Doing Faithjustice

The author defines faithjustice as “a passionate virtue which disposes citizens to become involved in the greater and lesser societies around themselves in order to create communities where human dignity is protected and enhanced, the gifts of creation are shared for the common good, and the poor are treated with respect and a special love.” He says it is in the end “a habit of the believing heart.” Against the backdrop of the author’s explicit experiences as a southerner, lawyer, priest, and Jesuit, this book expounds on the meaning of faithjustice, starting with the biblical grounding. It then traverses the full breadth of historical developments in the Catholic Christian community for more than 200 years and elucidates the meaning of faithjustice in our contemporary context. Underlining all this is the author’s conviction that only people who are living out faithjustice commitments can promote the truth about the necessity of solidarity and counter the pernicious mistrust that creates division in society. This updated edition includes new materials on creation and the jubilee tradition and on the parables of Jesus; the writings of Popes Benedict XVI and Francis and other social teaching documents from the past twenty years; and updated economic, racial, and social data and analysis in light of the justice tradition.

In this revised edition of a longtime bestseller, lawyer, activist and Jesuit priest Fred Kammer ushers Catholics into the twenty-first century as he confronts the challenge of human poverty and injustice in the context of our consumer-driven, economically fragile world. He defines faithjustice as "...a passionate virtue which disposes citizens to become involved in the greater and lesser societies around themselves in order to create communities where human dignity is protected and enhanced, and gifts of creation are shared for the greatest good of all...." Writing with passion and conviction, he explores the biblical grounding for this virtue and provides an overview of its historical development in the Catholic community. And he brings out its contemporary meaning, rooting each chapter in concrete times and places. He concludes with a framework for living faithjustice in our time. This revised edition contains new materials on social teaching documents of the nineties, updated economic and social data and analysis, and, at the request of users of the original volume, questions for reflection and renewal at the ends chapters. Highlights: --Now, more user-friendly --Author is highly respected in this field +

Use these lesson plans to give adult participants an opportunity to get in touch with their attitudes and ways of thinking about poverty and to become aware of and to understand "faithjustice."

Written in preparation for the 2010 centennial of the national organization Catholic Charities USA, Faith. Works. Wonders. introduces the mission, scope, and impact of Catholic Charities agencies in communities across the nation. This book also describes the work, motivation, and spirituality of the three hundred thousand staff, board members, and volunteers in local Charities agencies; this network composes the largest voluntary social service network in the country. In addition, the author draws on the broad experience of Catholic Charities and his long association with Charities to explain the sometimes-surprising positions of the organization and its leaders in our continuing national discussions on social welfare, faith-inspired organizations, and the appropriate roles of the private and public sectors in promoting the common good and caring for the least fortunate. Within the framework of the registered slogan of Catholic Charities of the archdiocese of Washington DC, the nine chapters in turn lay out Faith-the mission, identity, and power of Catholic Charities rooted in the Scriptures, experience, history, and Catholic thought. Works-the focus of agencies and people on service to people in need, advocacy and empowerment for justice and compassion, and "convening" religious and civic partners to create a better society. Wonders-the who, what, and why of volunteers; the quest for quality and innovation; the stance of determined pluralism in the Church community and public square; and the miracle of virtue and spirituality born in the service of others. Appendices provide 1) an outline of the history of Catholic Charities in the USA dating back to 1727 in the author's hometown of New Orleans, and 2) the principles developed by Catholic Charities and other voluntary-sector leaders for the protection of the sector in this country.

Like a good gumbo from the author's hometown of New Orleans, this book is rich fare. SALTED WITH FIRE blends the realities of social justice and the burdens of working for justice and peace with a hopeful spirituality, all brewed in the cauldron of the 1960s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. The book is for the young, who dream dreams of a more just world, and for their elders, who have grown bone weary fighting the good fight for justice and peace. Community organizers, social service workers, political activists, and parish social justice ministers will find here a sympathetic spirit. The author is himself a social service practitioner, who can deal both with the intracacies of social analysis as well as with a sprituality of coping, hoping, surviving, and even flourishing amidst often discouraging conditions and bureaucratic red tape. Adopting a four-fold pastoral circle as his conceptual tool, Kammer offers a solid, practical, and pastoral primer for those seeking to build a more humane and just society. Readers will find here a resonant voice and a spiritual diet to nourish ans sustain them over the long haul.

The HIV pandemic has caused serious challenges for the Church as well as for theology. The pandemic has brought enormous human suffering to individuals and has affected families and entire societies. In this context, churches need to listen and to learn, and not least to respond, to thereby mold their own actions and futures. In so doing, this book aims to enable churches to become more HIV and AIDS competent. Vulnerability, Churches, and HIV includes two kinds of contributions. First, researchers present their thoughts about theology, the church, and HIV. A pastoral letter from the bishops of the Church of Sweden provides a second perspective. The letter makes recommendations to decision-making bodies, patent holders, and decision makers in the pharmaceutical industry. The letter also guides parishes and church workers. Contributors: editor Goran Gunner, Musa W. Dube, Susanne Rappmann, Kenneth R. Overberg, Edwina Ward, and the bishops of the Church of Sweden. The book is the first volume in the Church of Sweden Research Series.

The award-winning and widely read first edition of Catholic Social Learning: Educating the Faith That Does Justice, published in 2011, described the critical edge of the tradition of justice pedagogy in Catholic higher education at the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century. But living traditions change in response to new challenges and develop their own resources more fully. The most obvious and compelling development in recent years has been the publication in 2015 of Pope Francis' landmark encyclical Laudato Si': On Care for Our Common Home--the occasion for the new chapter-length afterword to this expanded edition of Catholic Social Learning. The urgent imperative to defend creation is a major but not the only reason for a new edition. Two new chapters, on the many forms of shame as a pedagogical issue and on the Book of Job and belief in a just world, add spiritual and theological depth to the original assessment of more than a decade ago. Those three additions comprise the totally new Part IV: The Critical Edge of the Tradition. A new preface sets the argument in the context of current controversies over the place of painful emotions in educational settings.

Sketches the development of fundamental moral theology in the U.S. and then uses original sources to document the significant changes that have occurred in the discipline, as well as the primary issues in Catholic moral theology today.