Unshackling the Coffee Supply Chain: An “Ethics Project” for Catholic Colleges and Universities

Against the background of a growing and increasingly sophisticated body of theological literature on economic ethics, this article proposes a project to change for the better, morally, how coffee is supplied on the campuses of Catholic colleges and universities. We argue that this project is squarely in service of a Catholic college or university’s core educational goal of humane development of its students. The article then proceeds in three steps. First, we explain how the coffee supply chain works and how it is entangled in what Pope Francis called “the economy that kills.” Second, we discuss obstacles to our proposed project and a number of strategies for overcoming them. Third and finally, we reflect further on why our project is worth undertaking. Its impetus is resistance to the exploitation of the vulnerable and affirmation of the basic human dignity of the poor. It thereby presents an opportunity to show students Catholic social thought in practice.