Who is Father Dan Berrigan?

Father Daniel Berrigan was born in a typical Midwestern small town, known as Virginia, Minnesota. Berrigan's family was a member of the working-class society, and his father was an Irish-Catholic immigrant who was an avid supporter of the towns' labor union. Later in Berrigan's life, his father would suffer a conflict with the Catholic Church, and he would leave the faith. However, despite his father's lack of participation in the Catholic Church, young Daniel was invigorated by the Church, and thus continued to play an active role in its activities. In 1939, following his graduation from high school, Daniel entered the Society of Jesus, the largest Catholic order in the world that is renowned for its service to the community and its valuable contributions towards education. Later, in 1952, Daniel was officially ordained a Catholic priest.

Father Berrigan is a world-renowned peace activist who was and continues to be a strong advocator for non-violence. Berrigan gained national publicity for his numerous protests that took place during the Vietnam War. In fact, Daniel formed a "peace coalition" with his brother Phillip, also a priest, and a fellow monk named Thomas Merton. Together the threesome organized protest and urged the media to support such a movement. Berrigan and his group became increasingly frustrated, as they pursued legal channels to try and get their point across, but doors were closed in their faces in every instance. In 1967, Daniel's brother Phillip was incarcerated for participation in a non-violent, illegal protest and he was sentenced to a six-year prison term. During the Vietnamese Tet Offensive in 1968, Berrigan visited Hanoi, Vietnam in order to meet with political scientist Howard Zinn. The two were sent there to try and negotiate the release of American POWs captured by the North Vietnamese Army; they were successful and three American POWs were released. As a result of this successful negotiation, Berrigan gained national respect and garnished more support for his anti-war campaign. Throughout 1968, Berrigan gradually became increasingly radical and even participated in some more violent protests. With the assistance of eight other protesters, Berrigan created their own Napalm in order to burn 378 draft files in Catonsville, Maryland. The group has been featured in countless books and documentaries, and later became known as the "Catonsville Nine". Soon after this incident, Berrigan had an arrest warrant issued on him, but he fled from the FBI and other enforcement agencies, with the assistance of an underground "movement" of protesters. Upon his capture, he was sentenced to three years in prison, finally getting out of prison in 1972.

After the Vietnam War and its respective movements, Berrigan and his group continued to their advocation for non-violence in what was known as the Plowshares Movement. The Plowshares Movement occurred in September of 1980, when the group trespassed onto General Electric's Nuclear Missile facility situated in Pennsylvania. In this instance, the group damaged nuclear warheads that resided there and also coated the documents and files with blood. As a result of this protest, the group was charged with ten different felonies and misdemeanors. Berrigan's group continued to utilize the federal judiciary system in order to appeal their convictions, and in April of 1990 were eventually paroled. A movie entitled In the King of Prussia was orchestrated in order to reenact the legal battle that the group was involved in.

Father Berrigan currently resides in New York City, and is a professor at Fordham University, a private Jesuit school. Father Berrigan has been arrested on numerous instances for illegal protest methods, though he still believes that it is his duty to pursue such means. Despite his old age, Father Berrigan remains active in a variety of movements, including the Plowshares Movement. Protests that he is engaged in currently include: American intervention in Latin America; the 1991 Persian-Gulf War; the Kosovo War; the invasion of Afghanistan by the United States; and the Iraq War. Additionally, Berrigan is a staunch pro-life activist. Berrigan has been the recipient of many distinguished awards including: the War Resisters League Peace Award in 1974, the Thomas Merton Award in 1988, the Pacem in Terris Award, and the Pax Christi USA Pope Paul VI Teacher of Peace award in 1989. Father Dan Berrigan was last arrested at a protest in 2006.