Catholic Social Thought and the Law

These resources provide basic background information on Catholic Social Teaching and Catholic Social Thought.

• United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops provides information on the themes of Catholic Social Teaching.
• The Social Agenda: This resource is maintained by the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and contains a comprehensive summary of Catholic social thought.
• Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis: The Office of Social Justice of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis created this site to allow access to major documents of the Catholic Social Teaching movement.
• Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church: The Vatican released a Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church in 2004, which explores in detail the social doctrine of the Catholic Church.

• Journal of Catholic Legal Studies

How Catholic Tradition Might Shape University Teaching: The Example of a Catholic American Law School in Catholic Universities in the New Europe 157 (Christopher Garbowski et al., eds., 2005).

Ironies of the New Religious Liberty Litigation, 149 Daedalus 72 (2020).

Law and Christian Ethics: Signposts for a Fruitful Conversation, 35 J. Soc'y Christian Ethics 3 (2015).

The Role of Law in Creating Public Space for Religious Diversity, 21 Political Theology 381 (2020).

For a complete list of Professor Kaveny's publications, see her faculty profile here. 

Conversation in Aid of a 'Conspiracy' for Truth: A Candid Discussion About Jesuit Law Schools, Justice, and Engaging the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, 43 Gonz. L. Rev. 559 (2007).

Ignatian Spirituality and the Life of the Lawyer: Finding God in All Things - Even in the Ordinary Practice of Law, 46 J. Catholic Leg. Studies 211 (2007). 

Law and Religion: Red Mass Homily, 87 U. Det. Mercy L. Rev. 629 (2010).

For a complete list of Dean Kalcheur's publications, see his faculty profile here. 

Although Pope Francis' view on Catholic Social Thought and Teaching do not differ much from his predecessors, he has released more information on his thinking in his second encyclical, Laudato Si', in speeches he has given and in a recent TED talk.

The Pope has also released information on his view of Catholic Social Thought and Teaching in a TED talk. Here he provides commentary on the world, and calls for equality, solidarity and tenderness to prevail, stating "let us help each other, all together, to remember that the 'other' is not a statistic, or a number."