sirico, robt rev

wiki cf thos bs fdn

Robert A. Sirico

"President and co-founder of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, Rev. Sirico tirelessly promotes the ideal of a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and human rights. He is a leading voice in free-enterprise education, liberty, and respect for human rights, and is especially committed to combining religious studies with analysis of economic principles in order to enable students to understand and address poverty and other pressing social problems. Rev. Sirico has traveled extensively in order to study firsthand regimes that violate human rights; China, Cuba, and Venezuela have all drawn his analytical attention. He has published and lectured widely on the role faith plays in promoting human rights as well as on how trade sanctions impair efforts to end human rights violations. Rev. Sirico served on the Michigan Civil Rights Commission from 1994 to 1998, and is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society." [1]

He is a director of the Human Rights Foundation and is on the advisory board for the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow.

He is a known associate of David H. Padden.

External links

Biography, Human Rights Foundation, Accessed December 2006.

Rev. Robert A. Sirico received his Master of Divinity degree from the Catholic University of America, following undergraduate study at the University of Southern California and the University of London. During his studies and early ministry, he experienced a growing concern over the lack of training religious studies students receive in fundamental economic principles, leaving them poorly equipped to understand and address today's social problems. As a result of these concerns, Fr. Sirico co-founded the Acton Institute with Kris Alan Mauren in 1990.

As president of the Acton Institute, Fr. Sirico lectures at colleges, universities, and business organizations throughout the U.S. and abroad. His writings on religious, political, economic, and social matters are published in a variety of journals, including: the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the London Financial Times, the Washington Times, the Detroit News, and National Review. Fr. Sirico is often called upon by members of the broadcast media for statements regarding economics, civil rights, and issues of religious concern, and has provided commentary for CNN, ABC, the BBC, NPR, and CBS' 60 Minutes, among others.

In April of 1999, Fr. Sirico was awarded an honorary doctorate in Christian Ethics from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, and in May of 2001, Universidad Francisco Marroquin awarded him an honorary doctorate in Social Sciences. He is a member of the prestigious Mont Pèlerin Society, the American Academy of Religion, and the Philadelphia Society, and is on the Board of Advisors of the Civic Institute in Prague. Father Sirico also served on the Michigan Civil Rights Commission from 1994 to 1998. He is also currently pastor of St. Mary Catholic Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Fr. Sirico's pastoral ministry has included a chaplaincy to AIDS patients at the National Institute's of Health and the recent founding of a new community, St. Philip Neri House in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

The Acton Institute maintains a vigorous editorial outreach, especially through its president, Rev. Robert A. Sirico. This site maintains an archive of many of his essays and reviews.

http://www.culturewars.com/2007/Sirico.htm

undergd blog:

acton

Their policies include:

* strongly anti-Kyoto ("Religious leaders are right to remain skeptical of this effort to transform unsound science and policy into a moral crusade...Thus the market helps to see that the good environmental steward is properly rewarded for his efforts.") <1>

* pro-biotech ("Agricultural biotechnology, in particular, is an exciting product of human creativity and ingenuity that holds great potential to add to the abundance of God's creation and to improve the human condition") <2>

* against the Microsoft anti-trust case ("We must remember that the biblical theme of justice extols us from favoring one side over another unfairly, regardless of size or stature. Yet it appears that the government's case against Microsoft is the result of "knock down the successful" thinking.") <3>

* pro-SUV ("Protesting car dealerships for selling vehicles that improve people's lives does nothing toward showing the way to transcendental truth. It is a temptation from which, I pray, the Lord will soon deliver his people.") <4>

* generally anti-environmentalists ("A recent development that should be of some concern to Christians is the cozy relationship developing between radical environmental groups and Christian churches... Investing the anti-human environmental agenda with ecclesiastical authority is very dangerous, even when it is done unintentionally.")

Straight to you from the Twilight Zone! Too bizarre to believe....

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

struggle4progress Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-04-09 11:27 PM

Response to Reply #15

Sirico seems to be a strange person with a strange history, strongly suggesting that he is

motivated in part by a desire for attention: when he could get money and attention as a "pentecostal," he played pentecostal; when he could get attention as a gay rights advocate, he was a gay rights advocate; in the late 1980s, he seems to have decided he could get money and attention playing rightwing Catholic priest. Of course, the policies of Acton are dictated by its corporate sponsors.

