Paul Hanly Furfey

Furfey described himself as a radical, calling out everyday citizens who tolerate slavery, genocide, and the bombing of noncombatants as "respectable murderers."^[10][11] He was influenced by the Catholic-left religious communities such as the Bowery's Catholic Worker, founded by his friends Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, Harlem's Friendship House, founded by his spiritual directee Catherine Doherty, and the settlement house movement.^[12]

As chair of sociology at Catholic University for 32 years, from 1934 to 1966, he became what Santa Clara professor of spirituality Bruce H. Lescher calls "one of the leading spokespersons of the Catholic left."^[9] In 2003 Catholic University held a symposium, "The Intellectual and Moral Heritage of the Rev. Paul Hanly Furfey."^[13]

In 1936, with sociologist Gladys Sellew and department colleague Mary Elizabeth Walsh, he cofounded Il Poverello House at 2119 10th Street NW.^[14] The name of the house came from St. Francis of Assisi, who was known as "Il Poverello," the little poor man.^[15] There they demonstrated that they could live on 15 cents a day, the rough equivalent of $3 in the 2020s.^[16] Emanuel A. Romero, a prominent Black Catholic author advocating interracial justice, wrote in detail of the house, describing it as coming "as close to the heart of Catholic interracial work as anything I know."^[14] Furfey was also closely involved with two other such houses, Fides House, where Catholic University nursing students joined the mix of sociologists living with low-income residents of the Shaw neighborhood, and Emmaus House in the university's own Brookland neighborhood, both of which drew the attention of Eleanor Roosevelt.^[17][18]