The Nonviolent Jesus

#91. John Dear with theologian, author and editor Robert Jonas on Henri Nouwen: “Henri Nouwen wanted us to know that we are never alone, that we are infinitely loved, that we are God’s beloved.”

On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with my friend Robert Jonas about the legendary spiritual writer Henri Nouwen, who died 30 years ago on September 26, 1996. Henri and I corresponded regularly for many years, right up until his death. Much to my surprise, he offered steadfast support for my peacework, especially when I was in jail for my plowshares action, when he wrote me every week. I thought it would be wonderful to welcome one of his best friends, Robert Jonas, to speak about Henri’s life, teachings, and lessons. Robert Jonas received his doctorate in education from Harvard University and has a Masters in theology from the Weston Jesuit School of Theology. He is the author/editor of The Essential Henri Nouwen, (Shambhala), as well as Henri Nouwen: Spiritual Master (Orbis) and Rebecca (Crossroad). His latest book is My Dear Far-Nearness: The Holy Trinity as Spiritual Practice (Orbis). “Henri lived in the in-between spaces of academia and the spiritual life,” Jonas says. “He was like a spelunker: he wanted to dig down deep beneath the psyche and the soul. He was convinced that we cannot help other people unless we accept our own woundedness. " "When we spoke, we could be honest with each other about our woundedness; we could actually name the wounds to each other… He wanted us to take responsibility for the things that are hurting us, to let the spirit come with us, to know that the spirit is with us, that we are never alone, that we are infinitely loved, that we are God’s beloved.” Henri’s best-sellers include The Wounded Healer; Out of Solitude: Reaching Out; In the Name of Jesus; Return of the Prodigal Son; Can You Drink the Cup; Life of the Beloved; Our Greatest Gift; and The Inner Voice of Love. Follow me on Substack https://fatherjohndear.substack.com/ and find me on FB and IG. And check out my two Henri books, The Road to Peace and Peacework. beatitudescenter.org Onward in peace with the nonviolent Jesus! 🌻, John

#90: With Fr. Greg Boyle, founder and director of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles: "If you hate ICE agents, I think your God's too puny."

This week I speak with my friend Fr. Greg Boyle, one of the most well known and beloved religious leaders in the world. A Jesuit priest, he has spent decades accompanying and working with young people and gang members in Los Angeles, and creating new alternatives with them. Fr. Greg is the founder and director of Homeboy Industries and Homeboy Global Network with 300 organizations in the US and 50 outside the country. It is the world's largest gang intervention and rehabilitation program, and former pastor of Dolores Mission Church, the poorest church in the city. Between 1988-1998, there were close to a 1000 people per year killed in that L.A. area from gang-related crime. His books include: Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion; Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship; Creating a Culture of Tenderness: Embracing Our Kinship with All of Life; The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness; and Forgive Everyone Everything. I ask him about his motto: “We are all unshakably good – no exceptions. We belong to each other – with no exceptions.” “We are trying to offer a model of community, being connected and relational wholeness,” Fr. Greg said. "There's no such thing as a bad person. We’re all good people, and we’re all sick trying to get well." "Gang violence is all about a lethal absence of hope." So we’re trying to nurture a movement where people invest in each other and with folks on the margins. Fr. Boyle tells me about the four things Jesus took seriously, and what the gang members have taught him about God's unconditional love. Greg said so many amazing things: “We've lost our confidence in love and the God of love is hoping we will regain that. It's important to find the larger love that animates you. It's always about going forward. Love is always the next thing to do, one loving foot in front of the next." "The point of the love of God is to disarm us and lead us to be peacemakers.” Listen in, be inspired, and share the podcast with your friends. Onward in peace with the nonviolent Jesus! 🌻, Fr. John www.homeboyindustries.org beatitudescenter.org

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#89. Special Episode with John Dear: Dedicated to all whose lives were altered that day: Life and Death at Ground Zero.

