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When Catholics find themselves cornered on Church teaching, their objective should be to win friends for the faith -- not ace an argument. But when thrust suddenly into the spotlight as "defender," a calm treatise usually isn't their first instinct.

In order to shed light -- not heat -- there are logical tactics for diffusing contentious discussions, and transforming them into succinct and compelling explanations. British co-founder of Catholic Voices, Dr. Austen Ivereigh -- who's launching the organization in the U.S. this week -- lays out the steps for this much-needed process in his new book, How to Defend the Faith without Raising Your Voice: Civil Responses to Catholic Hot-Button Issues, (Our Sunday Visitor, 2012).

Ivereigh engages many common quandaries people have about Catholicism and properly reframes faulty accusations -- to remake the conversation. The book addresses issues such as:

  • Why the Church gets involved in political dialogue;
  • Whether the Church has a right to take a public stance;
  • Whether Catholic politicians should be held to their faith first;
  • Church teaching on homosexuality, marriage, AIDS, abortion, contraception, women's roles; and end-of-life issues such as assisted suicide;
  • Whether the Church has the right to maintain an organization tied to its moral belief system;
  • Church accountability and resolution pertaining to clerical sex abuse.

It also includes a chapter on the "Ten Principles of Civil Communication," helping readers prepare for discussions with the objective of a positive outcome.

How to Defend the Faith without Raising Your Voice actually resulted when a group of knowledgeable lay Catholics in England volunteered to serve as on-air guests answering questions about Catholicism. They had to prepare for "high-pressure, cut-to-the-quick contexts," typical of brief interviews on radio and television. This same perspective is needed to effectively engage almost any 'debater' on issues pertaining the Catholic Church.

"This book is a miracle," states John L. Allen, Jr., author of The Future Church. "An authentically Catholic recipe for explaining without excoriating, defending without defaming, and changing hearts without knocking heads."
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