John A. Ryan
Religious Leader
Catholic theologian who guided the country through huge societal changes at the turn of the 20th century.
He studied at Catholic University of America, eventually earning a Ph.D., at a time when slaves were newly emancipated and the Industrial Revolution was beginning.
Seeing the debate on social reform as individualism against collectivism, he found a middle ground in natural law theory that brought out the Catholic Church.
He was born in a Irish Catholic homesteader family in Vermillion, Minnesota.
Thomas Merton was another influential Catholic thinker and author.