A 40-Year Memory - The Catonsville Nine

--The Catonsville Nine File

May 17, 1968 - The Catonsville Nine enter the Selective Service offices in Catonsville, Maryland, take dozens of selective service draft records, and burn them with homemade napalm as a protest against the Vietnam War.

They were: Father Daniel Berrigan, a Jesuit priest; his brother Father Philip Berrigan, a former Josephite priest; Bro. David Darst; John Hogan; Tom Lewis, an artist; Marjorie Bradford Melville; her husband, Thomas Melville, a former Maryknoll priest; George Mische; and Mary Moylan, a former nun.

Fr. Philip Berrigan and Tom Lewis had previously poured blood on draft records as part of the "Baltimore Four", and were out on bail when they burned the records at Catonsville.

The Catonsville Nine were tried in federal court October 5-9, 1968. The lead defense attorney was William Kunstler.

They were found guilty of destruction of U.S. property, destruction of Selective Service files, and interference with the Selective Service Act of 1967.
--Wikipedia

The Berrigan Brothers, Phil and Dan, were the poster children for the religious anti-war movement. They became almost like icons for those who, with deep religious convictions, opposed the war in Vietnam. Dan, who is now 87, is still a Jesuit priest, lives in New York and teaches at Fordham where he is poet in residence. His younger brother Phil, who died in 2003 at age 79, left the priesthood and was married.