Daniel Berrigan

We say: Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister writes that "the ring of real prophecy lies in its uncommon courage." The Plowshares movement, a non-violent movement of both symbol and personal jeopardy, has that.

I was arrested, for the first time in my life, at the Catholic Day of Action for Immigrant Children in mid-July. That day was probably the closest I will come to experiencing any kind of physical solidarity with migrants, no matter how much of a pale imitation my experience was compared to theirs.

"It was simply a religiously motivated, sacramental action," says Martha Hennessy, one of the seven who were arrested and charged for their anti-nuclear protest at a naval base last year.

NCR Connections: We live constantly, don't we, in that tension between authority and charism, between exuberant freedom and institutional necessities, between Francis at the moment of conversion and the Franciscan reality as it has played out over centuries.

Three years after his death, Daniel Berrigan, activist, priest and poet among many other things, still casts a long shadow, both on those who knew him personally and on those influenced by his steadfast opposition to military might, particularly nuclear weapons. 

Perspective: After the recent run of interesting stories of those who have decided to leave the church or stay, I was surprised to discover how enlightening it could be to explore the how of remaining Catholic.

I had a glimpse of Thomas Merton's "open heart" when I was researching an article for NCR that would run on Dec. 13, 1967. Not long after my piece ran, Merton let his dislike be known.

Fifty years ago, Bob Graf and 13 of his friends broke into nine neighboring draft boards in a Milwaukee office building, grabbed thousands of 1-A records, doused them in homemade napalm in a nearby park and set them afire.