Perspectives of a Wanderer

While reading though the myriad of postings over on Facebook, a link to the chapter “The Great and Enduring Heresy of Mohammed” in Hilaire Belloc’s The Great Heresies was posted.

In there, Belloc hypothesizes that Islam (Mohammedanism as he called it in some instances) was not a new and/or pagan religion, but really another heresy of Catholicism.  He points out how Islam started out with many Catholic tenets and how it became a heresy.

What was that heresy? It was a full denial of the Incarnation.  He explains it as follows:

Mohammed did not merely take the first steps toward that denial, as the Arians and their followers had done; he advanced a clear affirmation, full and complete, against the whole doctrine of an incarnate God. He taught that Our Lord was the greatest of all the prophets, but still only a prophet: a man like other men. He eliminated the Trinity altogether.

With that denial of the Incarnation went the whole sacramental structure. He refused to know anything of the Eucharist, with its Real Presence; he stopped the sacrifice of Mass, and therefore the institution of a special priesthood. In other words, he, like so many other lesser heresiarchs, founded his heresy on simplification.

He goes on in a lengthy discourse on the history of Islam and it waxing and waning power, but that is not a subject for this post.

I have read reports where a great number (Somewhere around 15, 000) of Muslims in France convert every year, especially to Catholicism.  I hear the number is even greater in Africa and numbers in the millions worldwide.  Here in the United States, there is no real statistics that I can find on how many convert, but I have a feeling that it may not be that many (at least to Catholicism)

What I believe is that we may be able use what Hilary Belloc termed the “heresies” of Islam as an Evangelization tool for the conversion of Muslims. I also believe that we can use the recent events such as the massacre at Ft. Hood and how Islam seems to be controlled by the radical Imams to portray Christianity in general and Catholicism particular and as an attractive alternative to Islam.

As I have pointed out in previous posts is that this evangelization must not include:

• Forcing people to convert
• Providing physical benefits in hopes that recipients will be open to listening
• Providing physical benefits only to those willing to listen
• Providing physical benefits only who convert

Also, as I have stated in the past, these evangelization efforts will fail if we do not live our lives according to the teaching of Our Lord and his Church. You have heard of the quote: “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words”. This means we If we do not live by example, our message will fall on deaf ears and we will probably fall on the sword of Islam.

When I say the key, I am talking about fighting the plagues of Relativism, Socialism, Liberalism, Materialism, and Global Capitalism that have infected today’s society.

Yes, some of these plagues were around long before the Protestant Revolt, but none really took hold until after the splintering that took place in the early 16th century.  I believe the disunity that took place during the revolt allowed these plagues to grow into the widespread infestation that is threatening to implode society today.  It is also my opinion that only the unity of Christianity under the Catholic Church is the only way that the impending implosion can be averted.

In the past couple of weeks, we have seen the Traditional Anglican Communion take a huge step in returning to the fold and there are rumblings of other groups (I will not list them since they are only rumors) in serious talks with the Holy See in returning. The more groups, and individuals too, that return, the better chance we have in fighting these plagues.

As faithful Catholics, we must do out part in bringing our brethren back to the fold.  This can be accomplished through a number of activities. The main two are:

1. How we live our lives. You have heard of the quote: “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words”. This means we must live our lives according to the teaching of Our Lord and his Church. If we do not live accordingly, we will lose the war at this point
2. A very active evangelization. Yes, what I am talking about can be considered proselytism, and you know what, you are right because it is. We must take the truth to the enemy and get in their faces. Of course, there are some things that must not do.  Those things include:

• Forcing people to convert
• Providing physical benefits in hopes that recipients will be open to listening
• Providing physical benefits only to those willing to listen
• Providing physical benefits only who convert

What we must do is preach the Truth to all, both those who are willing to listen and to those who are hardened to the Word of God.  We must use the public square as our pulpit at every chance we get. What we must not to is compromise the Truths set forth by the Catholic Church. These are non-negotiable.

The more people we can bring into the fold the better the chance we will have in fighting the socio-economic plagues that threaten us all.

Everyone has probably things like Enterprise Development Zones, Redevelopment Zones, and the likes to revitalize urban centers.  It is about time we consider creating what I would like to call Distributist Community Regions.  What makes a Distributist Community Regions different?

First, these types of zones are limited in scope.  They are, for the most part, either business or residential in nature.  They seldom look at the complete picture.  Even when they do look at both, it is not as a community, but only parts in an incomplete picture.  There is a no sense of true and complete community being developed. A Distributist Community Region would be a complete community that could sustain itself with very little, or no outside, help if the situation would arise.

