Press Release - Catonsville 9 Commemoration - 40 Years and Counting
Baltimore, MD.
for Immediate Release
for more information, contact
Elizabeth McAlister, Jonah House 410-233-6238
Chuck Michaels, Baltimore Pax Christi 410-321-0107
40 YEARS AND COUNTING... Baltimore remembers the Catonsville Nine - 40 years after their dramatic witness against the Vietnam War. To remember is to bring back into unity the scattered members and so, those planning memorial events, see the relevance of their action today - in spades.
1968 was a year of deep transformation for our nation. On Jan. 30, 1968, the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong launched widespread, coordinated attacks against U.S. and allied forces in South Vietnam. The assault, known as the Tet Offensive, coincided with the beginning of the lunar year - an important holiday in Vietnam. U.S. and South Vietnamese troops inflicted massive casualties, but their military victory became a defeat for U.S. political goals. Public opinion in the U.S., already against the war, looked at Tet as evidence that the war in Vietnam was too costly. The media began a more critical reporting of the war, American public opinion shifted against it and the political fallout led President Johnson to not seek reelection.
As part of the growing critique, The Catonsville Nine - Philip and Daniel Berrigan, David Darst, John Hogan, Tom Lewis, Tom and Marjorie Melville, George Mische, and Mary Moylan - entered the Selective Service Offices in Catonsville, Maryland - Local Board 33 - removed several hundred draft records, and burned them with homemade napalm in protest against the war in Vietnam. The nine were arrested and, in a highly publicized trial , convicted and sentenced to prison.
Their act of civil resistance intensified protest against the draft, prompted debate in households across the nation, and stirred angry reaction on the part of many Americans. It propelled the nine Catholic participants - especially priest brothers Daniel and Philip Berrigan - into the national spotlight. The Catonsville action reflected not only the nature of the Vietnam antiwar movement in 1968, but also the larger context of social forces that were reshaping American culture in the 1960s.
(for more information on the Catonsville 9, see below)
Catonsville 9 at 40: Resisting War Then and Now
Anniversary Events in Baltimore , May 2008
These events are organized by the following sponsoring communities and organizations:
Pax Christi-Baltimore, Phil Berrigan Memorial Chapter-Veterans for Peace, Jonah House, Creative Alliance, Viva House Catholic Worker, Red Emma's and Baltimore United for Peace and Justice
Saturday, May 3, 2008
James Carroll's, Constantine's Sword :
A film by Oren Jacoby.
James Carroll will give an introduction
and answer questions after the film.
Doors open at 6 pm for refreshments
Documentary starts at 7 pm.
at Mount St. Joseph High School
4403 Frederick Ave. Baltimore, MD
Wednesday May 7, 2008
Catonsville 9 and its message today
Film, The Ground Truth and a panel of Viet Nam and Iraq veterans.
4 pm to 6 pm
University of Maryland/Baltimore Co.
Commons off 1000 Hilltop Circle
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Film and Discussion
What is the contemporary equivalent to the Catonsville 9 today?
at the Creative Alliance
3134 Eastern Ave , Baltimore
7 pm Investigation of a Flame , a film by Lynn Sachs.
Music and a panel discussion follow with Joel Andreas, Willa Bickham, Lynne Sachs, Joby Taylor
(there is a charge, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds)
Friday, May 9, 2008
A Panel of Viet Nam and Iraq veterans
An evening at Red Emma's Space -
St. John's Church in Baltimore
2640 St. Paul Street (at E. 27th St.)
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Potluck and Action Planning
at St. Ignatius Church 740 N. Calvert St .
6-9 pm - to discuss witness at
2008 Joint Forces Open House at Andrews Air Force Base
(we gather at the church that gave hospitality for evening gatherings during the Catonsville 9 trial.)
Saturday, May 17, 2008 Witness at Andrews AFB
Weapons of War Nothing to Celebrate!
Our presence, our messages of peace on our shirts, our prayer is our witness.