I'll explore a bit of tinfoil hat here: if he's not just a very dedicated attention hound, another possibility is that he is some sort of professional mole, because none of his history makes any sense intellectually. Who becomes Catholic after converting to libertarianism? Libertarians usually have a religious faith in the market, whereas the Catholic faith is in the Christian messiah; libertarians typically oppose any government support for the poor, whereas the traditional Catholic social teaching is a "preferential option for the poor." Who gets himself appointed as a priest in a little parish -- a job where one usually emphasizes time with parishioners -- and then spends his days flying around the world on a corporate dime to lecture against welfare? And then how did this fellow, with his history, end up editing a collection of church social teachings for the Vatican? It also seems odd that this well-funded conservative activist seems to be the first person to have performed a gay marriage in the US: one almost suspects that it was a careful and deliberate act aiming at a conservative backlash driven by preplanned and well-coordinated strategy of horrified cries about gay marriage

The first two articles below seem to be variants of each other

The Interfaith Council for Environmental Stewardship

July 2000 By Bill Berkowitz

A not-so-funny thing happened on the way to this year’s 30th anniversary of Earth Day. A group of Religious Right leaders, scientists, and academics, basking in the dual spotlights of Earth Day and Holy Week, launched the Interfaith Council for Environmental Stewardship (ICES), an organization to graft dominion theology onto right-wing environmentalism ... Father Robert A. Sirico, CSP, founder and president of the ... Acton Institute ... is the intellectual author of this new collaboration ... http://www.zmag.org/zmag/viewArticle/13119

Father Robert Sirico: Power Broker on the Rise

By Bill Berkowitz, AlterNet. Posted July 3, 2001

... Father Sirico has a colorful though rarely publicized background that includes a 1970s stint as a "roll-em-on-the-floor Pentecostal boy preacher, who was packing 1,500 people into a Seattle theater every week," says Jerry Sloan, executive director of the watchdog group Project Tocsin. Sirico moved to Los Angeles, joining the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, and later served as executive director of what is now the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Center ... After embracing libertarianism, he turned to the Catholic Church ... In 1990, Father Sirico founded Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Acton Institute ... According to The Right Guide, published by the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Economics America, Inc., in 1997, 94 percent of the Acton Institute's $1.8 million budget came from contributions and grants from foundations, businesses and individuals. Major donors included the $100,000 from the Scaife Family Foundation, $50,000 from the Richard and Helen deVos Foundation, $50,000 from the John M. Olin Foundation and $40,000 from the Lynde & Harry Bradley Foundation ... http://www.alternet.org/story/11114/?page=entire

Bill Berkowitz

July 14, 2003

The Corporate/Think Tank Complex

Father Robert Sirico's Acton Institute and ExxonMobil lash out against corporate responsibility activists

In late-May ... Father Robert Sirico stopped off in Dallas, Texas, to deliver a brief pep talk to the corporate leaders and shareholders of ExxonMobil. Father Sirico, the president of the Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, brought along the Reverend Jerry Zandstra, the director of the Institute's Center for Entrepreneurial Stewardship. Their mission: Speak against human rights and environmental resolutions brought to the floor by a coalition of religious and environmental activists ... Pursue "your duty" to "act upon the reality of consumer demand, obligation to your shareholders, and the needs of your thousands and thousands of employees," Father Sirico said ... http://mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=11

The Sirico Brief

http://www.riteofsodomy.com/vnbarr/Sirico.htm

hmn blog

In 1992, Erik Prince and his father split politically with his sister, Betsy DeVos, who was then 5th District GOP chairwoman. They backed Pat Buchanan for president. She supported President George H.W. Bush.

As a 22-year-old senior at Hillsdale, Prince explained his decision to The Press.

"I interned with the Bush administration for six months," he said.

"I saw a lot of things I didn't agree with -- homosexual groups being invited in, the budget agreement, the Clean Air Act, those kind of bills. I think the administration has been indifferent to a lot of conservative concerns."

Prince also found time in college to volunteer for the Hillsdale Fire Department.

The Rev. Robert Sirico, a Catholic priest and founder of the Grand Rapids-based Acton Institute, a conservative think tank, recalled a dinner meeting with Prince around 1990.

At that dinner, Sirico met with Dick DeVos, his parents, Rich and Helen DeVos, and Edgar and Elsa Prince. He recalled Prince joined the dinner later, coming in smelling like smoke from fighting a fire.

Sirico called Prince a "family man and a believer" who converted to Catholicism within about a year of that meeting.

