Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, now a nonaenarian, has for long advocated for American and global justice, peace, and charity. The authors, two friends of his, include press coverage of Gumbleto’s many public involvements, interviews with his living relatives and people who have known him, and, fortunately, interviews with the still-alert bishop himself. They do not begin chronologically but by recounting a turning point in Gumbleton’s life.

Ordained in 1956, he had not given the morality of war much thought. Two older brothers served in the military. But as did many people, he sensed that something was wrong in the Vietnam War. As vice-chancellor of the Archdiocese of Detroit, he was sent to a meeting of anti-war activist priests to ask them to cease upsetting the laity; he listened to them for over two hours, and began to have doubts himself. He proceeded by reading about traditional just-war theory, which held that one should begin with a presumpation in favor of peace. He found the writings of Trappist Thomas Merton, Gordon Zahn,  Martin Luther King, Jr.,  and Dorothy Day inspiring. He was ordained a bishop in 1968, the year that Cardinal Lawrence Sheehan of Baltimore preached against the Vietnam War, Archbishop Patrick O’Boyle of Washington forbade priests to preach on the subject, and, with President Lyndon Johnson present in the historic cathedral in San Antonio, Archbishop Robert Lucey preached in favor of the war. He was deeply moved by the statements and principles of Catholic consciencius objectors on whose behalf he wrote to local draft boards. He went public in a radio debate on conscientious objection to particular wars, and in an op-ed in the New York Times. His efforts drew heated criticism, though he did manage to persuade the National Conference of Catholic Bishops to call for the end of the war and to condemn the massive bombing ordered by President Nixon.

The authors were wise in introducing Bishop Gumbleton with the following vignette: a young priest and auxiliary bishop has come to consciousness in a conventional context. He takes the trouble to listen and to read, and he allows himself to be moved by his conscience. He moves those who listen to his preaching from the pulpit as well as in the media.  

Later chapters describe Gumleto’s childhood and seminary formation.  He became an assistant pastor in Dearborn, Michigan, making a number of life-long friends. That was followed by  awful years as an assistant chancellor, and in 1961 by the assignment to study canon law in Rome. There he experienced the questioning spirit of the preparations for the Vatican Council, and the stale answers offered in the canon law classes. A trip to the Middle East with a stop in Cairo opened his eyes to real poverty. Returning to Detroit, he became vice-chancellor in charge of an anti-poverty initiative, which brought him into race relations. He experienced the Detroit race riot and fire of 1967 and participated in efforts to find homes for those who lost their homes in the fire. When he was in charge of clergy assignments and nobody wanted to be the pastor a largely African American parish, St. Leo’s, he took the parish himself. He lived in a small office adjacent to the church, incorporated Afrian Amerian cultural forms into the liturgies, and established a clinic in the parish. He also pressured largely white Catholic schools to accept African American students.

During these struggling times he was asked to be ordained a bishop. As a bishop, he was involved in Cardinal Dearden’s restructuring  of the Detroit Archdiocese to give lay people a voice. Meanwhile, Gumbleton began to take on a variety of social causes such as racial justice and the support of striking auto workers. A major point of contention was the resistance of  religious sisters against efforts to keep African American children out of parish schools; Gumbleton supported the sisters. He also encouraged Catholics to boycott iceberg lettuce and table grapes in support of the United Farm Workers. He supported the suggestion of Bread for the World to eat less beef and thereby leave more grain for the hungry. He also participated in Call to Action, a national Catholic town hall modeled on the Detroit Archdiocesan restructuring.

Gumbleton, along with Bishop Carroll Dozier of Memphis, Tennessee,  was involved in the founding of Pax Christi USA. In 1979 he traveled  with other prominent Christian clergy to Teheran  to visit the hostages and to conduct a Christmas liturgy for them. While the visit was very meaningful for the hostages, their captors did their best to exploit the situation for propaganda purposes.

Two chapters narrate the drafting of the U.S. bishops‘ pastoral letter, "The Challenge of Peace. Pope John Paul II and the Reagan Administration tried to control the drafting of the letter; the pope succeeded in including a nuanced acceptance of deterrance. Gumbleton later noted a lack of any progress toward nuclear disarmament. He went on to criticize capitalism, which is predicated on greed and consumerism. In 1987 and 2000 he, along with many others, was arrested for trespassing on government property in Nevada, which was a nuclear test site. He joined large anti-nuclear test demonstrations, including one in Kazachstan, then a part of the Soviet Union.

When controversy arose over the Michigan Catholic newspaper dropping a young columnist  who publicly identified as homosexual, Gumbleton joined many who wanted discrimintion agaisnt homosexuals to cease. He spoke about his younger brother who had "come out." This led Call to Action and the National Conference of Catholic bishops to make statements agaisnt such discrimination; he also made ministering to gay religious and priests his personal ministry.

Soon after Archbishop Osar Rmero of San Salvador was assassinated, a personal friend of Gumbleton was among the female missionaries raped and murdered by  Salvadoran gun-men. In response, he encouraged the Sanctuary Movement and traveled many times to Central America to advoate for poor people’s rights and oppose violence. He also became invovled in the School of the Americas watch.
Prior to the First Gulf War, Gumbleton helped persuade Saddham Hussein to release about 900 international hostages held in Baghdad. He joined anti-war activities during both Gulf Wars. The USCCB resisted making any statement agaisnt the wars and sanctions  despite his pleadings. Finally in 2002 the USCCB issued such a statement.

Gumbleton spoke out in favor of the duly elected president of Haiti, Jean Bertrand Aristide, and he criticized the militry coup leaders who assassinated church leaders advocating on behalf of the poor in the island nation. He traveled to visit imprisoned church workers and helped deliver supplies after the 2010 earthquake. Aged 80, he helped establish a heath clinic in the aftermath.

Several chapters describe other activities. He made a trip to Austria for the beatification of Franz Jaegerstaeter, whom the Nazi government beheaded for refusing to fight in Hitler’s war. He  tried to assist a woman abused by a parish priest in Toledo, and this led him to support an extension of Ohio’s statute of limitations in cases of the abuse of minors. In so doing, he metioned that he himself had been abused at age 15 by a minor seminary teacher. The reaction of Detroit Cardinal Maida was to force him to resign his episcopal and pastoral duties. The new pope, Benedict XVI, rejected his appeal.