Abstract
Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum Novarum is considered one of the first major works to introduce Catholic social thought on a global level. A key message undergirding Rerum is the concept of supporting the needs of others, leading to empowerment and self-sufficiency. The purpose of this study was to create a list of reflection prompts informed by Rerum for post-secondary students to consider and apply towards their academic service-learning experiences. Through qualitative analysis, three main themes related to Rerum’s key message were identified: (a) opportunity to obtain resources; (b) intrinsic right to continual resources; and, (c) communal support of families and dependents. These themes were then used to develop eight distinct reflection prompts for each stage of the service-learning experience; here, the goal is to provide post-secondary students with a foundation for processing their thoughts and developing their leadership styles in an ethically-informed manner, grounded in Catholic social thought.
DOI
10.15365/joce.2402082021
First Page
143
Last Page
158
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Davis, H. J. (2021). Applying Rerum Novarum towards the Academic Service-Learning (ASL) Reflection Process for Promoting Ethical Leadership in Post-Secondary Students. Journal of Catholic Education. https://doi.org/10.15365/joce.2402082021
Included in
Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons, Higher Education and Teaching Commons, Other Education Commons, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Commons
CatholicEdJrnl