Today’s post was written by Siena Andrews, a senior at Loyola Marymount University majoring in African American studies, with a minor in journalism. Siena works on the outreach and engagement team at William H. Hannon Library.
The eighth Faculty Pub Night of the 2024-25 academic year occurred Tuesday, April 22, 2025, which spotlighted Fr. Sean Dempsey’s book titled “City of Dignity: Christianity and Liberalism in the Making of Global Los Angeles.” The evening revealed not just an academic analysis of Los Angeles’s progressive values, but also Dempsey’s profound understanding of how religious organizations intersect with cultural and political movements.
Father Sean Dempsey, S.J., associate professor and chair of history at Loyola Marymount University, brought extensive expertise to his analysis of Los Angeles’s social and political landscape. His journey to writing about the city began with what many consider a common misconception – viewing Los Angeles simply as a bastion of secular progressive politics shaped by Hollywood Democrats. However, as Dempsey delved deeper into the city’s historical development, he discovered a complex narrative where progressive religious activists played a pivotal role in shaping the city’s embrace of immigration, equity, diversity, and human rights.
During the presentation, Dempsey shared his fascination with how liberal Protestant and Catholic organizations responded to pivotal historical moments in Los Angeles. His research revealed how these religious groups occupied a unique position as both products of and challengers to the prevailing social systems. This duality became a central theme in Dempsey’s analysis, leading him to explore how concepts of human dignity evolved alongside major social and political movements.
Dempsey’s academic interest in Los Angeles was particularly piqued by the lack of serious critical analysis of religious organizations’ cultural significance in shaping the city. While much has been written about Los Angeles’s political landscape, Dempsey noticed a gap in understanding how churches and faith-based organizations paralleled and influenced power dynamics during the civil rights movement, post-war development, and neoliberal economic shifts. This observation became the foundation for his groundbreaking book.
The evening’s discussion revealed how Dempsey’s expertise in religious history and urban politics provided a unique lens through which to view Los Angeles’s development. As a Jesuit priest who previously worked at LMU from 2003-2005 teaching in the American Cultures Program and serving as direct service coordinator at the Center for Service and Action, Dempsey brought both scholarly and practical perspectives to his research. He argued that religious organizations represent an often-overlooked force whose influence extends beyond spiritual matters, connecting to broader patterns of social justice, immigration policy, and economic equity.
In his research, Dempsey discovered that religious impact was most profound during times of significant social change. He explored how figures like Father George Dunn advocated for racial integration and labor rights in the post-war period, describing segregation as a sin against charity and responding prophetically to racial violence in Fontana. This timing, Dempsey argued, made religious voices particularly significant in discussions of race, power, and representation.
The author’s connection to his subject deepened as he uncovered how churches engaged with urban crises. Dempsey highlighted how the 1965 Watts uprising served as a wake-up call, prompting churches to become involved in city planning and racial justice initiatives. He explored how local Protestants reshaped city planning through principles of Christian social justice, while grassroots organizing emerged from Black Christian power movements and Latino Catholic activism.
What particularly fascinated Dempsey was the Sanctuary Movement’s response to the Central American refugee crisis. Through his research, Dempsey found that this phase demonstrated how faith communities could redirect their influence toward humanitarian causes. He explained how churches like La Placita under Father Luis Olivaries became sanctuaries, representing a new kind of institutional response – one that used religious authority to challenge government policies and raise awareness for critical social issues.
Throughout his book, Dempsey shared how his perspective on Los Angeles evolved from seeing it as merely a progressive secular city to understanding it as a complex ecosystem where religious values helped form a humanitarian counterweight to rising neoliberalism and conservatism. He explained that Los Angeles’s development – from post-war racial tensions to global city – provides a unique lens through which to view changes in American society and its global influence.
The presentation concluded with Dempsey reflecting on why this religious history remains relevant to contemporary discussions of urban development and social influence. He argued that these religious organizations created a blueprint for how communities could combine spiritual values with social consciousness, a model that continues to influence urban politics today.
This Faculty Pub Night at the William H. Hannon Library demonstrated how academic research can illuminate the complex relationships between religious institutions, political power, and social change. Through Dempsey’s meticulous research and passionate presentation, attendees gained a deeper understanding of both Los Angeles’s progressive development and the broader implications of religious influence on American culture.