#88. Part 1 of 2 special episodes on 9/11: This week with Colleen Kelly of Peaceful Tomorro­ws, an organization founded by family members of those killed on September 11th who united to turn grief into action for peace.

This week The Nonviolent Jesus podcast brings 2 special episodes:Today (part 1 of 2), I speak with my friend Colleen Kelly, who lost her brother in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center. A few years earlier, I had baptized Colleen’s daughter at a very happy family event.On Thursday’s episode, (part 2 of 2), I’ll share my own stories as the Red Cross coordinator of chaplains at Ground Zero. You can also read more stories about this period of my life in my book "A Persistent Peace".On September 11th, Colleen's brother Bill was at a one day conference at Windows on the World, on the top of the World Trade Center. In the awful days afterwards, she met with other family members to seek nonviolent alternatives to the cycles of violence, and to enhance civilian protection.They formed “September 11th Families For Peaceful Tomorrows,” which has been nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize. Its name comes from the Martin Luther King Jr.’s quote, "Wars make poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows."These days, she continues to work with Peaceful Tomorrows in a variety of ways, including the pursuit of justice and accountability for the death of Bill and nearly 3000 others, by numerous visits to observe the military commissions at Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba.Colleen talks about her brother, the founding of “Peaceful Tomorrows,” her trips to Guantanamo, and their work marching for and promoting peace, even in Afghanistan.We also talk about her amazing mother, who told me as we left Ground Zero how she felt about the bombing of Afghanistan, words that have stayed with me to this very day.For the 25th anniversary, Colleen is organizing a peace walk on Sept. 10th from Union Square to Ground Zero where they will hold an evening vigil. www.peacefultomorrows.org“Nonviolence is what Jesus taught and it is hard to believe but until we all truly believe it and make that leap, we are stuck in this inhuman world,” she says.Listen in and be inspired!God bless you,🌻 Fr. John