United States Welfare Policy: A Catholic Response (Moral Traditions),New

Product Description The Welfare Reform Act of 1996 drastically changed the delivery of social services in the United States for the first time in sixty years. More than a decade later, according to Catholic social ethicist Thomas Massaro, a disturbing gap exists between the laws we have enacted as a nation and the moral concerns we profess as a people. Massaro contends that ethicists too often focus on strictly theoretical concerns rather than engaging concrete social and political issues, while public policy experts are uncomfortable drawing ethical judgments about legislation. United States Welfare Policy takes a fresh approach to the topic by using Catholic social teaching as a lens through which to view contemporary American welfare policies, citing the tradition's emphasis on serving the needyincluding a preferential option for the poorand the common good. Massaro maintains that the most important outcome of welfare policy is not the costeffectiveness of programs, but the wellbeing of individual families. The concluding analysis of this thoughtful study applies Catholic ethical concerns to specific aspects of welfare reform, including the funding mechanisms for the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program, work participation requirements affecting the bond between mothers and children, eligibility rules, the intrusion of family caps into reproductive decisions, and the imposition of disproportionate burdens upon particular demographic groups. Massaro offers possible alternatives in each case and, as the fight over reauthorization of the welfare act continues, he calls on Catholic churches and clergy and laity to take action and advocate publicly for a more ethical approach to welfare reform. Review 'Massaro's holistic reliance on theology, political narrative, and an assessment of the law's measurable human impact contributes to a fuller picture of welfare reform than [is] available in most accounts.'Commonweal'A valuable resource in setting out what religious social ethics require of a more just welfare policy.'Politics and Religion'This new volume should set moral theology on a new course with its detailed integration of Catholic social teaching and the concrete realities of welfare policy in America.'John T. Pawlikowski, OSM, Catholic Theological Union'This wellreasoned study by an expert in Catholic social thought offers an excellent explanation of the Catholic Church's firm belief that the government is morally required to provide for assistance to all persons in the event of sickness, unemployment, and old ageit is, in fact, the government's duty to make certain that all persons have those things necessary to preserve human dignity.'Robert F. Drinan, SJ, professor of law, Georgetown University Law Center'This book is a much needed and timely analysis of U.S. welfare policy. Massaro weaves together policy history and analysis, ongoing political debates, and the rich tradition of Catholic social teaching to clarify for people of faith and good will what is at stake in 'welfare reform.''Pamela K. Brubaker, professor of religion, California Lutheran University'United States Welfare Policy ably fills an important niche that no other book quite matches. Deftly, Massaro displays the process by which the theological and ethical principles of Catholic Social Teaching get translated into the pragmatics of policy debates and decisions. Many students of Catholic social teaching have long looked for just such a carefully crafted, empirically informed, case study of careful negotiation of ethics into policy in ways which show the illuminating power and import of Catholic social principles in concrete policy choices. Secondly, precisely because it is so knowledgeable about the literature and realities of welfare reform in the United States during the last two decades, Massaro's 'Catholic Response' is more deeply a profound ethical engagement of the real policy debates about welfare policy. Th