Emmanuel
FROM THE EDITOR
Glenn Beck , the conservative radio host , television personality , political commentator , and author , once famously advised his listeners : “ Look for the words ‘ social justice ’ or ‘ economic justice ’ on your church website . If you find it , run as fast as you can !” Given the diversity of the political landscape these days , it is safe to say that a good number of American Catholics either heard Beck mouth these words themselves or subscribe to his views about social justice and economic justice . These are topics which inevitably hit home , especially in a presidential election cycle .
Behind the catchphrases “ social justice ” and “ economic justice ” is a long tradition of modern Catholic social teaching dating back to Rerum Novarum , Pope Leo XIII ’ s 1891 encyclical on capital and labor . Brandon Vogt , a 2008 convert to Catholicism and the author of Saints and Social Justice : A Guide to Changing the World , published in 2014 , approaches the subject through a unique lens , examining the lives of saints who practiced the corporal and spiritual works of mercy heroically .
In an interview with blogger Elizabeth Scalia , Vogt comments : “ The fact that these terms are politicized shouldn ’ t worry us , either . Catholic social teaching is political . It deals extensively with governments , social relationships , and structures of power . Yet while political , it ’ s not partisan . It transcends any party , ideology , or political grid . That ’ s why it ’ s Catholic social teaching and not Republican / Democrat social teaching .”
In his November 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium ( The Joy of the Gospel ), Pope Francis writes of the social dimension of the Gospel : “ I would now like to share my concerns about the social dimension of evangelization , precisely because if this dimension is not properly brought out , there is a constant risk of distorting the authentic and integral meaning of the mission of evangelization ” ( 176 ).
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