Daniel Berrigan

Daniel Berrigan – Life, Vocation, and Famous Quotes

Explore the life and legacy of Daniel Berrigan (1921–2016) — Jesuit priest, poet, social activist, and pioneering voice for nonviolent resistance. This comprehensive biography surveys his early life, radical activism, major works, lasting influence, and memorable quotes.

Introduction

Daniel Joseph Berrigan, born May 9, 1921, was one of the most influential and provocative voices of Christian pacifism in 20th-century America. As a Jesuit priest, poet, playwright, and outspoken peace activist, he refused to separate his faith from political engagement. His bold acts of civil disobedience during the Vietnam era, his poetic writings, and his enduring commitment to nonviolence made him both celebrated and controversial. To understand Berrigan is to see how faith can become a radical public force — and how conscience can challenge power.

Early Life and Family

Daniel Berrigan was born in Virginia, Minnesota, the fifth of six sons in a devout Catholic family. Syracuse, New York, where he spent much of his formative years.

From an early age, Berrigan displayed deep religious sensibilities. He was immersed in Catholic practice and education, and his older brothers also followed paths of faith and social commitment. Philip Berrigan, would later become a fellow activist and priest, often collaborating in protest works.

Youth and Education

Daniel entered the Jesuit order in 1939, directly out of high school, dedicating himself to religious formation. St. Andrew-on-Hudson, a Jesuit seminary in Hyde Park, New York, and later a master’s at Woodstock College in Baltimore, Maryland.

His early assignments included teaching French, theology, and New Testament studies in various Jesuit institutions. Time Without Number, a collection of poems which earned him the Lamont Poetry Prize — a harbinger of his intertwined vocation as poet and priest.

During his academic and pastoral work, Berrigan became deeply aware of social injustices and the moral implications of war. His theological interests gradually merged with political dissent.

Career and Achievements

The Turn Toward Radical Witness

In the 1960s, Berrigan’s theological and poetic sensibility found public form in his opposition to the Vietnam War. Together with his brother Philip and other clergy and lay activists, he co-founded Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam (CALCAV) in 1965.

One of his most famous acts was as one of the Catonsville Nine in 1968. On May 17, Berrigan, Philip, and seven others entered a draft office in Catonsville, Maryland, and burned draft files with homemade napalm as a symbolic protest. After the act, they issued a public statement that read in part:

“Our apologies, good friends, for the fracture of good order, the burning of paper instead of children … We could not, so help us God, do otherwise, thinking of the land of burning children.”

He was convicted, but before sentencing he went underground for a time, later apprehended in 1970, and imprisoned until February 1972.

Later Activism: Plowshares, AIDS, and Beyond

In 1980, Berrigan co-founded the Plowshares movement, a Christian nonviolent initiative to disarm nuclear weapons. Among the early actions, Berrigan and co-activists trespassed into a GE missile warhead facility, damaged equipment, and poured blood on documents.

In the 1980s and beyond, Berrigan’s activism extended to AIDS ministry. He ministered to AIDS patients in New York and published Sorrow Built a Bridge: Friendship and AIDS, reflecting on the disease, stigma, and pastoral care.

He maintained opposition to U.S. military interventions — from Central America to Iraq — and resisted capital punishment and other systems he viewed as dehumanizing.

He also taught at various institutions (Fordham University, Columbia, Cornell, Yale) and continued writing poetry, essays, plays, and books — over fifty works in total.

He even made a cameo in the film The Mission (1986), playing a Jesuit, and served as a consultant.

Historical Milestones & Context

• Berrigan’s actions transformed the character of protest during the Vietnam era: protests moved from street marches to ritual gestures of civil disobedience.

• He was the first priest listed on the FBI’s “most wanted” list because he had gone underground after Catonsville.

• The Catonsville Nine trial became a touchstone for the intersection of faith and politics in the U.S.

• The Plowshares movement inspired generations of faith-based disarmament activism.

• His model of “creative nonviolence” influenced later protest movements, ecological activism, and faith-based resistance.

Legacy and Influence

Daniel Berrigan left a multifaceted legacy:

• He remains a symbol of the faith-driven activist — someone who believed that religious vocation and political witness should not be separate.

• His writings, especially his poetry and essays, continue to inspire those committed to justice, peace, and environmental integrity.

• The Berrigan Center, archives, and ongoing commemoration (lectures, emulations of his protests) keep his memory alive.

• Many activists cite his moral courage — willing to risk arrest, public scorn, and institutional pushback — as a model.

• His blending of ritual, symbolism, and direct action enriched the repertoire of nonviolent struggle.

• In the Catholic world, he challenged ecclesial norms, sometimes drawing criticism, yet widening the space for prophetic dissent within faith communities.

Personality and Talents

Those who knew Berrigan often noted his combination of poetic sensitivity, ordinariness, and radical conviction. He had a dry wit, an unpretentious style, and a fierce compassion.

His talents included:

• Poetry & literature — he communicated theological and moral ideas with lyrical force.

• Dramatic insight — he wrote plays (notably The Trial of the Catonsville Nine) that dramatized moral conflict.

• Moral imagination — his ability to see protest as liturgy, and resistance as spiritual witness.

• Courage under pressure — to carry out symbolic acts publicly, even when confronting imprisonment.

• Pastoral heart — even while engaging in radical acts, he remained grounded in caring for human suffering, marginality, and the vulnerable.

Famous Quotes of Daniel Berrigan

Here are some of Berrigan’s most cited, resonant statements — drawing from his poetry, essays, interviews, and speeches:

“One is called to live nonviolently, even if the change one works for seems impossible.”

“You just have to do what you know is right.”

“A revolution is interesting insofar as it avoids like the plague the plague it promised to heal.”

“The arms race is worse than it ever was … the wars across the earth are worse than they ever were.”

“We have one of our priests in prison right now, Steve Kelly, for his antiwar actions … three of us … are forbidden to visit him because we’re all convicted felons.”

“You have to struggle to stay alive and be of use as long as you can.”

“I don’t have to prove my life. I just have to live.”

His voice resonates especially to those grappling with moral urgency, spiritual resistance, and the challenge of embodying hope in broken systems.

Lessons from Daniel Berrigan

1. Faith must engage the world
   For Berrigan, belief that does not confront injustice is hollow. He teaches that religious commitment and political witness can — and must — intersect.

2. Symbolic acts carry power
   His protests were often small in scale but rich in symbolism. They challenged not just laws, but imaginations.

3. Nonviolence is demanding, not passive
   Berrigan showed that nonviolent resistance can require as much courage and sacrifice as armed struggle, drawing moral lines in living witness.

4. Creativity sustains persistence
   Over decades, changing contexts, Berrigan adapted — from Vietnam to nuclear issues to AIDS — without losing core consistency.

5. Speak, even when unpopular
   His willingness to dissent, risk censure, and stay faithful despite opposition is a call to integrity over comfort.

6. Poetry and protest may share roots
   His life suggests that art and activism can fuel each other: the moral imagination energizes public resistance.

Conclusion

Daniel Berrigan (1921–2016) was not merely a priest or a protester — he was a modern paradox: a man rooted in sacramental tradition who dared to burn draft files; a gentle poet who confronted nuclear arsenals; a teacher who challenged the powerful. His life remains a compelling testament that conscience, rendered public, can unsettle even the most entrenched systems.