Piderit, John J. 1944-

PERSONAL:

Born February 26, 1944, in New York, NY. Education: Fordham University, B.A., 1967; Hochschule Sankt Georgen, Frankfurt, West Germany, license in philosophy and theology, 1971; University of Oxford, M.Phil., 1974; Princeton University, M.A., Ph.D., 1979. Religion: Roman Catholic.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Loyola University of Chicago, 820 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL, 60611-2147.

CAREER:

Ordained Jesuit priest, Roman Catholic Church, 1971. Regis High School, New York, NY, mathematics teacher, 1967-68; Fordham University, New York, NY, assistant campus minister, 1971-72, assistant professor, 1978-1989, associate professor of economics, 1989-1990, assistant chairperson department of economics, 1979-1982, 1988-89, director of program for international political economics and development, 1981-83, 1987-88, assistant chairperson graduate studies, 1984-88; Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, assistant campus minister, 1975-78, preceptor, 1976-77; Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, corporate vice president, 1990-93; Loyola University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, president, 1993-2001; Catholic Education Institute, president.

WRITINGS:

The Ethical Foundations of Economics, Georgetown University Press (Washington, DC), 1993.

(With Melanie M. Morey) Catholic Higher Education: A Culture in Crisis, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2006.

(With Melanie M. Morey) Renewing Parish Culture: Building for a Catholic Future, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (Lanham, MD), 2008.

SIDELIGHTS:

John J. Piderit was born February 26, 1944, in New York City. He studied at Fordham University, earning his undergraduate degree in 1967, then traveled to Germany where he attended theological school at Hochschule Sankt Georgen in Frankfurt and was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1971. Piderit has spent many years working in education within the parameters of the Roman Catholic Church, attempting not only to educate his students but to improve the methods of educating them as well. He has served as campus minister for several institutions of higher learning, as well as teaching economics at Fordham University, and eventually going on to serve as an administrator at several universities, including Marquette University, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he was corporate vice president from 1990 to 1993, and Loyola University of Chicago, where he was president. Piderit is the President of Catholic Education Institute, through which organization he works to help improve the quality and standards of the Catholic educational system, and has participated in the creation of a new after-school program for elementary school children in New York. He is also the cofounder, with Melanie Morey, of the Institute's research and consulting branch, which is known as NarrowGate.

Piderit has written a number of books, including The Ethical Foundations of Economics, Catholic Higher Education: A Culture in Crisis, and Renewing Parish Culture: Building for a Catholic Future, the last two of which he wrote with Melanie M. Morey. The Ethical Foundations of Economics addresses economic theory in regards to the natural law of ethics, and attempts to determine how the latter would affect the state of our current capitalist economic model. He summarizes the different components of what is considered the natural law of ethics, using everyday examples as illustrations of the concepts. As the economy stands, it is designed to enable people to pursue the different components that they require to make up their lives. He then shows in what ways neoclassic economic theory agrees with this status quo, and where it would clash. Charles K. Wilber, reviewing the book for America, remarked that "Piderit's book will be of great interest to both economists and ethicians. The general reader will find it tough going both because of the specialized language of the two disciplines and because it is so densely written."

In Catholic Higher Education, Piderit and Morey address what they perceive to be the changes in the Catholic system of higher education, and how they are dictated by more global changes in the religion, such as the training of religious leaders who go on to teach at Catholic institutions of learning, and the choice of lay staff who are hired on to contribute to the overall package of a Catholic education at the university level. The authors argue that for a Catholic education to remain a viable option for students, it must essentially be a brand that is readily identifiable with a consistency that draws students and faculty alike. However, the alterations in the Catholic religion and tenets overall have trickled down to the educational system, and they perceive the result to be a crisis in the way Catholic colleges and universities address the purpose of providing an education. Leslie Woodcock Tentler, reviewing for Commonweal, noted: "On this point Morey and Piderit are absolutely right. Catholic college presidents can't save their institutions alone. They need support from both faculty and students; in many cases, they—like the rest of us—need to learn more about the Catholic intellectual tradition their colleges ostensibly serve."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

America, February 5, 1994, Charles K. Wilber, review of The Ethical Foundations of Economics.

Business Ethics Quarterly, July, 1996, Gerald F. Cavanagh, review of The Ethical Foundations of Economics, p. 391.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, March, 1994, B.W. Bateman, review of The Ethical Foundations of Economics, p. 1182.

Commonweal, September 22, 2006, Leslie Woodcock Tentler, "Identity Crisis," p. 29.

Economic Journal, November, 1995, review of The Ethical Foundations of Economics, p. 1697.

First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life, November, 2007, John McDermott, review of Catholic Higher Education: A Culture in Crisis, p. 62.

Journal of Economic Literature, March, 1994, review of The Ethical Foundations of Economics, p. 186; March, 1995, Stephen T. Worland, review of The Ethical Foundations of Economics, p. 193.

Review of Politics, spring, 1996, Stephen T. Worland, review of The Ethical Foundations of Economics.

Review of Social Economy, summer, 1995, Peter L. Danner, review of The Ethical Foundations of Economics.

Southern Economic Journal, July, 1995, Terrel Gallaway, review of The Ethical Foundations of Economics, p. 278.

Theological Studies, March, 1994, Richard C. Bayer, review of The Ethical Foundations of Economics, p. 185.

ONLINE

Marist College Web site,http://www.marist.edu/ (February 18, 2008), author profile.

Oxford University Press Web site,http://www.oup.com/ (February 18, 2008), author profile.