This episode is dedicated to the victims of September 11, 2001, and to the countless families whose lives were forever altered by that day. As we reflect on a message of profound peace, healing, and the pursuit of a nonviolent world, we pause to honor the memory of those we lost. May their legacies inspire us to reach across divides, comfort those who mourn, and work tirelessly toward a future defined by compassion, reconciliation, and enduring peace. This week, I’m offering two special episodes of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast” to commemorate 9/11. Earlier, on Monday, I posted Part 1 of 2, my conversation with my friend Colleen Kelley, co-founder of Sept. 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. Today, in Part 2 of 2, I share my own experience as the Red Cross coordinator of chaplains after 9/11. As some of you know, I was scheduled to have breakfast with my parents that morning in the restaurant on the top of the World Trade Center, but they changed their plans at the last minute. I went down to help and was asked very quickly by the Red Cross to become the local coordinator of all the 550 chaplains at the Family Assistance Center where we served some 50,000 direct relatives of those who died in the two towers over the next three months. I also worked once or twice a week at Ground Zero, praying with and counseling rescue workers. I tell about the many people I met, such as Neil, a Long Island Catholic, who came to the Center clutching a bag of hairs snatched from his missing brother-in-law’s comb, as DNA evidence. While he was filling out the paper, he was told his relative’s body was found. I prayed with him before he called his sister to tell her. I also share stories of the many rescue workers I met at Ground Zero, such as the fireman who came scrambling down the smoking seven story Pile, ran up to me and said, “Father, quick, give me your blessing. I’m digging for my best friend.” Or the one who ran up to me and begged, “Father, please, teach me how to pray. We found the body of my friend yesterday, and I don’t know what to do.” I conclude with reflections about my work organizing protests against the Afghanistan war, and where we are 25 years later. Thank you for listening. PS. For the full story, read my autobiography, "A Persistent Peace." beatitudescenter.org johndear.org Find me on Substack https://fatherjohndear.substack.com/ Onward in peace with the nonviolent Jesus! 🌻, God bless you, Fr. John

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#88. Part 1 of 2 special episodes on 9/11: This week with Colleen Kelly of Peaceful Tomorro­ws, an organization founded by family members of those killed on September 11th who united to turn grief into action for peace.

This week The Nonviolent Jesus podcast brings 2 special episodes: Today (part 1 of 2), I speak with my friend Colleen Kelly, who lost her brother in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center. A few years earlier, I had baptized Colleen’s daughter at a very happy family event. On Thursday’s episode, (part 2 of 2), I’ll share my own stories as the Red Cross coordinator of chaplains at Ground Zero. You can also read more stories about this period of my life in my book "A Persistent Peace". On September 11th, Colleen's brother Bill was at a one day conference at Windows on the World, on the top of the World Trade Center. In the awful days afterwards, she met with other family members to seek nonviolent alternatives to the cycles of violence, and to enhance civilian protection. They formed “September 11th Families For Peaceful Tomorrows,” which has been nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize. Its name comes from the Martin Luther King Jr.’s quote, "Wars make poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows." These days, she continues to work with Peaceful Tomorrows in a variety of ways, including the pursuit of justice and accountability for the death of Bill and nearly 3000 others, by numerous visits to observe the military commissions at Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba. Colleen talks about her brother, the founding of “Peaceful Tomorrows,” her trips to Guantanamo, and their work marching for and promoting peace, even in Afghanistan. We also talk about her amazing mother, who told me as we left Ground Zero how she felt about the bombing of Afghanistan, words that have stayed with me to this very day. For the 25th anniversary, Colleen is organizing a peace walk on Sept. 10th from Union Square to Ground Zero where they will hold an evening vigil. www.peacefultomorrows.org “Nonviolence is what Jesus taught and it is hard to believe but until we all truly believe it and make that leap, we are stuck in this inhuman world,” she says. Listen in and be inspired! God bless you, 🌻 Fr. John

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#87 John Dear with Professor Todd Walatka of Notre Dame on Saint Oscar Romero: "The true church is the one that stands with the poor".

One of the key prophets, saints, teachers and models for me is Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador who was assassinated while saying Mass in San Salvador on March 24, 1980. I lived and worked in a refugee camp in 1985, and traveled back nearly twenty times, including his beatification Mass in San Salvador. To me, he is the epitome of the modern day prophet who denounces war, poverty, and killing, calls people to be converted to the nonviolent Jesus, and announces the coming of God’s reign of justice, disarmament and peace. On this episode I speak with Professor Todd Walatka of Notre Dame, author of a new book, “Words of Life: The Preaching of St. Oscar Romero.” Todd Walatka teaches about Catholic theology after Vatican II, Latin American theology, Catholic social teaching, and Christian spirituality. He is also the editor of Óscar Romero and Catholic Social Teaching, which examines the life of Romero in light of contemporary work for justice and human development. “If you hear Romero's words or know anything about his life, you immediately think, ‘This is the gospel!’” Todd says. “Romero asked us: ‘What is the Good News today? What does it demand of our very lives today? Romero truly believed that the Word of God can change our lives.” Discover more about Saint Oscar Romero here: orbisbooks.org beatitudescenter.org https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93scar_Romero Come join me on Substack: https://substack.com/@fatherjohndear 🌻, John

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#86. John Dear with Tim Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics:"The Special Olympics is a peacemaking movement.”

