Is it possible for me to yum install LibreOffice Writer without Java also being installed?
I don't want to install the full libreoffice package because it prompts me to update my java and tomcat which I'm trying to avoid.
I'm using CentOS.
A full libreoffice installation without Java is not possible. LibreOffice Base uses a HSQLDB with is written in Java (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSQLDB).
You can run most of the products without Java by going to Tools->Options>-LibreOffice->Java and uncheck "Use Java virtual machine"
If the Package in the CentOS-repos requires Java you can try installing the rpm directly provided by libreoffice.org or install the rpm in the centos-repo with
rpm --nodeps
Either way, make a backup first.