In 1943, Rev. Dennis J. Comey, S.J. founded the Saint Joseph's Institute of Industrial Relations in Philadelphia on the premises of Saint Joseph's Preparatory School. His purpose was to involve workers and managers in the courses that he was designing and offering at the Jesuit community and school located at 17th & Stiles Streets, the strategic center of the City's manufacturing district. Within two city blocks of that intersection, was also the home where Father Comey had lived as one of eight children whose parents were Irish immigrant factory workers. Father Comey's return to his old neighborhood to establish the industrial relations school was a confirmation of the territory shared in his mind by church, family, school, industry and labor unions. It was there that he originally learned the principles that he later enunciated in his work as a teacher and a scholar. It was on that terrain that he advocated the belief that all individuals are entitled to learn about the issues that affect them. In 1963, the Institute of Industrial Relations moved to what was then St. Joseph's College on City Line Avenue. Father Comey and his assistant, Father Edward Mulally, continued to provide workers, managers and unemployed people with low cost, accessible education. The courses offered by the Institute nurtured an understanding of practical principles as well as laws and ethical guidelines that impact the quality of employees, managers, and consumers' lives. As reflected in the following comments published by Father Comey in 1971, the human element is central to the Institute's curriculum:
"The snarls and tangles of labor-management differences are people-made. They spring unbidden from hurt dignity, from pride or passion, betray ignorance or prejudice. Such a premise clues our program. Accepting and applauding the contributions of economists, accountants, engineers, et al., we choose to highlight the elusive factor, to pedestal ethical canons of personal and social behavior. Rather brashly we argue that both those who manage and those who labor truly need what we offer: sound principles soundly established, edging into social-minded concern for others whoever may be the party of the second part." -Rev. Dennis J. Comey, S.J.
The Comey Institute has, over its past fifty-six years, combined the resources of labor unions, law firms and other professional organizations as well as St. Joseph's University's facilities and staff in supporting the study of collective bargaining, union organizing and workplace jurisprudence. The Institute's mission issues out of its unique organizational history within the City of Philadelphia, the Labor Movement, the Jesuit tradition of education and the commitment to social justice at the basis of Saint Joseph's University's curriculum.