corporatism during the 1930s. This pattern continued into the post-War period.

The influence of liberal reform on the Catholic social apostolate is exhibited in the career of John Cort. A convert to Catholicism, Cort played an important role in building various movements among lay and religious Catholics. He was a pioneer of the Catholic Worker movement, co-founder of the Association of Catholic Trade Unionists, and director of the National Catholic Social Action Conference. Cort was, like his father, a lifelong Democrat. A student of the social encyclicals, Cort blended papal theory with pragmatic attempts to redistribute wealth and grow the economy. His hundreds of articles and work in the Catholic social apostolate attest to the influence of liberal reform on the Catholic social apostolate.