“What blasphemy! As if there were anything really Christian about our modern capitalism.” This was Virgil Michel, O.S.B., responding in Commonweal in 1938 to an article inCatholic World which had called Christ “the first preacher of capitalism as the most workable thesis for society.” Michel had to respond to the neocons (Michael Novak, etc.) of his… continue reading
Virgil Michel, Benedictine Co-Worker of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin: Justice embodied in Christ-life and Liturgy
February 1, 2000 by
A Time of Desert for Theology: Ressourcement versus Models of the Church
December 1, 1999 by
I began my philosophical and theological studies in 1964, at a moment when the theological curriculum in the Church was collapsing. I experienced what was the great crisis of theology during and after Vatican II. Here I would like to assess this crisis of the lst 30 years, and to offer what could be the… continue reading
WITNESS TO HOPE: The Biography of Pope John Paul II by George Weigel Falls Short
December 1, 1999 by
Pre-publication publicity promised that George Weigel’s new book, Witness to Hope, would be the definitive biography of Pope John Paul II. It is certainly a very long book (almost 1,000 pages). It is packed not only with details, events, fascinating personal incidents, and even gossip, but also beautiful passages about Karol Wojtyla’s philosophical studies and teaching,… continue reading
The Truth about Immigrants: Xenophobia existed in early America
December 1, 1999 by
Recently, one of my friends was at a family reunion. When she told her family what I was doing this year–volunteering at a house of hospitality for Latin American immigrants–one of her aunts expressed disapproval because “illegal immigrants take jobs away from tax-paying Americans.” This is not an uncommon sentiment. Immigration from Mexico and Central… continue reading
Young People of the World Unite! You Have Nothing to Lose Except your Chains: Call to Destiny and Mystery of the Gospel
October 1, 1999 by
Two ND Grads When we were on retreat recently talking with two young graduates from Notre Dame, they kept raising questions. It was almost like Emmaus! “Where are the ways of living out the Gospels and our Catholic faith in today’s world?” The young people asked. “We’re afraid of getting into the rat race of… continue reading
Roots of the Catholic Worker Movement: Distributism: Ownership of the Means of Production and Alternative to the Brutal Global Market
October 1, 1999 by
The plight of workers throughout the world is at a crisis stage. Many are not only working for slave wages, but have been removed from their own communities and local economics and left desperate. The Business pages of the Houston Chronicle of August 1, 1999, featured several entire pages on the economic devastation of Latin America… continue reading
Despair and Hope at Casa Juan Diego, the Houston Catholic Worker
October 1, 1999 by
Despair Yesterday we found Fernando on the floor in a pool of blood with seizures that wouldn’t stop. Fernando, seriously ill with kidney failure, has lived in the States many years, but can’t get any compensation. For the rest of his life, which won’t be too long, he lives on the verge of collapsing before… continue reading
Constitution Forbids Sub-Class; Catholic Values Promote Love of Immigrants
October 1, 1999 by
We are to build structures and conduct our daily lives with the idea that every person is loved specially and equally by God and thus is due never to suffer affront to his human dignity. This notion is reiterated constantly by Pope John Paul II, and is especially relevant to our treatment of immigrants in… continue reading
Emmanuel Mounier, Personalism, and the Catholic Worker movement
August 1, 1999 by
Emmanuel Mounier (1905-1950) articulated the ideas of personalism, of human persons whose responsibility it is to take an active role in history, even while the ultimate goal is beyond the temporal and beyond human history. Mounier articulated it as “a philosophy of engagement…inseparable from a philosophy of the absolute or of the transcendence of the… continue reading
Immigrants are Not Criminals
August 1, 1999 by
Last week Noemí came to Casa Juan Diego to beg for a place to stay with her three children because her husband had been deported because of tickets. Well, not because of tickets, but because he was jailed for not paying traffic tickets on time. The Immigration and Naturalization Service has a desk in the… continue reading
