The Christic Institute

Christic Letterhead & Logo

Chicago Tribune Tempo May 7, 1984

"New Age" Article on Danny

Convergence Newsletter

Danny and Sara on Courthouse Stairs 1979

Christic headquarters, Washington DC

In 1979, Daniel Sheehan, Sara Nelson and many of the allies and architects of the Silkwood case gathered back in Washington, D.C. to found The Christic Institute. Based on the ecumenical teachings of Teilhard de Chardin, and on the lessons they learned from their experience in the Silkwood fight, the Christic Institute combined investigation, litigation, education and organizing into a unique model for social reform in the United States. Over the next 12 years, as General Counsel for the Christic Institute, Daniel Sheehan helped prosecute some of the most celebrated public interest cases of the time. Christic represented victims of the nuclear disaster at Three Mile Island; they prosecuted KKK members for killing civil rights demonstrators in the Greensboro Massacre, and they defended Catholic workers providing sanctuary to Salvadoran refugees (American Sanctuary Movement).

As the successor to the Christic Institute, the Romero Institute possesses an archive which includes documents from the Christic cases and other investigations conducted by the founders of the Institutes over the last forty years. The archive materials reveal a chilling portrait of the hidden history of covert operations from World War II to the present and the evolution of our nation’s intelligence services into a private, “Off-the-Shelf Enterprise.”.

Currently, the Romero Institute is engaged in an effort to digitize thousands of archive documents and make them available to schools, nonprofit organizations, and other educational and charitable groups. The availability of this history is key to our society’s ability to prevent it from being repeated.