Finding the Catholic Voices in Social Justice Poetry

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Mourners participate in a peace march on May 6 prior to the funeral Mass of Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan in New York City (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz).

Lisa Ampleman
April 17, 2017
MAY 01, 2017 ISSUE

As we mark the first anniversary of the death of Daniel Berrigan, S.J., on April 30, we seem to be in a season of protests: voters showing up in droves to town halls held by their congressional representatives, spontaneous demonstrations at airports against President Donald J. Trump’s travel bans, and both immigrants and women asserting their importance by striking or staying home from work. It is easy to imagine Father Berrigan among the protesters, linking arms in the street.

The state of social justice poetry is also strong. Some of today’s most lauded young poets have taken up the mantle once worn by activist poets like Berrigan, Adrienne Rich and Amiri Baraka.

Berrigan worked passionately for peace and antinuclear causes from the Vietnam era onward, even facing arrest in 2003 at age 81 for trespassing during a demonstration at an armed forces recruiting station in Times Square in New York. His poetry, most often in free verse, reflected his Catholic faith, while it also questioned injustices and urged action to end them.

Poets still write work that addresses tough questions: How do we live and act in solidarity with our neighbors, welcoming the stranger? How should the government and larger society treat individuals, especially those who live in poverty or in any way are vulnerable? And how can we reform flawed institutions?

https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2017/04/17/finding-catholic-voices-social-justice-poetry