CATHOLIC SOCIAL JUSTICE STUDIES PROGRAM
Overview
The Catholic Social Justice Studies Program gives to students a holistic understanding of social justice through the lenses of Catholic Social Teaching. One of the most interdisciplinary courses at the University of St. Thomas, this program integrates especially the fields of political science, economics, environmental studies, psychology, communications, international studies, theology, and philosophy. Students majoring in any of these fields would find the social justice studies minor to be very compatible.
Professional Development
The Social Justice Studies Program prepares students for graduate programs in the areas of social justice, social work, public administration, and nonprofit administration. Graduates of the program are well prepared to pursue a career in community organizing, social work, non-profit management, public administration, social justice ministerial work in faith-based settings. Toward this end, internships with the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, Catholic Charities of Galveston-Houston, the Houston Catholic Worker House (Casa Juan Diego), among other locations gives students in the program practical experiences that prepare them for a career especially in the areas of faith-based, nonprofit, and government social justice programs.
Ethos
The Social Justice Studies Program instills in its students “a humanism that is up to the standards of God’s plan in history, an integral and solidary humanism capable of creating a new social, economic, and political order, founded on the dignity and freedom of every human person, to be brought about in peace, justice, and solidarity” (Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, #19).
Community Connection
Students participating in the Social Justice Studies Program are able to network with the following social justice groups: Casa Juan Diego (Houston Catholic Worker), Catholic Charities of Galveston-Houston, Catholic Campaign for Human Development, Pax Christi, Maryknoll, Dominican Sisters, Jesuit Volunteer Corps, CCVI Sisters, Network, Catholic Relief Services, and the Office of Justice and Peace, Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. In addition, students in this program become integral participants in lectures, workshops, and research initiatives of the UST Rev. William J. Young Social Justice Institute regarding issues from the local to the global level.
Engagement
The courses in the Social Justice Studies Program:
- cultivate in students the capacity for understanding the normative frameworks that foster just relationships in family, community, national, and transnational networks.
- develop and apply ethical decision making to specific professional and policy areas.
- connect the key principle of the dignity of the human person to specific human and civil rights and conversely to types of associations which manifest just relationships.
- cultivate in students a capacity for bringing about justice as participation in political, cultural, social, and economic arenas, according to the Catholic notion of the common good.
Conclusion
Students graduating from the Social Justice Studies Program both intellectually and practically are able to engage in social justice activities in a manner consonant with the vision of Vatican II : "The joys and hopes, the sorrows and anxieties of the women and men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way oppressed, these are the joys and hopes, the sorrows and anxieties of the followers of Christ" [Gaudium et Spes - Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World #1].
Program Contact: Prof. John Francis Burke, 713-525-3814 or jfburke@stthom.edu
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