International Conference on Catholic
Social Thought sponsored by The Peter J. Tobin College of Business
and the Vincentian Center for Church and Society
Forty years after the Second Vatican Council chose to address,
among other topics, the vast inequalities that existed at that time
in global society, a consortium of universities, institutes and
centers -- including The Peter
J. Tobin College of Business and the Vincentian Center for Church and
Society of St. John’s University – has sponsored a conference
that posed the question, “How does the social teaching of Vatican
II throw light on the connection between justice and the vocation
to be a fully human being?”
Held in Vatican City in March, the three-day conference
entitled, “The Call to Justice: the Legacy of Gaudium et
Spes 40 Years Later,” was attended by representatives from 30
countries on five continents.
In his introduction to Gaudium et Spes, the document
resulting from that discussion in the mid-1960s, Pope Paul VI noted
that:
“Never has the human race enjoyed such an abundance of wealth,
resources and economic power, and yet a huge proportion of the
world’s citizens are still tormented by hunger and poverty, while
countless numbers suffer from total illiteracy. Never before has
man had so keen an understanding of freedom, yet at the same time
new forms of social and psychological slavery make their
appearance”
Five plenary speakers -- including Claudio Cardinal Hummes,
Archbishop of Sao Paolo and currently being mentioned as a possible
successor to Pope John Paul II – attempted to analyze that
statement in the light of a new millennium, focusing on various
themes connected with Gaudium et Spes. In addition, more
than 200 scholars and practitioners – including Professor
Marilyn Martone of the Theology and Religious Studies
Department at St. John's College of Liberal Arts and Science, who
presented a paper on "Women and Justice" -- presented or discussed
papers in three broad categories: Theological Reflection;
Exploration of the Church’s Mission in the Social Order; and
Examination of Contemporary Economic, Political and Social
Issues.
Attending from St. John’s were Economics Professor Charles
Clark of The Tobin College of Business, who also served on the
conference planning committee, and Mary Ann Dantuono and Sister
Margaret John Kelly, D.C. of the Vincentian Center for Church and
Society.
Joining The Tobin College of Business and the Vincentian Center
as sponsors were: the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; the
John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought of the Center
for Catholic Studies, University of St. Thomas (Minnesota); The
Center for the Study of the Social Doctrine of the Church, Catholic
University of the Sacred Heart (Milan), the Center for Catholic
Social Thought, Catholic University (Leuven, Belgium); the Faculty
of Social Sciences of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas
Aquinas (Rome); and the Faculty of Social Science of the Pontifical
Gregorian University (Rome).
Reflecting on the conference, Sister Margaret John called it, “a
Who’s Who in Social Justice…[that] included theologians and other
scholars of the post-Vatican II era who have responded to
Gaudium et Spes’ mandate to ‘read the signs of the
times’.”
She explained that, “[the presenters] explored constructively
the themes of north/south economic disparities, the place of
diverse cultures, the relationship of development to peace, the
impact of globalism, and sadly, the pervasive devaluing of the
human person and indifference to the common good in society.
Because our Faculty Research Fellows are currently working on these
issues through both their teaching and their research, the
conference was affirmation of those efforts as well as an impetus
to find new ways to bring Catholic Social teaching into greater
prominence here at St. John's, which as a Vincentian University has
a special obligation to the poor and the marginalized.
“Humanity is at the cusp of developing a true world community, “
she said, “or allowing specific parts of it to continue to live in
sub-human, unjust economic and social conditions. Social justice
directs us to the former and we hope to prepare our students to
provide leadership in that direction.”