Special Edition
Special
Celebrating
of the American TFP’s
C o v e r S t or y
B Y
R AYM O N D
D R A K E
“[The apostolate] combat[s] the Revolution, that is, more particularly, so-called Catholic leftism in the religious realm and communism in the temporal realm.”
An early photograph of the first members of the American TFP. These spiritual pioneers formed the initial nucleus of a movement that today reaches people from all walks of life in every corner of the United States.
F
ifty years ago, on May 18, 1973, The Foundation for a Christian Civilization, Inc.—the corporate name of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP)—filed articles of incorporation with New York’s Department of State, and became established as a nonprofit organization. A few months later, the Internal Revenue Service recognized the new organization’s 501(c)(3) charitable organization status. With this 1973 legal filing, the handful of concerned American Catholics who had gathered informally around the publication Crusade for a Christian Civilization to defend the principles of tradition, family, and property—essential mainstays of a Christian order—adopted a corporate structure for purposes of civil law.
1971 began with just two members, John Hart and Philip B. Calder (see interview with Mr. Calder on pages 8–9). Both lived in New York City and had known each other for some time. In the summer of 1970, John Hart attended an audiovisual presentation given by Dr. José Lúcio Araújo Corrêa, a member of the Brazilian TFP. Dr. Araújo Corrêa’s trip to New York City was one of several that he, Dr. Caio Xavier da Silveira, Mario Navarro da Costa, and other representatives of the Brazilian or Argentine TFPs had made to the United States, starting in 1966. They gave talks and represented their organizations at conservative conferences such as The Wanderer Forum (now The Bellarmine Forum). In December 1970, Mr. Hart traveled to Brazil to learn more about the Brazilian TFP’s outlook, principles, and methods of action, and the history of its organized struggle to defend the values of Christian civilization, which Professor Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, its founder and president, had started in 1928.
Earliest Origins As the years rolled by, many would join the ranks of the TFP’s spiritual crusade. However, Crusade’s first issue in January 4
C r u s a d e
S e p t e m b e r / O c t o b e r
The TFP Apostolate In a 1951 article, Professor Corrêa de Oliveira would call the TFP’s organized apostolate “The Twentieth Century Crusade.” Under his leadership, this apostolate was first structured in 1928. In 1933, Professor Corrêa de Oliveira was made director of the publication Legionário. Professor Corrêa de Oliveira called upon his closest followers to form the editorial staff of this journal, TFP founder Professor Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira. His far-reaching vision and militant Catholic example inspired the founding and expanding of the American TFP.
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