Catholic Peace Fellowship

The CPF was established by members of the Catholic Worker movement, including Jim Forest, Tom Cornell, Father Paul Hanly Furfey, and the Berrigan brothers, Daniel and Philip.^[1][2] Its formation was inspired by the need for Catholic pacifists to expand their efforts and reach out to the broader Catholic community.^[1] The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), an interfaith peace organization, played a crucial role in the CPF's creation, with John Heiderbrink, FOR's interfaith director, actively working to organize Catholics into an affiliate.^[1]

During the Vietnam War, the CPF played a central role in American Catholic peacemaking. The organization provided a religious context for Catholics to protest the war,^[2] maintained a religious voice in the larger secular antiwar movement,^[2] and developed protest tactics and arguments against the war that reflected Catholic teachings^[2]

The CPF's efforts contributed to the erosion of liberal Catholic support for the Vietnam War and influenced the American Catholic bishops' renunciation of the war in 1969.^[1]

The CPF challenged traditional relationships within the American Catholic Church by empowering lay Catholics to take the lead in protesting the Vietnam War.^[2] This shift prepared lay Catholics to participate more fully in the Church's mission and in shaping the post-Vatican II agenda of the American Catholic Church.^[2]