2024 Speaking Tour

Host Fr. John Dear on his 2024 Speaking Tour for his Forthcoming Orbis Book: “’The Gospel of Peace: A Commentary on Matthew, Mark and Luke from the Perspective of Nonviolence.” For more info, click here

Listen on Apple, Spotify, all major platforms,
and the National Catholic Reporter

April 21, 2025

#16, Martha Hennessy on her Grandmother Dorothy Day, the End of the American Empire, and Creating a New Society Out of the Shell of the Old

 

“We are experiencing the thrashing of empire and the death throes of capitalism,” Martha Hennessy says in this episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast.” Martha is the granddaughter of Dorothy Day, the legendary activist, author, anarchist, and co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement. A longtime peace activist, Martha lives on her family farm in Vermont and volunteers part time at Maryhouse Catholic Worker in New York City, which was Dorothy’s home. She speaks regularly on the issues of war, poverty, the works of mercy, and nuclear weapons, and has traveled to Russia, Iraq, Iran, Palestine/Israel, Egypt, Afghanistan, and Korea to witness for peace.
 
Like her grandmother, Martha says that “good solutions never come from the state… We need to find one’s niche…to create a new world from the shell of the old world, to create a society where it’s easy to be good.”
 
John Dear asks Martha about Dorothy’s brilliant—and shocking–statement right after the attack on Pearl Harbor which she ran as the headline of the Catholic Worker: “Our Manifesto Is the Sermon on the Mount.” Even if everyone else runs off to war, we will obey the teachings of Jesus and not support war, Dorothy insisted. We discuss Dorothy’s amazing witness over the course of her long life, how she said “No” to every single war.
 
“The U.S. church desperately needs Dorothy as a saint, a saint who was a laywoman, a mother, and a grandmother. Pope Francis recognizes her as a saint. She was a mystic, she was touched by God. And she was an extraordinary grandmother.”
 
Martha also talks about her recent arrest on Ash Wednesday outside the U.S. Mission to the United Nations calling upon the U.S. to sign the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons; her work at Maryhouse; her imprisonment for the King’s Bay Plowshares disarmament action; and her grandmother’s impending canonization. Join us and be inspired to carry on like Dorothy Day!

Next week…

The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast welcomes Kazu Haga! For more information, visit here.

Listen on Apple, Spotify, all major platforms,
and the National Catholic Reporter

April 14, 2025

#15, Eric Stoner of WagingNonviolence.org On the Growing Resistance to Trump’s Policies

Last Sat., April 5th, an estimated 3 million people marched in the “Hands Off!” movement with over 1,400 demonstrations around the U.S. covering all 50 states, protesting every aspect of the Trump Administration’s policies. A month before that, on February 28th, close to 40 million people participated in a nationwide economic blackout boycott, to protest Trump’s policies, making it one of the most successful acts of non-compliance in U.S. history. Contrary to what you might think, people are indeed taking to the streets and resisting Trump’s corporate injustice, rising authoritarianism, and global chaos.
 
This week on “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” John Dear speaks with Eric Stoner, founding editor of WagingNonviolence.org, an independent, non-profit media platform that covers social movements and grassroots activism around the world on all issues of justice, disarmament and creation. Since 2009, it has published original reporting on nonviolent action from contributors in more than 90 countries.
 
Eric and friends started this clearinghouse of nonviolent movements in the 2000s from scratch, and today it regularly gets over 1.3 million readers looking for news about people power movements that you will never hear on the mainstream media. “Contrary to what a lot of people see or think, there is more protest and resistance to Trump than you see or read in the mainstream media,” Eric says.
 
John will ask Eric about the growing resistance to rising authoritarianism and oligarchy, as well as stories of grassroots movements from around the world, and his own changing understanding of nonviolence. “Boycotting is the most important tool in protesting,” he says, “hands down.” Covering the world from the perspective of nonviolence actually gives him hope, he tells John, because so many people are struggling hard for positive social change. Listen and be encouraged!

Next week…

The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast welcomes Martha Hennessy! For more information, visit here.

John Dear’s new book now available!

“The Gospel of Peace:
Reading Matthew, Mark & Luke
from the Perspective of Nonviolence”

For info, click here
 
To order, call Orbis Books at 1-800-258-5838
 

To invite John Dear to speak in your city, write to: john@beatitudescenter.org 

National Catholic Reporter Review of “The Gospel of Peace,” click here
 
To watch Fr. John’s interview with Dean Young of Grace Cathedral about the book, click here
 
To watch Fr. John’s sermon at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, on Jan. 21, 2024, (at the 30 minute mark) click here
 
The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast, a free weekly podcast with John Dear
click here

Recent Books

“The Sacrament of Civil Disobedience”
Revised 2022 Edition, with new foreword by Shane Claiborne,
Available on amazon, in the U.K.  To order, visit: https://labora.press/product/the-sacrament-of-civil-disobedience/

Recent Articles

War is the Ultimate Failure

Today, in the name of the God of peace, we say to the United States: we are sick and tired of your endless wars, your military spending, your nuclear weapons, your global domination, your violence, your imperialism and fascism and corporate greed and permanent warfare. We remember the U.S. war on Iraq, and how we killed millions of sisters and brothers there for a great lie, to steal their oil and sell weapons and help the one percent get richer. We remember the U.S. war on Afghanistan, and how we killed and injured countless innocent civilians for a great lie so we could get their oil and sow chaos in the world and sell weapons. With thousands of people in over twenty demonstrations across the nation we say today, enough is enough! No more endless wars!

Daniel Ellsberg, Prophet of Truth and Disarmament

A few months before he died on Friday, June 16th, famed whistle blower and peace activist Daniel Ellsberg sent an email letter to hundreds of friends announcing that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given three months or so to live. After reflecting on his life’s work for peace, he announced that he was full of “joy and gratitude” and wished the same for all of us who work to end war.

My Long Lost Conversation with John Lewis

Last summer, after Congressman John Lewis died, I posted a photo on social media of me and John from a memorable afternoon we spent together in his congressional office. It was 26 years ago. We had talked for a while, and then filmed a formal conversation on nonviolence.

Needless to say, it was one of the greatest days of my exciting life.

Recent News

“Nonviolence,” a new 147 page special edition
of Richard Rohr’s journal Oneing, now available from www.cac.org

John Dear on “Democracy Now” talking about Thich Nhat Hanh and Archbishop Tutu 

“Jesus was totally nonviolent and calls us to practice and teach Gospel nonviolence and welcome God’s reign of peace and nonviolence, which means from now on, we work for the abolition of war, poverty, racism, gun violence, the death penalty, nuclear weapons, environmental destruction, and all violence.” – Fr. John Dear

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