A Still and Quiet Conscience

CATHOLIC PRESS ASSOCIATION AWARD WINNER! - First Time Author of a Book

Pope Francis has spoken of his desire for pastoral bishops--shepherds who have “the smell of the sheep.” Raymond G. Hunthausen, archbishop of Seattle from 1975-1991, was a bishop who epitomized this style, embracing the Vatican II spirit of renewal, reaching out to the laity, women, and those on the margins.

Hunthausen was also a courageous witness for peace, gaining national attention when he became the first American bishop to urge tax resistance as a protest against preparations for nuclear war—no small gesture for a pastor with a U.S. naval base in his diocese. As John McCoy shows, in doing so, Hunthausen ran up against the Cold War policies of the Reagan administration—and also came into conflict with Pope John Paul II’s desire to reshape the America episcopacy.

A Still and Quiet Conscience is an absorbing account of one man’s prophetic stance –and the steep price he paid—rekindling the vision of a more inclusive, prophetic, and compassionate church as “people of God.”

Reporter, editor, and journalism professor, John A. McCoy first covered the story of Archbishop Hunthausen as a reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. McCoy has headed the communications departments of the Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle and World Vision International. Currently, he teaches writing at the University of Washington, Tacoma.