Social Justice Commons^™

The Fierce Urgency Of The Slow: How Pope Francis Is Calling Us To Save The Planet, Gerald W. Schlabach

The Journal of Social Encounters

Addressing the urgent issues facing humanity today, in his recent encyclical on social friendship, Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis reminds us that it is “all the more urgent that we rethink our styles of life, our relationships, the organization of our societies and, above all, the meaning of our existence” (no. 33). In this and in his previous encyclical on care for creation, Laudato Si’, Francis makes clear that we do not have a moment to waste. None of his diagnosis should “be read as a cool and detached description of today’s problems” (no. 56).

Before an onslaught of urgency backfires …

Black (Muslim) Lives Matter: African American Muslim Social Activism, Jacob C. Riccioni

The Hilltop Review

Over the past eight years, the Black Lives Matter movement has advocated for marginalized communities within the African American population and called for police brutality and anti-black racism to be abolished. With the rise of Black Lives Matter in contemporary society, I am left wondering, do African American Muslims support the Black Lives Matter movement? There is no simple answer for African American Muslim leaders and laypeople because the Black Lives Matter movement supports LGBTQ+ rights, which some Muslims do not condone, and some rallies have broken out into riots. Religious leaders and scholars are split between supporting Black Lives …

Manis And Martins' "Eeavesdropping On The Most Segregated Hour: A City's Clergy Reflect On Racial Reconciliation" (Book Review), Jaclyn Lee Parrott

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Cultivating Compassion In Catholic Teachings: An Invitation To Relationship With Immigrants And Refugees With Hiv/Aids, Anna Salvestrin

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In 1989 the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops released Called to Compassion and Responsibility. This document, which articulates the official Catholic Church teaching on HIV/AIDS, emphasizes personal responsibility in limiting the spread of HIV and calls for compassion toward the sick. The bishops direct their document to Catholic clergy and parishioners and offer recommendations for government policy and parish actions that affirm human dignity. This thesis argues that the document's recommendations do not adequately consider the experiences of immigrants and refugees with HIV/AIDS and neglect sufficient attention to their lived experiences. In future documents, the bishops should use the …

Longman's "Diversity Matters: Race, Ethnicity, & The Future Of Christian Higher Education" (Book Review), Karen Keesing

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Designing A Program To Train Elders To Respond To #Metoo Experiences Of Adult Females In A Church Context, Jana H. Unruh

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This project intervention explores resolution of systemic issues of church-based sexual harassment, abuse, and violence, referred to as #MeToo, through design of a training program for elders. As theological foundation for the project, the Gospel of Luke frames positive approaches modern church leaders can align with in the quest for solutions to #MeToo. The Good Samaritan parable and the story of Mary and Martha extract valuable lessons for church elders addressing sexual harassment, abuse, and violence experiences of adult women. In Luke, we find fresh understanding for questions of #MeToo through the highly relevant concept of “neighbor.” Luke will …

Mary Julia Workman: Catholic Progressivism In Los Angeles (1900-1920), Jose Castro

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Mary Julia Workman was a social activist in the early twentieth century. She was the founder of the Brownson Settlement House in Los Angeles. By the 1900s. during the Progressive Era, Mary Julia Workman, a Catholic activist, led a group of women to help the immigrants that were segregated and discriminated in the growing city of Los Angeles. Although Catholic activism was influenced by the Protestant Progressive ideology, Mary Julia Workman provided social justice to the marginalized. Her Americanization methodology would be focused to learn from the foreigner culture and adapted it to our society. Meanwhile, the Americanization efforts promoted …

Zinā In The Criminal Legislation Act (1999-2000): An Evaluation Of The Implication For Muslim Women's Right In Nigeria, Paul Orerhime Akpomie

Theses and Dissertations

The research engages in an exploration of human rights in Islam. Human rights issues are then contrasted with international law positions. The data gotten is then used for investigating women’s human rights issues in Shariʾa penal tradition regarding zinā (adultery) in Nigeria. The re-emergence of Sharia penal codes adopted by 12 Northern states in Nigeria in 1999 as an operative Islamic law has sparked concerns about rulings amounting to stoning to death in several cases of zinā. These events raised concerns about Shariʾa penal traditions’ legality and relationship with other legal traditions operational in Nigeria, a secular political space. …

"Standing In The Gap": Combating Sexual Abuse In The Protestant Church, Hayley N. Carter

Honors Projects

Sexual abuse in the Christian Church has been a problem for many decades, and scholars have written extensively about sexual abuse occurring in the Catholic Church. However, abuse occurring in the Protestant Church has not been given that same attention. In 2017, the #MeToo movement went viral and has inspired many sexual abuse survivors to share their stories. I will argue that the Protestant Church should acknowledge the #MeToo movement’s accomplishments, and that this acknowledgement would lead to positive changes in how it approaches sexual abuse. I also will discuss financial abuse, which is a correlating behavior along with sexual …

Midwives, Sheila J. Nayar

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Midwives (2022), directed by Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing.

