Brains and brawn: Does manual labor belong in the modern economy?

As economic prosperity continues to spread, and as the American economy completes its transition into the age of information, manual labor is increasingly cast down in the popular imagination. When our youth navigate and graduate from high school, they receive a range of pressures to attend four-year colleges and pursue various “white-collar” careers, whether in finance or law or tech or the academy. Continue Reading...

New teaching program aims to revive Catholic education

For the past decade, Catholic education has been on the decline. Data from the 2016-2017 National Catholic Education Association Report shows that since 2006, the number of Catholic schools has decreased by 14 percent and the number of students attending Catholic school has decreased by 17.6 percent. Continue Reading...

Arvo Pärt on the economy of wonder

Our society has grown increasingly transactional in its ways of thinking, whether about family, business, education, or politics. Everything we spend, steward, or invest — our money, time, and relationships — must somehow secure an immediate personal return or reward, lest it be cast aside as “wasteful.” Continue Reading...

Exulting in the monotony of fatherhood

Fatherhood is a wild ride, yet in my own personal reflections on and around Father’s Day, I’m routinely reminded that amid and alongside all the adventure, the challenges of fatherhood mostly play out in the small and intimate moments of daily life. Continue Reading...