The Next Worker

My Inspiration and My Vocation

2011-08-15T21:37:00.003-04:00

August is a month of great fruition around here. Mother Nature is at her grandest and the long days of summer are filled with picnics, vacations, bonfires, swimming and drawn out, watercolor sunsets. After almost four summers here, it has yet to get old.

Since August is also the only summer month we don't homeschool, I have extra time to reflect on the present and ruminate on our future. Four Augusts ago, I had a newborn and was preparing to homeschool a 1st grader and a Kindergardener. Today, I was hashing out lesson plans for a 4th grader, almost 3rd grader and a Kindergardener. I could not have anticipated then how much time homeschooling would consume and how little free time I would have to give to homesteading. And most surprising to me now, is how little I enjoy spending my free time on what would be considering homesteading skills. It did not take me long to view canning, breadmaking, gardening, sewing and the like, as the time consuming chores that they are.

When school is done, and the house is in order and the children are all content, if I happen to find myself with a quiet half hour, you will not find me in the garden, in the kitchen or at my sewing machine. While I can enjoy doing all these thing, I do not find them to be relaxing or stress relieving as others may. I now finally understand why many people who head 'back to the land' soon head back to wherever they came from. Thank heavens our food supply is not dependent on our efforts at self sufficiency. I try to console myself with the thought that as the kids get older, they will be able to contribute to, and hopefully take more of an interest in homesteading, in addition to becoming more independent, allowing me more time for chores and hard earned rest. Having a baby who sleeps through the night, will also be a huge help.

And the sobering fact is that for as long as we're in NJ, with this mortgage and these taxes, homesteading will never be more than a second job for my husband. Paying the bills without outside employment is impossible. Consequently, after two hours of commuting on the train each day,Tony, like I, has a hard time spending his few precious hours of free time on chores.

Thankfully, Tony enjoys his new software position more than the job he was laid off from. I love homeschooling and it has become my job in a way I could not have predicted when I began this blog. The needs of my children have directed my time and attention away from the Catholic Worker Movement, and much of my original enthusiasm for the back to the land movement. The writing of Day, Maurin and the Distributists have shaped who I am and how I live, but for now, that enthusiasm must be placed on the backburner.

I'm not giving up this blog. My husband and I still have much we hope to do with our land, albeit at a much slower pace than we originally anticipated. I still feel there is much that should be done to educate Catholics about the Worker Movement, it's unselfish charity, it's simple message, and it's relevance to the world today. So my journey as The Next Worker continues but my focus must shift for the time being. As time allows, we'll keep updating this site with news and photos on our homestead and all things related to the message of the Catholic Worker Movement. In the mean time, I'm anticipating starting a new blog/website focused on homeschooling. It will hopefully produce it's own fruit in due time.

Changing Seasons

2011-07-21T22:23:00.002-04:00

Over the years I have come to have a greater appreciation for the changing seasons, both natural and liturgical. One of the most monotonous aspects of modern office work is that the environment is always the same. All year round you do the same kinds of tasks in the same "weather." Even an enjoyable job can become a grind under those conditions. Even with the small amount of homesteading we do, we have to be attentive to the seasons, and I am grateful for the variations they provide.

I used to hate Summer. I still do hate humidity, but I don't mind the heat as much anymore, and I like the long slow days. Of course, "slow" is a relative term. The time still goes by too fast. But in Summer it does seem slower. When it is not too humid the Summer nights are especially pleasant. Although I don't do it often enough, I like to sit outside after the kids are in bed and listen to the sounds of the Summer night and enjoy a fine drink. Those pleasant nights seem to invite you to just relax and and take time to reflect. And that is something most of us probably need to do more.

Different seasons bring a different focus to our homesteading activities. Summer brings a lot of outdoor manual labor. Usually it is very satisfying to get this work done, and see it blossom and bear fruit (sometimes literally). At times it can be tedious too, like when you are weeding. But even at these times, you know you only have a few months of it before the season changes again. So you plod through the work, and hopefully you get a worthwhile harvest.

The Church's Liturgy works in concert with the natural seasons. Time after Pentecost brings a slow and steady pace to the liturgy after the highs and lows of the first half of the liturgical year. Even the chants of the Mass are slower and more drawn out (honestly I am not a huge fan of these, but I do appreciate the way they mesh with the season). Christmas, Lent, and Easter, are all great, and generally my favorite times of the year. But you can't always be in high gear. In the Liturgical Cycle, Time after Pentecost represents the time of the Church in the world. It is the time from Pentecost until the end of the world, that the Church plods along and does it's work, hoping for a good harvest.

For ourselves, it's time to do what we need to do in our spiritual lives. Nothing special or flashy, just buckle down and attend to our spiritual duties. There are still plenty of feasts to give us rest from our labor, but they serve to punctuate the season, they don't dominate our attention the way the events of our Lord's life do during the other seasons. Of course every season has ample opportunities for spiritual growth. But this season has more of a "slow and steady wins the race" feel, as opposed to the intensity of the other seasons. I am convinced that the Liturgical Cycle is ordered that way because we can all benefit from the change of pace that different seasons bring.

Moving Forward - Ash Wednesday

2011-03-09T14:15:00.001-05:00

It's a new year, a new liturgical season and like many people I've come up with some resolutions for 2011 (and now Lent.) I'm moving past the pain of 2010 and taking each new day as it comes. I'm still struggling, but then again, aren't we all? Who can't find some sorrow or tragedy in their life to spend every waking hour anquishing over? I see people with so many reasons to be happy, hunched over and scrutched up with bitterness because they allow the bad to overshadow the good. The storm clouds may be heavy, but there is always a silver lining and I'm reaching for it. So here goes; my resolutions are as follows

Remain Positive. Rebuild Faith. Restore Hope. Reaffirm My Belief in Miracles.

It's a mission statement, motivational statement and slogan all in one. If my resolution was only to lose 10lbs by May, I'd have broken it already. The goal this year is to not be defined by the tragedies in my life.

And now Lent, how do I take this mindset into the penitential and sacrificial season leading up to Easter? Here is where I really start working on rebuilding my faith, a faith that has sustained me but yet been greatly shaken. Thank God I have built this faith on the rock of the true Church and not the shifting sand of my past wishy-washy beliefs. It is nose to the grindstone time. Fasting, prayer, avoiding worldly distractions-those are the general goals. I like to keep the specifics between me and God.

I hope to come out of desert on April 24th with a true feeling of hope; a value I am so quick to cast aside nowadays, fearful of being hurt again. May God carry us all through this Lenten season.

How shall we have the means to help our brother who is in need? We can do without those unnecessary things which become habits, cigarettes, liquor, coffee, tea, candy, sodas, soft drinks and those foods at meals which only titillate the palate. We all have these habits, the youngest and the oldest. And we have to die to ourselves in order to live, we have to put off the old man and put on Christ. That it is so hard, that it arouses so much opposition, serves to show what an accumulation there is in all of us of unnecessary desires. -DD

Why Bother?

2011-02-17T22:11:00.002-05:00

It's been awhile since I have posted anything (for all the same reasons Kelly hasn't posted much), but diving back in...

I started reading The Church and The Land by Fr. Vincent McNabb. Almost right off the bat, I was struck by something he wrote:

"seek first the Kingdom of God, and his justice. First things first, for God's sake; or you will crash at once... Leave the garden cities and the flesh pots, not in order to scorn suburbia or to lead a simple life, but to worship God."

It can be easy to get caught up in homesteading and simple living for their own sake. After reading that passage above, I realized that at some point I started thinking about the homestead as an end in itself. When we first became interested in simple living, it was to reduce the clutter of modern life, so we could focus on the important things, God and family.

I am trying to wrap up my homesteading plans for the coming year, so reading this could not have come at a better time. I had been thinking in terms of, "what can I do to grow the homestead." But now I will be more careful to consider what will better enable me to worship God. That is the highest goal of the back to land movement. To restore a society that is centered on God.

Brothers

2010-12-11T19:52:00.001-05:00

New Little Brother, originally uploaded by KMantoan.

The Struggle

2010-11-16T17:40:00.003-05:00

In case you're wondering...yes, I had a baby. Surprise. Today was my official due date but my son Theodore Anthony arrived a wee bit early. Since his arrival on Oct. 8 at 2:14am I've been off bed-rest but, obviously, a bit preoccupied. Birth at 34 weeks meant Teddy was in the NICU for two and half weeks. During that time we received the difficult news that Teddy will also have Spinal Muscular Atrophy like his older brother Fulton.
Since that day in the NICU when the doctor gave me the results I have been struggling to figure out what the hell is going with my life. I've been overwhelmed with sorrow, furious with God and numb to everything around me. My faith, which sustained me during the period following Fulton's diagnosis, is suffering. I've stopped reading and writing. And, most upsetting, I've given up hope.
You wouldn't know it to look at me. I still love to be with my children, most especially Teddy and Fulton. I love spending time with my husband. We all enjoy the company of friends. But when I am still, and think of my situation, I am as I have mentioned.
Time will lessen the pain and I hope it will bring understanding of WHY, God WHY?! rather than more misfortune. Fulton's diagnosis made me a different person. I'm not sure what Teddy's diagnosis means for me now.
I will write again. I'm sure I'll need to in order to sort out my thoughts and heal but don't look for me on here too much. Perhaps a hibernation is in order.
You may take away this from my experience, because God willing you will never experience anything half as horrible- Nothing in life is certain. Time is short. You are more blessed than you believe so suck it up. Sorry if those sound cliched but any deeper meanings escape me at the moment. If there is something profound to be learned, I have yet to be enlightened.
I know that it is only through my faith that I will come through this, even though right now it seems that it is God alone who has caused/allowed this tragedy to befall me and more horribly on my children. I am trying to persevere and force the prayers to come. Your prayers, as always, are welcomed.

Kelly's Kards

2010-10-06T08:58:00.002-04:00

I've added a widget on the right to display some Christmas cards I've been designing while on bedrest. Thankfully, graphic design remains something I can do from bed. I'm still an amateur, but it's something I enjoy and involves little, if any cursing on my part, unlike most creative endeavors (including writing) that I undertake.
The cards have a definite style, which may or may not appeal to you. Please, spread the word to anyone you know who may appreciate my designs. If I can sell a million or so of these greeting cards, my husband can stay at home and focus on running the homestead rather than continue to frantically search for a new soulless job. (I'm only partially kidding.)
Thanks again everyone for your prayers and support.

The Curse of Eve From A Different Perspective

2010-10-01T13:08:00.011-04:00

Thankfully, since my last post, I've returned home (much to the relief of my children) but I'm still confined to my bed. I hope I can stay here for awhile, but just going to the doctors office for a check up makes my blood pressure rise, so we'll see.

As I lay here I've had quite a bit of time to reflect upon this whole 'mystical' journey of pregnancy and childbirth. Even though I'm a seasoned pro by modern standards I continue to be amazed at the movement I feel from the child inside of me, and apprehensive at the thought of delivering said child. Labor and delivery has always gone easy for me, so I've always managed to avoid all drugs. Many times, the attending doctors and nurses don't believe me when I tell them the baby is coming because I've barely arrived at the hospital and I'm not screaming for an epidural. I know my experience is unusual and I know many women have reasons for choosing to rely on pain medication during childbirth. However, a conversation with a close friend a few months back helped me to find new value in the suffering of pregnancy, and especially childbirth, and to see 'the pain of Eve' as an under appreciated gift of sorts. Seriously, hear me out.

Nowadays, we as a culture avoid all pain and suffering. With the bevy of drugs available to us, why should anyone be burdened by pain? Alleviating the pain of childbirth is a natural extension of this mindset. Interestingly, there are those who feel the pain of childbirth is the result of years of women being conditioned by society or the Church to feel pain during childbirth and with proper coaching, we should be able to have pain free childbirth -like animals. (Experts words, not mine.) If we had never been told that a painful childbirth was the curse of Eve, it would never had occurred to us to experience pain during delivery. Then there is the more widely held belief that child birth is painful, just because IT IS and that masking the pain with drugs is preferable to experiencing that pain.

Now, if you hold the belief that childbirth is painful, you have two options, ignore the pain (and in some cases, whatever else you body is trying to tell you during childbirth) through artificial means or accept that pain is a part of childbirth, and see it as a means to increase in holiness. Perhaps, God 'cursed' Eve with pain in childbirth so that she, and all her daughters, would have a a great and unique means to achieving holiness. As Catholics, we know that our suffering in this world can be lifted up for many intentions. As a woman who has experienced the pain of childbirth, I wish I would have thought about offering up those hours for departed family members, for the conversion of sinners or any number of problems facing my family or society at large. Can you imagine the power if all women embraced even a small part of the suffering of childbirth and offered it up for a good cause? So often we find ourselves in challenging situations and we forget to offer up our troubles, but with childbirth, you have months to plan and usually months of the discomforts of pregnancy in addition.

