Catholic Intellectual Tradition and Catholic Social Teaching

In the tradition of St. John Baptist de La Salle and the Brothers of the Christian Schools, Manhattan University faculty, staff, and students are encouraged to live out the five Lasallian Core Principles. The Lasallian Core Principles include: Faith in the Presence of God, Respect for all Persons, Inclusive Community, Concern for the Poor and Social Justice, and Quality Education.  Please check out the resources that we have on Catholic Intellectual Tradition and Catholic Social Teaching that focus on how Jaspers can live out the Lasallian Core Principles in this capacity.

Catholic Intellectual Tradition 

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Virtual Dialogues

  • Catholic Intellectual Tradition Series Lectures
    • St. Mary’s University welcomes you to a free, annual lectures series featuring men and women who have shaped the Catholic intellectual tradition − a tradition at the heart of the educational enterprises at St. Mary’s University.

Books/Articles

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  • The Church In The 21st Century Center
    • The Church in the 21st Century (C21) Center at Boston University is a catalyst and resource for the renewal of the Catholic Church in the United States.  Drawing from both the Boston University community and others, the C21 Center engages in critical conversations facing the Catholic community focusing on four critical issues: handing on the faith, roles and relationships in the Church, sexuality in the Catholic tradition, and the Catholic intellectual tradition.

Catholic Social Teaching

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  • Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching
    • Learn more about the seven themes of Catholic Social Teaching
  • Higher Education and the Lasallian Mission in an Age of Inequality
    • The authors propose that the governing principles of Lasallian colleges and universities are ethical rather than market-based, inspired by ideals that are sharply distinct from those that govern a strictly capitalist system, and play an important role as a counterweight to free market inequalities.
    • The authors argue that by (i) leveraging the international network of Lasallian schools and programs (ii) targeting advancement initiatives and (iii) maintaining Lasallian mission formation efforts and applying ethical restrictions on the influence of market-based rationality, the economic and moral integrity of future of Lasallian educational institutions is maintained and solidified.
  • Promoting Financial Literacy: A Path to Alleviating Social Inequality
    • While the existence of a link between social inequality and income is indisputable, the highly complex and multifaceted dynamics of the relationship between income inequality, race and gender need to be addressed through institutional policies and educational programs. Specifically, the authors argue that financial literacy should be the first step toward long-term financial stability and wellbeing while recognizing the efforts that NGOs and Catholic institutions are making in the field of personal finance education in order to mitigate income inequality and promote social equality. Best practices, shortfalls and recommendations on how Manhattan University’s Lasallian mission can be better fulfilled by addressing the long-term financial wellbeing of the underserved are discussed.
  • A Lasallian Response to Rape Culture
    • The article offers a challenge to, and an invocation of, the values of Lasallian mission against rape culture. Exploring historical responses within the Lasallian tradition to this pervasive problem in society and identifying a few rich resources within its underlying charism for tackling this pernicious evil (the virtue of silence / listening & a paradigm of association). The Lasallian obligation to address rape culture and attitudes of patriarchal normalcy is articulated; and a challenge is issued to actively teach students about healthy relationships, gender norms, and sexuality.
  • Intersectionality of Student Disabilities and Lasallian Mission: Utilizing Distinctive Lasallian Pedagogy to Foster Student Inclusivity
    • Historically, the Lasallian Catholic mission has responded to societal needs and provided education to marginalized individuals. Lasallian postsecondary institutions continue to support students, advocating for inclusion and equity. However, no formal guidance exists on how the Lasallian mission can further support the experience of students with disabilities within the higher education environment. As such, the exploration of Lasallian pedagogy and how it provides opportunities to meet the needs of students with disabilities is necessary.

