Perspectives of a Wanderer

One cannot go one day where there is an article about how some group or governmental body trying to silence Christians in general and Catholics in particular when it comes to moral issues.  This seems to be especially true when it comes to the more “conservative” and orthodox the Christian is.  If the “Christian” is of the “liberation theology” or “progressive” type, they are generally left alone since they are more in line with the Socialist and Liberal plagues.

Just in the past couple of days, there have been reports of:

• Maine churches threatened with IRS complaints for supporting marriage
• Local regulations targeting pro-life pregnancy centers suggest new strategy
• Religious exemptions in D.C. same-sex ‘marriage’ bill are too narrow, archdiocese says

All of these are example of the open hostility against traditional Moral and Social teachings (especially when they are in line with the Catholic Church) by the Liberals and Socialists.  And this is only in America.  It is even worse in Europe.

When are we going to stand up to these thugs and say no more?  We Catholics have a right and an obligation to oppose all man-made “positive law” that is direct conflict with God’s Natural Law.  We need to start pushing back and I see two things that could be done immediately:

1. Invalidate all contracts and relationships with any governmental body that passes these unjust and immoral laws.
2. Excommunicate any governmental official who purports to be Catholic.

I do expect that there will be retaliation, especially by those who are excommunicated, but it has to be done.  The only thing is that we must make sure of is that the services that were provided in the Church/government relationships still be provided even under threats of persecution by government officials.

Only when the Catholic Church is free of the onerous yoke of the Liberal and Socialist plagues can it concentrate on doing God’s work.

Now that something that has been taking up a sizable chunk of my time has been resolved, I am trying to figure out which of the many projects I have been thinking of doing to actually do.  Some of these include:

1. Graduate School (thinking of getting advanced degrees in a number of disciples including Catholic Theology, History, and Economics)
2. Create a practical blueprint for the development of a self-sufficient Distributist community/society based on Catholic Moral and Social teachings
3. Research and document the progression of Catholic dogmatic and doctrinal teachings (concentrating on Catholic Moral and Social teachings) since the Council of Trent

I picked these three since they could be interrelated.  A graduate degree in Catholic Theology would help me with the other two while a degree in Economics would help me with the blueprint in number two.  My ultimate goal in all three of these endeavors, however, will probably go into teaching and/or writing.

In addition to the above, I would like to get back into web development that I have dabbled in before.  I could also this to document the above projects on-line.

Like I said, these are just a couple of the projects I am thinking of, it is just they are at the top of my list right not.  That may change.  Who knows?

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.

One of the advantages of where I live is that we have not one, but two Catholic Radio stations.  One of them, Ave Maria Radio, produces a number of programs that are heard nationally on EWTN Radio.  However, I work or am busy with other obligations when many of the shows are on during the week.  Fortunately, one of the shows, Kresta in the Afternoon, rebroadcasts some of his shows on the weekends.

I heard one such broadcast today and the person, Dr. Edward Sri, was discussing his new book, The Bible Compass: A Catholic’s Guide to Navigating the Scriptures, which is to be published next month.  The book was not of interest to me, it was his life story.  Like myself, he was (I still am) out in the business world for a number of years before he went back to study theology and started teaching and writing (his book is on my “to buy” list).

This is something that I have been thinking of doing in some capacity for a number of years.  Being single, and having no desire to get married, the options for me are much broader than for him.  I have contemplated everything from the Priesthood (Religious Order mainly), to the Diaconate, to teaching and/or writing.  I have ruled out the first two for a number of reasons, but am still thinking of the third option.

On teaching and/or writing, I would love to get a degree in Theology concentrating in Moral Theology and Catholic Social Teachings.  I feel that is where there is a void, especially on the laity side, in the teaching ranks today and it is an area that I am very interested.  However, my desired goal is not to stop there and just teach Moral Theology and/or Catholic Social Teaching.  I would love to apply that to some aspect of life.   This is where my second area of interest would come in.

As you can probably tell from other entries on my blog, I am interested in three Catholic movements: Catholic Workers Movement, Catholic Land Movement, and Distributism.  It is these three that I think I can combine with the Catholic Moral and Social teaching to create a framework to apply them to aspects of everyday life.  I already have a business degree in Computers with a minor in Finance.  However, to apply it the way I want to, I have a feeling I would need to look into one other area of business and that is Economics.

With a greater knowledge of Economics, I could really apply the Catholic Social and Moral teaching to develop and or enhance the Catholic movements mentioned above.  This is especially true for Distributism.  Up to now, Distributism has been mainly, with a few minor practical applications, a theoretical economic mode.  With knowledge of both Economics and Catholic Theology, I would be better able to combine the both into a practical and coherent economic model that could be more readily implemented.

I will be studying my options in both in the next couple of months.  I know I can get both at the Masters level where I now live.  Beyond that, I may have to explore outside the area for, at least, one of the degrees.  At this point, I have no desire to move out of this area, but that is far enough down the line that I do not have to consider that at this time.

