Catholic Social Teaching and Criminal Justice
Blurb
<p>Consideration of prison construction, imprisonment practices, and imprisonment of immigrants should begin with principles drawn from Catholic Social Teaching (CST). The most comprehensive authoritative U.S. treatment of these themes was the 2000 statement by the U.S. bishops titled <em>Responsibility, Rehabilitation, and Restoration: A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Punishment</em>.<sup>1</sup> The most applicable principles drawn from CST are human dignity and the common good. The <strong>common good</strong> is undermined by both “criminal behavior that threatens the lives and dignity of others and by policies that seem to give up on those who have broken the law.”</p>
By the Rev. Fred Kammer, S.J.
Catholic Social Teaching and Taxes
Blurb
<p>The clearest statement on taxes and their morality came in the U.S. Bishops’ pastoral on Economic Justice for All. The bishops urged that, “The tax system should be continually evaluated in terms of its impact on the poor.”</p>
by Fred Kammer, S.J.
The clearest statement on taxes and their morality came in the U.S. Bishops’ pastoral on Economic Justice for All. The bishops urged that, “The tax system should be continually evaluated in terms of its impact on the poor.”1 They enunciated three principles to guide such evaluations: