Can fashion design be a Christian vocation? No, because isn’t it true that the entire apparel industry is corrupt—from its sweatshops to the manipulative designers to dishonest marketing and sales?  And, isn’t it true that fashion contributes nothing to culture or society? And, isn’t it true that there is over-the-top flamboyance in the industry? Bill Cunningham (1929-2016) pursued his vocation in the real world of fashion. His interest began in grammar school and stayed constant as he thoroughly participated... Read more

The young adult activists who inspired the world this past summer now have the challenge of translating their fervor into practical reform. It is the transition from mobilizing to governance. The founders of our country were more prepared for the transition to governance than other revolutionaries, argues Hannah Arendt (1906-1975). She compares France to the United States in her classic On Revolution (Penguin, 1963). By the time of their 1787 meeting in Philadelphia, our founders were able to craft a... Read more

Small is beautiful. No bigger than necessary. Act local; think global. Deborah Fallows and James Fallows (he, a longtime national correspondent for Atlantic magazine) were traveling these recent years. Not by car or train; their transportation mode was a single-engine airplane. They spent two weeks in each of 25 towns and a shorter time in 25 more. Many places are “doing better in most ways than most Americans realize,” they write in Our Towns (Pantheon Books, 2018). A popular tendency,... Read more

A couple years ago we spent some days after Thanksgiving in Milwaukee. One purpose of the trip was Christmas shopping. Thus we found ourselves in a large shopping mall. I sat on a bench with my coffee while my wife heated-up our credit card. A young Pakistani-American woman and her baby sat down next to me. An older, well-dressed woman approached and presumably mistaking me for the grandfather said: “You are lucky. This child is a great hope to us... Read more

The term populism is wrongly applied to authoritarians like Viktor Orban in Hungry and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey or to right-wing politicians like Marine Le Pen in France or President Jair Bolsonaro in Brasil. Nor does it have anything to do with those inspired by former president Donald Trump, writes Thomas Frank in The People, No (Henry Holt Co., 2020). To use the word populist to describe demagogues and wannabe revolutionaries inverts its meaning. This error leads to a... Read more

It was 20 years ago that Robert Putnam elevated the concept of social capital on the social policy and social science agenda with his Bowling Alone (Simon & Schuster, 2000). Putnam of Harvard exhaustively crunched all the numbers to prove the steady depletion of community life since the mid-1960s—the loss of members and energy in political parties, churches, nationwide non-profits, school boards, unions, civic groups and even bowling leagues. “The health of civil society is in many ways just as... Read more

Cardinal Francis George, OMI (1937-2015) of Chicago was fond of controversial quips. Here’s one: “All Christians in the U.S. are Calvinists, including the Catholics.” He obviously did not mean that everyone belonged to a Reformed congregation. He meant that we are Calvinists because all of us understand the relation between salvation and worldly accomplishment in Calvinist terms. The Protestant work ethic is an odd outgrowth of the Reformation and maybe even of John Calvin (1509-1564). After all, the big theme... Read more

Time is catching up with the founders of the United Farm Workers Union (www.ufw.org). Cesar Chavez (1927-1993) has been dead for 27 years. Rev. Jim Drake (1938-2001) died young. Larry Itliong (1913-1977), who started the famous Delano Grape Strike and National Boycott of September 1965, is gone. Marion Moses (1936-2020), who founded the UFW health care system, died last month. Dolores Huerta is now 90 and Rev. Chris Hartmire is in his late 80s. So too is LeRoy Chatfield. Chatfield... Read more

My north side friend is a tireless proponent of social improvement. Year after year he gathers people around the pressing issue of the moment. He gives lots of talks on the necessity of social change and on effective strategies for advancing justice. And so it was that he was invited to a university classroom in Wisconsin. My friend’s presentation was formulaic for about 30 minutes. Then he used this example: “Any three of you students, let’s say, could join a... Read more

The modern age began, let’s say, in 1500. That date is precise enough to include two pioneers of modernity. Christopher Columbus made his trans-Atlantic journey and was discovered by Native-Americans in 1492. Martin Luther (1483-1546) took a 16 ounce hammer to the door of All Saints Church on the hollowed eve of that church’s feast, October 31, 1517. The modern age is characterized by global travel and commerce (Columbus) and by the primacy of the individual over authoritarian institutions (Luther).... Read more