Social Reformer, Folk Figure. Better known as Father Pete was an advocate for longshoremen laboring on the New York City docks during the 1940s and 1950s. He was the model for Father Pete Barry, played by Karl Malden in the Academy Award winning movie "On the Waterfront." When told by the henchmen of the dock bosses, "Go back to your Church, Father." The priest, gives the fiery reply, "Boys, this is my church. And if you don't think Christ is down here on the waterfront, you've got another guess coming" Most of the dialogue for that famous speech in the hold of a ship came from actual speechs Father Corridan delivered. He left the Xavier Institute and the docks in 1957. He taught briefly at LeMoyne College and St.Peter's College in Jersey City, New Jersey. In the 1970s and 1980s he was a chaplain at Downstate, Kings County and Brooklyn State Hospitals in Brooklyn.
Social Reformer, Folk Figure. Better known as Father Pete was an advocate for longshoremen laboring on the New York City docks during the 1940s and 1950s. He was the model for Father Pete Barry, played by Karl Malden in the Academy Award winning movie "On the Waterfront." When told by the henchmen of the dock bosses, "Go back to your Church, Father." The priest, gives the fiery reply, "Boys, this is my church. And if you don't think Christ is down here on the waterfront, you've got another guess coming" Most of the dialogue for that famous speech in the hold of a ship came from actual speechs Father Corridan delivered. He left the Xavier Institute and the docks in 1957. He taught briefly at LeMoyne College and St.Peter's College in Jersey City, New Jersey. In the 1970s and 1980s he was a chaplain at Downstate, Kings County and Brooklyn State Hospitals in Brooklyn.
Bio by: Edmond Spaeth
Advertisement
See more Corridan memorials in:
Records on Ancestry
Advertisement
