Core Curriculum Designation Proposal

Theological Understanding: Theological Explorations

Engaging the World: Common Good
Engaging the World: Community Engagement
TRS 143, “Catholic Social Teaching”

SMC Core Curriculum Course Proposal Form 2013

1. Name of Proposer: Tom Poundstone

2. Email address: [email protected]
3. Department/Program of Proposer: Theology & Religious Studies
4. Name of Department/Program housing the course: Theology & Religious Studies
5. Name(s) of Program Director/Department Chair: Zach Flanagin
6. Course Acronym, Number and Title: TRS 143, “Catholic Social Teaching”
7. Proposal is for All Sections of the course: _____

Proposal is for instructor’s section(s) (Pathways to Knowledge only): __X___

8. Course Prerequisites (if any): TRS 097, “The Bible & Its Interpretation”
9. Unit Value of Course: 1 course credit
10. Mark with an X the Learning Goal for which the course is being proposed. (Please
submit a separate proposal for each desired goal.)

Pathways to Knowledge (at most one)

Artistic Understanding – Artistic Analysis only: ____
Artistic Understanding – Creative Practice only: ____
Artistic Understanding – Both Artistic Analysis and Creative Practice: ____
Mathematical Understanding: ____
Scientific Understanding: ____
Social, Historical, Cultural Understanding: ____
Christian Foundations: ____
Theological Explorations: _X___

Engaging the World (as appropriate, generally zero to two)

American Diversity: ____
Common Good: _X___
Community Engagement: _X___
Global Perspectives: ____
Narrative

THEOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING:
In TRS 143, the subfield of theology under consideration is Catholic social
teaching, the disciplined examination of social structures in light of the biblical
prophets, the gospel, and magisterial teaching. According to Pope Benedict XVI in is
encyclical Deus Caritas Est, the purpose of Catholic social teaching is “to help purify
reason and to contribute, here and now, to the acknowledgment and attainment of what
is just. … [The Church] has to play her part through rational argument and she has to
reawaken the spiritual energy without which justice … cannot prevail and prosper.”
According to Pope John Paul II, its foundation “rests on the threefold cornerstones of
human dignity, solidarity and subsidiarity.” These aspects, dimensions, and themes in
Catholic social teaching will all be explored.
Students will be required to spend significant amounts of time reading both
primary sources and secondary texts, which will be the focus of lectures and
discussions in the class. These readings will reflect both the insider’s and outsider’s
perspective, with the students being challenged to assess the strengths as well as the
weaknesses, disagreements, and debates swirling around this teaching, with both
advocacy and dissent coming from within and outside the church.
The class format is a mixture of lecture, questions, and discussion. Students are
expected to be dialogue partners in the learning process, and they need to be prepared
to raise questions in response to the reading, engage in respectful dialogue and debate
with their classmates, and be prepared to respond to questions posed in class. Students
are frequently called upon to summarize the content of an article or chapter. Thus, for
this and many reasons careful reading of assigned materials is essential for success in
this course.
Student learning is assessed through multiple means throughout the course. On a
daily basis, students are required to submit focused written reflections on the reading.
More important for assessment, two midterm examinations will be administered. The
format of the exams will be a mixture of various types of questions: identification, short-
answer, and especially essays, all designed to assess mastery of the material covered.
The exams are comprehensive, incorporating both large concepts and themes and the
small details which are integral to true comprehension and crucial for building and
assessing theories.
Also a final paper is required in which the student is asked to trace the treatment
of an issue through the history of Catholic social teaching and critically to apply this
teaching to a contemporary situation involving a justice dimension. Students might
assess the contributions of Catholic social thought in reference to questions such as
worker justice, gender justice, a living wage, domestic poverty, international
development, migration policy, ecological concerns, health care access, criminal justice,
racial discrimination, educational policy, torture, the U.S. presidential campaigns or the
relationship of religion to politics more generally.

