More on Prudential Judgment Conference

Allow me to put in another quick plug for last weekend's prudential judgment conference at St. Thomas.  My highlights included John McGreevy's historical overview of the evolving relationship between Catholicism and the political realm on the question of abortion, explaining how Catholic intellectual life has taken on a more sectarian tone, and why fact-based inquiries on issues like abortion rates, gay adoption, and civil unions have less space in the current "hothouse climate."  My favorite panel (other than my own, of course) was an interdisciplinary exploration of economic justice.  The economic perspective was provided by St. John's prof Charles Clark, the philosophical perspective by Fordham prof Joseph Koterski, S.J., and the political perspective by three-term U.S. Senator David Durenberger.  One of the more interesting exchanges was Clark's explanation, in response to an audience member's question, as to why he evaluated the effectiveness of welfare reform by looking at poverty rates, rather than employment rates.  The choice of statistical measure, of course, is a function of prudential judgment, and Clark explained that John Paul II's emphasis on the subjective dimension of work should not be translated into a fixation on maximizing the rate of employment in paid positions.

Rob