Structures of Grace: Catholic Organizations Serving the Global Common Good by Kevin Ahern (review)

Kevin Ahern’s book is, at heart, a testament to the power of Christian social organizations to bring about social transformation. In a time when leaders of Christian organizations are struggling to retain mission, Ahern’s description of “structural grace” seeks to strengthen our theological understanding of collective social action. His book also affirms the importance of having well-trained scholars of religion at the table with senior leadership in Christian social organizations – what a colleague at Catholic Relief Services refers to as the need for “in-house theologians.”

This book has three parts. In Part I, Ahern presents three cases – Jesuit Refugee Services, Young Christian Workers, and Ploughshares – selected for their contrasting features, such as leadership structures and modes of church affiliation. He describes the founding, development, and accomplishments of each organization over time, giving particular attention to each organization’s theological roots.

In Part II, Ahern lays out the modern history of the social mission of the church, focusing on the intersections of Catholic Social Teaching and areas such as liberation theology. After Vatican II, there developed less individualistic ways to understand sin in moral theology: so-called structural sin. In brief, Ahern wants the post-Vatican II generation of theologians to develop a conception of “structural grace,” which is to say an account of how God’s love heals and transforms via social collectives. Interestingly, this trend toward not letting institutions off the hook is mirrored in the wider secular world of international NGOs – by movements for transnational advocacy, community-driven programming, and sustainability.

Part III of the book turns to how an organization can discern its mission and identity today in light of its history and current standing. This part of the book reads like theologically-informed organizational strategy. The upshot of Ahern’s analysis seems to be that, in order to locate grace, one needs to engage in mission-informed discernment. Ahern’s book, especially chapter 7, would be an enlightening read for leaders developing institutional mission.

It takes Ahern until well into the conclusion to give examples of some of the more controversial challenges associated with retaining mission today. Christian organizations need, for example, to employ non-mission sensitive experts, to hire people without preference for creed or sexual orientation, and to work in partnership with entities that do not share or fully adhere to the social positions of the Church. It would be most interesting for Ahern to write a book describing these challenges in more detail. Also, it might be illuminating to incorporate more voices representing women, environmental concerns, and other under-represented perspectives in theology today – voices that Ahern and many of his readers care deeply about.