Catholic Exchange

Interview: Economics and the Reality of Things

• Money & Economics
• Saturday, May 15th, 2010
• Rev. Robert A. Sirico

A while back, Bevan Sabo and Ariel Goldring at Free Market Mojo interviewed me on a wide range of subjects. They’ve kindly granted us permission to post some excerpts:
FMM: Capitalism requires a large degree of selfishness. Though there is… Read More

Health Reform Threatens Voluntary Charitable Action

• Archives
• Saturday, November 28th, 2009
• Rev. Robert A. Sirico

As the health care debate moves to the U.S. Senate, much of the news coverage and commentary in recent days has focused on the advocacy of Catholic bishops and how their support of Rep. Bart Stupak’s amendment to prohibit the… Read More

Philanthropy Cannot Serve Two Masters

• Archives
• Saturday, October 3rd, 2009
• Rev. Robert A. Sirico

The independence of American charities has steadily eroded in recent years as more philanthropic institutions have come to see their mission as one of partnership or collaboration with the government. That’s a nice way of saying, “seeking government dough.” Now,… Read More

Remembering Father Richard John Neuhaus

• Archives
• Friday, January 9th, 2009
• Rev. Robert A. Sirico

For those concerned with a vigorous intellectual engagement of the religious idea with the secular culture, these past 12 months have been a difficult period.
On February 28, 2008, William F. Buckley, Jr. the intellectual godfather of the conservative movement… Read More

Why We Give

• Archives
• Monday, December 22nd, 2008
• Rev. Robert A. Sirico

This is the time of the year when almost everyone has gift-giving (if not gift-getting) on the mind. We also hear the usual series of warnings against making Christmas too materialistic. That is, of course, completely appropriate when animated by… Read More

The Bailout Economy: A House Built on Sand

• Archives
• Saturday, November 22nd, 2008
• Rev. Robert A. Sirico

In a very familiar parable, Jesus tells the story of two home builders. One built a house on sand, the other on rock. The house on the rock withstood the weather. The one built on sand did not fare so… Read More

Catholics and the Election

• Archives
• Monday, November 3rd, 2008
• Rev. Robert A. Sirico

Presidential elections are a revealing time in American life: the “silly season” they are often rightly called. Yet, such a time may also force discussion of issues that otherwise evade public consciousness. This is true for religious people as well.… Read More

Charity on the Dole, Round Two

• Archives
• Friday, July 11th, 2008
• Rev. Robert A. Sirico

Charities are usually founded on high ideals and goals. But the difficult part comes when those behind the good cause must come up with the cold, hard cash to fund their charitable works.
One always supposes that there are benefactors… Read More

WFB: In Memoriam

• Archives
• Monday, March 3rd, 2008
• Rev. Robert A. Sirico

Having been my father's remote control, I recall one Sunday afternoon in the 1960s being told to stop and back up to the "educational channel," as it was called. The Sirico household were not big viewers of what was then Channel 13 in New York, so I wondered what my father was thinking.

I clicked over to the channel and my father said, "Sit down; you'll learn something."

Indeed, I did.

That was the first time I had heard or seen William F. Buckley, Jr., who died in his study on Wednesday while at work on yet another erudite page of insightful, urbane, and scintillating prose. Buckley (or Bill, as he almost insisted people call him) holds the record of sending me to the dictionary more than anyone I have ever read in the English language.

Minimum Wage, Maximum Suffering

• Archives
• Thursday, August 23rd, 2007
• Rev. Robert A. Sirico

We pastors often tell the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. A landowner needs workers, so he offers them terms to pick for the day. The moral is intriguing and fascinating, and it concerns ownership, contract, jealousy, and other… Read More