Subsidiarity is a big idea from the Church. Hopefully our video can give you enough information to understand basically what it is and why it is important. But a few minutes is not enough time to thouroughly explain the philosophy. So, if you would like to learn more about Subsidiarity, and other ideas the Church teaches about how we can best structure a just society, please use the following lin... More

[I should know better than to post something at 1 a.m. without letting myself read it with fresh eyes in the morning. Corrected a few errors and unclear thoughts and fixed the problem with the embedded video. --- Tom Crowe] During the Democrat National Convention today a video played in which the speaker said, “government is the only thing we all belong to.” Here’s the clip: Urg... More

Here’s a great chance to hear Paul Ryan discuss a key Catholic question with a challenging questioner: How do you help the poor? (more…) ... More

The changes in the global economy in recent decades have had serious implications for the Catholic Church’s understanding of social justice. With technological advances and the ability to shift capital across international borders, multi-national firms can rapidly move money to the most favorable investment spots, and—though it can’t be done overnight—can easily relocate industrial jobs to... More

Politics of division is as old as the Greek city-states (if not as old as human civilization), but the unique tendency of the modern Democratic party to sow discord and envy among Americans is a disturbing trend that deserves more attention. The pope and Vatican often talk about promoting “solidarity between peoples”. Sowing discord and envy between segments of people is surely the opp... More

Render unto Caesar ... Elsewhere here, Thomas Peters has one explanation of the Drudge Report headline, under a picture of the Pope, suggesting that the Vatican is ordering up a new world bank. I got a frightened e-mail from a friend who is a recent convert calling the article  “the most disturbing thing I have read in a long time.” As I told him, first of all, as with any Drudge scream-line,... More

Vatican Bank President Ettore Gotti Tedeschi We’re going to be hearing a lot about raising taxes this year and next, and especially about the need to raise taxes on “the rich” in order to force them to pay their “fair share.” That’s because the American public has woken up to the fact that our government has been outspending itself at a furious pace — and ... More

Alberta Darling (R) speaks to press after holding her seat in the most targeted WI Senate race. I was on my computer late last night and so had a chance to witness the failure of a months-long effort by unions and Democrat groups to take back the Wisconsin Senate after it helped Governor Scott Walker introduce pension reforms for public sector union employees. Because I was actively tweeting my re... More

After the film, Newt and Callista signed books and DVD jackets. Just saw the new film hosted and co-produced by Newt and Callista Gingrich, Nine Days That Changed the World, a documentary centered on the nine-day pilgrimage Pope John Paul II made to Poland in June 1979. They were here on campus at Franciscan University of Steubenville for a screening (full disclosure: I work for Franciscan Univers... More