Phillip Francis Berrigan | |
---|---|
Born | October 5, 1923 Two Harbors, Minnesota |
Died | December 6, 2002 Baltimore, Maryland |
(aged 79)
Cause of death | Cancer |
Resting place | Jonah House |
Nationality | United States |
Religion | Catholic |
Spouse | Elizabeth McAlister |
Parents | Thomas Berrigan, Frieda Berrigan |
Relatives | Daniel Berrigan |
Philip Francis Berrigan (October 5, 1923 – December 6, 2002) was an internationally renowned American peace activist, Christian anarchist and former Roman Catholic priest. Along with his brother Daniel Berrigan, he was for a time on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list for acts of vandalism including destruction of government property.
Contents |
Philip Francis Berrigan was born in Two Harbors, Minnesota, a Midwestern working class town, the younger brother of the Jesuit fellow-activist and poet, Daniel Berrigan. Their father, Tom Berrigan, was a second-generation Irish-Catholic and proud union member.
In 1943, after a single semester of schooling at Holy Cross, Berrigan was drafted into combat duty in World War II. He served in the artillery during the Battle of the Bulge (1945) and later became a Second Lieutenant in the infantry. He was deeply affected by his exposure to the violence of war and the racism of boot camp in the Deep South. Philip soon entered the seminary of the Josephite Fathers, a religious society of priests dedicated to serving those of African descent, who, in the United States, were still dealing with the repercussions of slavery and daily segregation. From this background, he became active in the Civil Rights movement. Berrigan marched for desegregation and participated in sit-ins and bus boycotts. He was ordained a priest in 1955, but left the priesthood 18 years later. He would marry later in life to Elizabeth McAlister of Jonah House in Baltimore, which they founded as a community to support resistance to war. Their three children, Frida, Jerry, and Kate, all grew up to be anti-war activists.
In the 1960s, after activity in civil rights, the then-Reverend Philip Berrigan, S.S.J., began taking more radical steps to bring attention to the anti-war movement. On October 27, 1967, the "Baltimore Four" (Berrigan, artist Tom Lewis; and poet, teacher and writer David Eberhardt and United Church of Christ missionary and pastor, the Reverend James L. Mengel) poured blood (blood from several of the four, but additionally blood purchased from the Gay St. Market- according to the FBI- poultry blood- perhaps chicken or duck used by the Polish for soup) on Selective Service records in the Baltimore Customs House.[1] Mengel agreed to the action and donated blood, but decided not to actually pour blood; instead he distributed the paperback Good News for Modern Man (a version of the New Testament) to draft board workers, newsmen, and police. As they waited for the police to arrive and arrest them, the group passed out Bibles and calmly explained to draft board employees the reasons for their actions. Berrigan stated in the written statement, "This sacrificial and constructive act is meant to protest the pitiful waste of American and Vietnamese blood in Indochina". He was sentenced to six years in prison.
In 1968, after his release on bail, Berrigan decided to repeat the protest in a somewhat modified form. George Mische played the decisive role in organizing this action. A local high school physics teacher, Dean Pappas, helped to concoct homemade napalm. Nine activists, who later became known as the Catonsville Nine, walked into the draft board of Catonsville, Maryland, removed draft records and burned 378 draft files in a lot outside of the building. The Catonsville Nine, who were all Catholics, issued a statement:
While he was staying at the rectory, located on the fourth floor of the Church of St. Gregory the Great, on the Upper West Side in New York City, the FBI broke down the church's door to arrest him.[2] He was sentenced to three and a half years in prison.
Berrigan attracted the notice of federal authorities again when he and six other anti-war activists were caught trading letters alluding to kidnapping Henry Kissinger and bombing steam tunnels.[3] Although the government spent $2 million on the Harrisburg Seven trial in 1972, they could not win a conviction. This was one of the first reversals suffered by the U.S. government in such cases.
Other non-violent actions against the Vietnam War and the government-military complex were organized by a group that referred to themselves as the Catholic Left. Phil Berrigan either helped to plan or inspired these actions, along with many other organisers such as Jerry Elmer (his book A Felon for Peace). The characteristic of these actions was that each action was stringently non-violent. Also, the action would done by a small group of people willing to take responsibility whether or not it meant facing jail time. The planning for the actions was always a series of mini retreats in which those who finally acted worked to further their political and personal commitment to non-violence. The following are some of those actions:
This is but a cursory and abbreviated summary of the draft actions, including actions where responsibility was claimed, and actions which may not have numbered in the 200's.
In 1968, Berrigan signed the “Writers and Editors War Tax Protest” pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.[8]
On September 9, 1980, Berrigan, his brother Daniel, 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. A documentary was made about this action called "In the King of Prussia" by Emile de Antonio.
Since this action over seventy Plowshares actions have taken place around the world against weapons of war. Several of the initial ones involved Berrigan himself.
Berrigan's final Plowshares action was in December 1999, when he and others banged on A-10 Warthog warplanes in an anti-war protest at the Warfield Air National Guard Base. He was convicted of malicious destruction of property and sentenced to 30 months in prison. He was released December 14, 2001. In his lifetime he had spent about 11 years in jails and prisons for civil disobedience. [1]
In one of his last public statements, Berrigan said,
The American people are, more and more, making their voices heard against Bush and his warrior clones. Bush and his minions slip out of control, determined to go to war, determined to go it alone, determined to endanger the Palestinians further, determined to control Iraqi oil, determined to ravage further a suffering people and their shattered society. The American people can stop Bush, can yank his feet closer to the fire, can banish the war makers from Washington D.C., can turn this society around and restore it to faith and sanity.
Philip Berrigan died of cancer at the age of 79 in Baltimore, Maryland.[9] He was survived by his wife, Elizabeth McAlister, and their three children.
Howard Zinn, Professor Emeritus at Boston University, paid this tribute to Berrigan:
Mr. Berrigan was one of the great Americans of our time. He believed war didn't solve anything. He went to prison again and again and again for his beliefs. I admired him for the sacrifices he made. He was an inspiration to a large number of people.
He was buried on the grounds of Jonah House. Berrigan's widow, Elizabeth McAlister, and others still maintain Jonah House in Baltimore and a website that details all Plowshares activities.
Berrigan was the author of several books, including No More Strangers, Punishment for Peace (ISBN 0-345-22430-2), Prison Journals of a Priest Revolutionary (ISBN 0-03-084513-0), Punishment for Peace (ISBN 0-345-02430-3), and Widen the Prison Gates (ISBN 0-671-21638-4). In 1996, he wrote his autobiography, Fighting the Lamb's War (ISBN 1-56751-101-5), and with his wife wrote The Times' Discipline.
Murray Polner and Jim O'Grady, "Disarmed and Dangerous: The Radical Lives & Times of Daniel & Philip Berrigan (Basic Books, 1997; Westvew Press, 1998) He also contributed to Disciples and Dissidents, published in 2000 by Haley's. Fred Wilcox edited the book.
Jerry Elmer Felon for Peace
Art Laffin-Plowshares Actions, a Chronology