When I lived in Rome I taught a religious education class for a year, preparing kids for their first Communion. When they found out I was American, some of them were confused as to why I e all the way across the Atlantic to study in Italy. In response I tried to point out that while they were used to the beauty of Rome, the closeness of the Pope, and all the rest, for those of us who didn’t grow...

Alejandro Chafuen, Acton’s Managing Director, International, writes today in Forbes of the growing trade war between the United States and China. Chinese president Xi Jinping recently characterized the road ahead as a “new Long March,” in a reference to Mao Zedong’s legendary strategic retreat from Chiang Kai-Shek’s nationalist forces in 1934. Chafuen offers his take on the two sides in this “war,” as well as on possible es and effects. Xi Jinping has proclaimed to the Chinese that they should...

At Respect Life Radio, University of St. Thomas professor of Catholic Studies David Deavel invokes Lord Acton’s famous dictum in a two-part conversation on the differences between the trendy, popular socialism in our politics today and many actual socialist states, both historically and in the present. Says Deavel, Lord Acton’s famous line that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely is … true in every system, but it is particularly true in a system where you start from a premise...

After surviving a no confidence vote last December, and suffering two of the largest legislative defeats in modern parliamentary history, UK Prime Minister Theresa May announced this morning that she will step down as prime minister. Barely suppressing tears, “the second female prime minister but certainly not the last” said she was leaving office “with enormous and enduring gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve the country I love.” Here are the facts you need to know: 1. Theresa...

Millennials recently surpassed Baby Boomers and Generation Xers to e the largest generation in the American workforce—a development that has likely led many to recall mon stereotypes about millennials as dreamy-eyed idealists or lazy, plainers. But if we look past our various cultural prejudices, what does the evidence actually indicate? If the attitudes and priorities of Generation Y are, in fact, so strikingly distinct from their counterparts, what might it tell us about the future shape of economic order? In...

I am working on a project now that has to do with the various attempts to reform, redeem, redirect, or otherwise update capitalism. And in so doing, I’m reminded of one of the most incisive, insightful, and relevant passages in all of Catholic Social Teaching. I’m of course referring to section 42 of John Paul II’sCentesimus Annus, in which he distinguishes between two definitions of capitalism. This distinction is outlined in response to the following questions: “can it perhaps be...

A Gallup poll released Monday made headlines: “Four in 10 Americans Embrace Some Form of Socialism.” However, the headline could have read, “Seven in 10 Americans reject the central premise of socialism.” When Gallup asked if “some form of socialism” would be “a good thing or a bad thing,” 41 percent said it would and 52 percent said it would not. However, the public’s response to an ill-defined “socialism” reveals less than a more detailed question buried deeper in the...

Photo Credit: Michael Matheson Miller Here is a podcast interview I did recently with my friend Matt Leonard, host of The Art of Catholic and Next Level Catholic Academy. Matt and I talked about some of the foundational ideas of Christian thinking in contrast with the dominant secular way of seeing the world. As you can see from the title of Matt’s show, The Art of Catholic, this podcast is directed to a Catholic audience, but many of the ideas...

Robbing Peter to pay Paul. This is an idiomatic expression about bad – or at least disappointing – economics. Curiously, it was born within the context of the Church’s supposedly poor financial administration of its properties. While there are many sources to the origin of the idiom, there is a famous story from 17th C. England when a bishop was said to have ordered funds transferred from one old church (St. Peter’s Abbey) to another in disrepair (St. Paul’s Cathedral)....

While it could be argued that youth is wasted on the young, it is indisputable mencement addresses are wasted on young graduates. Sitting in a stuffy auditorium waiting to receive a parchment that marks the beginning of one’s student loan repayments is not the most conducive atmosphere for soaking up wisdom. Insight, which can otherwise seep through the thickest of skulls, cannot pierce mortarboard. Most colleges and universities recognize this fact and schedule the graduation speeches accordingly. Schools regularly choose...