CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING
AND THE UNIVERSITY

Commentary on Faculty Colloquium

Since the inception of the Vincentian Center for Church and Society in 1994, one of its stated goals is to "Facilitate study and discussion of the social teaching of the Church and promote research and programs which have the potential to alleviate personal poverties and remedy the systemic causes of poverty especially through the activities of the Vincentian Chair of Social Justice." The following year, the USCCB committees on Education, Domestic Policy and International Policy established a task force on Catholic Social Teaching and Catholic Education. The task force released its report in January of 1998.

"All people have the right to work, to a chance to develop their qualities and personalities…to equitable remuneration to lead a worthy life on the material, social, cultural and spiritual level, and to assistance in case of need arising from sickness or age."
--Octogesima Adveniens, 14

The report determined that there is much interest among Catholic educational, catechetical, and social ministry professionals in incorporating Catholic social teaching into Catholic educational programs. However, the extent to which it actually happens is very uneven and is often lacking depth and clarity. Particularly, the Higher Education Subgroup of the task force found that while there is "clear interest in and support for Catholic social teaching among institutions of higher education, it is generally not offered in a consistent way." They also noted that there appears to be little consistent attention given to incorporating gospel values and Catholic social teaching into general education courses or into departmental majors.

They also found few opportunities to pursue questions of social justice in an ongoing way and that the task of convincing faculties that these are intellectually serious matters appears to be an important challenge.

The United States Bishops took up the challenges presented in this report and issued a statement in June of 1998 "Sharing Catholic Social Teaching: Challenges and Directions: Reflections of the US Catholic Bishops," calling all educators to "a renewed commitment to integrate and to share the riches of the church's social teaching in Catholic education and formation at every level." St. John's perceived the importance of this call to a University which identifies itself as "Catholic and Vincentian" and attends to the formation of educators, public officials, business leaders, media professionals, pharmacists, lawyers, Church leaders and, very importantly, parents.

St. John's approached this in three phases: First, faculty applied Catholic social teaching to the various disciplines. Some of this thinking is presented here in the reflections of Professor Haddorff (Liberal Arts), and Professor Clark (Business Education). These thoughts were presented at faculty colloquia along with those of the Rev. Richard Devine, Faculty Director of the Service Learning Program.

The second phase was entered in the Jubilee Year when Professor Charles Clark with the support of the Center received a grant from the University of Notre Dame on teaching CST and integrating it in the Business Curriculum. Several forums on Catholic social teaching and its relevance to various issues were held. As a result, several professors have expressed an interest in further knowledge and some have begun to research both the absence of CST in their work as well as looking at ways to explore CST in their research. We see this development as the third phase of integrating Catholic social teaching into research. A Senior Fellow of the Vincentian Center for Church and Society, Prof. DiLorenzo engaged in original research ascertaining the role of religious thinking on the topic of Corporate Social Responsibility in legal academic literature. His research and conclusions are presented in the fourth paper here as "Corporate Citizens and Social Obligations."

As we begin the 3^rd millennium, our world needs new prisms to view its problems and formulate solutions. As Leo XIII wrote "There is nothing more useful than to look at the world as it really is—and at the same time look elsewhere for a remedy to its troubles." Hopefully, the university focus on Catholic social teaching will enable us to understand the richness of this topic, apply the principles, and live the truths. We hope to deepen clarity of the University's role in the mission of the Church to be, as Professor Haddorff discerned from his reading of "Ex Corde Ecclesiae" and "Evangelium Vitae," "not simply to educate but to be co--creators with God in the work of transforming society toward a culture of life."

Unless the Christian message of love and justice shows its effectiveness through action in the cause of justice in the world,
It will only with difficulty gain credibility.
--World Synod of Bishops, Justice in the World. 1971, Part III

 

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