To bow down with compassionate love before the weak and needy is part of the authentic spirit of religion, which rejects the temptation to resort to force, refuses to barter human lives and sees others as brothers and sisters…. this is a summons rising from the heart of every genuine religious tradition.

– Pope Francis, Address to Representatives of Different Religions (November 3, 2016)

The University of San Francisco has launched the USF Interfaith Nonviolence Initiative (the Initiative), a major two-year engagement of USF faculty and students in collaborative research and learning partnerships with diverse religious leaders and congregations, and grassroots organizations serving the needs of marginalized communities experiencing violence and trauma at the personal, family, and communal levels.

How President Fitzgerald Framed the Initiative Goals

Soon after I joined USF as co-founder (with Dr. Clarence B. Jones) of the USF Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice (INSJ), I was blessed to meet Dr. Ken Butigan at an October 2019 conference on “Gandhi, King, and the Global Struggle for Freedom and Justice” at Stanford University. Professor of Peace, Justice and Conflict Studies at DePaul University in Chicago, and founding director of the Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service, Ken has become deeply engaged in the work of the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative (CNI) — a profound effort of dedicated Catholic leaders, theologians and scholars throughout the world to bolster and further Catholic social teaching on Gospel nonviolence. Calling on Pope Francis “to share with the world an encyclical on nonviolence and Just Peace,” CNI participants seek to integrate Gospel nonviolence into all aspects of the life and work of the Church; “to promote nonviolent practices and strategies (e.g., nonviolent resistance, restorative justice, trauma healing, unarmed civilian protection, conflict transformation, and peacebuilding strategies);” to “no longer use or teach ‘just war theory’;” and to highlight advocacy for the abolition of war and nuclear weapons; among other goals.

CNI has progressed through a series of conferences and dialogues convened in the Vatican and in Catholic universities in the United States. With admiration for the Jesuit Catholic values of our university, Ken proposed that INSJ consider hosting a conference at USF to further the work of CNI. Excited about the idea, I explained to Ken that while I had no authority to speak for our university on matters related to Catholic theology, I would reach out to USF President Paul J. Fitzgerald. Just a few weeks later, President Fitzgerald graciously met with Dr. Clarence B. Jones and me to discuss Ken’s invitation. With grace and foresight, Father Fitzgerald embraced the underlying CNI values, reframing our involvement to most honestly and powerfully align with USF’s Jesuit mission and values; the diverse religious identities of our students, staff and faculty; and the needs of our adjacent communities.

Fr. Fitzgerald especially resonated with the CNI goal “to initiate a global conversation on nonviolence within the Church, with people of other faiths, and with the larger world to respond to the monumental crises of our time with the vision and strategies of nonviolence and Just Peace.” In this spirit, and recognizing that our USF student body, faculty and staff includes people from many faith traditions, Fr. Fitzgerald proposed that we frame our project as the “USF Interfaith Nonviolence Initiative” that would invite all members of our USF community to engage in a profound, transformative learning experience.

Fr. Fitzgerald suggested that the INSJ lead this initiative jointly with the Lane Center for Catholic Social Thought and the Ignatian Tradition (the Lane Center), and to reach out to the Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice (JSSJ), and other programs and centers at USF representing multiple religious traditions. He emphasized the importance of engaging community-based grassroots organizations serving marginalized communities, and diverse faith congregations in the San Francisco Bay Area, highlighting the identity of San Francisco, city of St. Francis and peace, where the United Nations was founded.

Moved by Fr. Fitzgerald’s approach, I am grateful for his inclusive vision. It has been my honor to work in a marvelous and close working partnership with Erin Brigham, Executive Director of the Lane Center, and so many wonderful faculty colleagues and students across the university, and community organizations and diverse faith leaders, to bring Fr. Fitzgerald’s vision to fruition.

In Deep Partnership: USF Faculty, Students and Community Organizations

Supported by a generous grant from the Koret Foundation associated with the USF President’s Discretionary Fund for Faculty Research, the Initiative will be convened during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 academic years by INSJ and the Lane Center, in partnership with JSSJ and USF’s Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good, and in close association with the Office of the President, the Office of the Provost, the College of Arts and Sciences, and several USF graduate programs.

