Fr. John Dear and the Beatitudes Center has several upcoming events that will be of interest to Pax Christi members. Use this link to see the list of upcoming episodes of the Nonviolent Jesus podcast.
Zoom programs
Each program listed below will last 90 minutes, starting at 11 AM Pacific/2 PM Eastern. Cost is $30 each (scholarships are available!). Participants will be sent a zoom link on the Wednesday before the event. A recording will be available two days after the event.
Cancellation policy: Refunds will not be honored after the zoom link is sent out. If you have any questions, please email Kassandra at beatitudescentermb@gmail.com.
Saturday, September 27: From violence to wholeness: The spirituality and practice of active nonviolence, with Dr. Ken Butigan
Thirty years ago, Ken wrote and published a ground-breaking booklet, From Violence to Wholeness: The Spirituality and Practice of Active Nonviolence, which could be used as a 10-week program or a guidebook for an intensive weekend workshop to explore nonviolence as a creative, powerful, and effective process for addressing and resolving the conflicts in our lives and in the world.
Thirty years later, tens of thousands of people have taken this workshop, bought the book, and learned the fine art of active nonviolence through Ken and this book. On this program, Fr. John asks Ken to walk through the basics of this introduction to the spirituality and practice of nonviolence. Participants are encouraged to order a copy of the book at www.paceebene.org so they can help guide others in a local group through the process.
Ken is a leader with the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative, a global effort to help the Vatican fully adopt the vision of Gospel nonviolence and implement it on a global scale. He is the author of several books, including Nonviolent Lives and Pilgrimage Through a Burning World.
>>Use this link to register for the September 27 event with Ken Butigan.
Saturday, October 25: Hope in the face of a fascist threat, with Sr. Simone Campbell
Simone Campbell, SSS, is a religious leader, attorney, author and recipient of a 2022 Presidential Medal of Freedom (the United States’ highest civilian honor). She has extensive experience in public policy rooted in the lived experiences of people at the economic margins of society. She currently is an Emerson Elder with the Emerson Collective focusing on political healing.
For 17 years she was executive director of NETWORK. Her healthcare policy work was seminal in passage of the Affordable Care Act. She has received numerous awards including the “Defender of Democracy Award” from the Parliamentarians for Global Action. Prior to Washington, this native Californian did state advocacy and for 18 years was the founder of the Oakland Community Law Center. She also has served as the leader of her religious community and now serves on their governing Council. Her two award winning books are A Nun on the Bus (2014) and Hunger for Hope (2020).
She will reflect on how faith supports action in a world in great need of both. The chaotic individualism of these difficult times demands a prayer practice, she explains, that summons a prophetic response in community with those who are marginalized in our fractured economic system and broken world. She will call us to the quest for a justice that works for all, as a way to be “holy” in today’s world.
>>Use this link to register for the October 25 event with Simone Campbell.
Saturday, November 15: Exploring the mystical dimensions of the peace of God that surpasses understanding, with Jim Finley
Fr. John welcomes back the revered teacher of contemplation and mysticism, Jim Finley. A student of Thomas Merton and clinical psychologist, Jim Finley teaches how connecting to our Divine indwelling can transcend fear and shame and awaken to our True Self. A faculty member at Living School at the Center for Action and Contemplation, Jim hosts a widely popular podcast, “Turning to the Mystics.” He is author of several bestsellers, such as Merton’s Palace of Nowhere, The Awakening Call, and The Contemplative Heart, and recently published his memoir, The Healing Path.
In his talk he will reflect on God as infinite peace and how prayer and meditation are a doorway to God and infinite peace, but they preclude all violence.
>>Use this link to register for the November 15 event with Jim Finley.
Saturday, December 20, The theology of the Incarnation of the God of Peace in a world of war, with Elizabeth Johnson
In this conversation, Fr. John will ask Sr. Elizabeth Johnson about the meaning incarnation and Christmas, the nativity story from Luke, especially how the angels announced to poor shepherds the coming of peace on earth in Jesus, and what it might mean for us today to be people of the incarnation of the God of peace among the poor, the marginalized, the homeless, the refugees and all those hoping for justice and peace.
Sr. Elizabeth A. Johnson, CSJ is distinguished professor of theology emerita at Fordham University in New York City. A former president of the Catholic Theological Society of America and also of the American Theological Society, an ecumenical association, she loves to teach and mentor. Following her retirement, she was inducted into Fordham University’s Hall of Honor. The recipient of many accolades, she authored She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse which received the Grawemeyer Award in Religion. Among her many other books are Come Have Breakfast; Quest for the Living God: Mapping Frontiers in the Theology of God; and Ask the Beasts: Darwin and the God of Love.
>>Use this link to register for the December 20 event with Elizabeth Johnson.
The Nonviolent Jesus podcast
September 15: On today’s episode, Fr. John offers a reflection on the life and lessons of Mahatma Gandhi, India’s great independence leader and the world’s foremost teacher of active nonviolence on a national, global scale. Fr. John has studied Gandhi for 45 years, and considers Gandhi, whose teachings are well worth studying and pursuing today, one of the greatest followers of the nonviolent Jesus in the last two centuries.
Last week, September 8, the podcast offered an interview with Prof. Stanley Hauerwas, one of the preeminent theologians and ethicists in the US.
Upcoming podcasts include:
- September 22: Archbishop John Wester on his trip to Hiroshima
- September 29: John Fugelsang on his new book, “Separation of Church and Hate”
- October 6: Paul Chappell on “Peace Literacy”
- October 13: John Dear on “Jesus and the Things that Make for Peace”
The podcast episodes are posted on Mondays at the National Catholic Reporter website, Apple podcasts, Spotify, and many other major platforms including YouTube. They are posted to the Beatitudes Center website between 8 AM-9 AM PST.