Virtual Dialogues

  • Laudato Sí After Five Years: Hearing the Cry of the Earth and the Cry of the Poor
    • Five years ago, Pope Francis wrote Laudato Sí, the first papal encyclical to focus on care for creation as a central moral obligation. His groundbreaking letter brought together the call to protect the environment and to defend the “least of these” through an integral ecology that challenges all of us. The letter is a hopeful call to action, holding that climate change is a moral test as well as a scientific reality and policy challenge.
    • In cooperation with the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, the Initiative hosted an online dialogue on the powerful message, continuing importance, and future implications of Laudato Sí with one of its architects from the Vatican, a theologian focused on environmental ethics, a leader in acting and educating on the encyclical, and a grassroots voice on the front lines of environmental justice.
  • Faith and the Faithful in the 2020 Elections: Religion, Racism, and the COVID-19 Crisis
    • The 2020 presidential campaign is being reshaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic crisis it created, and the national focus on racism in the aftermath of the killings of George Floyd and other African-Americans at the hands of law enforcement officers. These challenges are testing our faith and our politics, our religious communities, and our nation.
    • The role of religion, racism, and the COVID-19 crisis was addressed by a panel of respected journalists and political leaders who bring differing religious, racial, generational, and political perspectives and backgrounds. John Carr, director of the Initiative, moderated the online conversation.
    • Moving Beyond a Life on Hold: Young Catholics in a Time of Crisis
      • Pope Francis reminds us that “this is not a time for indifference.” This online gathering explored how our Catholic faith and its teachings can help inform young people’s response to this crisis. How can we shore up relationships and community in a time of physical distancing? How can we best serve the poor and vulnerable at a time when we can’t leave our homes? How can we uphold human life and dignity at a time when the sick and elderly are faced with the reality of the “throwaway culture?” How can we best live out a faithful, principled, and effective response to the crisis? How can we live with hope in a time of fear and loss?
    • Global Dimensions of the Coronavirus Crisis: Responsibility and Solidarity, Policies and Priorities
      • This online Public Dialogue examined the global dimensions of the coronavirus crisis that are so often neglected in our focus on the pandemic’s impact on the United States. How is COVID-19—with its deadly health consequences and awful economic costs—affecting the rest of the world? What are U.S. responsibilities to the poorest places and people as the pandemic moves across the globe? The Initiative brought together Pope Francis’ designated leader on the crisis, the longtime leader of Bread for the World, and a leader on the front lines in Africa to explore the human and moral dimensions of the crisis as it spreads to even more of the poor and vulnerable around the world.
    • The Papacy Confronts Coronavirus
      • The COVID-19 pandemic has affected religious and spiritual life in innumerable ways, challenging ancient traditions and practices. Shortly before Easter, Austen Ivereigh, biographer of Pope Francis who writes for the Tablet, Commonweal, and America magazine, had an illuminating interview with the Pope about Catholicism, the Church, and the papacy in the time of the coronavirus. The same week, author and Berkley Center senior fellow Paul Elie, in a daily comment for the New Yorker, discussed Pope Francis's powerful use of ritual and imagery in this moment to bring out his pontificate's core themes of service, self-sacrifice, and humility.
    • Life and Dignity, Justice and Solidarity: Moral Principles for Responding to the COVID-19 Economic Crisis
      • This online Public Dialogue examined the human, moral, and policy dimensions of the economic crisis that has come with the COVID-19 pandemic.  How can moral principles of human dignity, solidarity, priority for the poor, and dignity of workers shape the continuing response to this global crisis? Competing claims have been made about who should be protected and who should not, who needs economic rescue and who does not. This online dialogue examined how faith and the principles of Catholic social thought can contribute to national and global debates and decision-making and guide our individual and community choices on these important economic questions.
    • Catholic Social Thought and the Coronavirus Crisis: Moral Principles for Terrible Times
      • The coronavirus pandemic is a moral crisis, raising fundamental questions about who we are, what we believe, and how we should act to protect human life and dignity and promote the common good in a time of fear, danger, and loss. We face not only a global health calamity, but unprecedented economic, governmental, political, and moral challenges as well.
      • This online dialogue explored how faith and Catholic social thought can offer moral principles for hard choices, ethical criteria for public action, and hope in a time of fear. In particular, Catholic social thought offers principles to guide our choices as individuals and families, as a nation, and as a global community.

Take Action

  • Call To Action
    • Call To Action educates, inspires and activates Catholics to act for justice and build inclusive communities through a lens of anti-racism and anti-oppression principles.
  • Catholicism, Racism, and Social Justice: Historical Realities and Lasallian Visions for the Future
    • The article examines the intersect of segments of the Catholic Church viewing some racial or cultural groupings as inferior beings and the theme of God in the Lasallian heritage as valuing and welcoming all peoples.
    • A careful examination is made of the Catholic Church’s role in the establishment and perpetuation of slavery and other racially based discriminatory practices in the Americas and the repercussions that reverberate to this day.
    • The author reminds Lasallians that in order to address social justice issues today, we must go beyond simple assistance and instead must get to the roots of the problems to find structural solutions and educate to justice.
  • Lasallianism, Social Justice, and Community Service: Characteristics of Participants in CBU’s September of Service: 30 Days of Good Deeds
    • The authors’ initial assessment findings of a campus-wide community organized service activity, focusing on characteristics of individuals who participated – voluntarily or as part of a requirement – versus non-participants, provide guidance for programming and recruitment efforts at Lasallian colleges and universities.