At Judson Church, Howard Moody was a social justice leader

During his long ministry at Judson Memorial Church in New York’s Greenwich Village, ex-marine Howard Moody led religious assaults on tough social issues of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s—openly aiding women seeking abortions, blacks calling for civil rights and people entangled by drug addiction, AIDS or prostitution. He died September 12 in Manhattan at 91 of pneumonia and complications from cancer treatment.

Moody, born in Dallas, was having second thoughts about studying for the ministry at Baylor University in 1941 when he enlisted before Pearl Harbor and served during World War II in the Pacific. When he did return to Baptist ministry, he became a preacher who concentrated on good works for the needy and hosting avant-garde theater groups—a mix that drew large public notice for his small congregation.

“With his marine-style crew cut, one’s first impression was not that one was meeting with a pastor/social activist,” said Baptist executive A. Roy Medley, president-elect of the National Council of Churches, calling Moody “a moving force in the social changes that swept America.”