“That the Common Good Be Kept Inviolate”

In yesterday’s posting we looked at the basic definition of social justice — that it is not a replacement or substitute for individual justice or charity, but a “particular” virtue in its own right and with its own focus ("directed object").  That focus is to restructure society’s institutions (it’s “social habits”) to make individual justice and charity possible, not to try to focus on what the individual virtues are supposed to be directed to.

What is Social Justice?

Forget everything you think you know about social justice.  The fact is that quite a few things are sold these days as social justice — everything from soup kitchens to the latest nutty economic theory.  As a result, “social justice” has become as meaningless in social theory as the hackneyed phrase “new and improved” in advertising.

The Just Third Way Hour Podcast

Host Dave Hamill continues to turn out the high-quality productions you've come to expect from CESJ . . . and with the "best in guests," too.  Be sure you click on “Related Tracks” so you see all the episodes — otherwise, you’ll just see the first three.

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 04

The year is still pretty young, but things are starting to happen.  CESJ had its quarterly board meeting this past week, and people from across the country and around the globe had a number of interesting things to report, some of which are covered below:

Science and Science Fiction, Justice and Social Justice

To finish off our short series of blog postings on science fiction and social justice, we thought we’d take a look at how the whole idea of social justice — properly understood, of course — fits in to the “world” of science fiction.  It’s not as great a stretch as it might seem at first glance.

Turning the Other Cheek

In semi-response to yesterday’s posting on “Social Justice and Science Fiction,” some individuals — not very many, admittedly — decided to chastise us and those science fiction and fantasy writers, fans, and others who commented on, protested, or in any way drew attention to what appears to be a serious situation in “fandom.”  It seems that when someone or group is (allegedly) unjustly under attack, the “Christian” thing to do (although nobody had previously brought up Christ or any other religious figure), is to knuckle under to the (alleged) bullies and their friends and supporters, and “turn the other cheek.”

Social Justice and Science Fiction

At first glance, there might seem to be no connection between science fiction and fantasy “fandom” and the Just Third Way.  Yes, the ideas of the Just Third Way are forward-looking, futuristic, and could easily be integrated into visions of future, fantastic, or alternative societies and worlds.  They might even form the core around which science fiction and fantasy epics could be written — Tolkien may have to look to his laurels in the face of the new wave of Just Third Way writers!

The Just Third Way Hour Podcast

Host Dave Hamill continues to turn out the high-quality productions you've come to expect from CESJ . . . and with the "best in guests," too.  Be sure you click on “Related Tracks” so you see all the episodes — otherwise, you’ll just see the first three.

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 03

Many things are in the works right now that we expect to bear fruit over the coming year, but not much on which we can report.  Mostly what we have this week are a few comments on ongoing projects and what we expect to do in the near future:

Highlights of the Abraham Federation

Yesterday we gave a very broad overview of a solution we think Pope Francis and others ought to consider, the “Abraham Federation” as a way of defusing the situation in the Holy Land.  Today we said we’d look at some of the specifics of the proposal, the “highlights,” as it were, so here goes.  Again, be aware there might be some slight editing glitches, as the paper from which this is extracted has not been updated for a while, but the fundamentals are there:

The Abraham Federation

In his Urbi et Orbi address on Christmas Day 2017, Pope Francis mentioned the possibility of a “two state solution” for the Holy Land.  We think this might be something of a problem, if only because what one person means by that term never seems to mesh exactly with what another means.  And that creates a problem if you’re trying to develop a solution instead of pushing an agenda. . . .

The Just Third Way Hour Podcast

This week's new podcast features CESJ's own Dawn K. Brohawn, Director of Communications.  Purely by coincidence, Dawn was yesterday's guest blogger.  In this podcast, she gives an overview of her involvement in the Just Third Way movement.  Host Dave Hamill continues to turn out the high-quality productions you've come to expect from CESJ . . . and with the "best in guests," too.  Be sure you click on “Related Tracks” so you see all the episodes — otherwise, you’ll just see the first three.

The Time for New Wine

Today we have a guest blogger, Dawn K. Brohawn, CESJ’s Director of Communications, who crafted this New Year’s message a short time ago.  Although it’s a New Year’s message, it is appropriate for any time of year:

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 02

A somewhat slow week at CESJ headquarters, but a number of things are happening that deserve comment.  One disappointment is that, despite the beautiful weather in Northern Virginia — in the sixties! — an important trip had to be cancelled due to bad weather in the Midwest.  Other than that, however:

Ways and Means

To continue our discussion on Pope Francis’s recent “Urbi et Orbi” Christmas message, we want to address his advocacy of the “two state” solution for Palestine.  We disagree — which should not shock even “ultramontane” Catholics, since anyone can disagree with the application of a principle, as long as there is no change in the principle.

Day of Reckoning

Today we have a posting that we hope will get you to look a little differently at the Annual March for Life, scheduled for Friday, January 19, 2018.  You know . . . the annual event in which a gazillion people descend on Washington, DC, and the media wave a magic wand and they all disappear. . . .

What Pope Leo XIII DID Say

We closed the last posting on this subject by asking, Where do ordinary people, who are ordinarily powerless, get the power to organize and act on the system?  That is, we noted that the way to restructure the social order so as to provide the proper environment within which people can live “the good life” (in the Aristotelian sense) and live and grow in virtue.

The Just Third Way Hour Podcast

Host Dave Hamill continues to turn out the high-quality productions you've come to expect from CESJ . . . and with the "best in guests," too.  Be sure you click on “Related Tracks” so you see all the episodes — otherwise, you’ll just see the first three.

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 01

The New Year is starting off with a lot of areas of news and interest to the Just Third Way.  Not all of them are pleasant reading, but all are important, one way or another.  Of course, virtually everything fits into the Just Third Way somehow or other.  These are what have popped up as immediately relevant this past week:

An Application of Social Justice

Yesterday we looked at what Pope Francis said in his Urbi et Orbi address about the many problems that afflict modern society, especially as they affect children.  What His Holiness said was necessary and salutary, of course, but he did not get into a solution.  That is understandable, as you can’t do too much in a brief talk, but the impression many people no doubt got was that an increase in goodwill and personal virtue would be adequate.

What Pope Francis Didn’t Say

In the last few postings (with time out for Christmas, New Year’s, and the year-end news roundup), we’ve been going over Pope Francis’s Urbi et Orbi (“The City and the World”) Christmas message.  Although brief, there was a great deal of substance.  In our opinion, however, there was not enough — His Holiness highlighted some serious problems, but gave no more than a hint of a possible solution, and that inadequate (again, in our opinion).

The Just Third Way Hour Podcast

Our host Dave Hamill is on Holiday Hiatus, but that gives you a chance to catch up on all the episodes you missed.  Be sure you click on “Related Tracks” so you see all the episodes — otherwise, you’ll just see the first three.

Happy New Year!