Welcome to Centre for Christian Nonviolence, Europe, Africa, Asia & Middle-East

RECLAIMING JESUS -BUT NOT- THE NONVIOLENT JESUS OF THE GOSPELS It is difficult, if not impossible, to figure out which Jesus is being reclaimed in the recent much-ballyhooed document, Reclaiming Jesus: A Confession of Faith in a Time of Crisis (attached below). But, what is clear is the Jesus that the document presumes to reclaim is not the Jesus of the Gospels who was Nonviolent and who teaches a Way of Nonviolent Love of friends and enemies. Not once in the entire Reclaiming Jesus document is Jesus’ rejection of violence by word and by deed in the Gospels mentioned, although the document gives a list of things that must be rejected based on Jesus’ teachings and His being Lord. Nor is it mentioned that His disciples are called to follow Him and reject violence. So, the document communicates that a Christian, whether American or British, who has reclaimed Jesus as the document prescribes could join the American or British military and bomb the be-Jesus out of human beings designated “enemies” or designated “collateral damage” in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria. >Download the Full Article [Written May 2018]

HOLY COMMUNION AND UNHOLY COMMUNICATION When cars continue to drive the wrong way down a One Way street causing serious injury and death, it is important to get out on that street and try to stop the cars going in the wrong direction at the present moment. It is also important, that when the eventual catastrophe occurs, to get out on that street and attend to the broken and bleeding victims, regardless of whether they were going in the wrong direction or in the right direction. Pain is pain, and as human beings and as Christians we must do whatever we can to alleviate it in a fellow human being who is suffering. >Download the Full Article [Written Feb 2018]

Booties to Boots War the destroyer of life, love and dreams for the young

 

The Courage to See: A Pastoral Letter for Great Lent, 2015 Bishop John Botean, Romanian Catholic Diocese of Canton In my last letter to you, my reflection for last Christmas, I spoke to you of dreams—God’s dreams, Mary’s dreams, your dreams, my dreams—and I specifically called to mind the need for us all to become simple in mind and heart, so that we may be “lenses” through whom the world may know and encounter the one true God through Him who has made God known as Father, our Lord Jesus Christ. I told you that my dream for 2015 was that we may find freedom from all the things that hold our hearts and minds bound, and especially from the tyranny of things that we ourselves have manufactured, in our fearful imaginings, about life, about ourselves, and about one another. >Download the Full Article [Written in Lent 2015]

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MERCY: JESUS, THE LAMB WHO IS RICH IN MERCY – Rev. Emmanuel Charles McCarthy

Inaugurating a Millennium of Mercy

The above video is a profound spiritual reflection on Divine Mercy and the centrality of mercy in the life of the disciple of Jesus was given on March 17, 1995, at the Shrine of the Lamb in Knock, Ireland.

In Matthew 25: 31-46, sometimes referred to as the Last Judgement teaching of Jesus, mercy, given or withheld, is the standard of judgement at the end of time. This means that mercy is to be the standard for choosing moment to moment during one’s time on earth. This presentation is one of several presentations from a six day retreat titled, Behold the Lamb, which is available for download

 

• The Lamb Who Is Rich in Mercy (Audio version in English)
• El Cordero, rico en misericordia (Audio version in Spanish)

 

Pope John Paul says: “it is God who is rich in mercy whom Jesus Christ has revealed to us as Father. It is God who is rich in mercy that Jesus Christ has revealed to us as Father. Making the Father present as love and mercy is in Jesus’ own consciousness the fundamental touchstone of his mission as Messiah.”

IN SOLITARY EPISCOPAL WITNESS:
The video above is a 30 minute interview with the only U. S. Catholic Bishop to publicly denounce the War on Iraq as Immoral.

