I have often been asked, “Can you be a good Catholic and successful in business?” The question is posed as if there is a contradiction between the two, assuming that to be successful in America, a CEO has to compromise his faith or morals. I believe that not only are the two not mutually exclusive,…
Blackhawk Living—If you’ve never met Thomas Loarie, there’s a chance you might recognize his voice. He co-hosts a radio show called The Mentors Radio, which airs Saturdays on the Salem Radio Network in California (KTRB AM860) and worldwide, on iHeart Radio. “We are now in our fifth year,” says Loarie. “We feature guests from all…
Catholics make up only 12% of the population in Hong Kong. Yet these 12% are making a big difference for the sake of the greater good in the once free and thriving city, now oppressed by Communist China’s rule. You may not know their names or faces, but among this 12%, there are countless Catholic…
The Federalist—In Hong Kong right now, Jimmy Lai is sacrificing all — his fortune and possibly his life — for his God, his fellow man, and for freedom. Lai is a billionaire, although he wasn’t always one. Born two years before the Communists defeated the nationalists in China’s civil war, his father fled and his…
Everything about Nick Thomm exudes the principle: Do what you love, anchored in Christ! In the case of this unique Catholic Business Profile, the much-loved, devout Catholic, understated and ever positive Nicholas Alexander Thomm, former executive producer at Ave Maria Radio in Ann Arbor, Michigan, died November 24, 2020, after a 14-year battle with brain…
The North Star Catholic—On May 17, Archbishop Bellisario presented the Benemerenti Medal to Ed and Cathy Rasmuson during vespers at Holy Family Old Cathedral in Anchorage. It was a special recognition bestowed by the Holy Father, Pope Francis, to the Rasmusons for their lasting and exceptional service to the Catholic Church and the people of…
California-based Ken Strottman, founder and chairman of Strottman International, is a proud alumnus of the University of Notre Dame and has been a faithful, practicing Catholic all his life. This weekend on THE MENTORS RADIO, another faithful life-long Catholic, Host Ric Brutocao, talks with Ken Strottman about Strottman’s unexpected journey into founding the unique marketing…
February 18, 2020
Catholic business leader Christopher Smith (pictured left) first got into business to do some good in the world—and if his successful career path is any indication—he’s doing this good work extremely well. As one of the founders of Dig Media, the parent company of Investment News Network (INN), Smith manages Catholic business leader Christopher Smith (pictured left)…
Photo: Jeremy G. Vinluan with Bishop Nelson Perez of the Diocese of Cleveland at a Theology on Tap event in West Cleveland. In an age of enlightened tech communications, when is the last time you received a handwritten letter? For younger readers, the likely answer to that question is “Never.” But what if you were…
Texas native Tim VonDohlen, a long-time Catholic Business Journal columnist, is known as much for his business savvy and significant success as for his profound Catholic faith. That said, life has not always been smooth-sailing for Tim, nor for his wife, even though to meet either of them you would never know. Pat Von Dohlen…
In the words of the American writer William Arthur Ward, ”The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The wise teacher inspires.” Kenneth Farr, M.A., the new principal at St. David Catholic School in Richmond, CA, as of July 1, inspires. To become principal at age 26, after just five years…
OK, I might get some heat for this one, but it seems to me — before all the secularist, anti-Christian, anti-Judeo-Christian history revisionists rooted themselves in the re-writing of school history textbooks, in mainstream newsrooms, and as college professors and Google algorythm coders — that Christopher Columbus was a good guy, a respected leader and…
July 10, 2019
Every cause needs a hero, and when it comes defending religious liberty, it is only fitting that one of the heroes of this cause is named Hercules. Like its namesake muscleman of Greek myths, Hercules Industries of Denver, CO, a Catholic family steel manufacturing company, led by its president Andrew (“Andy”) Newland (pictured left), has triumphed in…
Having been a cross-country runner in high school and college, Dan McClory (pictured left) knows that going the distance is the most important part of any athletic endeavor. As managing director, head of equity capital markets and head of China markets at Boustead Securities, McClory knows the same is true in international banking. Since 2016, McClory…
In this Catholic Business Profile, we could not imagine a better example of the vocation of a Catholic business leader—a person who daily lives and models for us the habits of servant leadership, complete trust and abandonment to Divine Providence, constant prayer even in work, attention to excellence in product content and delivery, humility, building…
Eliud Kipchoge broke the marathon world record in Berlin in September with a time of 2:01:39. That’s TWO hours and slightly over one minute! To put it it into perspective, in the same amount of time it took you to drive two hours away, Kipchoge RAN 26.2 miles without stopping! He didn’t even look tired…
He wrestled, played football and threw the javelin at Holy Cross, started at linebacker for the United States Military Academy at West Point, served 24 years in the Army, ran a school for troubled teens in Chicago and spent five years hauling hazardous chemicals 1 million miles throughout all 50 U.S. states and 10 Canadian provinces,…
One of the world’s most respected, best-known thinkers on corporate culture works out of an unassuming open-plan office over a hair salon in tony Lafayette, California, two traffic jams east of San Francisco. The location suits him, and his mission. Just close enough to keep the pulse of disruption in Silicon Valley, just far enough…
As a young seminarian in the Diocese of Brooklyn, Abbot Eugene Hayes of St. Michael’s Abbey, Silverado, CA, witnessed firsthand the vocation crisis the Church experienced shortly after the changes brought about in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. But as leader of the hundred-strong community of Norbertine fathers, brothers and novitiates living at…
October 2, 2017
It’s a commonplace in education that “a textbook is only as good as the teacher who teaches it.” But according to Michael Van Hecke (pictured above), founder of the Catholic Textbook Project, sometimes a textbook can transform a good teacher into a better teacher—or even into a great teacher. Founded in 2000, the Catholic Textbook…
