It is not easy to pinpoint the origin of Colman McCarthy’s fierce idealism and pacifism. Perhaps it was growing up in Old Brookville, New York, and observing his father, a lawyer, provide free legal service to the poor in their neighborhood. Perhaps it was as a college student in Mobile, Alabama, experiencing feelings of unease with the presence of an ROTC program. After finishing college, McCarthy realized that he needed more discipline, acknowledging, “I was a pretty wild kid in school.”

He entered a Trappist monastery with the intention of staying a few weeks and ended up staying five years. He refers to these years at the monastery as the most important of his life.

As a journalist, McCarthy covered the peace movement during the 60s and has worked as a columnist for The Washington Post since 1968. In 1983, he developed and taught a course in peacemaking for a Washington high school. That course evolved into the Center for Teaching Peace, a nonprofit educational institution dedicated to teaching children nonviolent methods of resolving conflicts. As well as continuing to teach the high school course, McCarthy also teaches a course called “Law, Conscience and Non-Violence” at Georgetown University School of Law and the University of Maryland.

In January, 1997, McCarthy left The Washington Post to devote his time more fully to his center and his teaching. His writings have appeared in publications ranging from The New Yorker to Reader’s Digest, and his publications include All of One Peace and Involvements: One Journalist’s Place in the World. For his tireless efforts in the name of peace, he won the Pax Christi USA’s 1993 Pope Paul VI Teacher of Peace Award.

McCarthy’s grandparents are from Co. Cork and Co. Down. McCarthy is particularly proud of the fact that one of his sons, while studying at St. Patrick’s in Maynooth, Ireland, was the first American to win the 1988 Kildare Cup, the annual award of the Irish Debating Society.