The Rise Of An Eco-Spiritual Imaginary: Ecology And Spirituality As Decolonial Protest In Contemporary Multi-Ethnic American Literature, Andrew Michael Spencer

English Theses and Dissertations

The Rise of an Eco-Spiritual Imaginary reveals a shared ecological aesthetic among contemporary U.S. ethnic writers whose novels communicate a decolonial spiritual reverence for the earth. This shared narrative focus challenges white settler colonial mythologies of manifest destiny and American exceptionalism to instantiate new ways of imagining community across socially constructed boundaries of time, space, nation, race, and species. The eco-spiritual imaginary—by which I mean a shared reverence for the ecological interconnection between all living beings—articulates a common biological origin and sacredness of all life that transcends racial difference while remaining grounded in local ethnicities and bioregions. The novelists representing …

Review Of Advancing Nonviolence And Just Peace In The Church And The World, William J. Collinge

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Lead, Kindly Light: Gandhi On Christianity, Charles R. Disalvo

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Abdul Aziz Said: Peace Educator, Cathedral Builder, Soul Dancer - 1930-2021 - A Tribute And Retrospective, Patricia M. Mische

The Journal of Social Encounters

The life, thought, and spirituality of political scientist and peace educator, Abdul Aziz Said (1930-2021), are explored through: a) first-hand accounts from five decades of professional and personal collaboration between Said and the author; b) themes in his writings, especially in Concepts of International Politics in Global Perspective, Fourth Edition and Bridges, Not Barriers: The American Dream and the Global Community; and c) his conviction that love is a relevant and significant force in international relations and peace building and needs to be strengthened if peace is to be sustained (a conviction shared by Martin Luther King Jr, Sigmund Freud, …

The 1676 Project: Black And White Together In The U.S.A., Danny Duncan Collum

The Journal of Social Encounters

America’s post-George Floyd racial reckoning has brought a new focus on the country’s history of enslavement, segregation and systemic racism. However, this reckoning has often failed to recognize that the roots of systemic racism lie in the need of the wealthy planters in colonial Virginia to divide the African and English indentured servants who constituted a majority threatening to elite power. Nor do contemporary versions of U.S. history always account for the persistent reoccurrence of class-based interracial movements, such as the late 19^th century Populists, or their promise as a long-term solution to the country’s racial divides.

“Solidarity: A Catholic Perspective” Chapter 10 From A Vision Of Justice: Engaging Catholic Social Teaching On The College Campus, Fr. Peter Ignatius Gichure, Ron Pagnucco

The Journal of Social Encounters

In memory of Fr. Peter Ignatius Gichure, we reprint this essay co-authored by Fr. Gichure and Ron Pagnucco, co-editor of the JSE. Fr. Gichure was working on an essay on Fratelli Tutti for the JSE when he died.

"Solidarity: A Catholic Perspective." Ron Pagnucco and Peter Gichure. Chapter 10, in A Vision of Justice: Engaging Catholic Social Teaching on the College Campus. Susan Crawford Sullivan and Ron Pagnucco, eds. Published in 2014 by Liturgical Press, Collegeville Minnesota, and in Kenya by Catholic University of Eastern Africa-Gaba Press, Eldoret, Kenya.

Everyday Peace: Historicising Local Agency In Managing Ethno-Religious Conflicts In Nigeria’S Middle Belt, Gloria Na’Antoe Longba’Am-Alli

The Journal of Social Encounters

Over the years, critical studies scholars have criticised liberal peacebuilding strategies for their elitist top-down policies, which hardly pay attention to the local concepts and acts of peace. Critical peace and conflict studies scholars’ advocacy for ‘everyday peace’ comes from negotiated governance, where loosely coordinated processes surpass liberal peace's top-down policies. Therefore, everyday peace recognises people's commentaries and practices shaping their resistance, resilience, and negotiation with conflicting groups. In particular, women and people far from city centres are often marginalised or are not included in peacebuilding efforts. In recognising these people’s limited involvement, this article draws on oral interviews, archival …

Renegotiating Liminal Spaces: Catholic Nuns As Spiritual And Feminist Activists, Emily M. Lauletta

