I got news of a new innovation challenge grant from our friend Andreas Widmer at the Seven Fund. Seven is partnering with the Fisherman Foundation and Hapinoy Stores to promote innovative ways to use enterprise as a solution to poverty. Hapinoy stores in the Philippines offer opportunities for women who are at home taking care of their families, to earn extra money by having a store in their house. The Innovation petition is looking for new ways for these micro...

My recent posts on politics and austerity and this week’s Acton Commentary refer to a principled basis for limited government. I speak of “the limits of government rooted in a rich and variegated civil society.” Here’s a good statement of that basis from Lord Acton: There are many things government can’t do – many good purposes it must renounce. It must leave them to the enterprise of others. It cannot feed the people. It cannot enrich the people. It cannot...

I’m currently in Lisbon ahead of Acton’s fourth conference in the seven-part series Poverty, Entrepreneurship, and Integral Development. Entitled “Catholic Social Teaching, Free Enterprise, and Poverty”, it will take place on Tuesday, November 9 at the Catholic University of Portugal. Click here for more information or if you happen to be in the Lisbon area and want to join us. Tuesday’s conference was designed to focus on the Portuguese-speaking world, primarily because of its inter-continental scope and close connection to...

On October 21st at Acton’s 20th Anniversary Dinner, Richard M. DeVos – Co-Founder of Amway Corporation with his friend Jay Van Andel – was presented with the 2010 Faith and Freedom Award. Rev. Robert A. Sirico, president and co-founder of the Acton Institute, cited DeVos for his “decades-long exemplary leadership in business, his dedication to the promotion of liberty, his courage in maintaining and defending the free and virtuous society, and his conviction that the roots of liberty and the...

Another election e and gone, and once again the balance of power has significantly shifted in Washington, D.C. and statehouses across America. Tuesday’s results are, I suppose, a win for fans of limited government, in that a Republican House of Representatives will make it more difficult for President Obama and his Democrat colleagues in the Congress to enact more of what has been a very statist agenda. But even with the prospect of divided government on the horizon, we who...

Stanley Carlson-Thies, president of the Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance, writes in the Nov. 4 IRFA Newsletter: The races haven’t all even been decided yet, and, given the big changes, it will take considerable time for new directions to be settled, so it is far too soon to try to guess how the November 2nd voting will affect national policy. Just a few quick thoughts: Two notable changes in Congress to the benefit of institutional religious freedom: Dan Coats, who served...

“Environmentalism, Marxism, Utopianism,” Part 2 of a recent Acton roundtable discussion, is now available. Michael Miller leads a discussion with Samuel Gregg, Jordan Ballor and Anielka Munkel about environmentalism, Marxism, liberation, theology, Christian syncretism, Utopianism and one of Michael’s favorite topics, Alexis de Tocqueville. Check out Acton’s YouTube page here. ...

More on the 1000 Random Acts of Culture project. ...

Hayek and Keynes are dropping beats again – this time live! If you haven’t seen the original, check it out here. ...

Tuesday was a momentous day in American politics, Acton President Rev. Robert A. Sirico was called upon mentate on the results of the mid-term elections yesterday a couple of times: Guest host Sheila Liaugminas invited Father Sirico ment on the e of the election and the impact of the Catholic vote on the results for The Drew Mariani Show on Relevant Radio. Listen via the audio player below: [audio: Sirico also mentary on the Ave Maria Radio Network, joining host...