COMMON GOOD:
Students that successfully complete TRS 143 will have met all three learning
outcomes listed for the “common good” learning goal. Inherent in the very word
“social” in the title “Catholic Social Teaching” is an analysis and critique of
contemporary social arrangements and norms in light of Catholic social thought. The
common good is one of the core themes of this teaching, and as the course description
indicates, the class will explore the distinctive ways in which the documents strike a
balance between two key sets of values: 1) the goods of individual dignity and liberty;
and 2) concern for the community and fulfilling obligations to the common good. All
students will be tasked with not only writing daily reflections on the readings which
directly and indirectly discuss and debate the common good, but they will also be asked
to write a research paper exploring a dimension of Catholic social thought.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT:
Two of the learning goals for this class directly relate to the community
engagement learning outcome, though all are pertinent:

6) Students will reflect on whether and how comprehension of the connections

between academic reflection and social action are enhanced through direct
service with marginalized communities.
7) Students will be able to interact appropriately, sensitively, and self-
critically with people in the communities in which they work and to
appreciate the formal and informal knowledge, wisdom, and skills that
individuals in these communities possess.
In addition, two details in the syllabus address these learning outcomes, the first
addressing the placement, the second outlining the integration paper:
Community Engagement Placement:
A carefully selected placement explicitly approved by the professor that
offers sustained direct contact with the poor or socially marginalized on a
weekly basis is essential to the course. The clients and staff at the placements
will serve as teachers and conversation partners, providing valuable
 experiences and insights that will deepen and broaden students’
understanding of the assigned course texts and our in-class lectures and
discussions. Students are required to undertake a 16-hour commitment in
their placements (2-hour, weekly commitment undertaken during weeks 3-10
of the course) in addition to some potential group service projects affiliated
with the ministries offered by local Catholic churches. NB: The clients and staff
at your placements are conversation partners and should be treated with utmost
care and respect. Your attendance at your placement, as at class, is integral to
your successful completion of the course.
Integration Paper:
A four-page integration paper will ask students to reflect critically on
course texts in light of their service placement experiences. Specific guiding
questions will be distributed that directly ask students to identify elements of
the Catholic social tradition at play in the lives of clients in their placements
(e.g. relevant signs of the times, human rights violations, and social sins) and
then to compare different responses to the injustices identified in terms of
contrasting paradigms (e.g. biblical and secular conceptions of justice or
libertarianism and communitarianism). Papers will be graded on the basis of
the quality of the integration of the texts with concrete service experiences;
conceptual accuracy; evaluative perceptiveness; and writing quality.
Hence, it follows that all three of the “community engagement” learning outcomes
will be met in this class. First, as an academic analysis of Catholic social teaching, the
class prominently features an analysis of contemporary social arrangements and norms
in light of Catholic social thought with the goal of hopefully offering constructive
responses. As Pope Benedict XVI in is encyclical Deus Caritas Est, the purpose of
Catholic social teaching is “to help purify reason and to contribute, here and now, to the
acknowledgment and attainment of what is just.” That two-fold goal is shared by this
class, with the service component an integral to the very purpose of Catholic social
teaching.
In class and through our readings, students will be learn to recognize, analyze,
and understand the social reality, inequities, and injustices in contemporary society,
including recognizing the relative privilege or marginalization of their own and other
groups. In addition, students will study aspects of liberation theology and attempt to
take up the challenge of liberation theology to see contemporary justice issues through
the eyes of the most marginalized and ponder what it is to make a “preferential option
for the poor.” Building upon those insights, we will attempt to serve those who are
marginalized, further enhancing our appreciation of the insights and reality that
Catholic social teaching addresses.
Second and third, students will be asked to reflect academically upon their service
experience, linking their experience with the texts we are reading and our class
discussions. This will be done throughout the semester in regularly scheduled write-
ups and reports, and by a final summative paper which directly integrates their
experiences with the course material.
The project will be mutually beneficial in that students will gain first hand
tangible experience and the community partners will be served. Both the ongoing
reflections and the final integration project will measure students’ abilities to apply
academic methods, concepts, and theories while engaging with community.
Throughout the semester, reflection prompts will ask students to examine course
concepts in light of their community engagement. Each stage of the project enables the
instructor to monitor and measure whether students are successfully applying the
concepts to what they are encountering in their community projects, and thus assess
whether they’re meeting this learning outcome.