The second is area affected.  I chose the term “Region” instead of zone because it denotes a larger area.  Usually, a zone is limited to a neighborhood, maybe two, at most.  A region denotes a much larger area and would include not only the residential and business areas, but also the surrounding agricultural area.  This expanded area also adds to the independence and sustainability of the community.

Finally, and probably most important is the region must adhere to Distributist principles which has its basis Catholic Moral and Social teachings.  That is, we must get back to a time where the God and family was the basic societal-economic unit.  With a family, one first learns social interaction and God provides the moral foundation for everyday life.  This has to be the basis for any type of community.  The “zones” mentioned about purposely leave out both.

I have purposely not provided any type of detail or blueprint here.  Just a basic vision I have.  Maybe, with the help of others, we can bring this vision to reality.

A few days ago, I wrote about creating a “Catholic Town Square“.  Since then I have finished the first step in the process by creating a Facebook group called Catholic Town Square which essential is the “will mainly be a “discussion group” and as exposure to the final site to be developed” part of my plan.

In keeping with my goal, I have started the discussion topic:

Ideas to Strengthen the Influence of the Catholic Church

I am hoping to get ideas and post them here.  Right now, there is only nine people in the group.  I hope to expand that soon.

For centuries, the Catholic Church was the center of life for many.  In fact, it was not uncommon for a town’s Catholic Church to be built on or near the town’s square until the Protestant Revolt either seized the church or relegated it to another part of the town.

Historically, a town square was also a meeting place where both goods and ideas were exchanged.   It is the exchange of ideas that I am more interested in.

Until recently, the exchange of ideas in the town square was, for the most part, free and open.  This seems to no longer be the case.  In fact, there is not an open hostility towards the free expression of religion ideas particularly Christian and especially Catholic ideas.

For a couple of months now, I have exploring ideas for discussion groups on-line.  These have ranged from a narrow as a single topic like Distributism to more general like Catholic Moral and Social teaching.

It was my general disgust with the current state of the town square and my disenchantment with other “Catholic Forums” to explore a more general social/discussion group that would emphasize true Catholic teachings and ideas.   Essentially, an electronic Catholic Town Square.

I am starting to put my ideas down on “paper” and, hopefully, start the design of an actual site(s).  I have not finalized where the site(s) will be (although I have a couple prime ideas in mind).  The one will be very easy and will mainly be a “discussion group” and as exposure to the final site to be developed.  That will be more expansive and will include not only a discussion forum, but also a true social and informational site.

Saying that.  I do not expect or want this “town square” to remain in cyberspace.  I fully expect this to, eventually, blossom into actual town squares.  That is, to recapture actual town squares for evangelization of people to the Catholic faith.

Consider the following statements:

“Without God, man neither knows which way to go, nor even understands who he is.”

And

“Man cannot bring about his own progress unaided, because by himself he cannot establish an authentic humanism. Only if we are aware of our calling, as individuals and as a community, to be part of God’s family as his sons and daughters, will we be able to generate a new vision and muster new energy in the service of a truly integral humanism.”

These two statements are part of the beginning of the Conclusion for the latest encyclical, Caritas In Veritate, of Pope Benedict XVI.

We are seeing the fruits of a Godless society today with the increasingly spreading infection of the plagues of Relativism, Socialism, Liberalism, and Global Capitalism.  Although these have festered through out the past two thousand years, they have been kept in check, for the most part, by the ever present emphasis of God’s natural law in the formation of the morals and man’s “positive” law.

These checks started to crack with the Protestant Revolt and continued to grow with the Industrial Revolution.  These two events allowed the plagues of Relativism and Global Capitalism to eventually gain a foothold in society.  These, in turn eventually allowed the other plagues of Socialism (a direct reaction to Capitalism), Materialism, and Liberalism to eventually spread their infection in society.

With these plagues let loose, those who were/are infected saw the dangers of God to their plagues.  This has given rise to the outright assault on God by those infected.  It started out slowly with preventing the Church from endorsing candidates and taking prayer out of school and has grown to the point where even talking about morality based on God’s Natural Law is being criminalized.  How long are we going to take it before we say “no more”?

I say “no more” has arrived.  We must start ignoring the restraints being forced on us by those infected.  In fact, we must put God back into society any way and every way possible.

