The Nonviolent Jesus

This episode is dedicated to the victims of September 11, 2001, and to the countless families whose lives were forever altered by that day.
As we reflect on a message of profound peace, healing, and the pursuit of a nonviolent world, we pause to honor the memory of those we lost. May their legacies inspire us to reach across divides, comfort those who mourn, and work tirelessly toward a future defined by compassion, reconciliation, and enduring peace.
This week, I’m offering two special episodes of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast” to commemorate 9/11.
Earlier, on Monday, I posted Part 1 of 2, my conversation with my friend Colleen Kelley, co-founder of Sept. 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows.
Today, in Part 2 of 2, I share my own experience as the Red Cross coordinator of chaplains after 9/11.
As some of you know, I was scheduled to have breakfast with my parents that morning in the restaurant on the top of the World Trade Center, but they changed their plans at the last minute. I went down to help and was asked very quickly by the Red Cross to become the local coordinator of all the 550 chaplains at the Family Assistance Center where we served some 50,000 direct relatives of those who died in the two towers over the next three months. I also worked once or twice a week at Ground Zero, praying with and counseling rescue workers.
I tell about the many people I met, such as Neil, a Long Island Catholic, who came to the Center clutching a bag of hairs snatched from his missing brother-in-law’s comb, as DNA evidence. While he was filling out the paper, he was told his relative’s body was found. I prayed with him before he called his sister to tell her.
I also share stories of the many rescue workers I met at Ground Zero, such as the fireman who came scrambling down the smoking seven story Pile, ran up to me and said, “Father, quick, give me your blessing. I’m digging for my best friend.” Or the one who ran up to me and begged, “Father, please, teach me how to pray. We found the body of my friend yesterday, and I don’t know what to do.”
I conclude with reflections about my work organizing protests against the Afghanistan war, and where we are 25 years later. Thank you for listening.
PS. For the full story, read my autobiography, "A Persistent Peace."
beatitudescenter.org
johndear.org
Find me on Substack https://fatherjohndear.substack.com/
Onward in peace with the nonviolent Jesus!
🌻, God bless you, Fr. John

This week The Nonviolent Jesus podcast brings 2 special episodes:
Today (part 1 of 2), I speak with my friend Colleen Kelly, who lost her brother in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center. A few years earlier, I had baptized Colleen’s daughter at a very happy family event.
On Thursday’s episode, (part 2 of 2), I’ll share my own stories as the Red Cross coordinator of chaplains at Ground Zero. You can also read more stories about this period of my life in my book "A Persistent Peace".
On September 11th, 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 awful days afterwards, she met with other family members to seek nonviolent alternatives to the cycles of violence, and to enhance civilian protection.
They formed “September 11th Families For Peaceful Tomorrows,” which has been nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize. Its name comes from the Martin Luther King Jr.’s quote, "Wars make poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows."
These days, she continues to work with Peaceful Tomorrows in a variety of ways, including the pursuit of justice and accountability for the death of Bill and nearly 3000 others, by numerous visits to observe the military commissions at Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba.
Colleen talks about her brother, the founding of “Peaceful Tomorrows,” her trips to Guantanamo, and their work marching for and promoting peace, even in Afghanistan.
We also talk about her amazing mother, who told me as we left Ground Zero how she felt about the bombing of Afghanistan, words that have stayed with me to this very day.
For the 25th anniversary, Colleen is organizing a peace walk on Sept. 10th from Union Square to Ground Zero where they will hold an evening vigil. www.peacefultomorrows.org
“Nonviolence is what Jesus taught and it is hard to believe but until we all truly believe it and make that leap, we are stuck in this inhuman world,” she says.
Listen in and be inspired!
God bless you,
🌻 Fr. John

