The National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund welcomes retired Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Gumbleton to our Board of Directors for a three-year term. Gumbleton, 86, who was ordained to the priesthood in 1956, is also a co-founder of Pax Christi USA, the National Catholic Peace Movement.

The NCPTF supports federal legislation that would give taxpayers a choice to earmark their tax dollars for peaceful purposes instead of weapons and war.

Gumbleton, a pacifist, has a long history of diplomatic missions around the globe as an ambassador for peace. One of the most outspoken anti-war bishops in the U.S. Church, Gumbleton has called on the Church to abandon the so-called “Just-War Criteria,” claiming that modern warfare can never be morally justified.

“Bishop Gumbleton’s legacy of anti-war work will be invaluable to the peace mission of the Peace Tax Foundation,” said PTF Executive Director Jack McHale. “Bishop Gumbleton is going to be a powerful voice in the effort to allow U.S. taxpayers to have a choice to not have to pay for war anymore.”

A 2006 profile published in the Catholic Peace Fellowship newsletter said: “Tom Gumbleton is a giant in the American Church; his legacy will endure. Compassion is the lifeline he brings to the people.”

In an interview, Gumbleton said: “I’m very happy to be on the board. I have supported this bill since the very beginning. If my presence on the board helps to move it along, I’m certainly very happy to do that.

“I’m utterly opposed to nuclear weapons, and I refuse to pay anything for them. I feel that every citizen should have the right in conscience to reject paying for weapons of mass destruction. You need to find a way to eliminate these weapons off the planet totally, and refusing to pay taxes is one way to begin the effort to get rid of them.”