The story of two brothers and the turmoil, in the Catholic Church
and American society, through which they have lived. Philip and
Daniel Berrigan gained fame in the 1960s for such dramatic acts of
war resistance as pouring blood on draft files; they remain among
the best-known Catholic priests in America, even though neither
holds positions of significant influence in the Church (Philip
married, and left the priesthood in 1973). Journalists Polner (No
Victory Parades: The Return of the Vietnam Veteran, 1971) and
O'Grady (Dorothy Day: With Love for the Poor, not reviewed) move
beyond the well-known episodes to examine the Berrigan brothers'
lives in context: how they came to be relentless foes of war and
how their decades of uncompromising protest - continuing to the
present - have affected their country, church, friends, and
opponents. The Berrigans' fervor is traced to their working-class
Catholic upbringing. Reflective, intellectual Daniel, scorned by a
violent and rigid father, joined the Jesuits as a teenager. The
more worldly Philip, two years younger, came to the priesthood only
after stints as a soldier and college student. Ordained in the
1950s, both were activists virtually from the beginning,
progressing by the late 1960s to the point where they were openly
at war with their government and with the Church hierarchy. As
charismatic teachers and priests, as radicals willing to go to jail
for their beliefs, the brothers developed an influence (with
Daniel's poetry helping to convey the message) that spread through
a generation of peace activists and a Catholic community energized
by the liberalizing reforms of Pope John XXIII. A fascinating and
well-told story, but not fully satisfying. The source of the
passion driving the Berrigans' deeds remains elusive, perhaps
through no fault of the authors: The brothers, who confess to
near-absolute certainty in their moral choices, harbor few of the
doubts that help humanize and illumine most lives. (Kirkus Reviews)
What transformed Daniel and Philip Berrigan from conventional Roman
Catholic priests into "holy outlaws" - for a time the two most
wanted men of J. Edgar Hoover's FBI? And how did they evolve from
their traditionally pious, second-generation immigrant beginnings
to become the most famous (some would say notorious) religious
rebels of their day? Disarmed and Dangerous, the first full length
unauthorized biography of the Berrigans, answers these questions
with an incisive and illuminating account of their rise to
prominence as civil rights and antiwar activists. It also traces
the brothers' careers as constant thorns in the side of church
authority as well as their leadership of the ongoing Plowshares
movement - a highly controversial campaign of civil disobedience
against the contemporary arms trade and nuclear weapons. In the
spring of 1968, the Berrigans stood side by side in a Catonsville,
Maryland, parking lot, praying over the flames from a basket of
draft files that they had just seized from a nearby Selective
Service office, doused with napalm, and ignited. Their fire soon
sparked a nationwide series of draft-file burnings, all aimed at
halting the bitterly divisive Vietnam War. This initial protest led
to harsh prison terms for the Berrigans and seven others, but it
publicly established the Berrigans in roles they still fulfill: men
of moral conscience who would suffer to confront the enormous power
of the state. Murray Polner and Jim O'Grady plumb the Berrigans'
contradictions: among them, Philip's secret marriage, while he was
still a Josephite priest, to Elizabeth McAlister, then a Catholic
nun, which led to their dismissals by their respective religious
orders and Philip'sexcommunication from the church; and Daniel's
speech faulting Israel's treatment of Palestinians, and the
resulting criticism loosed upon him from pro-Israeli Americans and
many of his allies on the left.
General
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