Costa Rican Catholic Church, Social Justice, and the Rights of Workers, 1979-1996

Dana Sawchuk is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario.

``Compared to the troubled conditions and civil wars in neighborourin countries like Guatelmal, El Salvador, and Honduras, there is much to be thankful for in Costa Rica. However, as Dana Sawchuk demonstrates in this study, it is not the paradise that the U.S. government (which has a vested economic and political interest) and other proponents suggest. Sawchuk's study [is a]...well-researched and well-written work.... The end product is a valuable socio-economic, cultural, and political study of a country that has often been misinterpreted by well-meaning outsiders.'' -- John Walker -- Canadian Book Review Annual, 2006, 200702

• The Costa Rican Catholic Church, Social Justice, and the Rights of Workers, 1979-1996 by Dana SawchukAcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsAcknowledgmentsPreface1. IntroductionStudies of the Church and Politics in Latin AmericaStudies of the Pre-1979 Church in Costa RicaThe Scope and Theme of This StudyTheoretical ConsiderationsChapter Outline2. Crisis in Costa RicaPost-Civil War Economic DevelopmentThe Crisis and Government PoliciesPopular Reactions to the CrisisConclusion3. The Unions in the Face of the CrisisProblems for the Costa Rican Union MovementPromise in the Costa Rican Union MovementLimón en LuchaConclusion4. Official Catholic Social Teaching on Workers' IssuesStrikes and Unions in Catholic Social TeachingContrasting Approaches to Social JusticePersistent Conservatism in Catholic Social TeachingConclusion5. Monseñor Arrieta and CECORThe Man They Call ManzanitaThe Church Hierarchy's Political Pronouncements and PreferencesThe Costa Rican Bishops and Workers' RightsConclusion6. CECODERSThe Centre's Structure and ProgrammingThe Controversial 1986 FolletoCECODERS and Catholic Social TeachingCECODERS and the Union MovementConclusion7. Limón ProvinceSocio-Economic Conditions in LimónThe Institutional Insecurity of the Limón ChurchConclusion8. The ESJ23Padre Solano and the Expansion of the ESJ23The ESJ23 and Catholic Social TeachingAnother Side to the School's SuccessConclusion9. The Official Church in LimónThe Limón Church under Monseñor CotoThe 1989 Carta PastoralA New Bishop in a New DioceseThe Limón Church and Catholic Social TeachingConclusion10. Liberationist and Conservative Catholicisms in Costa Rica and BeyondThe Conservative-Liberationist Struggle within the Costa Rican ChurchFinal ReflectionsNotesBibliographyIndex