Since then, Sirico has become a friend to Prince. He baptized four of his children. He also spoke at the funeral of Prince's wife, Joan, who died of cancer in 2003.

Sirico said he and Prince have had many conversations about the free market and faith.

He said they share many views, namely "that business leaders, in light of their calling from God to be creative, have a sacred obligation to use their creativity for the good, to deal honestly with others."

Sirico added Prince is "fundamentally a person who acts rather than talks."

At age 19, Prince made his first political contribution: A $15,000 donation to the GOP. By 2006, his total contributions had swelled to more than $235,000 -- virtually all to Republican or conservative causes.

After college, Prince re-entered the Navy in 1992 and was accepted into the SEALS, a special forces unit considered military elite.

blog

Erik Prince is a U.S. war criminal, arms smuggler and war profiteer, who made millions off the U.S. wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Prince came to Grand Rapids to speak and sign his book:Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater and the Unsung Heroes of the War on Terror.

Mercenary army for profit

The founder of the private army Blackwater, Prince is responsible for war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Blackwater was hired by the State Department under Bush during the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. With cover from the Bush Whitehouse, Blackwater operated outside the law and killed countless Iraqis and Afghans. Amongst the many notorious Blackwater war crimes was the killing of 17 Iraqi civilians and wounding 20 more at Nisour Square in Baghdad in 2007. Prosecutions are still pending, seven years later.

Four Blackwater soldiers of fortune were killed and hung from a bridge in Fallujah in 2004 - which many consider the turning point, the beginning of the end, leading to the withdrawal of the U.S. from Iraq.

Blackwater and its remnants were fined $50 million by the U.S. government for smuggling arms in 2012. This is a slap on the wrist for a company that held nearly $1 billion in U.S. government contracts.

Heavily-armed Blackwater mercenaries invaded New Orleans during hurricane Katrina, not to help poor people who lost everything and needed food and water, but to ‘stop looting.’

Unholy alliance

From Holland, Michigan, Erik Prince is the brother of Grand Rapids billionaire Betsy DeVos. The Acton Institute, run by a local Catholic priest Robert Sirico, sponsored Prince’s war talk. Acton claims to be “Integrating Judeo-Christian truths with free market principles.”

Mike Franz, the local coordinator for MoveOn.org, asked, “What is this unholy alliance? What do the Acton Institute and Erik ‘Prince of Blackwater’ have in common?”

PETER MONTGOMERY

NOTE:This article is a sidebar to Peter Montgomery’s 2015 article in The Public Eye magazine, Biblical Economics: The Divine Laissez-Faire Mandate.Read that full article here.

It’s not only Christian Reconstructionists and conservative evangelicals working to give right-wing economic policies a religious grounding. Catholic writer Michael Novak, formerly ensconced at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism back in 1982. Thirty years later, Rep. Paul Ryan defended the massive social spending cuts in his proposed budget in 2012:{1:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;height:0px;position:relative;bottom:1ex"):}: as a reflection of Catholic principles—a claim vigorously challenged by Sister Simone Campbell, Executive Director of the national Catholic social justice lobby group NETWORK,:{2:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;height:0px;position:relative;bottom:1ex"):}: who continues to oppose Ryan’s approach to poverty and his interpretation of Catholic social justice teachings.

Writing for Political Research Associates in 2008, Frank L. Cocozzelli challenged neoconservative Catholic “proponents of a buccaneer capitalism that exploits the poorest people of God—an idea profoundly at odds with Catholic social teaching for more than a century.”:{3:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;height:0px;position:relative;bottom:1ex"):}: Cocozzelli said Novak’s books “present a highly tortured version of the Roman Catholic concept of social justice.” Catholic neocons, he wrote, are more neocon than Catholic.

More recently, Catholic conservatives have wrung their hands over the language Pope Francis and some other bishops have used to critique the damaging and dehumanizing excesses of modern corporate capitalism.:{4:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;height:0px;position:relative;bottom:1ex"):}: In April 2014, after the Pope famously tweeted,:{5:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;height:0px;position:relative;bottom:1ex"):}: “Inequality is the root of social evil,” conservatives were distraught.:{6:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;height:0px;position:relative;bottom:1ex"):}: David Gibson collected some of the reactions at Religion News Service.:{7:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;height:0px;position:relative;bottom:1ex"):}:

“Seriously, though, what was up with that tweet by @Pontifex? Has he traded the writings of Peter and Paul for [French economist Thomas] Piketty?” tweeted Joe Carter of the Acton Institute, a Catholic-run, libertarian think tank.:{8:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;height:0px;position:relative;bottom:1ex"):}: “Hate and apathy are the roots of social evil,” he added as a counterpoint.9

“So, if we achieve maximum redistribution of resources, we will have eliminated ‘social evil,’ whatever that is?” wrote Rod Dreher in a rather snarky post at The American Conservative.:{10:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;height:0px;position:relative;bottom:1ex"):}: “Yes, and that’s why the Soviet Union was the Garden of Eden.”

