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Boyle (Monsignor Eugene A.) Personal Papers
SC.051
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Archives of the Archdiocese of San Francisco
Title: Guide to the Monsignor Eugene Boyle Personal Papers
Creator:
Boyle, Eugene A., Reverend Monsignor, 1921-2016
Identifier/Call Number: SC.051
Physical Description:
26.73 Cubic Feet
; 24 records center boxes, 2 document boxes; and 2 flat boxes
Date (inclusive): 1934-2016
Language of Material:
English
.
Collection is open for research. For detailed information about the collection's contents and questions about reproducing
materials, please contact the Archivist.
Series 1: Biographical Materials
Series 2: Clerical life
Sub-series 2.1: Talks, Speeches, and Sermons
Sub-series 2.2: Diocesan Business Files
Sub-series 2.3: National Federation of Priests Council
Series 3: Campaign for the California State Assembly
Series 4: Faculty Papers
Series 5: Subject files
Series 6: Objects and Audio Recordings
Series 7: Oversize Materials
Monsignor (Father) Eugene "Gene" Boyle was the leading social activist in the Archdiocese of San Francisco during the 1960s
and 1970s. Born in 1921, and raised in San Francisco, California, Father Boyle entered the Saint Joseph minor seminary in
Mountainview at the age of 14, and completed his seminarian studies at Saint Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park before finally
becoming an ordained Roman Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of San Francisco in 1946.
After ordination, Father Boyle served in parishes in San Francisco, Livermore, Palo Alto, and Morgan Hill. From 1956 until
1960, he was a member of the San Francisco Archdiocesan Mission Band, and from 1960-1968, he served as Director for the Archdiocese's
first spiritual retreat house for women, Vallombrosa in Menlo Park.
In 1962, the Archdiocese appointed Father Boyle to be the moderator and advisor for the Catholic Interracial Council, the
first organizational effort to educate the Catholic community on the plight of racial discrimination being experienced by
African-Americans and develop action and strategies directed toward civil rights issues. Father Boyle continued in this work
while serving as the director of the Archdiocesan Social Justice Commission, and in 1964, he served as a co-founder of the
San Francisco Conference on Religion and Race and Social Concerns (SFCRRSC), the first ecumenical effort to direct the resources
of the churches and synagogues of the San Francisco Bay Area towards addressing the aggravated social problems in the area
at that time.
From 1968 to 1972, Father Boyle served as pastor at Sacred Heart Parish, located in San Francisco's Western Addition neighborhood.
To help address the economic and social concerns that were impacting the surrounding community, a coalition of priests, religious
sisters, and Catholic laity formed the Sacred Heart Urban Team. The team supported community organizing efforts and established
outreach services, including providing a location for the Black Panthers' free breakfast program for children in the basement
of Sacred Heart Church. The Sacred Heart Urban Team also formed an alliance with the Western Addition Community Organizing
(WACO), which held its convention in 1971 at Sacred Heart Church with Father Boyle presiding as its President.
While Father Boyle served on faculty at Saint Patrick Seminary, he responded to a request from the SFCRRSC to produce a report
on race relations in San Francisco. He enlisted his students from his Social Action seminar, and the final work completed
was a 600-page study entitled, "San Francisco: A City in Crisis." The report contained a wealth of sociological and statistical
information on the conditions of African Americans in San Francisco and examined police-community relations, employment, housing,
education and welfare. Father Boyle continued his instructor role at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, where he
was Director of Field Education and responsible for the placement and supervision of graduate students in community based,
action-oriented settings.
From 1958 to 1972, Father Boyle was a radio commentator on local radio stations, founding the program, "Underscore" on KCBS,
a weekly dialog on religion and modern life, speaking on issues such as teaching religion in public schools. In 1965 and 1966,
he was awarded the Gabriel Catholic Media award for "Underscore".
In 1972, Father Boyle became Director of Peace and Justice for the National Federation of Priests Council (NFPC), and was
responsible for coordination of national programs and action strategy in areas of world peace and justice for priests' councils
throughout the United States. He also directed workshops in corporate responsibility and church investment, and developed
a program in peace education.
In 1974, Father Boyle announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination to the California State Assembly's Sixteenth District
in San Francisco. His campaign slogan was, "Loyal to the People", and despite losing the race to John Foran, he still managed
to capture 45% of the Democratic vote.
One of Father Boyle's interests was in aviation, and he became a licensed private pilot, keeping a flight log that included
trips to the migrant worker fields in the Fresno and Coachella valleys. He was actively involved with the United Farm Workers
(UFW) and helped to coordinate boycott activities; and served as mediator and negotiator for one of the first contracts between
the UFW and Perelli-Minetti Vineyards.
