2009 Social Justice Calendar

I'm pleased to announce the new 2009 Social Justice Engagement Calendar, which will be available in late 2008 from IHS Press. Have you ever wondered what the Catholic Church actually says, in writing, about just wages, unions, advertising, consumer culture, wigrant workers, or how First World economies should treat the Third World? Numerous Popes have written crisply on these and other topics of social justice–so much, in fact, that the stack of documents can be rather daunting. What if you could read a paragraph or two each week in your personal calendar? As with any quality calendar, you'll also find images, which will show the concrete realities of social justice as no words can. With dramatic images and captions combined with strong text selections, this calendar will bring “social justice” from a nebulous concept to the real world.

Selections from a sample page spread.

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The “new evangelization,” which the modern world urgently needs, must include among its essential elements a proclamation of the Church's social doctrine. As in the days of Pope Leo XIII, this doctrine is still suitable for indicating the right way to respond to the great challenges of today. Now, as then, we need to repeat that there can be no genuine solution of the “social question” apart from the Gospel.

John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, 3, 5

The 2007 Social Justice Engagement Calendar offers a gentle introduction to the fascinating clarity of Catholic social doctrine. While the Church's positions on abortion or contraception may get most of the press, you may be surprised to find just how clear she is on other matters of social justice.

Let the working man and the employer make free agreements and agree freely as to the wages; nevertheless, there underlies a dictate of natural justice more imperious and ancient than any bargain between man and man, namely, that wages ought to support a frugal and well-behaved wage-earner. Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum, 45 In the majority of cases a man's work is his sole means of livelihood. Its remuneration cannot be made to depend on the market. It must be determined by the laws of justice.

John XXIII, Mater et Magistra, 18

With this weekly calendar, you'll sample major papal writings:

Rerum Novarum, Leo XIII
Singulari Quadam, Pius X
Quadragesimo Anno, Pius XI
Mater et Magistra, John XXIII
Pacem in Terris, John XXIII
Populorum Progressio, Paul VI
Octogesima Adveniens, Paul VI
Laborem Exercens, John Paul II
On the Ecological Crisis, John Paul II
Centesimus Annus, John Paul II

The Western countries run the risk of seeing this collapse of Communism as a one-sided victory of their own economic system, and thereby failing to make necessary corrections in that system.

John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, 56

You'll also hear from Vatican II, with Gaudium et Spes, as well as the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Insufficiently cultivated estates should be distributed to those who can make these lands fruitful.

Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes, 71

These documents are the teaching of the Church in our time, on issues we face every day simply by going to the store. The Church isn't vague on social justice, and there's no better time to get acquainted with her thought.

Human society is sorely ill. The cause is not so much the depletion of natural resources, nor their monopolistic control by a privileged few; it is rather the weakening of brotherly ties between individuals and nations.

Paul VI, Populorum Progressio, 66

The small and average sized undertakings in agriculture, in arts and crafts, in commerce and industry, should be safeguarded and fostered. They should join in associations to gain the benefits that usually come only from large organizations.

John XXIII, Mater et Magistra, 84

As a bonus, this year's calendar will also include selections from the works of G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc. These engaging Catholic laymen, while certainly not doctrinal authorities, consciously modeled their economic theories on Catholic social principles. They complement the papal writings as they clarify and explore the underlying economic issues. And they're funny.

And as some of us most heartily and vigorously refuse to be led to Socialism, we have long adopted the harder alternative called trying to think things out.

G. K. Chesterton, The Outline of Sanity

The 2009 Social Justice Engagement Calendar. Hear the Church on social justice, see the fruits of justice throughout the world, one week at a time. To hear more about the 2009 Engagement Calendar, as well as other fine projects from Wineskin Media, consider joining our mailing list.

Last Updated: 2008 Jan 24, 17:39 Thu.