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The objective of this thesis is to recognize the critical work being done by the women in two Sister-led organizations, Talitha Kum, and Network. Throughout this thesis, I make note of how the actions of these groups of nuns align with several values attributed to spiritual activism. Simultaneously, I discuss the complications that arise from doing social justice work within the confines of an institution that has perpetuated settler colonialism and white supremacy. My analysis is grounded in three theoretical frameworks; spiritual activist theory as articulated by Gloria Anzaldúa, Indigenous Feminism(s), and Womanism. In reference to the nuns' status as …

The Political Implications Of The Evangelical Right’S Anti-Critical Race Theory Rhetoric, Elizabeth Howell-Egan

Scripps Senior Theses

Critical Race Theory (CRT), once an abstract principle used in academic circles, has exploded onto the national stage as parents fight against their children supposedly being taught its tenets. Through an analysis of key political and religious leaders, I discuss the right’s obsession with CRT in schools, where it came from, and its political implications.

Discrimination Against Veiled Women In The West: Social Isolation, Amina M. Abdallah

Dissertations and Theses

This research examines the discriminatory practices faced by veiled women in the West that impede their integration into their local communities or lead them to feel socially isolated. Societal prejudice and, in some cases, the laws of the land often solidify this isolation of Muslim women and girls from the rest of the world. These victims of social oppression face discrimination based on multiple factors, such as their religion, race, and sex.

This study analyses preconceived notions regarding veiled women, incorporating evidence from seventeen qualitative interviews done with veiled Muslim women residing in the West, particularly the United States, United …

“No Matter Where You’Re From, We’Re Glad You’Re Our Neighbor”: Enacting Justice Initiatives And Community Formation In Faith-Based Organizations, Jenna M. Smith

Senior Independent Study Theses

Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) in the United States offer a variety of services and influence social dynamics within their communities, specifically in northeast Ohio. Churches, service agencies, and ministries often pursue immigration advocacy initiatives and ground their work in religious doctrine, using frameworks such as ‘hospitality’ and ‘welcoming the stranger’ to motivate their own initiatives and connect with uninvolved or antagonistic populations. Due to current climates of political polarization and dehumanizing rhetoric in immigration dialogues, this study seeks to analyze the ways in which religious actors define and enact community and explore the contributions of the groups in which they serve. …

Islam And Equality Through Symbolism, Nellie Bowers

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As a Muslim Majority Country governed by laws born out of religious doctrine, Morocco deals with issues of equality and justice that are forcefully related to and intertwined with religion. This paper looks at the intersection of religion and equality, especially in the interpretive context of society and governance. It also considers the difference in religious interpretation affecting religious use and image. Additionally, the religious notion of Tawhid is analyzed in a symbolic context to further understand how God’s nature influences the actions of humans, especially with actions pertaining to social justice and equality. Through ethnographic interview, the perspective on …

Orban's Hungary: Lack Of Freedoms Becoming The Motivation For Hungarian Emigration, Fanni Sampson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the past 10 years Hungary has gone through some major systematic changes since the Orban administration took office. The implementations of the Orban government serve the benefits and power of his party and aim to limit the freedom of Hungarian citizens. Orban, throughout these changes, emphasizes the importance of preserving the Hungarian national identity, which he defines as far-right conservative christian values and takes control over everything that does not fit under this definition. This thesis argues that the Hungarian government is becoming increasingly dictatorial under the Orban administration which not only challenges the life of Hungarian citizens but …

Review Of Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton And The Greatest Commandment: Radical Love In Times Of Crisis, Kate Dugan

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Dorothy Day: Dissenting Voice Of The American Century, Susan Crawford Sullivan

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Counsels Of Imperfection: Thinking Through Catholic Social Teaching, Maria Power

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Comparing Cultures And Religions In A Postmodern World, Januarius J. Asongu

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of A Pilgrim People: Becoming A Catholic Peace Church, William J. Collinge

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Catholic Social Teaching And Theologies Of Peace In Northern Ireland: Cardinal Cahal Daly And The Pursuit Of The Peaceable Kingdom, Kathryn Lamontagne

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

The Catholic Peacebuilding Network: Lessons Learned, Gerard F. Powers

The Journal of Social Encounters

As one of the world’s largest transnational institutions, the Catholic Church is deeply engaged in a wide variety of peacebuilding activities at all levels through many different types of institutions and organizations. This essay examines one of these entities, the Catholic Peacebuilding Network (CPN), a network of university institutes, episcopal conferences, development agencies, and independent peace organizations. It considers CPN’s mission, activities, contributions to the Catholic community’s wider work for peace, and the challenges it faces as it seeks to accompany the Catholic community in areas of conflict. By looking at this one actor, this essay offers insights into Catholic …