Tom Cornell


Thomas C. Cornell is an associate editor of the Catholic Worker. He is a deacon in the Catholic Church. He is retired and living at the Peter Maurin Farm in Marlboro, New York.

Opposition to the war in Vietnam

He is a co-founder of the Catholic Peace Fellowship and Pax Christi USA, a former member of the executive staff of Fellowship of Reconciliation and executive committee of Pax Christi USA and the War Resisters League and the Workers' Defense League. He led the first protest against the Vietnam War, which started with only two people from the Catholic Worker, himself and Chris Kearns, July 16, 1963. In ten days their protest grew to 250 and the first nationally televised Vietnam War protest.
He also called the first corporate act of resistance to the Vietnam draft, when he and five others, including David McReynolds, burned their draft cards, Nov. 6, 1965, in Union Square, New York City.
In 1967, Cornell signed a public statement declaring his intention to refuse to pay income taxes in protest against the U.S. war against Vietnam. Later, he became a sponsor of the War Tax Resistance project, which practiced and advocated tax refusal as a form of protest against the war.

Opposition to the war in Iraq

He continues in his opposition to the Iraq War, having visited that country before the Invasion in Dec.–Jan. 2003 and again after in 2004. His reports were published in The Catholic Worker. He has urged that military chaplains be trained in the law regarding conscientious objection and give positive support to claimants.

Works