The Church, Its Social Tradition and the Catholic Health Ministry as a Just Workplace is a theological analysis of how an understanding of the nature of the Church is foundational for the understanding of Catholic social teaching.  It uses this analysis to explore the implications of the link between ecclesiology and social teaching to understand the Catholic health ministry as a just workplace and the relationship between employees and management within Catholic health care, including the issue of unionization.  The essay is the outgrowth of the work of a task force comprised of ethicists, theologians and leaders in the Catholc health ministry and also appeared in the January/February 2012 issue of Health Progess, the journal of the Catholic Health Association.  The publication also contains a condensed version of the full essay by Karen Sue Smith entitled Catholic Health Care: A Just Workplace that was developed for senior executives and leadership teams in the ministry.