Noe speaks… A very large debt that we took upon ourselves, with the dream of buying our own taxi in order to make a living, was what obliged my wife and myself to make the decision that I would come to the United States with the hope of getting out of debt. Upon my return… continue reading
Agribusiness and the Land Crisis in Guatemala: No Peace without Agrarian Reform
I met José at the local school in Chex, Huehuetenengo, Western Guatemala. From our vantage point, we had a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains. I asked José about his farm and his family’s future. In a sweeping gesture, he indicated the small green cornfields covering the mountain. “This mountainside belonged to my grandfather. It… continue reading
John Paul II Calls for End to Usury: Support for Peter Maurin, Catholic Worker Theme
On April 14, 1999, Pope John Paul II addressed the members of the National Council of Anti-Usury Foundations and their regional delegations. The Holy Father gave a special welcome to about one thousand volunteers “who came to call the public’s attention to the worrisome and, unfor-tunately, widespread phenomena of usury, which often brings with it… continue reading
The Economic Religion of Michael Novak: Wealth Creation vs. the Gospel, as in Using Catholicism to Prop up Neoconservatism
There has been tremendous interest in the March April 1999 issue of the Houston Catholic Worker on Pope John Paul II’s condemnation of neoliberalism in Ecclesia in America, not to mention those who were so excited to discover the document itself in all its richness. Most of our readers understood clearly that neoliberalism, the current economic… continue reading
Pope John Paul II condemns neoliberalism in Ecclesia in America, as social sin that cries to heaven
Pope Condemns Neoliberalism “More and more, in many countries of America, a system known as “neoliberalism” prevails; based on a purely economic conception of the human person, this sytem considers profit and the law of the market as its only parameters, to the detriment of the dignity of and the respect due to individuals and… continue reading
Pope John Paul II’s New America: Ecclesia in America: Fr. Neuhaus should withdraw his Book
Fr. Richard Neuhaus, a proponent of neoconservative economics (known as neoliberalism in Latin America and most of the rest of the world), has written a book that can only be considered a counter document to that of Pope John Paul II and the Bishops of America which was presented as the closing statement, the Apostolic… continue reading
“Blowing the Dynamite of the Church”: Catholic Radicalism from a Catholic Radicalist Perspective
In the wake of their momentous encounter in December 1932, Peter Maurin subjected Dorothy Day to a pedagogical program that he dubbed “indoctrination,” which, from Day’s account, consisted of Maurin coming over to her apartment and expounding to her on God, the Church, the Church Fathers, the saints, the poor, hospitality, liberalism, capitalism, fascism, communism,… continue reading
MEXICO BROUGHT TO ITS KNEES Editorial from El Observador de la Actualidad
The rise in the price of gasoline, the announcement of the rising costs of utilities-gas, telephone-and the virtual liberation of the price of the tortilla have brought the Mexican people to their knees, facing a black 1999. On their knees and without any power to make demands. The increase of 15 percent in the price… continue reading
Dorothy Day, a Catholic for All Americans
Why would a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church recommend for sainthood a woman who was a radical socialist and pacifist, a divorcee who had had an abortion? Why would he recommend for sainthood a woman who had had affairs and spent her nights in bars drinking and reading poetry with the likes of Eugene… continue reading