SYLLABUS
Theology & Religious Studies 143, Spring 2015
Catholic Social Teaching

Course Description:
This course will explore the tradition of Catholic social teaching in its theoretical
and lived forms. While we study many of the official documents of the Catholic social
tradition (papal, conciliar, and episcopal texts from Rerum novarum in 1891 up to the
present time), attention will be paid to the various contexts (ecclesiological, cultural,
institutional, historical) in which the moral reasoning of these documents unfolds. We
will also try to connect the magisterial documents to figures and movements that
sprang from or embody the values of this body of thought. Throughout we will also be
noting several operative principles and themes, among them being the common good,
human rights, solidarity, peace, economic development, work, subsidiarity, and the
preferential option for the poor. Emphasis will also be placed on understanding the
distinctive ways in which the documents strike a balance between two key sets of
values:

1) the goods of individual dignity and liberty; and

2) concern for the community and fulfilling obligations to the common good.

If approved as fulfilling the “community engagement” learning outcome, the

course will also consider lived dimensions of the tradition through students’ required
placements and case studies.

Learning Outcomes:
1. Students will become familiar with the core theological, ethical, and methodological
principles and themes of Catholic social thought and be able to articulate them
clearly. (The common good will be prominently featured as one of these themes.)

2. Students will understand the integral connection between the Catholic faith and
social justice commitments.

3. Students will be able to assess and analyze contemporary social arrangements and
norms in light of Catholic social thought and hopefully offer constructive responses.

4. Students will be able to identify and assess some of the strengths and weaknesses of
Catholic social thought.

5. Students will attempt to take up the challenge of liberation theology to see

contemporary justice issues through the eyes of the most marginalized and ponder
what it is to make a “preferential option for the poor.”

6. Students will reflect on whether and how comprehension of the connections between
academic reflection and social action are enhanced through direct service with
marginalized communities.

7. Students will be able to interact appropriately, sensitively, and self-critically with

people in the communities in which they work and to appreciate the formal and
informal knowledge, wisdom, and skills that individuals in these communities
possess.

8. Students will be able to recognize, analyze, and understand the social reality,
inequities, and injustices in contemporary society, including recognizing the relative
privilege or marginalization of their own and other groups.

The attainment of these outcomes will be assessed through daily write-ups in

response to reading assignments, two midterm examinations, a final research paper,
and a short-paper with focused reflections on the community service placement.

Accommodations:
Reasonable and appropriate accommodations which take into account the context
of the course and its essential elements are extended through the office of Student
Disability Services for individuals with qualifying disabilities. Students with disabilities
are encouraged to contact the Student Disability Services Coordinator at (925) 631-
4358 to set up a confidential appointment to discuss accommodation guidelines and
available services. Additional information regarding the services available may be found
on the Saint Mary’s website in the section on “Academic Advising & Achievement,” the
first entry under the heading “Academics.”

Required Texts:
The course is still in design, but texts will probably be selected from among the
following:

Harlan Beckley, Passion for Justice: Retrieving the Legacies of Walter Rauschenbusch,
John A. Ryan, and Reinhold Niebuhr
Walter Brueggemann, Journey to the Common Good
Carles E. Curran, Catholic Social Teaching: 1891- Present
Daniel G. Groody, ed., The Option for the Poor in Christian Theology
Kenneth R. Himes, editor, Modern Catholic Social Teaching
John P. Hogan, Credible Signs of Christ Alive
David Hollenbach, The Common Good and Christian Ethics
Thomas Massaro, Living Justice, Catholic Social Teaching in Action.
David McCarthy, The Heart of Catholic Social Teaching: Its Origins and Contemporary
Significance.
David J. O’Brien and Thomas A. Shannon, Catholic Social Thought: The Documentary
Heritage
Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church
Maura A. Ryan, “Boundaries or Barriers? U.S. Immigration Policy and the Challenge of
Solidarity,” pp. 210-230 in Maura A. Ryan and Todd D. Whitmore, eds., The
Challenge of Global Stewardship: Roman Catholic Responses
Jon Sobrino, Spirituality of Liberation: Toward Political Holiness
Brian Stiltner, Religion and the Common Good: Catholic Contributions to Building
Community in a Liberal Society
Todd D. Whitmore, “Practicing the Common Good: The Pedagogical Implications of
Catholic Social Teaching,” Teaching Theology & Religion, Volume 3, Issue 1, pages
3–19, February 2000

The bulk of the reading will be in the form of chapters, essays, articles, and Church
documents which will be distributed periodically throughout the semester in the
form of an ever-expanding reader.

Class Format:
The class format will be a mixture of lecture, questions, and discussion. Students
are expected to be dialogue partners in the learning process. Students should be
prepared to raise questions in response to the reading, engage in respectful dialogue
and debate with their classmates, and be prepared to respond to questions posed in
class. Students will frequently be called upon to summarize the content of an article or
chapter. Thus, for this and many reasons careful reading of assigned materials is
essential for success in this course. Since there will not be nearly enough time in class
to discuss all that we have read, students should be aware that they are responsible on
tests and in papers for much more than what we discuss in class.

Minimum Preparation Time:

This class meets for 1.5 hours per session. The student handbook observes that a
minimum of 2 hours of homework is expected for each hour of in-class time. As a
reading-intensive class in the School of Liberal Arts, it might be a bit more. Thus a
student aiming for an average grade should expect to work a minimum of three (3)
hours outside class for each in-class session (i.e., a minimum of 6 hours of focused study
outside of class per week, in addition to the 3 hours spent in class per week). Be sure to
reserve at least that much study time.

Attendance:
Daily attendance and engaged class participation are necessary for learning in
this class. Attendance will be determined in the first few minutes of class. If you arrive
late, check with me after class to make sure I’ve marked you present for at least part of
the class. If you miss class entirely, be sure to send me a note. If there was a handout,
as there often is, I’ll either leave it for you in the box outside my office or bring a copy
for you to the next class. If you don’t send me a note, I won’t bring a copy. It’s that
simple. As for what you missed, check with your classmates.
Beginning with the fourth absence, one-third of a letter grade will be deducted
from the student's final grade from the class, i.e., an “A-” will be lowered to a “B+,” a “B”
to a “B-,” etc. An additional third will be taken off for the fifth absence. Any more than
five absences -- for any reason -- will result in automatic failure for the semester
regardless of academic performance on tests and papers. (These deductions are
automatic and only taken after your grade for the semester is calculated.) If you need to
miss this many classes for medical reasons, you should consult the college’s guidelines
for medical withdrawal.

Participation/ Intellectual engagement:

Consistently thoughtful and active participation in class is essential to the success
of this course. Attendance is only a precondition for participation, not the measure of it
(see attendance policy below). Intellectual engagement will be measured by your
consistent, dynamic contributions to our class discussions, as evidenced by prompt
attendance with the readings completed in advance; serious and courteous discussion
of assigned texts and lecture topics; and respectful engagement of peers and instructor.
To support this environment of robust intellectual engagement, no electronic stimuli
are permitted in class (laptops, cell/smartphones, pagers, mp3 players, etc.).
Though oral participation is expected and crucial for effective learning, it will not
be a formally calculated percentage of the student's grade. However, in the event that a
student's final grade falls within 1% of a higher grade, class participation may justify
rounding upward. In actual application, it probably means much more. A student who
seems to struggle on tests but seems well-prepared in class as demonstrated by
significant and thoughtful participation is certain to have her or his case reviewed
closely. Note that well-reasoned and respectful contributions to class discussions are
what are prized, not the sheer quantity of a student's interjections.
On a few occasions the class will be notified in advance about particular
assignments being mandatory, such as having studied a film before the class’ discussion.
Non-preparedness on any of these days, including not having one’s reflection paper
finished before class, will be weighed heavily.