Given my difficult pregnancy this time around, I've already been thinking what I can focus my suffering towards. Certainly, there's times I'm laying here feeling sorry for myself and NOT about how my experience can help other souls. But it's a goal and in those moments between contractions which I know are only a few weeks away I hope I can remember the specific intention I've selected on which to direct my suffering and less on the pain of the moment.

I'm certainly not superwoman, and many women admittedly tell me they reach for the drugs ASAP because they're wimps in the delivery room. I won't argue with them but I hope that at least the idea that the pain of childbirth can be a GOOD thing, eternally speaking, will give women pause before asking for any drug.

Maybe God didn't curse Eve with painful childbirth after all. Maybe, knowing the strength of our characters as mothers when asked to do the ultimate-carry and bring life into this world- He designed a process to extend the wonder to the spiritual world too. We have the opportunity to unite our suffering, and ultimately joyful birth, with the pain of Christ crucified and His promise of eternal life for all.

"27. Saint Paul speaks of such joy in the Letter to the Colossians: "I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake"(88). A source of joy is found in the overcoming of the sense of the uselessness of suffering, a feeling that is sometimes very strongly rooted in human suffering. This feeling not only consumes the person interiorly, but seems to make him a burden to others. The person feels condemned to receive help and assistance from others, and at the same time seems useless to himself. The discovery of the salvific meaning of suffering in union with Christ transforms this depressing feeling. Faith in sharing in the suffering of Christ brings with it the interior certainty that the suffering person "completes what is lacking in Christ's afflictions"; the certainty that in the spiritual dimension of the work of Redemption he is serving, like Christ, the salvation of his brothers and sisters. Therefore he is carrying out an irreplaceable service. In the Body of Christ, which is ceaselessly born of the Cross of the Redeemer, it is precisely suffering permeated by the spirit of Christ's sacrifice that is the irreplaceable mediator and author of the good things which are indispensable for the world's salvation. It is suffering, more than anything else, which clears the way for the grace which transforms human souls. Suffering, more than anything else, makes present in the history of humanity the powers of the Redemption. In that "cosmic" struggle between the spiritual powers of good and evil, spoken of in the Letter to the Ephesians(89), human sufferings, united to the redemptive suffering of Christ, constitute a special support for the powers of good, and open the way to the victory of these salvific powers. "
-APOSTOLIC LETTER, SALVIFICI DOLORIS, POPE JOHN PAUL II (Emp. mine)

Laid up

2010-09-28T08:39:00.004-04:00

Well, it looks like I've found the time I wanted for blogging. I'm currently on hospital bedrest due to hypertension and the fear of pre-eclampsia. Even if I get to go home tomorrow, I will be spending the remainder of the pregnancy in bed. I'm currently at 33 weeks and I'd like to make it another 3-4 but my blood pressure seems to have other ideas. Thankfully the baby is growing well and is very active.
With this time I will try to bring you up to speed on our homestead. My husband and I always have the best intentions about blogging as things happen, but, well....moving on.
Our chicks are now about two months old. We lost another one, probably to a hawk soon after we let them start free ranging around the yard. We fenced them off again until they managed to find a way out of their yard on their own-Mom in the lead. Now they've all moved into the main coop with the other hens and spend their days grazing the yard with their aunts. And all the chickens have adjusted to our new mouser, Butters, who so far has only killed a cricket, but I'm sure will be an effective deterrent against mice this winter... if he ever stops napping.
Although our spring and summer crops were dismal, our fall crops are coming in nicely. Lots of carrots, lettuce, peas and broccoli are peaking out. We managed one more nice pumpkin before the entire plant succumb to beetles and with cool weather finally approaching, hopefully, Tony will get a pie or two made. (And bring me a slice.)
Tony's unemployment has led to lots of improvements around the house finally getting done; many relaying on ingenuity to make up for lack of funds. And as fall birthdays and the holidays rapidly approach,we are working on creating more thoughtful gift ideas for family and friends. Thankfully, because we have always been conscientious in our spending the kids have not noticed a change in lifestyle and are a bit puzzled when Tony mentions getting another job.
We closely follow news on the economy and have to laugh at articles that try so hard to instill buyer confidence or insist on real change after elections this year. Both parties are to blame for this fiasco, and families like ours are struggling as the mud is thrown.
My medial bills and Fulton's are the largest unknown expense that seems to keep throwing our books out of wack. Weekly, new bills show up- a specialist co-pay we missed or a deductible on labwork from months ago. As the deadline for Tony's insurance coverage quickly approaches, we're investigating all our options and hoping the state programs cover us as well a they claim to. That is, if they ever return our calls.
So dear readers, thank you for checking back with us. Please continue to keep our family in your prayers, and know we do the same for you.

Autumn Revival

2010-09-07T10:42:00.003-04:00

And just as I predicted-BOOM, it's September. We're getting back into the swing of things (aka new school year) and I've been mentally hashing out several entries. Tony and I hope to get back to posting ASAP. Check back later this week-I promise! Until then, a wonderful quote from "The Duty of Delight, The Diaries of Dorothy Day."

"I have fallen in love many a time in the fall of the year. I mean those times when body and soul are revived, and in the keen clear air of autumn after a hot exhausting summer, I felt new strength to see, to "know" clearly, ... to look upon my neighbor and to love. "
-October, 1969

A Successful Hatch!

2010-08-02T21:46:00.002-04:00

It seems I was a bit pessimistic in my prediction at the end of the last post. Our broody hen hatched seven healthy chicks! And she is doing a great job as a mother hen, which is good news because occasionally a hen will brood, then ignore the chicks (or even kill them).

Only one egg did not hatch, and that was one that got slipped in with others before I moved the broody to her own private quarters. That egg was probably a couple days behind the others. After awhile the hen had to give up on it to tend to the seven peeps running around her. I candled it and could see a live chick in there, so I tried to incubate it with a heat lamp, but it didn't work.

The seventh egg to hatch seemed to have trouble getting out of the egg. It was a full day after the first ones hatched. I don't know if it was necessary but I finally just broke it out myself. But the hen was tending to the others and she wouldn't go back to that one to set on it and warm it up. The other chicks, who were all quite mobile, kept stepping on the poor thing, so I took isolated that one and put the heat lamp on it for a few hours. Once it dried off and got its feat under it a little, I slipped it in with the rest. Three days later and all the chicks look good.

Brooding

2010-07-23T22:29:00.005-04:00

For the first time, we have a setting hen. I had not planned to get any chicks from these hens for a couple reasons. First, I butchered all of the roosters that we got with them. Second, Rhode Island Reds are not generally broody. They have been bred to produce lots of eggs, then forget about them. We have Reds that are more of a heritage breed (as opposed to Production Reds who have even less of their maternal instincts in tact). So I wasn't too surprised when a few (out of 19) of them starting sitting in their nest boxes all day.

The problem is that when they go broody, they don't lay eggs. One hen in particular was very persistent and since we recently got a few roosters from a friend, I decided to let her give it a try.
We took all the eggs that were laid that day and stuck them under her until she couldn't cover any more. I might have let some other hens try, but a couple days after starting with this hen, our last rooster got picked off by a fox. All we had left was pile of feathers. Hopefully he will leave us a legacy. The Lord killeth and the Lord giveth life (1 Kings 2:6).

It has been an interesting couple of weeks. I have already learned a lot about hatching eggs. Unfortunately I tired to leave her in the coop with the other chickens. That was a big mistake. Other hens still tried to squeeze in there and lay more eggs in that nest. Finally a couple eggs got broken. One was unfertalized, so no big deal. But for the other I could see an embryo in there. Then of course the broken eggs made a mess all over the other eggs. As I was cleaning them I broke another one that had an embryo. So we are two down already.

Last week I candled eggs for the first time. To make a long story short, I think we have four or five good eggs. There were three I wasn't sure about, so I left them under the hen. Then a couple others were unfertilized so I pulled them out. We now have about nine days to go. It will be pretty exciting to see what we get!

Pickles

2010-07-22T21:10:00.002-04:00

Pickles, originally uploaded by KMantoan.

July Reflection

2010-07-22T19:29:00.004-04:00

Summer is always a busy time for our family. Adding a garden, homeschooling and animal care on top of family vacations, picnics, graduation parties, etc. means Labor Day is upon us before we know it. Our schedule is compounded by regular specialist visits for our youngest, plus the added doctor visits for 'new baby' and me. (We don't share baby names until the child arrives so around here, everyone addresses my growing mid section as 'new baby'.)
My husband's unemployment has been a mixed blessing. His free time is quickly consumed by tasks that would have otherwise dragged into the evening or stole precious weekend hours from the family. Farming, and homesteading, is a full-time job but unfortunately, doesn't provide the money for the mortgage or enough food for the refrigerator -at least not yet.
Reaching the point of self sufficiency is certainly a ways off for us. Plants will only grow so fast and hens will only lay so much and we understand so little of it all. Unfortunately, the learning curve is costly. We thought baby lightning bugs were living amongst our plants. Come to find out they're striped cucumber beetles carrying bacteria that are already in the process of destroying our melons, pumpkins, zucchini and cucumbers. Unlike our ancestors, we can always run to the store, so this lesson doesn't equal starvation but it means we won't enjoy more than the two jars of pickles in the fridge and probably no homegrown pumpkins.
But there's still hope for the soybeans, and despite a late start, the carrots, basil and pole beans too. As a consolation prize, we've been allowed by our neighbor the farmer to pick as many tomatoes as we'd like. Despite being coated with pesticides, I look forward to freezing batch upon batch of homemade sauce.
Life in the Garden State means the remainder of summer will be spend in the soil and playing in the sand. Being only a short trip from the coast means leaving animals and returning before they miss us, a luxury afforded few homesteaders. And once the shore is out of our system maybe we'll finally start talking seriously about getting that family cow.
The pleasure of the summer season and the joyful anticipation of many things (Fulton's wheelchair, a month off from school, the new baby) is a welcome change from the melancholy of the spring. Even the thought of reworking the budget and becoming more 'creative' with funds isn't enough to dampen my spirits; rather, I am excited by the challenge. There is much here that is ready to bear fruit and lay seed.

Homesteading

2010-07-11T22:02:00.000-04:00

Hello TNW readers! As my dear wife mentioned about four weeks ago, I am joining her here on TNW to write a bit about our homestead. For a while now we have been thinking about starting a new blog about homesteading, but since she renewed TNW, we decided just to do it here. To start with, I will give an overview of why we homestead.

Initially we wanted some measure of independence from the modern food supply system, and from the broader economy in general. We are not far along with that, but even the fairly minimal progress we have made is very satisfying. It is also about living more simply. By providing for ourselves, on our own land and by our own labor, we know there are few things that are under own power to provide, and what ever happens to the value of the Euro will have no bearing on them. To my mind, that brings a little bit of sanity to an insane world. Simple living is also antithetical to consumerism. Being committed to that life style means that we live with less stuff, we have fewer gadgets, machines, and trinkets that demand our attention. By using and having less, we reduce our bills and thus reduce the income that we need.

There are also spiritual advantages to working the land (to whatever extent you can). When you grow or raise your own food you are working directly with the system God made for us. You see first hand how His creation works, and you even participate in it! You have to pay attention to the rhythms He established in the seasons and in the weather. There is even a kind of liturgy to it. Indeed there are many facets of the Church's liturgy that dovetail with agricultural activity. There are Rogation Processions and Embertides, and various rites of blessing in the Roman Ritual. Soon you find yourself paying more attention to the work of God's hands, and less attention to the works of men.

Finally, homesteading is also a great education for children. They see where food comes from, the work that goes into it, the value of good food. They learn some measure of self sufficiency. They learn how to make do with what is available. They learn a little about the animal kingdom, and learn how the natural world works. It also prepares them for modernist twaddle about human oppression of animals and that kind of nonsense. As a good example, my daughter was reading a silly book about giants the other day. In one part of the book the nice giant tells the little girl in the story that humans are the only beings that kill their own kind. Giants don't, and neither do animals, according to this large fellow. Well, tell that to the rooster we had last winter who got dethroned as king of the roost.

In short, homesteading isn't just a hobby for us. It is part and parcel of our lives. To some extent is even part of how we live out our Catholic faith. Hopefully it will not be long until I can write more posts about the specifics of what we do here.

Government "Charity", Part I, The Problem.

2010-07-05T21:27:00.000-04:00

On June 28th my youngest son Fulton turned 2, a day we were uncertain we would see a year ago. As mentioned in an earlier post, Fulton has Spinal Muscular Atrophy. When we received this diagnosis just we were under the impression he presented as a Type 1. Most children with Type 1 SMA die before their second birthday. (Since those early days, we've come to realize Fulton does not have this most severe form of SMA and we anticipate more memorable birthdays with him and all our children.)
With the arrival of his toddler years, we are anxiously awaiting his power wheelchair. Our 15 passenger van is equipped with a wheelchair lift and we recently christened (at a Nativity of St. John the Baptist Party) our new deck with handicap ramp. Though somewhat bittersweet, we have rejoiced at these developments; brought about not through government programs, but through the overwhelmingly charitable acts of our friends and family.
Being the parent of a special needs child has opened my eyes painfully wide to the problems inherent in government run social programs. I have always argued here on TNW that charity is best carried out by Christians and neighbors not faceless agencies and government bureaucracies. It is now with personal experience behind me that I more fervently defend my earlier assessment. (The only exception I will make is for the NJ Early Intervention program. So far, it has been a lifeline for me, especially in regards to my social worker. But I will touch on them more in Part II. )
Our experience with other county and state agencies has been nothing but red tape, misdirected calls combined with a continuous waiting game. For example, my son will be receiving a powerwheel chair.This is standard for SMA children his age. Our cozy farmhouse needed major modifications just to get Fulton and his chair through the door. Thankfully, we already had a bedroom and full bath on the first floor. And because of his age, his chair should be small enough to fit through even our old, narrow interior doorways. But we needed at the very least a ramp and new back entrance door. The first agency I was referred to was just reorganized due to budget cuts. I was bumped from one office to another, given mis-information by the second office, re-called the first office after getting help from my social worker and told my request for ramp was submitted and someone would be contacting me. I was informed that once contacted I would get an evaluation of my house and the evaluator would then determine our families needs in regards to renovations and what their office would contribute. Then I could get three estimates and, with the departments approval, have the work done. That was four months ago and I have yet to hear back from them.
Our county ran a program similar to the state one, but, when employed, my husband made too much to qualify. Once he was laid off we inquired again and learned it was at least a four month wait to initiate the process. And then once the ball was rolling, the county would select our builder and take a lien again our house, so while we would save money now, the total cost would be deducted from the sale of our house.
These are the programs that are in place to help families. Seriously.
I won't even launch into all the issues we're dealing with applying for medical aid. That's a whole separate post.
Thankfully, we had friends and family throw themselves into getting our house ready ASAP. This was crucial because Fulton's chair is arriving in just a few weeks-ahead of schedule even! If we had relied on a government program, Fulton's chair would be sitting unused, for possibility months.
So what about those who don't have the support of friends, family or the community? What of those who can only turn to the government for aid? They're going to have to sit and wait. Either trapped in their homes, unable to get out, or stuck in a hospital or rehab facility. I've been investigating the ramp issue since last winter because I knew Fulton's chair would be ordered this spring or summer. What about those who are effected in a sudden accident? A car accident victim no longer able to walk-his family is expected to plan for home modifications and fill out reams of paperwork while making life or death decisions in the ER? Because otherwise, how will anything be done by the time he's able to come home?
I understand the need for government programs to provide a safety net so no one slips through the cracks but relying on the government for immediate needs seems downright impossible and even dangerous. When first told of all the programs available to help us, I was so relieved, but as I quickly saw the restrictions, limitations, etc, honestly, I panicked. There were programs to help, but that would take to long as mentioned above. Programs that would pay, but we'd have to pay the money up front.-which we've done to modify our van with a wheelchair lift; maxing our card out in the process as we wait for the reimbursement check. And there are programs to help with medical expenses but they require a regular scouring of our financial records and if we make too much one month, sorry, no help or, better yet, whoops, we overpaid, your family owes the government some money back.
Families who come to rely on these programs quickly learn that getting ahead equals less assistance even if getting ahead only means a promotion to night manager at McDonalds. That promotion may bring you more income but not enough to meet the demands of raising a family member with a disability. So one is forced to stay destitute, and live off the system, or become independently wealthy in order to cover all the needs of their family member. Those of us trying to stay middle class and not fall into poverty are totally screwed, to put it mildly. Our family's financial planning in regards to saving for our children's future and our retirement is actually detrimental to obtaining certain types of aid. We will have to exhaust all these savings, ie wipe them out, to become eligible for certain coverage. Because we acted fiscally responsible, the government will not help us. We are not wealthy. Our kids do not have millions set up in a trust fund somewhere. Our 401k will not last us very long, especially given the fact that my husband was just laid off. But rather than helping us to protect those assets, which will make our family less of a burden down the road, we need to burn through them- a scenario familiar to many people before they reach the level of poverty the government deems worthy of assistance.
It is a difficult situation to understand unless you're in it. People do not want to rely on government aid, however the burden of raising a medically needy family member will consume, in time, all your resources. The average middle class family does not have a huge amount of savings and usually has a bit of debt. It is hard to adjust an already tight budget for the unpredictable financial demands that accompany any medical disability.
Once a family comes to rely on the system, it is hard to escape and when you are trapped in a hopeless situation, it is easy to see how some people come to take advantage of the system or feel entitled to its benefits. The system itself is so demeaning, it is easy to be callous and demeaning right back at it. What would be your enticement for improving your situation? It's not simply a matter of picking yourself up by your bootstraps. Medical costs are high. You might be able to save a thousand here or a hundred here but when your child requires an emergency visit that totals tens of thousands of dollars, pinching pennies will not help you. Outside assistance is necessary because, who has tens of thousands of dollars in reserve?
The government does of course, but to them, you are a number or case file and in order to be fair and not have their resources abused you must take a number, wait your turn and follow the government protocol. You might never meet the person who processes your request or set foot in that departments office. To my friends and family, I am Kelly M., mother of Fulton. If I am in need, they will step forward and offer prayers, meals, money or just a shoulder to cry on within hours day or night. I can visit them or they will show up at my door and they give only because they want too and not because I filled out my form properly and waited six months for them to process my request.
How can we as Catholics, and Christians, save people from falling into a hopeless system?

Winnowing

2010-07-01T17:30:00.002-04:00

Winnowing , originally uploaded by KMantoan.

Tonight I plan on baking bread from our first harvest of winter wheat. Despite being trampled by children earlier this spring, our small patch managed to produce enough flour for an entire loaf of whole wheat bread. Not bad for my husband's first experiment with grain. I have a recipe for 100% whole wheat bread from King Arthur Flour that the whole family can agree on. If you visit my Flickr stream you'll see the progress from harvest to sifting. It went well enough for us to plan a larger patch for next year.

Fresh Chicken

2010-06-23T21:31:00.002-04:00

Fresh Chicken, originally uploaded by KMantoan.

This kids watch Papa clean a rooster before breakfast.

The Roost

2010-06-23T21:27:00.002-04:00

The Roost, originally uploaded by KMantoan.

This is the door to our chicken coop. The kitschy art was a craft project my in-laws undertook sometime in the 70's. The rooster on the front is actually quite similar to one we just received, with two others, from some friends. The children have named the rooster that looks like this one Chanticleer after a children's book 'Chanticleer and the Fox' (taken from Chaucer's Caterbury Tales.) By the end of the week, all three should be either in my freezer or part of some leftovers in my fridge. I love, love, love me some fresh chicken.

My Better Half

2010-06-14T21:13:00.000-04:00

I am happy to announce that my husband Tony M., who currently blogs as benedictus over on his liturgically inspired blog Benedictus Deus, will be joining me on The Next Worker. Tony does all the 'manly' work around our homestead so it only made sense for me to drag him, er, politely ask him to join me in documenting exactly what it is that we do around here. Plus, given my delicate womanly condition, a.k.a pregnancy (complicated by hypertension), I've really had to focus on taking it easy for the sake of my health and that of the baby. It's absolutely maddening to me to have to sit still. And unfortunately, the tasks required to keep our homestead going cannot be done from the comfort of a rocking chair.
I'm very blessed to have a husband who gladly picks up the slack and a mother-in-law under my roof who jumps at every chance to interact with the kids, wash a load of laundry or even change a diaper. (No, I'm not exaggerating.) Maybe now you see how I find time to blog.
So I will go about my business as usual around here on TNW and Tony will help round out the content with his always insightful observations and commentary. Hopefully our relationship, which works so well in real life, will translate equally well into the virtual realm.

Waiting game

2010-06-14T15:16:00.002-04:00

Heavy rain yesterday, combined with deep furrows in the farm fields around our house equalled LOTS of water in our strawberry and melon patches. Last time rainwater from the fields next door washed into our yard, it killed the grass. The particular method of plowing directed even more water onto our property (and into our basement) than we'd ever seen. We know the neighbors crops (tomatoes) are being treated with something, but we're not sure what. Our free range chickens also gulped heavily from the puddles that formed around their coop. It seems no matter how hard one tries to keep one's own food supply clean and pure, the decisions of larger producers will inevitably interfere. (Just look in any heirloom seed catalogue to see the problem with obtaining non-GM corn.) We now must wait and see whether or not the water that washed across our lawn carried more than just H2O. Perhaps a little isopropylamine salt of glyphosate?

What's worth my time?

2010-06-12T21:56:00.000-04:00

And BTW-I'm TOTALLY out of the Catholic blogging loop. I see some of the same ones out there I was reading a couple years ago but some have dropped off the face of the earth. I'm looking for some recommendations for good Catholic blogs and any other good blogs related to homeschooling, homesteading, simple living, distributism and the Catholic Worker Movement. (Yes, this is an opportunity to shamelessly plug your own blog as well.) Leave a comment or drop me a line. Thanks!

Gratitude

2010-06-12T21:01:00.002-04:00

Today my family walked together in a fundraiser for my son Fulton. Around two dozen people came out to walk and many more pledged donations. We were astounded when the total amount came in at over $6,000, with more donations on the way. After such an overwhelming show of love and generosity, I've been moved to mention briefly, gratitude.
Being the recipient of such charity is difficult because you know you can never repay all the people for all the kindness and generosity they've shown you. It does however motivate one to want to give even more the next time an opportunity comes around. Looking over the donations, I was reminded of the story of the women who gave her last two coins. In the midst of an economic crisis, people are turning out their pockets, for my family. How often I've said, we don't have any extra money or time to give to this or that. How foolish I feel now, and how humbled. So I have immense gratitude towards those who gave so much when they are also struggling and I owe them a debt of thanks for schooling me in charity.
These people are only one of many blessings the Lord has given us in the midst of our trials. It would be easy to forget or dismiss them, and perhaps without grace I would, but thankfully, despite it all, I can wake up every morning and go to bed each night and thank God for many, many things in addition to my generous friends; the best husband in the world, four wonderful children, a roof over our heads, a garden and hens to produce food, space to run and savings in the bank just to name a few. God is so good. May He give me plenty of opportunities to repay that which has been so freely given to me.

"I do know that my nature is such that gratitude alone, gratitude for the faith, that most splendid gift, a gift not earned by me, a gratuitous gift, is enough to bind me in holy obedience to Holy Mother Church and her commands." -DD 12/17/66

Silkie

2010-06-12T19:14:00.002-04:00

Silkie, originally uploaded by KMantoan.

One of three new chickens on the farm.

A lifestyle blog?

2010-06-11T09:58:00.002-04:00

After glancing over my last two posts, my husband says to me, "So, you're just putting it all out there, huh?"
Yes, I suppose I did. It wasn't my intent to start blogging again and pour my heart out in every post, however, it wasn't until I hashed out my thoughts through the last two posts that I was able to start thinking about what I do what to spend the majority of my time writing about.
Certainly, this blog is first and foremost Catholic, and I make no apologies for that. However, I would like to include information that I think would be of value to a much broader audience. I suppose if my incorporation of the Church's social teachings in my posts turns people away, I'll just have to live with it. But it is my goal to show how what on the surface seem to be distantly related topics (homesteading, distributism, simple living, Catholic values, etc) can all be brought together under the Catholic Worker umbrella into a coherent whole, or a complete lifestyle, if that makes sense. I think many people would be surprised to learn that the Church has historically supported what is now considered trendy, ie making do with less, supporting local businesses, and entrepreneurship, just to name a few.
With these thoughts in mind, I've added a few new widgets. Check out my Google Reader page for articles of interest. There's also a Google Calendar link. I've updated a liturgical calendar, plus I hope to add upcoming events such as farmers markets, county fairs, classes and more as a resource. The calendar is public so please feel free to add an event that may be of interest to my readers, or email me and I will personally.
I'll be attempting to post reviews of some books that have been especially helpful in our adjustment to homesteading, plus some observations on developments around our plot of Earth. If I'm confident enough, maybe even a how-to post or video.
Lastly, homeschooling is a large part of what I do around here. While I still have a lot to learn, I hope to share resources I've found to be helpful and techniques that have worked with my young children. But I'm always open to suggestions so please, don't hesitate to pass them along!
In time, I hope this site becomes a resource for those who hope to create the types of Catholic Worker farms and families that Maurin and Day originally envisioned. The CW movement was never meant to stay in the cities, though the work done there is some of its most well known and commendable. There is a way for the rest of us to incorporate the CW principles into our lives without running off to NYC.

