Rev. Daniel Berrigan, S.J., Peace Activist, Poet, to Give Talk As Part of Jesuit Heritage Week at Holy Cross

WORCESTER, Mass. – Rev. Daniel Berrigan, S.J., peace activist, poet and playwright, will give a talk titled "Poetry and Peacemaking in the Warmaking State" on Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. in the Hogan Ballroom at the College of the Holy Cross. The lecture is free and open to the public.

A prominent figure in resistance to racial segregation, U.S. involvement in the Vietnam war, and the production of nuclear weapons, Fr. Berrigan is a lecturer and civil disobedience activist. He was born in 1921, and ordained by the Order of the Society of Jesus in 1952. Influenced by Dorothy Day and the pacifist Catholic Worker Movement, Fr. Berrigan was a sponsor of the National Catholic Peace Fellowship and co-founder of Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam.

In 1968, Fr. Berrigan and eight others went into a draft board office in Catonsville, Md., removed records, and set them on fire outside in the presence of reporters and onlookers in protest of the Vietnam War. They were convicted and sentenced to prison. He memorialized the trial in his award-winning play, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine, later made into a feature film. He has continued peace activism as a member of the Plowshares movement and has been arrested frequently for his protest actions.

Fr. Berrigan is the author of several books, including Time Without a Number (1957, poetry), Night Flight to Hanoi (1968), The Trial of the Catonsville Nine (1970), Prison Poems (1973, poetry), We Die Before We Live (1980), To Dwell in Peace (1987, memoir).

Jesuit Heritage Week, which is Sept. 25-30, celebrates the vibrant spiritual and intellectual Jesuit heritage of Holy Cross and commemorates its rich history. For additional information contact the Chaplains’ Office at 508-793-2448.

Jesuit Heritage Week is sponsored by the Office of the Chaplains, the Office of the President, the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture, the Jesuit Community at Holy Cross and the Jesuit Heritage Week planning committee.