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!

To listen, click on any link below to hear a past podcast.

To hear the latest podcast, click on the most recent link at the bottom of the list.

Below that, you will see some of the platforms which also host it, including Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and Substack, as well as on the National Catholic Reporter.

On the next episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” which posts on Monday, Jan. 5th, we start the New Year on a positive note listening to Robert Ellsberg, the Publisher and Editor-in-chief of Orbis Books, talk about his latest book, Volume 2 of Blessed Among Us, a massive collection of beautifully written short descriptions of hundreds of saints, prophets, and witnesses. He’s become the world’s leading expert on the saints, and listening to him is inspiring and uplifting.

“I wanted to bring a different way of looking at the saints as normal human beings that looked for a new way to follow Christ,” he tells John Dear. “I wanted to expand peoples’ conception of holiness, to raise the question, ‘Aren’t there all kinds of ways to live the Beatitudes?’ I’ve always been inspired by visionaries, artists, writers, poets, and mystics of other times.”

Robert Ellsberg is the author of several award-winning books, including All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time; Blessed Among All Women; The Saints’ Guide to Happiness; and A Living Gospel: Reading God’s Story in Holy Lives. From 1975 to 1980 he was part of the Catholic Worker community in New York City, where he served as managing editor of The Catholic Worker and worked closely with Dorothy Day. He has edited six volumes of her writings, including Dorothy Day: Selected Writings; The Duty of Delight: The Diaries of Dorothy Day; All the Way to Heaven: The Selected Letters of Dorothy Day; and Dorothy Day: Spiritual Writings. He has written and edited many other volumes, including (with Sister Wendy Beckett) Dearest Sister Wendy: A Surprising Story of Faith and Friendship.

“A saint is somebody who reminds you of Jesus,” he tells John, “a model of inspiration. Dorothy Day said the saints were here to change the social order, not just minister to the people. She herself tried to practice the presence of God and the path to holiness through a social dimension, the power of small gestures, as well as small protest.” May this episode with Robert Ellsberg inspire you in the new year to follow the nonviolent Jesus more closely and live out the Beatitudes and the Gospel. God bless everyone!

Upcoming Podcasts

Jan. 12th. #54. John Dear in conversation with Charlene Howard of Pax Christi USA
Jan. 19th. #55. John Dear in conversation with Rev. Andrew Young on Dr. King
Jan. 26th. #56. John Dear in conversation with Mike Farrell of MASH
Feb. 2nd. #57. John Dear in conversation with Emily Yellin on Jim Lawson
Feb. 9th. #58. John Dear in conversation with Ched Myers on Luke
Feb. 16th. #59. John Dear in conversation with Ann Wright on war and peace
Feb. 23rd. #60. John Dear on his new book, “Universal Love” Part 1
March 2nd. #61. John Dear on his new book, “Universal Love” Part 2
March 9th. #62. John Dear in conversation with Amy Brooks Paradise on climate change
March 16th. #63. John Dear in conversation with Jonathan Kattub on Palestine

The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast

Posted Every Monday

To listen, click on any link below to hear past podcast.

To hear the latest podcast, click on the most recent link at the bottom of the list.

Below that, you will see some of the platforms which also host it, including Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and Substack, as well as on the National Catholic Reporter.

On this week’s episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” John Dear speaks with Charlene Howard, the executive director of Pax Christi USA, the national Catholic peace movement, about Pax Christi’s ongoing work for justice, disarmament and peace.

“One light can dispel the darkness,” Charlene says. “That’s what we’re trying to do—be a light in the darkness. There’s a lot of hard things happening in this country, but there’s a lot of light, too. Don’t be fooled into thinking that we are not gaining ground for the good and for peace, because we are.”

Charlene Howard is a lifelong Catholic, a catechist, and a longtime teacher in the Archdiocese of Washington Catholic Schools. She holds a master’s degree in Catechesis and Religious Education from Catholic University and is a graduate and former faculty member of the Institute for Black Catholic Studies Imani Catechetical Program at Xavier University of Louisiana.

We discuss organizing Pax Christi groups and actions, getting connected with other like-minded peace and justice church activists, taking on a variety of issues, and how we can practice and teach the nonviolence of Jesus. In the end, she encourages us to get involved and stay involved, and take to heart Pope Leo’s January 1, 2026 World Day of Peace message, “Peace Be With You All: Toward an Unarmed and Disarming Peace.” “The peace of the risen Jesus is unarmed, because his was an unarmed struggle in the midst of concrete historical, political and social circumstances,” Leo writes. “Christians must together bear prophetic witness to this novelty.” “Read it!” Charlene says, “and let’s speak truth to power!” Listen in and be inspired to pursue the peace of Christ!

For further information, visit www.paxchristiusa.org and Pope Leo’s World Day of Peace message here.

Upcoming Podcasts

Jan. 19th. #55. John Dear in conversation with Rev. Andrew Young on Dr. King
Jan. 26th. #56. John Dear in conversation with Mike Farrell of MASH
Feb. 2nd. #57. John Dear in conversation with Emily Yellin on Jim Lawson
Feb. 9th. #58. John Dear in conversation with Ched Myers on Luke
Feb. 16th. #59. John Dear in conversation with Ann Wright on war and peace
Feb. 23rd. #60. John Dear on his new book, “Universal Love” Part 1
March 2nd. #61. John Dear on his new book, “Universal Love” Part 2
March 9th. #62. John Dear in conversation with Amy Brooks Paradise on climate change
March 16th. #63. John Dear in conversation with Jonathan Kattub on Palestine