Free Republic

Rev. Robert Sirico: The Church’s ‘anemic response’ to COVID-19 hurts everyone The political response to COVID-19 has created an economic downturn unprecedented since the Great Depression. However, the Church’s “anemic response” has deprived the poor of spiritual solace and the Church of its vocation and vitality, said Acton Institute President and Co-founder Rev. Robert Sirico on a nationally syndicated radio interview.“If we sit back and look at the big message of the Church, it’s, ‘We’re closed. We’ll let you know when we open again.’ And I think that’s very dangerous,” Rev. Sirico said on the June 26 episode of The...

A federal judge ordered the FBI Thursday to disclose more details about how it handled its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s secret email account. U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg said court papers describing the grand jury subpoenas the FBI obtained to compel information from Mrs. Clinton’s Internet service providers can be made public. In doing so, he overruled objections by the Trump administration that had insisted making the information public would violate grand jury secrecy rules. “After reviewing the document in camera, the Court concludes that it largely rehashes information already made public, thus obviating any need for secrecy,” the...

October 14, 2009Healthcare and Catholics: True and False Arguments by Samuel Gregg D.Phil. Healthcare reform – it’s one of those causes almost everyone favors, but which almost automatically produces sharp arguments when we ask what it means and how it might be realized. You would have had to be living in a cave for the past eight months to be unaware that Americans are deeply divided on this matter, and that the division runs clean through the middle of many communities. That includes Catholic America. Of course, there are a small number of non-negotiables for Catholics, whatever their politics,...

December 2, 2009School Choice and the Common Good of All Children by Kevin E. Schmiesing Ph.D. The United States justifiably celebrates its pluralism. The mandate to find unity in diversity—e pluribus unum—is predicated not on the premise that all peculiarities of creed or color must be washed away; instead, it insists that all such cultural and social differences must be respected. Part and parcel of this freedom is the right of parents to educate their children as they see fit. Like all rights, this one carries with it a duty: to prepare the child adequately for participation in society by...

Here's why a government-run healthcare system is not the answer.

Books for the Arsenal of Ordered Liberty Posted by Hunter Bakeron Monday, January 4, 2010 As we begin the New Year, I find myself thinking about books that fill the conservative armamentarium for resisting the left-liberal onslaught on the past handful of years. I’ve omitted some categories, like military and foreign policy, because they are outside my areas of expertise and don’t apply as much to the Acton mission, anyway. Here are my recommendations:Economics:Common Sense Economics by James Gwartney, Richard Stroup, and Dwight Lee — Dr. Gwartney taught the first economics class I ever took as a university student and...