…The Milton Friedman Choir: Via the Brussels Journal ...

A contingent from Austria that attended last year’s Acton University produced a video on their experiences: Want to learn more? Register for next month’s Acton University 2007 (June 12-15, 2007) today. Applications are also open next month for the Toward a Free and Virtuous Society conference to be held in Sonntagberg, Austria, Sept. 20-23, 2007. Applications will be accepted June 1-July 1, 2007. ...

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another humbly in love” (Galatians 5:13 TNIV). I’ve been working on a paper on vocation the last few days, and ran across that verse. One of plaints against the theological grounding of vocation has been the claim that there is no biblical justification for speaking about calling as referring to anything but our call to conversion....

Jennifer Roback Morse takes a look at The War Between the State and the Family, a book that examines some of the family unfriendly social policies of the United Kingdom. The state, she finds, is in the process of atomizing the family into a loose association of persons with easily separated relationships. posing society into nothing but a collection of unattached individuals has been destructive of individuals and society alike,” Morse writes. Read the mentary here. ...

The John Ryan Institute at the University of St. Thomas announces its 2008 symposium in the series Catholic Social Thought and Management, to be on the topic of “Business Education at Catholic Universities.” These biennial conferences are large affairs passing a refreshingly diverse array of viewpoints. The conferences page is here, though the link to the 2008 event seems not to be operational yet. ...

There are two new items that should be noted in the Acton Bookshoppe. The first is The Call of the Entrepreneur DVD which is now available for pre-order. The DVD is not expected to ship until the fall but you can start lining up for one of the first copies right now. The second item is The Call of the Entrepreneur Study Guide by Rev. Robert Sirico. The study guide touches on many of the same themes as the DVD,...

New postal rates went into effect yesterday, but the biggest impact of the new rates and policies hasn’t yet been felt. A new set of policies governing the delivery of magazines through the mail has been postponed until July. That’s a bit of needed good news for small magazines that will face rather hefty price increases. The increases have even got The Nation’s Katrina vanden plaining that “the Postal Service is a monopoly.” Maybe it’s time for magazines that can’t...

There are details about how you can sponsor a child to receive an education at the new Christian Primary School in Kabala, Sierra Leone at the project’s blog. The school is an effort pursued by Fraser Valley Christian High School in Surrey, British Columbia, in conjunction with Christian Extension Services in Sierra Leone. I have mentioned the new school in a previous Acton Commentary. The cost of sponsoring a child is $200. Some more details about the education offered by...

Commentators call it “The Religion Test.” What does it mean when the Constitution says there should be no religious test for holding office in the United States? Historically it has plainly meant that no candidate, be they a Quaker, a Baptist, a Pentecostal or a Mormon can be barred from office because of their religion. The question is once again on the table with the serious candidacy of Mitt Romney for the presidency. And many who are concerned about Romney’s...

Both of our major political parties have missed what seems so obvious. One says that we need more tax cuts to strengthen the economy. This is correct. The problem is that they are not willing to also make serious budget cuts. That party has spent more than any previous administration. The other political party wants to expand federal government by spending more of our money by raising taxes. The first plan helps the economy in the short run but not...