George Barry Ford (October 28, 1885 – August 1, 1978) was an American Roman Catholic priest, advocate of civil rights, and the chaplain who, along with Fr. Moore, led Thomas Merton to the Roman Catholic Church. ^[1] He was twice silenced by Cardinal Francis Spellman, and was a close friend of Eleanor Roosevelt and Carlton J. H. Hayes. ^[2] Dr. Henry P. Van Dusen, then president of Union Theological Seminary next to Corpus Christi, described Father Ford as "the best known and best loved man in the Morningside Heights community". ^[3]

Ford worked to establish the research institute and think tank Freedom House along with Eleanor Roosevelt, Wendell Willkie, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, Elizabeth Cutter Morrow, Dorothy Thompson, Herbert Agar, Herbert Bayard Swope, Ralph Bunche, Roscoe Drummond, and Rex Stout. ^[4] He also helped establish the Church Peace Union that today is the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs (New York Times obituary). Ford was a disciple of educational reformer John Dewey, who was a professor at Columbia's Teacher's College, and he eventually received the John Dewey Award.

In 1938, Thomas Merton sought Ford out at Corpus Christi Church to seek instruction in the Catholic faith. ^{[5] [6]} That same year, when Servant of God Catherine Doherty, Baroness de Hueck, arrived in New York, he gave her free rent in Harlem, which was a key to her success in establishing Friendship House that became the birthplace of the future Madonna House Apostolate. He also contributed frequently to her support. ^[7]

In 1954 he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (L.H.D.) degree from Columbia University. ^[8] He also received honorary degrees from Manhattan College and Seton Hall College.

In 1966 he served on the historic Ad hoc Commission on Rights of Soviet Jews. It was chaired by Bayard Rustin, and established by the Conference on the Status of Soviet Jews, offering a public tribunal on Jewish life in the Soviet Union.

Fr. Ford is thanked in the liner notes to George Carlin's 1972 album Class Clown, for although Carlin rejected the Catholic faith, he remembered Ford with cultural appreciation, and credited him for teaching him how to ask questions and think. ^[9]

Ford was an early champion of the Catholic Ordination of Women.

Awards

• Congregation B'nai Jeshurun (1948)
• John Dewey Award of the New York Teachers Guild (1959)
• William J. Schieffelin Award of the Citizens Union of New York (1963)
• International Student Council (1964)
• National Conference of Christians and Jews, Brotherhood Award (1965)
• Honorary doctorates (see above)

Further reading

• Kaplan, Morris (August 3, 1978). "Rev. George B. Ford, a Crusader For Civil Rights and Ecumenism". The New York Times. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
• Unsigned (December 8, 1969). "A Degree of Difference". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
• Cogley, John (April 25, 1958). "A Priest in the City". The Commonweal. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
• Dolkart, Andrew (1998). "Morningside Heights: A History of Its Architecture and Development". Columbia University Press. ISBN  023107851X.
• Crews, Clyde F. (Winter 1993). "U.S. Catholic Historian". On a Different Trolley: The Priesthood of E. Harold Smith. JSTOR  25153956.
• McGuinness, Margaret M. (February 2019). "Roman Catholicism in the United States: A Thematic History". Fordham Univ Press. ISBN  9780823282753. Retrieved May 23, 2020.

References