HONORING PEACE EDUCATOR COLMAN McCARTHY

On 2026-06-04, Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD-8) delivered a floor speech titled "HONORING PEACE EDUCATOR COLMAN McCARTHY" in the House.

HONORING PEACE EDUCATOR COLMAN McCARTHY

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 95 (Thursday, June 4, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 95 (Thursday, June 4, 2026)] [Extensions of Remarks] [Page E529] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] HONORING PEACE EDUCATOR COLMAN McCARTHY ______ HON. JAMIE RASKIN of maryland in the house of representatives Thursday, June 4, 2026 Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to remember the great Colman McCarthy, who recently passed away at the age of 87. For decades, Colman McCarthy cut a singular figure in Washington, D.C., known for both riding his three-speed Raleigh bicycle to work every day and for putting his sharp writing to good use challenging militarism, fascism, materialism, capital punishment, the war complex, and mindless overconsumption. Above all, he was a beloved colleague, active citizen, faithful friend, devoted husband, father, grandfather and irrepressible teacher who dedicated his life to education for peace and justice. Colman was born on Long Island, New York to a family of Irish immigrants. All he wanted to do when he graduated high school was write and play golf. He had just graduated from a small Jesuit college in Alabama with the intention of joining the PGA Tour when he made a small detour at a Trappist monastery in Georgia. He ended up staying there for five years, where he devoured great volumes of literature and wrote stacks of journals. Though he had taken vows as a lay brother, Colman could never quite cut ties with the outside world and would jump at every opportunity to donate blood at the town's Red Cross, where he could devour the newspapers and magazines. One day, the abbot gave Colman $50 and an old suit and drove him directly to the airport. Soon after landing in New York, Colman got a job as a sports journalist. It turned out he was much better at playing golf than he was at writing about it. He somehow still found his way to Washington, D.C. after he wrote a mildly critical piece about Sean Shriver, then the Director of the U.S. Peace Corps. Shriver hired Colman as a speechwriter because, he said, there were too many ``yes men'' surrounding him. Colman's career returned to journalism when in 1969 he became a syndicated columnist for the Washington Post, where he set his golden pen to opposing the Vietnam War and corruption. In 1985, he tired of simply writing about peace and founded the Center for Teaching Peace with his beloved wife, Mavourneen. Over the next several decades, he taught free classes about peacemaking to hundreds of students at the Georgetown Law Center, Woodrow Wilson High School, and the School Without Walls before settling in at Bethesda Chevy Chase High School in Maryland's beautiful 8th District. He did not believe in grades, as he was convinced they were ``academic violence,'' and perhaps it was this unshakeable conviction and his mad love for knowledge that made him so beloved and his classes so sought-after by his many students. Colman opened every class he taught on peacemaking with the same routine. He would pull out a $100 bill from his wallet and tell the assembled students that it would be theirs if they could answer every single one of his questions correctly, questions like: Who was Robert E. Lee? Who was Napoleon Bonaparte? Easy enough. But then the questions would get harder. Who was Dorothy Day? What about Emily Greene Balch? Jody Williams? Jeannette Rankin? The $100 bill would go back into Colman's wallet. But he never used this long-practiced routine to embarrass or shame his students, young people whom he treated seriously and respectfully. He instead used the bit to make a point about our education system. Students have ``been well taught about men who break the peace,'' he wrote, ``but know little or nothing about women who make the peace.'' He would then offer his students singular opportunities to meet legendary Nobel Peace Prize winners like Adolfo Perez Esquivel and the singer-songwriter Joan Baez, before introducing them anew to Lily Flores, the custodial worker at Bethesda Chevy Chase who shared her experience fleeing violence in El Salvador to build a new life in the United States. Colman inspired an untold number of his students to channel their careers into politics for social good. Many of them have become social workers or public interest lawyers. A few of his students have run for Congress, like my great friend from Massachusetts, Representative Jim McGovern. He was cherished by his friends and family alike. Colman met the love of his life, Mavourneen ``May'' Deegan Colman, in 1967. She passed away in 2021. She not only shared his values but put up with his various vegan diets and his commitment to freeganism with good humor. They had three sons, John, James, and Edward and treasured their six grandchildren. His radiant legacy lives on within his family and also among his many students, who will recall the only homework assignment he ever gave; at the end of his lessons, he would command his class to ``tell someone that you love them today.'' We in Congress and the country would do well to remember it. ____________________