by Loyola Press on May 11, 2009
by Loyola Press on April 1, 2009
How does a “spoiled, wealthy frat boy” go from beer-chugging contests in a Duke University fraternity to peace activism and more than 75 arrests in the name of the nonviolent Jesus? John Dear, SJ, a 2008 Nobel Peace Prize nominee, tells his story in A Persistent Peace: One Man’s Struggle for a Nonviolent World. An E-book is also available.
Dear has organized hundreds of demonstrations against war and nuclear weapons. His work has taken him to war zones around the world, including Iraq, where he led a delegation of Nobel Peace Prize winners to witness the effects of sanctions on Iraqi children. It hasn’t been an easy life. His activism was generally not supported by his superiors, and he was considered “unmissionable” and “disobedient” by one Jesuit superior.
But for Dear, commitment to nonviolence is an all-or-nothing proposition. A Persistent Peace is the story of his consistent and tireless work for peace, including his arrests and imprisonments, death threats made against him for criticizing the military (including a threat from the father of one of his students at a Jesuit high school, who threatened to shoot him dead in front of his class), and many other amazing stories of social action for peace.
Dear experienced a profound transformation during college that began with the musical and spiritual mentorship of the late jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams, a Catholic Christian artist-in-residence at Duke. Dear was also rocked to the core by biographies of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., compelled by their compassion and commitment to nonviolence. His aspirations for success as a pop star, lawyer, or in the family trade of newspaper publishing gave way to the priesthood and a life dedicated to stopping war. Dear makes clear that the peace cause is an urgent one that concerns each person.
He shares what he has learned in the struggle: “Gandhi, Dorothy Day, Dr. King, the Berrigans, and Merton were right: nonviolence holds the key to personal, social, and global transformation,” says Dear. “Steadfast, organized nonviolence does work; it leads to new avenues of justice, peace and hope.”
A Persistent Peace:
One Man’s Struggle for a Nonviolent World
by John Dear, SJ
Hardcover $22.95
978-0-8294-2720-2
by Loyola Press on April 1, 2009
From Angelina Jolie to George Clooney to Bono, celebrities from every bent have alerted us to the critical situation of violence, poverty, starvation, and the AIDS epidemic in Africa.
Fr. Gary Smith, a Jesuit priest from Oregon, is not of celebrity status, but that did not stop him from listening to the plight of the African people and spending six years living among and serving the Sudanese refugees.
His journey began one night in Portland, Oregon, while chatting with friends over pizza and beer. Smith started talking about how he was becoming too “comfortable” in his eight-year assignment of serving the homeless in the city. During this conversation, he realized he wanted to be with the poor in a radical way. What ensued was a life-changing experience for Smith.
They Come Back Singing, by Gary Smith, S.J., is his vivid, inspiring journal of the deep connections forged during the years he spent with the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in Northern Uganda/Southern Sudan refugee settlements.
Smith knew from the outset that Africa was uncharted territory for him and a risky journey. He saw first-hand the hopeless situation of the refugees and their unexpected strength and hope even in their most dire situations.
Through his account of being a missionary in Africa, Smith is both a witness to and a beneficiary of how God provides the strength to move forward in hope and with love. He was surrounded by suffering people who, despite being displaced by a brutal civil war, found the spiritual strength to let go of the many and deep sorrows of the past.
Smith is also the author of Radical Compassion: Finding God in the Heart of the Poor. A California native, he currently resides in Portland, Oregon.
They Come Back Singing:
Finding God with the Refugees
An African Journal by Gary Smith, S.J.
Loyola Press
Paperback $14.95
ISBN-13: 978-0-8294-2701-1
Congratulations to Father Dom Grassi for winning an Oward for Neighborhood Empowerment. The Organization of the NorthEast, ONE, is awarding Fr. Grassi the Profiles in Courage Award. Fr. Grassi has been involved with community organizing efforts for over two decades. Fr. Grassi also has served as a leader in the archdiocese by supporting a cultivation of lay ministry. ONE will also be presenting Carlos Martin the Dream Award, Angela Clay the Youth Spirit Award, and Peter Holsten the Against all Odds Award.