On this episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with Tim Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics, a global movement to end discrimination against people with intellectual disabilities. Tim expanded the organization from one million athletes to over six million athletes in more than 170 countries around the world. After passing on the CEO torch, he wondered how the spirit of the athletes of Special Olympics might provide a model for our divided world. He started a conversation with hundreds of young people, faith leaders, educators, philosophers, scientists, activists and political figures on how we might reclaim our common humanity. He formed the nonprofit UNITE which uses what he calls the “Dignity Index,” a new tool to help Americans disagree without demonizing each other. Tim went to Yale, got his Master's degree from Catholic University, and a Doctorate in Education from the University of Connecticut. Before joining the Special Olympics in 1996, he co-founded and currently chairs the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), the leading school reform organization in the field of social and emotional learning (SEL). On the side, he is a Hollywood producer of several films including “Amistad.” He is coauthor of “Fully Alive – Discovering What Matters Most,” and co-editor of “The Call to Unite: Voices of Hope and Awakening.” In May, Notre Dame awarded him the Laetare Medal. “My parents were innovation machines,” Tim tells me. “They were problem solvers.” His mother started the Special Olympics by asking, "'What if we just spoke each others' language and ate each others’ food?’" That was peace-building. Last year the volunteer army of human goodness created 80,000 Special Olympics events. "Go to an event! There's a recognizable presence of human dignity and therefore divine energy. There's a different vibrational field. The Special Olympics is a peacemaking movement.” www.specialolympics.org When I ask Tim about Unite and the Dignity Index, he says it’s based on the insight that “our problems are not based on our differences but how we treat each other when we differ. When we treat each other with dignity, we have a good chance of solving our problems. We try to learn how to treat each other with dignity and reduce contempt.” Listen in as Tim describes various ways to respond to others in keeping with human dignity. God bless you! 🌻, John beatitudescenter.org Meet me over on Substack https://fatherjohndear.substack.com/ www.dignity.us www.timothyshriver.com

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#85. John Dear with economist, author, pastor and former president of Bread for the World David Beckmann: "We won't end poverty if we can't talk to each other."

This week I speak with David Beckmann, former president of Bread for the World, one of the best groups fighting poverty in the world (www.bread.org). His many books include: Eden Revival; The Overseas List; Grace at the Table; Exodus from Hunger, and his latest book, “Poverty Abolitionists: Faith, activism, and Hope for Difficult Times. www.davidbeckmann.org “In recent decades, the world has made dramatic progress against poverty. But now, the second Trump administration has pushed that progress into full reverse. I'm so appalled that we are systematically dismantling things that are important to the poor in the U.S. and the world. It's certainly possible to end poverty where starvation and malnutrition exist. We don't have to have millions of kids go without food in the U.S., yet we do. “The most progressive community in the U.S. are atheists - they are not waiting for God to solve the world's problems. Our hope is built on Jesus' promise of the kingdom of God, but we have to do our share and advocate for justice and an end to poverty,” he says. In the end, he calls us to “seek and form loving, justice-seeking churches; to think critically about our faith and the work to end poverty; and to open our hearts to God's universal, forgiving love. Those who imagine a loving, forgiving God—not a violent, punishing god--are more inclined to work for justice and the end of poverty.” Listen in and be inspired to join the movement to abolish poverty! www.beatitudescenter.org Come join me on Substack: https://fatherjohndear.substack.com/ www.davidbeckmann.org www.bread.org 🌻, John

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#84 John Dear on meeting Franziska Jagerstatter in Austria and reflecting on the life and courage of her husband Franz Jagerstatter, one of the few men who refused to fight for Nazi Germany.

On this week's episode of The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast, I reflect on Franz Jagerstatter, one of the most important saints in history. In the late 1970s, while a student at Duke University, wondering what to do with my life, my grandmother gave me a pamphlet about Franz. I was amazed by the story of a young Austrian farmer, born on May 20, 1907, who in 1936 married Franziska, the local sacristan at their church in St. Radegund. HIs wife, Franziska, was a saint, so he tried to become a saint too. When the Nazis invaded Austria in 1938, nearly everyone in Austria supported the Nazis. In February 1943, Franz received a letter ordering him to turn himself in and join the Nazi military, where he would be sent off to the Russian front. He went and spoke with several priests and even the bishop. Each one of them said it was his duty as a Catholic to fight for Hitler. But what about Jesus? he asked them. So Franz refused to fight, was arrested, imprisoned, taken to Berlin, brought before the Nazi high court, condemned to death for “undermining military morale,” and beheaded on August 9, 1943. I’ve been studying him for decades, and in the 1990s, became a friend of his wife Franziska and family. In this episode, I review Franz’s life, my own experience with Franziska and his beatification in Austria, and some concluding lessons, which I hope will encourage you in your own commitment to the nonviolent Jesus. I think Franz demonstrates a new political mysticism, a sanctity that is a threat to the empire and the culture of war. I think this has to become the new norm, as it was in the early Church. “As a Christian, I prefer to do my fighting with the Word of God and not with arms,” he wrote from prison. “We need no rifles or pistols for our battle, but instead spiritual weapons—and the foremost among these is prayer…Let us love our enemies, bless those who curse us, pray for those who persecute us. For love will conquer and will endure for all eternity. And happy are they who live and die in God’s love.” beatitudescenter.org orbisbooks.org

