In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus identifies himself with the hungry, sick and the poor. Jesus says of those who took action and helped these people, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me (Matthew 25:40).”

It is with this focus on the dignity and value of human beings in the context of community that is the foundation of Catholic social thought.

A new course, “Catholic Social Thought,” is being offered by the ISU religious studies program this semester.

The course, which is listed as Religion 380X, will explore the history of Catholic social thought through an examination of church documents, historical movements and the Catholic theologians who have developed this body of teachings from 1891 through the present.

Catholic social thought encompasses the official teachings of the Catholic Church on social, political and economic issues and includes the thoughts and writings of theologians who are not officially recognized by the church.

Despite the richness and diversity of the Catholic tradition on social thought, John Donaghy, lecturer in the department of philosophy and religious studies and the course instructor, said a unity can be detected within the tradition.

Donaghy cites the thought of various Catholics with respect to a possible war against Iraq as an example of the use of a common analytical framework being applied differently.

“You have people taking a wide range of positions, including people like George Weigel [biographer of Pope John Paul II] who is very much in favor of a war against Iraq, as opposed to most of the official statements from the Vatican,” Donaghy said.

Donaghy’s own interest in social thought spawned during his days as a high school student.

“The beginning of my thinking about Catholic social teaching was during high school, seeing the civil rights movement, thinking in terms of ‘What does the Church have to say about that, what does our faith have to say about that?,’ ” he said.

Donaghy points to the moral leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., among others, as inspiring his own concern for social issues.

“It was the very fact that [civil rights leaders] were raising specific issues about the dignity of human beings and their share in society,” he said.

For Lois Oldham, senior in sociology and a student in the class, Catholic social thought has practicality and universal appeal to her.

“I don’t think you’ll find someone who thinks peace is a bad idea, or that workers should be exploited —[Catholic social thought] makes sense,” she said.

Donaghy said he would like students to come away from the class with a framework which can be applied, in dialogue with Catholic thought, to critically analyze questions of justice and peace.

“It’s a framework, so it’s not giving them a lot of answers necessarily, but it provides them with a framework for analysis,” he said.