Peace activist urges Christians to see beatitudes as job description

Published: 2007-10-23

MARYKNOLL, N.Y. (CNS) -- The Eight Beatitudes make a terrific job description for Christians, according to Jesuit Father John Dear. "The call to nonviolence is the most wonderful thing to do in life," the peace activist said in an Oct. 17 talk before some 200 people at Maryknoll headquarters. Father Dear, 48, speaks from experience. He has spent his adulthood practicing and teaching nonviolence. The Jesuit has visited war zones throughout the world, including El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Haiti, the Middle East, the Philippines, Northern Ireland and Iraq. He has held leadership positions with the Fellowship of Reconciliation and Pax Christi. He has been arrested more than 75 times for committing nonviolent acts of civil disobedience. "Nonviolence is the sacred view that all human beings are one," he said. "Nonviolence is a way of life, of active love. It seeks the truth of common unity ... so we can be instruments of God's disarming love. "There is one catch," he added. "There is no cause, however noble, for which we will support the taking of a human life."

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