A Concise Guide to Catholic Social Teaching
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Description
The essential guide to Catholic social teaching—clear, practical, and fully updated.
Looking for a reliable introduction to Catholic social teaching? Searching for pastoral tools to help integrate it into your personal life, parish, or school?
In this fourth edition of A Concise Guide to Catholic Social Teaching, Fr. Kevin E. McKenna offers clear and accessible explanations of the Church’s teaching on justice, human dignity, the common good, social responsibilities, peace, and more. This is a practical introduction perfect for everyday Catholics.
With a foreword from Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez of Philadelphia, this updated edition reflects developments in Catholic social teaching since the third edition was published in 2019. It includes key teachings and insights from the final years of Pope Francis and new contributions from Pope Leo XIV—including his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas—helping readers apply timeless principles to our contemporary lives and society.
Part I will help you learn the seven core themes of Catholic social teaching identified by the United States Catholic Bishops in 1998:
- Life and Dignity of the Human Person
- Call to Family, Community, and Participation
- Rights and Responsibilities
- Option for the Poor and Vulnerable
- The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers
- Solidarity
- Care for God’s Creation
In this Concise Guide, McKenna dedicates one of the seven chapters to each theme, drawing from the documents of the Second Vatican Council, papal encyclicals from Pope Leo XIII’s 1981 Rerum Novarum through today, and magisterial teaching documents from the US bishops. McKenna provides probing questions for reflection and dialogue at the end of each chapter to help readers connect themes and apply key principles of the Church’s social doctrines to contemporary life.
Key points are presented in chronological order within each chapter, helping readers understand how this body of Catholic thought has developed over time and continues to develop in its application to modern social issues and needs.
Part II offers six practical pastoral tools to help integrate social teaching into your personal life and that of your community. This book is perfect for catechumenal teams, those preparing for Baptism or reception into the Catholic Church, participants in ongoing adult faith formation, high school and college teachers and students, homilists, and other parish leaders, along with any individual seeking a straightforward, practical introduction to Catholic social teaching. The book is well sourced and fully indexed for easy use.
The six pastoral tools featured in Part II are also available as free downloads at www.avemariapress.com:
- Preaching and Catechetical Message Guide
- Sample Penance Service for Justice and Peace
- Chart of Historical Milestones
- Key Papal biographies
- List of Magisterial Documents and Key Terms
- Additional Reading and Learning
Additional updates in this edition include
- fresh interior and cover designs celebrating 135 years of Catholic social teaching;
- a revised and expanded introduction;
- additional texts cited in the table of contents;
- revised chapter openers;
- an updated biographical profile of Pope Francis and a new profile for Pope Leo XIV;
- new and revised discussion questions at the end of each chapter;
- an expanded and updated Chart of Historical Milestones incorporating significant US and global events related to the documents;
- an updated List of Encyclicals and Key Terms; and
- newly added texts incorporated into the list of sources consulted.
With nearly thirty thousand copies of previous editions sold, this trusted guide continues to help readers understand, teach, and live Catholic social teaching in today’s complex and ever-changing world. If you want to deepen your understanding of social justice, human dignity, and the common good, this book is the perfect place to start.
Product Details
- Pages: 256
- Trim size: 6 x 9 inches
- ISBN: 9781646804641
- Imprint: Ave Maria Press
Description
The essential guide to Catholic social teaching—clear, practical, and fully updated.
Looking for a reliable introduction to Catholic social teaching? Searching for pastoral tools to help integrate it into your personal life, parish, or school?
In this fourth edition of A Concise Guide to Catholic Social Teaching, Fr. Kevin E. McKenna offers clear and accessible explanations of the Church’s teaching on justice, human dignity, the common good, social responsibilities, peace, and more. This is a practical introduction perfect for everyday Catholics.
With a foreword from Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez of Philadelphia, this updated edition reflects developments in Catholic social teaching since the third edition was published in 2019. It includes key teachings and insights from the final years of Pope Francis and new contributions from Pope Leo XIV—including his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas—helping readers apply timeless principles to our contemporary lives and society.