Anniversary of Catonsville 9
meet at 10 am to get the bus to
Andrews Air Force Base.
More information about the 2008 Joint Services Open House about Andrews Air Force Base
call 410-233-6238 to reserve a seat on the bus
Saturday Evening, May 17, 2008
Memorial gathering for Tom Lewis
7 pm
Viva House Catholic Worker
26 S. Mount Street, 21223
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Vigil and Prayer Service
2-3:00 p.m.
Vigil and Prayer at the site of the Catonsville 9 action
North East corner of Beaumont and Frederick Rd , Catonsville , MD
MORE ON THE CATONSVILLE 9 ACTION AND CONSEQUENCES...
Entering the second-floor Selective Service office, the 9 seized several hundred 1-A draft records, stuffing them into two wire incinerator baskets. Outside in the parking lot, the files were spilled on the ground, doused with homemade napalm, and ignited. As the documents burned, they clasped hands near the fire and quietly recited the Lord's Prayer..
After a short time, five police officers arrived, arrested the participants, and loaded them into the back of a paddy wagon. Meanwhile Baltimore County firefighters put out the fire. The entire action took less than fifteen minutes. In their statement, they explained the hope that was in them:
Our apologies good friends
for the fracture of good order - the burning of paper
instead of children, the angering of the orderlies
in the front parlor of the charnel house
We could not, so help us God, do otherwise
For we are sick at heart, our hearts
give us no rest for thinking of the Land of Burning Children...
We have chosen to say with the gift of our liberty, if necessary our lives:
the violence stops here
the death stops here
the suppression of the truth stops here
this war stops here
THE TRIAL began on Monday, October 5, the courtroom was filled with over 200 spectators, many in clerical attire. The nine entered the courtroom to a two-minute standing ovation. Chief Judge Roszel Thomsen presided. The defense team was headed by William M. Kunstler and the prosecution by Federal Prosecutor Steven M. Sachs.
The prosecution called only two witnesses, Mary Murphy and Phyllis Morsberger, both Selective Service employees working the day of the raid. As their defense , each one of the nine spoke of his or her personal convictions and experiences. They freely admitted their role in burning draft files but not their guilt. They testified that they had acted out of conscience and out of respect for a higher power. They spoke of suffering they had seen in Africa, Asia, and South America and about the oppression of the poor in this country. The draft records were destroyed, they said, because of their desire to end what they believed was an immoral war and because of their despair over the treatment of the poor both overseas and at home.
After two hours of deliberation, the jury rendered its verdict of guilty on all charges. After the jury left the courtroom, Daniel Berrigan asked Judge Thompson to allow those present to recite the Lord's Prayer. Defense and prosecuting attorneys, spectators, defendants, and judge all rose and joined in the prayer.
Sentencing was held on Nov 9, 1968. In his remarks, Judge Roszel C. Thomsen said, Liberty cannot exist unless it is restrained and restricted." Phil Berrigan and Tom Lewis received three and a half years to run concurrently with sentences from the Customs House raid. Three-year sentences were handed down to Daniel Berrigan, Tom Melville, and George Mische. And those not considered leaders - Mary Moylan, Marjorie Melville, David Darst, and John Hogan - received two-year sentences.
Jail and Not Jail - Appeals exhausted, the Melvilles, Tom Lewis and John Hogan went to jail. Mary Moylan, George Mische and Daniel and Phil Berrigan decided not to cooperate and went underground. Philip was arrested at a Manhattan church in April 1969; Daniel remained at large until August, when the FBI caught up with him at the Block Island home of theologian William Stringfellow. In May, Mische was captured by the in FBI in Chicago. Moylan, never captured, surrendered in 1978 and served a year and a half in Federal Prison. David Darst died in a car accident before he could serve his sentence. Philip Berrigan died on December 6, 2002 in Baltimore; Tom Lewis died on April 4, 2008 in Worcester, Ct.