The Heart of Catholic Social Teaching: Its Origin and Contemporary Significance

"This collection brings the venerable tradition of Catholic social justice in line with a newer generation's concerns about community, personal commitment, and liturgy. Social action and policy reform are integrally and dynamically related to the nature of the Christian life and the necessity of conversion. The book will be a superb teaching resource for students who want to link theology and tradition with the contemporary search for a meaningful way of life that includes justice and the common good."--Lisa Sowle Cahill, Boston College"This collection arises from the collaborative habits of a real community of teacher-scholars, philosophers, and theologians who live in the same place and talk to each other about the general education program in which they all work. Wise, timely, rigorous, and accessible to students, The Heart of Catholic Social Teaching is an ideal choice for an undergraduate course."--William L. Portier, University of Dayton"The Heart of Catholic Social Teaching moves beyond principles to the lifeblood of Catholic thought--scripture, Eucharist, Augustine, Aquinas, and more. The book will be a useful resource for those who teach the Catholic social tradition."--M. Therese Lysaught, Marquette University"Designing a penetrating and comprehensive introduction to Catholic social teaching presents no small challenge given the myriad of possibilities for structuring the material. David McCarthy and the contributors of The Heart of Catholic Social Teaching have done us an enormous service by providing a text that masterfully interweaves all the key time periods, figures, sources, documents, themes, and issues in Catholic social teaching. The book manages to present all of these different groupings as a unified, organically integrated introductory text. Just as important, the book presents the heart of Catholic social teaching in a manner whereby both its intellectual rigor and its practicality are accessible, such that the reader is not only enlightened but also empowered."--William C. Mattison III, Catholic University of America