It's sad to see him go. He has always been one of my heroes. In the 1960's, my cousin Fr. Bud Offer, was pastor of the inner-city Baltimore parish where Phil Berrigan was a assigned as a Josephite priest. My cousin was one of the people who donated blood to be poured on those draft files, and I've always been proud to be able to say that there was Offer blood spilled in that protest. Phil Berrigan died at the age of 79 - and was released from prison just a year ago.
My cousin, another good man, died a couple of years ago, at the age of 80. He spent his life working in the poorest parts of American cities. That's what Josephites do.
-Joe Offer-

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Here's the Associated Press story, copied from here (click):

Anti-War Activist Philip Berrigan Dies
By KASEY JONES
Associated Press Writer

BALTIMORE (AP)--Philip Berrigan, the former priest whose fight against the Vietnam War and nuclear weapons helped ignite a generation of anti-war dissent, died Friday night of cancer. He was 79.

Berrigan's family said he was diagnosed with cancer two months ago and decided to stop chemotherapy last month. He died at Jonah House, the communal residence for pacifists that he founded.

His brother, the Rev. Daniel Berrigan, officiated over last rites ceremonies Nov. 30, attended by friends and peace activists, family members said.

Berrigan led the ``Catonsville 9,'' a group that staged one of the most dramatic protests of the 1960s. The group, including Daniel Berrigan, doused homemade napalm on a small bonfire of draft records in a Catonsville parking lot on May 17, 1968.

In a statement given to his wife, Elizabeth McAlister, during the Thanksgiving weekend, Philip Berrigan said:

``I die with the conviction, held since 1968 and Catonsville, that nuclear weapons are the scourge of the earth; to mine for them, manufacture them, deploy them, use them, is a curse against God, the human family, and the earth itself.''

Berrigan was born Oct. 5, 1923, and served as an artillery officer in World War II. He was ordained a Catholic priest in the Josephite Order in 1955.

He participated in the civil rights movement in the South. Berrigan's first public anti-war act was pouring blood on draft files in Baltimore in 1967.

In 1980, Berrigan and seven others poured blood and hammered warheads at a GE nuclear missile plant in King of Prussia, Pa. That action began the international Plowshares movement.

Berrigan, who had been arrested at least 100 times and served a total of 11 years in prison for his anti-war and anti-nuclear activities, once said he had no intention of retiring from his career as a peaceful violator of U.S. laws.

``We can't very well do that because of the state of the world, `` he said. ``We're killing ourselves, and some of us are not making a murmur about it.''

Berrigan was released from federal prison in Elkton, Ohio, in December 2001 for his most recent Plowshares activities.

Besides his wife and brother, Berrigan is survived by three children: Frida, Jerry and Kate.


AP-NY-12-07-02 0229EST

Copyright 2002, The Associated Press.