Others suggested that Francis didn’t know what was going into his Twitter feed, prompting Vatican officials to note that the message was “taken directly from Francis’ blockbuster exhortation from last year, The Joy of the Gospel.”:{11,12:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;height:0px;position:relative;bottom:1ex"):}: Gibson suggested that “many Christian conservatives, especially non-Catholics, are not intimately familiar with Catholic social teaching, which is what Francis was expounding.”:{13:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;height:0px;position:relative;bottom:1ex"):}:

Last summer, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York got some help:{14:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;height:0px;position:relative;bottom:1ex"):}: from CNBC’s Larry Kudlow putting together an op-ed piece for The Wall Street Journal trying to smooth things over, suggesting that Francis was talking about corrupt Third-World capitalism, but not the principled kind practiced by New York’s financial class.:{15:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;height:0px;position:relative;bottom:1ex"):}: Dolan wrote that “the answer to problems with the free market is not to reject economic liberty in favor of government control,” adding, “The church has consistently rejected coercive systems of socialism and collectivism, because they violate inherent human rights to economic freedom and private property.”

Fr. Drew Christiansen, Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Human Development at Georgetown University, responded, “It wasn’t Argentinean populist economics, Eastern European crony capitalism, or African kleptocracy that threatened the world economy with the worst recession since the 1930s… It was no-holds-barred American capitalism that did that.”:{16:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;height:0px;position:relative;bottom:1ex"):}: Christiansen continued:

“For generations, Catholic social teaching has understood and taught that improving the condition of the poor means holding inequality in check. Thanks be to God, that Pope Benedict and Pope Francis have underscored that teaching in the most emphatic ways.

Unfortunately, too many well-to-do Catholics prefer getting their economic ethics from the Acton Institute rather than the Vatican.”

The Acton Institute is a Michigan-based think tank dedicated, according to its website, to “Integrating Judeo-Christian Truths with Free Market Principles.” According toSourceWatch, Acton has received millions from organizations connected to the Koch brothers.:{17:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;height:0px;position:relative;bottom:1ex"):}: While Acton calls itself ecumenical, it was co-founded and is led by Rev. Robert A. Sirico, a formerly liberal:{18:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;height:0px;position:relative;bottom:1ex"):}: Catholic priest who in 2012 wrote Defending the Free Market: The Moral Case for a Free Economy. Sirico and Acton promote libertarian economics:{19:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;height:0px;position:relative;bottom:1ex"):}: and a conservative take on Catholic social justice teaching. In 2013, Acton’s research director, Samuel Gregg, published Tea Party Catholic: The Catholic Case for Limited Government, a Free Economy, and Human Flourishing.:{20:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;height:0px;position:relative;bottom:1ex"):}:

Along those lines, last fall conservative scholar Anthony Esolen published Reclaiming Catholic Social Teaching: A Defense of the Church’s True Teachings on Marriage, Family, and the State,:{21:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;height:0px;position:relative;bottom:1ex"):}: a book that promises to “[pull] back the curtain” on the “false philosophers” of Catholic social justice advocates.

Inside, Esolen argues, “Catholic social teaching condemns the statist usurpation of the family, whether that usurpation is openly hostile or is cloaked in beneficence.” Esolen says charity is an individual’s duty that cannot be passed off to others, that businesses should pay a fair wage, and workers should provide work of value, but that this will be a result of virtuous people, not “State control.” He denounces “the cancerous Metastate,” which he says damages families and the ability of people to govern themselves according to the Ten Commandments.

