The educational achievement gap is a critical social justice issue. Catholic and Marianist conceptions of social justice in particular call people to work with others in their spheres of life to transform institutions in order to further human rights while promoting the common good. Drawing on key elements of Catholic teaching on social justice,…

While social justice education has a rich and ancient history within the Catholic Church, academic disciplines have only recently begun to make the idea of social justice relevant within courses for undergraduates. In the communication discipline, debate about social justice has been lively and varied over the last two decades, and has provided…

This article reveals how St. John's University implemented mission-focused programs to advance its unique Catholic perspective, that of the Vincentian tradition to serve the poor and remedy social inequities. Heeding the 1986 call of Pope John Paul II to Vincentian institutions, all levels of the university from incoming freshmen to the board of…

This article explores the relevance and challenge of Catholic Social Teaching (CST) and internationalization to the Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) program at the University of San Diego. These issues are discussed in the context of a graduate level course on human diversity that culminated in a 1-day cultural immersion and service learning trip…

This paper suggests a way of creating a distinctly Catholic economics education by integrating a social justice perspective into the curriculum through writings from Catholic Social Thought (CST). In so doing, we argue that students of economics will gain a more thorough understanding of the economics discipline. Moreover, a grounding in CST will…

This article describes a research project that examined the impact of a Lasallian mission formation program on program participants and their institutions. The study found that the program had a powerful impact on the participants personally, and 71% became newly involved or recommitted to social justice initiatives upon returning from the…

This paper examines how the academic study of hate can be understood through Catholic social justice teachings with an emphasis on the Jesuit commitment to faith and justice to allow for a critical reflection on the relationship between theory and practice. To make the connections between social justice and the study of hate, the paper begins with…

In contrast to current education policies that conceptualize pupil learning largely in terms of standardized exam scores, we offer an alternative view, one that conceives of pupil learning as a source of insight for pupils and teachers alike. Drawing on survey data and a qualitative study of the teacher candidate experience, we explore the…

Schooling for social justice involves fostering teaching and learning communities that are inclusive of students across multiple dimensions of diversity. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (2005) directs Catholic educators toward social justice schooling by making schools accessible, affordable, and available. In recent decades,…

How is the commitment to social justice sustained over a lifetime? This would seem to be a matter of character, and that calls attention to the Aristotelian tradition in ethics. No one provides as much insight into the challenge of the contemporary appropriation of this tradition as Alasdair MacIntyre. Although a moral philosopher rather than a…

This article describes a particular endeavor, the Bridge Builders Academic Mentoring Program (BAMP), a partnership between a school of education in a Catholic university in the Northwest and a community-based rites of passage program for adolescent African American males. The partnership exemplifies tenets of Catholic social teaching, in that it…

Much criticism has been levied in recent years on professional preparation programs in schools of education offering the Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) degree. This paper is about Saint Louis University's (SLU) redesigned doctoral program in education (Ed.D) that includes an emphasis on social justice. The purpose here is to describe how the faculty…

The Church's interpretation of the current ecological crisis as a moral crisis is the catalyst for this essay, which proposes a newly constructed faith-based model for ecological dialogue and education. The exploration and reinterpretation of the traditional Church doctrine of the Virgin Mary as the new Eve provides a theme from which an…

Concerns for social justice have called Catholics and others to be compassionate and supportive to children with disabilities by establishing schools and other learning opportunities to nurture this population. Special education as a field has developed over the past 40 years. This study examines the incidence, context, and nature of special…

Catholic institutions of higher learning compete mightily for students, faculty, and research dollars with other colleges and universities. Yet, the history and tradition of many Catholic institutions offer a unique faith perspective from which to understand and appreciate the role of the Catholic university as serving the common good. Catholic…