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	Reforming and Renewing the Church Using Gospel Nonviolence Voice from the Desert January 26, 2008 http://reform-network.net/?p=1369 If you haven't met Dick Taylor from Philadelphia, you've missed a real treat. Dick's quite a guy. He's a man of action with fire in the belly, but you'd never know it because he's centered, kind, and gentle and projects a calm demeanor. Dick, a student and teacher of gospel nonviolence, marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., during the civil rights movement. Dick is a Catholic, a VOTF member, and dedicated to church reform. Dick has written a new book, Love in Action: A Direct-Action Handbook for Catholics Using Nonviolence to Reform and Renew the Church. Here is an excerpt (note the testimonials) from the homepage of his very professional website that he is using to market the book: This website describes the only book dedicated entirely to showing how concerned Catholics can unleash the powerful methods of "gospel nonviolence" to reform and renew the Church. In addition to Catholics, anyone who is working for social change in any realm—peace, justice, human rights, ecology, race relations or any other area of social transformation—can use this book to be more effective in bringing about the changes they envision. Nonviolence has a long and effective record in transforming groups, institutions, and whole societies. Gospel nonviolence brings this same powerful energy to the transformation of the Church. Rooted in Jesus Christ and Church tradition, and drawing on nonviolent movements worldwide, this loving approach shows how to work for crucial changes in the face of discouragement and frequent institutional opposition. Today many faithful Catholics and Catholic reform groups yearn for such changes, ranging from women and married clergy to effective response to sex scandals to lay participation in governance and condemnation of materialism and war. Love in Action is about loving the Church toward such change - prophetically and nonviolently. Geared specifically to the hopes and challenges of the renewal of the Catholic Church, this handbook offers tools that are both spiritually grounded and pragmatic. It teaches anyone to build an effective, faith-based group working for reform with tips on how to build a group, run effective meetings, negotiate, or carry out direct action. Here are anecdotes, exercises, and hundreds of examples of people translating conviction into effective personal and institutional transformation. If you wish to see change in your church - and seek your own transformation in the process -you will find Love in Action indispensable. Testimonials "Love in Action teaches us how to make our Church, which dares to teach justice, itself just. This is truly an important book for all of us who care about our Church. " -Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton, Detroit, Mich. "This is an excellent resource for Catholics looking for effective ways of reforming the institutional Church. It contains vitally important tools for building a more effective church reform movement. " -Christine Schenk, CSJ, Executive Director of FutureChurch "Love in Action is must reading. It shows how creative nonviolence can transform the institutional Church into a more loving, just community of disciples of the non-violent Jesus." -Fr. John Dear, SJ, author of Living Peace and Transfiguration "A great contribution to the Catholic Church renewal movement. A very practical step-by-step on how you can bring the movement to your own backyard." -Dan and Sheila Daley, Co-Directors, Call to Action "A way to dispel the doubt and replace it with hope among Catholics hoping for significant reform in the institutional church in the face of serious opposition to progress." -Thomas P. Doyle, JCD, CADC Here's an additional testimonial from Tom Doyle: The reality is that gospel nonviolence is more powerful than any other force for bringing about radical change in [church] structures that have become encrusted with selfishness and narcissism. This hard-hitting handbook grounds us in the need for persistence and hope. Its goals are real and solidly rooted in the mission of Christ; the methodology is realistic and concrete; and the end result is reachable. . . Love in Action . . . serves as a handbook for much more than nonviolent methods. It's really a handbook for how to live out one's baptism. Jim Post, co-founder and past president of VOTF, and Leonard Swidler, founder and president of the Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church (ARCC), have given similar ringing endorsements. The program director of Women's Ordination Conference says "the book is great" and states that they will use some of its strategies "for the event we are planning during the Pope's visit to the US." Dick is also getting good feedback from grassroots Catholic reformers – even from Protestants! If you wish to contact Dick, email him at rktpbt@worldnet.att.net.
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