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
October 19, 2026 – This Week’s Episode
Episode #95, John Dear reflects on the life and witness of Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker
Last month, at the Catholic Institute for Nonviolence international conference in Rome, John Dear suggested in his speech that it’s time we all took up Dorothy Day’s example and committed ourselves full time to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Just after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, as the U.S. entered World War II, she published a bold headline saying, “Our Manifesto Is the Sermon on the Mount!” Thousands left her movement overnight. That is the stand that we all need to take.
With that in mind, John Dear is offering a new podcast on the life and witness of Dorothy Day, to learn from her how we too can live as servants and disciples of the nonviolent Jesus and proclaim the coming of God’s reign of peace, even in a bad time.
“Nonviolent resistance is the only sane solution,” she wrote during the war. “We have to continue to make our voice heard until we are finally silenced—and even then, in jail or concentration camp, to express ourselves. If there are not some who still hold this ideal, still speak in terms of the counsels of perfection, the ideal will be lost. I do not see why we must accept the inevitability of war. It was only in the last century that slavery was done away with here in this country, and I suppose that everybody thought it was something to be accepted. If we are working towards peace, we must look with hope that in a future generation, we will do away with war. With great suffering and great prayer, we are trying to hold up these ideals.” Listen in and be inspired!
Next week…
The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast welcomes Melissa Parke! For more information, visit here.
October 26, 2026 – This Week’s Episode
Episode #96, John Dear with Melissa Parke, Exec. Dir. of the Int’l Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
On today’s episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” John Dear speaks with Melisssa Parke, executive director of the Int’l Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, winner of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.Melissa Parke is the former Minister for International Development for Australia, where she’s from, and was a member of the Australian Parliament from 2007 to 2016. Prior to being elected to Parliament, she worked as an international lawyer with the United Nations in Kosovo, Gaza, New York and Lebanon from 1999 to 2007.
“ICAN, the Int’l Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (www.icanw.org) was started in Melbourne by a group of friends who sat around a small kitchen table to discuss what they could do to abolish nuclear weapons,” she says. “Today, through the work of ICAN, the United Nations’ Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has 101 nation signers. They are saying, ‘We do not accept that nuclear weapons are a legitimate security measure.’ We are working to stigmatize nuclear weapons until they are abolished.
“Most of the world’s problems today stem from humanity’s disconnection from nature and each other. We forget that we are all connected. What we do to each other and the planet we ultimately do to ourselves. Action is the antidote to a sense of helplessness. We all have a right to demand answers from our governments. We can each ask our local, city and state governments to join the Ban Treaty.” Listen in and be inspired!
Next week…
The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast welcomes Ken Butigan! 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
click here
John Dear’s New Book
Universal Love:
Surrendering to the God of Peace
By John Dear
For more information, click here
Available from www.orbisbooks.com or call 1-800-258-5838, or Amazon.com
“One of the people I respect most on this earth and whose winsome company I enjoy most is Fr. John Dear. In this short, valuable, and practical book, John shares his conversations with a young spiritual seeker named Will who came to him seeking spiritual guidance. As I read each chapter, I felt like I was meeting with John for coffee, sharing my struggles, and receiving his wisdom and encouragement.
This book is a treasure.”
This book is a treasure.”
— Brian McLaren, author of Faith After Doubt and The Last Voyage
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
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
Visit Fr. John Dear’s Work at:
The Beatitudes Center for the Nonviolent Jesus
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Free, weekly podcast: “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast“
Contact Fr. John Dear via the email or mailing address at: www.beatitudescenter.org