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 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.

This Week, 2 Special Episodes of the Nonviolent Jesus Podcast to Mark 9/11:

September 7, 2026

Episode #88 (Part 1 of 2), John Dear with Colleen Kelley, co-founder of Sept. 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows

On Sept. 7th, in Part 1 of 2, John Dear speaks with Colleen Kelley who lost who brother in the Sept. 11th attacks on the World Trade Center. A few years earlier, John had baptized Colleen’s daughter at a happy family event. On 9/11, 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 days afterwards, she met with other family members to seek nonviolent alternatives to the cycles of violence. They formed “September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows,” which has been nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize. These days, she continues to work with Peaceful Tomorrows in a variety of ways, including numerous visits to observe the military commissions at Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba. Visit: www.peacefultomorrows.org

September 10, 2026

Episode #89 (Part 2 of 2), John Dear’s Personal Experience at 9/11

On Sept. 10th, Part 2 of 2, we post Fr. John’s stories of being the Red Cross coordinator of chaplains after 9/11. He had been scheduled to have breakfast with his parents that morning in the restaurant on the top of the World Trade Center, but they changed their plans at the last minute. When he walked to help, the Red Cross asked him to become the local coordinator of the 550 chaplains at the Family Assistance Center where they served some 50,000 direct relatives of those who died in the two towers over the next three months. John also worked once or twice a week at Ground Zero, praying with and counseling rescue workers. He concludes with reflections about his work organizing protests against the Afghanistan war, and where we are 25 years later. Thank you for listening.

Upcoming Podcasts

September 10. #89. SPECIAL EXTRA EPISODE. John Dear on his experiences as the Red Cross Coordinator of Chaplain after 9/11
September 14. #90. John Dear with Fr. Greg Boyle on Homeboy Industries
September 21. #91. John Dear with Robert Jonas on Henri Nouwen
September 28. #92. John Dear with Dennis Kucinich on peace and nonviolence
October 5. #93. John Dear on Dorothy Day
October 12. #94. Melissa Parke, director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear weapons

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.

September 14. #90 John Dear with Fr. Greg Boyle

On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” John Dear speaks with 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, 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. (www.homeboyindustries.org)

John asks 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.

“I always say Jesus took four things seriously: inclusion; nonviolence;

unconditional loving-kindness; and compassionate acceptance. That’s what we’re trying to do, and to practice joy and fearlessness in the pursuit of these four things. We’re trying to see every single person as God sees them.

Greg says 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. God bless you.

Upcoming Podcasts

September 21. #91. John Dear with Robert Jonas on Henri Nouwen
September 28. #92. John Dear with Dennis Kucinich on peace and nonviolence
October 5. #93. John Dear on Dorothy Day
October 12. #94. Melissa Parke, director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear weapons