Research teams — led by USF faculty, along with USF students and grassroots service organizations — will conduct community-based research investigating a specific research question related to the causes and consequences of communal violence, and/or the role of nonviolence and restorative justice practices to heal related trauma. The Initiative’s Steering Committee selected seven collaborative research projects, after reviewing a substantial number of impressive proposals, led by faculty from throughout the University:

  • Professor Amy Argenal, USF Masters in Migration Studies (MIMS) will investigate “The Sanctuary Movement in the SF Bay Area” in partnership with The Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity.
  • Professors Dellanira Garcia and David A. Martínez, USF School of Nursing and the Health Professions, and Belinda Hernandez-Arriaga, USF School of Education (SOE), will research “Un Milagro de Dios (A Miracle of God): Experiences of Community Service Providers Working with Marginalized Latinx Communities Under Systems of Oppression, Hostility, and Violence” in partnership with Ayudando Latinos a Sonar.
  • Professor Bill Ong Hing (USF School of Law and MIMS) will investigate “How can Gang and Domestic Violence be Decreased in Countries like El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras?” in partnership with the USF Immigration & Deportation Defense Clinic; local community organizations including Centro Legal de la Raza and La Raza Centro Legal; and civil society/humanitarian organizations in Central America.
  • Professor Susan Roberta Katz (SOE) will explore “The Eagle and the Condor: Decolonizing Education in Comparative Indigenous Communities” in partnership with the Misak People in Colombia and the Navajo Nation in the United States.
  • Professor Saera Khan (Psychology) will lead research  “Understanding the Mental and Social Support Needs of Marginalized Members of a Religious Community” in partnership with Muslim community organizations in the SF Bay Area.
  • Professor Jane Pak (MIMS) will study “Nonviolent Resistance to the Military Junta in Burma” in partnership with Refugee and Immigrant Transitions, and Burmese student activist leaders in exile.
  • Professor Oren Kroll Zeldin, JSSJ and Theology and Religious Studies (THRS), will investigate “Co-Resistance in Israel/Palestine,” in partnership with the Center for Jewish Nonviolence, and Jewish and Palestinian activists committed to collaborative nonviolent direct action for justice and peace.

Over the next 24 months, in the spirit of Ignatian-informed inquiry, USF faculty and student researchers will engage in an Ignatian process of transformative learning that integrates encounter, analysis, reflection and action. We will convene retreats together with all USF researchers and community partners to share what we have learned, to support our collaborative research, and to engage in nonviolence training with Pace e Bene teachers.

Erin and I are scheduled to co-teach a community engaged learning course in Fall 2022 (“Faith and Nonviolence”), under the auspices of THRS, for USF students who will join the initiative teams as research assistants, and other interested undergraduates.  Together we will explore the role of nonviolence in the faith practice and social justice activism of diverse religious leaders including Abraham Joshua Heschel, A.J. Muste, Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Fannie Lou Hamer, and we will reflect upon their example in the context of our  collaborative research activities in partnership with grassroots service organizations.

In Spring 2023, we plan to convene a symposium with scholars and religious leaders representing diverse faith traditions reflecting on the 60th anniversary of the publication of Dr. Martin Luther King’s Strength to Love, a volume of selected homilies that Dr. King had delivered at the Dexter Avenue Church in Montgomery Alabama and the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta Georgia.

The two-year Initiative will culminate in spring 2024, when faculty, student and community partners will present their research results and learning outcomes to the USF community.  In addition, also in spring 2024, we plan to convene a broader gathering of San Francisco-based, national and global faith leaders from a variety of religious traditions in interfaith dialogue to further our joint commitment to the principles and practices of nonviolence, and to promote interfaith nonviolence dialogue, solidarity, activism and future collaboration.

Please join us!

 

Jonathan D. Greenberg is the Director of the USF Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice, which he co-founded with Dr. Clarence B. Jones in 2019.  Jonathan earned his BA at Princeton University in Politics and European Cultural Studies, and his JD from Stanford Law School, where he taught for thirty years as a Lecturer in Law, and served as Scholar in Residence at the school’s Gould Center for Conflict Resolution, prior to joining USF.  He has published widely in the fields of human rights, conflict resolution, international law, racial justice, and nonviolence, and he is the primary author of the institute’s Fierce Urgency blog.  Previously serving on the USF University Council on Diversity and Inclusion (UCDI) and the USF University Council on Community Engagement (UCCE), Jonathan is honored to begin a three year term as member of the USF University Council for Jesuit Mission.

