John Dear SJ Column

Journey toward Conversion

John Dear SJ — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:24:50 -0400

On the Road to Peace by John Dear S.J.	Tuesday, August 19, 2008
	Vol. 2, No. 50

(A note from John Dear: For your end of summer reading, I offer here excerpts from my autobiography, A Persistent Peace, published last week from Loyola Press. Here, I tell about the beginnings of my conversion at Duke University. Have a peaceful August!)

When I realized how hard my classes would be [during my junior year at Duke], I looked to round out my schedule with something easier. Someone had told me that the easiest class on campus was Abnormal Psychology, taught by Professor Harold Schiffman, an absent-minded professor who looked like Albert Einstein. I signed up. He would raise the grade by one letter for any student who performed a few hours of volunteer work for him each week. I knew an easy A when I saw one, so I volunteered.

Discrete events aren't important, it's the journey

John Dear SJ — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 06:11:15 -0400

On the Road to Peace by John Dear S.J.	Tuesday, August 12, 2008
	Vol. 2, No. 49

(A note from John Dear: For your end of summer reading, I offer here excerpts from my autobiography, A Persistent Peace, published last week from Loyola Press. We'll begin with part of the introduction. Have a peaceful August!)

Hiroshima, Ninevah, & Los Alamos

John Dear SJ — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 05:54:11 -0400

On the Road to Peace by John Dear S.J.	Tuesday, August 5, 2008
	Vol. 2, No. 48

This week, to commemorate the 63rd anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Aug.6, 1945, hundreds of us converged on Los Alamos, New Mexico, birthplace of the bomb, and did what some may think strange. Taking a page from the book of Jonah, we sat in sackcloth and ashes and repented of the mortal sin of war and nuclear weapons. Along Trinity Drive we sat in silence, our hearts begging the God of peace for the gift of nuclear disarmament.

St. Ignatius, pray for us

John Dear SJ — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 04:49:50 -0400

On the Road to Peace by John Dear S.J.	Tuesday, July 29, 2008
	Vol. 2, No. 47

St. Ignatius Loyola looms large in the life of every Jesuit. For most of us, he is daunting, awesome, even a bit frightening. He was a strict taskmaster who wept consoling tears every day over the life of Jesus and our call to serve. This week, as we celebrate his feast July 31, my thoughts turn once again to this remarkable human being, and ask for his intercession for the Society of Jesus, the church, and the world.

In 1997, I began my Jesuit sabbatical year, known as “tertianship,” in Northern Ireland. To begin, I journeyed to the ancient Benedictine monastery of Montserrat, on a mountaintop near Barcelona, Spain. Immediately after his dramatic sick bed conversion, Ignatius went there on pilgrimage, before beginning his year-long retreat in a nearby cave and his journey to Rome, where he founded the Society of Jesus.

Lessons from the Orange Revolution

John Dear SJ — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 05:44:07 -0400

On the Road to Peace by John Dear S.J.	Tuesday, July 22, 2008
	Vol. 2, No. 46

Imagine this - a rigged national election. The popular candidate garnered more votes and precincts but still did not win. Now imagine the population refusing to sit back, to throw up their collective hands, to give in to apathy. Such is the story of the "Orange Revolution," the 2004 presidential election in the Ukraine, a tale with lessons for us.

The Ukrainian people foresaw the worst and when it happened, they nonviolently obstructed the functioning of the government until justice was done. Their story can teach us a thing or two.

Nonviolence and the presidential campaign

John Dear SJ — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 06:00:04 -0400

On the Road to Peace by John Dear S.J.	Tuesday, July 15, 2008
	Vol. 2, No. 45

Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, the late archbishop of Chicago, was right. The best way to pursue the narrow path and uphold the length, breadth, height and depth of God's love is through a consistent ethic of life, which does not pick and choose between issues but faithfully adheres to all the issues, and says no to every form of violence -- war, racism, sexism, poverty, starvation, the death penalty, abortion, nuclear weapons, global warming and every injustice. Such an ethic renounces every type of killing. And in doing so, it promotes life everywhere and welcomes God's reign of nonviolence in our midst.