In 2017, he was ordained as Reader.įorest had a long-term friendship with Thomas Merton, who dedicated a book to him, Faith and Violence. From 1989, he was international secretary of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship as well as associate editor of its quarterly journal, In Communion. In 1988, Forest was received into the Eastern Orthodox Church. Marcellus Award from the Catholic Peace Fellowship. He received the Peacemaker Award from Notre Dame University's Institute for International Peace Studies and the St. From 1977 through 1988, he was Secretary General of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, work which brought him to the Netherlands. In the late sixties and mid-seventies, Forest also worked with the Fellowship of Reconciliation, first as Vietnam Program coordinator and later as editor of Fellowship magazine.

Most members of the ' Milwaukee Fourteen' served thirteen months in prison for their action. In 1968, while Forest worked as Vietnam Program Coordinator of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Jim and thirteen others, mainly Catholic clergy, broke into nine Milwaukee draft boards, removing and burning some of the files in a nearby park while holding a prayer service. The main focus of their work was counseling conscientious objectors.

This became a full-time job for both of them in 1965, a time that coincided with deepening US military engagement in Vietnam. In 1964, while working as a journalist for the Staten Island Advance, in his spare time he co-founded the Catholic Peace Fellowship, working closely with Tom Cornell. Īfter leaving the navy, Forest joined the staff of the Catholic Worker community in Manhattan, working close with the founder, Dorothy Day, and for a time served as managing editor of the journal she edited, The Catholic Worker.

His military service ended with an early discharge on grounds of conscientious objection. It was during this period that he became a Catholic. James Hendrickson Forest (Novem– January 13, 2022) was an American writer, Orthodox Christian lay theologian, educator, and peace activist.Īs a young man, Forest served in the US Navy, working with a meteorology unit at the US Weather Bureau headquarters near Washington, DC.

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