Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life

Nicholas Hayes-Mota is a social ethicist and public theologian, and an assistant professor of religious studies at Santa Clara University and a spring 2026 fellow with the Georgetown University Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life. Working within the Catholic tradition, his primary research explores the role of religion in democratic public life, the ethics of democratic citizenship, and the possibility of a “politics of the common good” in today’s highly pluralistic and often contentious societies. This last topic is the subject of Hayes-Mota’s doctoral dissertation and first book (now in preparation), which synthesizes insights from Catholic social thought and the community organizing tradition of Saul Alinsky to advance a new account of common good politics, one that takes the role of power, conflict, and self-interest seriously. Additional research interests include the theology and history of community organizing, Catholic social thought and practice, Latin American and U.S. Hispanic-Latine theology, contemporary virtue ethics (in particular, the virtue of prudence), democratic theory, and, most recently, AI ethics.

His scholarship and teaching is also informed by his 15 years of experience as a practitioner and teacher of community organizing; he has remained an active organizing trainer and leadership coach with the global Leading Change Network (LCN). From the organizing tradition and the Catholic social tradition, Hayes-Mota draws a deep commitment to cultivating the moral and political agency of others, and fostering a healthier civic life within the U.S. and beyond it.