Joe Holland

100 Years of Catholic Social Teaching Defending Workers & Their Unions: Summaries & Commentaries for Five Landmark Papal Encyclicals Joe Holland

Publisher Marketing: "The repeated calls issued within the Church's social doctrine, beginning with Rerum Novarum, for the promotion of workers' associations that can defend their rights must therefore be honored today even more than in the past, as a prompt and far-sighted response to the urgent need for new forms of cooperation at the international level, as well as the local level." - Benedict XVI, CARITAS IN VERITATE, Paragraph 25 THIS BOOK provides summaries and commentaries for five landmark papal encyclicals defending workers and their unions. These are: Leo XIII's 1891 Rerum Novarum; Pius XI's 1931 Quadragesimo Anno; John XXIII's 1961 Mater et Magistra; and John Paul II's 1981 Laborem Exercens and 1991 Centesimus Annus. The heart of the book is an extended summary and commentary on each of the above five encyclicals, which are often mentioned but seldom studied. The book opens with the author's analysis of the late modern breakdown of Catholic evangelization among the working classes especially in the United States and other English-speaking industrialized countries. It concludes with a proposed pastoral strategy of global church-labor solidarity to overcome both the older mid-19th century "loss of the working class" to the Catholic Church in much of Western Europe, and also the newer recently developing "loss of the working class" to the Catholic Church in the United States and other English-speaking industrialized countries. As the book makes clear, the Social Magisterium of the Catholic Church defends workers' unions as an essential human right rooted in workers' sharing in the image of God, and having the God-given human right to organize for their defense and for participation in decision-making within their workplaces. Bishops and other pastoral leaders who do not build their pastoral strategies for evangelization on this central theme of Catholic Social Teaching undermine their own Catholic (universal) vocation to preach the full Gospel of Jesus to all social classes. JOE HOLLAND is an eco-social philosopher and Catholic theologian with a Ph. D. in the field of Social Ethics from the University of Chicago. His earlier book, MODERN CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING 1740-1958, traces the wisdom tradition of Catholic Social Teaching from its early modern expression through to the death of Pius XII. It addresses the tradition's development as first an anti-modern, and then a modern, ecclesial strategic response to the early and middle stages of Liberal Capitalism and Scientific Socialism. In a forthcoming book on John XXIII, and in additional future books on subsequent popes, Joe plans to address the postmodern development of the tradition from 1958 forward. These books will describe the still developing postmodern Catholic ecclesial strategic response to the turbulent local-global crises of both Liberal Capitalism and Scientific Socialism. They will also highlight the Spirit-inspired seeds of hope -- emerging across the human family -- for a regenerative local-global ecological civilization. Contributor Bio:  Holland, Joe JOE HOLLAND is an eco-social philosopher in the intellectual school of humanistic-ecological postmodernism. He advocates holistic ecological, social, and spiritual regeneration for the emerging Global Civilization. Joe holds a Ph. D. from the University of Chicago in the field of Social Ethics, which was an interdisciplinary dialogue among Philosophy, Social Science, and Theology. Currently, he serves as: Professor of Philosophy & Director of Liberal Studies & Philosophy at Saint Thomas University, Miami, Florida; Permanent Visiting Professor, Universidad Nacional del Altiplano, Puno, Peru; President, Pacem in Terris Global Leadership Initiative; and Vice-Chair, Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice. He founded the National Conference on Religion & Labor co-sponsored by the AFL-CIO, and also the American Catholic Lay Network. In addition, he is a co-founder of Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice. He also served as founding Director of the Pallottine Institute for Lay Leadership & Research at Seton Hall University. Joe has published 12 books and countless articles. His SOCIAL ANALYSIS book with Peter Henriot has over 100,000 copies in print, with 21 US printings plus 5 foreign-language translations and 2 foreign English editions. He was the consultant writer for the 1975 document THIS LAND IS HOME TO ME: A Pastoral Letter on Powerlessness in Appalachia. He was also the consultant writer for the 1995 sequel document AT HOME IN THE WEB OF LIFE: A Pastoral Message on Sustainable Communities Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of This Land is Home to Me. Joe has lectured at Georgetown, Harvard, Notre Dame, Princeton, and many other Universities in the United States. Internationally, he has lectured at: Institut Catholique in Paris, France; Sogang University in Seoul, Korea; Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan; the Pontifical Catholic University in Sao Paulo, Brazil; Pontifical Catholic University in Porto Alegre, Brazil; Universidad Mayor de San Andres in La Paz, Bolivia; and Universidad Nacional del Altiplano in Puno, Peru. In 1986 he received the Isaac Hecker Award for Social Justice. In 2002 he was awarded the Athena Medal of Excellence by the Universidad Nacional del Altiplano.