Activist priest and Vietnam war protester Daniel Berrigan dies at 94

[IDemo]

Source: Raw Story

Daniel Berrigan, a Jesuit priest and peace activist, passed away on Saturday, reports James Martin, SJ, editor-at-large of the Jesuit magazine, America.

“Dan was one of the great Catholics of our time, a champion of social justice and a tireless promoter of peace,” Martin wrote on his Facebook page. “His influence on the peace movement, particularly during the Vietnam War, cannot be overstated, but his aim was not simply peace in Indochina, but peace everywhere.”

Berrigan was one of seven Catholic priests who used napalm to burn draft cards in 1968 in protest against the Vietnam War, according to the National Catholic Reporter. As a result, he was sentenced to three years in prison.

“Dan was also willing to be jailed for his beliefs, which were often unpopular in church circles, and sometimes even within the Society of Jesus,” Martin wrote. “I greatly admired that particular brand of courage.”

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2016/04/activist-priest-and-vietnam-war-protester-daniel-berrigan-dies-at-94/

[stone space]

1. asdf

[Uponthegears]

2. Very sad

[fred v]

34. Yes

[monmouth4]

3. I remember him so well. RIP sir..

[OwlinAZ]

39. He and his brother were heroes

and a large part of the faith community was active in the anti-war.movement. The only hero I can think of today is Senator Sanders.
I wonder if we will ever recover our morality?

[SusanCalvin]

4. .

[H2O Man]

5. RIP Daniel.

I had the privilege of knowing him and Phillip in the Reagan era.

[shenmue]

6. Rest in peace

[mikehiggins]

7. A good life, well lived. We'll all miss him. eom

[The Wizard]

8. A true friend

of humanity

[The Green Manalishi]

9. Well Done, Father Berrigan

Blessed are the peacemakers. You have done more to make my world a better place than anyone who has ever called the Holy See home.

[RoccoR5955]

10. RIP Fr. Berrigan. n/t

[FailureToCommunicate]

11. Dan and his brother Phil were forces of nature! As high school students we worked with them around

issues of institutional racism. They were based at Cornell at that time and we made numerous trips up and back to work out starting community based groups raising awareness around race (this was 1968-69 after the Kerner Commission report came out)

I remember them both as some of the nicest, most moral, centered advocates for peace and justice.

Rest In Peace Father Dan. (Phil passed away last year)

[Gregorian]

12. This brings back memories.

I was only in jr. high. But we were nervous about having to sign up for the draft. I recall thinking how utterly unfair it was.

[DinahMoeHum]

13. "Some" - a poem by Daniel Berrigan

Some stood up once
and sat down.
Some walked a mile
and walked away.
Some stood up twice
then sat down.
I've had it, they said

Some walked two miles
then walked away.
It's too much, they cried

Some stood and stood and stood.
They were taken for fools
They were taken for being taken in.

Some walked and walked and walked
They walked the earth
They walked the waters
They walked the air.

Why do you stand
they were asked, and
Why do you walk?

Because of the children, they said, and
Because of the heart, and
Because of the bread.

Because
The cause
Is the heart's beat
And the children born
And the risen bread.



Rest In Power and in Peace, Fr. Daniel Berrigan

[jwirr]

20. Because of the bread Father Daniel. RIP

[LiberalArkie]

14. I did not know he was still alive. One hell of a man.

[cliffordu]

15. Balls of steel. I loved him.

[HassleCat]

16. I was thinking of Berrigan yesterday.

Paul Simon song came on the radio,with the lyrics, "When the radical priest, come to get me released, we's all on the cover of Newsweek."

[Little_Wing]

17. A real hero among posers

and a shining light in the struggles to do right and live right. RIP.

[mahannah]

18. This man gave Catholics a good name.

[rurallib]

25. second that

made me proud to be a Catholic back then.
He epitomized what a Catholic should be.
Too bad there weren't many others like him.

A nation thanks you, Father Berrigan.

[Chrisdutch]

19. R.I.P. Reverend Dan

He was truly a giant conscience for us all. He will be sorely missed and, sadly, too many priests, buffaloed by the issue of abortion and homosexuality, have avoided the journey he took to bring us all to a better place.

[turbinetree]

21. A man of Principles

"Dan was also willing to be jailed for his beliefs, which were often unpopular in church circles,and sometimes even within the Society of Jesus,”

[lastlib]

22. .

. . . . . . . .

We need more of your courage in this world.

RIP, brave soul. You were needed in this world.

[leveymg]

23. Go with G-d, Father Dan.

[leftofcool]

24. I remember you Daniel. Rest in Peace.

[mahina]

26. Peace to him, with so much gratitude

I will never forget his work though I was just a kid.

[captainarizona]

27. sad

At least its vietnam war protestors victory day. 41 anniversary.

[Smarmie Doofus]

51. +1. By gosh, I believe you're right. nt

[nolabear]

28. I saw him speak once long,long ago.

He was indeed a courageous man.

[democrank]

29. I remember Father Daniel well.

What an admiral man. What a great loss.

