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Multa Sunt
Read ☛: Multa SuntThere are many things that stand out when reading of the encyclical Rerum Novarum of Leo XIII of happy memory. For me, two points that come into greater focus are the venerable Pontiff’s stridency in exercising His teaching authority and His diagnosis that any “solution: will be useless without a restoration of Christian morals and…
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Thoughts on Rerum Novarum
Read ☛: Thoughts on Rerum NovarumIn the conclusion of Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII makes the following remark: “Every one should put his hand to the work which falls to his share, and that at once and straightway, lest the evil which is already so great become through delay absolutely beyond remedy.”
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Do We Trust the Invisible Hand?
Read ☛: Do We Trust the Invisible Hand?“I, Pencil” is a short imaginative essay by Leonard Read about the production of a pencil–from the pencil’s point of view. Do we ever stop to think about how many factors come together to make a simple pencil? The graphite, the wood, the rubber; the carving, the molding–it’s a small act of wonder to stare…
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The Work of Rerum Novarum Remains Unfinished
Read ☛: The Work of Rerum Novarum Remains UnfinishedRevisiting Rerum Novarum on its 133rd anniversary, I am struck by two related observations. First, by how familiar it sounds. If you set aside the clunky translation and 19th century writing style, it could have been written yesterday. Second, by Pope Leo XIII’s descriptions of how the unchecked personal greed of both capital and labor…
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Centesimo Trigesimo Tertio Anno
Read ☛: Centesimo Trigesimo Tertio AnnoThat the spirit of revolutionary change, which has long been disturbing the nations of the world, should have passed beyond the sphere of politics and made its influence felt in the cognate sphere of practical economics is not surprising. The elements of the conflict now raging are unmistakable, in the vast expansion of industrial pursuits…
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Rethinking Lawns
Read ☛: Rethinking LawnsWe have an obligation to care for the land entrusted to us in such a way as to promote health, beauty, and community.
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Continuing the Conversation
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Children learn to form letters, phrase sentences, then to write paragraphs, then essays. In the same way, we have watched our community learn to say hello, to small talk, then to gather and bounce around ideas. But it mustn’t end there.
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The principles of neighborhood and subsistence will be disparaged by the globalists as ‘protectionism’ — and that is exactly what it is. It is a protectionism that is just and sound, because it protects local producers and is the best assurance of adequate supplies to local consumers. And the idea that local needs should be met first and only surpluses exported does not imply any prejudice against charity toward people in other places or trade with them. The principle of neighborhood at home always implies the principle of charity abroad. And the principle of subsistence is in fact the best guarantee of giveable or marketable surpluses. This kind of protection is not ‘isolationism.”
― Wendell Berry