Before Holy Week, a look at Zechariah's nonviolent king

What witness it would be if the Catholic church refused to send military chaplains to help soldiers wage war...

So if you kill in the name of Jesus, destroy numerous cultures, take land, and convert those who share other beliefs or they don't receive resources, then what you're saying is the Catholic Church doesn't follow Christ.

How many people over the centuries has the Church killed and tortured in the name of Jesus? Millions.

You are a priest, but you are a soldier in the Army of Christ. Even the Vatican has an army. But you neglect to mention this and only focus on the big, bad USA..or Israel...or other nations that wish to protect and preserve democracy. You what a theocracy and that lead to the Dark Ages, so give it a rest, because your ideas and time are done.

Its easier to look out the window than in the mirror. Because if you look in the mirror you may not like what you see.

Peace through science, not god. Pease through capitalism, not socialism or god-king.

Your words are inspirational, as usual, Fr. John..thank you for this article.

“Why do you bring him up?” they inevitably ask. “What does he have to do with this?”

Priceless. I know this is not an exageratoin because I've had some of the same conversations. "What do the teachings of Jesus have to do with (peace, poor people, riches, etc").....
If the teachings are not to be thought about, followed, discussed, then why have 4 gospels chock full of Jesus teaching on literally every subject?

According to economist and author Jeffrey Sachs the polls show that Americans want less military, taxes on the very rich increased, help continued for the poor and investment in energy restructuring. The problem is that the special interests control the government. The media keeps anyone with different ideas to come the front. The extreme right wing wants to starve the government so there is not sufficient funds to do what government should do. He said federal taxes take 15 to 16% of the GNP. We need to increase it to 23%. Professor Reich has said similar things. Better taxation would make the pie bigger so even the very rich will benefit. 80 progressives in Congress have proposed the "Peoples Budget."

During Holy Week "let's listen anew to our just savior's message of peace, and take heart" for there are others who feel the same. We need to seek out and join these people to make our faith living.

Sir John, why do you think on the day when Jesus was arrested Peter was carrying a sword? Peter even used the sword to cut off the ear of one of Jesus's enemies? I believe there is a time for peace and a time for war...I also believe that we need God's guidance when choosing wars...and His instructions on what to do.....God must be included in every plan...Jesus stated that he didn't come to bring peace, but the sword....Yes He might have been talking about the word, but reading and learning of the word...we should gain knowledge, guidance, and instructions....along with the most important thing, which is building a relationship God...

thanks

I will always remember Fr. John coming to Saint Francis Xavier on West 16th St. NYC and listening to him...now that we have relocated to Chesapeake, VA....he always comes to mind since I remember him saying he's from Elizabeth City, NC, which is so close to us....I have to go to Elizabeth City someday, and thoughts of that wonderful John Dear will pop up...and those are good thought everyone should have about this "peaceful" padre....Jane Albertini

It is not the individual that is great, but the understanding,for the understanding is love, God is pure love. Not of gender or form but the essence of pure love, who's energy of love the intended precedes, transforms and transcends all understanding. Fulfill the intended...

I only wish other church leaders felt as Fr Dear does. It seems to me, that those who are Pastors of a church, no matter the denomination, do not speak out against war and weapons because they might alienate some of their members. Could it also be because they fear they will lose donations as well? I was raised a Catholic, but no longer attend. Fr Dear's column is one reason. Women's issues are another. I cannot abide by any church that does not walk the talk when it comes to the teaching of Jesus. Currently I am attending services at a Quaker Meeting House, and right now, am finding peace there. I hope with all my heart, that more churches and church leaders will see the world through the eyes of Fr Dear. Thank you Fr. Dear for all of your thoughts.

this pro-life plan of closing down the imperialist death machine entirely is the only workable plan to bring peace and life to our nation, to revitalize our people. It is the only real Pro-Life plan.

Yes, the solution to the budget crisis is simple. Shut down the Pentagon, all our military bases, and all our weapons manufacturing plants.
Then our occupiers can deal with our budget.

I am a Catholic who agrees one hundred percent with John. To me it is a no-brainer, if one really reads the gospel accounts of Jesus. I don't know how they ever got the idea that war is the way to establish peace on the earth.

I agree with you wholeheartedly John because my country in the UK is intent on following US lead. Because I am a tax-payer I am inadvertently a mass murderer and an exploiterer of the world's poorest people and at the same time desperately trying to follow my God of peace and love and inclusion.
Thankyou for your work, courage and encouragement. Bless you

Thank you. It must be hard to be a "lone voice" in the society - as it was for Jesus. Keep going and keep challenging us. It's not the results but the honesty of the likes of this article that makes for the beginnings of non-violence...

John, Thank you once again for shinning continuing light on our true life as
followers of the nonviolent Jesus. My country also follows the American lust
for killing and war. I am surrounded by those I love who would support the seeming endless dollars spent on war. So I take heart once again by your continuing efforts to follow the God of Peace and this nonviolent Jesus. Prayers are with you during this lenten season and the holy week ahead.

