An Introduction to Catholic Social Teaching

Rating:
Summary: Catholic Social Teaching as a Guide for Moral Action
Review: This is an excellent introduction to Catholic social teaching, brief (only a little more than one hundred pages), readable, clearly written and well-documented.
The book insists that the Church does not have any special competence in sociology nor in political or economic theory and organization, but her competence is in giving guidance on 'the moral and spiritual consequences' of the decisions and policies in these spheres. This is why the text is divided in three chapters which are appropiately titled: 1) Ethics in Civil Society, 2) Ethics and Political Society and 3) Ethics and Economic Society.
The author of this book challenges every reader to live by the ideals of Christian personalism, which encourage social responsibility in civic society, the family and the community in general, and solidarity and subsidiarity in political and economic society. For him, these are the expression of the intrinsic dignity and freedom of the person made in God's image and likeness. Hence,this little opus is a must read for anyone interested in applying Gospel values to civic, social and political realities.

Rating:
Summary: Can't Go Wrong
Review: I endorse practically everything in Mr. Costello's rather extended review (above). Charles's little book is an extremely useful primer for approaching Catholic social teaching. If you are looking for something which ventures into the fringes of avant garde activism, you won't find it here. The book serves up the teaching of the Church straight -- no chasers.
The book makes no attempt to "see both sides" of social issues; it just spells out the teaching, making liberal use of direct quotations from Church documents and the Fathers. If you are a political ideologue (of any stripe), you are going to be disappointed.
The only reason the book does not get the fifth star from me is that I'm a tough grader.

Rating:
Summary: Can't Go Wrong
Review: I endorse practically everything in Mr. Costello's rather extended review (above). Charles's little book is an extremely useful primer for approaching Catholic social teaching. If you are looking for something which ventures into the fringes of avant garde activism, you won't find it here. The book serves up the teaching of the Church straight -- no chasers.
The book makes no attempt to "see both sides" of social issues; it just spells out the teaching, making liberal use of direct quotations from Church documents and the Fathers. If you are a political ideologue (of any stripe), you are going to be disappointed.
The only reason the book does not get the fifth star from me is that I'm a tough grader.

Rating:
Summary: Great book for stimulating group discussion
Review: This rather terse book summarizes Catholic teachings on social justice, usually in a paragraph or two, then gives excerpts from the original Catholic documents. The book is faithful to the magisterium of the Church. The author cites many references, including his two volumes: Christian Social Witness and Teaching: the Catholic Tradition from Genesis to Centesimus Annus (1998). The two volumes are divided at the year 1878.

Underlying all of the other principles are the following: 1. All social organizations must serve the human person, made in God's image and likeness. The human person possesses inherent rights and duties. 2. Human beings are by nature social and need an organized society in which to develop. The primary society is the monogamous family. 3. Man is born into freedom and for freedom. He must have political and economic freedom. 4. Freedom, to be worthy of man's dignity as a child of God, must be lived according to God's law, known to him through conscience, which is both objective and subjective. We have a right to oppose a seriously unjust government, even, in the last analysis and with many qualifications, to the point of revolution.

To make the book more interesting, its best use is as a reference for discussions of social issues. You can find many issues just by perusing the daily newspaper... The numbers in parentheses at the end of the line is the page on which you can find principles that may apply. You can see how useful the book is to everyday issues. 1. Human genome work: are there limits on research? On applications? (15) 2. Cloning of human beings (15) 3. Racial profiling (30) 4. Poverty (Conservatives as compassionate; the Nanny state) (30-35, 43,63) 5. Unions and the right to work (34,63,80,83) 6. Immigration (Fox-Bush meeting) (86) 7. FDA's pending approval of the "morning-after" pill for over-the-counter sale (20-21,87-89) 8. Removal of sex, violence and bad language from videos, then renting the clean versions (19-21,71) 9. School Board allowing a sexually explicit book in high schools (19-21,71) 10. Art (Guiliani decency plan for New York) (19-21,71) 11. The tax cut (32) 12. The California power crisis (91) 13. The fat police (government specification of school lunches) (43) 14. Government funds to religious organizations (45,50-54,101) 15. Election finance (McConnell alters tactics to fight finance reform) (40-41) 16. Judge Thomas' warning activists against self-censorship (40-41) 17. Iraq bombing (54-57) 18. Military deterence (MAD) (54-57) 19. Kosovo bombing (and possibly other U.S. interventions, including Rwanda) (57-59) 20. Drought in Tajikistan (86-94) 21. Haiti (86-94) 22. Palestine (86-94) 23. U.S. trade with Vietnam (despite human-rights violations) (86-94)

Rating:
Summary: Great book for stimulating group discussion
Review: This rather terse book summarizes Catholic teachings on social justice, usually in a paragraph or two, then gives excerpts from the original Catholic documents. The book is faithful to the magisterium of the Church. The author cites many references, including his two volumes: Christian Social Witness and Teaching: the Catholic Tradition from Genesis to Centesimus Annus (1998). The two volumes are divided at the year 1878.

Underlying all of the other principles are the following: 1. All social organizations must serve the human person, made in God's image and likeness. The human person possesses inherent rights and duties. 2. Human beings are by nature social and need an organized society in which to develop. The primary society is the monogamous family. 3. Man is born into freedom and for freedom. He must have political and economic freedom. 4. Freedom, to be worthy of man's dignity as a child of God, must be lived according to God's law, known to him through conscience, which is both objective and subjective. We have a right to oppose a seriously unjust government, even, in the last analysis and with many qualifications, to the point of revolution.

To make the book more interesting, its best use is as a reference for discussions of social issues. You can find many issues just by perusing the daily newspaper... The numbers in parentheses at the end of the line is the page on which you can find principles that may apply. You can see how useful the book is to everyday issues. 1. Human genome work: are there limits on research? On applications? (15) 2. Cloning of human beings (15) 3. Racial profiling (30) 4. Poverty (Conservatives as compassionate; the Nanny state) (30-35, 43,63) 5. Unions and the right to work (34,63,80,83) 6. Immigration (Fox-Bush meeting) (86) 7. FDA's pending approval of the "morning-after" pill for over-the-counter sale (20-21,87-89) 8. Removal of sex, violence and bad language from videos, then renting the clean versions (19-21,71) 9. School Board allowing a sexually explicit book in high schools (19-21,71) 10. Art (Guiliani decency plan for New York) (19-21,71) 11. The tax cut (32) 12. The California power crisis (91) 13. The fat police (government specification of school lunches) (43) 14. Government funds to religious organizations (45,50-54,101) 15. Election finance (McConnell alters tactics to fight finance reform) (40-41) 16. Judge Thomas' warning activists against self-censorship (40-41) 17. Iraq bombing (54-57) 18. Military deterence (MAD) (54-57) 19. Kosovo bombing (and possibly other U.S. interventions, including Rwanda) (57-59) 20. Drought in Tajikistan (86-94) 21. Haiti (86-94) 22. Palestine (86-94) 23. U.S. trade with Vietnam (despite human-rights violations) (86-94)