It’s not about my business, my taxes, or my family

by Fred Kammer, S.J.

Why People of Faith Should Be Concerned

By Fred Kammer, S.J.

ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IS REAL AND WORSENING

Having monitored economic inequality for 30-plus years, the current “news” about growing inequality seems almost to be too late and too little. Accusations of “class warfare” against those who question our current economic realities in the United States ignore the “stealth class warfare” of four decades that has brought us to this yawning gap between rich and poor in both income and wealth.

By Fred Kammer, S.J.

In their 1986 pastoral letter on Economic Justice for All, the U.S. bishops remind their readers of the three classical forms of justice: commutative justice (dealing with fairness in contracts among individuals and private social groups), distributive justice, and social justice. In the context of the nation’s recent awakening to economic inequality—prompted in large part by the Occupy movements—it is most helpful here to revisit the meaning and roots of the concept of distributive justice. In the bishops’ words:

Dr. Alex Mikulich of JSRI and Sophie Cull of the Louisiana Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty recently published an extensive study on the Death Penalty in Louisiana. The full text of the study and a short brief are available through the Catholic Mobilizing Network.

Read the full text of the study: Diminishing All of Us: The Death Penalty in Louisana

By Fr. Fred Kammer, S.J.

This is the text of a talk Fr. Kammer presented on Feb. 12, 2012, in Washington, D.C. during CHA’s Physician Leader Forum. Reprinted from Health Progress, July-August 2012. Copyright © 2012 by The Catholic Health Association of the United States.

Download the pdf from Health Progress, July-August 2012

 “Catholic social doctrine is not a surrogate for capitalism.” [Blessed John Paul II]

By Fred Kammer, SJ

Fr. Ted Arroyo speaks about the separation of church and state and the importance of religious freedom in the short documentary "Lines in the Sand" by a student at SpringHill College.

By Alex Mikulich, Ph.D.

By Fred Kammer, S.J.

There are often times when good people find themselves in serious disagreement with the prescriptions of “the law”—abortion, wars, the treatment of immigrants, the death penalty, etc. In the United States, we have a strong tradition of “the rule of law” to which many appeal as if such an appeal should end debate and assure obedience to legal prohibitions or statutory mandates. Just what is the Catholic position on such conflicts between statute and conscience?

By Edward B. Arroyo, S.J. and Sue Weishar, Ph.D.