“Being a non-violent peacemaker is recalling that others are children of God even if they may have caused us harm.”

Eli McCarthy

Who is Eli McCarthy?

Eli’s most recent book is “A Just Peace Ethic Primer: Building Sustainable Peace and Breaking Cycles of Violence (2020), along with a previous book entitled “Becoming Nonviolent Peacemakers: A Virtue Ethic for Catholic Social Teaching and U.S. Policy,” (2012). He has numerous journal articles such as “The Gospels Draw us Further: A Just Peace Ethic,” “Breaking Out: The Expansiveness of Restorative Justice in Laudato Si,’” “Good Practices of Unarmed Civilian Protection: Case Study in Israel and Palestine,” “Truth and Reconciliation Commissions: Toward a More Just U.S. Society,” and “Will You Really Protect Us Without a Gun?: Unarmed Civilian Peacekeeping in the U.S.” He has also written a number of articles in America, National Catholic Reporter, The Hill, Responsible Statecraft, Waging Nonviolence, and Huffington Post.

From 2012-2020, he also served as the Director of Justice and Peace for the CMSM, which is the leadership conference of the U.S. Catholic men’s religious orders. This enabled him direct advocacy and strategic campaign leadership experience influencing U.S. policy. From 2020-2022 he served as the Federal Policy Senior Advisor for the Catholic Labor Network. He presently serves as a Just Peace Fellow with Franciscan Action Network, and serves on the steering committee of the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative, a project of Pax Christi International. Eli has been formed by multiple trips to Ukraine in interfaith solidarity and advancing nonviolent peacebuilding (2022), trips to Haiti working with people who are poor, working with people living on the streets in Boston and DC, and monitoring the Palestinian Elections in 2006 with the Nonviolent Peaceforce. He also coordinates the DC Peace Team which offers training in nonviolent communication, restorative justice, bystander intervention, trauma awareness, anti-racism, meditation, along with providing unarmed civilian protection deployments (2011-present).

Becoming Nonviolent Peacemakers

In this episode, I talk to Eli McCarthy about being a non-violent peacemaker. He explains:
i. What is a peacemaker and what is a non-violent peacemaker?
ii. What steps do we take to become peacemakers given what’s happening in the world, especially when everyone wants us to pick a side.
iii. What is the single most powerful weapon we can wield as a peacemaker?

Blessed are the Peacemakers

We’ve all heard the beatitude, “blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God,” from Matthew 5:9. It’s becoming ever more challenging to be one. It’s sad to see and hear many Christians feel the need to respond with an eye for an eye. This is in complete opposition to Jesus’s teaching. When I read the news, I’m very disappointed. We have missed a wonderful opportunity as Christians to practice what we preach.

I reached out to Eli because his DC peace team and FAN have worked to establish and train various non-violent peacemaking initiatives. To be honest, I had never even heard of them or knew of their existence. He had written and hosted various webinars on this. After much prayer, invited him to talk to us about this. This episode is wonderful especially as Eli talks about love and what we should be doing as Christians when conflict breaks out. He says just as lawyers and doctors train, peacemakers also have to train. Of course, it requires prayers and love.

He illustrates this with a beautiful story that I’m sure will touch your heart. Listen to this episode and let me know how you’re becoming a peacemaker in your community.

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