“To be hopeful Is to touch the pain of the world”

This week we hear part 2 of my conversation with Sr. Simone Campbell, one of the strongest voices, organizers, and leaders for social and economic justice in the United States.

Sister of Social Service, Sr. Simone is a religious leader, attorney, author and recipient of the 2022 Presidential Medal of Freedom.

For 17 years she was executive director of NETWORK, the national Catholic Lobby for Social Justice and the leader of “Nuns on the Bus.”

Her healthcare policy work was critical in the passing of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Before that, she spent 18 years working at the Oakland Community Law Center which she founded.

I ask her about the section in her newest book, Hunger for Hope, where she writes about the importance of “prophetic imagination.” For Simone, community is the best way to nurture prophetic imagination.

She recites Walter Bruggemann’s five characteristics:

1. Long and available memory;
2. Touching the reality of the pain;
3. Living in hope;
4. 4. Effective discourse across generations and cultures;
5. The capacity to sustain long term tension with the dominant culture, and the potential for insight and imagination.

She shares with us about the connection between hope and community, and her daily Zen practice which she calls "deep listening":

"My practice begins every morning. I have a half hour of Zen sitting, being quiet and opening myself. I call it, ‘Deep listening to the divine.’ There, things can bubble up.

I follow this with a half hour of spiritual reading. I have to feel secure in myself to be willing to open myself to other peoples’ points of view.

If I'm riled up, I can't do this work, so I need my practice. If we're going to create change, it's required that we understand what’s going on inside us if we want to understand others.”

She gives us insights into her religious community that is dedicated to the Holy Spirit and what Pentecost means to her:

"I need to be able to listen well enough so that what I might say will touch the other. I love being on fire. It's so exciting.”

“Hope,” she concludes, “is critically connected to touching the pain of the world as real. It demands a response.”

Listen in and be inspired by this legendary voice of social and economic justice!

Visit www.networklobby.org

beatitudescenter.org

“Everyone has a piece of the work of justice to do, so what’s yours?” Sr. Simone Campbell asks.

This week I speak with Sr. Simone Campbell, one of the strongest voices, organizers, and leaders for social and economic justice in the U.S.

A Sister of Social Service, Sr. Simone is a religious leader, attorney, author, and recipient of the 2022 Presidential Medal of Freedom.

For 17 years, she was executive director of NETWORK, the national Catholic Lobby for Social Justice and the leader of “Nuns on the Bus.”

Her healthcare policy work was critical in the passing of the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare.” Before that, she spent 18 years working at the Oakland Community Law Center which she founded.

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).

In part 1 of this 2 part conversation, I ask her about the growing authoritarianism and fascism under Trump, and her journey to the Oakland law center, to NETWORK, and to organizing for the Affordable Care Act.

“We have a two party system, and what we’re experiencing is the end of the Republican party,” she says at the beginning. Now, in this crisis, “we have to learn how to talk to each other and find the best practices to be engaged and talk to each other, and listen to one another. We have a lot of work to do!”

She was radicalized with her younger sister in 1965 while watching TV when the children in Birmingham were fire-hosed and attacked by dogs for marching for an end to segregation.

“I was horrified but motivated by that. From then on, the gospel and Jesus were always connected with justice. After my sister died of cancer, I picked up her spirit and decided to carry on the journey for justice and have her with me along the way.

She shares with us how NETWORK has grown in the more than 50 years since it was established in 1972:

"It was founded by Catholic sisters in 1972 to be a network of Catholic sisters around the country to do advocacy for economic justice and environmental issues, to bring the voices of real people to inform pending legislation.”

She tells how the work of the sisters became the tipping point to pass the Affordable Care Act, which is under assault right now by the Republicans in the current government shutdown.

When asked how she has maintained her work for justice over decades, she tells of her contemplative practice which she calls "deep listening".

"With curiosity, deep listening, and sharing stories, we can build community and new connections. The gospels are full of Jesus' curiosity,” she says. “It's the invitation that creates the weaving of community.”

Listen in to part one of this conversation and be inspired to carry on the work of justice with Sr. Simone! See: www.networklobby.org

www.beatitudescenter.org

“What if we taught peace as a skill set, as a life-saving literacy, with as much rigor as we teach reading and writing?” asks Paul Chappell

This week on “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with Paul Chappell, an international peace educator and founder of Peace Literacy.

