24 | JULY 11 • 2024 
J
N

D

uring his Depression-
era run as one of the 
country’s most popu-
lar radio personalities, Father 
Charles Coughlin spread 
antisemitic conspiracy the-
ories, praised fascists and 
suggested Jews deserved the 
horrors of Nazi persecution.
Now, nine decades later, 
his church is officially 
declaring him an antisem-
ite — and educating visitors 
about his legacy of hate.
Following renewed interest 
in Coughlin and two years of 
discussions with local Jewish 
figures, the National Shrine 
of the Little Flower in Royal 
Oak has changed the way it 
memorializes its founder, 
whose large national follow-
ing helped pay for its con-
struction.
Previously, official histo-
ries at the Catholic parish 
seat stated that Coughlin’s 
“political involvement and 
passionate rhetoric opened 
him up to accusations of 
antisemitism.” The new 
version, posted on both the 
church’s website and on an 
updated plaque on the Shrine 
grounds, is far more direct, 
stating clearly that Coughlin 
himself propagated antisem-
itism.
“His political involvement 
and passionate rhetoric 
gradually became overt-
ly anti-Semitic,” the new 
passage reads, with the 
updated plaque in the church 
now including a QR code 
to a page on the Shrine’s 
website. Titled “Legacy of 
Anti-Semitism,” the page 
discusses Coughlin’s record 
of antisemitic comments 
in the late 1930s in more 

detail, including his national 
distribution of the notorious 
antisemitic forgery Protocols 
of the Elders of Zion, which 
purports to be a secret plan 
for Jewish world domination.
Housed in a historic Art 
Deco building, the Shrine 
will be celebrating its 
100th anniversary in 2026. 
But almost 60 years after 
Coughlin’s retirement, many 
members of the church 
community had never heard 
of him or his legacy among 
Jews.
Detroit’s Jews, many of 
whom live within a few miles 
of the church, have peti-
tioned the Shrine for years 
to better acknowledge its 
painful history. For them, the 

change was significant.
“It’s a total victory,” Levi 
Smith, vice president of a 
local foundation devoted 
to the historical legacy of 
Detroit Jewish architect 
Albert Kahn, told the Jewish 
Telegraphic Agency. Smith 
said he helped work with the 
church on the new language, 
“and I made a couple of new 
friends, which was really 
nice.”
Don Erwin, a Shrine 
parishioner who also worked 
on the revised language, 
said he was “thrilled” that 
the changes were made. “I 
think it’s very important 
that the Shrine deals with 
the antisemitism of Father 
Coughlin,” he said. “It’s such 

a legacy that we really hav-
en’t dealt with.”
In recent years, pod-
casts, documentaries and 
new histories of the time 
period have made note of 
the similarities between 
Coughlin’s brand of fascist 
populism and modern 
political figures’ reach 
on social media. And the 
Shrine has taken steps to 
grapple with Coughlin’s 
antisemitism.
In 2020, the Shrine’s 
then-head pastor took the 
opportunity of his New Year’s 
Eve sermon to apologize 
for Coughlin’s words and 
actions toward the Jews. 
And, in 2022, Smith and 
other local Jewish historians 

Father Coughlin’s 
Church Will Now 
Teach Visitors About 
His Antisemitism

ANDREW LAPIN JTA

OUR COMMUNITY

COURTESY OF LEVI SMITH

Rev. John Bettin, head 
pastor at the National 
Shrine of the Little Flower 
Catholic parish, prepares 
to mount a revised version 
of the church’s history of 
its antisemitic founder 
Father Charles Coughlin. 
Royal Oak, Michigan, Nov. 
7, 2023. 

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