In my long life I've found that pacifists never actually state why they oppose war, why they believe it to be evil. I believe war is evil because it results in the deaths of people and the destruction of civilizations that may have taken hundreds of years to build. But what if refusing to use force results in even more death and destruction?
There's a difference between being a cheerleader for war and the reluctant, remorseful admission that, as far as human wisdom can predict, there will be more loss of life if force is not used to stop an aggressor.
This isn't theoretical. A pacifist columnist for the NCR condemned Dietrich Bonhoeffer for participating in a plot to kill Hitler. It is never explained why the death of one man is considered just as evil as the terror, torture and deaths of the millions that he was responsible for.
It has become commonplace among certain Catholics to refer to the nonviolent Jesus. I think this is an example of saying something so often that people come to believe it unquestioningly. So what is there to question?
When a centurion came to Jesus asking that his servant be healed (Mt 8:5 and Luke 7:2), Jesus praises his faith. If Jesus were defined by nonviolence, wouldn't he have told him to leave military service, as the more important thing to do?
In Acts 1-10, Peter comes to understand that the gospel is available to anyone, Jew or Gentile, because of God's revelation through Cornelius, also a centurion. Again, there is no message about the need for Cornelius to leave military service if he is to be baptized.
Jesus tells a parable about a ruler who must assess whether he should lead a military campaign against opposing forces that are greater in number. The point is not to go through life without thinking, but to make a choice for the Reign of God. What Jesus does not say is that these kings shouldn't even be thinking of using armed force.
He also doesn't say that armed force should be used. What he does say is that he will send the Spirit to empower us to discern and to do what we believe God wants of us in any particular circumstance. That means that the course of action chosen will not always be the same, or there would be nothing to discern.
This is not a screed for war. But those who believe all use of force is evil should go to a country under attack and tell the people there that they have no right to defend themselves. I've been there.

As usual, Father Dear provides further evidence that he does not live in the real world. Closing the Pentagon, dissolving our military, will do absolutely nothing but signal to our enemies (who probably do not share our willingness to sacrifice common sense for the sake of peace) that America is ripe and ready for invasion and conquest. It will also serve to inform those nations whose ambitions are kept in check only through fear of American justice, that they are now free to attack and conquer their neighbors.

Moreover, Father Dear proves that he has no clue about what the purposes of government are. Among those purposes, as spelled out in the Constitution, is the role of government to defend the nation and its citizens from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Nowhere in the Constitution, however, will you find it written that the purpose of government is to "improve our schools, fund new jobs, offer free healthcare, build homes, and feed the world’s poor". The government should certainly never create jobs, that is the role of the private sector; it should not offer free healthcare (when did that become a right in the Bill of Rights?), build homes (private sector!) nor feed the world's poor (private sector, again).

Father Dear is idealistic, and naive, both at the same time. He claims that one cannot claim to be a follower of Christ and support war, but that position is not supported either by Sacred Scripture or by Church teaching. That belief is an invention of Father Dear and his aging hippy friends, not a teaching of the Church. Father Dear seeks to create his nonviolent cult of personality; thanks anyway but I'll stick to the Church's teaching.

I find it interesting that non-violence types such as yourself feverishly cling to the rock that promises peace through non-violence. I say this is not true. Christ will come to live in reign in peace after he leads the great war between good and evil, and it will not be a non-violent war.

We can not have peace when so many peolples and countrys are lining up against one another for every reason under the sun. Yes, there will be more war and more bloodshedding due to the nature of this world. Christ will set all things straight again after he has defeated the evil one, satan.

Response to what CWG wrote:
As usual, Father Dear provides further evidence that he does not live in the real world.
My Response:
Rev. Father Dear has traveled all over the world, to war torn/violence ridden areas: El Salvador, Cambodia, Ireland, Egypt, Iraq, the West Bank, Jerusalem, Middle East, etc. He’s seen up close the results of violence and war. I think that would classify as “living in the real world.” Here is an Excerpt from his Nov. 7, 2006 Column of the danger he was in from the death squads of El Salvador –
Excerpt:
And I go to the SOA protest because I'm haunted by Ignacio Ellacuria and the other Jesuit martyrs of El Salvador. I worked with them for several months in 1985, four years before they were assassinated. They sent me and a few other young U.S. Jesuits to work in harassed refugee camps. Death squads lurked about, and on the occasions they approached, I went out to greet them. There was a rationale behind the plan. Perhaps the conspicuous presence of a North American would avert violence.
And so when they appeared, I hauled my trembling bones to the gate, all the while U.S. aircraft crisscrossed the sky and unleashed bombs in the near distance.
http://ncronline.org/blogs/road-peace/why-im-going-soa-protest

The message of Jesus is clear - Thou shall not Kill ... Love your enemies ... Do good to those who would harm you...etc. It was clear to the early Christians who refused to serve in the army of the Roman Empire and were killed for their beliefs. You may believe in the power of war but it is not compatible with being a Christian. Thank you Fr. John for speaking the truth about war.

I have wrestled with this issue for years and can't seem to say I am firmly in one camp and not the other. This is hardly an easy place to be. I strongly lean towards pacifism and desire to be one, but there are obstacles. Clearly, there is evil in the world of the most horrific kind that causes great suffering. I don't think any pacifists would deny that. But, our violent, and often self serving, means to conquer it are, too often, equally as evil and without any doubt, against so many of the gospel teachings and directives. I don't understand how can that be denied by any Christian. It has brought me to actually wonder if war is evidence of a failure of prayer. And, as a Christian, that is not a very easy question to entertain. So, obviously I don't have any answer to offer. Yet, what I am clear about is that there needs to be a public witness that counters all of the propaganda about the glory and legitimacy of war. Our Bishops and Catholic leadership has been embarrassingly and, to put it bluntly, cowardly, in any willingness to do this, even with wars that the Church has declared unjustifiable (therefore immoral). So, I continue to be grateful to those whose actions do draw attention and, hopefully, will cause some to question what so much of our govt. and its supporters tell us. Because what is also clear to me is that they do not tell us the truth.