Jesuit priest, peace activist Daniel Berrigan dies at 94

For some their organization is Jesus. Kinda like Cruz claiming to be the ‘face of God.’ To question is ignorance and rebellion.. Pappy Francis to some is God.

This is one of the foundational principles of the Judeo-Christian moral civilization, codified in the Decalogue, established by God. Many, of course, are quite unfamiliar with it.

If he was on the 10 Most Wanted List (an ongoing FBI feelgood publicity stunt), that did not make him Charles Manson or Ted Bundy or John Dillinger or Baby Face Nelson. I often agreed with the J. Edgar Hoover era FBI but I did not need Mr. Hoover's guidance as to what my political opinions should be.

A priest's goal ought to be to know God, love God and serve God in this world and to be happy forever with Him in the next. Baltimore Catechism #2 as to all of us, including priests. In addition, the priest ought to be saying Mass, administering the sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church (other than matrimony in which the husband and wife are the ministers of the sacrament and baptism in which one need not be a priest to baptize anyone so long as the rules are observed). He ought to be providing spiritual direction (a technical term), moral guidance, comfort to the bereaved, charity to those in need, hope to those who lack hope, faith to those in doubt.

Abraham lived a lot longer ago than 2,000 years. So did Moses and the Old Testament prophets. They lived this life but also lived for the next life.

Killing one's fellow man may occasionally be necessary in narrowly circumscribed circumstances (self-defense, vicarious self-defense, necessity, legitimate just war, capital punishment scrupulously and sparingly applied, etc.

Enslaving one's fellow man seems never justified nowadays although St. Paul directed Timothy to return to his master and the ancient Romans bringing the Carthaginians to Rome in chains and slavery was morally preferable to slaughtering them to the last man, woman and child.

AND there were plenty of barbarians in the most recent 2,000 years (the late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, Roger Cardinal McPhony, Walter Cardinal Kaspar, Reinhard Cardinal Marx, the late Leo Cardinal Suenens are just five "leaders" of my Church who come immediately to mind and they are by no means alone). Margaret Sanger, Ted Kennedy, George McGovern (apologist for communist tyrants everywhere), Obozo, Comrade Grandma, Comrade Grandpa and so many, many others and those would kill off civility in public life.

If, priest or not, one had been named to a "Ten Most Wanted List" by the KGB or the Gestapo, it ought to have been a source of pride or at least of self-satisfaction. Ten years from now that may also be true if one is named to the FBI list, at least at the rate things are going.

God never said one word about the Decalogue. Man made traditions that make the literal Word of God null and void.

I know and they need to realize that most people do NOT share their beliefs and stop attempting to force it down our throats!

Thanks for your comments here expanding on his positives.

No it isn't!

Weren't there "innocent" women and children and men in Jericho? GOD seemed to be quite happy about having them all die.

How about the story of Samson ?

Shall we now delve into THE CRUSADES and the various Pope forgiving every single sin committed by those who went on them?

Take your religious talk to the religion section AND to the closest confessional, where you should confess your many sins committed against other posters here. Bearing FALSE WITNESS, the last time I looked, was part of THE DECALOGUE, which you just accused me of not being familiar with.

To reply to the situation with Japan in WW2, a casualty-less demonstration of the power of the atom would not have moved Tojo. Nuking Hiroshima did not move him. Nagasaki did not, either. Only when Hirohito stepped in was unconditional surrender proffered. Absent his moment of sanity, it is unimaginable to consider the carnage in what was to be the Battle of Japan.

Thank you for your informed comments. I knew there would be some!

May God have mercy on us all, or we’re all toast.

I agree that Tojo would not have been moved but I believe Hirohito would have been moved and I don't think he would have insisted on the incineration of either or both of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to order Tojo to surrender. That is speculation on my part.

I also think that the carnage from the proposed conquest of the Japanese mainland was unimaginable.

Contrary to my speculation there is the fact that Hirohito actually toured the Tokyo areas devastated in the 5/9-5/10/45 firebombing of Tokyo directed by General Curtis LeMay which was the single deadliest incident of World War II killing 75,000 to 100,000 (conservatively estimated) Japanese civilians and destroying much of the residential areas of the city. This was even worse than the murderous disgrace of the firebombing of primarily civilian areas of Dresden or the atomic bombings of Hiroshima or Nagasaki.

