The Project: Commonweal Foundation
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Commonweal Colloquia
The Commonweal Foundation plans to hold
eight colloquia, taking up five areas for inquiry. These lines of
inquiry will not necessarily be separated into distinct meetings.
It would not be practical or useful, for instance, to have
all the case studies presented in single meeting or all the
structured discussions of elite groups conducted in a single
meeting. Instead the
areas for inquiry will be woven together in eight gatherings in
such a way as to group related topics and gather pertinent
participants. Each
colloquium will last a day-and-a-half and involve 15-20 people in
three sessions. Most
colloquia will be held in New York City; some may be in South
Bend, Indiana. There
will be approximately 10 people invited from outside the location
of the colloquium and the rest from the surrounding area (either
the greater New York area or the University of Notre Dame/Chicago
area).
-
Political
and philosophical htmlects of Catholic social thought.
These discussions will explore in greater detail some of the
issues raised in the initial conference: How clear, really, is
its familiar conceptual framework of
“the common good,” “subsidiarity,” “option
for the poor,” rejection of individualism and collectivism,
natural law, and so on_ How
does this framework fare in the American context_
What is its relation to the American liberal tradition,
or to other modern lines of social thought_
What is its standing in terms of contemporary schools
of economics_
-
Case
studies in Catholic civic engagement.
Detailed case studies will be commissioned and examined
for lessons for the future.
What works_ What
doesn’t_ How
and why_ The most
likely topics are (a) the activities of several state Catholic
conferences, e.g., the bishops’ conferences in New York,
Wisconsin, and California; (b) the Catholic engagement in
campaigns about euthanasia and assisted suicide in Washington,
California, Oregon, and Michigan; (c) a Catholic set of
institutions deeply involved in public policy issues, such as
Catholic health care providers or Catholic Charities.
Other possibilities for case studies, depending on the
availability of funds and investigators, are the efforts to
mobilize Catholic opposition to the death penalty, Catholic
involvement in community organization campaigns, and the
impact of Catholic volunteer programs for college graduates
(Jesuit Volunteers, Holy Cross Volunteers, etc., on the Peace
Corps model).
-
The
civic engagement of Catholics in three elite groups.
These discussions will attempt to probe in depth how
Catholicism has, or has not, shaped the civic engagement of
(a) Catholic politicians; (b) Catholic economic leaders in
business, finance, and labor; (c) Catholic commentators in the
media. The format
will be structured discussions with a small number of each
group who have been asked to prepare autobiographical accounts
in advance.
-
The
pastoral challenge of fostering Catholic civic engagement.
These discussions will probe topics related to the second
major conference: How are Catholic initiatives in the public
square affected by the existence of an authoritative
hierarchy_ What
is the impact of the differences between the public life of a
democratic polity and consumer-choice culture, on the one
hand, and the ecclesiastical life of a church marked by
hierarchy and communion, on the other_
What are younger Catholics absorbing of the church’s
social tradition and past patterns of Catholic civic
engagement_ How
might they be altering these patterns for the future_
-
Catholic
civic engagement and American culture.
These discussions will examine: (a) the challenges that
popular culture and its images of religious faith and
Catholicism pose for Catholic civic engagement; (b) Catholics
and the contemporary literary imagination; (c) remaining
strains of anti-Catholicism.
- 2000
-
April:
First
Commonweal Colloquium.
Three sessions on: The concept of the “common good”
and language of Catholic social thought.
Catholic social thought and the natural law tradition.
Catholic social thought and liberal pluralism.
-
September:
Second
Commonweal Colloquium.
Three sessions: Case study: State Catholic Conferences and how
they work. The
Catholic parish and the public square.
The relationship between hierarchy and independent
initiatives.
- 2001
-
January: Third
Commonweal Colloquium.
Three sessions:
The next generation: young Catholics and civic
engagement. Popular
culture and Catholic civic engagement.
Catholicism in the literary imagination.
-
April: Fourth
Commonweal Colloquium.
Three sessions: Case study: Catholics and the campaigns for euthanasia and
assisted suicide. Structured
conversations with Catholic politicians (two sessions).
-
October: Fifth
Commonweal Colloquium.
Three sessions: Structured
conversation with Catholics in the media (two sessions)..
Abortion, sexuality, and Catholicism’s public
presence.
-
December: Sixth
Commonweal Colloquium.
Case study: Catholic health care.
Coalitions, compromises, and their limits. Catholic social thought and professional education.
-
2002
-
February: Seventh
Commonweal Colloquium.
Catholic social thought in flux: Just war and capital
punishment (two sessions).
Preaching and Catholic civic engagement.
-
April: Eighth
Commonweal Colloquium.
Three sessions: Structured conversation with Catholic leaders
in business and labor (two sessions).
Catholic social thought and contemporary economic
thinking.
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