June Reflection

2010-06-10T11:23:00.002-04:00

This weekend marks the one year anniversary of my youngest son's diagnosis with Spinal Muscular Atrophy. We will spend Saturday at a Walk-A-Thon organized by my friends to help raise money for his related medical expenses.
The arrival of this infamous milestone is cause for me to reflect on all that has transpired over the course of this last year. Obviously, Fulton's diagnosis is hands down, the absolute worst event that occurred and probably ever will occur in this family. When faced with a disease like SMA, everything else in ones life falls quickly, and clearly into perspective. The spiritual, physical and emotional toll is unimaginable and ongoing. The only way I can describe it to those whose lives are not touched by a similarly devastating event is as such; a gaping, open wound on my very heart and soul. There are times when the wound is covered by a scab and the pain is less intense, the fears and tribulations of the trauma that caused the wound seem long past. But other times, the scab is ripped off anew, sometimes only by a thoughtless word or gesture, and I am left clutching at a hole from which pours forth unceasing pain and agony, and drowns all joy until the damage can be repaired.
Compared to such, how could whatever else life hands me, compare? So it must seem to many that I am ignorant, foolish, hardhearted or prideful when I do not response emotionally to what others consider a stressful situation.
In the last year, on top of Fulton's diagnosis and ongoing care, we have welcomed my husband's parents into our home, as permanent residents. We accepted God's surprise blessing of another baby, due Nov. 16, into our lives. And today, I will watch my husband arrive home from his job of six years for the last time; laid off and unemployed.
What is one to do when confronted with so many situations that lay out of ones control, or seem to have slipped through the cracks in an otherwise meticulously organized life? I have tried to think of ways to write about this topic for quite awhile and I have no concrete answers to the questions I've been asking for the last 12 months. I've relied heavily on my sense of humor and heavily on abandoning everything to God. When I allow myself the time and energy to dwell on my situation I feel like Atlas, balancing the world on my shoulders, and I am crushed, and defeated.
There is only God. I could reject Him now, and blame him for everything and curse my situation. Or I could turn it all over to Him, the only One who can bring good from what mankind can only understand as tragedy.
I don't want to be a "Job" and I feel like now I keep expecting another disaster to befall our family. But accepting what comes our way as God's divine plan for us make everything manageable. It is not an excuse for throwing up our hands, as if we have no choice in the matter. In fact by choosing to participate with God in these trials we are more apt to learn and grow. Sacrifice makes us stronger and helps us to persevere down the path God outlines for his followers. Jesus never claimed our life on Earth would be easy and I have to laugh at those who feel only good things come from God and bad things are what we do to ourselves. Convenient, comfortable and casual is their brand of Christianity. We have so much to gain from the bad things that God allows. Just because the rewards lay outside the understanding of mainstream society does not mean they don't exist or have tangible value.
I am a different person than I was a year ago. My situation shows me more clearly than ever my own faults and failings. I hope the next year, most especially, brings my son a miraculous cure, but secondly a joy and hope in accepting God's will, while offering up the pain, rather than a hesitant and reluctant walk with Him. May my joyful example convert the hearts of those who now only understand my faith as a curse or cause of my misfortune.

Following God's Will In Not an Excuse

2010-05-20T20:51:00.001-04:00

(This post was originally written before 'June Reflection'. I hesitated publishing it but have decided to do so. It is admittedly a ranty, cathartic post. Please forgive any overlap in content with the previous post. -KM)

The news of my latest pregnancy (#5 if you don't know me) was greeted by my family with about the worst possible response- short of being disowned. I waited until I was 12 weeks to tell anyone other than my husband and a close friend because I knew the reaction would not be pleasant. My family has always had concerns about our growing family because of my health conditions. I've never had any trouble and come through each pregnancy fine. However, last summer our youngest son was diagnosed with a degenerative neuromuscular disease known as Spinal Muscular Atropy. It is genetic. My husband and I are both carriers. We learned that each time I was pregnant we had a one in four chance of producing a child with SMA. The devastation of having a child with SMA was overwhelming for a time. I honestly couldn't see myself ever being happy again. In time, I came out from under my dark cloud but always looming in the distance for us was what do we do about any future children? For my family, and any one who doesn't agree with the Catholic Church's teaching on contraception the answer is to get my tubes tied, or make my husband get a vasectomy. We knew these were not options and so, with what we considered to be the gravest of circumstances we resumed the practice of Natural Family Planning. But, God seemed to have other plans for us because I became pregnant earlier this year.
Now I'm battling against the misconception that my husband and I are selfish because we supposedly planned to bring this child into the world, even though he/she might have SMA. We're irresponsible because we don't use contraception or sterilization to prevent pregnancy. We're saying 'it's God's will' to excuse our actions. Perhaps there is even some underlying hatred of a Church that would 'force us' to have children under such circumstances. And so on, and so on.
I don't think I can change everyone's minds. I'm exhausted at the thought of trying to convince some of my friends and family to not hate me. But whether they want to admit it or not, somewhere along the line society came to believe that God has nothing to do with the creation of children. Newsflash, God creates life, not you and He has a purpose for each individual.

Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I hallowed thee, I appointed thee a prophet unto the nations. Jeremiah 1.5

And most especially, society has forgotten that the primary end of sex is children. The purpose of sex is to make babies, not entertain you on a Saturday night. If God designed sex just for fun, we wouldn't have to introduce so many artificial barriers to prevent the inevitable. Even if you examine sex from a purely scientific standpoint, you have to acknowledge that it's primary end is procreation. It's how we keep our species going.
Plus, the fact of the matter is, people don't want me to bring another disabled child into this world. Sure, they love my youngest son but when speaking of an abstract, unknown child, I suppose it's better if such a child didn't exist. For his/her sake because living a disabled life must be so horrible, and mine, because why would I want that burden? And if that's not the underlying reason, why shouldn't I have another child? Or another 10? Then you open the floodgates to the all the criticisms of large families in general.
People, regardless of what they do on Sunday, believe very little in God's sway in their lives. People believe they have free will and that the choice is entirely theirs with God's participation limited to guiding them through the tough times and 'rewarding them' with the good times. They fail to see how it is possible to accept things contrary to what they want and regard it as God's will. Negative circumstances are to be avoided. No one but the staunchest Catholics understands the role of suffering in today's world. Although Jesus never promised an easy life for any of his followers, many Christians have come to expect it. They want God to take them out of tribulation not allow it to befall them in order to make them holier. Such a concept runs counter to modern thought in the Church and mainstream society.
So it is no wonder that my acceptance of this pregnancy, which is considered a horrible mistake by many, could be misunderstood. They can't see God 'blessing' us with a baby given our circumstances so this pregnancy must be the result of a stupid mistake or bad judgement on our part. They see contraception and sterilization as a God given option to preventing such mishaps and our refusal of them our own curse. They fail to see each as an immoral choice given the moral option of abstinence. It'd be like choosing to steal a loaf of bread to feed your family rather than pay for it. You'll eat either way, but one is wrong. Because people have no idea of self control the though of abstinance is downright appalling to them and basically they don't believe people can control their urges.
I think the choices we've made regarding family planning also make other people uncomfortable about the choices they've made, as if we're judging them by not contracepting and having lots of kids. You've made your choices and we've made ours. Why are you allowed to criticize the size of my family but I have no right to be appalled at your choice to contracept?
I guess people feel it's more responsible now to plan pregnancies and have less children. Most couples now feel like they can't handle more than 1 or 2 kids again forgetting that God gives you the grace to handle what he sends. We really have so little control over the surprises and tragedies that come our way but we always find a way through. We become tougher and stronger and we look back are realize we've done the unthinkable along the way.
Heavens knows I'm scared and my husband is scared but we've been scared before and looking back over our lives, we can see how God brought us through those times. We can turn our trust over to God and accept these trials, crosses, surprises-whatever because we know He is there with us as He always has been.
How do we know God's will? How can we be sure we are treading the right path and not being irresponsible or selfish? Our road map is the Church. Her teachings are the compass that point straight to heaven. We may not always be happy in this life with the trials we face by taking the road less travelled, but we can be satisfied knowing God is pleased with our efforts. Following our own whims and desires may be easier, more convenient, may please others, help us fit in better but if we acknowledge our faults and our nature as sinners we must question the ability of such a lifestyle to bring us lasting happiness in this world or the next.

Great resources for learning about the Catholic Church's teaching on contraception.
http://www.scripturecatholic.com/contraception.html
http://www.ewtn.com/library/marriage/cclbc.txt
http://www.catholic.com/library/Birth_Control.asp

Assuming all points are equal...

2010-05-19T19:37:00.002-04:00

I've had some issues arise lately that have put me at odds with my family and some close friends. The situation has led me to see, very clearly, how hard it is nowadays to hold a rational discussion with people whose core beliefs differ radically from one's own.
It seems that most arguments, since discussions rarely stay civil, are fueled by emotion, generalizations and cliched talking points. This is not only because people no longer know how to argue their points logically, but because, and here in lies the real problems, for most people there are no absolutes on which to base anything.
No longer can people discuss a topic and agree on certain parameters outlined either by faith or natural law. Today, because we must accept all things as equal it is impossible to wrap up an argument by saying, "Well, we may not agree on the best way to reach point A but at least we can agree that A exists." To suggest in modern society that there is a definite point 'A' and that someone else idea of point 'A' is incorrect is heresy. Now, we must start all polite conversations with the understood idea that all point 'A's are relevant and equal or things quickly get out of hand.
This is maddening to me. I've pretty much given up trying to hold discussions with people on matters of faith and politics, unless we're close acquaintances who can agree to 'play nice.' My solution is simply to live my life the best I can according to The Truth revealed by the Holy Spirit through the Catholic Church which was founded by the Son of God, Jesus Christ. That's the bedrock of my arguments. If you're going to pick a fight with me, and then refuse to listen to my responses because you believe that the Church is all wrong and all religions are equal, what can I say? You're pretty much saying, "Your positions are not worth considering because they do not accept all points as equal." Therefore, only people who can agree to all things being changeable and not steadfast can argue...but then, how can you discuss two sides to an issue if you both must admit each side is correct? Madness!!!
It comes down to the fact that modern society is trying to cut out of all discussions those who hold absolutes, which as Catholics, we must be. We must hold steadfast to The Truth and all teachings of the Church, especially as we watch all other ideals which have stood the test of time crumble around us.
I wish I had studied logic, rhetoric and debate in school. Perhaps I would feel better prepared to tackle tough conversations with strangers. But seeing as how most other people didn't study those subjects and hold firm to an even vaguer sense of values than myself, I may not have anything to fear. Especially since, personally, I've reached the point where I'm willing to have that discord between myself and my family or a long time friend, rather than compromise my beliefs. It hurts like hell at times to not be able to talk openly with people simply because they refuse to give your views a fair listen. I can only hope in time that prayer and the example of faithful Catholics can bring about the conversion of such skeptics. Anger and yelling certainly won't and I refuse, or hope I refuse, to take the bait when it's offered to me in the midst of a heated discussion.
As I post more items, I hope that they can create meaningful dialogue and intelligent discussion. If you disagree with me, fine, but try to frame your rebuttals as complete thoughts (with correct spelling and grammar) and not, "U don't know what youre talking about papist! You suck!.The church protects child molesters!" And other 'deep' commentary which seems to run rampant in the comments sections of most online media. That would be super. I look forward to hearing from you.

I Didn't Mind My Mother

2010-05-18T16:54:00.002-04:00

I Didn't Mind My Mother, originally uploaded by KMantoan.

Free Range

2010-05-09T16:24:00.002-04:00

Free Range, originally uploaded by KMantoan.

Word to the wise

2010-05-02T17:30:00.002-04:00

"God uses the simple and ignorant and powerless ones in this world such as we are to confound the wise."
-DD April 1, 1940

Puddle Hopping

2010-04-30T22:05:00.002-04:00

Puddle Hopping, originally uploaded by KMantoan.

Tidying Up

2010-04-29T17:20:00.001-04:00

BTW: I'm updating all my links and blogrolls. If you know of any good sites that I've missed please let me know. Thanks!

A break from great events...

2010-04-29T16:05:00.001-04:00

So, despite telling some people otherwise...I'm going to come back to blogging- at least for the time being. I've uploaded a new template, added a profile avatar and got *big* plans for this site. If I ever figure out html, The Next Worker will really be rockin'.
I'm not even going to attempt to bring everyone up to speed on what I've been doing for the last year, but suffice it to say life has thrown some major curve balls my way, some good, some downright disastrous. But, we persevere.
I'm reading the collected diaries of Dorothy Day and her consistent writing has really motivated me to put my thoughts down again. I've started a private journal and from that, I hope to glean ideas for posting. The principles of my life are still Catholic Worker principles, so you'll see a continuation of the themes already mentioned in earlier posts. But I will introduce you to my family more closely and to myself as well. Here on our acre of earth, we are practicing what we preach as best we can, and finding the trials and tribulations that come with merging modern society with traditional values of all types.
And now, picking up where I left off...