PEACE, Father Daniel.

[mrmpa]

30. Plowshares 8 in 1980...............

a friend of mine was a member of this group of 8 that was arrested in King of Prussia where they damaged nuclear nose cones and poured blood over files and documents.

She has always spoken highly of Father Dan.

[stone space]

33. "The Hammer Has To Fall"

[annabanana]

31. A good man passed though our midst.

We are better for him.

[rug]

32. "We have one of our priests in prison right now, Steve Kelly, for his antiwar actions,

and three of us in the community are forbidden to visit him because we're all convicted felons."

[Overseas]

35. Rest in Peace, dear Father Berrigan. Thank you for your service to humanity.

[burrowowl]

36. RIP to a Very Great Man

[Hekate]

37. Rest in Peace, Father Berrigan, and thank you for all you did on this Earth in your lifetime.

[BlueMTexpat]

38. RIP to a great peace activist who

not only talked the talk, but walked the walk.

I never met Daniel nor did I meet his late brother Philip. But I did have the very great honor of meeting and being taught for a couple months at Princeton University in 1964 by their friend Eqbal Ahmad who was later indicted as part of the "Harrisburg 7." Daniel was an unindicted co-conspirator in that group. https://www.hampshire.edu/critical-social-inquiry/biography-of-eqbal-ahmad

Princeton U was not co-ed in 1964. I was among a group of Peace Corps Volunteers in orientation courses to prep us for the social, cultural and political situations then existing in Morocco and Tunisia. For years afterwards, Princeton considered those of us who were female to be among its vanguard of female students and I received alumni news accordingly.

[Ilsa]

40. I would celebrate his life IF

He had stayed away from being anti-choice. Having control over your body is every bit as important for self-determination as fighting for peace, IMO. He should have left that alone.

[hunter]

46. Life doesn't work that way. We can always celebrate the good while chipping away at the bad.

My mom's family ended up in the U.S. wild west mostly because they were pacifists, avoiding military service in Europe, and later the U.S. Civil War. My mom's dad was a conscientious objector during World War II. He once got beat up by the police protesting the internment of his Japanese neighbors. When his number came up in the draft he was given a choice of prison or building Liberty and Victory ships. He built ships.

During the Vietnam war my mom was a peace activist and we were Quakers. (My mom had been kicked out of the Jehovah's Witnesses for her political activism. The Witnesses don't do that.) The Berrigan brothers were big names in our household. The Quakers and Catholic pacifists worked together. My mom had "choose life" license plate frames, but I don't think that phrase had been adopted by the fundamentalist right wingers yet.

Our family is fairly Catholic in perspective and practice, even among those who don't go to church, but my mom and dad have always been the sort who think the best way to prevent abortion is to teach children about sex and birth control from an early age. I don't recall ever NOT knowing where babies come from, or that adults think sex is fun, or that sex can be hazardous. Both my parents, and my wife's parents had a mess of kids Catholic style, but had started using birth control in the later sixties, and didn't feel secretive or shameful about it.

At times I'm aggressive towards the shit-for-brain-wingnuts protesting in front of our local Planned Parenthood, but they wear people's hostility toward them like a badge of honor. It's also useless to talk reasonably with them. There's few things more insufferable than a Christian who gets a buzz feeling persecuted as they are the ones doing the persecuting.

Anyways, we are all children of our times and we all have blind spots. Abraham Lincoln was instrumental in ending slavery, but he was also a racist.

The Berrigans were extraordinary anti-war activists, putting themselves in harm's way. Their Catholic beliefs, their Christian pacifism, played a large part of that.

[Ilsa]

47. For me, reproductive rights and access are not

Less important than pacifism, fighting against unjust wars, etc. Reproductive rights are every bit as important, and being abke to exercise those rights enables more women to reach their leadership and political goals, including protesting for social justice.

You did not sway my opinion.

[hunter]

48. Some days I want to go Blues Brothers on the Planned Parenthood protestors

But that reaction would only empower them.

I wasn't trying to sway your opinion.

Political activism is a messy business, and the racists and fascists are very accomplished at dividing the left into warring factions, gerrymandering, and suppressing the vote of their opponents.

[jcboon]

41. A great man

We should all be as courageous as Father Dan.

[zentrum]

42. Real Priest

[AikenYankee]

43. ..

[struggle4progress]

44. Then He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them,

Dry bones, hear the Lord’s word! The Lord proclaims to these bones: I am about to put breath in you, and you will live again. I will put sinews on you, place flesh on you, and cover you with skin. When I put breath in you, and you come to life, you will know that I am the Lord.”

[madokie]

45. After 15 months in country, Vietnam

I came home very much a Vietnam Protester. It took me all of a few days to realize what we were doing there was wrong as wrong can be.

[avaistheone1]

49. So sad to hear of a great one passing.

They don't make many like him anymore.

RIP

[ReRe]

50. The world is the worse off...

... in the absence of this small-statured but giant of a man.

RIP, Daniel Berrigan.