Notecard - Phil Berrigan

Phil Berrigan

Sue Keeter, oil ©2004

This painting by Susan Keeter celebrates a life of activism by a model hero, one of his brother and fellow priest Dan referred to as a "holy outlaw." Phil modeled fearless action in the face of a punitive state and spent many years in prison.

1980 - (center portrait) announcing a daily presence of protesters at the Pentagon throughout the elections;
clockwise from lower left:
9/29/91 - arrest at the Washington, DC Israeli Embassy after protesting the imprisonment of Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu;
8/6/79 - arrest while pouring blood on the Pentagon;
3/02 - Baltimore demonstration against the escalating war fever;
2/97 - with other Plowshares protesters who disarmed a destroyer at Bath Iron Works, Bath, ME;
2002 - the last vignette portrays Phil's daughter, Frida and Molly Mechtenberg-Berrigan fashioning a "swords into plowshares" banner from his clothing as he nears death.