Customer Reviews

Catholic Social Teaching and United States Welfare Reform

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Father Massaro is a professor of ethics at a Jesuit theological school, and shows full command of his subject. Better yet, his writing style is very clear and accessible to the average reader. When it becomes necessary to use specialized theological or philosophical terminology, he is always careful to give the reader a lucid explanation. Moreover, in the course of his career he has had a great deal of exposure to other Christian denominations (his Ph.D in ethics is from Emory, a Methodist university, and the Jesuit institution at which he currently teaches shares facilities with an Episcopal divinity school). This also shows in his writing. He writes for an audience that may not be familiar with the basic premises behind Roman Catholic social teaching.

Massaro does a masterful job of outlining his church's position. At its most basic level, it is what Christians of all stripes believe: that they must love their neighbor, in part through sharing their wordly possessions with those less fortunate than they. Exactly how one is to obey this stricture is where the real debate begins.

Advocates of welfare reform stress the need to foster a sense of responsibility among recipients by setting time limits and instituting work requirements. In their view, welfare is to be a temporary emergency measure, not a long-term way of life. While Massaro finds this to be a laudable goal in theory, he is worried that, in reality, people who are really unable to fend for themselves (especially children) are being shunted aside by society. Thus, he is a stern critic of current policy.

This is a well-researched book, with a great deal of statistical citations. Nonetheless, in advocating a more welfarist, European model for the U.S. economy, he ignores some of its key deficiencies, such as the disincentives it gives people to seek employment and companies to expand their payrolls.

But then, this book is useful in sparking debate. Even if you disagree with the author's prescriptions, he does an excellent job of getting you thinking.