Dwelling with Dignity: Catholic Social Teaching and Homelessness

Discover how Catholic Social Teaching can help us to re-think homelessness and our commitment to justice in the world.

Homelessness is on the rise globally. As many governments leave the provision of housing to the markets, access to adequate, affordable housing is becoming more precarious. Widening inequality, fueled by a capitalist and neoliberal ideology, is exacerbating the problem. Damaging social narratives deepen the stigma of homelessness, while the systemic injustices causing the housing crises are often overlooked. In Dwelling with Dignity, moral theologian Suzanne Mulligan examines how Catholic Social Teaching can help us to re-think homelessness and our commitment to justice in the world.

With its emphasis on the common good, solidarity, and integral human development, we find in the social doctrine of the church not only a robust analysis of social injustice but also a call to proximity with the sufferer. Rooted in the Gospel, it calls us to dismantle the structures that oppress the poor and exclude many from full participation in society. Dwelling with Dignity invites us to construct economies and societies that place the human person at their center, and to work toward human flourishing, personal and communal healing through accompaniment, solidarity, and a commitment to justice in the world.

Suzanne Mulligan, PhD, teaches moral theology at the Pontifical University, Maynooth, Ireland. She has published extensively in social ethics, focusing on themes such as the common good, migration, homelessness, and violence. She is a member of the planning committee of Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church and is the editor of the Irish Theological Quarterly.