US anti-Vietnam war priest Daniel Berrigan dies aged 94

Daniel Berrigan in February 1981 — Image captionMr Berrigan protested against most conflicts involving the US over the last 50 years

The American priest and poet Daniel Berrigan - famous for leading defiant protests against the Vietnam War - has died in New York aged 94.

Father Berrigan emerged as a radical Catholic voice against the war in the 1960s and won fame when he and his younger brother seized draft records of troops about to be deployed in Vietnam.

The pair and other Catholics burned the files in rubbish bins.

The brothers were convicted of destroying government property.

But when they were due to be sentenced they went into hiding before eventually being arrested.

Daniel Berrigan and friends hold a fast and vigil to protest against the bombing of Cambodia on the steps of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City (July 1973) — Image captionFather Berrigan (right) was described as an intellectual star of the Roman Catholic "new left"

Daniel Berrigan marching with about 40 others outside of the Riverside Research Center in New York (09 April 1982) — Image captionMr Berrigan continued his peace activism until in his 80s

Released from prison in 1972 the left-leaning Fr Berrigan continued his peace activism until in his 80s, founding the anti-nuclear weapons Plowshares Movement in 1980.

Fr Berrigan also protested against the Gulf War, the Kosovo War, the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and abortion.

Daniel Berrigan Speaks At Anti-Vietnam War Rally (August 1968) — Image captionMr Berrigan organised marches, sit-ins, the public burning of draft cards and other acts of civil disobedience throughout the 1960s (밝은 하늘: 이 사진은 헤어스타일이나 눈매 등의 특징으로 보건대, 다니엘 베리건 신부의 사진이 아니라, 하워드 진(Howard Zinn)의 사진으로 보인다. 집필자의 실수로 보임. 하긴 둘 다 반전 평화 운동에 종사했다는 공통점이 있어, 어쩌면 헷갈렸을지 모른다.)

He was even reported to have taken part aged 92 in the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York's Zuccotti Park.

The priest was born into a German-Irish Catholic family in Minnesota and joined the Jesuit order in 1939, becoming ordained in 1952.

He authored more than 50 books, with his first volume of poetry, Time Without Number, winning the Lamont Prize in 1957. He also wrote a play, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine.

Fr Berrigan in the 1960s became an intellectual star of the Roman Catholic "new left", The New York Times reports.

The paper says he argued that racism and poverty, militarism and capitalist greed were all interconnected and part of an unjust society.

Asked in a magazine interview for an inscription for his gravestone, Fr Berrigan said: "It was never dull. Alleluia."

** 기사에 대한 소감 **

그는 결코 "a radical Catholic voice"가 아니라, 세상에 대해 당연히 해야 할 말을 한 사람, 신앙을 현실에 적용하고 실천한 산 증인이다.