A former military captain, he realized that we all need to as well-trained in waging peace as soldiers are in waging war, so he created Peace Literacy to help students and adults from all backgrounds work toward their full potential and a more peaceful world.

Paul is the author of a six books: Will War Ever End?; The End of War; Peaceful Revolution; The Art of Waging Peace; The Cosmic Ocean; and Soldiers of Peace. He focuses on three questions: What if people were as well trained in waging peace as soldiers are in waging war? What if people were trained to address root causes of problems rather than symptoms? What if we taught peace as a skill set, as a life-saving literacy, with as much rigor as we teach reading and writing?

“Peace Literacy teaches that peace is not merely as a goal, but a practical skill-set – a literacy like reading and writing – that needs to be taught and practiced from pre-K through higher education.

“Humans have a natural aversion to hurting and killing others,” he says. “Military history shows us that dehumanization is used to keep the mind from feeling guilty or remorseful. Nonviolence refutes all the stereotypes of dehumanization.

We try to help rehumanize people with social interaction, storytelling and art, and nonviolence skills. We offer new curriculums about peace for every grade; skills to teach peace by our example; and how to use one’s culture to create a new culture of peace and nonviolence

“People don't know the basic skills of nonviolence that will help them in their daily lives--at work, home, school, with addiction, and every other situation. If we don't teach people peace literacy and nonviolence, then we're actively teaching people the opposite.

“The idea that peace is inevitable is dangerous,” he adds. “We have to do something to help push humanity in that direction. Teaching peace is necessary for human survival. The education and practice of nonviolence has to involve a deeper knowing, a deep knowing down to our bones, and that process takes a lot of effort.

“I think there are explainable causes for why we're doing what we're doing and that there is a path that can lead us out of that. If we can teach the building blocks of peace to young children, we can help people internalize peace and nonviolence and live the ideals of peace.” Listen in to this true peace educator, and be inspired by his campaign to teach peace!

Check out www.peaceliteracy.org

beatitudescenter.org

I can imagine Jesus lamenting today: "America, America, you who bomb children, execute people, and prepare nuclear warfare, how many times I yearned to gather your children together…but you were unwilling. If this day you only knew the things that make for peace!"

This week on “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I reflect on Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem (Luke 19) where he breaks down sobbing saying, “If this day you only learned the things that make for peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.”

Written shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E., Luke describes how everyone had been blinded by violence and hatred, and how it led to their complete destruction by the empire.

Had they taken Jesus’ teachings to heart, loved their enemies, turned the other cheek, and joined his grassroots nonviolent revolution, Jerusalem and its inhabitants would have survived.

We too have not learned the things that make for peace: Jerusalem has now become the whole world. We cut funding for schools, jobs, housing, healthcare, poverty relief, and environmental cleanup, but spend billions—trillions!—for permanent warfare and nuclear weapons. We support warfare in Gaza, Ukraine and Africa, but with our 13,000 nuclear weapons and catastrophic climate change upon us, we are closer to total destruction than ever.

The Sermon on the Mount catalogues a long to-do list for peace, love, nonviolence, and justice.

These days, that also means we must unlearn the things that make for war. If the world is to survive, the days of war have to come to an end.

You and I want to do what others were not able to do, to learn from the nonviolent Jesus the things that make for peace. If we learn the things that make for peace and unlearn the things that make for war, then we can be a leading force in the global grassroots movement for the abolition of nuclear weapons, war, and the causes of war.

We want to be people who learn the things that make for peace and teach them far and wide. That means we have to learn how to weep with Jesus over the world and then go forward and take action.

We grieve over our wars, weapons, corporate greed, injustice, and environmental destruction. And with Jesus, we walk into our own modern-day Jerusalems and act and speak for disarmament, justice, and peace.

May we all choose to learn from Jesus the things that make for peace and join his never-ending peace movement.

Weep. Grieve. Mourn. Then go forward! Take action!

Let us follow the nonviolent Jesus as we learn the Things that Make for Peace!

beatitudescenter.com

This week on “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with John Fugelsang, actor, comedian, talk show host, and author of the new book, Separation of Church & Hate: A Sane Person's Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds (Simon and Schuster).