"We always write on the great events later. When we live we do not write."
-DD 1/4/52

Baby Steps

2009-02-10T21:50:00.001-05:00

After reading my old post on Wal-Mart I figured I should update everyone, as I've made great, okay decent, progress in buying local and making better purchasing decisions overall. And if you live in South Jersey, I'll tell you where I'm shopping and give you the links to hook you up.
First, I found a local butcher, Bringhurst Meats. You can see where they slaughter the animals from the counter where you purchase your meat. It's a small family place that's tucked back a windy road and has been since the 1930's. I can buy not only locally farmed meat, but grass-fed beef, rabbits, free-range chickens, goat meat and fresh bacon without nitrates. Plus, they buy animals from the local 4-H kids and then sell the meat. And, as expected, their products taste awesome.
Second, I started getting organic produce delivered weekly from Suburban Organics. The downside is that to supply people with organic produce year round, they ship produce from all over. Al Gore would pass out at the sight of the carbon footprint my organic pineapples and mangos leave behind. BUT, during the spring and summer I do get locally produced veggies AND they deliver organic milk too. So while I'm paying more for everything, it's worth it too me because it saves on all the running around, and when I pay top dollar for food, I use it up without waste. The kids will learn to eat this stuff before I grow it so our crops don't rot in the crisper. And finally, for all the bits of veggies that do get brown and gross before I turn then into one of my delicious home-cooked dinners, its simply a trip out to the compost pile. We've got a nice recycled pallet compost pile cooking out back and we're hoping to get some raised beds out front this spring.
It didn't take much searching to find these places so it's likely there's a co-op or butcher in your town too: why not have a look?
So, there have been some changes here and I'm feeling good about it all. It feels pretty good to read my earlier post and see that, wow, I could make some baby steps in the right direction. With a little more time, who knows what we might accomplish this year. Dare I be optimistic? I'll drink to that.

Bob Waldrop-Who I Hope to be When I Grow Up

2009-02-10T21:35:00.001-05:00

Here is a link to a presentation by Bob Waldrop, of the Catholic Worker house in Oklahoma City. He spoke at Our Lady of the Annunciation Monastery at Clear Creek; a traditional Benedictine order with a growing community of Catholic agrarians popping up around it.
We briefly toyed with the idea of running away to Oklahoma during our dismal house search but decided against it; at least for now.
Waldrop runs a great Worker house, and his presence at Clear Creek shows that the values of the Catholic Worker Movement do not run contrary to traditional Catholic values. Just because some liberals hijacked Day as their mascot and twisted her message or used what suited their views du jour, the Catholic Worker Movement is just what it says-Catholic, to the core.
If I can create in my own way even half of the good that Waldrop does out his way, I'll be lucky.

An Examination of Conscience

2008-09-05T21:57:00.001-04:00

I've been feeling rather guilty lately related to a number of reasons but primarily because I've been shopping....at Wal-Mart. I also spent a Saturday morning at, sigh, IKEA. I felt like I needed a shower after each trip (which thankfully I can do now since our tub and shower are installed.) Me, the one who totally believes in buying local, subsidiarity, distributism, hauled four kids into a Super Wal-Mart for back to school supplies and housewares. I spent hundreds of dollars on a table at IKEA that was made in a communist country where Catholics are persecuted. And despite reading 'Omnivores Dilemma' and 'Crunchy Con' in the last month, I picked up a bag of Tyson chicken at the supermarket.

"Forgive me Father for I have sinned. It's been three weeks since my last confession. In that time I have bought a ton of crap in the name of convenience and/ or sloth. I knowingly made choices that went against Catholic social teachings in order to save a buck. My efforts to become a self sufficient agrarian did not happen the moment we bought this house so I am guilty of the sin of despair. And I've taken the Lord's name in vain, repeatedly, driving through traffic to get everywhere from our home in the boonies."

Here's what my walk on the dark side has taught me.
1. Having stuff requires buying more stuff to take care of and organize the stuff you have. For example: Having kids requires lots of stuff. And not only do you need to keep buying them new stuff, family members will also buy them tons of stuff you don' t want. As a bonus, you get to store lots of old stuff to pass onto your younger children.
2. Today's suburbs are not equipped to support buying local. You can't just walk down the street to your local butcher/baker/candlestick maker. You have to drive, and if you're like me you don't want to drive around to 4 different places for 4 things with 4 children. You wind up going to one place to buy them all.
3. It's takes time to do the research to shop conscientiously. I know what's bad about factory farmed food but where around here do I find the good stuff? Where can I find reasonably priced furniture not made by child labor? Until I can raise it or make it all myself I'm stuck buying if from someone. And up to now, I just haven't had the time to search out all the local farm stands, organic livestock ranches or dairy goat operations in South Jersey.
4. Quality is more expensive and paying more money is hard. Yeah, I know the arguments- "But if you cut back you can afford the better stuff." "If you get the good stuff you'll be healthier and make up the difference in how you feel and medical costs." Blah, blah, blah-organic milk is TWICE as much as the regular stuff; DOUBLE. My grocery bills are going up and you want me to pay double?! I'm a tyrant with the drinks in my house, we drink lots of water but we still consume tons of milk. And I'm supposed to pay double?! Double?! Sorry, I just can't.
And now, my act of contrition;

"O My God, I am most heartily sorry for all my sins; and I detest these purchases above all others because they displease Thee, Who are infinitely good and lovable and I firmly resolve with the help of Thy grace to do penance for them and never more spend money on goods that promote sloth, gluttony, envy and anger. Amen."

For my penance I will;
1. Get rid of more stuff through Freecycle or Goodwill. (More thoughts on stuff later too.)
2. and 3. Find one local merchant and purchase some of my groceries from him/her while out doing other errand (going to church, taking kids to appointments, etc.)
4. Work on price book so I know when the quality stuff is on sale so I'll be more likely to buy it.

Thanks for letting me come clean. I feel better already.

A tub and trendy values

2008-08-23T22:05:00.001-04:00

I'm finally caught up on laundry, but only because my husbands turned off the water to the washer. I'm done with dishes for the night, but only because we ate dinner on paper plates. And now as I prepare to unwind for the evening, my husband informs me that he's just going to redo all the plumbing to the downstairs bathroom and washer. No big deal. This is the bathroom renovation project that never ends. With a lot of luck and even more prayers, we just might be able to bathe in a tub by the end of the week. But, that's what I thought last week before I realized the entire underside of our quaint clawfoot tub was rusted and had to be stripped, primed with two coats of Rust Bullet and painted with two coats of latex. And the drywall installation took a bit longer as well. Last time my husband and I owned a home we could make our own we were newlyweds with lots of time (aka no children) but little funds. Now, although not rich, we've saved up money for home repairs but we've got no free time and the minutes we eek out here and there are constantly sabotaged by these four. Notice the quality rusted seating.

Oh a lighter note, country living is all I hoped it'd be. Lots of fresh air and open space for the kids and lots of wildlife to explore; outside and inside our home. Like bats. If you've watched 'The Great Outdoors' with John Candy and Dan Akroyd you can imagine how last night went in my house. Ah, the thrill of nature.
Despite the setbacks and surprises I wouldn't change a thing. In fact let me use the tub and the bats to illustrate some points I've been pondering lately. (In my usual round about way. If this gets diluted forgive me as I'm still very sleep deprived.)
Lately, the media is all about living 'green' and lessening your carbon footprint. There is also plenty of press about trying to save money. And there is no shortage of books out there on downsizing, organizing and in general, simplifying your life. Three separate lifestyle goals, 'green' living, frugal living and simple living, all supposedly better than the usual disposable, materialistic consumer culture the majority strives for. If you chose one of these lifestyles and followed it to a T you'd be doing pretty good for yourself because any of the above three would be better than what the general public does. But individually, each is incomplete because none have Christian values at their base. Take the tub for example. We're doing the 'green' thing because we're recycling a tub that otherwise would've made it into a landfill. We're doing the frugal thing because fixing up an old tub is much cheaper than buying a new reproduction claw tub. But we're not doing the simple thing because a person who embraces simple living would've hired out this job weeks ago and turned over their credit card number to the contractor and the designer and gone off to Vegas to avoid the stress that comes with tearing up a bathroom. So there are times when a person who practices simple living will throw money at a problem; a common mainstream solution in a society that underestimates the value of hard work. Likewise, a 'green' person would throw in the towel if he/she realized it might harm the bats nesting in his/her attic and outsource the work to a pricey eco-friendly contractor. The frugal person might just charge ahead and used the most toxic materials available to restore the tub, the fumes of which could kill all the bats in a 10 mile radius, just because they're the cheapest.
As a Catholic I was to save money on the project but not at the cost of the natural resources, like the frugal person. But unlike the 'green' person the health and well being of bats is not more important than that of my family so I'm not going to turn my attic into a bat sanctuary. And while living simply, and eliminating clutter and stress from our lives is important, spending money and relying on disposable conveniences and unnecessary indulgences is the wrong way to do so.
Catholics protect the planet and its resources because they're a gift from God. We live simply because Christ lived simply and to keep out focus on heavenly reward not earthly possessions. We spend less to avoid debt, usury and because fewer expenses means we need less income, therefore more time can be spent with our families serving Christ rather than working for the man. I bet you didn't know being a Catholic worker could be so trendy.
Every so often Catholic ideas become popular; just not the part where Christ is involved. Without Him, they morph into quasi religions of their own, fanatics and all. (St. Al Gore anyone?) Don't settle for the values society hands us when your Catholic faith offers you that and so much more. Living your faith ensures a healthy environment, a little money in your pocket and a simpler life, even when your bathroom is torn up and you've got four kids.

New Beginnings

2008-08-15T21:40:00.001-04:00

It is with much joy, and much lack of sleep, that I announce major changes for The Next Worker. On June 27 at 315pm we closed on a beautiful old house in South Jersey with just over an acre of land. At 214am June 28, we welcomed into the world our fourth child and second son, Fulton Ambrose. God is so good.
The last six weeks have been a whirlwind to say the least. I feel guilty even blogging when there's so much that absolutely HAS to get done, including sleeping but any good writer undergoing such developments feels incomplete unless she can WRITE about them. Besides, I can't do more bragging to my friends and family; I need to move into the realm of strangers in which to share my joy.
I've got so many priorities right now I hardly know where to begin. I wind up starting several things but ultimately I wind up doing something trivial because the rest of it is so overwhelming. Just having a new child is one thing, having three other small children is another. Purchasing a fixer up is one thing, fixing it up with a newborn and three small kids is another. Preparing for another homeschooling year is one thing, trying to write up lesson plans with a newborn and a new house and did I mention the three other small children is starting to seem impossible. Oh, and did I mention I started a homeschooled girls field hockey team and I'm volunteering for our local homeschooling support group? Have you caught your breath yet? Because I'm still gasping for air.
But despite all this it is hard for my husband and I to not just want to jump headfirst into all the ideas I've hashed out on here; self sufficient living, the agrarian lifestyle. simplifying, etc. At least as much as such ideals are possible on an acre in Jersey. However, most people are living on less than an acre in suburban areas just like us. Our new homestead could hopefully serve as an example of how to put the Worker principles into action on a small, readily accessible scale...if we can ever get past this initial starting point (which includes tearing out our only full bath and relying on sponge baths for the last two weeks.)
So now The Next Worker is going to change course a bit. While passing along the wisdom of Day and the Worker movement is still central to what we're doing the blog will now focus on fulfilling these ideals and what concrete steps we're taking towards living this 'Worker' lifestyle we've imagined for ourselves. I always felt I couldn't live up to my expectations because of the situation we were in. Now that we've secured the house I'd been dreaming of, will we fall short of our goals, succeed beyond our wildest dreams or fall somewhere in between? Could we realize what we sought for so long isn't possible at all?
Now the rubber meets the road. We're off and running. Already our new situation has presented opportunities to help people anonymously, offer hospitality for groups of people and be on call, with a door always open, for friends in need. I think the biggest problem will be not setting our sights to high right away and getting discouraged when life (aka four kids, homeschooling, a full time job, etc) prevents us from doing what we want in a timely fashion, which means, right now!
For now, we need to finish the bathroom. Then there's minor cosmetic stuff inside we want to tackle like painting since this house is disgusting but there's several major projects we're having a hard time deciding between. And the yard! Heaven knows what we will find out there next but already we need to think of how to get it in order for next spring.
I'm hoping to work out my thoughts through posting and maybe, if we can fix our camera, start posting pictures. Eventually, I would love to have our own Path to Freedom type thing going but that's a few years down the road. Stay tuned! I'm happy to be back. And feel free to leave advice by way of personal messages or links. I'm always looking to learn more. I love new beginnings.

