What would happen if more than a billion Catholics embraced active nonviolence as an essential component of their faith? How much true peace and stability could be gained for every living creature on the planet – for Earth itself – if the Catholic Church devoted its financial, personnel, diplomatic and other many resources to promoting and teaching nonviolence in all of its aspects?

To consider these questions, Pax Christi international and its Catholic Nonviolence Initiative (CNI) offer a new publication,“Advancing Nonviolence and Just Peace in the Church and the World.” For anyone seeking to understand or expand Catholic thinking on nonviolence, this book answers commonly asked questions about active nonviolence and Catholic social teaching, including:

• Does nonviolence work to resolve conflict?
• What did Jesus and the Bible say about nonviolence?
• What has the Church taught about nonviolence?
• Is nonviolence the same as pacifism? How are they different?

“Advancing Nonviolence and Just Peace in the Church and the World” explores the foundations of Catholic thinking about nonviolence with biblical, theological, ethical, pastoral and strategic considerations. It includes reviews of papal statements and church documents, a survey of the biblical teaching from the Hebrew Bible and Christian scriptures, a review of contemporary theological research on nonviolence, and dozens of recommendations for further discernment on how the Church might live into its Gospel nonviolence mandate.

This 322-page volume is the result of an 18-month roundtable process which began in 2017. Theologians and peace practitioners from around the world were invited to participate in one of five online groups, each of which examined, researched and deliberated different aspect of active nonviolence. At the conclusion of the process, each roundtable offered a substantial paper on that topic. 

These five papers, along with several supplemental documents (listed below), were presented as one major manuscript when the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative co-hosted its second meeting on nonviolence and just peace with the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development in April 2019. The 75 participants studied and discussed the document; their comments and reflections deepened and improved the text, which was revised and sent to a publisher in 2020.

Fr. James Keenan, SJ (Canisius Professor, Boston College), shared this affirmation for “Advancing Nonviolence and Just Peace”: “[CNI] … has now put together a significant, integral argument for advancing nonviolence globally. While discussions on just war have had such texts for centuries, it is hard to say that the movement for Catholics supporting nonviolence have had such a foundational text of compelling resources until now. Here is their 95 theses, here is their Magna Carta. This work comes from a stunningly global team of 119 collaborating contributors, including major theologians and other religious and lay leaders. But it is not only a milestone; it is a text that pivots the discussion of nonviolence as indisputably Catholic and, as they rightly claim, normative. The agenda is advanced notably theologically, pastorally and strategically by this important work.”

Four of the original roundtable papers, plus the following supplemental documents, are available on the CNI website:

• The failure of war and its weapons, Paul Rogers, Bradford University (UK)
• “Following her lead”: Women, faith and nonviolent action to transform violence, Susan Hayward, U.S. Institute of Peace
• Nonviolence and creation care/climate justice, Amy Woolam Echeverria, Global Catholic Climate Movement and the Missionary Society of St. Columban
• The Catholic practice of nonviolence, Ken Butigan and Rev. John Dear
• Nonviolence in the Hindu, Jain and Buddhist traditions, Rev. Vincent Sekhar, SJ, Institute of Dialogue with Cultures and Religions, Loyola College, Chennai, India
• Nonviolence in the Islamic tradition, Rev. Jan Peters, SJ, president curator of the Netherlands Institute for the Middle East (Leiden and Istanbul); member of the Board of Trustees of the Islamic University in Rotterdam

“Advancing Nonviolence and Just Peace” is available for sale as a paperback, as an EPUB, and as an e-book compatible with most e-readers. Please visit the CNI website for purchasing information. A free downloadable study guide for small groups is also available on the CNI site.

Please contact [email protected] with any questions or for more information.

Judy Coode is the project coordinator for Pax Christi International’s Catholic Nonviolence Initiative.