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#83 With nuclear activist, public educator and publisher Jack Cohen Joppa: " We have to support the activist who ends up in jail if we are to succeed."

This week marks the 81st anniversary of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I plan to take part in several demonstrations in California as part of my ongoing penance, prayer and witness against nuclear weapons and God’s call for peace on earth. I speak with my friend Jack Cohen-Joppa, who along with his wife, Felice, has published The Nuclear Resister newspaper since 1980. With over 200 issues, they have chronicled over 100,000 anti-nuclear and anti-war civil disobedience actions and related prosecutions covering thousands of activists, and encouraged support for the women and men jailed and imprisoned for such nonviolent actions. Their newspaper has tracked every public action that involved crossing a line against war and nuclear weapons, that is, every campaign, every local and regional grassroot effort, and the rise and fall of national movements. When you open its pages or study their website, you discover a whole world of peace activism that few know about. It routinely documents nonviolent direct actions—including recent demonstrations at California's Vandenberg Space Force Base where activists protest the testing and modernization of nuclear missile systems. Jack's nuclear education began in 1978 while participating in a year-long civil disobedience campaign at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant outside Denver, and standing trial with Daniel Ellsberg and eight others that autumn. Theirs is a lifetime of steadfast resistance in campaigns at the Pentagon, Livermore Labs, Los Alamos Labs, the Nevada Test Site, the Trident submarine bases and the Plowshares “We face a nuclear threat now that is comparable with the threat we faced during the Cold War,” Jack says. “Our challenge is to continue to delegitimize and stigmatize the building of nuclear weapons. I am in touch with the people who believe that hope is a verb and take action. We believe that this is work worth doing.” Listen in and discover an ongoing grassroots movement against nuclear weapons and get with the program. Please visit their site at: www.nuclearresister.org Supporters can sign up for action alerts, read chronicled histories of dissent, and find instructions on how to write letters of support to imprisoned peace activists. For those of us who have spent time in jail and prison for civil disobedience against nuclear weapons, Jack and Felice are longtime faithful heroes. He continues to study, write and speak publicly about nuclear issues. Beatitudescenter.org Follow me on Substack @FatherJohnDear 🌻, John

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#82 John Dear on the Raising of Lazarus: "We need to to call humanity forth out of the culture of death, war and empire."

On this week's episode I reflect on the Gospel of John, chapter 11, the story of the raising of Lazarus, based on my book, Lazarus Come Forth! I propose that John rewrote the Gospel story to portray Jesus as the God of life who calls humanity in the person of Lazarus out of the tombs of death, out of empire, violence and war, and command us to unbind humanity from the trappings of death and let humanity go free in the fullness of life and resurrection peace. The message is: have nothing to do with death, with violence, injustice, war or anything that inflicts death on others. Instead, live life to the full, and help others live life to the full. Possibly you'll recognize yourself in these scriptures: How the male disciples promise to walk with him but never show up; How the professional mourners weep over Lazarus, even though they just tried to stone Jesus to death; How Martha tries to stop Jesus’ nonviolent resistance; How Jesus announces, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever is fully alive here and now in the present moment of resurrection peace, and believes in me as I walk the way of life and nonviolence and confront the forces of death, will never die.” “Do you believe this?” he asks us. As Jesus approaches the tomb, he issues three new commandments: “Take away the stone!” “Lazarus/Humanity come forth!” “Unbind humanity and let him go free.” Listen for my conclusion of this climactic call of John’s Gospel, and what our mission is today. See what you think. I hope you like it. My book is available here More writings from me: beatitudescenter.org You can find me on Substack https://fatherjohndear.substack.com/ 🌻, John

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#81. John Dear with scholar, author and international leader in racial healing Dr. Catherine Meeks: "The culture in the US reinforces the notion that people of color are inferior to white people."

