Last Thursday, the Loyola Anti-War Network (LAWN) arranged for Rev. Daniel Berrigan, S.J., to speak with the students and faculty of Loyola about his work as a peace activist. Berrigan was in town for Loyola's Peacemaking in an Age of Terror conference. LAWN is a relatively new group that started about four years ago when the War in Iraq became an issue in American society. "We are here on campus to educate people about what's happening, as well as to build resistance against war in all forms and tactics of war as well … issue of torture and things like that," junior Lydia Wylie-Kellerman, LAWN member and main organizer of the event said.
The event was a casual conversation between Berrigan and his audience. It began with a short introduction by junior Danny Gibbony, another LAWN member. Berrigan is a Jesuit priest, poet and peace activist. He is currently the poet in residence at Fordham University, N.Y. He won the 1974 War Resisters League Peace Award, the 1988 Thomas Merton Award, the Pacem in Terris Award, the 1989 Pax Christi USA Pope Paul VI Teacher of Peace Award and has been nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Daniel Berrigan joined the Society of Jesus right after high school in 1939 and was ordained as a priest in 1952. He and his brother Philip Berrigan, a Josephite priest, started faith-based protests strongly influenced by Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton, also known as the Trappist monk. They participated in the Civil Rights Movement and then against the United States involvement in Vietnam. It was while protesting the Vietnam War that he was arrested as one of the Catonsville nine.
On May 17, 1968, nine men and women raided the Selective Services office in Catonsville, Md. and removed hundreds of draft files. They took the draft files to the parking lot, doused them with homemade napalm and ignited them. The nine stood around the fire, hands clasped, and said the Lord's Prayer. A few minutes later they were arrested by five policemen and put in a paddy wagon. This act of defiance grabbed the nation's attention and focused it on: the war in Vietnam. The Catonsville nine released this statement that read, in part, "Our apologies, good friends, for the fracture of good order, the burning of paper instead of children."
A highly publicized court case followed, and the nine were convicted and sentenced. Rather than being incarcerated, five of them, including Berrigan, refused arrest and went into hiding in the New York City underground. It was during this period that Berrigan was on the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives list. Berrigan managed to evade the FBI for about four months before he was finally captured and was forced to serve his term.
The first question of the event was what he thought a teacher's role should be in a time of war. In response, he told a short story: "I told my students the war is coming. A group of my friends and I will be protesting at Times Square and will probably be arrested. You're invited." After Berrigan and his friends were arrested, he invited his students to his trial in a similar fashion. He admitted that many professors did not see things the way he did, and he described the atmosphere on campus as tense and fearful. Yet Berrigan's philosophy is that it is not empty words and principles that will motivate change on a campus, but rather the example of professors. Berrigan said that simply by his example, his students began to look at war differently and think more deeply about what America was getting into.
Few people know that Berrigan is also an actor. He was in "The Mission," a movie made in 1986 about Spanish Jesuits trying to protect a South American tribe from Portuguese slavery. He acted alongside Robert de Niro, Jeremy Irons and Liam Neeson. He also appeared in several movies and documentaries as himself. On the arts and war, Berrigan said, "Arts enlarge the circle of awareness. The arts are serious and capable of inspiring change."
The 21st century is a different era from the 1960s and '70s and the question arose on how effective non-violent protests are today. He responded by quoting Mahatma Gandhi: "If I were to die tonight and the heel of the British are still on the neck of my people, I will be content." He explains that people should not act because of the outcome, but because what people are doing is a good act and it is the right thing to do. He calls this pro-human activity in an anti-human era.
Berrigan also stressed the importance of ecumenism. In the 1960s he worked with Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and Rev. John Neuhaus to found an interfaith coalition against the Vietnam War. He spoke again of widening the circle of awareness, bringing people from different religious backgrounds together for a common cause.
Berrigan was also asked how he is able to remain hopeful and not cynical after 30 years of his nonviolent battle on violence, when things did not always work out for the best. "I am working hard at hope," Berrigan said. He went on to quote his brother Philip: "Cynicism is a luxury that none of us have time for."
Since the beginning of the War in Iraq, college students today have been accused of being apathetic, especially in comparison to our Vietnam counterparts. Berrigan gave a probable reason why society today is not a volatile as it was in the 1960s. He describes the War in Iraq as "being at war and not paying the price." When World War II was fought, the term "total war" was added to military vocabulary. It is different from the War in Iraq in that all our resources, human and otherwise, were geared toward the war. Also unlike Vietnam, young men and women are not being drafted. The U.S. is at war, but for most people their everyday lives and routines hasn't changed.
Berrigan was also asked how he would respond and challenge people in a society in which the government tries to equate his lack of support for the war as unpatriotic. "These are old arguments used in times of war. I think there is real patriotism in protesting the war and bringing our soldiers back alive and not in boxes."
"I thought it went very well." Wylie-Kellerman said. "I was very pleased with it … It had a real community. People were very energetic, and there was a constant flow of questions and dialogue." Berrigan jokingly told his audience the discussion was the largest confessional he's ever been to. Senior Andrew Packman was impressed by Berrigan: "I was impressed that his mind was still very sharp at his age and I was happy to see a guy that was willing to talk about civil disobedience … but he wasn't pushing us to go out and burn files or do something radical … though he would support us if we did that."
"It is important for people to know that this work is important," Wylie-Kellerman said. "It's been done before, and that we are part of a larger struggle that has been happening for a long time."
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