| BALTIMORE - December 6 - 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.
Enclosures: 1. Phil
Berrigan's statement before death
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 nuclear weapons factories that can't be cleaned up - and so
on. Because of myopic leadership, of greed for possessions, a public
chained to corporate media, 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?"
2. Biographical
Information
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.
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