On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with my friend Dr. Catherine Meeks, a nationally recognized leader in racial healing and founder of the Turquoise & Lavender Institute for Transformation and Healing. Her latest book is .Bridging the Rivers of Difference: A Proclamation of Unity in Resistance Her other books include The Night Is Long but Light Comes in the Morning: Meditations on Racial Healing, and The Quilted Life: Reflections of a Sharecropper’s Daughter. She spent 25 years as chair of the African American Studies program at Mercer University. “I grew up poor and black in Arkansas, and my way in the world is to connect to the spiritual and God and the way people should be treated right,” she says. This country was founded on the notion that some humans were worth more than others, included black people and women. The Constitution wasn't talking about us. The Heritage Foundation has been working militantly with Project 2025, but we have to be willing to stop having a hierarchy of human value. “Racism has injured us all,” she continues. “Everyone has been wounded by it. The culture in the US reinforces the notion that people of color are inferior to white people, but we're all made in God's image and we all deserve to be treated right. We have to create new narratives and trust each other enough to work for the general welfare that benefits everybody, not just one set of people." “We need to recognize the nonviolent Jesus. To dehumanize another person is violent while Jesus was always respecting people. There is no Jesus for warmongers. War is never going to end other wars. We need to reimagine what nonviolence really is about. I see this moment as a time to come to grips with what kind of human we want to be.” Listen in to hear the powerful words of Dr. Catherine Meeks! www.turquoiseandlavender.com beatitudescenter.org https://fatherjohndear.substack.com/

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#80. John Dear in conversation with author and theologian Fr. Ron Rolheiser: " In my lifetime I've never lived through darker days."

“My mantra now is, ‘Let it go, let it go, let it go,’” theologian Ron Rolheiser tells John Dear On today’s episode I speak with my friend writer and theologian, Fr. Ron Rolheiser, one of the most popular Catholic writers in the world, about his new book, Insane for the Light: A Spirituality for Our Wisdom Years, the conclusion of his trilogy of modern spiritual classics, following The Holy Longing and Sacred Fire. Fr. Ron Rolheiser is the author of many other best-sellers including The Restless Heart, The Shattered Lantern, Forgotten Among the Lilies; Prayer; and The Passion and the Cross. Orbis published an anthology, Ron Rolheiser: Essential Spiritual Writings. He recently retired from his position as President of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas, but continues to write, teach and speak around the country. You can learn more about him at his website: www.ronrolheiser.com Speaking about a spirituality for our wisdom years, Ron invites us to address anger, and other forms of resentment and bitterness, and let it go into softness, forgiveness, and gratitude. “I've spent most of the years of my life in leadership and now nobody's asking for my opinion,” he says. “Letting go of control is difficult. As my health deteriorates, I have to learn to let go. My mantra now is, ‘let it go, let it go, let it go.’ But as I move from full time activity into passivity, I’m asking myself, ‘Who am I when I stop doing? When you're God's beloved, how do we actually own that?’” “In my lifetime I've never lived through darker days,” he adds. “We're trying to solve violence with violence, but violence begets violence. Politicians are openly saying that compassion is weakness. We've never needed the message of nonviolence more than now. "The Sermon on the Mount is the greatest moral code ever written. We have to be the ones who stand up and live in hope! To do that, we have to keep a subversive sense of humor.” Listen in to this great wisdom teacher and be inspired! beatitudescenter.org ronrolheiser.com 🌻, John

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#79. John Dear in conversation with scripture scholar and author Wes Howard-Brook: "We're faced with the choice between the religion of empire or the religion of creation."

On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with my friend scripture scholar Wes Howard-Brook, author of several great books, including his commentary on the Gospel of John, Becoming Children of God. He also has a free YouTube channel “The Radical Bible,” his study of the Bible as a whole called, Come Out My People!: God’s Call out of Empire in the Bible and Beyond. He also just published a smaller, more accessible version of it called: Creation or Empire: A Choice of Religions in the Bible and Beyond. He tells us: "The Bible is not a bunch of rules or a bunch of pull quotes." “Most Christians treat the Bible like someone who's been on a one-week tourist trip with a bad tour guide, which is to say, they've gotten a superficial overview and had it interpreted wrongly, and then concluded, ‘Why would I want to go there again?’ he says. “The heart of my work is trying to re-establish a passion for biblical literacy, because as all indigenous cultures know, as a people, you are the stories that carry you forward. “The Bible is a set of narratives, poems, proverbs, and other texts that were written by our Israelite and Judean ancestors to get their children to grapple with one central question: what kind of people does God intend us to be? “The Bible proposes two choices: the religion of creation and the religion of empire. Jesus enters into that 2,000 year old argument among his people: are we to be a powerful empire in the name of God, centered in Jerusalem, to which all the nations will stream and bow down to us and our God? Or is creation the temple; do we find the Creator in the creation, and every created being is part of that? Jesus plainly and explicitly sides with the religion of creation and resists empire.” We were so inspired by this Bible scholar to find the Creator in creation and resist empire! Find his book here Sign up for more podcasts and interactive zooms here beatitudescenter.org IG @thenonviolentjesus Connect with me on Substack @FatherJohnDear 🌻, John

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#78. John Dear with theologian/author/activist Lisa Sharon Harper: "We were three floors below ground, it was hot and the walls and floor were covered with roaches."

