Danniel Berrigan, Peace Activist, Palliative Worker

Dan Berrigan's Hidden Works of Mercy, The well-known peace activist spent much of his life bringing comfort to the dying

by Patrick Henry, Illustrations by Ryan Inzana, from Sojourners

DANIEL BERRIGAN WAS one of the best-known American peace activists of the 20th century. But there’s a lesser-known aspect of his Christian commitment worth noting as we celebrate the centennial of Berrigan’s birth on May 9: his work on behalf of the material and spiritual needs of New York City’s “discarded souls,” in particular those suffering the ravages of cancer and HIV/AIDS.

Berrigan’s peace activism had deep roots. In 1964, he co-founded the Catholic Peace Fellowship. In 1967, he and his brother, Phil, became the first Catholic priests to be arrested for opposing the war in Vietnam. In May 1968, Berrigan and eight others, including Phil—in an act that would change the nature of Christian nonviolent resistance—entered Local Draft Board No. 33 in Catonsville, Md. The nine seized Selective Service records and burned them outside the building with homemade napalm. For these actions, recounted in Berrigan’s play (and later movie) The Trial of the Catonsville Nine, he served 18 months of a three-year sentence in Danbury Federal Prison.