Acknowledgments: The author wishes to express his immense gratitude for the dedicated, collaborative partnership of Erin Brigham; for our extraordinary colleagues on the Initiative’s steering committee (Pamela Balls Organista, Senior Vice Provost for Equity, Inclusion, and Faculty Excellence and Professor of Psychology; Derick Brown, Senior Director of the Leo T. McCarthy Center; Joshua Gamson, Associate Dean of Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology; Aaron Hahn Tapper, Mae and Benjamin Swig Professor in Jewish Studies and Director of the Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice; and Aysha Hidayatullah, Associate Professor of Islamic Studies in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies); for each of the inspiring USF scholars who will lead the initiative’s research teams; for Fr. Barwendé Médard Sané,  our amazing INSJ Jesuit Graduate Fellow; and for President Paul J. Fitzgerald, S.J. and Provost Chinyere Oparah for their inclusive vision and support for this important university-wide initiative.

 

Article Resources:

ALAS Ayudando Latinos A Soñar. Accessed May 16, 2022, https://www.alasdreams.com/.

Betagan, Ken. DePaul University. Accessed May 16, 2022, https://las.depaul.edu/academics/peace-justice-and-conflict-studies/faculty/Pages/ken-butigan.aspx.

Catholic Nonviolent Initiative. Accessed May 16, 2022, https://nonviolencejustpeace.net/.

Center for Jewish Nonviolence. Access May 16, 2022, https://cjnv.org/.

Centro Legal de la Raza. Accessed May 16, 2022, https://www.centrolegal.org/.

Francis. Address to Representatives of Different Religions, 3 November 2016. Accessed May 16, 2022, https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2016/november/documents/papa-francesco_20161103_udienza-interreligiosa.html.

Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity. Accessed May 16, 2022, https://www.im4humanintegrity.org/who-we-are/.

LRCL. La Raza Centro Legal. Accessed May 16, 2022, https://lrcl.org/.

Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service. Accessed May 16, 2022, https://paceebene.org/.

Pettus, Peter. The civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965. Photograph. Library of Congress, Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Selma_to_Montgomery_Marches_protesters.jpg.

Refugee & Immigrant Transition. Accessed May 16, 2022, https://www.reftrans.org/.

“Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam (CALCAV), October 25, 1965; Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975”, Martin Luther King, Jr. Encyclopedia. Stanford University. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/clergy-and-laymen-concerned-about-vietnam-calcav.

USF School of Law, Immigration and Deportation Defense Clinic. Accessed May 16, 2022, https://www.usfca.edu/law/professional-skills/law-clinics/immigration-deportation.

Further Reading:

  • Ahmann, Mathew, ed. Race: Challenge to Religion. Original Essays and An Appeal to the Conscience from the National Conference on Religion and Race. Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1963.
  • Andrus, Marc. Brothers in the Beloved Community: The Friendship of Thich Nhat Hanh and Martin Luther King, Jr. Berkeley: Parallax Press, 2021.
  • Azaransky, Sarah. This Worldwide Struggle: Religion and the International Roots of the Civil Rights Movement. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.
  • Barber, William J., with Liz Theoharis and Rick Lowery. Revive Us Again: Vision and Action in Moral Organizing. Boston: Beacon Press, 2018.
  • Cone, James H. The Cross and the Lynching Tree. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2011, 2013.
  • Dennis, Marie, ed. Choosing Peace: The Catholic Church Returns to Gospel Nonviolence. Maryknoll, New York:  Orbis Books, 2018.
  • Dixie, Quinton and Peter Eisenstadt. Visions of a Better World: Howard Thurman’s Pilgrimage to India and the Origins of African American Nonviolence. Boston: Beacon Press, 2011.
  • Hall, Mitchell K. Because of Their Faith: CALCAV and Religious Opposition to the Vietnam War. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990.
  • Heschel, Abraham Joshua. Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity: Essays. Edited by Susannah Heschel. New York: Noonday Press, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1996.
  • King, Martin Luther, Jr. Strength to Love. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2010.
  • Lawson, James M. with Michael K.Honey, and Kent Wong. Revolutionary Nonviolence:  Organizing for Freedom. Oakland: University of California Press, 2022.
  • Raboteau, Albert J. American Prophets: Seven Religious Radicals & Their Struggle for Social and Political Justice. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016.
  • Sané, Barwendé Médard, SJ. From the Inner Mountain to the Common Good with Howard Thurman and Martin Luther King, Jr. Mauritius: Editions Croix du Salut, 2017.
  • Slate, Nico. Colored Cosmopolitanism: The Shared Struggle for Freedom in the United States and India. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012.
  • Thurman, Howard. Jesus and the Disinherited. Boston: Beacon Press, 1996.