Although we must be charitable to them, we must not do anything to encourage their continued infection with these plagues.  Whenever and wherever possible, we must shun buying good and services from those infected.  We must find alternatives, including setting up a competing “white market” economy, to their businesses.

In addition, we must put forth our own candidates and/or parties for office that will promote, not hinder restoring God to society staring locally and going from there.

Finally, we must not only “talk the talk” but also “walk the walk”.  That is, we must live a life with God as its center, not just give “lip serve”.  By providing examples on how to live, we provide a much more effective witness to God.

Things must change or society will implode from the weight the plagues destroying its foundation.   This must start immediately if there is to be any hope for society.

On thing I did not bring up in “Is Man Meant for Urban Living?” is the question: Is urban Living even healthy.  It is my opinion that the general health of urban dwellers is much lower than it is for people living in smaller towns and rural areas.   There are a number of reasons I say this:

1. Pollution – There is not refuting that the pollution in urban areas is much worse than smaller towns and rural areas.  And where does that pollution go? Yes, right into our bodies.   Oh, people will say that cities are going green with more parks, but the pollution is still there.  And that is only outside.  They say that indoor are is even worse. And where do most people work in urban areas? You guessed it, in buildings.  Yes, there is pollution in rural areas, but there is, for most cases, a lot less.
2. Sedentary Lifestyle – One of the “advantages” advocates of city living tout is the various “activities” people can do.  Yes, there is a lot to do, but the majority of it is not “active”, it is sitting and watching other people.  I do not call that active.  In addition, everything is nearby or you have to drive to it.  Little exercise there.  And again, there is work.  Paper pushing for the majority of urban dwellers is not work.  Yes, people say they exercise, but that may be for one hour a day, in dirty air.   Kind of negates the possible benefits.  In rural area, much of the work is outside (especially if you live on a farm) and that is also your exercise.   Yes, there are people who work indoors in rural and small towns, but many of those people go home and do work around the yard or even tend a small (or even larger) garden.
3. Poor diet - This kind of goes with #2, but I decided to separate it.  Another of the “advantages” advocates of city living tout is the variety of foods one can eat.  Yeah tight, most of it is either fast (i.e. fat) food or, if it is more upscale, is made with rich sauces or in portions not meant for one meal.  Yes, there are restaurants in rural areas.  In fact, I have a distant cousin who runs one, but restaurant dining is much less frequent.  You cook your own food, much if you may grow or raise yourself.  I know when I cook myself; it is a lot healthier and a lot less fat.
4. My final point in this diatribe is kind of related to point #1, but it is a different type of pollution. And that is Diseases. With the close proximity of people to each other, diseases (both viral and bacteria based) spread more easily.  You see the effect of that in offices. One person comes down with something and soon it spreads to the whole office.  In addition, it seems that once one catches something, it lingers for much longer and you are liable to catch it again and again due to mutations in the strains going around.
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   This is exceptionally troubling with people talking about the Swine Flu “pandemic” going on.  It is not even flu season and this thing is spreading.   Would it spread as much is people were more spread out?  I am not a doctor, but I have a feeling the answer would be no for a couple of reason.  The first is obvious; the close proximity makes it spread faster.  The second is that, in my opinion, people are relatively healthier in rural and small town settings due to the combination of the first three points

I heard on the radio that most big cities are experiencing a resurgence of population.  This does not bode well for a large portion of the human population.   All it will take is some pandemic worse than the current Swine Flu “pandemic” to cause mass deaths.  And, with the increase global interconnection of society, this pandemic can easily spread from one urban area to another.

Yes, moving to a rural area is not a panacea and will not completely protect one from every ill that plagues urban society, but one will probably healthier in the long run.

The plagues of Relativism, Materialism, and Liberalism (along with Socialism and Global Capitalism) are so rampant that they have desensitized most to the point where they are unable to recognize them for what they are and how they are rotting away society to a point where it is about to, if not already, implode.

A reminder of that came from a tweet from Catholic Vote:

BK gets gross. Critics Cringe at Ad for Burger King’s Latest Sandwich http://shar.es/53U3 HT @PattiArmstrong

The tweet referenced a Foxnews article not the new Burger King ad for their new sandwich.  With out getting too graphic, the ad borders on the filth a certain segment of the “entertainment” industry that is so rampant in these days.

It reminded me on how nothing seems to shock people anymore.  Just a couple of years ago, this ad would not even be considered.  Now, it almost gets a yawn.

