There 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…

In 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.”

“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…

Revisiting 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…

That 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…

We have an obligation to care for the land entrusted to us in such a way as to promote health, beauty, and community.