There are numerous ways to understand the development of Catholic social thought within its historical context, and the materials listed by Rich are quite helpful. I tend to emphasize the following...
The Industrial Revolution
Increasing wealth for many (particularly in the US and Europe), widening disparity between rich and poor, colonialism, urbanization, the rise of labor movements, the influence of socialist thought, and the emerging role of technology
The Great Wars of the 20th Century
Massive mobilization of resources for violence and the disproportionate impact on the poor and vulnerable
The Great Depression
Profound increases in global poverty, the call for principled responses, challenges to unbridled capitalism, and tensions between emerging economic models (e.g., Keynes, Hayek, and critical scholarship)
The Proliferation of Technology in the 20th Century and Beyond
Shrinking of the world via advances in communication and transportation, homogenizing of the world via the media, increased possibilities for wealth and prosperity, consumerism, and technology as threat (e.g., nuclear weapons, unemployment, and environmental degradation)
The Transition of the Catholic Church from a Largely European Institution to a World Institution
Rising importance of local language and practice, challenges to universality, massive wealth gap within the Church, searching for prophetic voices, and engagement with difference in culture, religion, and class
Thursday, July 24, 2008
As many of our readers know, Fr. Adolfo Nicolas, a Spanish priest who has served in East Asia for much of his adut life, was chosen as the new Superior General for the Society of Jesus. At the end of the gathering of Jesuits in Rome for the 35th General Congregation, which has generated a number of important documents regarding Jesuit mission, Fr. Nicolas gave an inspiring homily aimed at Jesuits but with relevance for those of us committed to mission in our schools.
If we do not love, we really do not have anything to say. Here we discover, I think, the root and source of our identity and our mission. Here is our raison d’être. Why do we want to love the poor, to help the lonely, to console the sad, to heal the sick and to bring freedom to the oppressed? Simply because this is what God does. Nothing else. As the Holy Father told us, love for the poor does not have an ideological but a Christological basis. It is the very essence of Christ.
For the full text see here
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Now that it is been a few weeks since a number of us gathered in Seattle for the Conference on Catholic Legal Thought, I have had some time to reflect on the experience. Most of the programming looked like any other academic conference. We spent the first day with Fr. Frank Sullivan, S.J. considering Church authority and its implications for us as law professors and Catholics. This discussion became a backdrop for subsequent conversations regarding pedagogy, legal theory and scholarship. What made this conference different for me was the sense of solidarity. It was clear that each of us struggled to engage Church teaching with meekness and respect. Although, we represented a diversity of cultural and policy perspectives, we agreed on the importance of the Gospel message and the Magisterium's role in our community. This was clearest to me in our times of prayer, worship and reflection. It gave me hope that meaningful understanding, solidarity and unity are still possible in this fragmented world. I would like to offer warm thanks to all those who attended or participated in the conference. I hope that many more of you will be able to join us next year when we will meet back on the East Coast.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
This is a reminder to Catholic law professors interested in attending the 3rd annual meeting of the Conference on Catholic Legal Thought to be held May 28-30 (next week) at the Seattle University School of Law. Please feel free to submit a registration form if you are interested in attending. Also, anyone interested in presenting a work in progress related to Catholic legal thought, please email me at [email protected]. Complete information can be found at http://www.law.seattleu.edu/news/archive/2008/summerinstitute?mode=standard.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Cardinal Carlo Martini, S.J. has an interesting perspective on "Teaching the Faith in a Postmodern World" in this week's America magazine. He expresses gratitude for this unique historical moment when the church touches nearly every part of the world, is substantially united in faith, and is experiencing its greatest flowering of theology. At the same time, there is evidence of fragmentation.
We are not all living in the same historical age. Some are still living in the time of the Council of Trent, others of the First Vatican Council. Certain people have digested the Second Vatican Council well or poorly; others are well advanced into the third millenium.
Outside the church, Martini describes the challenge of engaging postmodern culture which he defines in terms of its opposition to classical modes of thought traditionally embraced by the church.
This mindset keeps its distance from a former platonic Christian world, in which there was taken for granted the primacy of truth and values over feelings... In our world there is a spontaneous preference for feeling over the will, for impressions oer intelligence, for an arbitrary logic and the search for pleasure over an ascetic and prohibitive morality... Today the preference is for a knowledge that is more contextual, local, pluralist, adaptable to different circumstances and different times.
Instead of rejecting postmodern challenges, Martini suggests that they are a call to deeper discernment and that this situation creates new opportunities for the Church.
Christianity has an opportunity to show better its character of challenge, of objectivity, of realism, of the exercise of true freedom, of a religion linked to the life of the body and not only of the mind...[T]he mystery of an unavailable and always surprising God acquires greater beauty.
Martini exhorts us not to be surprised by diversity but to take risks, to befriend the poor, and to nourish ourselves with the Gospel. I am encouraged by his hopeful depiction of our engagement with postmodern thought.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
I would like to thank Mark Sargent and Rick Garnett for inviting me to join the Mirror of Justice. I have followed the blog for the past few years and appreciate the respectful engagement with often difficult issues. As some of you know, I am particularly interested in how Catholic tradition informs questions related to poverty alleviation and interreligious dialogue. I actually see one as a bridge to the other. I believe that dialogue regarding policy and jurisprudential approaches to poverty (along with other social justice concerns) provides a tremendous opportunity for meaningful interaction with other communities. In my scholarship, I am most interested in dialogue with Islam. My interest in Christian-Muslim dialogue was a pivotal factor in my choice to join the Jesuits many years ago. Although my discernment in formation led me to conclude that I was not called to priesthood, I still feel called to a vocation in dialogue as a legal academic and am deeply grateful for my time in the Society of Jesus. I look forward to many fruitful conversations on the Mirror of Justice.
Russell Powell
Seattle University School of Law