Some conservatives fear the loss of independence that comes with Catholic agencies taking government funds to carry out social justice work. In a March 2015 commentary, ChurchMilitant.TV host Michael Voris slammed “the abuse of the church’s beautiful social teaching to advance the political aims of the church’s enemies.”:{22:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;height:0px;position:relative;bottom:1ex"):}: Voris denounced Catholic social welfare agencies for taking government funds to carry out their work. “The church in America is up to its miters in government entanglements owing to its having taken taxpayer money,” he said. Bishops “have crawled into bed with low-life, evil politicians to get their cash, so they can ostensibly go out and fulfill the church’s mission to help the poor.”

In November, Catholic libertarians and philanthropists John and Carol Saeman wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post entitled “Pope Francis, the Kochs, and How the Wealthy Can Help the Poor.”:{23:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;height:0px;position:relative;bottom:1ex"):}: The Saemans, contributors to the Kochs’ political networks,:{24:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;height:0px;position:relative;bottom:1ex"):}: repeated the claim that limited-government, free-market policies align with Catholic teachings about the common good. Meanwhile, the Koch brothers are continuing to invest in Catholic institutions. In January, the Charles Koch Foundation announced a grant of $1.75 million to the Catholic University of America,:{25:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;height:0px;position:relative;bottom:1ex"):}: which came a year after a controversial $1 million Koch grant for CUA to launch a business school.:{26:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;height:0px;position:relative;bottom:1ex"):}:

END NOTES

1 Corrie Mitchell (2013). “Sister Simone Campbell, Rep. Paul Ryan differ at “war on poverty” hearing.” U.S. Catholic.Online athttp://www.uscatholic.org/news/201307/catholics-differ-%E2%80%9Cwar-poverty%E2%80%9D-hearing-27634.

2 (2014). “Simone Campbell, SSS.” NETWORK.Online athttp://www.networklobby.org/people/simone-campbell-sss.

3 Frank Cocozzelli (2008). “Refuting the Myths of Neoconservative Roman Catholic Economics.” Political Research Associates.Online athttp://www.politicalresearch.org/2008/12/07/saving-monsignor-ryan-refuting-the-myths-of-neoconservative-roman-catholic-economics/.

4 David Gibson (2014). “Catholic and libertarian? Pope’s top advisor says they’re incompatible.” Religion News Service.Online athttp://www.religionnews.com/2014/06/03/catholic-libertarian-popes-top-adviser-says-theyre-incompatible/.

5 Pope Francis, Twitter post, April 28, 2014, 1:28 a.m. Online athttps://twitter.com/Pontifex/status/460697074585980928.

6 David Gibson (2014). “ANALYSIS: Conservatives Squawk over Pope’s tweet on inequality.” Religious News Service. Online athttp://www.religionnews.com/2014/04/29/analysis-conservatives-squawk-popes-tweet-inequality/.

7 Ibid.

8 Joe Carter, Twitter post, April 28, 2014, 9:20 a.m. Online athttps://twitter.com/joecarter/status/460821668077002752.

9 Joe Carter, Twitter post, April 28, 2014, 9:25 a.m. Online athttps://twitter.com/joecarter/status/460817004157739008.

10 Rod Dreher (2014). “The Egalitarian Pope Francis.” The American Conservative.Online athttp://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/egalitarian-pope-francis/.

11 David Gibson (2014). “ANALYSIS: Conservatives Squawk over Pope’s tweet on inequality.” Religious News Service. Online athttp://www.religionnews.com/2014/04/29/analysis-conservatives-squawk-popes-tweet-inequality/.

12 “Evangelii Gaudium : Apostolic Exhortation on the Proclamation of the Gospel in Today’s World (24 November 2013).” Evangelii Gaudium : Apostolic Exhortation on the Proclamation of the Gospel in Today’s World (24 November 2013). Accessed April 17, 2015.http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium.html.

13 David Gibson (2014). “ANALYSIS: Conservatives Squawk over Pope’s tweet on inequality.” Religious News Service. Online athttp://www.religionnews.com/2014/04/29/analysis-conservatives-squawk-popes-tweet-inequality/.

14 Thomas Reese (2014). “Theologans critique Cardinal Dolan’s defense of capitalism.” National Catholic Reporter. Online athttp://ncronline.org/blogs/faith-and-justice/theologians-critique-cardinal-dolans-defense-capitalism.

15 Timothy Dolan (2014). “The Pope’s Case for Virtuous Capitalism.” The Wall Street Journal.Online athttp://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304198504579572571508689630.

16 Thomas Reese (2014). “Theologans critique Cardinal Dolan’s defense of capitalism.” National Catholic Reporter. Online athttp://ncronline.org/blogs/faith-and-justice/theologians-critique-cardinal-dolans-defense-capitalism.

