Daniel Berrigan
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Daniel Berrigan at College of the Holy Cross, September 28, 2005. |
Daniel Berrigan (born
May 9,
1921) is an internationally renowned
American peace activist and
Roman Catholic priest. Daniel and his brother
Philip performed
non-violent actions against war and were for a time on the
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.
Daniel Berrigan was born in
Virginia, Minnesota, a
Midwestern
working class town. His father, Thomas Berrigan, was second-generation
Irish-
Catholic and proud
Union man. Tom left the Catholic Church, but Berrigan remained attracted to the Church throughout his youth. He joined a strict
Jesuit seminary directly out of high school, where he spent the next twenty years studying
theology.
Berrigan, his brother
Philip, and the famed
Trappist monk Thomas Merton founded an interfaith coalition against the
Vietnam War, and wrote letters to major newspapers arguing for an end to the war.
In
1969, Philip Berrigan was arrested for non-violent protest and sentenced to six years in prison. Afterwards, Daniel Berrigan seriously considered taking more direct action against the war.
Howard Zinn, professor emeritus at
Boston University, invited Berrigan to accompany him on a trip to
Hanoi to negotiate the release of three
U.S. pilots held prisoner by the
North Vietnamese. Although the mission had a high chance of success, it was opposed by the
FBI on the grounds that it violated their policy of non-negotiation with North Vietnam.
J. Edgar Hoover went so far as to publicly call Zinn and Berrigan "traitors". U.S. planes even bombed locations where they were scheduled to be. Despite the opposition, three pilots were returned home. They were the first American
POWs released unharmed by the North Vietnamese. The lack of acknowledgement and appreciation by the U.S. government helped to radicalize Berrigan.
In
1969, Berrigan decided to participate in a more radical non-violent protest. A local
high-school physics teacher helped to concoct homemade
napalm. Nine activists, who later became known as the
Catonsville Nine, walked into the draft board of
Catonsville,
Maryland, and removed 378 draft files, which they brought outside and burned. The Catonsville Nine, who were all Catholic, issued a statement:
"We confront the Catholic Church, other Christian bodies, and the synagogues of America with their silence and cowardice in the face of our country's crimes. We are convinced that the religious bureaucracy in this country is racist, is an accomplice in this war, and is hostile to the poor."
Berrigan was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison, but he refused to serve his time. Instead, he went underground, living discreetly among like-minded individuals. The
FBI, to its great embarrassment, was not immediately able to apprehend Berrigan, although he frequently showed up briefly at public events, made impromptu speeches, and went back into hiding. During this time Berrigan was also interviewed for a documentary titled "The Holy Outlaw," by Lee Lockwood.
Eventually, the FBI managed to find and arrest Berrigan. He was released from prison in
1972.
On
September 9,
1980, Berrigan, his brother Philip, and six others (the "Plowshares Eight") began the
Plowshares Movement when they entered the
General Electric Nuclear Missile Re-entry Division in
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania where nose cones for the Mark 12A warheads were made. They hammered on two nose cones, poured blood on documents and offered prayers for peace. They were arrested and initially charged with over ten different felony and misdemeanor counts. On
April 10 1990, after nearly ten years of trials and appeals, the Plowshares Eight were re-sentenced and
paroled for up to 23 and 1/2 months in consideration of time already served in prison. Their legal battle was dramatically re-created in
Emile de Antonio's 1982 film
In The King of Prussia, which starred
Martin Sheen and featured appearances by the Plowshares Eight as themselves.
Since this action over seventy Plowshares actions have taken place around the world against weapons of war, several involving Berrigan himself.
Berrigan has spoken out on many issues since then, and has been involved in many protests. He has led protests against American destabilization of
Central America, the
1991 Gulf War, the
Kosovo War, the
U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, and the
2003 invasion of Iraq. He is also a prominent
pro-life activist.
Berrigan later wrote the play
The Trial of the Catonsville Nine, which ran on Broadway for 29 performances in
1971 and was made into a movie in
1972.
Berrigan also wrote many books, including
Words Our Savior Gave Us (
1978, ISBN 0872430812);
Prison Poems (
1982, ISBN 0877750491);
Hole in the Ground: A Parable for Peacemakers (
1987, ISBN 0961900318);
And the Risen Bread: Selected Poems (
1997, ISBN 082321821X);
Daniel: Under the Siege of the Divine(
1998, ISBN 0874869528); and
Uncommon Prayer: A Book of Psalms (
1998, ISBN 1570751935). Absurd Convictions, Modest Hopes. Geography of Faith. Time Without Number (won the Lamant Prize). Night Flight to Hanoi. Trial Writings (with Tom Lewis).
Swords into Plowshares: A chronology of plowshares disarmament actions 1980-2003 Edited by Arthur J. Laffin (
2003, ISBN 0-9636224-8-X);
The documentry film INVESTIGATION OF A FLAME is about the Berrigan Brothers and the Catonsville Nine. http://www.investigationofaflame.com/
*1974
War Resisters League Peace Award*1988
Thomas Merton Award*
Pacem in Terris Award*1989
Pax Christi USA Pope Paul VI Teacher of Peace Award*The song "I Had No Right" by
Dar Williams is about Berrigan and his trial.
See, too, Murray Polner and Jim O'Grady, "Disarmed and Dangerous: The Radical Life and Times of Daniel and Philip Berrigan," (Basic Books, 1997) and Westview (1998.
*
Christian anarchism*
Plowshares Movement Chronology
