Senate Privatizes Lunch

Last updated on: June 14, 2008 at 8:01 am By Edward Blackadder

Their own, that is: Year after year, decade upon decade, the U.S. Senate’s network of restaurants has lost staggering amounts of money — more than $18 million since 1993, according to one report, and an estimated $2 million this year alone, according to another. The financial condition of the world’s most exclusive dining hall and its affiliated Capitol Hill restaurants, cafeterias and coffee shops has become so dire that, without a $250,000 subsidy from taxpayers, the Senate won’t make payroll... Read more

Tim Russert dies of a heart attack

Last updated on: June 13, 2008 at 2:52 pm By voxnovablog

Meet the Press host and NBC News Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert died suddenly today of a heart attack. He had just returned from vacation in Italy, preparing to celebrate his son’s graduation from Boston College. Russert, an Irish Catholic educated in Catholic schools, tirelessly promoted Catholic education in the United States. Here he is announcing the 2008 Making a Difference Award, given to an outstanding educator in Catholic schools. Russert was one the most outstanding poltiical commentators of the... Read more

Vox Nova At The Movies: The Incredible Hulk

Last updated on: June 13, 2008 at 11:44 am By Henry Karlson

“You wouldn’t like me when I’m … hungry.” (more…) Read more

Who Killed the Bishops & the Growth of Evangelical Chrisitianity in Central America

Last updated on: June 13, 2008 at 11:01 am By Radical Catholic Mom

I have been reading extensively on Guatemalan history lately because I wanted to know why the Military/Government decided to kill Catholic Bishop Juan Gerardi in 1996. In 500 years of Central American history, a bishop had never been killed, yet in only 16 years time from 1980-1996, two Central American Bishops were martyred: El Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero and Guatemalan Bishop Gerardi. I have read almost every book that exists on Romero. But I had never read anything on Gerardi.... Read more

Racism Without Race?

Last updated on: June 13, 2008 at 11:00 am By Edward Blackadder

Previous in Series: Race and Hatred In his book The Logic of Life, Tim Harford describes a recent sociological experiment which, he claims, has profound implications for the way we think about race and racism. Participants in the study (a group of students from the University of Virginia) were divided into two groups: employers, and potential employees. Employees were then further subdivided (randomly) into “greens” and “purples.” The experiment contained 20 distinct rounds of play, and the student employees were... Read more

Acton Institute’s Conference

Last updated on: June 13, 2008 at 8:58 am By M.Z.

The Action Institute is holding their “Acton University” this week. While not quite the Third Vatican Council, dissidents everywhere will be attending it. There will be even more than a few priests there witnessing the optionality of solidarity with the poor. Some of the presenters will be making appearances on Catholic radio and television as experts with at most a caveat noting the views expressed are outside the mainstream of Catholic thought. More often though it will simply be presented... Read more

Cardinal DiNardo appointed to an appropriate post

Last updated on: June 13, 2008 at 7:49 am By Policraticus

My archbishop, Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI this week to the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples. This is rather appropriate given Cardinal DiNardo’s strong solidarity with the migrant communities in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. I have blogged previously on Cardinal DiNardo’s efforts to change unjust immigration law in the United States. I do not think it too much of a stretch to say that this appointment is a papal validation... Read more

Catholic Justices Rule Shamefully….Again

Last updated on: June 12, 2008 at 11:54 pm By Morning's Minion

In a landmark decision, the US Supreme Court ruled that the detainees at Guantanamo Bay have the right to habeas corpus, the right to challenge their indefinite detention in federal court. Remember the context: more than half of the men imprisoned here are not accused of taking part in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners. The majority were captured by reward-seeking Pakistanis and Afghan warlords and by villagers of highly doubtful reliability. This is a victory for... Read more

Vox Nova At the Movies: Strike

Last updated on: June 12, 2008 at 10:12 pm By Radical Catholic Mom

On a whim, I ordered this fictionalized Polish movie about a woman who was the inspiration for the Polish Solidarity Movement. I had always associated Lech Walesa with Solidarity, so imagine my surprise that there was a “mother” to the movement and her name is Agnieszka, a single mother who worked in the historic Lenin Shipyards and was known for standing up for workers’ rights. This movie is outstanding. She is truly a heroic Polish woman and a heroic Catholic... Read more

Social welfare and anarchism

Last updated on: June 12, 2008 at 3:07 pm By Iafrate Michael

Countless discussions have taken place here at Vox Nova about health care, revisiting debates about whether or not it should be provided, in any way, by the government. When I have expressed the view that, under these current (and probably collapsing) political arrangements, the government should see to it that all persons have access to health care, I’ve been charged with “not really being an anarchist.” The reasoning is that if I oppose the existence of the state, this means... Read more

What did the disciples do when Jesus asked them to stay awake in the garden?