A constant theme here at the Acton Institute is the idea that good intentions are not enough…they need to be connected to sound practice. In a reflection on fair trade at , D. C. mends Victor Claar’s monograph, ...

The Detroit News published a new column today by Acton president and co-founder Rev. Robert A. Sirico: Faith and Policy: Free markets, not aid, will help poor nations best Rev. Robert Sirico At the recent G8 and G20 meetings in Toronto, a hue and cry was raised by nongovernmental organizations and other activists about the failure of industrialized countries to make good on promises to raise aid to the developing world. Instead, the activists should have called for a summit...

In an mentary produced for Ave Maria Radio and Catholic Exchange, Paul Kengor says it is “incumbent among Catholics to learn more about this blessed concept of subsidiarity.” As part of this education, he mends “The Principle of Subsidiarity” by David A. Bosnich in Acton’s Religion & Liberty quarterly. Here’s some of what Kengor, a professor of political science and executive director of the Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College, had to say: I’m convinced, from study...

The Italian online daily Ilsussidiario.net recently turned to Rev. Robert A. Sirico with a a couple of key questions about the financial crisis: “So what went wrong with our culture that turned up so badly in our markets? Or were the cause and effect reversed: something went wrong in our markets that turned up badly in our culture?” Here’s part of the exchange: Have moral or cultural causes contributed to the financial crisis? If so, what are they? One could...

Over at MercatorNet, there is a discussion taking place on the “world’s most dangerous idea.” Entries include the idea that human beings are no more dignified than animals, that the cheap, abundant information found on the Internet is a good thing, and that the holding of dogmas is only for the narrow-minded. But the one “dangerous idea” most interesting to PowerBlog readers may that “capitalism is the most ethical form economics.” This last es from Prof. Jeffrey Langan, chairman of...

On his recently launched Ambiguorum Blogis site, Fr. Michael Butler is reviewing Elizabeth Theokritoff’s Living in God’s Creation: Orthodox Perspectives on Ecology (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2009). Fr. Michael, who joined us for Acton University 2010, examines the author’s exhausted earth meme, beginning with this quote from the book: It is hard to escape the conclusion that with an ever-growing human population, it is not enough for humanity as a whole to do more with less; individually, we must also...

It’s always nice to hear from old friends, even when said old friends are unsettling you with tales of insane government spending. When last we heard from former Acton colleague Michelle McAdoo here on the PowerBlog, she was taking Washington by storm with her proposal for an “alternative stimulus.” In the interceding time, she’s gotten married (congratulations!) and now has returned with more tales from the dark and unsettling world of “stimulus.” Enjoy! Update/Clarification: Michelle adds: “just so you know,...

World magazine has an update on the Jim Wallis story that I blogged about earlier this week. A Sojourners spokesman today reversed an earlier Wallis denial and confirmed the organization has received funding from Soros’ Open Society Institute. Sojourners is a leading organization on the religious left founded by Wallis, who is a spiritual adviser to President Obama. Soros is the billionaire financier of Moveon.org, a Democrat-leaning organization that pushes for abortion, atheism, bigger government, and other progressive causes. The...

Thomson Reuters has issued a new report that shows church-run hospitals provide better quality care more efficiently than other secular hospitals. Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president for performance improvement and 100 Top Hospitals programs at Thomson Reuters, says, “Our data suggest that the leadership of health systems owned by churches may be the most active in aligning quality goals and monitoring achievement of mission across the system.” It is certainly true that Christian engagement of issues surrounding health care are...

In a recent article in World magazine, Acton senior fellow Marvin Olasky urged evangelical minister Jim Wallis to drop the pretense of being post-partisan. Olasky, World magazine’s editor-in-chief, went on to assert that (1) Wallis’s organization, Sojourners, received money from the foundation of secular-leftist George Soros, and that (2) Wallis had lent the Sojourners mailing list to the Obama campaign. In an interview here, Wallis appears to deny these charges. But now former Acton research fellow Jay Richards has followed...