Sorrow Built a Bridge

Sorrow Built a Bridge: Friendship and AIDS chronicles Daniel Berrigan’s work with people with AIDS during the 1980s at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York City. For decades Berrigan protested war and nuclear weapons. Then in the early 1980s he also began to minister to those dying of cancer. When AIDS exploded in New York, he offered to accompany the dying at St. Vincent’s, one of the first and best care facilities in the nation for people with AIDS. This account tells of the suffering of those with AIDS, an epidemic which now afflicts millions around the globe. It also shows a compassionate Christian response to such suffering. In the process, Berrigan once again teaches us how to make peace. I list myself among the many admirers of Father Daniel Berrigan. His writings are always poetic and inspirational, his message ever timely and beneficial. Sorrow Built a Bridge is no exception. Father Dan has put a human face on AIDS, the malady which has reached epidemic proportions. He recounts here his own personal journey and ministry with fourteen specific persons for whom ‘death was given a royal welcome.’ He does not dwell on the causes of AIDS nor does he pass judgment on its victims doomed to ‘atrocious suffering.’ Father Dan gives meaning to his own experience by choosing and reflecting on selected scripture passages. He also connects his encounters with the deaths of those who were once ‘young and vigorous’ with his own peacemaking. In both cases, ‘dreams turn into nightmares, ’ ‘old hatreds don new fatigues’ and ‘immunity systems break down both in a person and in a nation.’ This book is a special gift to those committed to compassionate care for persons with AIDS. Bishop Walter F. Sullivan (from the Foreword