First Things RSS Feed - Robert A. Sirico https://www.firstthings.com/author/fr-robert-a-sirico en-us Copyright 2025 First Things. All Rights Reserved. ft@firstthings.com (The Editors) ft@firstthings.com (The Editors) Mon, 20 Jan 2025 16:53:32 -0500 https://d2201k5v4hmrsv.cloudfront.net/img/favicon-196.png First Things RSS Feed Image https://www.firstthings.com/rss/author/fr-robert-a-sirico 60 Faithful and Invisible https://www.firstthings.com/article/2024/06/faithful-and-invisible https://www.firstthings.com/article/2024/06/faithful-and-invisible Sat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 -0400 ft@firstthings.com (Robert A. Sirico) On December 18, 2023, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued the declaration Fiducia Supplicans , which granted permission for Catholic priests to bestow blessings upon couples in “irregular situations” and same-sex couples. Discussions surrounding the meaning and implications of this letter have been extensive, occasioned by the confusion it generates and the theological inconsistencies it contains. Recently, along with Catholic leaders around the world, I signed a “Filial Appeal” addressed to cardinals and bishops expressing concerns about the repercussions and substance of Fiducia Supplicans and advocating for its withdrawal.

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]]> Profits and Peace https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2008/10/profits-and-peace https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2008/10/profits-and-peace Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400 ft@firstthings.com (Robert A. Sirico) Prof. Timothy L. Fort has made a very interesting contribution to our understanding of the relationship between business and commerce in his recent book, Prophets, Profits, and Peace: The Positive Role of Business in Promoting Religious Tolerance . “Religion affects politics,” he writes. “Why wouldn’t we think that it would affect business, too?”

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]]> Friends of the Unrighteous Mammon https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2008/09/friends-of-the-unrighteous-mam https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2008/09/friends-of-the-unrighteous-mam Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400 ft@firstthings.com (Robert A. Sirico) What is the theological significance of wealth and its production? The debate rages over this issue in American public life today. But the debate is not new. It is quite ancient, and it has only grown in complexity and precision in recent times.

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]]> Economics as Religion: From Samuelson to Chicago and Beyond https://www.firstthings.com/article/2002/12/economics-as-religion-from-samuelson-to-chicago-and-beyond https://www.firstthings.com/article/2002/12/economics-as-religion-from-samuelson-to-chicago-and-beyond Sun, 01 Dec 2002 00:00:00 -0500 ft@firstthings.com (Robert A. Sirico) Economics, as a social science, occupies a peculiar space within academic and national life. Economists deal with acting, choosing human persons,and their behavior in the most fickle area of life, the commercial marketplace; yet economists employ mathematical devices drawn from physics and the hard sciences. Unlike hard scientists, they are not content to study and discover what is given and seek improvements only within this constrained framework. Economists also see themselves, in the words of that old progressive Thorstein Veblen, as “keepers of the community’s material welfare.” They thus employ every manner of value and moral judgment in the practice of their science.

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]]> How Partisan Are the Bishops? https://www.firstthings.com/article/1996/10/003-how-partisan-are-the-bishops https://www.firstthings.com/article/1996/10/003-how-partisan-are-the-bishops Tue, 01 Oct 1996 00:00:00 -0400 ft@firstthings.com (Robert A. Sirico) In preparation for the election year, the United States Catholic Conference (USCC) issued a statement on “Political Responsibility.” Numerous critics have asserted that the statement, despite its claim to be nonpartisan, aligns the Catholic Church with the positions of the Democratic Party, with the notable exception of abortion. Defenders of the USCC have vigorously challenged that assertion. A close comparison of passages from the USCC statement with passages from the 1992 platforms of the two major parties on the same topics (the platforms available to the writers of “Political Responsibility”) provides, I believe, the information necessary to judge the partisanship of the USCC statement.
I. Jobs

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]]> God and the Economists https://www.firstthings.com/article/1992/04/god-and-the-economists https://www.firstthings.com/article/1992/04/god-and-the-economists Wed, 01 Apr 1992 00:00:00 -0500 ft@firstthings.com (Robert A. Sirico) Reaching for Heaven on Earth: The Theological Meaning of Economics
by Robert H. Nelson
Rowman and Littlefield, 378 pages, $24.95

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