Commemorating Philip Berrigan

“We all have to take responsibility for the bomb. The bomb is destroying us spiritually, morally, psychologically, emotionally and humanly. This responsibility will create the new human, the new creation, and the just social order, that the scriptures speak about.”

– Philip Berrigan

Friends of  Jonah House will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the death of Philip Berrigan at Red Emma’s on December 10th at 7:00pm.

Berrigan died December 6, 2002 at Jonah House in Baltimore after a terminal cancer diagnosis at age 79.  Berrigan came to prominence during the war on Vietnam after leading two draft board raids in the Baltimore area, acts of nonviolent resistance  that earned him time in federal prison.  After the war’s end, he and the Jonah House community focused their attention on the threat posed by first strike nuclear weapons, responding with the nonviolent direct action Plowshares movement, which has carried out over 100 disarmament actions at weapons plants and military bases since 1980.

Overall, his career as a prophetic priest and peacemaker earned him over 11 years in prison.                    A Maine judge  termed Philip Berrigan  ”a moral giant, the conscience of a generation,” in 1997.

Joining us at that commemoration will be Berrigan’s daughter Frida and other speakers who will share remembrances of him as a friend and activist.

Cosponsoring this event are: Viva House Catholic Worker, The Baltimore Nonviolence Center, Veterans for Peace, Philip Berrigan Chapter-Baltimore, Pax Christi Metro DC/Baltimore , the Open Door Community, the Isaiah Project and St. Peter’s Cemetery Restoration Foundation.

Join us at Red Emma’s

3128 Greenmount Ave, Baltimore MD

on December 10th at 7pm