Quizzes:
Brief quizzes may be given at various points in the semester to encourage
students to complete the reading assignments; they may or may not be announced in
advance. No make-up quizzes will be offered. When we have a quiz, I’ll count it along
with the daily assignments and give that quiz double the daily assignment’s value.

Examinations:
The format of the exams will be a mixture of various types of questions: true-
false, identification, short-answer, essays, etc., all designed to assess your mastery of the
material covered. The exams are comprehensive, incorporating both large concepts and
themes and the small details which are integral to true comprehension and crucial for
building and assessing theories. The final exam will be cumulative. No exams, mid-term
or final, will be re-scheduled without prior written approval.

Community Engagement Placement:

A carefully selected placement explicitly approved by the professor that offers
sustained direct contact with the poor or socially marginalized on a weekly basis is
essential to the course. The clients and staff at the placements will serve as teachers
and conversation partners, providing valuable experiences and insights that will
deepen and broaden students’ understanding of the assigned course texts and our in-
class lectures and discussions. Students are required to undertake a 16-hour
commitment in their placements (2-hour, weekly commitment undertaken during
weeks 3-10 of the course) in addition to some potential group service projects affiliated
with the ministries offered by local Catholic churches. NB: The clients and staff at your
placements are conversation partners and should be treated with utmost care and respect.
Your attendance at your placement, as at class, is integral to your successful completion of
the course.

Integration Paper:
A four-page integration paper will ask students to reflect critically on course texts
in light of their service placement experiences. Specific guiding questions will be
distributed that directly ask students to identify elements of the Catholic social tradition
at play in the lives of clients in their placements (e.g. relevant signs of the times, human
rights violations, and social sins) and then to compare different responses to the
injustices identified in terms of contrasting paradigms (e.g. biblical and secular
conceptions of justice or libertarianism and communitarianism). Papers will be graded
on the basis of the quality of the integration of the texts with concrete service
experiences; conceptual accuracy; evaluative perceptiveness; and writing quality.

Final Paper:
In lieu of taking a final exam, students are expected to submit a final paper of at
least ten-pages in length in which they trace the treatment of an issue through the
history of Catholic social teaching and critically to apply this teaching to a contemporary
situation involving a justice dimension. Students will choose final project topics related
to the course in consultation with the professor, and they will be expected to integrate
course texts and outside research. Students might assess the contributions of Catholic
social thought in reference to questions such as worker justice, gender justice, a living
wage, domestic poverty, international development, migration policy, ecological
concerns, health care access, criminal justice, racial discrimination, educational policy,
torture, the U.S. presidential campaigns or the relationship of religion to politics more
generally.

Daily Assignments:
To further support classroom participation and enhance your own preparation,
students will be expected to prepare brief written reflections on assigned readings in
advance, which will serve to support inclusive, thoughtful engagement of the texts and
to assess the quality of comprehension and critical reflection.
For each class, you will be asked to place this homework assignment on my desk
BEFORE the class begins. These regular assignments are a reflection of how much I
value daily preparation as well as my conviction that it is helpful to retention and the
learning process if you make a habit of following all reading assignments with some
written reflection.
Unless a specific assignment is given, you have a lot of freedom in how you
structure these reflections, though you might want to reflect on some of the prompts
given in the syllabus or posted on Moodle. In general, I might suggest some
combination of questions and reflections about what you read -- say two questions and
two insights/reflections, perhaps questions you would ask if this were a lecture along
with your speculation on how those questions might be answered, a discussion of areas
where you find the reading challenging and perplexing, notes on areas that you found
missing and which might be helpful for us to cover, perhaps noting some details or
vocabulary you were previously unaware of.
In case that is not enough guidance, let me say more. The famous Czech writer
Franz Kafka wrote, “A book must be an ice ax to break the seas frozen inside our souls.”
Building on that, Claudia Camp, a professor at TCU, recommends the following to her
students when they are thinking of what to write in their daily response papers: “Look
for ideas that work like Kafka’s ice ax, breaking the seas frozen inside your soul. Where
does a reading grab you and make you want to say, ―Yes! That’s exactly what I believe?
Where, on the other hand, does it get your bristles up, or raise the feeling you’re
entering a danger zone?” She goes on and invites students to reflect critically, including
self-critically, on the work from one or more of these angles: “you may critique the
author; you may expand on the author’s point; you may reflect on what the reading
means for your own search for meaning.” She then notes the following about self-
critical thinking. It will be demonstrated, she writes, “by your growing awareness of
your ‘screens,’ your (previously!) unexamined presuppositions about reality and its
meaning.”
Another approach which might assist you could be to follow these steps outlined
by Richard Gula in one of his later books:

