PCMNY BOOK REVIEW

Choosing Peace: The Catholic Church Returns to Gospel Nonviolence

edited by Marie Dennis and published by Orbis Books, 2018

From April 11^th to the 13^th, 2016, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (now the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development) and Pax Christi International brought together more than 80 people to discuss the Catholic Church’s history of and commitment to nonviolence. In particular, the conference focused on the experiences of those from the global South and areas of conflict. The conference addressed four main topics: Experiences of nonviolence, Jesus’s way of nonviolence, Nonviolence and Just Peace, and Moving beyond unending war. This book is based on the conversations of the conference participants. It includes many of the papers prepared for the conference by its esteemed participants, along with deep reflections on the various themes. The chapters are framed by Pope Francis’s Message to the Conference and his World Day of Peace Message 2017.

Pax Christi Downtown Brooklyn spent much of a year reading and discussing this book and presents us with a report of their study here. We encourage you to read their thorough overview of the book. Perhaps it will inspire you to go even further and read the book, itself. And if it does, click here for a quick study guide to Choosing Peace, a resource of the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative  project of Pax Christi International.