Courtney McGrailOne of the great benefits of modern printing technology is that it allows ordinary citizens to put out their own books in a way that was not really possible before. They may even manage to get some readers.
Author Dermot Layden is ensuring this in his own case by sending a copy to everyone in Irish public life as an earnest gesture of his seriousness. This is a brief book which focuses basically on the essential texts of the social teachings of the Catholic Church. These are not Dermot Layden's ideas, but as he readily admits, those of other far more influential people.
He outlines first the nature of the human person and human society, then the activities of social life, and thirdly the eternal need to ensure social justice. He is only too right that these aspects of Catholic doctrine often get overlooked in the hectic conflicts of economic and political life. In his book he provides an aid to reversing this. But his real wish is to send people back to the original church documents. That being the case we can only wish his project well.