The son of a former Franciscan brother and a nun, John Fugelsang acted on CSI, has appeared on MSNBC and CNN, and has hosted many TV shows and podcasts, including VH1 shows with Paul McCartney and the final public appearance of George Harrison.

He has debated Jerry Falwell and David Duke, been picketed by the Westboro Baptist Church, and hosted the radio series Tell Me Everything on SiriusXM (where he once welcomed John Dear). His PBS road trip film on the American Dream, called Dream On, was named Best Documentary at the New York Independent Film Festival. He currently hosts the John Fugelsang podcast.

John explains why he wrote this book and who it is for; "I’ve learned that we don't have to hate or fight Christian nationalists; share the words of God and Jesus with them and let them argue with God and Jesus".

"Tele-evangelists didn't tell me to love my enemies; instead, they told me who my enemies are. Christian nationalism is just about power. It’s about their club being on top and imposing their version of Christianity on us all. They use Jesus as camouflage. Why should I listen to Trump and Stephen Miller and reject the words of Jesus?"

He exposes prosperity gospel as dangerous, victim blaming junk theology that has nothing to do with Christ's teachings, and explains how we can go forward in the age of Trump.

At one point he reflects with great empathy and compassion on Charlie Kirk, the far right Christian nationalist who was recently assassinated in Utah, who had challenged him in the past: "I made so many mistakes, I said so many things i thought were righteous, and powerful, and strong, that were actually cruel and stupid, Charlie Kirk never got to grow old, see how wrong he was, and change his position. I have.”

John compares so-called "Jesus fans and followers" without being "Christ followers" with a Rolling Stones cover band, and explains what Jesus' favorite issue was and why it is like Eric Clapton's "Layla" in his setlist.

John takes the words of Jesus seriously, and he concludes with a powerful message: Jesus is breaking every cycle of violence. Love is the only religion that works. That’s what we have to do, he says: "practice the teachings of Jesus, love our enemies, make peace and reconcile with one another."

"We need people willing to take a punch in the name of love".

Listen in to this thought-provoking conversation and learn more at www.johnfugelsang.com

beatitudescenter.org

This week I speak with Archbishop John Wester of New Mexico about his pilgrimage of peace last month to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, for the 80th anniversary of the US atomic bombing, and his ground-breaking work of reconciliation with the bishops and church in Japan.

Archbishop John Wester became Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2015 after serving as bishop of Salt Lake City, and before that, auxiliary bishop of San Francisco. His January 11th, 2022, pastoral letter called, “Living in the Light of Christ’s Peace: A Conversation Toward Nuclear Disarmament” is the first official document in US Church history calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. To read it visit www.archdiosf.org

He tells about his first visit to Hiroshima a few years ago, and returning home to Santa Fe and seeing the place where the scientists worked on the actual Hiroshima bomb.

“We commemorate this anniversary,” he continues, “so that it will never happen again. We’re not just commemorating the past but trying to preserve the future.” During his meetings with the Japanese bishops and other church leaders, he and others launched a new organization, “A Partnership for a World Without Nuclear Weapons,” www.pwnw.org to promote solidarity and cooperation between the Japanese and American church for nuclear disarmament. This is something that has never happened until now. It’s a real sign of hope.

He quotes Omar Bradley: “Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount.”

Wester shares with me who he thinks changed the whole discourse on nuclear weapons in the Catholic Church, and even said that possessing nuclear weapons is immoral.

And he says in no uncertain terms how we have "become inured to war, violence and starvation. Over 60,000 have died in Gaza; we read about, sip some coffee and go on with our daily business. We have to join our voices with others to get rid of nuclear weapons and end our wars.”

He recalls some statistics that should give us pause regarding what the results of a nuclear war would be and how our nuclear arms race is worse than ever.

There is hope as Wester explains who is behind all the peace movements. Listen in and be inspired by this prophetic leader for nuclear disarmament!

www.pwnw.org

archdiosf.org

beatitudescenter.org

On this week’s episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I share 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.

I’ve been a student of Gandhi for 45 years, and studied his collected works for my own anthology, Mohandas Gandhi: Essential Writings (Orbis, 2002).