CRITICAL REFLECTION:
1) How does this article/unit affirm your present understanding of the
topic. In this article I relearned that …
2) What new insight(s) did you gain from this article/unit? I was surprised
to learn that …
3) What questions does this article raise for you? I need to think more
about …

APPROPRIATION:
1) Share an anecdote from your life that illustrates your experience with
the insights of this article/unit. I remember when …
2) What would it be like to incorporate the insights from this unit to how I
think and live? If I act upon these insights …

Yet another approach which you might find helpful is occasionally to attempt
what some have called a “reconstruction” in which you trace the logic which the author
used to make an argument. What were her premises, are they assailable, and how did
she use them to reach her conclusion? You might follow that up with a “critique.” Are
the premises of her argument flawed or questionable? What about the logic used to
move from the premises to the conclusion? This two-step approach is especially helpful
in analyzing an article that you are struggling with.
This daily assignment should be at least half-a-page in length, certainly never
shorter than that, but neither is there a need for it to be longer than a page. Adequately
completed assignments will receive full credit. Truly minimalist responses aren’t worth
your effort to write or mine to read and shall not be given credit. I’ll let you know when
that happens.
Feel free to handwrite these reflections, but always in complete and legible
sentences, never in a bullet point fashion unless the bullet points are headings then
elaborated upon more fully.
If you miss class, be sure to e-mail the assignment or have it waiting in the box
outside my office when class is over. Likewise, though I greatly prefer hard copies, if
your printer breaks down, please e-mail me a copy of the assignment before class.
 The reason for it being due “before” the class is because preparation for class
matters. Though I would like to say that no late work will be accepted -- I realize there
might be a few times when, though you’ve done the readings, which is always a given,
you just can’t finish the writing in time. You can do up to three post-class submissions
in which you reflect backward on the readings and discussion rather than on an
upcoming reading. Post-class entries must be on a separate sheet from a regular
submission and clearly labeled as such and turned in within two weeks of the class in
question. After three such late submissions, all additional late work will receive a
maximum of 3/5ths credit. And after two weeks, it is simply too late to turn in a missed
assignment. Period.
Regardless of whether the work is late or on-time, please be sure to title your
work with a clear reference to the unit you are responding to. The writing style may be
relatively informal, but never careless. Proper paragraphing, complete sentences, good
spelling, and punctuation are always called for.
For the most part, I will keep your questions on file and will not return them,
though I will periodically try to give the class some feedback, and I am happy to meet
with you at anytime to talk about your work. Since they will not be returned, be sure to
plan accordingly (especially since if they are done by hand you won’t have a personal
record.) If your grade is on the borderline, I will consult your questions as an indication
of whether you have merited a higher score. They are handy for me to read to get a
sense of the class’ overall questions as well as to get to know the concerns and interests
of each of you individually.
Why do I keep them? I’m hoping to write a textbook someday, and having a
tangible record of student reactions is a great way to gauge student interest and
comprehension. The questions you bring to the text with fresh eyes are often quite
different from the questions which someone who has read the text several times might
ask.
On some occasions I will call for some focused reflections on a particular topic,
and on those days the length may be a bit longer. On those days the assignment will
also be given additional value: sometimes double, sometimes triple the standard value.
That will be announced in advance.

