St. Ignatius Church

A committee was formed to organize the protests and events around the Trial of the Catonsville Nine, called the Baltimore Defense Committee (BDC). They sought national attention and invited prominent antiwar activist guests. Maryland governor Spiro Agnew had just been selected as Richard Nixon’s running mate, and activists hoped to highlight his defects and his war hawking while defending the Nine.

The Sunday night before the trial began, over 700 people met in the basement of the church to rally and lay out a plan of action for the week. On the following nights of the trial, hundreds of supporters continued to meet at St. Ignatius, holding rallies in support of the Nine, burning draft cards, and listening to the speeches of many prominent social justice activists, including Howard Zinn, Dorothy Day, William Stringfellow, Noam Chomsky, and I.F. Stone. 

History of St. Ignatius Baltimore Parish, Accessed November 1st 2020. https://st-ignatius.net/history-of-st-ignatius-church/.

Julius, Marilyn. “Fire and Faith.” The Catonsville Nine File, 2005. http://c9.digitalmaryland.org/

Peters, Shawn Francis. The Catonsville Nine: A Story of Faith and Resistance in the Vietnam Era. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.

St. Ignatius Church-Baltimore, MD, Waymarking.com. Accessed November 1st 2020. https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM11JFZ_St_Ignatius_Church_Baltimore_MD.