William O’Neill

The new edition of See, Judge, Act is a splendid introduction to the rich heritage of modern Catholic social teaching. Even more, in the spirit of Pope Francis’s pastoral theology, it offers an invaluable guide to living the tradition in the context of service learning. Here teaching and learning go hand in hand: following the hermeneutical logic of the pastoral circle or spiral in responding to the “signs of the times,” Prof. Brigham brings the wisdom of a vital tradition to bear on such critical issues as poverty, migration, workers’ rights, white privilege and racial and ethnic bias, solidarity in peacemaking, and the global ecological crisis. Deserving a wide readership, especially in these contentious times, Brigham’s new See, Judge, Act gives us reason to hope that the Church’s social teaching will cease to be our “best-kept secret.”