Circumstances of our lives...cheerfully borne

2008-04-23T09:33:00.002-04:00

"In a way of course taking care of your own, children and grandchildren, is taking care of your self. On the other hand there is the sacrament of duty as Father McSorley calls it. There is great joy in being on the job, doing good works, performing the works of mercy. But when you get right down to it, a work which is started personally often ends up by being paper work--writing letters, seeing visitors, speaking about the work while others do it. One can become a veritable Mrs. Jellyby, looking after the world and neglecting one's own who are struggling with poverty and hard work and leading, as such families with small children do these days, ascetic lives. There are vigils, involuntary ones, fasting, due to nausea of pregnancy for instance, but St. Angela of Foligno said that penances voluntarily undertaken are not half so meritorious as those imposed on us by the circumstances of our lives and cheerfully borne.

The christian life is certainly a paradox. The teaching of St. John of the Cross (which was for beginners, he said) is of the necessity for detachment from creatures; of the need of travelling light through the dark night.

Most of us have not the courage to set out on this path wholeheartedly, so God arranges it for us.

It would seem to the unthinking that mothers of children, whether of one or a dozen, are intensely preoccupied with creatures; their little ones, food, clothing, shelter, matters that are down to earth and grossly material such as dirty diapers, dishes, cooking, cramming baby mouths with food, etc. Women's bodies, heavy with children, dragged down by children, are a weight like a cross to be carried about. From morning until night they are preoccupied with cares but it is care for others, for the duties God has given them. It is a road once set out upon, from which there is no turning back. Every woman knows that feeling of not being able to escape, of the inevitability of her hour drawing ever nearer. This path of pain is woman's lot. It is her glory and her salvation. She must accept.

We try to escape, of course, either habitually or occasionally. But we never can. The point I want to make is that a woman can achieve the highest spirituality and union with God through her house and children, through doing her work which leaves her no time for thought of self, for consolation, for prayer, for reading, for what she might consider development. She is being led along the path of growth inevitably. But she needs to be told these things, instructed in these things, for her hope and endurance, so that she may use what prayer she can, to cry out in the darkness of the night.

Here is her mortification of the senses:

Her eyes are affronted by disorder, confusion, the sight of human ailments, and human functions. Her nose also; her ears tormented with discordant cries, her appetite failing often; her sense of touch in agony from fatigue and weakness.

Her interior senses are also mortified. She is alone with her little ones, her interest adapted to theirs; she has not even the companionship of books. She has no longer the gay companions of her youth (their nerves can't stand it). So she has solitude, and a silence from the sounds she'd like to hear, conversation, music, discussion.

Of course there are consolations and joys. Babies and small children are pure beauty, love, joy--the truest in this world. But the thorns are there of night watches, of illnesses, of infant perversities and contrariness. There are glimpses of heaven and hell."

On Pilgrimage, January, Dorothy Day

A new perspective. A new hope.

2008-04-22T09:05:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone. Hopefully this post finds you all well and assures you that I am not dead and still doing good. I have not felt the pull to write until recently though, I can't be sure I'll resume blogging full time.
We have not yet found our homestead and recently decided to stop looking. I'm about 3 months out from having our fourth child, and second son, and since the whole house search has been so disastrous, we've decided to stay put until after he arrives. The ongoing saga for a home has consumed us for the last few months as we felt confidant the Lord would provide us with a home before the baby came. I can't even tell you how much more money and time we sunk into this search only to have our hopes crushed. I think it's finally clear; we're not to move right now. I've been reading 'The Imitation of Christ' and in addition to just feeling bad about our situation, I feel bad about feeling bad instead of offering it all up and thanking the Lord for this opportunity to suffer. Slowly, a feeling of hope is arising as I know that some good will come out of this as it always has in the past or I'm knocking some time off purgatory so long as I can not be a whiny wuss about it all.
After talking with a priest friend this past weekend, I'm trying to focus on the good things God has given us right now and how I can utilize those gifts for His ends. Of course I still have lofty goals of homesteading and service to the poor but the homestead has not appeared nor has the free time to run off to Camden. And it stinks having my husband's hard earned salary sitting as devaluing American dollars in a bank account instead of invested in crops, animals, tools and say, 50lb bags of rice and grain. In an apartment, we are at the mercy of the stores and the landlord.
But, I have three wonderful children, with a healthy fourth on the way. I'm surviving the homeschool day. My marriage is great. We have a great traditional parish with lots of friends who share our strong Catholic beliefs. Our kids are constantly busy with other Catholic, homeschooled kids. My husbands job is secure, we're saving money and we do have a nice roof over our heads. If I wasn't aware of Catholic Worker ideals, distributism, simple, agrarian values, etc. I would have no room to complain. (I still shouldn't.)
My husband and I are always planning and actively working towards our goals. The thought of 'sitting still' and just letting the chips fall for the next few months is nerve wracking but I have to assume at this point that what ever God has in store for us, outside the wonderful life he's already provided us with, will have to come in His time by His means. No amount of frantic searching on our part can speed along God's plan.
So what does it all mean for this 'Next Worker'? I'm not sure. I never wanted to be all talk and no action on Worker principals, which is how I feel. But I need to see the opportunities to 'feed the hungry and clothe the naked' in my own home. (Lord knows there's always hungry and naked people here.) My own children are no less important that children in Camden or Africa or anywhere. If this is where God wants me, then I can't assume my actions mean less than a Worker at Mary House in NYC.
So maybe I'm not the 'Next Worker' at all. Maybe, I've been Working all along and didn't know it. We'll see how it all plays out and how this new viewpoint effects my writing. The family as Workers; who knows?

Am I My Brother's Keeper?

2007-11-27T17:47:00.000-05:00

Hope y'all had a happy Thanksgiving. Sorry blogging has been light. I'd like to get back into the swing of things, but I want to be able to offer new stuff. Not just my same tired old thoughts. Our homeschool breaks for all of December (one of the many perks of homeschooling) so hopefully the Advent season will lend itself to some fresh insights and meditations.
In preparation of Advent, my husband and I are once again trying to figure out how to incorporate works of charity into the season; something beyond passing on a choice parking space for another driver or dropping a few quarters in the Salvation Army pail. Charity is the work of Christians. It is what we are called to do through out the year, although opportunities abound this time of year. But how many Christians have forgotten what charity really requires? We've grown into a society where 'handling' the poor, the sick and the mentally ill is the work of the government. Today's charity opportunities consist of feel good monetary donations, once yearly soup kitchen visits with friends and or awareness ribbon purchases. We've turned over our duty to the government and what have they done with such a great responsibility? How many people are helped by social programs versus those who've come to rely on the system?
Doing works of charity is good for the soul, it's spiritually uplifting when done right. The end result should not be a bursting sense of pride or an emotional pick me up. True charity leaves you humble, you are the servant not the master. You're not coming down out of your ivory tower to mingle with the commoners. (I'm talking to you celebrities/politicians and your staged photo ops.) Are you worthy to bow before them and wash their feet? If you didn't get the point; charity is not about you.
But the problem with a government run system is you don't have humble people meeting the needs of the less fortunate with compassion and love. And how can you have charity without love? The recipients of government handouts certainly don't love the government agencies that 'serve' them. But yet many have come to rely on the handout and to expect government assistance with every pitfall. Christian charity in a crisis has become a bonus. We couldn't expect fellow Christians, neighbors, church members, friends and family members to shoulder all the responsibility of serving the needy could we?! The suggestion to most people seems preposterous. By why should it be?
We look at our prosperous country and still see homelessness, poverty, hunger, troubled youth, abused children and we sit in our cushy homes, begrudgingly pay our taxes and wonder why the government hasn't used our money to take care of these problems. Is the solution to these problems really higher taxes? How many committees and special dialogue sessions do we need to pay for before we realize WE are the solution. Christians helping everyone, serving one another and making sacrifices for the good of mankind. Stop passing the buck. Stop expecting Uncle Sam to play Christ for the country's less fortunate. What a lousy substitution.

"But who is to take care of them if the government does not? That is a question in a day when all are turning to the state, and when people are asking, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Certainly we all should know that it is not the province of the government to practice the works of mercy, or go in for Insurance. Smaller bodies, decentralized groups, should be caring for all such needs.

The first unit of society is the family. The family should look after its own and, In addition, as the early fathers said, "every home should have a Christ room in it, so that hospitality may be practiced." "The coat that hangs in your closet belongs to the poor." "If your brother is hungry, it is your responsibility."

"When did we see Thee hungry, when did we see Thee naked?" People either plead ignorance or they say "It is none of my responsibility." But we are all members one of another, so we are obliged in conscience to help each other. The parish is the next unit, and there are local councils of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. Then there is the city, and the larger body of charitable groups. And there are the unions, where mutual aid and fraternal charity is also practiced. For those who are not Catholics there are lodges fraternal organizations, where there is a long tradition of charity. But now there is a dependence on the state. Hospitals once Catholic are subsidized by the state. Orphanages once supported by Catholic charity receive their aid from community chests."
"More About Holy Poverty. Which Is Voluntary Poverty."
By Dorothy Day
The Catholic Worker, February 1945

The degree of separation

2007-11-13T21:58:00.000-05:00

"And we are part of it all, part of this whole movement throughout the country, but of course we have our own particular talent, our own particular contribution to make to the sum total of the apostolate. And we think of it as so important that we are apt to fight and wrangle among ourselves on account of it, and we are all sensitive to the accusation that we are accenting, emphasizing one aspect of the truth at the expense of another. A heresy overemphasizes one aspect of the truth.

But our unity, if it is not unity of thought in regard to temporal matters, is a unity at the altar rail. We are all members of the Mystical Body of Christ, and so we are closer to each other, by the tie of grace, than any blood brothers are. All these books about discrimination are thinking in terms of human brotherhood, of our responsibility one for another. We are our brother's keeper, and all men are our brothers whether they be Catholic or not. But of course the tie that binds Catholics is closer, the tie of grace. We partake of the same food, Christ. We put off the old man and put on Christ. The same blood flows through our veins, Christ's. We are the same flesh, Christ's. But all men are members or potential members, as St. Augustine says, and there is no time with God, so who are we to know the degree of separation between us and the Communist, the unbaptized, the God-hater, who may tomorrow, like St. Paul, love Christ."

On Pilgrimage
May
By Dorothy Day

Rational, emotional, spiritual or hormonal?

2007-11-13T21:20:00.000-05:00

Back from a blogging break. The failure to close on yet another house plus another recent surprise have resulted in several weeks of asking, 'what are we supposed to be doing?' My husband and I feel we have two paths before us, both with their pluses and minuses, it's a matter of choosing the right one. I don't think either would be wrong per say, but which is best for right now. Everyday one of us changes our mind. We're praying, maybe pleading, at this point for a clear sign but past experience leads us to believe we won't be seeing angels in our sleep. My concern is making a major decision based on emotion rather than rational thought and genuine spiritual direction. We pray for what we want, knowing that maybe God has something else in mind instead. So then, do we spring for option one because it's what we want now for our family, even if we have to sacrifice some principles or do we charge headfirst into option two because it's closest to our religious ideas but, in all honesty, it would be crazy and impossible to explain to everyone.
At what point do you just want something so bad you rationalize everything about it to fit into 'what God wants' or 'it's the answer to our prayers'? How do you know when the crazy option on the back burner is really the crazy leap of faith God wants you to take?
And like all our life changing decisions, we're on a deadline. I don't want elaborate too much, but where we are now is not going to be suitable in say, nine months. Like I wasn't emotionally charged enough...
God calls everyone and the static of the world can make receiving the message so difficult. Some people miss the call entirely and others are there screaming into the receiver, 'I can't understand what your saying!' It's only the saints who get visions, have conversations with divinity and suffer gladly with whatever comes their way.
Somewhere along the way, I've lost the zeal for the mission, for the Movement. Charity for others is scarcely mentioned now. The focus is squarely on the family and there is simply no energy or time for worrying about others when everything here is in such disarray. And because if I remind myself of the Movement, I only remember how little I've done and I'd rather not feel dismayed over yet something else.
Intelligent decisions, emotional decisions, spiritual decisions; or just are they all just the same decisions with different consequences?

Month of the Dead

2007-10-31T20:33:00.000-04:00

"It is so hard to find a balance.

We have the knowledge that this life is a passageway to another fuller life which is to come, that we are heirs to a richness and a joy beyond all telling, and that we are working toward a new heaven and a new earth, where all is love and peace, where justice dwells. We also know that what we do now will count, that we are exercising our faculties to this end, and that, although sometimes our work seems futile and without result in these fields of justice and peace and love, (Ammon's work for peace, Charlie's work with teenagers, Pat's with the Ninth Street kids, and all of ours at Spring Street and at the farm) we know that is all preparation, like that of a farmer, and God will give the results, the increase, the crop. If we do not do this work, we are dead souls, no matter how vital our bodies, and there is no health in us.

We also know that religion, as the Marxists have always insisted, has, too often, like an opiate, tended to put people to sleep to the reality and the need for the present struggle for peace and justice.

"The future is so glorious in the world that is to come, why worry about the present? If we are heirs to the Kingdom, why worry about the destitution and squalor and destruction around us. To the devil with this world!" But, this world is God's world and we have no right to consign it to the devil. We should be fighting like mad against the perverse will of men, and this fight is for love of God and for love of men, the very least of them, the most unworthy of them, even to the greatest sinners among them, remembering how Jesus said from the Cross, from His torture and death, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do!" Forgive these murderers! It costs a lot to forgive murderers, every drop of our blood, every ounce of our energy.

