A Ministry of Risk: Writings on Peace and Nonviolence

by Philip Berrigan, Brad Wolf (Editor), Frida Berrigan (Preface by), Bill Wylie-Kellermann (Foreword by), John Dear S.J. (Afterword)

Overview

Experience the powerful legacy of Philip Berrigan’s nonviolent resistance to war and empire

From the battlefields of World War II to the front lines of peace activism, Philip Berrigan evolved from soldier to scholar, priest to political prisoner. Confronting the fundamental nature of America’s military-focused culture, Berrigan took an unyielding stance against societal evils—war, systemic racism, unchecked materialism, and the baleful presence of nuclear weapons. Imprisoned by his government and ostracized by his Church, Berrigan’s life is a courageous example of nonviolent resistance and liberation in the face of overwhelming odds.

A Ministry of Risk is the definitive collection of Philip Berrigan’s writings. Authorized by the Berrigan family and arranged chronologically, these writings depict the transformation of one revolu­tionary soul while also providing a firsthand account of a nation grappling with its martial obsessions.

Threading the vibrant fabric of history with autobiographical insights, introspective theology, and a clarion call to activism, A Ministry of Risk offers both a living manifesto of nonviolent resistance and a journal of spiritual reflection by one of the 20th century’s most prophetic voices.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781531506278
Publisher:	Fordham University Press
Publication date:	04/02/2024
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

John Dear S.J. (Afterword By)
John Dear is a long- time peace activist, priest, and author of 40 books on peace and nonviolence. He is the director of BeatitudesCenter.org and was a close friend of Philip Berrigan. He is the executor of the Daniel Berrigan Literary Trust and lives in California. For more information about John and his work, visit www.johndear.org.

Philip Berrigan (Author)
Philip Berrigan, an American peace activist and Catholic priest, spent 11 years in prison for advocating nonviolent resistance to war. Notably part of the Baltimore Four and Catonsville Nine, he protested wars from Vietnam to Iraq. The author of numerous books, he was a Nobel Peace Prize nominee.

Brad Wolf (Edited By)
Brad Wolf, former prosecutor and professor, co- founded Peace Action Network of Lancaster, PA. He coordinated the Merchants of Death War Crimes Tribunal and writes for numerous publications.

Bill Wylie-Kellermann (Foreword By)
Bill Wylie- Kellermann is a retired Methodist pastor, nonviolent community activist, teacher, and author. His books include Celebrant’s Flame: Daniel Berrigan in Memory and Reflection (2021); A Keeper of the Word: Selected Writings of William Stringfellow (1996), Principalities in Particular: A Practical Theology of the Powers that Be (2017), and Seasons of Faith and Conscience (1991). He was also a contributing editor of Sojourners.

Frida Berrigan (Preface By)
Frida Berrigan lives in New London, CT, with her husband and three children. She is an urban farmer and community activist, organizing around affordable home ownership with the Southeastern Connecticut Community Land Trust, and against the ever-stretching shadow of militarism with the Connecticut Committee on Nuclear Prohibition. She writes periodically for WagingNonviolence.org, TomDispatch.com and In These Times, and is the author of the 2015 book It Runs In The Family: On Being Raised By Radicals And Growing Into Rebellious Motherhood.

Table of Contents

Foreword: Witness and Wisdom
Bill Wylie- Kellermann | xv

Preface
Frida Berrigan | xxi

Introduction
Brad Wolf | xxvii

Prologue: Worlds on Fire
Philip Berrigan | xxxix

Part I: A Catholic Trying to Be a Christian, 1957–67
Christ in Our Midst | 3
What’s It Going to Be with You? | 5
The Freedom Rides | 7
JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis | 9
The Nature of Christian Witness | 11
Segregation and the Nuclear Arms Race | 13
Questioning the Christian “Credo” | 15
I Will Take My Stand, Come What May | 17
Peace Is the Duty of Our Time | 19
Faithful Enough to Suffer, Daring Enough to Serve | 23
The Priest and Society | 26
Liberation from the Pathology of War | 28
Pacifist or Peacemaker | 29
The Gospel Means Peacemaking | 31

