Faith, Family, Furry, and Fire

About the Book

Brad Zervas reveals something quite different from his previous literary efforts in Faith, Family, Furry, and Fire. While his other books focus on practical ways to raise our boys and support our fathers, this work explores the Way of St. Francis and the belief that all living things deserve our consideration. When embraced, this idea could lead us to a more just and sustainable world order. As an ecologist, defender of plants and animals, and as a man who turned away from material riches, St. Francis discovered that all living things exist in the dominion of his “Father.” He blazed a trail that others have tried to follow for centuries. The author observes that while we have worked tirelessly to find ways to divide ourselves into specific groups with the intent of somehow elevating ourselves so that God sees us and not the other, it has always been the other that has been able to show us the depths and possibilities of kindness. He concludes that faith, family, fire, and furry remain embedded in our lives—the four basic elements that knowingly and unknowingly comprise the very chemistry that shapes us—pilgrims each walking toward our last and final surrender.

About the Author

Brad Zervas will tell his readers that he has been blessed – blessed with a family, a career and with the unyielding belief that we can be better. After graduating The University of Massachusetts with degrees in Education and Latin American Studies, he went on to lead some of this nation’s most storied social service organizations – and did this after leading a literary program at a maximum-security facility. He would respectfully remind his supporters that he followed a path with the conviction that intervention, kindness and empathy at their core, represent a pathway to a better life and to the fulfillment of the potential that is far too often ignored among legions of our children – children mired as such in trajectories of dysfunction, neglect and in the very premise that they remain invisible and somehow not worthy of our political will. Zervas’ three previous works: “They Are All Our Sons : Principles to Ignite Our Boys”; A Father’s Job Is Never Done: The Work, The Worry and the Wonder of it All”; and “The Loss of Civility and The Abduction of The Truth: Letters to the President”; have each received high praise – praise not sought, and praise better extended to those most in need. He would go on to maintain that to be truly and consciously humbled is a luxury afforded only to those with the means to do so. To those among us who are impacted and impaired by a global dynamic that threatens us all, Zervas would suggest that we consider something that transcends boarders, our religious differences, histories, and those elements of our traditions and backgrounds that should unite us rather than divide us. In weakness there does exist strength and he would ask that we weigh our individual capacities to make a difference and to shape a way forward that might allow us to reach greater clarity, community and commitment.