This is what the societal plagues have done.  It makes perversion the norm and morality the perversion.   We must fight back against anyone who promotes this.

I, for one, am now boycotting Burger King until they pull the ad and apologize.  The same tactic worked on Ford and McDonalds, it will work here.

But we must not stop there.  We must shun all of the plagues.  Alternatives must be found to replace those who promote the perversions so rampant in society.  If it means going with out certain good until those alternative are found or created, so be it.

We must come together in solidarity as a community to build a society free of Relativism, Materialism, Liberalism, Socialism and Global Capitalism.

For those who know me, I attend the Extraordinary Form of the Mass also known as the Tridentine, Old, or Latin Mass.  As such, the readings are not the ones that most Catholics hear on on the same Sunday (yes, there are rare cases when some of the readings are the same).  Such was the case with the Gospel reading for this week:

While the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennes’aret. And he saw two boats by the lake; but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had ceased speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking, they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the catch of fish which they had taken;  and so also were James and John, sons of Zeb’edee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. (Lk 5:1-11 RSV)

Although the term “fishers of nen” (Mt. 4:19 RSV) is replaced “catcher of men”, the meaning is the same.  However, what seems to be lost today is how this applies to all Catholics.  We are called, in various capacities, to be “fishers of men”.   This means we must live our lives in accordance with the teachings of Our Lord. Part of these teachings is to spread the Gospel.  How we do it is two-fold: Passive and Active.

The first way, the passive part, I have already mentioned.  That is: how we live our lives.  Living by example is one of the best ways of showing those who do not follow Our Lord in his fullness of the Catholic Church the true meaning of his teaching.  Sadly, many of us do not live in full accordance with the teachings of Our Lord.  This, does not mean that we should abandon those teaching as some would suggest.  No, we should always strive to amend our lives to live according to those teachings.

The second way, the active part, is more difficult and not for everyone (although it should be).  That is: preaching the Gospel.  No, I am not talking about joining the priesthood or a religious order.  I am talking about evangelization. Yes, what I am talking about can be considered proselytism, and you know what, you are right because it is. We must take the truth to the enemy and get in their faces. Of course, there are some things that must not do.  Those things include:

• Forcing people to convert
• Providing physical benefits in hopes that recipients will be open to listening
• Providing physical benefits only to those willing to listen
• Providing physical benefits only who convert

What we must do is preach the Truth to all, both those who are willing to listen and to those who are hardened to the Word of God.  We must use the public square as our pulpit at every chance we get.  Yes, there is a hostile atmosphere out there, but as Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men.“  We must be fearless in this.  We must bring everyone possible to the full Truth of the Catholic Church.

I have been talking a lot about Distributism and setting  up a separate, but within the current, society.  For me, I consider it the best way to help civilization to survive.
A couple of weeks ago, this appeared in Real Clear Politics:

America’s 10 Freest and Least Free States

From indelibly American quotations like “Give me liberty or give me death” to the iconic pairing of “liberty and justice” in the Pledge of Allegiance, there’s no shortage of examples demonstrating that Americans have historically placed a high value on the concept of freedom.

While the concept of freedom may be in the eye of the beholder, there’s no question that each state has done their best to codify what actions they do and do not leave up to their residents’ choice. But which states give their citizens the most leeway, and which have them on the tightest leash? A study entitled “Freedom In the 50 States: An Index of Personal And Economic Freedom,” published by the Mercatus Center of George Mason University, sets out to answer this question. Click through to see which states rank the highest and lowest by their metrics.

It also linked to the source of this article:

Freedom in the 50 States

This report got me to thinking:

Where would be the best place to set up this society?

Is the US, Canada or Europe the best right now? I am not too sure. For me, they are either a little to materialistic, too hostile to the model, or have geographic (i.e. Weather) constraints.  In addition, the ever increasing Socialist nature of the governments and their incestuous relationship with Global Capitalism, also makes it too hostile to the Distributist Model.

For years, I have been researching way “south of the border” as a possible place to move (especially after I retire) . Why?  They are many but, it manly to get away from the over-Materialist and Relativistic nature of society in the United States.  For me, it is causing a real threat to the total implosion of society here.  As for Europe, it is far worse and Canada is not that far behind.

Although there are pluses and minuses to all of them, there are a few I would consider.  Now if I could get my Distubutist brethren interested, we might be able to make a go of it.  Even without them, I would consider moving if I were to find the right place.