UPIKE spiritual life welcomes international peace activist
0Staff Report
The University of Pikeville Spiritual Life committee will welcome John Dear, an internationally known voice for peace and nonviolence, to share with students how to live a nonviolent life. The event will be held on Thursday, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m., in Chrisman Auditorium and is open to the community.
A long time activist, lecturer and movement organizer, Dear is the author of 30 books and hundreds of articles, including “Living Peace,” “Jesus the Rebel,” and “The Nonviolent Life.” In 2008, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
“Father John Dear will be sharing about the life of nonviolence and how to live as a peacemaker in our violent world of injustice. This is an event that will change one’s outlook on Jesus’ message and teachings,” said Rob Musick, instructor of religion and campus chaplain. “As the world grabbles with ISIS, global terrorism and gun violence in the streets of the U.S., nonviolence is the only cure to the homicidal tendencies of America.”
Dear has spent more than three decades speaking to people around the world about the Gospel of Jesus, the way of nonviolence and the call to make peace. A Catholic priest, he has served as the director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the largest interfaith peace organization in the United States. After Sept. 11, 2001, Dear served as a Red Cross coordinator of chaplains and counseled thousands of relatives and rescue workers. He has worked in homeless shelters, soup kitchens and community centers; traveled in war zones around the world, including Iraq, Palestine, Nicaragua, Afghanistan and Colombia and lived in El Salvador, Guatemala and Northern Ireland. Dear has been arrested more than 75 times in acts of civil disobedience against war, and spent eight months in prison for a Plowshares disarmament action. In the 1990s, he arranged for Mother Teresa to speak to various governors to stop the death penalty. He earned two master’s degrees in theology from the Graduate Theological Union in California and has taught theology at Fordham University.
“For me, nonviolence is not just a tactic or a strategy; it’s a way of life that requires us to love our enemies. It demands creativity, initiative and engagement with the culture. There’s nothing passive about it,” said Dear. “Labor leader César Chávez said to me long ago that we can’t be nonviolent by sitting alone in our rooms and praying the rosary. Nonviolence happens in the world, usually on the streets. Yes, nonviolence requires private prayer, but it always leads to public activity and risk. Gandhi defined nonviolence as “conscious suffering.” He said it is practiced only in courtrooms and jail cells — and on the gallows, because true nonviolence means being willing to give our lives for lasting justice and peace.”
For more information, contact Musick at 218-5762 or visit www.johndear.org.