From a family of six brothers, Dan joined the Jesuits and was ordained in 1952. Both he and Phil were vocal and radical opponents of American involvement, government and church, in the Vietnam war. This was a war to which Cardinal Spellman of New York gave his blessing. The brothers came to real fame, or notoriety according to taste, over the burning of draft cards in Catonsville in 1968. This earned them years in prison. Along with similar protests by others on the 'Catholic left', it shocked America and dramatically escalated opposition to the Vietnam war.

Daniel was a good friend both of Fr Thomas Merton the Trappist monk and author, and of Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker movement. Neither were uncritical friends. Dorothy herself had been in prison for acts of civil disobedience but did not approve of what she saw as a form of violence.

All three came out of the same stream of Catholic radicalism. All three also had their problems with church authorities. In 1965 Cardinal Spellman had wanted Daniel out of the New York diocese and the Jesuits obliged with a short spell in South America - which deepened rather than changed his radical views.   Read more here