One World

We are all members one of another, we are all heirs, we are all brothers, no matter how far apart we have strayed. We live on one world and that seems to be a pretty small one now that there is all this talk of space ships and satellites and trips to the moon.

St. Paul, when he talks of God's power, talks of the "mighty exercise of God's power when He raised Jesus from the dead and, in Him, gave us a promise of the same resurrection for ourselves."

Man, in his pride, is always trying to create life out of nothing and to raise men from the dead, but we don't hear so much about that now that he is thinking of interplanetary exploration.

Men of science are just as much distracted from the things of this earth as those they have charged with putting too much emphasis on religion and the next life. While billions of dollars are being spent on missiles, we still have our poverty, the hungry and homeless in our midst, the needs of our families for bread, for shoes, for shelter. We explore outer space, and families of ten are crowded in one room in New York. Are they crowded in slums? Let them practice birth control! It is now legal in New York, which has a Catholic mayor and Catholic borough president, to give out birth control information to all who ask, in city hospitals and clinics. In Japan, under our complacent acceptance, they have abortion clinics. Remedies are on the side of death. And what deathly remedies are offered! Let them stay in Puerto Rico. Send them back to their shacks where they can starve more comfortably in tropical surroundings, while the rich steal their land for sugar and missile bases. [snip]

The Womb of This Life

I am writing this column about death and life, because it is the month of November, which, in the Church, is the month we commemorate the dead. All Saints Day is on November first. (Halloween is the holy eve of the day which commemorates all those great ones who have gone before, who most nearly resembled Jesus Christ in their lives.) All Souls Day is for the rank and file who have gone before us, the "dear departed" as the Irish say. Yes, this is all very true and real to the "faithful," to those who grow in faith by the constant exercise of it. Greater than faith is charity, caritas, love. Without this wedding garment of love we cannot enter into the next world. Hope goes together with faith and charity.

Fr. Guerin of the Marists on Staten Island gave us a series of conferences one winter, and in one of them, dealing with death, he said that this life is like life in the womb. If the child in the womb was asked if it wished to be born, it would say "No I am quite comfortable where I am." And, if it had control, it would not bother to grow those organs which fit it for life in the world; lungs to breathe with, legs to walk with, the life of the exterior senses.

Holding Fast

And, it is the same in this world. We are all holding fast to this life, no matter how bad it is. It is the only life we know and we keep deluding ourselves that, if we had this or that, if we had the love we craved, the material means to develop our talents, we would be happy. I called my last book, The Long Loneliness, recently published in the Image edition for 65 cents, because I tried to point out with St. Augustine, that, no matter how crowded life was with activity and joy, family and work, the human heart was never satisfied until it rested in God, the absolute Good, absolute Beauty, absolute Love.

Those conferences were very stimulating, and I thought of C. S. Lewis's statement that, unless the egg develops, unless it hatches and grows wings and flies, it becomes a rotten egg. A homely and startling thought

I thought too, of those sad lines of Francis Thompson, "Life is a coquetry of death/ which wearies me/too sure of the amour. A tiring room where I/death's divers garments try/till fit some fashion sit./It seemeth me too much/I do rehearse for such/A mean and single scene." I quote from memory, and am not sure even of my divisions of the lines.

Yes, death confronts us all. And life is precious, this practice ground where we are given such opportunity to use what talents we have, what resources of mind and body, to so order the present that the future will be different and try to make this world, as Peter Maurin said, a place where it is easier to be good. [snip]

Life, Grace, Love. Beautiful words to dwell on these fall days.

I have written this after reading St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, which is all about the Body of Christ, of which we are all members or potential members. We are one flesh, one family, one brotherhood. And God is our Father, giving us what we ask, bread, not a stone, life, not death, freely, with love, not because we deserve it. He will save us, in spite of ourselves! Because Christ has, once and for all, overcome Death, the enemy.

"How rich God is in mercy! With what an excess of love He loves us!""

"Month of the Dead"
By Dorothy Day
The Catholic Worker, November 1959

Paradise Lost

2007-10-23T19:29:00.000-04:00

Sigh. Another house deal hits the dust. Twice in one year. I'm right back to square one, again. I don't have much to write on the matter. "Wasn't meant to be," yes, thanks for reminding me of that AGAIN. But if it wasn't meant to be, what the hell are we meant for?! What are we doing wrong? What signs are we missing? I'd like to know so I could stop getting my hopes up over nothing. Perhaps I need to stop hoping? Maybe I need to admit the follies of the Worker Movement and distributism and just shift into happy suburban housewife mode. Oh, maybe I could even stick my kids in public school get my tubes tied and go back to work! Yea! Than we could have a really big house with a tiny chemically treated yard, three SUVs in the driveway and I could pay to have everything done for me! Whoop-de-doo! Living the American dream! Wouldn't that be the easy, painless way to go I wonder. But, I guess we know better and there's no going back, although going forward is damned near impossible. Pray that our way is revealed to us, that our path is made clear. If you know any houses with acreage for sale at a reasonable price near a nice Latin Mass/Parish/Community let me know as I am open to anything and anywhere at this point.

"I should know by this time that just because I feel that everything is useless and going to pieces and badly done and futile, it is not really that way at all. Everything is all right. It is in the hands of God. Let us abandon everything to Divine Providence."
House of Hospitality,
Chapter Six
By Dorothy Day

Important reference point

2007-10-17T07:02:00.000-04:00

Benedictus Deus hits the nail on the head. Please, check it out.

Roots in rich soil

2007-10-15T20:37:00.000-04:00

I recently finished reading 'The Rural Solution; Modern Catholic Voices on Going "Back to the Land"' . It's a quick read at only 102 pages, but the seven essays each provide compelling arguments for a return to our agricultural roots. There are no dates provided, however the references to the forties date some of the "modern" voices. Despite this, it would be a great book to hand to someone to give them a basic idea of what the Catholic Land movement and distributism is about.
That said, I have one complaint, and it's not directed only at some of the writers of these articles; and that's the supposed need for fathers/husbands to have a job away from the home, "in the city or town" to make homesteading possible. This opinion seem especially appalling when you read in the same essays the horrible temptations of the city and the working world. We homeschool our kids to protect them, we keep off our TVs and read balanced media, we socialize with like minded Catholics, but we send our husbands and father's into the lion's den 'out of necessity' and expect them to be immune to the world? At what point did sending men away from their families become the only way to make a living? If you are reliant on a paycheck to buy all your needs and refuse to furnish any yourself from your land, then a 'city job' is the only option. If you're homesteading, sending the head of the family away for 8 to 10 hours a day hardly seems the smart thing to do unless you love working every possible hour. How can a man slave 40+ hours for a company and work the land to the level needed to sustain a large family? When does such a man get the chance to be a model for his children and a partner for his wife? He can't unless he wants to kill himself. Especially when you consider the average commute nowadays and the cost of gas. To find sizable, affordable land within a reasonable drive to a metropolitan area is almost impossible; it's been our goal for the last two years. The homestead IS the full time job. Worst case, the husband needs to find a part time job away from home but ideally, money to buy anything you can't raise or grow comes from something you sell (extra produce, eggs, honey, etc.) or a service (website design, graphic design, writing etc.) from your homestead. Modern society has come to accept the absence of the father from the home, and to an extent even the mother, but should Catholic agrarians accept this? Keeping the man at home with the family should be as much a goal as keeping mom home with the kids. The Internet makes home based businesses more possible than ever before. Or remember when families had the storefront and an apartment behind the counter or upstairs? These businesses will prosper, and the families behind them, when other like minded families spend their money inside. Such families would be the backbone of a successful Catholic community. The Amish excel at this model and their communities thrive, while Catholic communities are few and far between (and struggling at that.) What can we learn? So as we (and maybe you?) plan our move 'back to the land' consider the costs of keeping Dad at home.

"Now it might be argued-tendentiously-that the return to the land is something vouchsafed to a particular kind of Catholic; that it is a legitimate vocation, if a minority one. But is that really so? Granted that, in a period of immense societal decadence, it will be missionaries"possessed" by a vision, by a vocation, who will lead the return to the land and to sanity, it remains nonetheless the case that the call is made to the majority of Catholics- not to the mere enthusiastic few. Why? Because life on the Land gives the Faith roots in rich soil, whilst life in the City for the Faith is sterile an ultimately destructive of the Catholic Church."
Intro to 'The Rural Solution', pg 11

Nothing else worth writing about

2007-10-09T20:15:00.000-04:00

"I should be afraid to write about love, because I have seen the terrible things it can do to you, but I have set out upon the path and I cannot turn back now. Especially now when I begin to learn what it means, the height and the depth of it, the terror, the deep peace, the joy. No, there is nothing else worth writing about. What are all our lives about, what are we looking for, what do we want of each other? There is not one of us who has not gone thru the first stags of love and found them so enchanting that never in our lives can we go further. Always we want to stand in that first light, that first fullness of life and let it possess us utterly. And when love would take us on thru the darkness which is light-unutterable, we are blind and can go no further. We hold back.We clutch at our memory, our own understanding of love and refuse to be taught.
But we had better look out! There are two dangers. We either fall into a snare of pleasure-sink into the immanence of love or we presume, we fly to high-and in our confusion get lost in the transcendence of love...We pray for love. We get it, and it comes in strange forms and ways, and we are likely to pass it by in pride or find ourselves grasping phantoms.
There is no end to the folly of love. We had better not presume to ask for love. God may take us at our word. We will not know what is happening to us. If only we did not struggle. If only we did not make a move. We throw our own perverse wills into the balance and there are strange results in this search for love. You see it everywhere, on Broadway and 42nd St. Love, sex, pleasure, tenderness, fellowship, light, warmth, satiety-it is all so bound up together even on that low level. Or you might go still lower and find it in the teen-age gangs, the neighborhood clubs, the brothels, the lust for money, to get women, to get love.
It is sad-it is horrible, but it is not o be despised. Should we hate and judge our brothers-we who also want love? Even in the perversity, so openly spoken of today, there too is the search for love. When we search for love in creatures, when we turn from God to creatures instead of seeking God thru creatures, then all is perversity. There is not natural love, or unnatural love, not human sin, or inhuman sin, as people try to flatter themselves. "Me, I'm just human! I'm not a pervert."
We are all a perverse and stiffnecked generation. Oh, if God would only compel us to lie quiet, to know that underneath are the everlasting arms."

Undated mediation on love found in one of Day's notebooks
Related on page 363 of 'Dorothy Day, A Biography' by William D. Miller

Under difficult circumstances

2007-10-03T20:37:00.000-04:00

It always amazes me when I tell people I've started homeschooling and they say, "Oh, I'd love to homeschool my son/daughter but I just couldn't do it, I don't have the patience." Or when they learn I bake bread instead of buy it at the store or cook breakfast for my children in the morning instead of giving them cereal. The exclaim, aghast, "I don't know how you do it, I don't have time or patience for that."
I'm always at a loss for words because I have no patience, with my children, my husband, my parents, traffic, the stove; nothing. I usually stammer something about God giving me the strength to whatever it is I'm doing and then we change the subject.
I don't do anything special, especially when compared to the homeschooling mothers of 5, 9 or 12 children at my parish. My day would be called easy when compared to the daily grind of women 50 or 100 years ago. So why has my 'ordinary routine' become so uncommon and downright unusual to many modern women?
One hundred years ago, women had to bake, cook, sew and wash everything by hand. All school was homeschool unless you had a school you could walk to. All mothers did what I did and much more and no one praised them for their patience or extraordinary abilities. They did what was necessary to survive. What makes us different from previous generations? Certainly nothing genetic.
We often don't know what we are capable of until we are put in a tough spot. A friend didn't realize she could homeschool three children and watch a baby until the Catholic school she trusted started teaching new age garbage to her kindergartner. I realized a family of four could live in a third floor loft for two years when finances demanded it.
We live in a time with wonderful conveniences but with so many things, and 'professionals' to do things for us, we often feel we can't do things for ourselves. We have a choice to rely on others or ourselves and many times because of 'stress' or 'time constraints' we insist we 'need' to choose someone else. And then we wonder why we wind up with so much debt?
It's not that we can't do something, like homeschooling, it's that we won't. We don't take the bull by the horns and just go for it. And it's not lack of patience or time, it's a lack of faith in God. Showing up on Sunday, singing in the choir and teaching CCD are great but does it take a leap of faith do complete those tasks? Don't wait for difficult or uncomfortable circumstances. Take a difficult stand, make the choice to do the right thing not the easy thing and see if you don't rise to meet the occasion. Faith in God is the necessary ingredient for success. Just be sure to give credit where credit is due when someone complements you on achieving something they think is unattainable. Because only God's grace can keep you from screaming and crying, again, after dinner winds up on the floor and another art project jams your printer.