This path that I have set for myself is challenging.  The thing is, can I balance work, school and other activity without burning out or going crazy.  That is another thing I will need to consider as I go along.

In the past couple of months there has been various news reports of onerous new and proposed regulations on everything from production of consumer goods to healthcare to salaries.  It makes one wonder how a country and even society as a whole can survive the regulatory onslaught that seems to be more cumbersome every day.

In addition, other than the salary one which is currently being targeted at large financial institutions for the time being, all the regulations seem to be geared towards making the burden on the small/family business almost, if not actually, too much to allow them to survive.  The individual is quickly, if not actually being, either a slave of the state (i.e. welfare and the likes) or a wage slave of the global capitalist.

We are seeing signs that people are starting to stir against this overregulation.  Between the “tea parties” and the “states rights” movement, there seems to be the beginning of a resistance to the overregulation, at least, at the federal level.   What will come of this we do not know, but we may have a beginning of a clue in November and more of a clue in 2010.

However, even if there are signs of people and states being fed up with the Feds (yes I know it is somewhat of a pun there), we must not stop at the Federal level.  We must look at breaking the overregulation not only at the Federal level, but also at the state, local, and even the international level.  Only then will society be capable of being free of being slaves to either the state or global capitalist.

In addition, we must not limit the crushing of the overregulation at the economic level.  We must also look at the regulations that are increasingly limiting the rights religious, and other, speech and the conscious of the individual.  These are specifically designed to limit, if not eliminate, the moral tenets set up by God’s Natural Law.

Essentially, by breaking the overregulation of society can we begin to eliminate the plagues of Socialism, Liberalism, Relativism, Materialism, and Global Capitalism that threaten to implode society by eroding its foundations.

In “Do we Distributists do Distributism a Disservice?” I mentioned that I am “formulating an ambitious project that will look at, as completely as humanly possible, at the complete Catholic Social and Moral teaching.”

The only issue is where to start.  I do not believe it is prudent to begin with specifics.  I believe that solid foundations are not only needed for each of the topics, but a solid foundation of Catholic teachings in general is needed even before those foundations can even be laid.  Even with this foundation, getting into specifics is not wise since there are many sub-topics (of which I have no idea on how many there are) that can be explored. Once a sub-topic is chosen, then one can start to delve into the specifics of each sub-topic and then to the topic as a whole.

The issue is, where to start to even get the foundation.  There are three ways I can think of:

1. Internet: Although there is an abundance of information on the Internet, I would not consider this my primary source.  Yes, one can get ideas, but I would limit it to getting topic and sub-topic ideas, for collecting resources (kind of a bibliography) for further study, and general “discussions” (which is one of the main goals of the project mentioned).
2. Classes: This would probably be the soundest way since one would be getting formal instruction in the topics.  For me, this is viable since I live only fifteen minutes from a Major Seminary.  However, this takes not only time, but also money.  Another drawback is that you need a basic foundation before one can even think of taking general or specific theology courses.  Like I said, this is viable for me, but getting formalized training is more part of my long-term goals.
3. Books/CD’s/Podcasts: For the short term, this is probably the most viable option at the present time.  The nice thing about this way is that you can do this at your leisure and go in whatever direction you want to.  You can use the information collected from the first two to select exactly what you want, when you want.  Yes, this can get expensive, but it will probably be less expensive than classes.

I already have a couple of books I can start with on both Catholic Moral and Social teachings.  I also have some general books and know of a CD series by a well known priest that I may get. I will be starting with those while I research other resources.  I am especially will be keeping a lookout for CD’s and Podcasts.

Yes, I am asking the question, but the title is only part of the question.  The full question is:

Do we Distributists do Distributism a disservice by seemingly not concentrating all aspects of Catholic Social and/or Moral teachings?

We seem to be fixated on the economic and not much more.  There is a kind of tunnel vision that prevents us from looking at Social teachings like distributive justice and workers rights.  This tunnel vision also prevents us from looking at the Moral Teachings that dictates how we must conduct ourselves in all aspects of life.

We think concentrating on the economic, that is, getting business back to the local and family level will be a panacea and all other things will fall into place.  This is not so.  Without implementing the full richness of the Catholic Church’s Social and Moral Teachings, we are deluding ourselves that we are doing God’s will.

I am formulating an ambitious project that will look at, as completely as humanly possible, at the complete Catholic Social and Moral teaching.  I am hoping to do this on-line and get a discussion forum going on the topic.  How and where has not been finalized.  I will probably start with general discussions of each and get into specifics as we go.  One of the specifics I want to do is go through each of the Papal Encyclicals on the topics one by one and do a historical development of the teachings.

Another thing I must look out for is Radical traditionalists (RadTrads) and the Progressives (ModSquad) and the excess baggage each seem to have.  I have no tolerance for either since they both think the Pope is wrong on about almost anything thus making themselves “more Catholic than the Pope”.  If they keep it civil, they will be allowed to stay.  If not, I will boot them as if I am wearing steel-toed boots.  I will not stand for any of their shenanigans.

It should be interesting.