Charity

October 28, 2019

Festal economics: How the market empowers celebration

With the end-of-the-year string of holidays fast approaching, we already see decorations and supplies showing up in stores, whether for Halloween, Thanksgiving, or even Christmas. Most people would likely peg me for a bit of a holiday Scrooge. Continue Reading...

August 26, 2019

Missionary malpractice in Uganda? A reflection on ‘good intentions’

In the routine stories of humanitarian activism gone wrong, we find ready reminders of the limits of good intentions. In each case—whether among governments or non-profits and religious institutions—we see how a heartfelt motivation to “do good” can easily serve as a blind spot on hearts and minds. Continue Reading...

March 21, 2019

Tenderness: a spiritual ‘currency’?

On March 18, in a meeting with representatives from the Camillan Charismatic Family of healthcare operators, Pope Francis said that Christianity simply “does not work” without practicing tenderness. He said tenderness is a virtue so little exercised in our charitable “encounters” with the sick, poor and suffering that it “risks being dropped from the dictionary” of our everyday language. Continue Reading...

March 08, 2019

Charity – the anomaly of giving

This week’s Ash Wednesday marked the first day of Lent – a period of intensive spiritual renewal in many Christian liturgical calendars. Lent is a season lasting exactly 40 days, as we imitate the time Jesus spent on retreat in the desert in preparation for the giving of his life to us on the cross, the ultimate act of love or caritas for all humanity. Continue Reading...

March 04, 2019

How to talk and listen towards a free and virtuous society

Reading Dylan Pahman’s recent piece, Don’t write off young ‘socialists’, got me thinking about talking and listening. We all talk and listen, with varying degrees of success, every day. Most of the time I do each well enough to muddle through learning something from others while imparting some sliver of wisdom in between boisterous declarations of my opinions and preferences. Continue Reading...

March 01, 2019

Pope Francis: Pray before giving

In a private audience Francis had yesterday with St. Peter’s Circle, a social action group serving Rome’s poor since 1869, the pope gave some excellent advice. He said that it is best for them to pray hard prior to administering charity to those in need. Continue Reading...

February 28, 2019

Why doesn’t Bill Gates (and the rest of us) donate money to the government?

When asked in a Reddit forum how much he should personally pay in taxes, Microsoft founder Bill Gates said he’s paid about $10 billion in taxes but that he should have paid more on his capital gains. Continue Reading...

February 14, 2019

Religion drives charitable giving in America

“In study after study,” says Karl Zinsmeister, “religious practice is the behavioral variable with the strongest and most consistent association with generous giving.” In his article for Philanthropy, Zinsmeister examines a range of data to show how America’s religiosity is connected to our charitable giving. Continue Reading...

February 12, 2019

‘Pay what you can afford’ runs Panera out of bread

Panera has announced that it will close the last of its charitable stores, which allowed people to pay whatever they wished for a meal, because it was costing too much dough. Continue Reading...

February 12, 2019

Crushing the poor: agricultural tariffs and subsidies

There are a lot of campaigns and organizations dedicated to alleviating extreme poverty found in the developing world. These same groups advocate for the provision of what the material poor often lack: clean water, decent housing, financial capital, nutrition, etc. Continue Reading...

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