Today I speak with my friend Lisa Sharon Harper. Lisa is a theologian, speaker, author, activist and trainer who has worked in Ferguson and Charlottesville, as well as South Africa, Brazil, Australia, Ireland and across the U.S. Her 2022 book, Fortune: How Race Broke My Family And The World--And How To Repair It All, was named “Book of the Year” by Word and Way. Her 2016 book, The Very Good Gospel, was named “Book of the Year” by the Englewood Review of Books. After her leadership at Sojourners magazine, she founded Freedom Road, where she is the host of its podcast and column on Substack. The Huffington Post named her one of 50 Women Religious Leaders to Celebrate on International Women’s Day. (See: ) When I asked her about these days of social injustice, white supremacy and permanent warmaking under Trump, she spoke of crying every die. “I actually have hope but I'm grieving like the rest of the country,” she said. “I cry because of the Church's silence during the Obama era and back to the 70s/80s during the rise of the religious right. People didn't know what was right, just and Jesus's way…Evil is embedded in the Constitution and in the 3/4 compromise. I grieve for our inaction in the past. It didn't have to be this way, but in every generation, there is a remnant. There has always been a witness of the actual Jesus way of being in the world." "Right now, that witness is alive and well.” She told three stories: Her time in Ferguson in August, 2014 after Michael Brown was killed by a white policeman; Her time in Charlottesville, VA, when she was present in the protest against Trump’s neo-Nazis who killed Heather Heyer; Our experience when we were arrested and in the D.C. Central Cell block jail after protesting at the Supreme Court on the 40th anniversary of the U.S. death penalty. She shares about her organization, Freedom Road, which trains people of faith to take public action for justice, as well as her recent best-selling books and why she wrote them. “Nonviolence is the only way for people who are not on the upside of empire to fight back,” she concludes. "Nonviolence is the only way to not be at war with God.” Listen in and be inspired by this peacemaker to carry on! Lisa Sharon Harper Follow Lisa on Substack www.freedomroad.us beatitudescenter.org Follow me on Substack 🌻, John

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#77 John Dear in conversation with Zoughbi Zoughbi of Bethlehem, Palestine: "The West Bank is a prison, Gaza is a concentration camp."

Today I speak with one of the great peacemakers of our time, my friend Zoughbi Zoughbi of Bethlehem, Palestine. Zoughbi is a lifelong Catholic Palestinian activist, organizer and teacher of Gospel nonviolence. Long ago he founded the Wi’am Center, the Palestinian Conflict Transformation Center in the center of Bethlehem. Wi'am is widely recognized as a place of nonviolent conflict resolution that helps Palestinians in the day to day struggle for justice and peace (www.alaslah.org) For the last few years, he has also served as the president of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, which is the oldest peace group in the world (www.ifor.org). Whenever you think you are working too hard for justice and peace, remember Zoughbi! “This is the first time in history that Bethlehem and Jerusalem are separated, that you cannot travel between them,” he says. “We are living in reservations, separated from each other. Bethlehem is becoming a smaller reservation surrounded by 23 settlements and many outposts. The West Bank is a prison; Gaza is a concentration camp. Every day, we see more prisoners, houses being demolished, state violence, settler violence, environmental violence. The situation is moving from worse to the worst.” “I want my people to live their life and know their rights, to work for a culture of acceptance, to resolve conflict nonviolently. We are exposing the atrocities of the Occupation, and ask people to be in solidarity for us. We are all global citizens of a global world. I want all Christian brothers and sisters to walk in our shoes. Come and visit! Stop aiding and supporting Israel, its weapons, wars and occupation. "I don't want the Holy Land to become a museum without people.” When asked about the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, he says, “Our dream is to educate all children in the world in peace and nonviolence, to get all religious leaders to preach the refusal of war, terrorism and violence, to get everyone to work for a world without war and nuclear weapons.” Zoughbi reminds us of how Jesus was during Roman occupation: “Jesus was soft on people, but hard on the system,” he concludes. “He asks us to love each other and to struggle against injustice…. Be the salt, the yeast and the light… Hope for me is a form of nonviolent struggle. We are going to become the Beloved Community one day!” Listen to the voice of a Palestinian peacemaker in Bethlehem speaking words of encouragement for all of us and be transformed! beatitudescenter.org https://substack.com/@fatherjohndear 🌻, John

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#76 John Dear with Mel Duncan, co-founder of Nonviolent Peaceforce about his work all over the world, more recently in Palestine and St. Paul, MN: "Organized nonviolence led to ICE leaving Minneapolis."

