The Society of Catholic Social Scientists (SCSS) is a scholarly and professional organization, faithful to Magisterial teaching, which is dedicated to promoting scholarly efforts and approaches in applied fields that aim to get the Catholic Churchs social teaching better known and to reflect on how it can address the challenges and problems of modern culture. It entered into a P.R.I.M.E. relationship with the Foundation in 2007 to offer a Master of Theology (M.Th.) degree in Catholic Social Thought, as well as to enable interested students to gain graduate credit for its periodic Catholic Social Thought Short Courses.

 

The SCSSs Master of Theology program in Catholic Social Thought is offered exclusively through either in-person tutorial studies or online, with the choice being left up to the student. Thus, students can study for the degree from anywhere in the world. If the student chooses the tutorial mode, he or she would have to relocate to the geographical area of the scholar-tutor for the weekly meetings. A student studies under one or two scholar-tutors from the SCSS membership, usually in a particular social science or related discipline, who direct from one to four students at a time. All scholar-tutors hold doctorates, or the equivalent, in the discipline in which they teach. The program seeks to provide students with a general background in Catholic social teaching/thought and the opportunity to study in a particular discipline within a Catholic framework as shaped by the tradition of that teaching/thought. Scholar-tutors currently can direct students in the following areas: Economics, Ethics/Social Philosophy, History, Jurisprudence, Moral Theology/Catholic Social Ethics, Political Science, Psychology and Sociology.

 

The program requires 3 trimesters of full-time study. The first trimester focuses on the social encyclicals and other major social documents of the Church and major Catholic social thinkers. The second trimester focuses on Catholic approaches to the discipline chosen by the student. Each of the first two trimesters is divided into thirds, with each third stressing a particular topic/theme and functioning as the equivalent of a course. The final trimester focuses on the writing of a thesis of at least 75 pages. Thus, a student can finish the M.Th. in Catholic Social Thought in one calendar year. Part-time enrollment is also possible.

 

Admission into the SCSSs Master of Theology in Catholic Social Thought requires a bachelors degree in any discipline, at least 6 undergraduate credits in philosophy (if a student does not have this, he or she can take the prerequisite philosophy courses through the Foundation), and evidence that the student is knowledgeable about the basic faith and moral teachings of the Catholic Church. Up to 6 credits from previous graduate study can be applied toward the degree if the SCSS Master of Theology Program Director determines that they are comparable to any parts of the program.