Part II: Resisting the Vietnam War, 1967– 73
Diary from the Baltimore City Jail | 37
Christianity and Revolution Are Synonymous | 40
Trying to Serve Love | 43
Times for Confronting Injustice | 46
All of Us Are Prisoners | 48
We Claim a Higher Law | 54
The Christian Roots of Protest | 56
After the Trial, Hope | 58
Truth Creates Its Own Room | 60
Liberation from Fear | 64
Acts of Faith | 65
Our Responsibility to Each Other | 66
We Have Trouble with Surrender | 68
The Sinless One Continues to Haunt Me | 70
Following the Man of Calvary | 75
Resistance Is Essential | 77
Withstanding the Attacks | 80
Marriage with Liz | 82
Smear and Ridicule | 85
The USA vs. Philip Berrigan | 86
Revolution, Berrigan Style | 87
Obeying God’s Word Can Get You Killed | 88
We Constitute the Church in Chains | 89
Fasting in Prison | 95
Resistance, Liberation, and Fear | 97
Prayer, Risk, and Generosity | 99
The Strength and Faith of Liz | 101
Renewing Wedding Vows | 103
Truth and Peace Mean Resistance | 104
An Enemy of the State | 106
Our Acts Are Nonviolent 107
On Self- Pity While in Prison | 109
What We Do to the Vietnamese, We Do to Ourselves | 110
The Plastic Goliaths | 116
Acquittal | 118
To Create Hope Is to Wrestle with Death | 120
Dealing with the “Blahs” in Prison | 124
Thanksgiving 1972 | 126
Finally Free . . . for a While | 127

Part III: Community, Plowshares, and the Bomb, 1973–2002
Paying Dearly for Our Love | 131
Religion and Politics | 134
A Ministry of Risk and Liberation | 136
Disarm or Dig Graves | 140
Resisting Nuclear Suicide | 143
A Leaflet at Christmas: Christ or the Bomb | 145
A Time When No Leader Can Buy Us | 147
The Kenosis of Christ | 149
Fools on Christ’s Account | 151
Thoughts from Alexandria Jail | 153
Prophecy and Life | 155
Hostage to the Bomb | 159
Back to the Pentagon | 160
We Cannot Be Silent if We Want Peace | 162
Letter from Prison to Dorothy Day | 164
A Call to Faithfulness | 166
Naming the Beast | 168
Tribute to Liz | 169
Liz in Prison | 171
Beating Swords into Plowshares | 172
Liz Resists the Arms Race, Again | 177
Disarming the Nuclear Navy— and Ourselves | 183
Empire and the Super-rich | 186
Free Enough to Go to Jail | 189
Commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. | 192
Isaiah in North Carolina | 194
Hellholes, Courts, Jails: A Triple Source of Resistance | 197
Suffering Servanthood | 200
Working for the Long Haul | 203
My Roots Are in the Church | 205
“From Prison, Old Militant Struggles On” | 206
Reliance on Community | 207
Ash Wednesday Action | 209
Agenda for Renewal | 212
No Freedom without Love | 215
Loving Our Enemies | 217
We Aren’t Doing OK by Ourselves | 220
A Harvest of Death | 224
The Trial of Depleted Uranium | 227
God Becomes Light to Us | 229
The Healing Act of Forgiveness | 231
Doing Good and Resisting Evil | 233
Time for a National Strike | 236
Notes from Prison on 9/11 | 238
Final Journal Entries 2002 | 241
Phil’s Last Statement, Unfinished, November 2002 | 243

Afterword
John Dear | 245

Acknowledgments | 253

Contributors | 255

Photographs follow page 154

Editorial Reviews

Philip Berrigan’s Christian ministry and prophetic witness sparkle in this courageous and visionary book! Brad Wolf has given us a magnificent gift that keeps alive the great legacy of one of the greatest spirits of light in our dark and dim times!—Cornel West, Union Theological Seminary

A Ministry of Risk provides a window into the radical and deeply inspiring journey of Phil Berrigan—a journey, in Phil’s own words, of “good against evil, truth against falsehood, nonviolence against violence, conscience against State, life against death ... the same witness is necessary today.” May it be so! This book should be required reading for all of us who are trying to be Christian.—Marie Dennis, Director, Pax Christi’s Catholic Nonviolence Initiative, and author of Choosing Peace: The Catholic Church Returns to Gospel Nonviolence

A Ministry of Risk is an apt title for the compiled writings on peace, war and social justice by my friend, the American peacemaking icon Philip Berrigan. The radical Gospel truth of the Beatitudes flows from these pages because Phil lived every word of them. I hope this powerful book will be read far and wide and inspire a new generation to stand up and take action for peace and disarmament like Phil.—Martin Sheen, actor and activist

