The death toll from the recent collapse of a clothing factory in Bangladesh has topped 1000, and yesterday brought the story of another fire in a large, 11-story factory. Most workers were gone, but those still there suffocated in the stairwells trying to escape. In the wake of these disasters, there have been reports that companies are suddenly concerned about such issues. Read more
May 10, 2013 in News by David Cloutier
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Michael Peppard has an excellent post up at dotCommonweal about recent studies of CEO pay, and specifically the ratio between CEO and median worker pay. This ratio is a favorite statistical “sign” for increasing inequality. The ratio in 1980 was 42 to 1. In the 2000’s, it boomed well into the hundreds-to-one, and Peppard has a graphic link to a Bloomburg chart Read more
May 3, 2013 in News by David Cloutier
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Is there a way to give an account of phone gluttony? I have long thought we Catholics don’t pay nearly enough time to thinking through the moral importance of technology use, despite the clear injunctions in Pope John Paul II’s encyclicals warning of the dangers of “superdevelopment,” and the rapid multiplication of “needs” in wealthy societies. Technologies very powerfully shape both habits Read more
April 18, 2013 in News by David Cloutier
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I have often gone to the Mass of the Lord’s Supper at a parish where everyone washes everyone else’s feet… during the Gospel. The people remove their shoes and socks when they stand for the Gospel, the priest reads up to the point where Jesus says, “Do you know what I have done for you?” and thereupon starts singing the mandate. He Read more
March 29, 2013 in News by David Cloutier
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It is an exciting time for the Church. The papal transition and its significance for the Church has been covered in many venues by our bloggers, and we have collected some of our contributions here. Ramon Luzarraga CBS.com interview (text only) Comments in the Guardian (UK) newspaper Comments inThe Dayton Daily News article Comments in USA Today article WDEL (Delaware) radio interview Read more
March 22, 2013 in News by David Cloutier
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Concern for the environment is often portrayed as a “luxury” issue, a bourgeois issue, compared to concern for the poor. Economists often suggest that care for the environment and “reducing pollution” is a luxury that becomes more attractive with wealth and development. So it is noteworthy that Pope Francis, who is of and for the poor, made the protection of creation central to his Read more
March 21, 2013 in News by David Cloutier
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So, I am thrilled. Isn’t it great when the top lead-in to the 5pm hour on All Things Considered is about how the new pope went back to where he was staying and got his own bags, thanked everyone, and paid his own bill? I’m sure everyone by now knows the man lived in a small apartment and took public transportation and Read more
March 16, 2013 in News by David Cloutier
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Some writers whom I respect greatly have taken the occasion of the papal conclave to express a deep sense of frustration about the direction of the Church. My colleague Julie Hanlon Rubio has a very nice engagement with Paul Elie’s New York Times op-ed, in which he suggests giving up the pews for Lent. Peter Steinfels, whose book A People Adrift remains Read more
March 12, 2013 in News by David Cloutier
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While the Catholic world I live in has been counting down to “sede vacante,” the DC area world I live in has clearly been transfixed by another countdown: to sequester! In case you haven’t heard, and it seems that many Americans had not until very recently, sequester is an across-the-board cut in all federal spending – defense and non-defense. No one really Read more
March 2, 2013 in News by David Cloutier
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The following is a guest post from Kari-Shane Davis Zimmerman, who teaches moral theology at College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University. This post’s title is a catchy line from one of several flashy advertisements that appears on the “StudentCity.com” website. A quick tour of the contents and one has instant access to this year’s top spring break destinations. From Cancun to Panama City Read more
March 1, 2013 in News by David Cloutier
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