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Father Thomas Massaro is a professor of Moral Theology. He currently teaches at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

Biography
Thomas Massaro is a Jesuit Priest who taught at Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, MA from 1997 until 2008. He now teaches at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry, where he currently teaches courses on Ethics, Economics and Liberation, Religion and American Public Life, Catholic Social Ethics, Work, Family, and Ecology. Throughout his courses and research he focuses on how a consensus on public policies can be drawn from Catholic Social Teaching. Outside the classroom, Father Massaro has helped to found the steering committee of Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice and served a term on the Peace Commission of the City of Cambridge. . He is also a frequent columnist for America Magazine where he discusses topics such as welfare reform, globalization, peacemaking, environmental concern and the ethics of voting and patriotism.

Education
Father Massaro graduated from Regis High School in Manhattan, New York and went on to receive a bachelor’s degree from Amherst College. He then entered the Society of Jesus in Boston in 1983. Over the years he has done philosophy studies at Fordham University, regency at Bishop Connolly High School, and theology studies at Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge. He has masters degrees in philosophy and theology and a doctorate in Christian social ethics from Emory University, which he received in 1997.

Recent Publications

 * Living Justice: Catholic Social Teaching in Action: Classroom Edition (Rowman and Littlefield, 2008).
 * U.S. Welfare Policy: A Catholic Response (Georgetown University Press, 2007)
 * Catholic Perspectives on Peace and War (Rowman and Littlefield, 2003)
 * American Catholic Social Teaching (The Liturgical Press, 2002)

Controversial Views
Fr. Massaro signed a letter for the nomination of Governor Kathleen Sebelius for the position of Secretary of Health and Human Services. He was one of 26 scholars and theologians to sign the letter, which states pro-abortion views that are directly controversial with the beliefs of the Catholic Church.

Father Massaro is also opposed to the war in Iraq. He was quoted saying: "We're putting soldiers in combat positions where they're afraid for their lives on a minute-to-minute basis. They're suspicious of every Iraqi they see because they could be suicide bombers...These young soldiers begin to see human life as cheap...Young people come home from the war not respecting the dignity of human life and this is a great concern for theologians and ethicists."

The Catholic Church’s stance obviously is for the absolute non-use of nuclear weapons against innocent civilians. The threat on civilians of these weapons runs counter to the views of the central morals of the Christian teaching on war. Even the use of these weapons to threaten other countries is considered unacceptable. Father Massaro writes in his book, Catholic Perspectives on War and Peace, urging those who have nuclear stockpiles, including the United States, to refrain from using nuclear weapons for deterrence. If this is accomplished, and countries with nuclear weapons cease to use them for deterrence purposes, then he believes that nuclear weapons would not need too, and should not, exist at all.