“The Neutralism of Outer Hell”: Daniel Berrigan In (and Out of) the Civil Rights Movement, 1960–1963

Between 1960 and 1963, Daniel Berrigan attempted to immerse himself in the civil rights movement. Spurred by the passionate activism of his brother, the Josephite Philip Berrigan, his racial consciousness developed rapidly during this period, much to the consternation of his Jesuit superiors. Their effort to turn his attention from joining the movement and the wider church’s failure to support black American leadership galvanized the priest and prompted a vocational crisis in him that his brother and his new friend Thomas Merton would help him weather. This essay examines previously unpublished letters of Berrigan’s to tell the story of his involvement in sending white students to work with black youth in New Orleans, his fruitless attempt to join the Freedom Rides in 1961, the spiritual disturbance caused by his superiors hindering his work, and his reflections on attending the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Exploring Berrigan’s relationship to the civil rights movement gives fuller understanding to his approach to the Catonsville Nine action and provides modern readers with a Catholic resource for navigating movements for racial justice in the twenty-first century.