Where’s the man more committed to peace? Where’s the man more tightly bound in telling and living the truth? Was there ever a man less afraid of his government than the teacher, the priest, the poet, the activist—Father Daniel J. Berrigan? No! It was he—he was that man!
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. called him “Jesus as a poet” and followed by saying, “If this be heresy, make the most of it.”[1]
Father Dan once said, “Faith is rarely where your head is at. Nor is it where your heart is at. Faith is where your ass is at!”[2] He revealed his faith repeatedly.
In 1968, Father Daniel Berrigan and Howard Zinn went to Hanoi.[3] It was during the Tet holiday—a time of reunion in Vietnam. The two professors witnessed the misery that U.S. bombers delivered upon the people of North Vietnam. Our adversaries in combat sent three captured American pilots home with the activists—a kind gesture of peace for the pilots and their families. These were the first POWs released since the U.S. began the onslaught known as the Tet Offensive.
Later that year, Fathers Philip and Daniel Berrigan and seven other anti-war activists broke into the draft board office in Catonsville, Maryland. They took hundreds of draft records out into the parking lot where they burned them in homemade napalm. The Berrigans became the first Catholic priests to be listed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted list.
In 1980, Father Dan and friends advanced the cause of anti-nuclear proliferation by starting the Plowshares Movement in dramatic fashion. They trespassed onto the GE nuclear missile plant in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Security was surprisingly lax. Eight men beat upon missile nose cones with hammers, emulating scripture, and the Plowshares Movement was launched.[4]
10-years later when the case was finally settled, Daniel Berrigan said to the judge, “Your honor, if the children of the world are safer with us in prison, so be it. We will go in good spirit.”[5] Clearly, Daniel Berrigan was not opposed to positioning his faith and his posterior in the exact same place.[6]
In 1981, TV reporter Chris Wallace seemed unaware of the nose cone desecration. For he asked Father Dan how he felt about being left out of the news spotlight (compared with his many protests in the 60s and 70s). The priest responded, "Well, you know, we don’t view our conscience as being tethered to the other end of a television cord."[7] We know where the priest viewed his conscience residing—right alongside with his faith and his derriere!
He wasn’t perfect, Father Daniel J. Berrigan. Ice cream had its way with him. He kept his freezer full of the stuff. His hankering was known far and wide. So much so, that the founders of Ben and Jerry’s gifted Father Dan with a lifetime supply—a gift that somehow grew to include his whole family. Many cousins, nieces and nephews took advantage of it throughout the years. The next time you hanker for Ben and Jerry’s, see if you like Raspberrigan ice cream.
These ancient words inspired the priest, the teacher, the poet, the activist:
“They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” (Isaiah 2:3-4)
Images: Daniel and Philip Berrigan on the cover of Time Magazine[8] and Sculpture “Let Us Beat Swords into Plowshares” by Evgeniy Vuchetich in the United Nations Art Collection, photo by Neptuul[9]
[1] See: https://sojo.net/magazine/february-2008/picturing-daniel-berrigans-poetry - by Madeleine Mysky, 2008
[2] See: http://www.ibtimes.com/daniel-berrigan-famous-quotes-renowned-jesuit-priest-poet-peace-activist-dies-94-2362192
[3] See: http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/100_for_100/005 in Father Dan’s own words
[4] See: http://www.democracynow.org/2015/5/21/an_act_of_protest_not_sabotage_at
[5] See: http://articles.mcall.com/1990-04-11/news/2749136_1_daniel-berrigan-plowshares-defendants-nuclear-arms
[6] See: http://biography.yourdictionary.com/daniel-j-berrigan - From 1975-1995, Father Berrigan was imprisoned several times for a combined total of nearly 7-yrs.
[7] See: http://www.democracynow.org/2016/5/3/jeremy_scahill_remembers_his_longtime_friend
[8] See: http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19710125,00.html – 1/25/1975, Time, credit Jim Sharpe
[9] See: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASchwerter_zu_Pflugscharen_-_Bronze_-_Jewgeni_Wutschetitsch_-_Geschenk_der_Sowjetunion_an_die_UNO_-_1959.jpg - image licensed under Creative Commons. By Neptuul (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons from Wikimedia Commons