Part I will help you learn the seven core themes of Catholic social teaching identified by the United States Catholic Bishops in 1998:
- Life and Dignity of the Human Person
- Call to Family, Community, and Participation
- Rights and Responsibilities
- Option for the Poor and Vulnerable
- The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers
- Solidarity
- Care for God’s Creation
In this Concise Guide, McKenna dedicates one of the seven chapters to each theme, drawing from the documents of the Second Vatican Council, papal encyclicals from Pope Leo XIII’s 1981 Rerum Novarum through today, and magisterial teaching documents from the US bishops. McKenna provides probing questions for reflection and dialogue at the end of each chapter to help readers connect themes and apply key principles of the Church’s social doctrines to contemporary life.
Key points are presented in chronological order within each chapter, helping readers understand how this body of Catholic thought has developed over time and continues to develop in its application to modern social issues and needs.
Part II offers six practical pastoral tools to help integrate social teaching into your personal life and that of your community. This book is perfect for catechumenal teams, those preparing for Baptism or reception into the Catholic Church, participants in ongoing adult faith formation, high school and college teachers and students, homilists, and other parish leaders, along with any individual seeking a straightforward, practical introduction to Catholic social teaching. The book is well sourced and fully indexed for easy use.
The six pastoral tools featured in Part II are also available as free downloads at www.avemariapress.com:
- Preaching and Catechetical Message Guide
- Sample Penance Service for Justice and Peace
- Chart of Historical Milestones
- Key Papal biographies
- List of Magisterial Documents and Key Terms
- Additional Reading and Learning
Additional updates in this edition include
- fresh interior and cover designs celebrating 135 years of Catholic social teaching;
- a revised and expanded introduction;
- additional texts cited in the table of contents;
- revised chapter openers;
- an updated biographical profile of Pope Francis and a new profile for Pope Leo XIV;
- new and revised discussion questions at the end of each chapter;
- an expanded and updated Chart of Historical Milestones incorporating significant US and global events related to the documents;
- an updated List of Encyclicals and Key Terms; and
- newly added texts incorporated into the list of sources consulted.
With nearly thirty thousand copies of previous editions sold, this trusted guide continues to help readers understand, teach, and live Catholic social teaching in today’s complex and ever-changing world. If you want to deepen your understanding of social justice, human dignity, and the common good, this book is the perfect place to start.
Product Details
- Pages: 256
- Trim size: 6 x 9 inches
- ISBN: 9781646804641
- Imprint: Ave Maria Press
Customer Reviews
- MHMark H.Verified Reviewer22 hours agoRated 5 out of 5 starsFr. McKenna roots social teaching to the Gospel
Fr. Kevin McKenna’s fourth edition of A Concise Guide to Catholic Social Teaching takes a methodical approach to a wide range of justice issues. From racism to climate change. From war to hunger. From profiteering to the dignity of work. From abortion to conservation.
The whole panoply of Catholic teaching is made accessible with clear citations thoroughly documented, study questions, and tools for living these teachings as essential to our spiritual lives.
Even more important than that structure is Fr. McKenna’s skillful grounding of the body of Catholic social teaching in the simple (but not easy to live) instruction Jesus leaves to those who wish to follow him: Love one another. It is this central message of the Gospel that makes the entirety of church social teaching accessible—and predictable.
Human beings are meant to live in community (members all of the “communion of saints.” The “marginalization of individuals or groups…can be described as a form of social sin,” Fr. McKenna explains.
“The Christian community attempts to engage the world,” he writes, with the understanding that every life (and that includes every future life) has dignity because every person is loved by God as unique and precious, not because we have earned that love, but because God gives it freely. So must we all.
Mark Hare is a former parishioner of Fr. McKenna and the author of Watching My Friend Die, (The American Catholic Experience series, ACTA Publications, 2005)
- JKJoseph K.Verified Reviewer4 weeks agoRated 5 out of 5 starsA Key Book for Today's World
McKenna's 4th updated edition of his popular book appears just as many people continue to hunger for cogent insights into the multiple social ethical questions that confront the modern world. There could be no better resource to help in this quest. But who will want to study this book? We expect that Catholic religious leaders and interested students of theology will add it to their bookshelves. But the success of this book would be far better if people in the pews would learn from it and take it seriously. Use it for sessions that update your Catechists. What about parish Adult Education classes? Even try it with the young people in your Youth Ministry. In reality, every thoughtful person, Catholic or not, would find it beneficial.
Joseph G. Kelly,
Department of Religious Studies (Emeritus)
Nazareth University of Rochester, NY
