Got Religion? Bringing Back The Youth

I met Naomi Schaefer, not yet Riley, while she was editor of “In Character” and just about to have her first book “God on the Quad” published. I invited her to be a speaker at a Catholic business conference that I was involved with in southern California. Continue Reading...

Cardinal Dolan: The Pope And Economic Prosperity

Much has been said about Pope Francis’ views on economics (in fact, you can read Acton’s Special Feature on this here.) In The Wall Street Journal, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, discusses how the media has skewed Francis’ remarks as endorsing redistribution and denouncing capitalism. Continue Reading...

‘Brave New Welfare State:’ 50 Years Of The War On Poverty

As noted here on the Acton PowerBlog earlier this week, 2014 marks the 50th anniversary of Lyndon B. Johnson’s declaration of war on poverty. Economist Nicholas Eberstadt, in an interview with the American Enterprise Institute, discusses what he calls the “brave new welfare state” we now have due to over-grown public assistance and unintended consequences of government programs. Continue Reading...

Audio: Sirico on The Pope and Economics; Gregg on Minimum Wage

A couple of interviews to bring you up to speed on from that last couple of days: First of all, here’s Acton Director of Research Samuel Gregg on the GRN Alive morning show on the Guadalupe Radio Network this morning to discuss current efforts to raise the federal minimum wage, giving his analysis on the likely impact of such a move on the economy and the job market. Continue Reading...

Video: ‘Fighting Poverty: We’ve Been Doing it All Wrong’

Yahoo! Finance’s Stock Analyst, Kevin Chupka, recently interviewed Rev. Robert Sirico about the “Cure for Income Inequality” and the work of PovertyCure. Chupka begins by stating that “close to half the planet lives on less than $2 dollars a day” and that an alarming number of Americans are living below the poverty line. Continue Reading...

Samuel Gregg on Religious and Economic Liberty

As we approach our upcoming April 29th Conference in Rome “Faith, State, and the Economy: Perspectives from East and West“, Acton’s Research Director, Samuel Gregg shares his insights on the relationship between religious and economic liberty and the threats society now faces. Continue Reading...

Audio: Sirico on Gnosticism, Poverty and Secularism with Larry Kudlow

On Saturday morning, Acton Institute President Rev. Robert A. Sirico joined host Larry Kudlow on the nationally syndicated Larry Kudlow Show for a wide-ranging Easter weekend discussion. Sirico and Kudlow talked about everything from the so-called “Gospel of Jesus’ Wife” to the collapse of poverty rates worldwide over the past few decades, and ended with a conversation about the upcoming canonizations of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II, and a reflection on whether the march of secularism can be turned back in western society. Continue Reading...

Audio: Kishore Jayabalan on Pope Francis and Poverty

Kishore Jayablan, director of Istituto Acton in Rome, joined host Monsignor Kieran Harrington on WOR Radio in New York on Sunday morning to discuss his personal history with Pope John Paul II and to give his thoughts on Pope Francis, with particular focus on Francis’ desire to see the Catholic Church become more directly focused on the needs of the poor. Continue Reading...