The year in social justice-y news

Friday, December 31, 2010
By Kevin Clarke

Waves of new revelations of the sexual abuse of children by Catholic clerics in Europe, a badly misfiring U.S. and global economy, confusion reigning on U.S. foreclosures, BP’s blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, persistent unemployment and the widening divide between U.S. richest and poorest—and the government’s responsibility to respond to them—were the issues that drove a lot of the social justice coverage here at U.S. Catholic and other media sites during 2010. A few of the top concerns of news reporting related to social justice issues in the United States will likely remain frontrunners in 2011: immigration and health care reform made headlines frequently in 2010 and will likely generate a great many stories throughout the new year. The U.S. church has been at the forefront on both issues for years, supporting comprehensive immigration reform and health care that adequately covers all U.S. residents, but the legislative success of health care reform in March proved deeply divisive in the church as U.S. bishops and the Catholic Health Association and many leaders of congregations of U.S. sisters found themselves at odds over the final wording of the reform package and the issue of whether or not the complex legislation creates a de facto use of federal monies to pay for abortion.

Many prolife Catholic legislators were ultimately satisfied that it did not—and the President has issued executive orders to that effect—and voted for the package. The bishops’ conference remains unconvinced, and a very public battle over the final legislation left wounds that have not healed. That aspect of the story will likewise prove worthy of attention in the coming year. Pope Benedict’s endorsement of health care as an inalienable human right in November is worthy of note. Coincidence or was the Vatican attempting to prod the U.S. church past its disunity on this subject?

It was an odd year for social justice reporting as the concept itself became, thanks to Glenn Beckian bombast, news. The popular radio and cable broadcaster took direct aim on the concept, long enshrined in Catholic teaching and expression, arguing that “social justiceâ€