The Jesuit journal In All Things devoted its Winter 2005-06 issue to the question of poverty in the United States. The issue brings together a number of perspectives from Jesuits, both liberal and conservative. The Rev. James V. Schall, S. J., contributed an article titled “On Weath and Poverty,” one which the journal editors have described thematically as “choosing not to be poor.”

Here is Schall’s article in its entirety:

The most famous book in economics is The “Wealth” of Nations, not The “Poverty” of Nations. Yet, Christ says, the “poor” will always be with us. Not a few still are. No one needs to learn to be poor. It is easy. Do not make, develop, invent, or concoct anything productive. Someone had to invent the wheel, plumbing, tooth brushes, hybrid corn, and computers The question of poverty implies “how not to be poor.” Unless we talk about the latter question, it is useless to talk about the former one. If we do not know how to produce wealth or if we choose not to learn or effect those things that actually work to produce it, we will be poor. We will likewise make or keep others poor. Not all “good” ideas work for the good. Read more on Schall on Wealth and Poverty…

This Sunday I went to Mass at a parish I’d never attended before. I was quite pleasantly surprised—the music wasn’t bad, the rubrics were followed, the homily focused on the gospel, they chanted the Agnus Dei, and prayed the prayer to St. Michael afterward; not apparently liberal and better than many typical “suburban rite” parishes. But, during the petitions, one of the prayers was for leaders of nations, that they would eradicate poverty. Here is a classic example of the right desire, poverty eradication, and the wrong way to go about it, government. It also betrays the common misunderstanding that governments solve poverty. Now, leaders of nations and governments do have a role in poverty reduction. They need to create rule of law and enforce contracts. They can help reduce regulation and tariffs and open their borders to free trade. But leaders of nations do not eradicate poverty, nor does aid from the developing world. What eradicates poverty is business. Entrepreneurs and businessmen who create jobs and opportunity and wealth. Michael Novak called small business “the strategic vocation for helping the poor.”

Read more on Good Intentions and Unsound Economics…

A few items of interest from friends on our blogroll:

• The Evangelical Ecologist and Dignan’s 75 Year Plan react to news about Michael Crichton’s visit with President Bush.

• GetReligion writes on the government closing of a newspaper in Russia.

Read more on Blogroll Roundup…

This story in the UK’s Education Guardian is remarkable for its links to a number of issues.

In contrast to the American system, Britain’s permits “faith” schools that are part of the government system. Thus, this Scottish “Catholic” school is, in the American usage, a “public” school. Now that 75% of its students are Muslim, some Muslims are demanding that the school switch its faith allegiance.

Read more on The Religion and Schools Debate, Scotland Version…

One of the religion beat’s favorite canards is to implicitly equate what it calls American Christian “fundamentalism” with what it calls Muslim or Islamic “fundamentalism.” After all, both are simply species of the genus. For more on this, check out GetReligion (here and here) and the reference to a piece by Philip Jenkins, which notes,

Read more on Fumbling with Fundamentalism…

Rev. Edmund Opitz

The Rev. Edmund Opitz, a longtime champion of liberty, passed away on Feb. 11. Rev. Robert A. Sirico, president of the Acton Institute, looks back on Ed’s remarkable life in an article today on National Review Online (also available on the Acton site as a PDF).

Read more on Remembering Ed Opitz…

Dr. Jan Klos

Dr. Jan Kłos of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin in Poland is the winner of the 2006 Novak Award and its associated $10,000 prize. An assistant professor with the department of Philosophy’s Chair of Social and Political Ethics, Dr. Kłos began teaching in Lublin in 1999. He has a specific interest in the history of economic freedom, nineteenth century liberalism, and dialogue between modernity and Christian thought. In 2001, he wrote a prize winning essay for the Bastiat competition at the University of Aix-Marseilles. Dr. Kłos has published in journals such as Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines and the Journal of Markets & Morality. Dr. Kłos is currently completing a book on the relationship between nineteenth century liberalism and Christianity. Later this year Dr. Kłos will deliver the Calihan Lecture, an annual public forum that highlights the Novak Award recipient’s scholarly work.

Read more on 2006 Novak Award goes to leading Polish Scholar…

In yesterday’s Acton Commentary, I argued that the biblical foundation for the concepts of stewardship and economics should lead us to see them as united. In this sense I wrote, “Economics can be understood as the theoretical side of stewardship, and stewardship can be understood as the practical side of economics.” I also defined economics as “the thoughtful ordering of the material resources of a household or social unit toward the self-identified good end” and said that the discipline “helps us rightly order our stewardship.”

Read more on Stewardship and Economics: Two Sides of the Same Coin…

The February 11 issue of WORLD Magazine includes a culture feature, “Giving their names back.” Profiled in the article is Citizens for Community Values (CCV), a nonprofit in Memphis that does a victim assistance program called “A Way Out.” It’s a reclamation program of sorts, literally reclaiming women ensnarled in the sex trade industry, and giving them back their lives, reclamation evidenced by names.

Read more on The Dignity of Every Human Being…

Wired News passes along this article by Chris Kohler, “U.N. Game Wins Hearts and Minds.” The story gives a brief overview and history of the video game created by the United Nations World Food Programme, Food Force.

Read more on Speaking a Language They Can Understand…