In March, Scarecrow Press will publish the third, supplemental volume to its compendium, Encyclopedia of Catholic Social Thought, Social Science, and Social Policy (Michael L. Coulter et al. eds.).  The new supplement updates the 848 entries of the first two volumes (2007) and contains 202 new entries from over 100 contributors.

Authors contributing to the new volume include eminent scholars Professor Robert P. George (Princeton University) and St. John’s own Dorothy Day Professor of Law, David L. Gregory (see his CLR Forum biography here).  Professor Gregory contributes an entry co-authored with Ms. Daniella E. Keller—currently a third-year student at St. John’s Law—detailing the life of John Cardinal O’Connor, Archbishop of New York from 1984 through 2000.  In particular, Professor Gregory and Ms. Keller’s entry concentrates on the Cardinal’s emphatic support for labor rights—a focus always central to Cardinal O’Connor’s ministry.  (See this New York Times account of one of the Cardinal’s final homilies, which describes his dedication to the labor movement.)

Like the encyclopedia’s first two volumes, the upcoming supplement addresses new issues of Catholic social teaching in the abstract—for example, the principles expressed in Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (2009).  It additionally explores specific, real-world implementation of these principles, such as Cardinal O’Connor’s labor activism mentioned above.

Other noteworthy contributors include:  Father Robert John Araujo, S.J. (Professor, Loyola University Chicago School of Law and contributor to Mirror of Justice); Father Kevin L. Flannery, S.J. (Professor, Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome); William E. May, Ph.D. (Professor Emeritus, Pontifical John Paul II Institute and Senior Research Fellow, Culture of Life Foundation); and the very well known Michael Novak (among other accomplishments, regular New York Times and National Review Online author and pundit).

For the publisher’s description of the upcoming supplement volume, please follow the jump. Continue reading →