Dear friends, This week I speak with one of the great peacemakers of our times, my friend Mel Duncan about unarmed civilian protectors and the Nonviolent Peaceforce that has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016. Mel has been a leader in developing the practice of unarmed civilian protection for over two decades: He started providing nonviolent protective presence along Nicaragua’s northern border in 1984 during the Contra war. In 2002 along with David Hartsough and Mary Lou Ott he co-founded Nonviolent Peaceforce nonviolentpeaceforce.org Nonviolent Peaceforce’s “nonviolent civilian protectors” provide direct protection to civilians caught in violent conflict and work with local groups to prevent further violence and sustain peace in a variety of conflict areas including South Sudan, Ukraine, the Philippines and the United States. Mel has represented Nonviolent Peaceforce at the United Nations where the group has been granted Consultative Status. Recent UN global reviews as well as Security Council and General Assembly Resolutions have cited and recommended unarmed civilian protection. The American Friends Service Committee nominated Nonviolent Peaceforce for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize. In 2018 Nonviolent Peaceforce received the Luxembourg Peace Prize. Since retiring in 2023, Mel has helped organize a team of unarmed civilian protectors who are now working in Palestine as “Unarmed Civilian Protection.” He worked there for six months in 2025. For the past few months during the ICE occupation, he has been providing protective presence in St. Paul where he lives. When I asked about Palestine, he said, “The violence has intensified greatly since the attacks on Iran and Lebanon. It's provided a cover for Israelis to brutally attack Palestinian civilians. What can people do? As Rabbi Abraham Heschel said, we pray with our feet. Know that the Kingdom of God is here and now; it's a consciousness in all of us. Even when it's hopeless, we can continue on.” Mel tells us how thousands of people over the last 25 years have learned Nonviolent Peaceforce skills to take back to their own communities. There are now over 60 other civil society groups now doing this kind of work in 24 areas of the world. Mel says: "We stress the two hand approach: we resist the injustice with one hand while we reach out to the humanity in every one of us with the other.” Listen in and be inspired to step up your Gospel nonviolence! ucpip.org beatitudescenter.org 🌻, John

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#75 John Dear in conversation with bestseller writer Joyce Rupp on her award winning book "The Years of Ripening": "The Serenity Prayer is the prayer of elderhood, not just for AA!"

This week I speak with the beloved spiritual writer Joyce Rupp. An international retreat leader and conference speaker, Joyce is the author of three dozen bestselling books on compassion, grief, aging in midlife and in the later years, prayers and poems for every occasion, reflections on nature, and a memoir. Among her bestsellers are Boundless Compassion; Return to the Root; Jesus Guide of My Life; Constant Hope; Dear Heart Come Home; Praying Our Goodbyes; Inviting God In; and Walk in a Relaxed Manner. Orbis Books also published Joyce Rupp: Essential Writings. She is a member of the Servite community (Servants of Mary), was a volunteer for Hospice for fifteen years, and lives in West Des Moines, Iowa. “Elderhood is really all about surrender,” she tells me as we discuss her new book, The Years of Ripening. “But I like the word ‘acceptance’ better." She shares with us her thoughts on the aging process, self-compassion, surrender and vulnerability. Be encouraged, inspired and lifted up, you can also order her 2026 Nautilus Award winning book The Years of Ripening: Reflections on Aging in the Later Years" here "Acceptance and being with the process of surrender and letting go lead us to being at home in the heart of God. We can't give in to discouragement,” she concludes. “It doesn't get us anywhere!” You can find me on Substack @FatherJohnDear beatitudescenter.org joycerupp.com IG: @joyceruppauthor 🌻, John

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#74 Part 2 of 2: John Dear with authors John Dominic Crossan and Michael Okinczyc-Cruz on their new book "Jesus and Justice" and organizing work on the streets of Chicago: "We have a savage culture".

