Thursday June 9th at 7:30 p.m. at Holy Cross Parish Hall in Santa Cruz.
Robert Ellsberg, son of “The Most Dangerous Man in America” Daniel Ellsberg, will share “for the first time” his personal story about growing up within the U.S. peace movement: “One Candle Lights Another – The Pentagon Papers, Gandhi, Dorothy Day, and My Life with the Saints.”
A 13-year-old, Ellsberg helped his father photocopy thousand of pages of classified Pentagon Papers that disclosed the U.S. government conscious pursuit of a losing War on Vietnam. A 2009 Academy Awards nominated film documentary about these disclosures features Daniel Ellsberg as “The Most Dangerous Man in America” and includes an interview with son Robert Ellsberg.
Influenced by Mahatma Gandhi, Robert Ellsberg dropped out of college at age 19 to join the Catholic Worker, a pacifist movement that participates in nonviolent direct action and provides food and shelter to the poor and homeless.
He became managing editor of The Catholic Worker newspaper and came to know and, work closely for five years with Dorothy Day (1897-1980), co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement. Day’s cause for canonization (Sainthood), as one of the most inspiring figures of recent history, is open in the Catholic Church.
As official Editor of Day’s Personal Papers he has published The Duty of Delight: The Diaries of Dorothy Day (2008) and All the Way to Heaven: Selected Letters of Dorothy Day. Ellsberg is Publisher of Orbis Books.
He has also edited writings by Gandhi, Flannery O’Connor, Thich Nhat Hanh, Charles de Foucauld, Fritz Eichenberg, and Carlo Carretto.
The event is hosted by Pax Christi, the social justice mission of Holy Cross Parish, and the Resource Center for Nonviolence (RCNV). There is no charge for the event. A free will donation will benefit the St. Francisco Soup Kitchen and Food Pantry in Santa Cruz. For more information: 831 423 1626
Host Committee: Bob Fitch, Photographer; Scott Kennedy, Resource Center for Nonviolence; Sheilah Lynch, Director of Family Life & Social Concerns, Monterey Diocese; Fr. Mike Marini, former pastor at Holy Cross; Ellen & Brian Murtha; Mel Nunez, Pax Christi Social Justice Ministry of Holy Cross, Rev. Herb Schmidt; UCSC Campus Pastor Emeriti.