Voices from Afghanistan

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Nearly a decade ago I sat, together with Catholic philosopher Michael Novak, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, James Billington. Novak had brought us together—he was a longtime friend of Billington—and I was there to pitch an idea. I wanted the Library of Congress to host an exhibit of letters to Radio Azadi, the local branch in Afghanistan of the taxpayer-funded company I led at the time, the modernized Cold War media group called Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). Billington—joined by a couple of his division experts—was skeptical, to put it mildly. A station’s fan mail in the coveted space of the Library of Congress? Was I mad?

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What I Learned From Michael Novak

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What I Learned From Michael Novak

Robert A. Sirico, writing in the Wall Street Journal:

I first read Michael Novak’s groundbreaking work “The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism” when it was published in 1982, before I entered seminary at the Catholic University of America. The book’s dialogue between economics and theology made a deep impression on me, as it did thousands of others. I wrote the author and asked if we might meet once I arrived in Washington. Thus began a friendship that lasted until Novak’s death last year.

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Michael Novak's Faith and Sense

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On Saturday will be the year since the death of the American Catholic philosopher of Slovak origin, Michael Novak.

The memorial prayer cards given at his funeral had an unusual design: alongside the silhouette of the crucifix, they were dominated by the archery drawing, which focuses on the shot with the taut.

The author of the drawing is Karen Laub Novak, the artist and Michael's beloved wife. Michael liked to explain that the inspiration of this portrayal stems from Aristotle's Nikomach's ethics and is related to the achievement of practical wisdom. This can be gained by a long experience associated with a purposeful intellectual effort.

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