I had the distinct privilege of attending the CST and Pedagogy conference last week at Catholic University of America (sponsored by the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities along with CRS, the Global Sisters Report, the Society of St. Vincent DePaul, and the USCCB). We had some great keynote addresses by Todd Whitmore from the University of Notre Dame, and from Maria Mazzenga at CUA. Faculty shared numerous resources – including modules people could use directly in class – and sponsors of the conference also contributed some terrrific links.

I know many of our readers should also see these links and resources, for teaching in high schools and colleges, as well as for parish ministry:

Global Sisters Report: this is an amazing website covering the vast work of Catholic sisters all over the globe. They are working in so many places, under so many conditions, and speaking out against so much injustice. These stories are a terrific way to give immediate examples to students on a variety of CST questions.

Catholic Social Ministry Gathering: meetings that enable young Catholics to network with social ministry leaders, and to voice concerns with legislators.

The Human Thread: Awesome awareness site regarding our clothing industries. Clothing touches on so many social issues, including environmental concerns, workers’ rights, throw away culture, human trafficking, and so forth.  Directly applicable to students’ immediate actions. This site also features information about a campaign to convince Kohl’s and Macy’s to offer fair-trade clothing lines.

Communities of Salt and Light: The USCCB’s project for helping parishes, communities and individuals find ways to reach out. Website includes stories and ready examples of CST in action.

American Catholic History Classroom: Phenomenal historical exhibits online, though can sometimes be hard to navigate (click on “Exhibits” and a range of topics appear on the right side of the screen). Dr. Mazzenga led us through many great items in the archives that would provide real-life links for students on Catholic social teaching then and now. A couple items I’ll be using in the near future include a comic-book discussion of the life of  Linna Bressette, a little known mid-2oth century lay woman and advocate of CST, and a discussion of Catholics and a living wage, including some of Monsignor John Ryan’s writings.

Note: at this link, there is a section devoted to the conference, where people can see some of the teaching modules that we discussed.

Poverty USA: I’ve shared this link at this blog before, and it’s well worth sharing again and again. It is an amazing graphic way of seeing the impact of poverty in the US – great for use in the classroom and for individual discussion.

 

Please share some of your own sites!