Author: lakewooducc

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information: Rev. Kim Wells at (727) 776-7890 or wells.kim.p@gmail.com

PRIEST, PEACE ACTIVIST AND NOBEL PEACE PRIZE NOMINEE FATHER JOHN DEAR TO SPEAK ABOUT HIS NEW BOOK ON JESUS AND NONVIOLENCE

Priest, peacemaker, author and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Father John Dear will appear at 4:00 PM on Sunday, March 17^th at Lakewood United Church of Christ, 2601 54th Ave S, St. Petersburg, FL 33712 to talk about and sign copies of his new book, The Gospel of Peace: A Commentary on Matthew, Mark, and Luke from the Perspective of Nonviolence. It is the first commentary on the Synoptic Gospels from the perspective of active nonviolence in the tradition of Mohandas Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Refreshments and music will begin at 3:30.  The talk is free and open to the public.

In his book, Father Dear shows how Jesus’ teachings and practice of active nonviolence made him a disarming, healing presence to those in need and a revolutionary disrupter and threat to the unjust status quo, and how this nonviolence led to his execution and resurrection.

Father Dear bases his book on scholarship and on over forty years of nonviolent activism.  In 2008, when Archbishop Desmond Tutu nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize,  he called Father Dear “the embodiment of a peacemaker. He is a man who has the courage of his convictions and who speaks out and acts against war, the manufacture of weapons, and any situation where a human being might be at risk through violence.”

Father Dear has served as the coordinator of chaplains for the Red Cross after 9/11 in New York while simultaneously organizing demonstrations against the U.S. war against Afghanistan, and as pastor to rural parishes in the high desert of New Mexico. He has traveled in warzones and has spoken to audiences about the Gospel message of nonviolence around the world. He arranged for Mother Teresa to speak to U. S. governors to stop the death penalty and helped prevent eight executions.  He has been arrested over 85 times for nonviolent actions.

In 1998, he became executive director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the largest interfaith peace organization in the United States, and led Nobel laureates to Iraq and an interfaith delegation to Israel/Palestine. He drafted Pope Francis’ January 1, 2017 World Day of Peace message, the first statement on nonviolence in the history of the Catholic Church. He is the executive director of www.beatitudescenter.org where he hosts and offers zooms on Jesus and Gospel peacemaking.

Father Dear has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and USA Today. For eight years he wrote a weekly column for the National Catholic Reporter and Huffington Post.  He is the author of hundreds of articles on peace and nonviolence, and forty books, including The Beatitudes of Peace, of which President Jimmy Carter said, ”I urge everyone to study John Dear’s beautiful reflections and join his campaign of peace and nonviolence.”

To contact Fr. John Dear directly:  1-505-629-2029 or  johndearsj@msn.com. His website is at johndear.org