Earlier this month, long time peace activist Philip Berrigan died of cancer at Jonah House in Baltimore. Jonah House is a resistance community founded by Philip Berrigan, his wife Liz McCallister and other anti-war activists.

Philip and his younger brother poet Father Dan Berrigan, were leaders of the antiwar movement in the United States in the 1960s. Both were Catholic priests who fought for social justice. They staged their protests against military institutions and weapons manufacturers.

Dan and Philip Berrigan first rose to prominence within the anti-war movement when they burned draft files in a Catonsville, Maryland, parking lot in 1968 to protest the Vietnam War. The action led to harsh prison terms for the two brothers and seven others. But it also propelled the Berrigans into the national spotlight and sparked a nationwide series of draft card burnings.In 1980, they co-founded the Plowshares Movement, begun in 1980, when they and others entered a GE plant in Pennsylvania and hammered on nuclear warheads.

On December 9th, 2002, Father Daniel Berrigan delivered the homily at his brother Philip’s funeral, at the Saint Peter Claver Catholic Church in Baltimore.

Three people were killed and 28 injured during a shooting at an opposition rally last Friday.

Tape:

• Daniel Berrigan, Jesuit Priest and Peace Activist

Philip Berrigan spent 11 years in prison for acts of conscience against war. Today, we end our Christmas special with a speech he gave at an anti-war rally in Washington, DC on April 20th of this year.

Tape:

• Phillip Berrigan Speaks Out Against War