IN FOCUS: Products of Reflection

Over the years, Woodstock's process of theological reflection has produced several dozen scholarly and popular books, a production that continues. Among works on the way are a book about Catholic war-and-peace teachings, two volumes on the mission of Catholic higher education, and a study of how the global economy and local cultures interact.

Woodstock's next book will be Just War, Lasting Peace, the results of a project undertaken in partnership with the U.S. Jesuit Conference. The book, to be released this spring by Orbis, originated with a November 2003 symposium sponsored by those two organizations.

While there is extensive debate over "the" just-war tradition, the forthcoming book examines three traditions or schools: that of strict non-violence or pacifism, the contemporary just-war perspective (which closely reflects developments in official Catholic teaching), and the classical just-war school. Noted proponents of the latter school have recently endorsed the idea of preventive warfare.

"We are aiming toward a broad audience, from college students and parishes to Sunday schools and justice-and-peace groups," said senior fellow Dolores R. Leckey, the volume's general editor. She collaborated with three coauthors: the Jesuit Conference's John Kleiderer, Mark Mossa, S.J., and writer Paula Minaert.

The book includes an overview of war in world history, responses by Washington policymakers, one chapter on "peace churches" (Mennonite, Brethren, and Quaker), and another on forgiveness as a means of building peace. A closing chapter examines new directions for Catholic teachings about peace, and there is an expansive appendix listing books, films, case studies, and other resources.

With this volume near release, Leckey is close to wrapping up another book that will be part of Paulist Press's Rediscovering Vatican II series, looking especially at the laity and Christian education.

Also well into the writing phase is the Catholic Higher Education project, directed by John C. Haughey, S.J. The author of ten books on a range of theological topics, Haughey is exploring how a university can remain faithful to Catholic tradition even while being more inclusive.

Joining in this effort are nine other scholars, from six Catholic universities, who are working on a two-volume study. The first volume, by Haughey, highlights the theme of "emergent catholicity." The operative assumption: God is already at work in the teaching and research of faculty members across academic disciplines. (Haughey uses "catholicity" in the universal sense, reaching beyond Roman Catholicism.) The second volume will consist of autobiographical essays in which team members "relate how they operate from the framework elaborated in the first volume," Haughey said. The nine will host workshops at their schools and consult with other institutions.

"In line with the inclusive vision of Vatican II, this project's publications and workshops will help these institutions to appreciate how Catholic tradition does not threaten the integrity of their academic disciplines, but rather calls all disciplines to seek a more complete integration of their bodies of knowledge with other disciplines," Haughey recently wrote.

Other publications in the Woodstock pipeline include the published product of the Global Economy and Cultures project, by director Gasper F. Lo Biondo, S.J., and senior fellow Rita M. Rodriguez; and a collection of essays on Dorothy Day and John Courtney Murray, S.J., by senior fellow J. Leon Hooper, S.J.