When Doing Good Isn’t Good Enough: How a Commitment to Justice and Solidarity Transformed Catholic Relief Services

＂This book investigates the significance of Catholic Social Teaching, particularly its teaching on justice, for transforming Catholic Relief Services (CRS), one of the world’s largest international humanitarian agencies, in a time of institutional crisis following the Rwanda Genocide. It traces the process by which CRS arrived at the decision to adopt justice as its operating ethos and its methodical effort to integrate justice into every region and level of its operations. It provides a window into the agency’s deep commitment to the people it serves; the challenges of implementing justice while working within diverse ethnic, cultural, and religious contexts; the lessons learned and the institutional changes it catalyzed moving forward. Research for this study draws on interviews with more than fifty of the agency’s leadership and staff and internal documents never before accessed. This is the story of a church agency at its best. It will speak to, challenge and inspire change makers within and beyond the parameters of religious institutions＂-- Provided by publisher.

Suzanne C. Toton is professor emerita of theology and religious studies at Villanova University. She is the author of World Hunger: The Responsibility of Christian Education and Justice Education--From Service to Solidarity as well as numerous articles in scholarly journals.