Deposit N119 - Edward F Farrell collection

Edward F Farrell, BA Dip Ed, worked for the Catholic Church in Adelaide for about 15 years from 1945 to 1960. He also served as Secretary of the Newman Institute of Christian Studies, and was a senior lay officer of the Catholic Social Studies Movement in Adelaide. The Catholic Social Studies Movement (CSSM) or 'The Movement' was established in Melbourne in 1942 to co-ordinate Catholic resistance to Communism, especially in the trade unions. An executive committee was established consisting of B A Santamaria (Assistant Director of National Secretariat of Catholic Action in Melbourne), H M Cremean (Deputy Leader Victorian ALP) and N E Lauritz. In Sydney the main organiser was Dr P J Ryan (Sacred Heart priest, Catholic Social Science Bureau, Adult Education Institute). The Movement caused a split within the ALP during 1954-55, with Dr Evatt, on the left, and the Movement-influenced section of the ALP, on the right. The latter split away and formed the Democratic Labor Party (DLP). In 1956 the CSSM became a more lay organisation, the Catholic Social Movement. After the Vatican response in 1957, that the Movement had to be reformed, the Paulian Association, an educative body, was established to replace the old Movement. In 1960 Farrell received a Papal Honour. Farrell worked continuously for The Movement and the Newman Institute ­until he returned to teaching in late 1964.