Talking about the "things that matter most" on June 16
LIVE FROM ACTON UNIVERSITY IN GRAND RAPIDS, MI
4:00 – Centralization and Civil Society
A strong civil society is now recognized as indispensible for human freedom, and as noted by scholars such as Alexis de Tocqueville, its polar opposite is the centralization of power. Dr. Dan Mahoney is here to explore the theme of the causes and manifestations of centralization as well as options for halting its progress.
4:30 – Fair Trade / The New Deal and the Great Society: Moral and Economic Failure
Dr. Victor Claar joins us to examine and critique the principal economic ideas and policies of the New Deal and Great Society eras in American history. Special attention is paid to the parallels between the key economic doctrines then and their resurgence now, the historical verdict on Keynesian economic philosophy, and how private charity efforts can significantly reduce the volume of public safety net programs.
5:00 – Pope Benedict XVI and the Crisis of Europe / Theology of Globalization
Dr. Sam Gregg joins us to look at a theology of globalization. He identifies key theological principles through which to consider globalization, and contextualizes globalization as a historical phenomenon. We also look at Benedict XVI’s diagnosis of Europe’s contemporary crisis of identity, and clarify Benedict’s proposals for European renewal, as well as assess the chances of realizing this vision.
5:20 – Liberation Theology
Fr. Robert Sirico rejoins us to outline the rise and decline of liberation theology from the 1960s to the present, and examines and critiques its basic theological and philosophical claims and assumptions.
5:40 – Cross International Catholic Outreach – The Kobonal Haiti Mission
Cross International Catholic Outreach is an international Catholic relief and development ministry that assists the poorest of the poor around the world, reaching countless souls with the love of Christ and the message of the “good news’ of salvation. They work in more than 40 countries throughout Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Cross International President Jim Cavnar is here to talk about their Kobonal Haiti Mission. The mission provides good schools and clean water. Teen pregnancy is down; Voodoo has disappeared; and the village enjoys a vibrant Catholic community. But there is still a long way to go.
Mr. Kresta, I enjoyed your talk with Dr. Gregg although you didn't touch much on "Globalization", which I was hoping y'all would be able to do. Are you familiar with Dr. Gregg's book "The Commercial Society"? I would love to at least peruse it, but I can't find any free previews online and no local bookstores/libraries carry it. Your recommendation, however, would be a solid one.
ReplyDeleteI was very unimpressed with Dr. Claar and his discussion of Fair Trade coffee. You even asked him something like "so there needs to be more demand [I'm assuming you meant good practicing Christians taking solidarity to heart] for this coffee?" and he went into a tangent about supply, demand, price, and an extra "$.23". Granted, he's an economist, probably of the neoclassical bent, whose job it is to propogate certain notions about supply and demand; but as a Christian I'm surprised he didn't point-blank answer you in the affirmative. I remember some time ago I posted this link to your website (http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0904038.htm) and you said that you were hoping to interview Msgr. Schaffer, but I've not heard anything about this since! It seems to me that here is a man, and his people, who are living what Venerable John Paul II called us to live when he exhorted us to recognize that certain practices/products/needs/goals must fall outside the confines of the "market" because of the market's iron-adherence to ideas like the supply- and demand-curves (Cent. Ann. #34) Here is a link to Msgr. Schaffer's San Lucas Mission, which is the nexus of his coffee exploits: http://www.dnu.org/service/sanlucas.html . Furthermore, here in Dallas there is a wonderful, yet small, group of people sacrificing time and capital to start a similar business of coffee. For Mr. Claar to simply dismiss such ideas as "inefficient" or "not in line with demand" doesn't reach the primary "ought" of whether these practices are good, which should then motivate us to find creative, Christian ways of bringing them to fruition.
I don't mean to sound polemical, but as you can tell this interview rubbed me the wrong way. I remain
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Matthew Wade