Arun Gandhi, founder, President, Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute
“Reading the story of Agape I was reminded of my grandfather, Gandhi’s My Experiments with Truth, the story of how he transformed his life. This book is a testament to the fact that what Gandhi did in India can be replicated around the world. …that nonviolence is not just about conflict resolution, but about a sustainable way of life. An enlightened book!”
Mary Evelyn Tucker, co-director of the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology
“Agape and its co-founders have woven together a life of environmental and social justice concerns even before the Papal Encyclical Laudato Si called such a practice, integral ecology! To say we are all in their debt is only a beginning of the gratitude one feels when reading this book.”
Paul Frechette, SM, Provincial of the USA Marist Fathers and Brothers
“Peacemakers living a prophetic life, Suzanne and Brayton are eloquent in seeing our times vibrating with integration—East with West, religious with secular, science with religion, human with earth. Loving Life on the Margins says it all.”
Rev. Dr. Margaret Bullit-Jonas, Missioner for Creation Care, Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts, author and retreat leader.
“Loving Life on the Margins is a pleasure to read, the pages shine with unusual moral clarity. As followers of the prophetic nonviolent Jesus, Brayton and Suzanne have devoted their lives as signs of peace and environmental justice in a world of violence and climate change. A timely publication now, as the web of life is unraveling with societies under severe stress.”
Frida Berrigan, columnist for Waging Nonviolence and the author of It Runs in the Family: On Being Raised by Radicals and Growing into Rebellious Motherhood.”
“Feeling hopeless? Isolated? Overwhelmed? This book is the antidote. Sit with these stories, these lives of active contemplation, practiced faith and engaged, examined nonviolence and be restored. Thank you Suzanne and Brayton for crafting an honest, inviting, inspiring portrait of a centered life at the margins.”
William Neal Moore, Pentecostal Minister, international speaker against the Death Penalty, former Death Row Inmate in Jackson, Georgia for 17 years.
The Agape story is truly a real life story that follows the command of Jesus: take the gospel to all the world. Suzanne and Brayton will show you, the reader, just how the gospel is lived in this day and time.”
Roy Bourgeois, a laicized Roman Catholic priest, expelled from the Maryknoll order because of his advocacy for Women’s Ordination, and the founder of the human rights group School of the Americas Watch (SOA Watch).
In these challenging times, we need people who give us hope in the struggle for peace, justice and equality. This is where the Agape Community comes in. I highly recommend the book, Loving Life on the Margins.
Thomas Massaro, SJ, Professor of Moral Theology at Fordham, University, and author of numerous books on peacemaking, including the recent publication, Living Justice: Catholic Social Teaching in Action.
“This shining new volume recounts over four decades of faith-filled companionship, radical nonviolence, environmental sustainability, simplicity of lifestyle, solidarity with the poor, artistic beauty and prayerful community. Against great odds, Agape and its co-founders have kept hope alive for so many.”
Eric Martin, co-editor of the Berrigan Letters, Phd candidate at Fordham University, activist and teacher.
This is a story of spiritual adventure. From prison journals and composts toilets to confronting cardinals on war, to chasing woodchucks from the garden, this book is full of life and hope, part of a witness the authors call, “the vast network of God’s womb love.”
Brenna and Eric Cussen Anglada helped to found the St. Isidore Catholic Worker Farm and Agronomic University in Southwest Wisconsin are homesteaders, resisters and authors.
In today’s world, we desperately need beautiful models of those who break away from the dominant paradigm and choose to embrace lives of prophetic witness. Loving Life on the Margins gives us the nitty gritty story of how two people of faith moved from a middle class upbringing toward a lifestyle dedicated to ecological restoration, social justice, and nonviolent resistance, challenging all of us to move beyond our comfort zones and find our own vocations.
Daniel Marshall, Catholic Worker Movement Historian
“A beautiful memoir of a marriage, a symbol of unity of Christ and the church, a shining example of what Catholic Worker founder, Peter Maurin intended as an agronomic university. Brilliant, far-reaching, rooted…a treasure.”
Mohammad Saleem Bajwa MD, Director, Islamic Society of Western Massachusetts
Brayton and Suzanne’s memoir shows us how for over forty years they loved and cared for each other and cultivated mutual understanding among cultures and religious traditions. Their way of peacebuilding, concern for immigrants, and refugee families is exemplary and one that we at the Islamic Center have supported and participated in.