Soldiers, sailors and airmen die in wars as combatants. If we accept war as I do, then we accept those deaths as usually inevitable. The unnecessary and intentional indiscriminate deaths of tens of thousands of innocent civilians is morally quite another matter altogether.

Tojo and other Japanese government leaders were executed justly for war crimes after the war. Douglas MacArthur determined that Hirohito should not be prosecuted which ought to count for something.

The distinguished Japanese admiral Isoroku Yamamoto had been ordered by Tojo to design the attack on Pearl Harbor. He submitted the plans and is said to have simultaneously warned Tojo NOT to carry them out lest Tojo "awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve" and also that invading the US was impractical because invaders would be confronted by "a gun behind every blade of grass." Some historians question the authenticity of both quotes. Nonetheless they make sense in the context of the times and Yamamoto's qualities as a man.

Do you imagine that Moses lied about what happened between him and Yahweh on Mt. Sinai?

"God never said one word about the Decalogue."

If that's what you really believe, it's probably pointless for us to have a further discussion.

Always good to have you in the discussion, tax-chick.

Just my Thoughts:

I am a Roman Catholic and questioning God is far above my pay grade. I imagine that is true of all other believing Christians and all believing Jews.

If Cruz actually claims to be "the face of God," to that extent Cruz is a fool.

Catholics regard Jesus Christ as the Founder and Guarantor of our Church which is His Church. Non-Catholic Christians may well be, in a sense, members of that Church although not in actual communion with it. Therefore our Church is that of Jesus.

To question MAY be ignorance and rebellion or merely intellectual and spiritual skepticism offered in good faith or honest error.

As a Catholic, I am no fan of Bergoglio as Pope Francis. He is not the first mistake made by a conclave and may well not be the last. I am not anticipating any actual infallible statements from him in what few years may remain to him. The last infallible dogmatic papal statement was in about 1954 when Pope Pius XII defined the Assumption of Mary as dogmatic. Many of us look forward to the next conclave in the hope that it will not repeat the level of blunder of the last one. We are hoping for a Catholic pope next time. Globaloney climate change, welcoming the Islamic hordes to take over Europe, hostility to capitalism, as such, and to the West and "Who am I to judge?" are hardly consistent with the papal job description.

Ours is a free country and you are welcome to your anti-Catholic opinions and verbiage. OTOH, we would all do well in this sorry year to build up a habit of courtesy and mutual respect.

God bless you and yours!

First, we answer to God. He does not answer to us. Bear that in mind when questioning His actions carried out by Joshua and by Samson.

Name ONE pope who ever did any such thing as you suggest. No pope was near enough to and battle of any Crusade to forgive "every single sin committed by (the Crusaders)." You may be referencing the common Catholic practice of giving forgiveness generally to the troops about to engage in battle for past sins. Each combatant is in danger of death. Those that survive are expected to confess their individual sins through a priest AFTER the battle.

We are conservatives and are not going to hide our faith in some religious ghetto. We do confess our sins in a formal way but that does not disqualify us for sticking up for faith and morality in the public square.

Finally, if you look at Mrs. Don-o's #82, she said that "many are unfamiliar with (the Decalogue) not that YOU are." Guilty conscience? By your standard, are you not bearing false witness against her in accusing her?

See also #95

I rather get the impression that the term “Decalogue” is unclear to some.

Pope Urban II and many subsequent Pope's as well. And he Blessed them and forgave them of all of the sins they had committed and would commit. You don't like that part of factual history, we can always leave the Crusades behind and talk about the vendetta that the Catholic Church set out against INNOCENT Jews, Protestants, and poor women torturing and killing them and not to be left out, the Cathars and Albigenses Christians too.

The Berrigan brothers were TRAITORS, STINKING COMMIES, and you can take your religious preaching and HOLIER THAN THOU crap off to the religion section! Facts are FACTS and NO amount of your drivel is going to change that.

No, I'm NOT "BEARING FALSE WITNESS" against her; she distinctly posted accusing me of not knowing what the Decalogue is. I do and I also know factual history and all about Catholicism as well ! :-)

There is absolutely NOTHING in Catholicism, as there is in Quakerism, that precludes Catholics from serving in the Armed Services.

The Berrigan boys were pure scum! "Standing up for them" is NOT the same thing as "sticking up for your faith"! Are you going to now tell me that all of the pedophilic priests and the Bishops who covered up for them are also unworthy of scorn, ridicule, and vilification?

