Colin Miller said he founded the Center for Catholic Social Thought to introduce the teaching to “the ordinary person in the pew” who perhaps hadn’t heard of it. “And we want to introduce it as something that’s relevant to each of us in our daily lives,” he said.
Miller, a staff member of Assumption in St. Paul, is the center’s founder. He recently joined “Practicing Catholic” radio show host Patrick Conley to discuss the center’s focus and an upcoming speaker series on Catholic social teaching.
Some might consider Catholic social teaching as “sort of just the political platform of the Catholic Church” and about “issues and activism and voting and things that are kind of out there, or, in other words, things that the government does, and not things that we do,” Miller said. He hopes the center will be about “the idea that it is about things that we do, first of all,” and that Catholic social teaching is about “whole life discipleship” and “any number of the details of our daily lives,” including “Catholic community,” he said.
The Catholic Social Difference speaker series, free and open to the public, will use an “interview-style conversation format,” Miller said. The first features Michael Naughton, professor and chair of Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, who Miller said will present an “introductory talk” on defining Catholic social teaching: “Where do we find it? What’s it about? How did it arise? What does it touch on? … How do we apply it in our daily lives?”
The full schedule of speakers and topics follows.
- Aug. 31: Naughton, “What is Catholic social teaching?”
- Sept. 7: Michael Goar, president and CEO of Catholic Charities Twin Cities, “Community, poverty and the common good”
- Sept. 14: Father Daniel Griffth, pastor of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, and a director of the Institute of Restorative Justice and Healing at UST: “A Catholic economy”
- Sept. 21: Msgr. Martin Schlag, professor of Catholic studies at UST: “Church and politics: the good, the bad and the ugly”
Calling the sessions “introductory,” Miller said he hopes people leave “with an appetite for more.” Each session takes place at Assumption at 7 p.m. Registration is requested so organizers know how many will attend, but walk-ins are welcome.
For more information on the speaker series and to register, visit CatholicSocialThought.org. The archspm.org website at archspm.org/the-catholic-social-difference-speaker-series includes a link to a promotional flyer.
Additional events at the Center for Catholic Social Thought will be offered, including a five-week class this fall on Christianity and politics, and another speaker series and additional classes next spring, Miller said.
To hear more of Miller’s thoughts on Catholic social teaching, listen to this episode of “Practicing Catholic,” which debuts at 9 p.m. Aug. 25 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM and repeats at 1 p.m. Aug. 26 and 2 p.m. Aug. 27.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes an interview with Archbishop Bernard Hebda, who describes ways to support teachers and administrators this school year; and Michelle Boris, coordinator of young adult ministries at St. Mary of the Lake in White Bear Lake, and Paul Lucke, a World Youth Day participant from Our Lady of Grace in Edina, who describe their recent experience among roughly 1.5 million people at World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal.
Listen to interviews after they have aired at PracticingCatholicShow.com or choose a streaming platform at anchor.fm/practicing-catholic-show.