Upon the creation of the Diocese of San Jose in 1981, Father Boyle was officially transferred from the Archdiocese of San
Francisco to the new diocese. At the time, he was serving as Director of Stanford University's Newman Center and at Saint
Ann Chapel in Palo Alto. In 1985, Bishop Pierre DuMaine named Father Boyle the Episcopal Vicar for Interreligious and Public,
which allowed him to remain active in supporting the farmer workers' cause in the Santa Clara Valley and in issues related
to fair labor practices. Father Boyle officially retired in 1990, and in 2000, Pope Saint John Paul II named Boyle as a Prelate
of Honor with the honorary title of Monsignor. In 2016, Father Boyle passed away at the age of 94.
Itemized inventories for each series are available upon request from the Archivist.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Monsignor Eugene Boyle Collection, Box
number, Archives of the Archdiocese of San Francisco (AASF).
Physical rearrangement of the collection was completed to rectify issues of disorder; and an intellectual arrangement of identifiable
series was established to reflect the significant areas of Father Boyle's life and career. A complete appraisal of the collection's
contents with some de-accessioning of items occurred. Items removed include those materials that were in very poor or unsalvageable
condition; multiple duplications; and photocopied articles and newspapers. Preservation tasks performed on the collection
included light cleaning of materials; removal of most paper fasteners; transferring files into acid-free folders and boxes;
unfolding and flattening large format paper; sleeve-ing certificates and photographs; and digitizing a selection of audio
recordings.
The Monsignor Eugene Boyle Personal Papers is comprised of materials Father Boyle created and kept about his life as an ordained
Roman Catholic priest; an instructor of seminarian education; his economic, racial, and social justice advocacy work; and
his run for political office. The bulk of the collection spans Father Boyle's clerical life and ministerial activities as
a priest of the Archdiocese of San Francisco from 1946 to 1976, and particularly during the period when he served as director
of the Archdiocese's Commission on Social Justice from 1964 to 1972. The collection also includes a limited amount of materials
from when he served in the Diocese of San Jose from 1981 until his death in 2016.
The collection provides a personal perspective into the developing role of the Catholic clergy in the social justice movement's
early history, and a glimpse into the ecumenical coalition-building that existed between civic and religious faith groups
during the 1960s and early 1970s. The series within the collection that most reflect this historical collaborative relationship
are: the Diocesan Business Files (Sub-Series 2.2) and Subject Files (Series 5), which include correspondence, meeting minutes
and related materials from grassroots organizing efforts like the Sacred Heart Urban Team (Sacred Heart Church) and the Western
Addition Organizing Committee (WACO), and parish and local-level educational events and social justice awareness campaigns
organized by groups like the Bay Area chapter for the Catholic Interracial Council. Series 5 also includes a 600-page study,
"San Francisco: A City in Crisis" (1968), a comprehensive report on the African-American community and race relations in San
Francisco that was commissioned by the San Francisco Conference on Religion and Race and Social Concerns and completed by
Father Boyle's seminarian students in his Social Action seminar.
Correspondence is located throughout the collection, and major topics discussed include the controversy between Father Boyle
and Archbishop Joseph T. McGucken regarding Father Boyle's political ambitions and the Black Panther Party's Coloring Book
scandal. Father Boyle also saved letters he received from the general public that were both supportive and critical of his
position to support the Black Panther Party and on running for public office.
Father Boyle's speeches, talks, and the sermons he delivered for daily Masses ( Sub-Series 2.1) include topics related to
social justice concerns, and one sermon in particular, "Sacred Heart Urban Team and the Western Addition Community: a Theological
Reflection" was distributed widely. Additional writings and talks are located in Series 5, including Father Boyle's personal
account of participating in the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965.
The collection also includes election campaign materials for Father Boyle's California State Assembly run in San Francisco's
16th Assembly District; his faculty papers from when he was an instructor at Saint Patrick College and Seminary; speeches
he made at rallies and conferences; memorabilia; photographs; and audio recordings from his appearances on local radio programs
and of meetings and retreats he facilitated and attended.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Archivist
at the Archives of the Archdiocese of San Francisco (AASF), 320 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025. Consent is given on
behalf of the Archives of the Archdiocese of San Francisco as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include
or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Catholic Church--California--San Francisco
Social justice and education--California--San Francisco
Migrant agricultural laborers--California--Central Valley
Black Panther Party
Race relations--1960-1970
Student strikes--California