This week’s blog post is a non-Catholic perspective, but on a question which is frequently raised by Catholic commentators on social issues.
Read more >>Wealth in Scripture: Blessing or Burden?
Articles
The environment – a call to conversion
I welcome the development of this new blog on Catholic social thought at St. Mary’s University. It gives us the space to explore and discuss current issues related to Catholic social thought and also promote the research taking place at St. Mary’s to a wider audience.
Read more >>The late scholastics and globalisation
While the understanding of Catholic social thought as a structured and articulated body of thought is relatively recent, its roots go back much further. The work of St. Thomas Aquinas is certainly pivotal in this regard (and merits its own analysis), but in several matters the first consistent reflection on applied global economic and social issues from a Catholic perspective ought to be credited to the late scholastics and particularly to the so-called School of Salamanca.
Read more >>Solidarity in an ageing world
The world is ageing. By 2050 globally there will be more over 60’s than there under 14’s. With that shift come real changes for the Churches that they are only just beginning to consider. No wonder then a week ago the Christian relief and development agency Tearfund published my major study into the needs of older people in Rwanda. Not surprising then that just after the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life in the Vatican staged its first ever Congress on the Pastoral Care of the Elderly to explore what challenges the future might hold.
Read more >>The environment and continuity in Catholic social teaching
We are all entitled to empathise with different ways of proclaiming Church teaching, and of course with different pontiffs. John Paul II had and Benedict XVI and Francis have particular charisms which different people find attractive. One of the purposes of the MA in Catholic Social Teaching at St. Mary’s, however, is to emphasise the continuity of Church teaching. When it comes to Catholic teaching on the environment, that continuity has been evident – it did not begin with Laudato Si.
Read more >>The importance of ethics in economics
This blog will publish articles on a wide range of topics related to Catholic social thought – both theoretical and practical. This first post discusses the importance of ethics in economic action – a key theme of Catholic social teaching since the financial crisis.
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