17 (2015). “Acton Institute.” Source Watch.Online athttp://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Acton_Institute#Ties_to_Koch_Brothers.

18 Michael Sean Winters (2010). “Fr. Robert Sirico on gay marriages he once performed.” National Catholic Reporter. Online athttp://ncronline.org/blogs/distinctly-catholic/fr-robert-sirico-gay-marriages-he-once-performed.

19Winters, Michael Sean. (2013). “MSW v. Sirico: Part 1.” *National Catholic Reporter.*Online at http://ncronline.org/blogs/distinctly-catholic/msw-v-sirico-part-1.

20 (2013). “Tea Party Catholic: Connecting Religious Liberty and Economic Freedom.” Acton Institute. Online athttp://www.acton.org/press/release/2013/tea-party-catholic-connecting-religious-liberty-ec.

21 “Reclaiming Catholic Social Teaching.” Sophia Institute Press.Online athttp://shop.sophiainstitute.com/Reclaiming-Catholic-Social-Teaching-P738.aspx.

22 Michael Voris (2015). ChurchMilitant.TV. Online athttp://www.churchmilitant.tv/platform/?today=2015-03-04.

23 Carol Saeman and John Saeman (2014). “Pope Francis, the Kochs, and how the wealthy can help the poor.” The Washington Post.Online athttp://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/pope-francis-the-kochs-and-how-the-wealthy-can-help-the-poor/2014/11/28/958fbac2-770a-11e4-a755-e32227229e7b_story.html.

24 Patrick Glennon (2014). “What Would the Koch Brothers Do? Religion and Libertarian Philanthropy.” Truthout.Online athttp://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/27803-what-would-the-koch-brothers-do-religion-and-libertarian-philanthropy.

25 David Gibson (2015). “Controversial Koch Brothers give big (again) to Catholic University.” Religion News Service. Online athttp://www.religionnews.com/2015/01/30/controversial-koch-brothers-give-big-catholic-university/.

26 David Gibson (2014). “More protests over Koch gift to Catholic University of America.” Religion News Service.Online athttp://www.religionnews.com/2014/02/11/protests-koch-gift-catholic-university-ame.

6 THOUGHTS ON “CATHOLICS, CONSERVATIVES AND CAPITALISM”

- See more at: http://www.politicalresearch.org/catholics-conservatives-and-capitalism/#sthash.SBS0wwex.dpuf

Another person from the conservativeCivic Institute(Občanský institut) has begun working in the Czech Government's human rights section. Matyáš Zrno has become deputy director to both the section and the Czech Government Human Rights Commissioner. His appointment follows that of Civic Institute director Roman Joch, who advises the Czech PM on human rights questions. Czech Government Human Rights Commissioner Monika Šimůnková confirmed to the Czech Press Agency that Zrno has been given the position.

Representatives of some nonprofit organizations are not welcoming the decision to appoint Zrno, considering it yet another sign of "tolerance for extremism". The Czech Press Agency is in the process of determining Zrno's perspective.

Zrno once worked as an editor and journalist for Czech Television. From February 2010 until not long ago, he led civilian experts in a reconstruction team in the Afghan province of Lógar. Prior to that he worked in the Civic Institute, which lists him on its website as a research staffer.

Earlier this month, Zrno became deputy director of the human rights section at the Office of the Czech Government, which is led by Czech Government Human Rights Commissioner Monika Šimůnková. She says Zrno will assist with economic, human resources and organizational management. "I picked him myself. This is my decision," Šimůnková told the Czech Press Agency, stressing that she would never bring someone with extreme opinions into her team. "I am apolitical and I do things according to the best of my awareness. I don't believe human rights are a priori only a left-wing matter."

Representatives of nonprofit organizations have previously criticized the fact that the Czech PM selected Roman Joch, the Civic Institute head, as his human rights adviser. Joch is known for his radical opinions about domestic violence and the equality of men and women. A similar wave of indignation was prompted when the Czech Education Ministry hired the head of the conservative D.O.S.T. initiative, Ladislav Bátora, who once ran as a candidate for the nationalist National Party (Národní strana - NS). Bátora is currently leading the human resources department at the ministry.

