‘Tis the Season for Giving

We’re a fortnight away from the new year, and that means that you are probably getting a spate of letters, postcards, and packages appealing for your donations in this critical giving season. Continue Reading...

Avery Cardinal Dulles (1918-2008)

Avery Cardinal Dulles lecturing at the Acton Institute. I knew the reputation of Avery Dulles, SJ, long before I entered that classroom at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., Continue Reading...

Acton Experts on Giving, Finance

Zenit news service provides extensive coverage of two recent Acton-sponsored conferences in Rome. The first of half of Edward Pentin’s report focuses on Arthur Brooks‘ address at the “Philanthropy and Human Rights” gathering. Continue Reading...

Alexy II: The ‘Transitional’ Patriarch

Vladimir Berezansky, Jr., a U.S. lawyer with experience in Russia and former Soviet republics, recalls an interview with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II in 1991. Like many Russians at the time, the Patriarch was coping with a “disorienting change” following the fall of the Soviet Emprie, Berezansky writes. Continue Reading...

Colson Receives Presidential Citizens Medal

It is with a sense of great pride and joy that I join with thousands around the nation in congratulating Chuck Colson on his reception of the Presidential Citizen’s Medal presented to Chuck at the Oval Office today by President Bush. Continue Reading...

The Church and the Terror State

Patriarch Alexy II The Moscow Times reports on the funeral of Russian Patriarch Alexy II: Candles flickered and white-robed elders chanted prayers as the country bade farewell Tuesday to Patriarch Alexy II, who guided the country’s dominant Russian Orthodox Church through its remarkable recovery after decades of Communist-era repression. Continue Reading...

Books for Any Season

It’s the time of year when the experts among us proffer gift lists, a subset of which is book lists. I’ll spare you my own book list, per se, but it has been a while since I used this space to note some new titles of interest at the intersection of faith and economics. Continue Reading...

Kathleen Parker and “Secular Reason”

Kathleen Parker has a major case of secular reason sickness and it needs to be cured. I’ll keep this short and simple. Here is an offensive line from one of Kat’s latest columns: How about social conservatives make their arguments without bringing God into it? Continue Reading...

The Heavens Declare

If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend the Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar (HT: Slashdot). Simply stunning. The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Continue Reading...

Patriarch Alexy II: An Epoch Passes Away

The casket with the body of Patriarch Alexy II is displayed during a farewell ceremony in Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, on December 6. Russian Orthodox Christians are holding memorial services and preparing for the Tuesday funeral of Patriarch Alexy II, the man who led the world’s largest Orthodox Church out of the Soviet era and into a period of remarkable rebirth and growth following decades of persecution and genocidal martyrdom at the hands of atheistic communist regimes. Continue Reading...