American Catholics And Civic Engagement

Introduction
Peter Steinfels
Part 1: Catholic Thought In The American Context

The Common Good & Catholic Social Thought
John A. Coleman
Pluralism & The Common Good: A Response
Jane Mansbridge
Catholic Social Thought & The American Experience
Stephen J. Pope
Contending With Liberalism
William A. Galston
Catholics And The Liberal Tradition
Michael Lacey & William M. Shea
Part 2: Catholic Institutions In The American Public Square

The Catholic Parish In The Public Square
Philip J. Murnion
What Do State Catholic Conferences Do?
William Bole
The Limits Of Coalitions And Compromises: The California State Catholic Conference
Edward E. Dolejsi
Catholic Health Care & The Challenge Of Civic Society
Clarke E. Cochrane
Part 3: Catholics In The Public Square: Autobiographies

Pro-life, Pro-family, Pro-poor
Mary Jo Bane
State House Politician
David Carlin
On The Beat In The South Bronx And Central America
David Gonzalez
Politics And Polling
Dotty Lynch
A Journalist’s Calling
Don Wycliff
Look For The Real Story
Paul Moses
Family, Faith And Union
Kirk Adams
The Workers’ Worker
John J. Sweeney
Family, Good Fortune And Stewardship
Thomas J. Donnelly
God Deals With Me Through My Clients
W. Shepherdson Abell
Part 4: Catholics In The Voting Booth

How Catholic Is The Catholic Vote?
David C. Leege & Paul D. Mueller
There Is No Catholic Vote-And It’s Important
E.J. Dionne, Jr.
Catholic Republicans
Kate O’Beirne
Communitarian Lite
William Bole

Additional Info
Sheed & Ward, in partnership with the Commonweal Foundation and with funding from the Pew Charitable Trust, proudly presents the first of two volumes in a groundbreaking series called American Catholics in the Public Square. The result of a three-year study sponsored by Pew aimed at understanding the contributions to U.S. civic life of the Catholic, Jewish, mainline and evangelical Protestant, African-American, Latino, and Muslim communities in the United States, the two volumes in this series gather selected essays from the Commonweal Colloquia and the joint meetings organized by the Commonweal Foundation and The Faith and Reason Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington. Participants in the Commonweal colloquia and the joint meetings–leading Catholic scholars, journalists, lawyers, business and labor leaders, novelists and poets, church administrators and lobbyists, activists, policy makers and politicians–produced approximately forty-five essays presented at ten meetings that brought together over two hundred and fifty participants. The two volumes in the American Catholics in the Public Square Series address many of the most critical issues now facing the Catholic Church in the United States by drawing from the four goals of the colloquia-to identify, assess, and critique the distinctive elements in Catholicism’s approach to civic life; to generate concrete analyses and recommendations for strengthening Catholic civic engagement; to encompass a broad spectrum of political and social views of Catholics to encourage dialogue between Catholic leaders, religious and secular media, and political thinkers; to reexamine the long-standing Catholic belief in the obligation to promote the common good and to clarify how Catholics may work better with those holding other religious or philosophical convictions toward revitalizing both the religious environment and civic participation in the American republic.

This first volume, American Catholics and Civic Engagement: A Distinctive Voice, includes a general introduction by Peter Steinfels and is structured in four parts, each of which include a brief overview. Part One, Catholic Thought in the American Context, explore the fundamental concepts that underlie Catholic social thought and their relevance to American public debate and public policy-the intellectual tools with which Catholics have often participated in the public square. Part Two, Catholic Institutions in the American Public Square, reveal