Sociology and Catholic Social Teaching Contemporary Theory and Research contains essays by key scholars in the territory where Catholic social thought and secular sociology meet and offers a much needed alternative to the relativism and individualism that so often characterize social scientific analysis today. Contributors to this volume argue that Catholic social teaching as articulated so powerfully today in recent papal encyclicals and major summations such as the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church offers a powerful moral framework for addressing todayampamprsquos pressing social problems. This is especially true since many of its tenets find solid support in social scientific research on the nature of the person and the workings of culture and social institutions.