Proportional Weight To Assignments in the Final Grade:

First Mid-Term: 25%; Second Mid-Term: 33%; Integration Paper: 10% Final
Paper: 20%;
Daily Assignments & Participation: 12%;

No Pass/Fail Grading:
Please note that Pass/Fail grading is not an option in this class. First, if you are
using this as a class to meet your core two Religious Studies requirements, college
policy does not permit it. Second, my experience is that it is counterproductive. Of the
dozen or so times I’ve seen students request it here at Saint Mary’s, I have only seen it
used well once. So, I have decided not to sign any petitions of that nature. I much prefer
the policy at schools like Loyola of Chicago where the faculty member is not informed of
your request, that and you have to score a C to pass.

Grading Scale

A 100-93 B- 82-80 D+ 69-67

A- 92-90 C+ 79-77 D 66-63
B+ 89-87 C 76-73 D- 62-60
B 86-83 C- 72-70 F 59-0

Six Reflections on Grading:

First, though effort is noted, appreciated, and admired, grades are based on
achievement, not effort.
Second, I am opposed to the idea of extra credit. After discussing the topic with
me, you may submit extra work and it will certainly be considered, but only as
additional evidence of your level of achievement. Seven extra papers, all of “B” level of
achievement, do not yield an “A” but further demonstrate that a “B” is the appropriate
grade.
Third, I view final grades like the financial statements which CEO’s are required to
sign. My signature on the grade sheet is my certification to the world that you have
demonstrated a particular level of competency. To give a student a higher or lower
grade than what she or he has demonstrated would be an act of fraud on anyone who
might ever look at that transcript. As a result, there are no courtesy grades. Your grade
in this class serves as my certification that you understand the material and have
demonstrated that at a particular level.
Fourth, I view the meaning of letter grades in their traditional sense: “A” reflects
exceptional academic performance; “B” reflects very good academic performance; “C”
indicates satisfactory academic performance; “D” is marginal academic performance,
deficient in several areas; “F” does not merit academic credit.
Fifth, when I grade essay assignments, for example, I begin by presuming your
grade is somewhere between a “B-” and a “C+”. To the extent that it is above average,
the grade it deserves climbs the scale. I don’t begin by presuming the paper is an “A+”
which then needs to have every point deduction accounted for. As noted in the previous
point, a grade of an “A” is reserved for excellent work, though I’ll be glad to work with
each and all of you as you strive to achieve that goal. To be more specific about grading
of papers, I attempt to use the rubric developed by the Composition Program. I will also
share with you a helpful set of guidelines developed by my colleague, Marie Pagliarini.
Sixth, I strongly support the Academic Honor Code. Sometimes it takes true
courage, but academic integrity is what is called for, period. Learn to face the blank
page, and encourage your friends to do the same. Take pride in your own words and
your own work. That is the best method for true academic growth. When your ideas, let
alone your words, are not your own, proper citation needs to be given. Copying of
someone else’s words or ideas without properly citing them is plagiarism, and as
stipulated in the Honor Code, plagiarism as well as cheating require an automatic
failure for the course. Ignorance of what constitutes plagiarism is no excuse. (If you
have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask me!) On this and all matters in class,
the provisions of the Honor Code will be followed to the letter. Use of tests and papers
from previous semesters will also be considered a violation of the Honor Code.

Readings and Topic Schedule

This schedule will be subject to frequent revisions announced in class.

This part of the syllabus is still under construction. Comparable courses in Catholic
social teaching typically either focus on the magisterial documents with supporting
articles analyzing them, or on various justice themes with the magisterial documents cited
as part of the discussion. Perhaps something of a hybrid might work best. What follows is
a rough outline, with the section on magisterial documents disproportionately long.

