In Peru, the indigenous people still suffer greatly from governmental (and business) intrusion into their lands. Brother Paul McAuley, one of the De La Salle Brothers, has been working to protect the rights of the indigenous people for years, but now, because of such work, the Peruvian government wants to expel him and send him back to the UK, from whence he came. As the BBC reports: For the last decade he has worked with indigenous groups in Peru’s vast... Read more
One of the most common fallacies on the right is the mis-use of the subsidiarity principle to support an ideological opposition to the role of government. Of course, it is true that oppressive state power can trample upon human dignity; the experience of the former Soviet Union comes to mind, and Pope John Paul warned that a welfare state (necessary though it is) can sometimes become overly-bureaucratic and far removed from the dignity of each person. But the popes who... Read more
The Distributist Review has launched a new site. Bookmark it. Visit it. Enjoy it. Read more
For the next few weeks, I will be less active on Vox Nova. I do plan to do a couple posts during this time, but I will not be able to engage comments as much and I will not post as much as usual. There are three reasons for this: I am trying to get a project done I am preparing for a move I am doing a lot of spiritual work and prayer in relation to my father’s health.... Read more
I suspect that is was not. Then again, we would have been left with British imperialism—hardly a nice alternative. (But is that a better alternative to American imperialism?) In a nutshell, I find the independence of the thirteen colonies to be a strange event: On the one hand, when the American Indians were suffering a much more heinous fate, it is hard to think that the grievances of the colonies had much ring to them by comparison to their indigenous... Read more
The cry of an Iraqi boy upon the arrival of American soldiers seems appropriate to note our national day of independence. Perhaps with that now old cry we can finally end some of the pretensions we keep ourselves under here. One of those pretensions is that we are a Christian nation. Another pretension is that we are basically a good society. Another pretension is that our society has moved beyond class. (more…) Read more
The House of Representatives approved another bill yesterday attempting to restore expiring unemployment benefits. The Senate still cannot get a bill passed. Those voting against in the House are here. Republicans are in italics. Independents are underlined. In the Wisconsin delegation, Paul Ryan and Jim Sensenbrenner voted against the bill. Paul Ryan has a closed GM plant in his district. Janesville’s unemployment rate is 10.4%, down from 12.8% in April. Aderholt Akin Austria Bachmann Bachus Baird Barrett (SC) Bartlett... Read more
I think back to me at 18, and for all the tumult of being that age, my life stretched before me with seemingly limitless, even frightening, promise. I had not yet known failure of any significant scope. I had yet to have my heart broken. I was going to change the world, dammit, and I wanted answers, and clear ones at that. Things seemed simpler, or maybe it was easier to convince myself they were. Men in my peer group... Read more
From an interview with John Allen, Miami’s new archbishop had this to say: “Immigration has always been a part of the history of this country, and more importantly it’s been a part of the history of the Catholic church in this country. I think some of the anti-immigrant feeling that we’re experiencing in this country is just a revival of the Know-Nothing movement of the past, which sometimes was a veiled anti-Catholicism. That makes me even more upset where I... Read more
It doesn’t take much to see that marriage, as a social institution, is undergoing great changes. While this should not be a surprise, since everything changes, adapting to those changes without losing our beliefs about the sacred nature of sacramental marriage is an important concern for modern Catholics. To deal with these changes, one of the most important things to do is to look at how Catholics have dealt with the situation in other times and places, because in doing... Read more
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