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A Catechism for Business
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
6:00 pm EDT - 7:00 pm EDT
Description
Join us for a lecture and reception celebrating the newly released work, A Catechism for Business. This book launch event will feature remarks by editors Andrew Abela and Joseph Capizzi. A Catechism for Business collects the Church’s teaching on a wide range of topics, including advertising, hiring and firing, investing, outsourcing, wages, working conditions, and unions.
About the Book
Business leaders face ethical dilemmas on a daily basis. Unfortunately, many in the business world are ill prepared to deal with the ethical dilemmas they inevitably face in business. 
The consequences are frequently reported in the news media, casting a negative light on all business.
Catholic business leaders in particular, operate in a world where they are constantly challenged to lead their associates while informing themselves on the rich social teachings of the Catholic Church. A Catechism for Business serves as a reference guide to those business leaders, providing them the sources of Catholic social teaching so they are better prepared to apply those principles in business and articulate them to colleagues.
Over the centuries, Catholic social doctrine has developed as the Church has responded to specific issues and questions. The result? A business leader must be familiar with a breadth of Church documents and teachings if he is to find the principles to guide him on a specific moral question. A Catechism for Business draws together the rich teachings of the Catholic Church as they relate to business, organized by topic and question.
- Is it morally acceptable to minimize taxes using legal tax loopholes?
- What is a just wage?
- What is a just price?
- Is it morally acceptable to pay bribes in cultures where they appear necessary to conduct business?
The business leader will not find the text to be an interpretation of Catholic social teaching on business. Rather, the catechism provides references to the relevant social teachings that address his specific question. It is up to him to prayerfully apply those principles to his specific situation.
This essential guide for any Catholic business leader was compiled and edited by Joseph E. Capizzi, Ph.D. and Andrew V. Abela, Ph.D. Dr. Capizzi is head of moral theology at CUA’s School of Theology and Religious Studies. Dr. Abela is dean of the new School of Business and Economics at The Catholic University of America, which is dedicated to infusing the Social Doctrine of the Church and the natural law into economic life.
Speakers
Andrew V. Abela, Ph.D.
Dr. Abela is the Dean of the School of Business & Economics and Associate Professor of Marketing at the Catholic University of America, in Washington, DC. His research on the integrity of the marketing process, including marketing ethics, Catholic Social Doctrine, and internal communication, has been published in several academic journals, including the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Business Ethics, and the Journal of Markets & Morality, and in two books. He is the co-editor of the Catechism for Business, forthcoming from Catholic University Press, and winner of the 2009 Novak Award, a $10,000 prize given by the Acton Institute for “significant contributions to the study of the relationship between religion and economic liberty.”
Dr. Abela also provides consulting and training in internal communications to several major corporations, including JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft Corporation, HJ Heinz, and the Executive Office of the President of the United States. Prior to his academic career, he spent several years in industry as brand manager at Procter & Gamble, management consultant with McKinsey & Company, and Managing Director of the Marketing Leadership Council of the Corporate Executive Board. He holds a B.Sc. from the University of Toronto, an MBA from the Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Switzerland, and a Ph.D. in Marketing and Ethics from the Darden Business School at the University of Virginia. He and his wife, Kathleen, live in Great Falls, Virginia with their six children.
Joseph E. Capizzi, Ph.D.
Joseph E. Capizzi is Associate Professor of Moral Theology at the Catholic University of America. He teaches in the areas of social and political theology, with special interests in issues in peace and war, citizenship, political authority, and Augustinian theology. He has written, lectured, and published widely on just war theory, bioethics, the history of moral theology, and political liberalism.
In 2002, he was appointed to The Cardinal’s Chair at The Intercultural Forum for Studies in Faith and Reason, The John Paul II Cultural Center, in Washington, D.C He has been a Senior Fellow at the Culture of Life Foundation and is currently a bioethics advisor to the Maryland State Stem Cell Commission, on which he has served since his appointment by Governor Ehrlich in 2006. He received his B.A. from the University of Virginia, his Masters in Theological Studies from Emory University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Theology from the University of Notre Dame. He lives in Maryland with his wife and six children.
To learn more about the book, visit www.catechismforbusiness.com. For media inquiries, contact Beatriz at lopezbe@cua.edu
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