Social Justice
“A Path Appears” Test 2 TEST IS MOVED TO TUESDAY, MARCH 17!
MONDAY FOR QUESTIONS, REVIEW, PREPARATION (due to retreat day out).
“A Path Appears” looks closely at a great variety of social issues and considers
carefully what is being done, or can be done to create a better, more just world.
John Rawls (p. 32) suggested we imagine, or “test” a just society by looking at it from
behind a “veil of ignorance.” He meant we should imagine that we didn’t know into
what circumstances we’d be born in that society; we could imagine a just society as
one without terrible conditions or places or situations that we would never want to
be born into, in “the lottery of birth.”
Mahatma Gandhi gave a similar “test.” He said, Recall the face of the poorest and the
weakest man whom you may have seen and ask yourself if the step you contemplate
is going to be of any use to him. Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore him to
control over his own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to (dignity and selfreliance) for hungry and spiritually starving millions?
Catholic Social Teaching offers similar “tests” for a just society.
USCCB Catholic Social Teaching Themes (use this link to page).
An example of a “test” of a just society in Catholic Social Teaching is, for example,
“We (The Church) believe that every person is precious, that people are more
important than things, and that the measure of every institution is whether it
threatens or enhances the life and dignity of the human person.”
Under each of the THEMES on the above linked page, click on the links that give
MORE ON Life and Dignity of the Human Person.
MORE ON Call to Family, Community and Participation.
Look for similar measures or tests of just societies.
Choose ONE topic from the list below of issues discussed in “A Path Appears.”
In class on TUESDAY, March 17, be prepared to write a 2-page essay on how you
might apply the tests of Rawls, Gandhi and Catholic Social Teaching to the issue.
We will prepare further in class on Monday and I will answer questions, but begin to
prepare by choosing a topic and visiting the page (link) with MORE ON the Themes.
Make notes on the measures and tests the Themes of CST give.
TOPICS:
1. Being born with club foot in Africa (Chap. 2)
2. Rural poverty in the U.S., “If you catch them early” (Chap. 4, p. 85-120)
3. Early Reading “Gap,” Rosa Llauradoe, 19-year-old mom (Chap. 5, p. 135-151)
4. Gang violence in Chicago, as described in Chap. 9.