Institute staff and collaborators disseminate their research and analysis and education on Institute core issues of race, poverty, and migration, their interconnections, and Catholic Social Teaching through a variety of publications and reports:
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The JustSouth Quarterly is the principle journal for in-depth research and writing of the Institute staff and collaborators. It reflects our research, analysis and education, as well as content from our periodic conferences and events. View archives »
In addition, the Institute publishes occasional issue papers, the texts of addresses by the staff and colleagues, and JSRI conference documents as free-standing reports to supplement our regular publications. View archives »
While the stock market is soaring to set new records and CEOs are taking home cash and stock options, high rates of unemployment remain. The “official” unemployment rate for April 2013 was 7.5 percent, representing 11.7 million persons, of whom 4.4 million have been unemployed for at least six months.
Migration theologian Fr. Daniel Groody suggests that the U.S.-Mexico border is more than an imaginary dividing line between two countries. Rather, a complex history and conflicting prerogatives have resulted in a border between “national security and human insecurity, sovereign rights and human rights, civil law and natural law, and citizenship and discipleship.”
A major criticism leveled against recent newcomers to the United States is that they are “takers” creating an economic drain on the nation. Not only are they takers, critics lament, but also categorically “illegal,” echoing past racist associations of criminality with African-Americans and many other people of color.
Solidarity is named as one of the core principle of Catholic social teaching: "Solidarity highlights in a particular way the intrinsic social nature of the human person, the equality of all in dignity and rights and the common path of individuals and peoples towards an ever more committed unity…"
There are many good reasons to support the comprehensive immigration reform bill, S. 744, introduced by a bi-partisan group of Senators (the Gang of Eight) April 16 and voted out of the Senate with strong bi-partisan support (68 to 32) on June 27.
On June 25, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court effectively gutted the enforcement provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, Attorney General et al. In the words of Congressman John L. Lewis, who risked life and limb in the struggle for Civil Rights, the Court struck a “dagger in the heart” of the Voting Rights Act.
Why does the Catholic Church continue to support increases in the minimum wage? Because, as Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of the Diocese of Stockton told the U.S. Senate last month, “A just wage is a moral issue…”
It is important to note that, if this is an organic tradition, then there is more to be done. There are a number of questions either not addressed, or not adequately addressed, by the main documents in the tradition or that need repetition because we just don’t “get it.” Moreover, social and economic changes in the future will give rise to the need for new reflection from the perspective of faith.
Es interesante observar las distintas reacciones que recibo dependiendo de si le digo a la gente que practico derechos humanos o si les digo que practico derechos de inmigración. La gente generalmente asocia positivamente el concepto de los derechos humanos. Sin embargo, la palabra o el tema de la inmigración no parece obtener la misma reacción.
A report this month from the Kaiser Family Foundation highlights the disproportionately negative impact on people of color of decisions by Gulf South governors and legislatures and those in other states.