Catholic Social Thought – serie

Bioethics, Law, and Human Life Issues: A Catholic Perspective on Marriage, Family, Contraception, Abortion, Reproductive Technology, and Death and Dying draws on the Magisterial teaching of the Catholic Church to outline a Catholic response to a host of controversial issues related to human life. Scarnecchia lays out a Catholic moral theology based on the writings of Pope John Paul II and Thomas Aquinas, and he then applies those Christian moral principles to today's most contentious ethical issues, including reproductive technology, embryo adoption, contraception, abortion, family and same-sex marriage, and euthanasia and assisted suicide. This review of Catholic moral principles brings together an in-depth consideration of the central human life issues of our day with abundant reference to the Church's social teaching and to contrasting positions of today's leading ethicists.

Over the course of two millennia, the Catholic Church has served as one of the key institutional influences on the development of political science. Papal writings on the social teachings of the Church and their application to the modern world reflect the important role the Church has played as a political evaluator and social critic of political ideas and realities and the concepts and methods through which we seek to understand them. Toward the Common Good critiques political science from a distinctly Catholic perspective. Essays in this work engage forthrightly with the origins and destiny of humanity and explore—through a Catholic lens—the natural inclination of human beings to aspire toward the attainment of the common good.This book examines how the subfields of political theory, comparative politics, American government, international relations, and public administration draw on foundational connections between moral and political philosophy and political science's natural affinities with history, law, anthropology, sociology, and theology. The contributors assess the quality of contemporary political analysis by applying the Catholic principles of the unity of knowledge and pursuit of truth to the traditional principles of justice, the common good, solidarity, and subsidiarity, all in direct contrast to the utilitarian, secularist, materialist, and relativist approaches that dominate political science today. The essays collected here address the question of method in the study of politics—especially the confining effects of regnant behavioralism—and offer in opposition a recovery of political philosophy, the natural law tradition, virtue ethics, and moral realism. Finally, each contributor suggests how the Catholic political scientist can draw upon the truths of the Catholic faith to enter into the study of politics and how that faith influences the kinds of questions and research a Catholic political scientist undertakes.

In Pope Pius XII on the Economic Order, economist Rupert J. Ederer explores the views of Eugenio Pacelli, who served as pope during the tumultuous period of 1939 to 1958. Prodigious in his output, Pius XII produced 40 encyclicals, 19 highly regarded Christmas messages, and series of addresses to groups and organizations, laying the groundwork for the economic views of his successors. According to Ederer, it "is safe to say that no Roman pontiff has addressed the problems confronting the social order as frequently and as widely outside the formal structure of encyclicals as Pius XII. This applies in a special way to his masterful and prophetic Christmas Messages." Through the study of Pius XII's encyclicals and Christmas messages, Ederer examines this important pontiff's views on economics and the social order, the world of work, agriculture and farmers, food and population, the middle class, and the world of money and finance.Students and scholars interested in the history of Pius XII's papacy will find in Ederer's analysis an insightful study of Catholic economic thought during an era when nations representing the forces of capitalism, fascism, and Communism were joined in a fierce battle for dominance.

In this revised and expanded edition of Economics as if God Matters, Rupert J. Ederer brings forward to the present his classic assessment of how papal social teachings address economic questions from the end of the 19th century. Noting how "economic order reflects economic philosophies, which, in turn, mirror the basic philosophies" and even theologies, Ederer explores the papal perspective on economics and its place in human affairs. Through the study of social encyclicals issued since 1891, Ederer illustrates the "organic development of doctrine" on economic matters through his detection of a series of common principles.Ederer considers in each of his chapters key encyclicals, from which he abstracts an economic philosophy that seeks to balance Church teaching with evolving 20th-century economic systems. His survey thus encompasses close readings of Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum (1891), Pius XI's Quadragesimo Anno (1931), John XXIII's Mater et Magistra (1961), Paul VI's Populorum Progressio (1967), John Paul II's Laborem Exercens (1981), Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (1987), Centesimus Annus (1991), and Benedict XVI's Caritas in Veritate (2009).Written for clergy and lay readers, as well as students and scholars of the Catholic perspective on the intersection of economics and society, Economics as if God Matters is a sophisticated review of the moral purpose of one's participation in the economic life of modern society.

Sociology and Catholic Social Teaching: Contemporary Theory and Research contains essays by key scholars in the territory where Catholic social thought and secular sociology meet, and offers a much needed alternative to the relativism and individualism that so often characterize social scientific analysis today. Contributors to this volume argue that Catholic social teaching, as articulated so powerfully today in recent papal encyclicals and major summations such as the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, offers a powerful moral framework for addressing today’s pressing social problems. This is especially true since many of its tenets find solid support in social scientific research on the nature of the person and the workings of culture and social institutions. Sponsored by the Society of Catholic Social Scientists, and including work by sociologists from both the Society and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, this volume is offered in the spirit of Pope John Paul II’s exhortation to draw from contemporary social science whatever can help the Church better understand contemporary social issues and trends and thus better serve humanity.Specific articles address such topics as the Church as a virtual nation in the international arena; changing cultural norms regarding deviance; the historical and contemporary relationship between Catholicism and mainstream academic sociology; empirical support for a natural law perspective on family relations; the social psychology of happiness and moral behavior among emerging adults; the sociology of knowledge from a distinctively Catholic perspective; and how the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity can be used to analyze and evaluate the functioning of institutions like the family, education and the state. Each author also offers some autobiographical reflections on how they relate sociology and their life of Faith.This anthology will interest scholars in both sociology and Catholic social thought, as well as advanced undergraduate and graduate students in these areas.

The child protective system (CPS), shaped by federal law forty years ago and run on the state and county levels in the United States, offered in utopian fashion the hope of preventing all possible child abuse or neglect. In response, legislators enacted a spate of vague laws that poorly defined such categories as “abuse” and “neglect,” and granted the CPS sweeping powers to intrude into families, often on the basis of nothing more than anonymous complaints about standard childrearing practices. This arrangement, which followed from the questionable assertion of the existence of a crisis of child abuse and neglect, became the basis in theory for the universal monitoring of American families that has resulted in the sharp curtailing of parental rights and responsibilities. With overreaching by local and state governments into family affairs, the current CPS has not only damaged untold numbers of families but also undercut the legitimacy of parental authority through the continuous threat to parents of child removal. In Child Abuse, Family Rights, and the Child Protective System: A Critical Analysis from Law, Ethics, and Catholic Social Teaching, Stephen M. Krason gathers essays by leading scholars and practitioners to comment through the prism of Catholic social thought, on the plight afflicting American families and the role of the child protective system. Here readers will find critical essays on the deleterious effect of the1974 passage of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act; assessments of current American policies on child abuse and neglect and the role of the CPS within the context of prevailing international human rights principles and Catholic social teaching; a survey of the enforcement of CPS policies from a legal and constitutional perspective; research data disputing the CPS principle that all parents are potential abusers and illustrating the greater prevalence of abuse and neglect in broken, “blended,” and “untraditional” families; and arguments for poverty and unemployment as the prime culprits in the mistreatment of children. Also included are the amicus curiae briefs that the Society of Catholic Social Scientists submitted in two U.S. Supreme Court cases on parental rights, the CPS, and state control over the family. Child Abuse, Family Rights, and the Child Protective System should appeal to a variety of professionals as well as scholars, from family court attorneys, social workers, family counselors, and clergy to researchers in the fields of social work, law, family studies, American politics, sociology, human services, counseling and psychology, and education, as well as public officials.

Stories about the past shape not only the way people think about history, but also the way they act in the present. Nowhere is this truer than in the area of religion, which has been and continues to be a powerful motivating force in the lives of billions around the globe. In this volume, Catholicism and Historical Narrative: A Catholic Engagement with Historical Scholarship, contributors explore the way stories are constructed and show how a focus on Catholic figures and concerns challenges common understandings of important historical episodes and eras.Editor Kevin Schmiesing has gathered a distinguished group of scholars who, in various ways, call into question conventional story lines by highlighting previously neglected Catholic ideas and individuals. Built on ample evidence and employing keen insight, each essay is the result of cutting-edge research in fields ranging from historical research on Puritan New England and the antebellum South to the history of abortion to the twentieth-century papacy.Students and scholars of religious history, Catholic historians, and anyone interested in the intersection of religion and history will all find here much to interest—and maybe even surprise—in the chapters' arguments concerning the deficiencies of history's dominant narratives. The volume's focus on the history of Catholics in the United States makes it essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the place of Catholicism in the American story.

Edited by Ronald J. Rychlak, American Law from a Catholic Perspective is one of the most comprehensive surveys of American legal topics by major Catholic legal scholars. Contributors explore bankruptcy, corporate law, environmental law, family law, immigration, labor law, military law, property, torts, and several different aspects of constitutional law, among other subjects. Readers will find probing arguments that bring to bear the critical perspective of Catholic social thought on American legal jurisprudence. Essays include Michael Ariens’s account of Catholicism in the intellectual discipline of legal history, William Saunders’s assessment of human rights and Catholic social teaching, Hadley Arkes’s look at the place of Catholic social thought with respect to bioethics, and many others on major legal topics and their intersection with Catholic social teaching. American Law from a Catholic Perspective is essential reading for all Catholic lawyers, judges, and law students, as well as an important contribution to non-Catholic readers seeking guidance from a faith tradition on questions of legal jurisprudence. Based on well-developed and established ideas in Catholic social thought, the evaluations, suggestions, and remedies offer ample food for thought and a basis for action in the realm of legal scholarship.

In The Crisis of Religious Liberty:Reflections from Law, History, and Catholic Social Thought, contributors consider a series of significant challenges to the freedom of religious conscience and expression in the United States today. Such challenges include the mandate from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services concerning contraceptive, sterilization, and abortifacient coverage in health insurance plans; the question of health-care institutions requiring medical personnel to participate in morally objectionable procedures contrary to their religious beliefs; legal liability for individuals and businesses refusing on religious grounds to provide services for same-sex marriages; the prohibition on students from engaging in religious expression in public schools; the use of zoning laws to block Bible studies in private homes; and a variety of other issues that have surfaced in recent years with respect to religious freedom. While some argues that religious liberty extends no further than the freedom to worship, contributors suggest otherwise, noting that the exercise of religious liberty is greater than a highly restrictive definition of the notion of worship.The Crisis of Religious Liberty comprises eight chapters and an afterword that explore the nature and basis of religious freedom in terms of Catholic social thought. They cover such topics as the Catholic Church's teachings from the Vatican II's Dignatis Humanae (Declaration on Religious Liberty), the decline of a historic rapprochement among different religious perspectives in the United States in the face of an increasingly aggressive secularism, perspectives on religious liberty from the founding of America, and how the religious liberty situation in the U.S. compares with the rest of the world.The Crisis of Religious Liberty:Reflections from Law, History, and Catholic Social Thought should appeal to a variety of professionals as well as a scholars: lawyers and clergy, health care professionals and Catholic business owners, and researchers in the fields of religion, law, American politics, and sociology.