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The Catholic Peace Fellowship (CPF) is an American Catholic pacifist organization founded in 1964 to promote nonviolence and social justice, particularly in response to the Vietnam War. [1] [2] The CPF emerged from the broader peace movement of the 1960s and has played a significant role in shaping American Catholic attitudes towards war and peace.
The CPF was established by members of the Catholic Worker movement, including Jim Forest, Tom Cornell, 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]
