'Poet and Prophet' - RIP Daniel Berrigan, SJ

[ComplineSanFran]

I want to thank the Catholic Church for giving the world Daniel Berrigan. May he rest in peace. Indeed, a life well lived.

As a non-Catholic, I grew up watching the prophet in action. He inspired a whole generation of peace activists and worker priests. He stood arm and arm with Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, Jr, and Abraham Heschel, all heroes of mine.

His obituary is in today’s NYTimes but I think I appreciate the one America offered instead.

Fr Berrigan touched so many lives, and I believe brought people into a Gospel life. He stayed a Jesuit until the very end, and I’m grateful for my friends who are in the Society who cared for him and loved him through his dying and death.

The man gave his life for Christ. Thank you to the Church for supporting him in his calling.

americamagazine.org/issue/poet-and-prophet?utm_content=buffer5ef89&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

 

[Exiled_Child]

Rest in Peace.

 

[Exiled_Child]

I want to thank the Catholic Church for giving the world Daniel Berrigan. May he rest in peace. Indeed, a life well lived.

As a non-Catholic, I grew up watching the prophet in action. He inspired a whole generation of peace activists and worker priests. He stood arm and arm with Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, Jr, and Abraham Heschel, all heroes of mine.

His obituary is in today’s NYTimes but I think I appreciate the one America offered instead.

Fr Berrigan touched so many lives, and I believe brought people into a Gospel life. He stayed a Jesuit until the very end, and I’m grateful for my friends who are in the Society who cared for him and loved him through his dying and death.

The man gave his life for Christ. Thank you to the Church for supporting him in his calling.

americamagazine.org/issue/poet-and-prophet?utm_content=buffer5ef89&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Oh, and by the way, we’ve got the same heroes, and I’m very thankful you posted this. That was a wonderful obituary. Sad, but wonderful.

 

[christofirst]

He showed true courage of conviction, often in the face of great opposition. He labored long for peace, and may he now rest in peace.

 

[commenter]

I never met Fr. Dan, but I knew people who knew him in the 1960s. At that time, there were many priests, sisters, and seminarians who were influenced by him. In the early days, the Peace and Justice Movement was somewhat anti establishment, though they were supported by maybe half the media. Causes that were somewhat risky for Fr. Berrigan to support were not at all risky for his followers to support a few years later, as the media became far more liberal.

Fr. Berrigan supported causes regardless of whether the media considered them important, but his followers later followed the media in deciding which causes were important. Fr. Berrigan never gave up the cause of prolife, even though the media declared it to be passe, but later Peace and Justice advocates followed the media, and forgot about prolife.

Almost all the priests and sisters I have known of, in the Peace and Justice movement, are now dead, retired, or close to retirement. None of the seminarians, young priests or sisters I know in recent years are in that movement. My cousins who are 65 who are very liberal, are still active in the Church. Their sons and daughters are either liberal, or they are active in the Church. Not both. The Peace and Justice Movement today **is **the establishment. Catholic Social Teaching is struggling for attention.

The causes that are prophetic today are different from what was prophetic in the 1960s; now it is Defense of Marriage and Religious Liberty. The establishment today is very different from what it was in Fr. Berrigan’s time. Today’s prophets face different challenges. RIP Fr. Dan.

 

[Cloisters]

So that’s why being in class with him flashed through my mind yesterday!!! Wow. I honestly thought he had already passed.

I had “Senior Requirement” with him at Berea College 1986-87. One of the religion profs said he knew Dan Berrigan before he was famous.

We studied the Book of Acts, and I learned the difference between “nostalgia” (the Jews & their hold-out on Jesus) and “true memory” (the church).

He preferred that we call him “Dan”. He celebrated Mass without vestments, and one of the sisters assigned to the local parish called him a “prophet.” He once gave us a hand-out, I don’t remember the contents, but I do remember the poetic language he used: “when using one’s native tongue.”

He told us of taking care of whinos in the NYC area. One was dying. Dan and the nurse wheeled in adult libations, and they poured whisky into the dying one’s tube. He died with a smile on his face.

One of my classmates, whom the drs said would never graduate high school, was always “on call” for the gay community, particularly when one found out they had AIDS. She would hitch a ride to Lexington and miss classes. Dan gave her a bouquet of peonies for her doing so.

My affianced at the time got into trouble with the college admin, and Dan let me miss class so that I could stay in my room and pray while my beau was in his hearing. He got expelled, anyway, but another college let him finish his degree there. We broke up and I went on vocation retreat after graduation. Dan was interested in that, because, as a Jesuit, he was curious about my attraction to the Visitation.

I know you’re praying for us, Dan. Rest in peace!

Blessings,
Cloisters

 

[christofirst]

So that’s why being in class with him flashed through my mind yesterday!!! Wow. I honestly thought he had already passed.

I had “Senior Requirement” with him at Berea College 1986-87. One of the religion profs said he knew Dan Berrigan before he was famous.

We studied the Book of Acts, and I learned the difference between “nostalgia” (the Jews & their hold-out on Jesus) and “true memory” (the church).

He preferred that we call him “Dan”. He celebrated Mass without vestments, and one of the sisters assigned to the local parish called him a “prophet.” He once gave us a hand-out, I don’t remember the contents, but I do remember the poetic language he used: “when using one’s native tongue.”

He told us of taking care of whinos in the NYC area. One was dying. Dan and the nurse wheeled in adult libations, and they poured whisky into the dying one’s tube. He died with a smile on his face.

One of my classmates, whom the drs said would never graduate high school, was always “on call” for the gay community, particularly when one found out they had AIDS. She would hitch a ride to Lexington and miss classes. Dan gave her a bouquet of peonies for her doing so.

My affianced at the time got into trouble with the college admin, and Dan let me miss class so that I could stay in my room and pray while my beau was in his hearing. He got expelled, anyway, but another college let him finish his degree there. We broke up and I went on vocation retreat after graduation. Dan was interested in that, because, as a Jesuit, he was curious about my attraction to the Visitation.

I know you’re praying for us, Dan. Rest in peace!

Blessings,
Cloisters

Thanks for sharing those memories.