Acton Vault

In this episode of Action Vault, we bring you a presentation that was delivered as part of the 2014 Acton Lecture Series, featuring F.H. Buckley, Foundation Professor at George Mason University’s Scalia School of Law, speaking on the unchecked presidential power we’re witnessing today in our government. Buckley explains that what we assume was the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of a separation of powers was not what the Founders had in mind. What they expected was a country in which Congress would dominate the government and in which the president would play a much smaller role.

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Acton Lecture Series 

About F.H. Buckley

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In this episode, we bring you an interview that was conducted as part of our 2022 Business Matters online conference, featuring Mark Murray, former president of Meijer (one of America’s largest private companies), former president of Grand Valley State University, and former budget director for the State of Michigan. 

Murray draws from his diverse leadership experience to speak on how each of us can achieve virtuous leadership. Acton’s director of communications, Eric Kohn, asks him about leadership lessons he’s learned in each of the three industries he’s worked in, current crises facing businesses, and the search for fulfillment.

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Virtuous Leadership vs. Narcissistic Leadership 

Magnanimity and Humility Make for Good Entrepreneurs

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Do private property and religious liberty go hand in hand? Are they truly inseparable? The Rev. Robert A. Sirico, president emeritus and co-founder of the Acton Institute, defends private property as the solid ground of religious liberty in this contribution to the 2016 Acton Lecture Series. 

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Acton Lecture Series 

About Rev. Robert A. Sirico 

Acton research on private property 

Private property and public good

The Church, property rights, and the environment

In defense of private property 

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With more than a million words of trenchant journalism under his byline and more citations in The Penguin Dictionary of Humorous Quotations than any writer then alive, P.J. O’Rourke had established himself as America’s premier political satirist. Both TIME and The Wall Street Journal labeled him “the funniest writer in America.”

In this episode, O'Rourke delivers remarks on the current state of American governance at the Acton Institute's 23rd Anniversary Dinner on October 24, 2013. 

O’Rourke died at his home in Sharon, New Hampshire, on February 15, 2022, at the age of 74. 

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About P.J. O'Rourke 

Why we need more O'Rourke Conservatives

Acton Line: PJ O'Rourke on capitalism; Peter Jackson's 'They Shall Not Grow Old'

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In this episode, we bring you a presentation that was delivered as part of the 2014 Acton Lecture Series featuring Jay Richards, Ph.D., senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation and New York Times bestselling author, speaking on why a belief in God is necessary for libertarianism to flourish. 

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Acton Lecture Series 

About Jay Richards 

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Dr. Gerald McDermott addresses the important issue of the state of public virtue and what might be done to restore it in his address at Acton's "Reclaiming the West: Public Spirit and Public Virtue" event in Washington D.C. on December 6, 2017.

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About Dr. Gerald McDermott 

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In this episode, Sam Gregg, director of research at the Acton Institute, delivered the opening plenary lecture of Acton University 2017. Gregg’s lecture focuses on the very real dangers faced by religious believers around the world (and especially in developing nations). He also touches on threats to religious freedom within western nations. These threats, ironically, often stem from modern ideological interpretations of “tolerance.”

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About Samuel Gregg, D.Phil. (Oxon.) 

Reason, faith, and the struggle for Western civilization

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Organizations commonly face roadblocks when trying to address poverty or engage effectively with people directly affected by it. When it comes to poverty alleviation, organizations tend to think that what is needed is the perfect strategy, a new idea, or a great program. What’s most important, however, are the people involved, the relationships built, and the process we use to get to the solution.

In this episode, we bring you a presentation that was delivered as part of the 2022 Acton Lecture Series featuring Marlo Fox speaking on building solutions with the people directly affected by poverty, creating organization and community cultures that strengthen social capital across economic lines.

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Thinktank-inc.org 

About Marlo Fox 

Acton Lecture Series 

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We often say what’s right and what’s wrong can be vague and not always easy to discern. The natural law tradition says that’s nonsense: Moral basics are known to every human being. If this is true, then we aren’t ignorant of the good, just self-deceived. So what happens when we tell ourselves that we don’t know what we really do know?

In this episode, we bring you a presentation that was delivered as part of the 2017 Acton Lecture Series, featuring Dr. J. Budziszewski speaking on natural law and the revenge of conscience.

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About Dr. J. Budziszewski 

Acton Lecture Series 

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In this episode, we bring you a presentation that was delivered as part of the 1994 Acton Lecture Series featuring Sister Connie Driscoll speaking on the welfare myth. 

Sister Connie (1933–2005) was the co-founder of St. Martin de Porres House of Hope, now the Southside Center of Hope, in an impoverished neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. It’s a community for women and their children who are healing and recovering from substance abuse.

Sister Connie believed in personal responsibility and refused any type of government aid. When women entered the community, Sister Connie took their welfare checks and taught them how to pay rent. 

She described her practice in a 1997 Forbes interview: “They have to turn over 80 percent of their welfare check and 50 percent of their food stamps. I put the money and stamps into a safe-deposit box and return it when they’re ready to leave. We teach them to pay rent, utilities and food bills first, then prioritize what else they need. The word on the street is that ours is a tough house. The women always have somewhere to be: career or computer training, GED classes, Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous meetings or a job here in the house.”

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About Sister Connie Driscoll  

Acton Lecture Series 

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