Richard McSorley (October 2, 1914-October 17, 2002) was a

Jesuit priest The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

and

peace studies Peace is a state of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence, and everything that discusses achieving human welfare through justice and peaceful conditions. In a societal sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such ...

Professor at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

. In 1964 he was unofficially assigned by

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also known as RFK, was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 64th United States attorney general from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. senator from New Yo ...

to give counsel to his sister-in-law,

Jacqueline Kennedy Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American writer, book editor, and socialite who served as the first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A popular f ...

at Georgetown University. Five years later

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

asked him to say a prayer for peace at St. Mark's Church. McSorley founded the Center for Peace Studies at Georgetown. He had a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

Philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

from

Ottawa University Ottawa University (OU) is a private Baptist university with its main campus in Ottawa, Kansas. It also has a second residential campus in Surprise, Arizona, and adult campuses in the Kansas City and Milwaukee metropolitan areas, as well as onlin ...

and he taught philosophy at Scranton University attracting crowds to his courses. He is the author of the following books: * It's a Sin to Build a Nuclear Weapon * New Testament Basis of Peacemaking * Peace Prospects for Three Worlds * Kill? For Peace? * The More the Merrier. McSorley received the Distinguished Teacher Award in 1985 from Georgetown's alumni. The McSorley Award was established by Georgetown University's Program of Justice and Peace. He marched with

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

He was awarded the title ''Ambassador of Peace'' by

Pax Christi Pax Christi International is an international Catholic peace movement. The Pax Christi International website declares its mission is "to transform a world shaken by violence, terrorism, deepening inequalities, and global insecurity". History ...

. Bill Clinton sent a condolence letter on his death describing him as a “man of great character who always stood by his abiding commitment to promoting and expanding his belief in the cause of peace, fearless in the face of harshest criticism, unwavering in his search for moral reason while inspiring many to do the same." He founded The Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House in Washington, DC. According to

Philip Berrigan Philip Francis “Phil” Berrigan (October 5, 1923 – December 6, 2002) was an American peace activist and Catholic priest with the Josephites (Maryland), Josephites. He engaged in nonviolent, civil disobedience in the cause of peace an ...

, McSorley gave him the homemade napalm recipe that the Catonsville 9 used to burn draft records. McSorley found in a Special Forces handbook in the

Georgetown University Law Center Georgetown University Law Center is the Law school in the United States, law school of Georgetown University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law ...

library. On and off for years he stood in the middle of the

campus, protesting its

ROTC The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC; or ) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. While ROTC graduate officers serve in all branches o ...

program, by holding a sign saying "Should we teach life + love or death + hate?"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McSorley, Richard 1914 births 2002 deaths Georgetown University faculty Ottawa University alumni University of Scranton faculty 20th-century American philosophers 20th-century American Jesuits 21st-century American Jesuits American Christian socialists American pacifists American Christian pacifists American anti-poverty advocates Catholic socialists Christian radicals Roman Catholic activists Catholic Workers