Marc Vander Maas

Posts by Marc Vander Maas

May 24, 2006

Acton Lecture Series: economic lessons from the parables

Earlier today, Rev. Robert A. Sirico delivered an address as a part of the 2006 Lord Acton Lecture Series entitled “The Eye of the Needle: Economic Lessons from the Parables.” For those who were unable to attend the lecture personally, we are pleased to be able to provide the audio of today’s event in downloadable form – just click here (10 mb mp3 file). Continue Reading...
May 19, 2006

Bono: give us a call

The Rock Star, sounding kind of Acton-ish: Bono acknowledges that four years ago when he toured Africa with then U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, bringing private sector with him would never have crossed his mind. Continue Reading...
May 17, 2006

Acton on the radio

Yesterday afternoon, Andrew Yuengert joined host Al Kresta on Kresta in the Afternoon on the Ave Maria Radio Network to discuss immigration reform and President Bush’s most recent proposal to secure the USA’s southern border. Continue Reading...
May 06, 2006

Global warming on Jupiter?

It appears so: Close inspections of Red Spot Jr., in Hubble images released today, reveal that similar to the Great Red Spot, the more recently developed storm rises above the top of the main cloud deck on Jupiter. Continue Reading...
April 21, 2006

The iron law of unintended consequences

A report from the road: I’m in Colorado Springs this week, and I noticed this note taped to the wall of the bathroom in my spartan lodgings at the local Ramada Inn: Due to restrictions made by the City of Colorado Springs, the toilets have reduced water pressure and may not flush as well as you are accustomed to. Continue Reading...
April 10, 2006

Connecting France with good economics

It seems that it may be possible. An interesting article from yesterday’s International Herald Tribune: Danielle Scache tries to avoid using the term “capitalism” in her economics class because it has negative connotations in France. Continue Reading...
March 17, 2006

Roots of compassion

As mentioned in an earlier post, Acton was in Washington D.C. last week to honor the 2005 Samaritan Award-winning programs. But we managed to do a lot more than hold a reception for our honorees – almost all of them also met with members of Congress to impress upon them the value and importance of private charities in their communities. Continue Reading...
March 15, 2006

Among the little giants of effective compassion

Last Wednesday, I was privileged to attend the Samaritan Awards Gala in Washington, D.C. I have to say up front that Acton’s Effective Compassion events are probably the most enjoyable for me to attend because invariably one comes into contact with a group of very special, very dedicated people who are completely devoted to what our society would term “lost causes,” and having great success. Continue Reading...
February 09, 2006

Religion and the EU

Kishore Jayalaban, Director of Acton’s Rome office, appeared on Kresta in the Afternoon yesterday to discuss a number of topics relating to religious freedom in the European Union, including abortion, homosexuality, “retrograde” Poland, and the troubles in Slovakia relating to the approval of a concordat with the Vatican. Continue Reading...
February 09, 2006

‘With God’s help, we can stop global warming’

A few others have addressed this issue in previous posts, but I wanted to jump in with my two cents. Yesterday’s New York Times notes that a group of evangelical leaders have entered the debate over climate change: Despite opposition from some of their colleagues, 86 evangelical Christian leaders have decided to back a major initiative to fight global warming, saying “millions of people could die in this century because of climate change, most of them our poorest global neighbors.” Continue Reading...