Overview

Provides a new understanding of the relationship between Church and State in 20th-century Costa Rica. Understanding the relationship between religion and social justice in Costa Rica involves piecing together the complex interrelationships between Church and State -- between priests, popes, politics, and the people. This book does just that. Dana Sawchuk chronicles the fortunes of the country's two competing forms of labour organisations during the 1980s and demonstrates how different factions within the Church came to support either the union movement or Costa Rica's home-grown Solidarity movement. Challenging the conventional understanding of Costa Rica as a wholly peaceful and prosperous nation, and traditional interpretations of Catholic Social Teaching, this book introduces readers to a Church largely unknown outside Costa Rica. Sawchuk has carefully analysed material from a multitude of sources -- interviews, newspapers, books, and articles, as well as official Church documents, editorials, and statements by Church representativesto provide a firmly rooted socio-economic history of the experiences of workers, and the Catholic Church's responses to workers in Costa Rica.

Full Product Details

Author:   Dana Sawchuk
Publisher:   Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Imprint:   Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.70cm , Height: 2.20cm , Length: 23.70cm
Weight:   0.610kg
ISBN:  

9780889204454

ISBN 10:   0889204454
Pages:   288
Publication Date:   30 October 2004
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

The Costa Rican Catholic Church, Social Justice, and the Rights of Workers, 1979-1996 by Dana Sawchuk Acknowledgments Abbreviations Acknowledgments Preface 1. Introduction Studies of the Church and Politics in Latin America Studies of the Pre-1979 Church in Costa Rica The Scope and Theme of This Study Theoretical Considerations Chapter Outline 2. Crisis in Costa Rica Post-Civil War Economic Development The Crisis and Government Policies Popular Reactions to the Crisis Conclusion 3. The Unions in the Face of the Crisis Problems for the Costa Rican Union Movement Promise in the Costa Rican Union Movement Limón en Lucha Conclusion 4. Official Catholic Social Teaching on Workers' Issues Strikes and Unions in Catholic Social Teaching Contrasting Approaches to Social Justice Persistent Conservatism in Catholic Social Teaching Conclusion 5. Monseñor Arrieta and CECOR The Man They Call Manzanita The Church Hierarchy's Political Pronouncements and Preferences The Costa Rican Bishops and Workers' Rights Conclusion 6. CECODERS The Centre's Structure and Programming The Controversial 1986 Folleto CECODERS and Catholic Social Teaching CECODERS and the Union Movement Conclusion 7. Limón Province Socio-Economic Conditions in Limón The Institutional Insecurity of the Limón Church Conclusion 8. The ESJ23 Padre Solano and the Expansion of the ESJ23 The ESJ23 and Catholic Social Teaching Another Side to the School's Success Conclusion 9. The Official Church in Limón The Limón Church under Monseñor Coto The 1989 Carta Pastoral A New Bishop in a New Diocese The Limón Church and Catholic Social Teaching Conclusion 10. Liberationist and Conservative Catholicisms in Costa Rica and Beyond The Conservative-Liberationist Struggle within the Costa Rican Church Final Reflections Notes Bibliography Index

Reviews

This is a very well researched book and is especially successful in explaining the apparently contradictory actions by different organizations and leaders within the Catholic Church in Costa Rica....A fascinating portrait of the inner workings of the Church and its broader impact....The strength of the book, and the reason scholars of Church-state relations, industrial relations, and Latin Americanists in general, need to read it, is its strength in using archival resources and interviews with leading actors. The author does an excellent job of illustrating and explaining the complexities of internal Church actions and their impact on the political process.''--Bruce M. Wilson Journal of Latin American Studies, Number 38, 2005

Author Information

Dana Sawchuk is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario.

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