Suggested Readings on Catholic Social Teaching

  • Choosing Peace, The Catholic Church Returns to Gospel Nonviolence
    Marie Dennis, Editor, Orbis Books, 2019
  • The Way of Forgiveness: Readings for a Peaceful Life
    Michael Leach, James T. Keane, Doris Goodnough, Eds., Orbis Books, 2018
  • Creation and the Cross: The Mercy of God for a Planet in Peril
    by Elizabeth A. Johnson
  • The Root of War is Fear: Thomas Merton's Advice to Peacemakers
    by Jim Forest
  • She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse
    by Elizabeth A. Johnson
  • Spiritual Ecology: The Cry of the Earth
    Joanna Macy, Thich Nhat Hanh, Wendell Berry, Sandra Ingerman, Bill Plotkin, Mary Evelyn Tucker,
    Brian Swimme, Dr. Vandana Shiva, Richard Rohr (Authors) and Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, PhD (Editor)
  • Living Justice: Catholic Social Teaching in Action
    by Thomas Massaro, SJ
  • Responses to 101 Questions on Catholic Social Teaching
    Kenneth R. Himes, OFM
  • Spirituality of the Beatitudes
    Michael H. Crosby, OFM, Revised January 2005
  • Call to Conversion
  • Cloud of Witnesses
  • God's Politics
    all by Jim Wallis, Founder of Sojourners
    Visit their website
  • Living Peace
  • A Persistent Peace
  • Transfiguration
    all by John Dear, SJ. Former director of the Fellowship for Reconciliation
    Visit their website
    This treats the personal as well as public journey to a better world.
  • The Road to Peace
    Henri Nouwen, Edited by John Dear
    A collection of essays by this great spiritual writer.
  • Eight Spiritual Heroes, Their Search for God
    Brennan Hill.
    Mini biographies of Mahatma Ghandi, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Oscar Romero, Edith Stein, Daniel Berrigan, Mother Teresa.
  • Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger
    Ronald J. Sider
    Good reading on distribution of wealth on a personal and systemic level.
  • A Concise Guide to Catholic Social Teaching
    Kevin E. McKenna
  • Jesus Today: A Spirituality of Radical Freedom
    Albert Nolan
  • The Powers That Be: Theology for a New Millennium
    Walter Wink
  • The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics
    Riane Eisler

Books our Committee has read and discussed

  • A Still and Quiet Conscience: The Archbishop Who Challenged a Pope, a President, and a Church
    John A. McCoy
  • The Universal Christ: How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and Believe
    Richard Rohr
    Visit their website
  • The Hole In Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us? The Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World
    Richard Stearns
  • Notes From A Catastrophe
    Elizabeth Kolbert
  • The Long Loneliness
    Dorothy Day
  • No Future without Forgiveness
    Desmond Tutu
  • Essential Writings
    Pedro Arrupe
  • Hope Against Darkness: The Transforming Vision of Saint Francis in an Age of Anxiety
    Richard Rohr
  • Mountains Beyond Mountains
    Tracy Kidder
  • The Fragrance of Faith: The Enlightened Heart of Islam
    Jamal Rahman
  • Our Sacred Land
    Kenize Mourad
  • Palestine-Peace Not Apartheid
    Jimmy Carter
  • My Lord & My God: Engaging Catholics in Social Ministry
    Jeffry Odell Korgen, Foreword by Jack Jezreel
  • Radical Compassion: Finding Christ in the Heart of the Poor
    Gary N. Smith
  • The Challenge and Spirituality of Catholic Social Teaching
    Marvin L. Krier Mich
  • Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life
    Henri Nouwen
  • The Duty of Delight: The Diaries of Dorothy Day
    Edited by Robert Ellsberg
  • How Much is Enough?
    Arthur Simon
  • Peace is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
    Thich Nhat Hanh
  • Souls in the Hands of a Tender God: Stories of the Search for Home and Healing on the Streets
    Craig Rennebohm with David Paul
  • Street Journal: Finding God in the Homeless
    Gary Smith S.J.
  • They Come Back Singing: Finding God with the Refugees
    Gary Smith S.J.
  • Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace One School at a Time
    Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin