Earth Ethics and American Catholic Environmentalism

This chapter notes that American Catholics were initially quite reluctant to embrace environmentalism. It asks, after decades of political engagement with labor, poverty, peace, women’s rights, and immigration, why did US Catholics largely overlook the growing environmental problems in the twentieth century? And what caused this to change in the early twenty-first century? The chapter summarizes early Catholic efforts to promote environmentalism and describes the initial responses of the Catholic Church and its members, who often prioritized human needs over environmental matters. It also describes how the Catholic Church and Catholic laypeople started placing greater emphasis on the environment toward the end of the twentieth century. The chapter then surveys the main themes of various Catholic teachings and publications—from the US Catholic Bishops Conference’s Renewing the Earth (1991) to Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si (2015)—that have given impetus to more Catholic environmental action. The chapter concludes with a description of the work of two activist groups: the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, an ecumenical organization, and Catholic Climate Change.

Liberation Theology and the Central America Solidarity Movement

This chapter examines the conditions that fostered liberation theology in Latin America. The chapter provides a brief overview of liberation theology’s central themes and how it fueled revolutionary movements in Central America, particularly in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala. It surveys the Catholic hierarchy’s responses, ranging from sympathy to condemnation, and highlights several US religious movements that expressed solidarity with Central American Catholics who were fighting for social justice. These organizations included Witness for Peace, which brought US Christians to the war zones of Nicaragua to deter combat attacks, and also Pledge of Resistance, which mobilized tens of thousands into action when US policy toward the region grew more bellicose. Finally, the chapter describes the School of the Americas Watch, which aimed to stop US training of Latin American militaries that were responsible for human rights atrocities.

Peace, Nonviolence, and Disarmament

This chapter explores the pacifism of the early Christian church and how the conversion of Constantine in the fourth century led to the development of the just war doctrine. At the conclusion of World War II, the advent of the nuclear arms race rendered some aspects of the just war doctrine obsolete. Pope John XXIII addressed these concerns in his encyclical Pacem in Terris, released in 1963. Numerous Catholic peace groups thought that the Vatican did not take a strong enough stance on war, militarism, and nuclear weapons. The Catholic Worker movement called for a return to pacifism and introduced the techniques of nonviolent noncooperation with civil defense drills in the 1950s. The chapter covers other Catholic peace movements and organizations, including Pax Christi, the Catholic Left that opposed the Vietnam War through draft card burnings and draft board raids, and the Plowshares movement, whose members damaged nuclear weapons to obstruct the nuclear arms race. Eventually, the US Catholic Bishops released the pastoral letter The Challenge of Peace, which condemned nuclear weapons and called for disarmament.

Dignity and Just Treatment of Workers

This chapter examines some of the historical trends, events, individuals, and experiences that pushed Pope Leo XIII in 1891 to release Rerum Novarum, the first papal encyclical. It also summarizes the main themes of this encyclical, whose title is translated as “The Condition of Labor.” It further provides an overview of the second papal encyclical, Quadragesimo Anno (“After Forty Years,” also known as “The Reconstruction of the Social Order”), released in 1931 by Pope Pius XI. The chapter concludes with an exploration of how these teachings on labor were interpreted and put into practice by the Catholic Worker movement, led by Dorothy Day, and the United Farm Workers movement, led by César Chávez and Dolores Huerta.

Conclusion

The conclusion reflects on the contributions and enduring legacies of the movements described in the book, summarizing the lessons that can be derived from these progressive initiatives and analyzing how they have influenced official church teachings. Using Pope Francis’s “Nonviolence and Just Peace” conference” as an illustration, the conclusion argues that Catholic Social Thought has often been produced because laypeople have pushed the religious hierarchy to respond to the pressing issues of their era. This challenges the idea that such teachings are strictly a top-down phenomenon, with the church’s leaders declaring what its members should believe and what actions they should take.

Equality for Women and Catholic Feminism

This chapter examines the origins, themes, and actions of Catholic feminism in the United States. It begins with an overview of Catholic teachings on women and then provides an account of the early voices and organizations that challenged these views and proposed biblical gender equality. The chapter summarizes the ideas of feminist theologies, particularly the work of Mary Daly and Rosemary Radford Ruether. It then explores several distinctive strategies of resistance, including actions for the ordination of women, the Roman Catholic Womenpriest movement, the emergence of Women-Church groups that practice inclusive liturgies and worship, and organizations that promoted diverse Catholic perspectives on contraception and reproductive rights.

Compassion for Immigrants and the Sanctuary Movements

This chapter depicts some of the current debates and pressing issues around immigration reform and the treatment of refugees in the United States. It provides an overview of the Catholic Church’s teachings on immigration, which emphasize that all people have the right to emigrate when their lives are threatened or when they are unable to survive in their homelands. These teachings strongly mandate that all immigrants should be welcomed, assisted, treated with dignity, and given their basic human rights, regardless of their legal status. This chapter explores how American Catholics have responded to immigration concerns and crises. It documents the actions of the Sanctuary movement of the 1980s, which defied immigration laws to help Salvadorans and Guatemalans who were fleeing civil war violence in their homelands. Sanctuary activists assisted these refugees across the border and protected them in churches and synagogues throughout the United States. The chapter concludes with a summary of the New Sanctuary Movement in the twenty-first century, which is focused on reforming immigration policy and preventing the deportation of members in “mixed-status” families.

Introduction

The introduction provides an overview and history of Catholic Social Teachings and the shift toward Social Catholicism. It explains how nineteenth-century labor struggles prompted the Roman Catholic Church to address the most pressing problem of that era. It also explores key themes in these social teachings, including the dignity of workers, the common good, solidarity, the option for the poor and vulnerable, the rights of workers, peace and reconciliation, and preservation of the environment. The introduction explains the sources and methods for developing the church’s doctrines. It concludes with an explanation of “lived religion” as the framework for examining how US Catholic laypeople put these teachings into action in their everyday lives, in their communities, and in their political contexts.