Inside the Capitol

Read more

One of the main debates at the State Capitol this year centers on what to do with a projected $900 million budget surplus, the result of anticipated revenues for this current budget biennium exceeding planned government expenditures.

Read more

Even someone as accustomed to political victory as Otto von Bismarck said that “[p]olitics is the art of the possible, the attainable — the art of the next best.”

But too many elected officials today, mired in a political environment of hyper-partisanship and ideological rigidity, are unwilling and feel unable to compromise to find solutions if it means allowing an opponent’s policy to pass. Better, it seems, to do nothing than to allow the opposition to score even a single political point.

Read more

Minnesota has a proud history of civic engagement, and the caucus system is part of that legacy. As Catholics, caucusing provides us an opportunity not only to live out the call to faithful citizenship, but also to have a meaningful impact on the political process. Here is what you need to know in order to be an effective voice for the common good and human dignity at your local precinct caucus.

Read more

Venturing into the political realm today can be an unappealing prospect. Sometimes it seems that American politics appeals to our base fears and prejudices, while advancing only the special interests of a powerful few. Often, sound bites, faux controversies and empty gestures take the place of true civil discourse and a deeper understanding of how to pursue the common good.

Read more

Throughout his pontificate, Pope Francis has waged a war on the “throwaway culture,” in which anything can be commodified and given a dollar value, and where life itself can be, in his words, “considered a consumer good to be used and then discarded.”

Read more

When we hear the word “idolatry,” we probably think first of a golden calf and pagan worship. But idolatry, giving the reverence and devotion owed to God to something created instead, is actually a much more commonplace sin. In fact, the Catechism of the Catholic Church warns us that idolatry “remains a constant temptation of faith.”

Read more

The current Year of Mercy proclaimed by Pope Francis is an opportunity to reconsider how the creative force of mercy can be extended to the realm of public policy. Though the aim of law is to establish justice, it can be enriched by a life-giving mercy that seeks to restore and maintain right relationships — the true aim of justice. Otherwise, the execution of justice can become merely the impersonal application of commands.

Read more