One of the key prophets, saints, teachers and models for me is Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador who was assassinated while saying Mass in San Salvador on March 24, 1980.
I lived and worked in a refugee camp in 1985, and traveled back nearly twenty times, including his beatification Mass in San Salvador. To me, he is the epitome of the modern day prophet who denounces war, poverty, and killing, calls people to be converted to the nonviolent Jesus, and announces the coming of God’s reign of justice, disarmament and peace.
On this episode I speak with Professor Todd Walatka of Notre Dame, author of a new book, “Words of Life: The Preaching of St. Oscar Romero.”
Todd Walatka teaches about Catholic theology after Vatican II, Latin American theology, Catholic social teaching, and Christian spirituality. He is also the editor of Óscar Romero and Catholic Social Teaching, which examines the life of Romero in light of contemporary work for justice and human development.
“If you hear Romero's words or know anything about his life, you immediately think, ‘This is the gospel!’” Todd says. “Romero asked us: ‘What is the Good News today? What does it demand of our very lives today? Romero truly believed that the Word of God can change our lives.”
Discover more about Saint Oscar Romero here:
orbisbooks.org
beatitudescenter.org
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93scar_Romero
Come join me on Substack: https://substack.com/@fatherjohndear
🌻, John

On this episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with Tim Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics, a global movement to end discrimination against people with intellectual disabilities. Tim expanded the organization from one million athletes to over six million athletes in more than 170 countries around the world.
After passing on the CEO torch, he wondered how the spirit of the athletes of Special Olympics might provide a model for our divided world. He started a conversation with hundreds of young people, faith leaders, educators, philosophers, scientists, activists and political figures on how we might reclaim our common humanity.
He formed the nonprofit UNITE which uses what he calls the “Dignity Index,” a new tool to help Americans disagree without demonizing each other.
Tim went to Yale, got his Master's degree from Catholic University, and a Doctorate in Education from the University of Connecticut. Before joining the Special Olympics in 1996, he co-founded and currently chairs the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), the leading school reform organization in the field of social and emotional learning (SEL).
On the side, he is a Hollywood producer of several films including “Amistad.”
He is coauthor of “Fully Alive – Discovering What Matters Most,” and co-editor of “The Call to Unite: Voices of Hope and Awakening.” In May, Notre Dame awarded him the Laetare Medal.
“My parents were innovation machines,” Tim tells me. “They were problem solvers.”
His mother started the Special Olympics by asking, "'What if we just spoke each others' language and ate each others’ food?’" That was peace-building.
Last year the volunteer army of human goodness created 80,000 Special Olympics events.
"Go to an event! There's a recognizable presence of human dignity and therefore divine energy. There's a different vibrational field. The Special Olympics is a peacemaking movement.” www.specialolympics.org
When I ask Tim about Unite and the Dignity Index, he says it’s based on the insight that “our problems are not based on our differences but how we treat each other when we differ. When we treat each other with dignity, we have a good chance of solving our problems. We try to learn how to treat each other with dignity and reduce contempt.”
Listen in as Tim describes various ways to respond to others in keeping with human dignity. God bless you!
🌻, John
beatitudescenter.org
Meet me over on Substack https://fatherjohndear.substack.com/
www.dignity.us
www.timothyshriver.com

This week I speak with David Beckmann, former president of Bread for the World, one of the best groups fighting poverty in the world (www.bread.org).
His many books include: Eden Revival; The Overseas List; Grace at the Table; Exodus from Hunger, and his latest book, “Poverty Abolitionists: Faith, activism, and Hope for Difficult Times. www.davidbeckmann.org
“In recent decades, the world has made dramatic progress against poverty. But now, the second Trump administration has pushed that progress into full reverse. I'm so appalled that we are systematically dismantling things that are important to the poor in the U.S. and the world. It's certainly possible to end poverty where starvation and malnutrition exist. We don't have to have millions of kids go without food in the U.S., yet we do.
“The most progressive community in the U.S. are atheists - they are not waiting for God to solve the world's problems. Our hope is built on Jesus' promise of the kingdom of God, but we have to do our share and advocate for justice and an end to poverty,” he says.
In the end, he calls us to “seek and form loving, justice-seeking churches; to think critically about our faith and the work to end poverty; and to open our hearts to God's universal, forgiving love. Those who imagine a loving, forgiving God—not a violent, punishing god--are more inclined to work for justice and the end of poverty.”
Listen in and be inspired to join the movement to abolish poverty!
www.beatitudescenter.org
Come join me on Substack: https://fatherjohndear.substack.com/
www.davidbeckmann.org
www.bread.org
🌻, John