Today is Part 2 of my conversation with scripture scholar John Dominic Crossan along with Michael Okinczyc-Cruz, about their new book, Jesus and Justice: Organizing for God’s Reign on Earth Then and Now. Co-author Michael Okinczyc-Cruz is the Executive Director and co-founder of the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership in Chicago where he is a community organizer. He is also a professor at the Institute of Pastoral Studies at Loyola University of Chicago. “One cannot look at our current political moment and not think about Jesus,” Dom Crossan says. “ Jesus’ teaching had to do with the lived realities of the oppressed people of his time. Jesus did faith-based community organizing and his nonviolent movement has ongoing relevance for today,” he says. Their new book, Jesus and Justice, reflects on Jesus as a grassroots movement organizer of nonviolent resistance, and combines Dom’s scholarship with Michael’s organizing work on the streets of Chicago. “In Chicago,” he says,“you could encounter Border Patrol and ICE agents roaming the streets, arresting people based on the color of their skin. Conditions were so horrific in detention, one local judge described it as a concentration camp. We organized thousands of people to protest these conditions, and our grassroots movement has made some progress. The distinctive nature of our work is nonviolence in all our actions and our words. This is how we follow Jesus.” “This path of nonviolence is the only path to an approximation of God's reign,” Dom concludes. “What's happening in our country is a revelation of who we are. We have a savage culture. We need people of good faith to be engaged, organize nonviolently and take risks and action to pursue and live out God's reign in our hearts and here on earth.” beatitudescenter.org Welcome to my Substack https://fatherjohndear.substack.com

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#73 Part 1 of 2: John Dear with scripture scholar John Dominic Crossan:"Has God given us the freedom to destroy ourselves and the world?"

On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with my friend author and theologian John Dominic Crossan, perhaps the most widely read scripture scholar in the world. This is the first of two episodes with Dom. John Dominic Crossan is an Irish-born biblical scholar with post-doctoral diplomas in exegesis from Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute and in archeology from Jerusalem’s École Biblique. He has been a Catholic priest, a Co-Chair of the Jesus Seminar, and a President of the Society of Biblical Literature, and is professor emeritus of religious studies at DePaul university in Chicago. His many books include: *God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome; *How to read the Bible and Still Be a Christian; *Resurrecting Easter; *Excavating Jesus; The Birth of Christianity; *Who Killed Jesus? * The Historical Jesus *The Essential Jesus Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography A Memoir: A Long Way from Tipperary. In our conversation, he tells his fascinating journey to “the historical Jesus,” and how this became a global movement. “I can't not think of Jesus while living in this country and what's happening today,” he says. “What is hopeful now for the first time is that we are asking the right question: the historical Jesus is not just for Christians. The story isn’t just Jesus against Rome; it’s about God's creation against our civilization which is based entirely on violence.” At 92, after a lifetime of writing about the historical Jesus, he wonders about the fate of humanity. “Are we a sustainable species?” he asks. “That's the question. Or has God given us the freedom to destroy ourselves and our world?” Part Two will discuss his next book with Michael Okinczyc-Cruz, Jesus and Justice: Organizing for God’s Reign on Earth Then and Now. For more interactive Zoom teachings and podcast episodes: beatitudescentrum.org Follow along @FatherJohnDear on Substack 🌻, John

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#72 John Dear with Bishop Michael Curry, prophetic leader and best-selling author on the way of God and the way of life: "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!"  

On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with legendary Bishop Michael Curry who served as the 27th presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church. Elected in 2015, he retired in 2024. Throughout his forty years of ordained ministry, Bishop Curry has been a prophetic leader, particularly in the areas of racial reconciliation, climate change, evangelism, immigration policy, and marriage equality. Bishop Curry is the author of five books, including the best-seller, Love Is the Way, as well as, The Power of Love; Crazy Christians and Following the Way of Jesus. He captured the world’s attention when he preached at Harry and Megan’s wedding at Westminster Abbey and called the whole world to love. “A Christianity that doesn't take the way of Jesus, his way of radical unconditional love, his way of nonviolent living,” he says, “always goes wrong. Sacrificial love is the way of God and the way of life! As Duke Ellington said, ‘It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!’” Bishop Curry talks about Jesus as an organizer, and what he asks us to do when we join the movement of God, and what that movement means. His enthusiasm is infectious and his words run deep. When I asked for his parting words of encouragement, he said this is “a long distance walk, so we need each other, we need community.” Then he sang the old spiritual: “Walk together children, and don't you get weary; there's a great camp meeting in the Promised Land!” If you need encouragement, inspiration, and want to "hold on to hope in troubled times", you want to listen to this episode with Bishop Michael Curry today (and it's worth a repeat). For more information on the work we do, and to sign up for our newsletter and interactive Zoom conversations go to beatitudescenter.org Come join me on Substack @fatherjohndear.substack.com Onward in peace with the nonviolent Jesus! 🌻, John

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