Welcome to the Beatitudes Center for the Nonviolent Jesus!
January 13, 2025
#2, Fr. John Dear in Conversation with Martin Sheen
This week’s guest is actor and activist Martin Sheen, one of our most celebrated, award-winning actors from movies such as “Apocalypse Now,” “Gandhi,” “Selma,” “The American President,” “Gettsyburg,” “The Way,” “Badlands,” and many more, and the star of the TV series, “The West Wing,” where he played President Bartlett. Martin is perhaps the most committed activist celebrity, who has been speaking out against war, injustice, homelessness, and nuclear weapons and advocating for justice, disarmament, and peace for over 4 decades. Fr. John will ask Martin about his activism, his understanding of Gospel nonviolence, and how his movies and activism have shaped his life and his peacemaking faith journey.
Next week…
The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast welcomes Bernard LaFayette! For more information, visit here.
January 20, 2025
#3, Fr. John Dear in conversation with Bernard LaFayette
This week’s guest is Dr. Bernard Lafayette, one of the great heroes and leaders of the Civil Rights Movement who was also Dr. King’s assistant. He is an activist and organizer who was part of the Nashville student movement with Rev. Jim Lawson, John Lewis and Diane Nash; one of the Freedom Riders; played a leading role in the Selma voting rights movement; and then served as Dr. King’s assistant until his death. He worked closely with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. An ordained Baptist minister, Bernard Lafayette later founded the Center for Peace and Nonviolence studies at the Univ. of Rhode Island which offers a wonderful summer institute each year on Kingian nonviolence, and has offered thousands of workshops and talks on Kingian nonviolence. They will discuss his journey and experience of Dr. King, as well his advice for practicing Kingian nonviolence.
Next week…
The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast welcomes John Dear! For more information, visit here.
Upcoming Zoom Programs:
“War Isn’t Over When It’s Over” with Kathy Kelly
Saturday January 25, 2025
11 am Pacific, 12 PM Mountain, 1 PM Central, 2 PM Eastern
“The Little Way of Merciful Love: Real-World Mentoring from St. Therese of Lisieux” with Marisa Guerin
Saturday February 8, 2025
11 am Pacific, 12 PM Mountain, 1 PM Central, 2 PM Eastern
“The Gospel According to John,” A Lenten Series with Fr. John Dear
Monday, March 10th. Session #1—4:00 PT/7 pm ET
Monday, March 17th. Session #2—4:00 PT/7 pm ET
Monday, March 24th. Session #3—4:00 PT/7 pm ET
Monday, March 31st. Session #4—4:00 PT/7 pm ET
Monday, April 7th. Session #5—4:00 PT/7 pm ET
Host Fr. John Dear on his 2024 Speaking Tour for his Forthcoming Orbis Book:
“The Gospel of Peace: A Commentary on Matthew, Mark and Luke from the Perspective of Nonviolence.”
For more info, click here
John Dear’s new book now available
“The Gospel of Peace:
Reading Matthew, Mark & Luke
from the Perspective of Nonviolence”
To invite John Dear to speak in your city, write to: john@beatitudescenter.org
Sign up to receive the Beatitudes Center Newsletter
We promise we will NOT share or sell your information to any 3rd party advertisers.
LATEST NEWS FROM THE BEATITUDES CENTER
Quote for the Day:
“The wolf shall live with the lamb; the leopard shall lie down with the kid. The calf and the lion will feed together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the
adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the God of peace as the waters cover the sea.”
(Isaiah 11:6–9)
Quote for the Day:
“I am called in the Word of God — as is everyone else — to the vocation of being human, nothing more and nothing less … To be a Christian
means to be called to be an exemplary human being. And to be a Christian categorically does not mean being religious. Indeed, all religious versions of the gospel are profanities. In the face of death, live humanly. In the middle of chaos, celebrate the Word. Amidst Babel, speak the truth. Confront the noise and verbiage and falsehood of death with the truth and potency and efficacy of the Word of God. Know the Word, teach the Word, nurture the Word, preach the Word, define the Word, incarnate the Word, do the Word, live the Word. And more than that, in the Word of God, expose death and all death’s works and wiles, rebuke lies,
cast out demons, exorcise, cleanse the possessed,
raise those who are dead in mind and conscience.”
–William Stringfellow
January 20, 2025
Dear friends, blessings of Christ’s peace and hope to you!
It’s Martin Luther King, Jr. day and inauguration day, and though we’re sinking deeper in our national and global crisis, with crisis comes opportunity to turn things around. So it’s all hands on deck. Time to redouble our efforts in the global grassroots movement of nonviolence for justice, disarmament, and creation, as Jesus and Dr. King showed us, and do what we can to awaken humanity to the wisdom and practice of peace.
This Saturday, Jan. 25th, I invite you to listen to my friend activist, author, and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Kathy Kelly who has spent her life in the cause of peace and disarmament, traveling back and forth to the warzones of Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza–and the U.S. prison system. She will reflect on her experiences with the victims of war and encourage us remain awake in this dark night, to pursue the light of peace and fulfill our vocation to be public peacemakers. I hope with Kathy that we can keep on speaking out in churches, schools, local communities, and the media against our nation’s wars, weapons sales, nuclear threats, and fossil fuel industry, and lift up nonviolent alternatives and the vision of a more just, more nonviolent world.