The Camden 28

PBS Premiere: Sept. 11, 2007Check the broadcast schedule »

Film Update

Part 1: Michael Doyle

Black and white photo of Father Michael Doyle in the early 1970s
Color photo of Father Michael Doyle in the early 2000s
Michael Doyle has lived in Camden since 1973. He spent a year and a half as assistant pastor at St. Joan of Arc in the Fairview section of Camden, and since November of 1974, he has been the pastor of Sacred Heart Church at Broadway and Ferry in South Camden. He also runs a Catholic school: and approximately 240 Camden children attend the school annually. Additionally, the church renovates houses through the Heart of Camden housing program; runs a family resource center, a food sharing program, a children's clothing thrift store, a neighborhood vegetable garden and a used furniture warehouse; and provides monthly dinners for the poor. He also works in community organizing through Camden Churches Organized for the People, writes a monthly newsletter that has a subscription list of 2,700 people and goes to Ireland every year. He says, "We try to make Sacred Heart at least as friendly as an Irish pub. In all of it we fail nicely. But we are determined with God's help to keep hope alive."

Mike Giocondo

Black and white photo of Michael Giocondo in the early 1970s
Color photo of Michael Giocondo in the early 2000sAfter the acquittal of the Camden 28, Mike Giocondo joined the staff of the Daily Worker in New York as a reporter, and later moved to Chicago to head the newspaper's Midwest bureau. He left the Daily Worker in 1991 (by which time it was renamed The People's World). Since then, he has been a GED and an ESL instructor in Chicago City's College system. He is a member of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and a board member of the Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights. He has been married to Carroll Krois since 1978.

Joan M. Reilly

Black and white photo of Joan Reilly in the early 1970s
Color photo of Joan Reilly in the early 2000s
Joan M. Reilly married Michael DiBerardinins, and their four children are in their teens and twenties. Since the Camden trial, Joan has lived and worked in the Kensington Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia. For the past 30 years, she has worked in the fields of community organizing, organizational development and social service. She currently serves as associate director of the Philadelphia Green division of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. She manages programs designed to build partnerships with residents, neighborhood organizations, and public and private institutions to utilize greening (the creation of green open space in the form of community gardens, neighborhood park revitalization and vacant land stabilization) as a way to strengthen community and improve the quality of life in neighborhoods across Philadelphia.

Gene Dixon

Black and white photo of Gene Dixon in the early 1970s
Color photo of Gene Dixon in the early 2000s
After the acquittal of the Camden 28, Gene ended (by mutual consent) his associations with the Budd Company in Philadelphia. After a several-year stint as a marketing director in the gaming industry, Gene finally retired, and is currently performing the duties of househusband for his wife, Mary, while hanging around the house and continuing to write poetry and children's books.

John Swinglish

Black and white photo of John Swinglish in the early 1970s
Color photo of John Swinglish in the early 2000s

John Swinglish returned to Washington, D.C., after the acquittal of the Camden 28, and formed a neighborhood social service center in northeast D.C., which he directed until 1982. Following that, he provided emergency and disaster services to the D.C. area through a large nonprofit organization. He also worked with recovering drug addicts and alcoholics for 14 years. Currently, John runs his own wedding photography business and lives near Annapolis, Maryland. He says, "I've finally figured out a way to get people to pay me to go to wild parties every week. It's really not a bad life."

Bob Good

Black and white photo of Bob Good in the early 1970s
Color photo of Bob Good in the early 2000sBob Good lives in Rochester, New York, with his wife and their two daughters. He works at the University of Rochester Medical Center in the Department of Orthopedics, where he assists the surgeons and doctors in the department in a variety of ways, including computer support, photography, research support and audio-visual support. His time in Camden has remained an important and pivotal time in his life. He says, "It was an honor and privilege to join together with a community of dedicated women and men who committed themselves to struggling together with a vision of a more just and peaceful world."

Next Update: Camden 28 Members, Part 2  »