The Roman Catholic Bishops of the Caribbean, the Antilles Episcopal Conference (AEC), have over the past forty years written statements addressed to their faithful and people in the wider Caribbean. The statements covered a wide range of issues impinging on the life and faith of Caribbean people, including political engagement, crime and violence, homosexuality, HIV-AIDS, sexuality, the environment. A key theme running through the statements is the concern with justice. This collection of critical essays and personal reflections explores the insights provided by these statements. In so doing, it presents a critical reading of the corpus with a view to presenting its relevance to the regional and global conversation on matters of human flourishing. The authors of the volume represent the diverse voices from within the Catholic Caribbean, particularly some fresh new voices. This collection brings together the voices of men and women--pastors, laity, theologians, political leaders, educators; each essayist considers a specific statement and provides a commentary and interpretation of its contents as well as a considered assessment of its impact on the life of the faithful. Academics, lay persons, pastors, policy makers and politicians will find this a useful collection.

Explores the basics of social policy and program analysis, such as designing new programs or evaluating and improving existing ones. Social Policy and Social Programs is distinctive in providing specific criteria for judging the effectiveness of social policies and programs. These criteria can be applied to the analysis of widely different social services such as counseling and therapeutic services, supportive assistance, and hard benefits like food stamps, cash, and housing vouchers. By focusing especially on social problems, policies, and programs in major practice areas like child welfare, health, poverty, and mental illness, the author provides students with the tools they need to understand and evaluate the programs in which they are doing their field placements. Upon completing this book readers will be able to: * Analyze the effectiveness of current social programs* Create new programs based on the criteria provided* Apply what they have learned to evaluate their field placement programs Note: MySearchLab does not come automatically packaged with this text. To purchase MySearchLab, please visit: www.mysearchlab.com or you can purchase a ValuePack of the text + MySearchLab (at no additional cost): ValuePack ISBN-10: 0205222943 / ValuePack ISBN-13: 9780205222940.