This superb collection of essays by Phil Berrigan, by turns provocative, challenging and inspiring, marks the return of one of the greatest voices for peace, nonviolence and reconciliation of our time.—James Martin, SJ, author of Jesus: A Pilgrimage

If you’ve ever wondered what the Apostle Paul’s life and witness to the risen Christ might look like if the New Testament were to be written in the U.S. empire during the nuclear age, this book goes a long way toward completing that picture. Assembled from Philip Berrigan’s own writings, interviews and speeches which span nearly sixty years, Brad Wolf’s chronicle captures brilliantly, and as it evolved, the voice of the most single-hearted person we knew. The unity of word and deed; the refusal to allow one’s conscience to be purchased with creature comforts and social privilege; an unrelenting commitment to personal and communal disarmament, formed around the practice of smashing the murderous idols of war and white supremacy- these were the only weapons Phil wielded. This was the only armor Phil wore as he strolled repeatedly in and out of our nation’s carceral and military hellholes, telling the truth with his own body, always bathed in the same indestructible, ridiculously joyful hope. Having once shared a cell block with him for the better part of a year, I find it impossible today to overestimate the liberative value of the mentoring that these words offer, during such a delusional time as the 21st century.—Mark Colville, Amistad Catholic Worker and Plowshares activist

I knew Phil from the civil rights days in Baltimore, before we poured blood on draft files in 1967. Phil reminds me of the poetic line from Spender: "I think continually of those who are truly great." Or Rilke at the end of "Archaic Torso of Apollo" when he wrote: "You must change your life." This line especially applied to Phil and to me and to so many of his followers.—David Eberhardt, member of The Baltimore 4

Reading Brad Wolf’s A Ministry of Risk is a journey into the life and times of Philip Berrigan, a complex, courageous, and brilliant Catholic priest, and a man who devoted his life to nonviolent resistance to war, for which the United States government sent him to prison time and again. Phil was a prophet, trying to warn the world to beat its weapons into plowshares. In this new book, we get to know Phil as a priest, husband, father, and radical who inspired millions of people to question the madness of preparing to destroy the world in the name of peace.—Fred A. Wilcox, author of Fighting the Lamb's War: Skirmishes with the American Empire

Are you willing—truly willing—to take up the cross? To be not just a follower of Christ but to bear witness? Philip Berrigan was. Read his words. Reflect deeply on them. And act.—Retired Lt Col (USAF) William Astore, author, antiwar activist and retired professor of history

Brad Wolf skillfully presents Phil Berrigan’s prophetic messages about militarism and racism. Young generations facing ecological collapse, “forever wars,” and nuclear proliferation have much to learn from Berrigan’s courageous resistance to military might.—Kathy Kelly, author, pacifist, and peace activist

This book is a must read! Carefully compiled by Brad Wolf, it illuminates the extraordinary life of Phil Berrigan, a Prophet of Nonviolence who endured many sacrifices and long imprisonment for resisting the forces of death and empire. Wanting to be remembered as one who welcomed the cross of Jesus, Berrigan's Gospel witness is exemplary: his steadfast commitment to follow God's command to love, to resist all earthly powers that sanction oppression, injustice and killing no matter the cost, and to be filled with the hope that Jesus has forever overcome the powers of this world. With the Doomsday Clock at 90 seconds to midnight, we need to live and proclaim, as Berrigan did, God's reign of justice, peace and nonviolence and create the Beloved Community.—Art Laffin, author of The Risk of the Cross: Living Gospel Nonviolence in the Nuclear Age and editor of Swords into Plowshares

A Ministry of Risk offers a truly profound challenge to transcend fear and take action. “War fever betrays a monstrous contempt of humanity,” Philip Berrigan wrote. This book can help people to break the fever.—Norman Solomon, author of War Made Invisible

What comes through in these writings are the journeys that Phil traveled. From a loyal, passionate soldier in the middle of war, to a passionate nonviolent resister of war. From a dedicated priest of the Catholic Church to a married father of three children. From a law-abiding citizen to a peace felon who served many years in prison. And then, also, the journey from a young man to a wise elder. All are a journey of faith, of becoming human. And as we read this collection of Phil's writings, we will find ourselves on a journey with Phil. We will see ourselves growing with him in humanity and love and resistance. Brad Wolf has done an amazing job of compiling the writings that we need to read to follow Phil's journeys and make them our own.—Susan Crane, member of the Jonah House Community in Baltimore with Phil Berrigan and a Plowshares participant

From the Publisher

Philip Berrigan's revolutionary words live on in new collection.

National Catholic Reporter