“Therefore I, by the grace of God and the favor of the Apostolic See Bishop of the Eparchy of St. George in Canton, must declare to you, my people, for the sake of your salvation as well as my own, that any direct participation and support of this war against the people of Iraq is objectively grave evil, a matter of mortal sin. Beyond a reasonable doubt this war is morally incompatible with the Person and Way of Jesus Christ. With moral certainty I say to you it does not meet even the minimal standards of the Catholic just war theory.

Thus, any killing associated with it is unjustified and, in consequence, unequivocally murder. Direct participation in this war is the moral equivalent of direct participation in an abortion. For the Catholics of the Eparchy of St. George, I hereby authoritatively state that such direct participation is intrinsically and gravely evil and therefore absolutely forbidden.” – Bishop John Michael Botean. The full letter by the Bishop can be read here.

Below are a set of seventeen (17) powerful 10-minute videos recorded in Birmingham, UK

1. Resurrection

2. The Gift of Nonviolence

3. Putting On The Mind Of Christ

4. Nonviolence and The Right To Life

5. Trust In Nonviolence

6. Nonviolence and Hope

7. Gratitude

8. Nonviolence/Resurrection Ethics

9. History And Conscience

10. The Church And War

11. Post Constantinian Christianity

12. Just/Unjust War

13. The Ripple Effect of Nonviolence

14. Truth

15. Self Deception

16. Culpable Conscience

17. The Mystery of Jesus And His Way

For more videos, please click

The Desire To Know The Truth presented by Rev. Emmanuel Charles McCarthy at Oscott College, St. Mary’s Seminary, Birmingham, England. Running Time 58 mins. Recorded in 2012 by Peter McGuinness from GNV Team.

Introduction to the History, Theology and Spirituality of Gospel Nonviolence (GNV) was recorded on 8th June 2010 at Kimmage Manor, Dublin, Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Province of Ireland by Peter McGuinness. It discusses the inconsistency between faith in Jesus (the Prince of Peace) and war, abortion, violence, hatred etc. from GNV Team.

For more videos, please click here

The full embracing of Gospel Nonviolence calls for a radical alteration in thought patterns, verbal patterns, behavioral patterns, and emotional patterns. That is, it requires a completely different reality orientation and self-understanding. To a mind grounded primarily in the logic of the temporal and conditioned by a seemingly endless stream of examples in which violence is portrayed as a legitimate means of conflict resolution, the acceptance of nonviolence as truth does not come easily.
There is no doubt that a significant change of mind (metanoia) is indispensable for embracing the Nonviolent Jesus of the Gospel – a process which necessitates an alteration in consciousness made possible only through grace and a patterned, repetitive exposure to ideas and images consistent with the Nonviolent Love of friends and enemies as taught and lived by Jesus.

We recommend starting with the three articles further down this page, under “Getting started”. Once you have finished those, explore our free “Resources” section.

Our Store offers tapes, CDs, and DVDs that provide an alternative to reading. Of course donations are greatly appreciated. Many thanks to those who support our efforts.

Also, visit our parent and main site at The Center for Christian Nonviolence, USA

Getting Started

1. Gospel Nonviolence: The Indispensable Truth

To Teach What Jesus Taught: A Call to Fidelity (Rev.) Emmanuel Charles McCarthy Thoroughly enter into the depth of the issue of Gospel Nonviolence by pondering this reflection. >Download

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2. Lenten Meditation on The Nonviolent Eucharist

Eucharist Is “God’s Absolute ‘No’ to Violence” Fr. Raniero CantalamessaPreacher to the Papal Household The Sermon, Eucharist Is “God’s Absolute ‘No’ to Violence,” was the third in a series of weekly Lenten meditations delivered by Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, the Preacher to the Papal Household. In the sermon he states that “Christ defeated violence, not by opposing it with greater violence, but suffering it and laying bare all its injustice and uselessness.” He also affirms that, “The Eucharist is the sacrament of non-violence.” >Download

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3. The Nonviolent Eucharistic Jesus: A Pastoral Approach

A reflection on the Eucharist (Rev.) Emmanuel Charles McCarthy -> Download