The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast

Posted Every Monday

The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast is a free, weekly thirty-minute podcast, posted on every Monday, featuring Fr. John Dear and his reflections about Jesus, Gospel nonviolence, and peacemaking, and guests who teach, speak out, organize and work for a more just, most peaceful, more nonviolent world. Through these weekly reflections, we hope to inspire everyone to follow the nonviolent Jesus more faithfully and do our part to welcome God’s reign of peace with justice on earth!

Here is the schedule for the first five podcasts. The link we will provided on the day they are posted; the podcast APP will be available in early February. It will also be posted every Monday on the homepage of the National Catholic Reporter, HERE.

“Nuclear weapons are not on people’s hearts. We are reminding people that nuclear weapons are still here and threatening the planet. They’re not going to disarm themselves. We need to do that!”

This week, John Dear talks with Frida Berrigan, peace activist, author and mother. She is the daughter of legendary activists Philip Berrigan and Elizabeth McAlister, and niece of Daniel Berrigan. She grew up at Jonah House, a community in Baltimore of permanent nonviolent resistance to war and nuclear weapons. They protested full-time for decades. Her housemates were regularly arrested and jailed, including her parents.

In 2015, Frida published her book, It Runs in the Family: On Being Raised by Radicals and Growing into Rebellious Motherhood, about growing up in the Berrigan family. She has worked for years at the World Policy Institute studying U.S. military policy and nuclear weapons. She also cofounded Witness against Torture, a campaign calling for the closure of Guantanamo Bay detention center and the end of U.S. backed use of torture and continues to write, organize and speak out for justice and disarmament.

“The times call for us to be in the streets for every issue under the sun–including nuclear abolition,” she says. “This 80th anniversary of Hiroshima on August 6th is particularly important because we need to be speaking in the voice of the Hibakusha, the atomic bomb survivors, who are dying out. We need to say with them, ‘Never Again.’

“My parents never sugar coated anything for us,” she says. “They let it be known to us that any change we wanted to see in the world, we had to make ourselves. And if we didn’t see the change, it was still worth doing what we could. We always knew that it was our responsibility to bear witness and resist as much as possible. Check out Frida Berrigan’s stories and call to resistance, and be inspired to go forward working for disarmament, justice, and peace!

Upcoming Podcasts

June 23rd, #25. John Dear in conversation with Michael Nagler
June 30th, #26. John Dear in conversation with Kathy Kelly
July 7th, #27. John Dear in conversation with Cornel West
July 14th, #28. John Dear in conversation with Art Laffin
July 21st, #29. John Dear in conversation with Michele Dunne

The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast

Posted Every Monday

This week, John Dear talks Matthew Fox, world reknown theologian, Episcopal priest, long-time activist for justice and creation, and author of many best-selling books including Original Blessing, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, A Spirituality Named Compassion, and The Hidden Spirituality of Men.

“We’re living through a dark night of our species, our society, and our souls,” he says. “We’re in the middle of a coup. American democracy is being hijacked in the name of authoritarianism by the billionaires. This movement that is culminating in Trump began over 40 years ago; it’s gathered racism, revenge and resentment. Project 2025 has 18 points that are obviously anti-Christ, but we don’t talk about evil; we talk about sin. These are spiritual forces–racism, sexism, unbridled greed (capitalism). They are names for evil spirits.

“There’s a difference between sin and evil,” he teaches. “We have to be strong to resist fear and evil spirits. The opposite of evil is not good; it is ‘the Sacred.’ It operates in the level of spirit.

“Abraham Heschel said the primary work of the prophet is ‘to interfere,’” Matthew Fox says. “We need to interfere! We also need a spirituality of falling in love with life. We have to love life, and how beautiful the world is. That’s what we have to drink in and fill up on. We should be able to unite around gratitude for our existence. We’ve got to fill up on joy and celebration as well as resisting and saying no to evil.

When I asked about nonviolence, he said, Nonviolence begins with ourselves. We’re all carrying the seeds of violence and nonviolence. We need to nurture the seeds of nonviolence in us and contribute to nurturing the seeds of nonviolence in others. Listen in for wisdom and encouragement to deepen both your spirituality and your resistance!