Nobody, least of all med, wants to turn this thread into an anti-Catholic diatribe; however, keep pushing me and I'll bring up every single horrific thing done by Pope's, priests, Bishops, etc., throughout the long history of your church. I implore you to now leave it alone and refrain from replying to this post.

Probably true. And they don’t even care enough to google it.

Nope. Feel free to attack any and all sins committed by Catholics, whether laity, clergy, bishops, cardinals or popes. No one, no one is exempt from just criticism and that includes you.

Among those FACTS is that Mrs. Don-o did NOT accuse YOU of not understanding the Decalogue at least not in her #82 which seems to be the basis of your groundless charge. You do not have to be religious to value truth. Perhaps I am mistaken and your claim is based on something OTHER than #82. If so, which one? And the specific language complained of please! If not, then have a backbone and fess up.

Several other things. Source your claim about Pope Urban II and any subsequent pope whom you CLAIM forgave the Crusaders not only all the sins they Had already committed but those that they WOULD LATER commit. Otherwise it is obvious that you are blowing smoke and not evidencing much knowledge of Catholic history by such claims.

I did not and will not make any claims for the now long dead renegade Josephite priest, Fr. Phillip Berrigan. Fr. Dan Berrigan was from his ordination a priest in good standing in the Catholic Church unlike his brother.

Each and every Catholic priest who is/was a pedophile and each and every bishop who covered for any of them should be defrocked and punished to the max by the provisions of criminal and canon law, BOTH. Scorn them, vilify them and ridicule them to your heart's content. You will not get an argument from me on that. Likewise every other child molester should get the same treatment under the criminal law.

Catholics are certainly not precluded from military service by membership in the Church. Catholics can be conscientious objectors just as can anyone else. The government should have no authority to REQUIRE any individual to kill another. Quakers may have a denominational objection to military service but Richard Nixon was a Quaker and served in the Navy in World War II. Likewise, the novelist James Michener who served as a Lieutenant in the Navy in that war. I claim no expertise on Quaker doctrines on participating in wars but Quakers also ran many boatyards that built many of our warships during the American Revolution.

As an attorney, I represented 1130 people of many faiths, including many Catholics, some priests and one bishop arrested for civil disobedience, burglary, criminal trespass, criminal mischief, resisting arrest and other largely trumped up charges. 1100 were acquitted or had their cases dismissed. I would proudly have represented Fr. Dan Berrigan as well. I did not have that privilege since he was arrested participating in Operation Rescue shutting down an abortion mill one day in Rochester, NY, and not in my home state.

Did you Rescue? Should you be regarded as "pure scum" for not doing so? None of my clients thought so. They understood it was not for everyone and that each of us has his or her own contributions to make.

I can really tell, however how much you don't want to engage in an anti-Catholic diatribe, with that litany in your first paragraph. The Catholic Church does not act. Individual sinners do. Annas and Caiphas called for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ (a Jew Whom all Catholics worship, BTW) and Annas and Caiphas were individually prominent Jews. They had no authority to speak or act for all Jews. When they were stirring up a mob they had gathered in front of Pontius Pilate, there were many thousands of pious Jews all over Jerusalem preparing for their Passover meal and observances and giving no assistance whatsoever to Annas and Caiphas.

Al Capone was Italian and a criminal. That did not make Italians generally criminals. I am Irish, among other things, and the fact that Whitey Bolger of Boston's Winter Hill Gang is a gangster does not make me one. OTOH, being Irish or Italian does not mean that one MUST be innocent either. Ya gotta take your sinners one at a time and evaluate accordingly, acting scrupulously and with a dedicatio to justice.

I have no doubt that individual innocent Jews, Protestants, Cathars, Albigensians or whatever have suffered at the hands of Catholic sinners including some who acted as Church officials. Each and every provable or even credible instance ought to be condemned. And not just when perpetrated by Catholics but when perpetrated by ANYONE. BTW, you don't suppose that innocent Catholics have been victimized unjustly by non-Catholics???? We ALL fall short of the glory of God.

If you don't want responses from me, don't post to me and that would be a good start. If you post outrageous BS to anyone in the ongoing conversation, you may well get the benefit of my opinions anyhow. That is why it is a forum. I tend to notice people only when, for good or for ill, they deserve to be noticed.