Civic Engagement

March 20, 2020

€153M in coronavirus philanthropy helps plug Italy’s drained public coffers

Clearly, we are facing a disheartening situation here in Italy, where I study at one of Rome’s pontifical universities. It seems that every day brings more bad news, more regulations, and more uncertainty. Continue Reading...

January 28, 2020

Churches, tax exemption, and the common good

Are churches tax exempt as a matter of privilege or right? What does tax exception cost communities and churches? Christianity Today has been hosting an interesting debate on these issues. Paul Matzko, Assistant Editor for Tech and Innovation at the CATO Institute, argued in the cover story of this month’s issue that tax exemption comes at a high a cost to the communities in which they are located: This feeling that churches don’t contribute to the common good is not uncommon in America. Continue Reading...

January 21, 2020

Bernie Sanders tweets a recipe for exacerbating the housing crisis

Note: An expanded version of this post was released as this week’s Acton Commentary. This week, Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Bernie Sanders, I-VT, tweeted the following reaction to a story from The Economist describing rising American rent payments: This is a crisis. Continue Reading...

December 11, 2019

Wilhelm Röpke on liberalism and Catholic social teaching

This week’s Acton Commentary, adapted from my preface to the newest Acton Institute publication The Humane Economist: A Wilhelm Röpke Reader, illustrates what makes Röpke such an interesting and vital economist: Röpke saw his project in holistic terms involving intersecting and interdependent spheres or orden that to be fully appreciated and understood scientifically must be examined in their economic, social, and moral dimensions. Continue Reading...

December 04, 2019

Catholic social teaching is for all of life

Senator Marco Rubio’s interest in Catholic social teaching is exciting even if confused in its economic analysis and public policy recommendations. On the Acton Line Podcast released today I discuss with Fr. Continue Reading...

November 27, 2019

Marco Rubio’s ‘Common-Good Capitalism’ lacks sound economics

In this week’s Acton Commentary I examine Sen. Marco Rubio’s case for “Common-Good Capitalism”: Americans are searching for answers for the disintegration of the family, falling participation in religious and civic institutions, drug dependency, suicide, and economic dislocation. Continue Reading...

November 25, 2019

Stephanie Slade on markets, planning, and Catholic social teaching

Stephanie Slade writes in next month’s edition of Reason Magazine about, ‘Regulation and ‘the Right Ordering of Economic Life” according to Catholic social teaching: The Church’s surprising lesson for partisans of big government is that the best tools for correctly ordering economic life are found in the choices of individual market actors. Continue Reading...

November 20, 2019

The beatification of Venerable Fulton J. Sheen

This week, the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, announced that the Venerable Fulton J. Sheen will be beatified on December 21st in that city’s Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception. Continue Reading...

November 19, 2019

Guarding our hearts in an age of mass and social media

I try to guard my attention closely for, as King Solomon admonishes, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Proverbs 4:23). I don’t always succeed, but on my best days I focus on things I truly wish to understand through diligent study and things which I am able to do something about. Continue Reading...

November 13, 2019

The human person, economy, and state

In this week’s Acton Commentary I explore Presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris’s proposal to federalize day care to align school and work schedules as, “an economic growth and child development strategy”: Economists, politicians, and even everyday people often talk of “the economy” as if it were a separate and distinct thing from the values, choices, and actions of everyday people. Continue Reading...

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