In his new encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth) , Pope Benedict pointed to the Economy of Communion as a promising economic model. The Economy of Communion in Freedom, as it is officially called, is a network of businesses linked to the Focolare Movement. The Economy of Communion was launched in 1991 when Focolare founder… continue reading

The Houston Catholic Worker Interviewed Joan Duggan and Tom Rowley the Economy of Communion – Joan Duggan and Tom and JoAnn Rowley are co-owners of “Finish Line,” an Economy of Communion educational services business specializing in tutoring. Joan is on the Board of the Economy of Communion for North America.   HCW : Thank you both… continue reading

Pope Benedict’s XVI’s social encyclical, Caritas in Veritate , took the economic world by surprise. While readers on the right and the left were both waiting for more statements about capitalism and socialism, they found instead a challenge to Catholics and other people of good will of “a profoundly new way of understanding business enterprise” (40)…. continue reading

With all the turmoil in the financial industry, you would think that there would be a national conversation of money and lending. You would think that this would be a good time to re-examine the way we create money and the way we lend it. You would think, especially, that it would be a good… continue reading

This article appeared in a “symposium in print” in the National Catholic Register in November 2008. God brought Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin together to form the Catholic Worker movement at a time when the world was facing an economic crash similar to today’s. They critiqued robber barons, banks, the financial system, and the free… continue reading

Pope Benedict XVI contradicted the reigning philosophies of self-interest, warning listeners gathered to hear his Angelus reflection on the Feast of Christ the King: “If each one thinks only of his or her own interests, the world can only go to ruin.” Contrasting the message of Jesus with the idea of basing our lives and… continue reading

by Donald Boland, Center for Thomistic Studies, Sydney, Australia Confusingly, the word “Capitalism” is used both for an economic system that has an abnormal condition in regard to the distribution of wealth or property, and one where the distribution of wealth is not an issue. Both are systems that are based upon the institution of… continue reading

Jim is the Editor of The Common Good, the newspaper of Christchurch Catholic Worker in New Zealand. There is no easy way to write about the financial crisis which has hit the global economy these past months. In New Zealand, more than 20 financial institutions have gone to the wall. Investors have lost everything. The… continue reading

One of the most damaging influences in the discussion of workers’ rights and the application of Catholic social teaching is Fr. Robert Sirico, a member of the Oratorians and the director of the Acton Institute. With great cleverness he eliminates any opposition to his laissez-faire economics by using the “S” word against critics and against… continue reading