Updating pom versions without using release plugin

[Scott Carter]

Is there a easy way to update pom versions without using the release plugin?
 We have several multi projects (parent pom and several children poms).  We
keep the version of the parent pom the same as the versions in the children
poms.  The release plugin will take care or recursively updating the
versions, but also does several other things we do not want.  Is there a way
to recursively update versions without using the release plugin?
Thanks in advance