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Philip Berrigan, Anti-War Activist died December
6, 2002 at about 9:30 PM, at Jonah House, a community he
co-founded in 1973, surrounded by family and friends.
Hello Everyone,
Phil died tonight at Jonah House. The family is grieving,
but also thankful that his last painful days are over and
he can now rejoice. There are many who have helped and supported
the family with prayers and food and kind words; all of
your support is greatly appreciated. All the letters and
calls Phil got in his final days showed the strength and
compassion of this, the beloved community. Please keep checking
your email for a following message about housing possibilities
in Baltimore if you choose to come for the wake and/or the
funeral mass. Folks from Viva House Catholic Worker (410-233-0488)
here in Baltimore have volunteered to coordinate housing;
Jonah House is filled to the brim with family, so please
contact Viva House if you need to find a place to stay.
See below for specific information about the funeral arrangements
(see the last paragraph for pertinent information). This
is the press release the family sent out, as well as a chronology
of Phil's life and works, and a statement he and Liz write
shortly before his death.
Thanks to you all, and peace be with you.
Love,
Becky
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Philip Berrigan, Anti-War Activist, Dies at Home in
Baltimore, MD
Baltimore, MD - Phil Berrigan died December 6, 2002
at about 9:30 PM, at Jonah House, a community he co-founded
in 1973, surrounded by family and friends. He died two
months after being diagnosed with liver and kidney cancer,
and one month after deciding to discontinue chemotherapy.
Approximately thirty close friends and fellow peace activists
gathered for the ceremony of last rites on November 30,
to celebrate his life and anoint him for the next part of
his journey. Berrigan's brother and co-felon, Jesuit priest
Daniel Berrigan officiated.
During his nearly 40 years of resistance to war and violence,
Berrigan
focused on living and working in community as a way to model
the nonviolent, sustainable world he was working to create.
Jonah House members live simply, pray together, share duties,
and attempt to expose the violence of militarism and consumerism.
The community was born out of resistance to the Vietnam
War, including high-profile draft card burning actions;
later the focus became ongoing resistance to U.S. nuclear
policy, including Plowshares actions that aim to enact Isaiah's
biblical prophecy of a disarmed world. Because of these
efforts Berrigan spent about 11 years in prison. He wrote,
lectured, and taught extensively, publishing six books,
including an autobiography, Fighting the Lamb's War.
In his last weeks, Berrigan was surrounded by his family,
including his wife Elizabeth McAlister, with whom he founded
Jonah House; his children Frida, 28, Jerry, 27, and Kate,
21; community members Susan Crane, Gary Ashbeck, and David
Arthur; and extended family and community. Community members
Ardeth Platte and Carol Gilbert, Dominican sisters, were
unable to be physically present at Jonah House; they are
currently in jail in Colorado awaiting trial for a disarmament
action at a missile silo, the 79th international Plowshares
action. One of Berrigan's last actions was to bless the
upcoming marriage of Frida to Ian Marvy.
Berrigan wrote a final statement in the days before his
death. His final
comments included this: "I die with the conviction,
held since 1968 and Catonsville, that nuclear weapons are
the scourge of the earth; to mine for them, manufacture
them, deploy them, use them, is a curse against God, the
human family, and the earth itself."
The wake and funeral will be held at St. Peter Claver Church
in West
Baltimore, (1546 North Fremont Avenue, Baltimore MD 21217);
calling hours: 4-8 PM Sunday December 8 with a circle of
sharing about Phil's life at 6 PM; funeral: Monday, December
9, 12 PM. All are invited to process with the coffin from
the intersection of Bentalou and Laurens streets to St.
Peter Claver Church at 10 AM (please drop off marchers and
park at the church). A public reception at the St. Peter
Claver hall will follow the funeral mass; internment is
private. In place of flowers and gifts for the offertory,
attendees may bring pictures or other keepsakes. Mourners
may make donations
in Berrigan's name to Citizens for Peace in Space, Global
Network Against Nuclear Weapons, Nukewatch, Voices in the
Wilderness, the Nuclear Resister, or any Catholic Worker
house.
Philip Berrigan, 1923-2002
Born: October 5, 1923, Minnesota Iron Range, near Bemidji
to Frieda Fromhart and Thomas Berrigan
1943-1945: Served in WWII, artillery officer, Europe.
1949: Graduated from Holy Cross College.
1955: Ordained a Catholic Priest in the Josephite Order,
specializing in inner city ministry.
1956-1963: Taught at St. Augustine's high school, New Orleans,
a segregated all black school.
1962 (or 3?): First priest to ride in a Civil Rights movement
Freedom Ride.
1963-1965: Taught at a Josephite seminary, Newburgh, NY.
1966: Published first book, No More Strangers.
1966: Served at St. Peter Claver parish, Baltimore, MD.
October 27, 1967: Poured blood on draft files in Baltimore
with 3 others. Known as the "Baltimore Four."
May 17, 1968: Burned draft files in Catonsville, MD with
8 others, including his brother, Fr. Daniel Berrigan. Action
known as the "Catonsville Nine."
Convicted of destruction of US property, destruction of
Selective Service records, and interference with the Selective
Service Act of 1967. Sentenced to prison.
1970: Married Elizabeth McAlister, an activist nun, Religious
of the Sacred Heart of Mary.