I consider Gandhi one of the greatest followers of the nonviolent Jesus in the last two centuries, whose teachings are well worth studying and pursuing today.

Listen why I propose that Gandhi was not born Gandhi, but had to become Gandhi.

That life long journey of transformation takes single-minded, concentrated effort to allow God to disarm us, change us and fashion us into people of universal love and Gospel nonviolence.

In this episode, I outline the chronology of his life, and then discuss various basic lessons. I recall at one point his statement during the 1922 trial, when he said, “Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as cooperation with good.” I share how Rev. Ignacio Ellacuria, president of the Jesuit University in El Salvador who was later assassinated with five other Jesuits in 1989, told me something similar when I first met him in 1985. “If you want to be for the reign of God, we have learned in El Salvador, you have to also be against the anti-reign of evil.”

I suggest a new understanding of morality and ethics: In a world of institutionalized, systemic evil, it’s not enough to be a good person or to try to do ‘the good.’ We also have to stand up publicly against evil and resist it. We can’t just be for peace; we also have to be against each and every specific war.

“Nonviolence means avoiding injury to anything on earth in thought, word or deed,” Gandhi wrote early on in South Africa. Over the years, as he gained more experience, he concluded that “Devotion to nonviolence is the highest expression of humanity’s conscious state…Nonviolence is the greatest and most active force in the world… One person who can express nonviolence in life exercises a force superior to all the forces of brutality.

My optimism rests on my belief in the infinite possibilities of the individual to develop nonviolence. The more you develop it in your own being, the more infectious it becomes till it overwhelms your surroundings and by and by might oversweep the world.”

We too have to become our ideal selves before God, change ourselves and strive to become the peacemakers we were created to be, to become the people of nonviolence stuck in a culture of violence.

Listen in and see what you think about Gandhi’s steadfast, persistent insistence on truth, nonviolence and peace.

www.beatitudescenter.org

Note: Share this podcast with others to celebrate International Peace Day on Sunday, September 21st.

This week I speak with world renown theologian and ethicist Professor Stanley Hauerwas. In 2001, TIME magazine named him “America’s greatest theologian.” He taught for years at the University of Notre Dame, before moving to Duke University where he was the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological ethics at Duke Divinity School. He also served at Duke Law School, and the University of Aberdeen. He has lectured around the world, and has been featured on “Oprah.”

Stanley has written too many books to list, but his bestsellers include, “The Peaceable Kingdom: A Primer in Christian Ethics;” “Jesus Changes Everything: A New World Made Possible;” “Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony;” and “Cross-shattered Christ: Meditations on the 7 last words.”

Retired at 85 now, he continues to inspire and encourage us with his knowledge of and insights on nonviolence.

“When I grew up, I didn’t know what nonviolence was. That’s because I’m from Texas,” he says with a chuckle. “I went to Notre Dame to teach Catholics and ended up being shaped by Mennonites. I discovered that Jesus and the church were mutually interrelated. To worship Jesus is to bring to the world a witness of nonviolence that otherwise could not be seen.”

He reveals to us who Jesus is in a word, and that word being more powerful than we realize. In his words: "It raises questions that demands responses.”

“To be a worshipper of Christ is to be shaped by a cross that is a manifestation of God's love of our enemy. We must say ‘You can kill us, but you cannot determine the meaning of our death.’

The cross is a challenge to people who say 'Jesus is my Lord and Savior, but you have to kill someone every once in a while.’”

We discussed the great book The Politics of Jesus by his colleague John Howard Yoder, as well as the Kingdom of God, God’s will, and living the way Jesus intended.

He continues to eradicate false perceptions of what nonviolence is and is not, and how Jesus himself recreated community to bind people together to make God's kingdom real:

"The politics of Jesus exposed the false alternatives that claim to be peaceable but are in fact structural in their violence. God's will is to live in a world without violence. God's grace is always there making possible alternatives that would not be there without God's presence.”

He concludes, “God is patient with us in terms of our unfaithfulness in a way that gives us hope in a world that seems hopeless. In a world that has no time for patience, patience creates time and makes it possible for us to live our lives and work for nonviolent alternatives that otherwise would not be considered.”

Reignite your imagination, be inspired and encouraged by this wise Christian elder.

Check out: Stanleyhauerwas.org

beatitudescenter.org