I. Beginning with Experience: Signs of the Times

1. Taking Faith Public: From the Civil Rights Era to Today
2. Discipleship and Citizenship in the Catholic Tradition
II. Background and Foundations of Modern Catholic Social Teaching
1. Ecclesiological background to social ethics
2. The Church's mission to social justice and human rights
3. Scriptural, Patristic, Scholastic and other theological sources for modern social
ethics
III. The Documentary Heritage
1. "Rerum Novarum" of Pope Leo XIII (1891)
Focus question: What messages contained in this document have contemporary
relevance?
2. "Quadragesimo Anno" of Pope Pius XI (1931)
Focus: The church's "flirtation with fascism," subsidiarity
3. "Mater et Magistra" of Pope John XXIII (1961)
Focus: Appropriate limits on the use of private property
4. "Pacem in Terris" of Pope John XXIII (1963)
Focus question: Are these "rights claims" viable, or too vast to be meaningful?
5. First half of "Gaudium et Spes" of Vatican II (1965)
Focus question: What is the relation between church and culture in this
document? Is it new? adequate? desirable?
6. Second half of "Gaudium et Spes"
Focus question: What is the image and significance of marriage and family in this
document?
7. "Populorum Progressio" of Pope Paul VI (1967)
 Focus questions: What are the major obstacles to economic development? Does
this document justify any (even violent) means to overcome these obstacles?
8. "Octogesima Adveniens" of Pope Paul VI (1971)
Focus question: Does the "inductive approach" of this document (as well as the
liberation themes cited in the Medellin documents) signify an "opening to the left"
for the worldwide Catholic church?
9. "Evangelii Nuntiandi" of Pope Paul VI (1975)
Focus question: How do views of eschatology and the Kingdom shape our
understanding of the church's witness to social justice and action on behalf of
liberation?
10. "Laborem Exercens" of Pope John Paul II (1981)
Focus question: Does this encyclical fully unpack three key concepts it introduces:
1) solidarity; 2) economic justice for women; 3) the indirect employer?
11. "Sollicitudo Rei Socialis" of John Paul II (1987)
Focus: The hermeneutic by which this document interprets contemporary social
problems in theological terms
12. "Centesimus Annus" of Pope John Paul II (1991)
Focus question: How does the collapse of world communism affect the direction
of Catholic social teaching?
13. “Evangelium Vitae” of Pope John Paul II (1995)
14. “Caritas in Veritate” of Pope Benedict XVI (2009)
15. Personalism, Humanism, and Liberation as key themes in recent Catholic social
thought
Focus: The influence of these three patterns of thought upon recent Catholic
social teaching
IV: Significant U.S. Contributions
1. "The Challenge of Peace: God's Promise and Our Response" (1983)
Focus: The relation between the call to non-violence and the obligation to protect
the innocent and resist evil (as in the just-war approach)
2. "Economic Justice for All" from U.S. Bishops (1986)
Focus: The themes of "justice as participation" and “option for the poor’ as
applied to a complex contemporary economy
V. CST: Contemporary Applications and Assessment
1. Environmental Injustice and CST
A. Consumption & Sustainability in light of CST
B. Environmental Racism & Agribusiness in Light of CST
2. Immigration and CST
A. Immigration in the Contemporary U.S. Context
B. Immigration and CST: Framework for Analysis
3. Lived Catholic Social Thought
A. Community Organizing
B. International Solidarity in Action (CRS Cases)
C. Social Justice and the University
 D. The Impact of Global Economic Systems on the Most Vulnerable

E. Making a Preferential Option for the Poor

4. Evaluating the strengths and limitations of the heritage of Catholic social teaching
Focus: Has Catholic social teaching failed to fulfill its potential contribution?
VI. The Reception and Function of CST in the U.S. Context
1. CST and the U.S. Political Scene: Religious Liberty and Economics
2. CST and Conscience in the U.S. Cultural Context
3. CST and recent U.S. National Elections