In this post, Maria Power of the Las Casas Institute for Social Justice, University of Oxford, looks at the conflict in Northern Ireland through the lens of Catholic social teaching, drawing on the important research in her new book Catholic Social Teaching and Theologies of Peace: Cardinal Cahal Daly and the Pursuit of the Peaceable Kingdom, available from Routledge.
Read more >>
In this further article on Fratelli tutti, the concept of global governance, which is a recurrent theme of papal encyclicals and other Church documents, is discussed. It is reproduced by kind permission of the Catholic Herald where it was first published.
Read more >>
In his recent encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis was reported to be highly critical of market economics and there was a strong press response on this issue. This post argues that there is much more to the encyclical than the short sections on economics. At the same time, there is much more to the arguments for market economies than the encyclical gave credit for. This post was first published in The Tablet and is reproduced with kind permission.
Read more >>
This post is reproduced by kind permission of the Catholic Herald who first published this article. It was written before the Pope’s encyclical Fratelli Tutti was published. The encyclical covers important themes about how we should care for those in need, including the elderly.
Read more >>
AJP Taylor wrote in his Oxford History of England:
Until August 1914 a sensible, law-abiding Englishman could pass through life and hardly notice the existence of the state beyond the post office and the policeman…He could travel abroad or leave his country forever without a passport or any sort of official permission. He could exchange his money without restriction or limit. He could buy goods from any country in the world on the same terms as he bought goods at home. For that matter a foreigner could spend his life in the country without permit and without informing the police…All this was changed by the impact of the Great War…The state established a hold over its citizens which though relaxed in peace time, was never to be removed and which the Second World War was again to increase. The history of the English people and the English State merged for the first time.
Read more >>
Pope Francis discusses ecological virtue in Laudato si and provides illustrations of what it might be, in many cases very beautifully; however, he does not provide a systematic account of ecological virtue. That is the aim of this article based on the virtue scheme of Saint Thomas Aquinas. As a prelude to that, it should be noted that all the world religions and many environmental organisations speak in similar terms.
Read more >>
Price transparency and visibility are vital components of consumer protection in fair markets: laws and regulations protect consumers’ rights by requiring businesses to ensure their prices are visible and transparent. This is especially important when people purchase complex financial products. However, when it comes to tax, the term ‘tax transparency’ has come to signify exclusively the transparency of taxpayers’ financial affairs (referring to initiatives such as cross–national exchange of tax–related information by tax authorities), while transparency of the tax burden borne by individuals themselves receives little attention. Most people are not aware of the total amount of tax they pay and studies show that they under-estimate the amount of tax they pay substantially.
Read more >>
A recent report in the Lancet spelled out in detail the alarming fall in fertility across the world. Demographic car crashes happen in slow motion and it has been known for years that countries such as Japan, Germany and Italy are about to enter population free-fall.
Read more >>
One of St. Mary’s University’s core values is “generosity of spirit”. In this post, Francis Davis reminds us that we should take those with whom we disagree seriously rather than dismiss them. That way, we might all grow in knowledge and wisdom.
Read more >>
This article was originally published in Forbes in July 2020. Previous articles on education have emphasised that Catholic social teaching has mandated that there should be no discrimination against Christian schools when it comes to funding education. This policy imperative runs into different obstacles in different political environments. This article looks at the challenges in the US, especially in the covid crisis.
“Go and set the world on fire.” Those simple words from St. Ignatius of Loyola coloured all of his works, most notably the establishment of the Jesuits, among whose leading contributions is Catholic education.
Read more >>