Saturday, May 18, 2013

Watch Fr. Daniel Berrigan, S.J. Brake Into A Draft Office, Steal Files And Publicly Destroy Them

Fr. Daniel Berrigan, S.J.
Martin Sheen once recounted about the May 17, 1968 burning of draft files in Catonsville, Md., by nine Dan and Phil Berrigan — broke into a draft office, stole files and publicly destroyed them as an act of nonviolent resistance against war and imperialism, the face of protest changed.
But the iconic images and audio from that historic event were almost lost in the annals of history.unusual suspects to protest the Vietnam War. 
The Catonsville Nine, as they came to be called, marked the beginning of dramatic new forms of antiwar resistance. When seven men and two women — all Catholic, including two priests,
Link (here) to Waging Non-Violence to watch a video of Fr. Daniel Berrigan, S.J. commit a criminal act in which he was sent to prison for.
Read Luke Hansen, S.J. at America glamorize the incident (here)

1 comment:

Qualis Rex said...

While it is now common knowledge that the draft was extremely biased and unfair to minorities (and the system undoubtedly created situations where anger against their virtual captivity spawned the war atrocities such as My Lai) I cannot help but wonder what this same priest did to help Catholic refugees and citizens of Vietnam who were being exterminated by the communists; a fact which was known since the Tet offensive.