Nonviolence is a creative power, a pervasive energy, a fundamental principle that imitates Jesus’ way of life. It is also challenged and shaped by the history and contemporary experience of those on the receiving end of war and racism, neglect and planetary destruction. This program will explore nonviolence as a spirituality, a way of life, a global ethic and a spectrum of approaches to preventing or interrupting violence and promoting just peace, the beloved community, the New Creation.

Resource Person: Marie A. Dennis, PhD, is senior advisor to the secretary general of Pax Christi International, the global Catholic peace movement, and program chair of Pax Christi’s Catholic Nonviolence Initiative. She was co-president of Pax Christi International from 2007 to 2019 and is a Pax Christi USA Ambassador of Peace. In 2022 Marie was named a Teacher of Peace by Pax Christi USA. Also she received the Robert M. Holstein Faith Doing Justice Award from the Ignatian Solidarity Network and the Peter Hinde Peace Award from CRISPAZ. She serves on the Vatican’s COVID 19 Commission and the steering committee of the Catholic Peacebuilding Network. Marie is author or co-author of seven books, editor of Choosing Peace: The Catholic Church Returns to Gospel Nonviolence (Orbis Books, 2017) and co-editor of Advancing Nonviolence in the Church and the World (Pax Christi International, 2020).