Some nonprofit organizations are not welcoming Zrno's appointment to the human rights section either. Jiří Silný, director of the Ecumenical Academy Prague (Ekumenická akademie Praha), does not consider it positive, but another shift toward "right-wing extremism". Silný said he hopes "civil society will respond" to the appointment. A representative of the Fórum 50% organization, which strives for greater representation of women in Czech politics, said Zrno's appointment crossed the "pain threshold". In these organizations' view, conservatives occupying human rights jobs represents a step backward in the establishment of equal chances for all.

wiki

David H. Padden is President of Padden & Company Inc.[1], a Chicago-based investment securities firm, and spinoff Padco Lease Corporation. He plays a prominent role in a number of libertarian think tanks:

Heartland Institute, founder and director 2004 [2]
Cato Institute, director 2004 [3]
Citizens for a Sound Economy, former director
Acton Institute, former director
Bionomics Institute, director
Foundation for Economic Education, former director
Center for Libertarian Studies, former director
Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, director 2001 [4]

References

Heartland Institute, David H. Padden biography, accessed February 2004.
Padco Lease Corporation -- A Chicago based Investment banking firm purchases leases for resale to a select group of private investors. Padco is a spin off of Padden & Company, Inc., founded in 1963.[5]

Known Associates

Peter Ackerman, Managing Director, Rockport Financial Ltd.; K. Tucker Andersen, Senior Consultant, Cumberland Associates LLC; Frank Bond, Chairman, The Foundation Group; Edward H. Crane, President, Cato Institute; Richard J. Dennis, President, Dennis Trading Group; Theodore J. Forstmann, Principal, Forstmann Little & Company; Ethelmae C. Humphreys, Chairman, Tamko Roofing Products, Inc.; David H. Koch, Executive Vice President, Koch Industries, Inc.; John C. Malone, Chairman, Liberty Media Corporation; William A. Niskanen, Chairman, Cato Institute;

Lewis E. Randall, Board Member, E*Trade Financial; Howard S. Rich, President, U.S. Term Limits; Frederick W. Smith, Chairman & CEO, FedEx Corporation; Jeffrey S. Yass, Managing Director, Susquehanna International Group, LLP; Alejandro A. Chafuen; Wade Fetzer III; Edwin J. Feulner, Jr.; David Humphreys; Alejandro Garza Lagüera; Bernard T. Lomas; Jeff D. Sandefer; Robert A. Sirico; George W. Strake, Jr.; David Humphreys - Chairman, Tamko Asphalt Products; Betsy DeVos - Treasurer, The Windquest Group, Inc.; Alejandro A. Chafuen - Secretary, Atlas Economic Research Foundation; Rev. Robert A. Sirico - President, The Acton Institute; Barry Conner, America's Home Place; Robert Costello, Social Security Choice.org; Frank Hanna III, HBR Capital, Ltd.; Alejandro Garza Lagüera, Pulsar International; David Milroy, Reams Asset Management Company; J.C. Huizenga, National Heritage Academies; Sidney J. Jansma, Jr., Wolverine Gas and Oil Corporation;

Ren Broekhuizen, Pastor, Ridge Point Community Church; Carol Erickson Martino, Consultant, Ambrosetti Group; Daniel C. Lynch, Bionomics Chairman; Terry Huffington; Mark H. Edwards; J.G. "Mike" Ford, Jr.; Peter Gruber; Allan C. King; Leo Linbeck, Jr.; Leigh Marriner; Bill Melton; John Porter; Michael Rothschild; Mark A. Tebbe; Herbert J. Walberg, Chairman University of Illinois - Chicago; James L. Johnston Amoco Corporation (retired); Joseph L. Bast, President and CEO, The Heartland Institute; Roy E. Marden, Public Policy Consultant; Walter F. Buchholtz, ExxonMobil Corporation; Robert Buford, Planned Realty Group; Frank Resnik, Medline Inc. (retired); Paul Fisher, Piper, Marbury, Rudnick & Wolfe; Leslie Rose, Fidelity Bank; James Fitzgerald, BankNote Capital LLC; Lee Tooman, Golden Rule Insurance Company; Dan Hales, Peterson & Ross; Lee H. Walker, New Coalition for Economic & Social Change; William Higginson, Chicago Equity Fund Inc.; Thomas Walton, General Motors; Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation Board of Directors: **David H. Koch**; Sarah Atkins; Wayne Gable; John Thomas; Walter Williams. CSE Board of Directors: Jim Burnley; **C. Boyden Gray**; Thomas Knudsen; James C. Miller III; Richard Stephenson; Dirk Van Dongen.