1970: Became a fugitive when appeals failed. Captured and
returned to prison.
1971: Named co-conspirator by J. Edgar Hoover and Harrisburg
grand jury while in prison. Charged with plotting to kidnap
Henry Kissinger and blow up the utility tunnels of US Capitol
buildings. Convicted only of violating prison rules for
smuggling out letters.
1973: Co-founded Jonah House community of war resisters
in Baltimore, MD.
April 1, 1974: Birth of Frida Berrigan at Jonah House.
April 17, 1975: Birth of Jerry Berrigan at Jonah House.
1975: End of Vietnam War and beginning of focus on weapons
of mass destruction and changing U.S. nuclear policy. Actions
included pouring of blood and digging of graves at the White
House and Pentagon resulted in several jail terms ranging
up to six months.
1975: Atlantic Life Community conceptualized as East Coast
counterpart to Pacific Life Community.
1976: First of summer community building sessions; led to
triannual Faith & Resistance Retreats in DC.
September 9, 1980: Poured blood and hammered with 7 others
on Mark 12A warheads at a GE nuclear missile plant, King
of Prussia, PA. Charged with conspiracy, burglary, and criminal
mischief; convicted and imprisoned. Action known as the
"Plowshares Eight;" began the international Plowshares
movement.
1980-1999: Participated in 5 more Plowshares actions, resulting
in ~7 years of imprisonment.
November 5, 1981: Birth of Kate Berrigan at Jonah House.
1989: Published The Times' Discipline, on the Jonah House
experience, with Liz McAlister.
1996: Published autobiography, Fighting the Lamb's War.
December 14, 2001: Released from Elkton, OH prison after
nearly a year of imprisonment for his final Plowshares action.
July 12, 2002: Underwent hip replacement surgery at Good
Samaritan Hospital, Baltimore, MD.
October 8, 2002: Diagnosed with adenocarcinoma, cancer in
the liver and kidney.
December 6, 2002: Died at home in Baltimore, surrounded
by family and community.
PHIL'S STATEMENT 12/05/02 (via Liz McAlister)
Philip began dictating this statement the weekend before
Thanksgiving. It was all clear - he had it written in his
head. Word for word I wrote...
WHEN I LAY DYING...of cancer
Philip Berrigan
I die in a community including my family, my beloved wife
Elizabeth, three great Dominican nuns - Ardeth Platte, Carol
Gilbert, and Jackie Hudson (emeritus) jailed in Western
Colorado - Susan Crane, friends local, national and even
international. They have always been a life-line to me.
I die with the conviction, held since 1968 and Catonsville,
that nuclear weapons are the scourge of the earth; to mine
for them, manufacture them, deploy them, use them, is a
curse against God, the human family, and the earth itself.
We have already exploded such weapons in Japan in 1945 and
the equivalent of them in Iraq in 1991, in Yugoslavia in
1999, and in Afghanistan in 2001. We left a legacy for other
people of deadly radioactive isotopes - a prime
counterinsurgency measure. For example, the people of Iraq,
Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Pakistan will be battling cancer,
mostly from depleted uranium, for decades. In addition,
our nuclear adventurism over 57 years has saturated the
planet with nuclear garbage from testing, from explosions
in high altitudes (four of these), from 103 nuclear power
plants, from nuclearweapons factories that can't be cleaned
up - and so on. Because of myopic leadership, of
greed for possessions, a public chained to corporatemedia,
there has been virtually no response to these realities...
At this point in dictation, Phil's lungs filled; he began
to cough
uncontrollably; he was tired. We had to stop - with promises
to finish
later. But later never came - another moment in an illness
that depleted Phil so rapidly it was all we could do to
keep pace with it... And then he couldn't talk at all. And
then - gradually - he left us.
What did Phil intend to say? What is the message of his
life? What message was he leaving us in his dying? Is it
different for each of us, now that we are left to imagine
how he would frame it?
During one of our prayers in Phil's room, Brendan Walsh
remembered a banner Phil had asked Willa Bickham to make
years ago for St. Peter Claver. It read: "The sting
of death is all around us. O Christ, where is your victory?"
The sting of death is all around us. The death Phil was
asking us to attend to is not his death (though the sting
of that is on us and will not be denied). The sting Phil
would have us know is the sting of institutionalized death
and killing. He never wearied of articulating it. He never
ceased being astonished by the length and breadth and depth
of it. And he never accepted it.
O Christ, where is your victory? It was back in the mid
1960's that Phil was asking that question of God and her
Christ. He kept asking it. And, over the years, he learned
· that it is right and good to question our God,
to plead for justice for
all that inhabit the earth
· that it is urgent to feel this; injustice done
to any is injustice done to
all
· that we must never weary of exposing and resisting
such injustice
· that what victories we see are smaller than the
mustard seeds Jesus
praised, and they need such tender nurture
· that it is vital to celebrate each victory - especially
the victory of
sisterhood and brotherhood embodied in loving, nonviolent
community.
Over the months of Phil's illness we have been blessed a
hundred-fold by small and large victories over an anti-human,
anti-life, anti-love culture, by friendships - in and out
of prison - and by the love that has permeated Phil's life.
Living these years and months with Phil free us to revert
to the original liturgical question: "O death, where
is your sting?"
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