Taking peacemaking seriously – One priest’s story

Working for peace can be dangerous. In some parts of the world promoting the nonviolent teachings of Jesus can get you killed. But in the United States usually the worst that will happen is that a Christian peacemaker will get verbally beat-up.

As an honorably discharged conscientious objector from the US Army, and a long-time social justice and peace columnist, I have been verbally assaulted by fellow Catholics many times. But the nastiness I’ve encountered is little compared to what veteran peace activist Father John Dear has suffered, especially at the hands of his own religious order – the Society of Jesus.

Fr Dear, author of numerous books on Gospel-based peacemaking, and an international speaker on Christian non-violence, has done jail time for peaceful civil disobedience at various US military and nuclear weapons facilities.

But throughout his 32 years as a Jesuit priest, instead of receiving the full support from his superiors for his prophetic ministry, Fr Dear told me that nearly every one of them – more than 30 – have tried hard to stop his work for peace.

He said this was because the Jesuits in the US receive “big money” from Catholics who work for the military and weapons manufacturing corporations. So, he said, the Society of Jesus in the US has no interest in challenging America’s war machine.

“And unfortunately,” Fr Dear added, “nearly every US Catholic bishop continues to remain silent in the face of US militarism. The bishops display little to no interest in promoting the non-violent teachings of Jesus.”

Fr Dear said that three years ago Archbishop Michael Sheehan of Santa Fe, New Mexico, removed his priestly faculties because the archbishop objected to his prayer vigils for peace at the Los Alamos National Laboratory – the birthplace of nuclear weapons.

According to Fr Dear, the archbishop had received many complaints regarding his efforts for peace from Catholics who work at the nuclear weapons laboratory.

Fr Dear said that with all of this intense pressure, along with the order from his Jesuit provincial to return to Baltimore and completely stop his justice and peace ministry, it was now best to leave the Society of Jesus.

He is praying that Pope Francis will write an encyclical on peace, non-violence and the abolition of the “just-war theory”.

In such an encyclical, Fr Dear hopes that the pope would insist that Catholics, and all followers of Jesus, must practice Gospel non-violence themselves, and must thus avoid war and war preparation – no exceptions.

I second that hope!

And I further hope that bishops’ conferences, Catholic universities and parishes will seriously and respectfully begin a sustained and prayerful study, discussion and debate regarding Gospel non-violence as compared to Christian participation in war, war preparation, the arms trade and military spending. There is no moral room for silent acceptance here.

I agree with Fr Dear that the teachings and example of the non-violent Jesus make it crystal clear that his followers must oppose all war and war preparation of any kind. That’s the way the first Christians saw it for 300 years. And that’s exactly what today’s Christians need to rediscover.

In our war-torn world with weapons of mass destruction, we must change course. For in the words of Rev Martin Luther King Jr., “the choice today is no longer between violence and non-violence. It is either non-violence or non-existence”.