by Alí Bustamante, Ph.D.

Across the U.S., more than 6.1 million citizens are disenfranchised because of felony convictions.1 Nearly half of these Americans live in our communities and contribute to society having fully completed sentences, including any term of parole or probation. Yet, these citizens are deprived of the right to vote because of antiquated laws intended to suppress the votes of marginalized communities, especially African Americans. 

by Sue Weishar, Ph.D.

by Nicholas Mitchell Ph.D. 

By Rafael Gacía, S.J.

Moral dilemmas force flexibility and creativity and reveal the fact that human laws are never without exceptions. One of these relates to the plight of migrants and refugees—the recently arrived and those established in our communities.

by Nicholas Mitchell, Ph.D.

By Alí Bustamante, Ph.D. and Brendan Gottschall, S.J.

Catholic social thought (CST) gives us two fundamental principles with regards to wages: first, a just wage must provide “a dignified livelihood” for the worker and his/her family1; and, second, government is responsible for protecting the rights of workers.2 The just wage is thus a living wage and governments have an obligation to promote living wages through minimum wage laws and other labor protections.

by Thomas F. Clark, S.J.

The 36th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit governance body) in 2016 issued a decree entitled, Companions in a Mission of Reconciliation and Justice. In this decree, the Congregation identified reconciliation as a primary ministry for Jesuits and a particular way in which they experience the call of the Eternal King:

by Sue Weishar, Ph.D.

by Nicholas Mitchell, Ph.D.

One cannot travel across Louisiana, or any of the South for that matter, and not run into some reminder of the Confederacy. Maybe it is a county name, a road, a university, or a statue in the city park; ghosts of the Confederacy are ubiquitous. My high school football team played more than its fair share of teams called “the Rebels.” I grew up in the shadows of the memorials to the Confederacy all around me.

by Fred Kammer, S.J.

Since the 2016 election, we have had demonstrations, confrontations, and calls to be “resisters” or even “disrupters.”[1] In this tumultuous time, spiritual writer Henri Nouwen has much to tell us. Discerning our nuclear-armed culture, Father Nouwen wrote of resistance as "the daily life of peacemakers." He called for, not just acts of resistance, but our whole being resisting the powers leading to injustice, war, and destruction. He highlighted three aspects of this lifestyle of resistance.[2]