I have read many fine Catholic Apologetic books over the years, but I have to say “How to Defend the Faith Without Raising 
Your Voice: Civil Responses to Catholic Hot Button Issues” is the BEST! Dr. Austen Ivereigh, along with the Our Sunday Visitor Editor in Chief John Norton, have compiled the “must have” text for any and all Catholics who desire to respond to the call for the New Evangelization. More than answers to just about any issue that could come forward in a discussion about the Catholic Church and the faith we profess, their work encourages us to respond with reason based on the fundamentals of Catholic Social Teaching and decorum befitting virtue driven discourse. Once again, this is a MUST HAVE. Check out Austen’s article in the OSV weekly entitled “How to Defend the Faith” for just a taste of what can be found in the book.
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You can find the book here
From the book description (and it’s 100% accurate):
It is about winning friends, not arguments. It is about shedding light, not heat. It’s about reframing the argument so hearts can be opened and minds can be inspired.
How to Defend the Faith without Raising Your Voice is a new sort of apologetics. It is for those moments when you are thrust into the spotlight as the token Catholic whether the spotlight is simply at the office water cooler or whether it is front and center at the in-laws Thanksgiving celebration. How to Defend the Faith without Raising Your Voice gives Catholics a fresh way of explaining the Church’s teaching on contentious issues humanly, compellingly, and succinctly.
But this book does not pretend to suggest it is as simple as memorizing a speech. Every conversation is different. Every day’s news cycle will bring new arguments and new challenges. Instead, it is a book about what the issues really are and where the criticisms are coming from so you can understand and communicate effectively.
It is the fruit of a group of speakers and experts brought together by a single idea: to make sure that Catholics and the Church were represented properly in the media when Pope Benedict came to visit the UK in 2010. Their original and thoughtful approach helped make that visit a triumph and now it can be expanded for a much broader use.
Whether read in groups or alone, studied in schools or parishes, How to Defend the Faith without Raising Your Voice offers the same thorough briefings on hot topics and the same top tips for effective communication which helped make the project such a success.
