"I intend not just to promote mutual understanding in a pluralistic society, but to contribute in some small way to the revival of a common language of public or civic virtue that might ground a new and much needed political vision for this new millennium."
—from the introduction

In this fourth edition of a longtime bestseller, lawyer, activist, and Jesuit priest Fred Kammer confronts the challenge of human poverty and injustice in the context of our consumer-driven, economically fragile world.

This user-friendly fourth edition includes new materials on creation theology and the jubilee tradition, integrates the writings and important themes of Popes Benedict XVI and Francis, as well as other social teaching documents from the past twenty years, and provides updated economic and social data and analysis. The questions for reflection and renewal at the end of each chapter have been expanded and revised.

Fr. Fred Kammer, SJ, JD, is a priest, an attorney, and a member of the Central and Southern Province of the Jesuits in the United States. Since retiring last year, after twelve years as the director of the Jesuit Social Research Institute [JSRI] at Loyola University New Orleans and nine years as the president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, he is now engaged in a combination of social and prison ministries and advocacy in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, his home state.
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