Our mission

2007-09-26T20:15:00.000-04:00

"If we had a better social order we would not have so many destitute to care for. If we had better indoctrinated Catholics, we would not have so big a job to do, it would be spread out throughout the families and parishes." -DD

I feel the need to clarify. One of our goals is still to offer charity in typical Catholic Worker fashion, but charity is not the only aim of the Worker movement, though, it is the most well know. Day is remembered for her Houses of Hospitality, not her writing on distributism and the back to the land movement. Immediate needs for mercy and charity consumed Day but the long-range plan was always to encourage a movement back to the land, away from the city, the factories, the breadlines and day to day grind of the wage slave. Unfortunately, the need for Houses of Hospitality still exists. Society has yet to be convinced of the benefits of an agrarian or distributist system, one ideally rooted in Christ. The failures of our God-less, bureaucratic, welfare state are evident in any major city. Catholic Worker based charity is needed but so is the CW land movement. We (my family) are going back to the land as best we can; we are hoping to contribute to the long term solution. However, our work would be in vain if we did not find a way to share it, and our bounty, through charity. So don't think we're running away to the country to escape the 'hard work' faced by Workers in the Hospitality Houses. May God guide us in finding the balance between immediate needs and the long term program. Servant of God, Dorothy Day, pray for us.

"Peter Maurin talked much of men with a mission, and the need for men to have a sense of mission, that they were sent into this world to do some particular work. One of his little essays was about men with missions and about the women who followed the men who had the mission. I rejoiced in being a follower of Peter Maurin, and thanked God that he had been sent to me to direct my thoughts and writings.

His program certainly was simple enough. Round Table discussions for the clarification of thought, houses of hospitality for the works of mercy, agronomic universities to teach the workers to be scholars and the scholars to be workers. He called the latter "farming communities" also, and he was flexible enough to take in the single family on the land, and the growth of the community about it, and the idea of the village economy, and the southern agrarians and the decentralists, and the English distributists.
What Are We Accenting?

Not a month passes but some visitor comes to us who asks us gently if we have not given up emphasizing some one or another aspect of Peter's program. Didn't it used to be labor? one will say.

Peter thought more of agrarian labor than he did of industrial labor. He referred us to A.J. Penty and the Guildsmen's Interpretation of History and Means and Ends; Tawney's Religion and the Rise of Capitalism; Velblen's Theory of the Leisure Class and such books as David Hennessy lists in each C.W. He hated the machine unless it was the extension of the hand of man. He hated mass action and pressure groups and feared unions deteriorating into political action. He hated class war and wanted us to love the enemy, the capitalist and industrialist and munitions maker, even while trying to "put business out of business."

Didn't we spend more time on pacifism than on unemployment? Didn't we over-emphasize the works of mercy and under-emphasize the land? Didn't we exalt the idea of personal responsibility and the single apostolate and ignore the family and the community which begins with the family? Didn't we over-emphasize liturgy, or later, didn't we tend to neglect to emphasize liturgy?

And many a time, no matter what we talked about we were ridiculed. Either our readers were enthusiastic and read the CW from cover to cover, or they despised what we were writing because of their disagreement with one or another aspect of the work, and threw the paper to one side. Just yesterday there was a mixed letter, addressed to Ammon Hennacy. It is pretty typical.

Friend Hennacy: The enclosed five dollars is to continue my subscription to the Catholic Worker. Several times I have been about to suggest that you stop here whenever you pass nearby on your way to Arizona or back east. I would enjoy having you. There is always an empty room here, and even more empty space on the farm. We are about a hundred miles southwest of Kansas City. I have hesitated to get in touch with you as probably we don't have much in common. As a more or less successful farmer I am familiar with hard labor but for me it is happy labor. Twenty five years ago when I tried to get an education and taught a while, I didn't get much pleasure out of life. Now I hope you can forgive it-I even enjoy paying taxes! However, I am an independent sort of cuss myself and admire a man with the courage of his convictions, especially when they are of the sort that can be easily misunderstood by the ordinary public. I read everything in the Catholic Worker. I just like to suffer, I guess! And I have liked your experiences very much. Also some other articles like Bill Gauchat's article on farming a couple of years ago. He really hit the nail on the head. Some of the other references to farming have seemed ludicrous from out here in Kansas. Write me if you can. You have my best wishes in your work.

H. S.

Such a letter makes us feel that we have accented so many things that we misfire on practically all. Anyway, H. S. has a philosophy of work which Peter Maurin emphasizes and it is good to see someone getting joy out of their life on the land. We get too many letters of pessimistic gloom from back-to-the-landers, and one can only say that anyone who feels that way about it has missed his vocation. He wasn't cut out to be a farmer. He should find a trade, run a store, teach in a school, go in for village life rather than farm life. Caussade says that we know our vocation by our delight in it.

I feel that in our desire to stress the whole life of man, we fail to hammer in one or another point. As a paper, we take up so many issues. As individuals, we are prone to hammer away at our pet project and go single mindedly towards one aspect of the work.
Have We Failed?

I know that I will give much satisfaction to many of our fellow workers when I admit that we have failed and that on every front. We have failed to clarify thought and probably will till the end of our days. We have failed in running houses of hospitality, in that they are not indoctrination centers and places to teach "cult, culture and cultivation" as Peter wanted, and all out time is taken up with the immediate practice of the works of mercy there. We have failed in establishing farming groups, whether as agronomic universities, or farming communes of families. This is in spite of the fact that we have fourteen houses and eight farms around the country associated with The Catholic Worker, with these ideas, or some of them. The houses flourish in that there are always the indigent, the destitute, the poor to flock to our doors. There is plenty of obvious work being done and far more than enough to keep every hand and heart busy. But have we even begun to build the new social order that Peter envisioned?"
"Have We Failed Peter Maurin's Program?"
By Dorothy Day
The Catholic Worker, January 1954

Putting it into operation

2007-09-25T21:22:00.000-04:00

The purchasing of our house is going smoothly. I've become less interested in The Next Worker and more obsessed with working on the house and working the land. Since the purpose of my blog was to document my transition to a radical life, I wonder if living the agrarian lifestyle (or our best attempt at it) will complete that mission. I will no longer be in a state of flux; I will be a Catholic Worker, a title I would not have given myself up to this point.
The next phase requires not a new blog, but a whole new online identity. This is all still, 4 or more months down the road but our new goal (my husband's and mine) is to have a website devoted to the homestead, yet unnamed, and document our agrarian Worker lifestyle. Day mentioned many times the young families with 'a toehold on the land' who were eking out an existence. Some failed, some succeeded and their voices would be so valuable to us now. Thankfully, many new families are heading back to the land in one way or another and there are plenty of resources and people to talk to. Technology has brought the radicals together in an international online arena where stories can be shared, debated and left to inspire others.
Of course, the obvious difference between our website and other homesteaders wold be the emphasis on the Catholic Worker mission; the vision of Maurin and Day, and utter reliance not only on ourselves but the Church. It is our goal to live on the land, as Day envisioned and prove such a thing is possible for the modern family. Hopefully, we'll even benefit from it. Maybe someone else will too. So stay tuned for more developments. Blogging will be light as I read every book from my local library on chickens, root cellars and gardening.


Up To Catholics

1. Ralph Adams Cram says:
    What I propose
    is that Catholics
    should take up
    this back-to-the-land problem
    and put it into operation.

2. Why Catholics?
    Because they realize
    more clearly than any others
    the shortcomings
    of the old capitalist
    industrial system.

3. They, better than others,
    see the threat
    that impends.

4. They alone understand
    that while the family
    is the primary social unit,
    the community comes next.

5.  And there is
    no sound
    and righteous
    and enduring community
    where all its members
    are not substantially
    of one mind.

-Peter Maurin, Easy Essay

Community Conference

2007-09-19T21:29:00.000-04:00

"Last month there was a meeting of the Fellowship of Intentional Communities (Regional Branch) at Pendle Hill, Pennsylvania, at which Robert Steed and I were present. The other groups represented were the Glen Gardner Community, made up of Catholics and non-Catholics, the Society of Brothers, Hidden Spring, Gould Farm, Tanguay Homesteads and Pendle Hill itself, which is a community of study and so a very good place for the conference. The discussions were on sharing within the community, sharing between communities, and the relationship with the state and the "outside" world in general.

Emphasis was placed on the impossibility of any land movement today in the face of growing industrialism and centralization, without community as a way of living. The trouble with all the communities represented was that none of them have time or talent to report or write practical articles on what is going on -- finances, family relationships, relations with the state, so it is good to have these quarterly conferences to keep close contact with each other.
The Community of Brothers at Rifton have a magazine The Plough which can be obtained by writing to them at Rifton, New York. And we will try in succeeding issues to present more material on this movement which would have been dear to Peter Maurin's heart. there is an interesting chapter in Edmond Wilson's To the Finland Station on the growth of communities in the United States which he calls the great nursery for these experiments, from the time that Robert Owen came to America in 1824 and was helped by Horace Greely in the New York Tribune to propagandize his movement, which resulted in forty groups going out to build what they called phalansteries (including Brook Farm in its second aspect). Katherine Burton has written a very good book on Brook Farm, Paradise Planters, which can be obtained at any library.

The hardships of many of these early communities is dealt with in Part II, chapter 4 of Wilson's book, which is the briefest account available. Calverton and Morris Hillquit have also written books on the community movement in the United States.

The foundation of the Community of Brothers is a religious one and Tom Potts who represented them at the conference emphasized their basic desire for a church community rather than a community of families. But the fact remains that it is just as a community of families that their work in South America, England and the United States is so impressive. Recently they have united with one of the Hutterite communities in North Dakota, so there is constant emphasis on the dynamic quality of their witness. They have not only a deep religious sense, an emphasis on the importance of the interior life, but also an acceptance of voluntary poverty, hard work, discipline, a practical working out of that scene at the last supper, where Christ in washing the feet of his disciples, told them that as He had done, so were they to do likewise. I would love to see a community of Catholic families established near them, in either New York or North Dakota, so that they might learn from them some of these profound truths. The nearest beginning we have ever had to a community of families was at Upton, Massachusetts, where four families lived on St. Benedict's farm, and although the men worked individually and supported their families, there was community of land, and a great sharing in many ways with each other. This community has divided up the land, however, and now they are a community of neighbors. The same has happened at the Detroit farm at South Lyons, Michigan, and at the Holy Family Farm at Rhineland, Missouri. There have been many attempts at farming communes, beginning with Maryfarm at Easton, Pennsylvania, and spreading over the country, but there has been nothing we can point to as success. We can only say that we have lived, we have suffered, people have married, brought forth children and somehow have managed to keep going. But the suffering of it all is what stands out the most and with faith we may conclude that this dunging the ground, this ploughing the field, will eventually bring forth fruit. The vision of community is not yet clear, there are not yet those in The Catholic Worker movement who have the vision, or the time, the skill, the ability to work it out. Or even the spiritual foundation.

In the face of war and taxes, however, it still seems to me the only practical and workable method of getting away from the cities and to the land. The ever changing editorial staff of the Catholic Worker has had its hands too full with Houses of Hospitality and the issuing of the paper, meeting head on with the sufferings and anguish of the present day, to be able clearly to work out this aspect of the program of Peter Maurin. And it is true that faith in it has been lacking, the vision obscure. Given the people to carry it out, we are sure that God would send the means, as He always has to houses of hospitality. The fact remains that we have never been able to take the funds sent for the poor, to establish families on the land. What farms still remain are given to caring for the poor so that they too have become hospices on the land. Our farm at Pleasant Plains, Staten island, is a farm only, because Father Duffy, and now John Filliger concentrates on that aspect of it. The vision there is to raise as much as possible for the soup line in New York, besides providing those who live there with fresh vegetables and wholesome labor and to have days of recollection monthly and summer conferences and retreats.

The Glen Gardner community is built around an industry, a printing press, and though they have gardens and a cow, it cannot be said to be a farm. The Rifton community is materially building itself up around a toy industry, a factory where many of the men and women work in making blocks and other constructive and durable toys for children. What with an office force and salesmen who are also missionaries on the road, there is plenty of employment. Their difficulty is lack of housing. But there are already around 150 people there, with well-run kitchen, bakery, schoolroom, laundry, nursery, and so on. It is a joy to visit the place.

There was a good deal of talk at the conference about means of livelihood, from the raising of peanuts to the making of overalls and all the work that could be done between communities. But the conclusion that I reached after a day and a half of sessions was that we must deepen our own interior life and pray for understanding and that the dear Lord would send laborers into His harvest so that this work can grow.

The conference took place between blizzards on Friday and Sunday, though the proper promise of spring was before our eyes, with the children of Pendle Hill tapping the sugar maples for syrup."

"Community Conference"
By Dorothy Day
The Catholic Worker, April 1956, 6.

Tradition; Past, Present and Future

2007-09-13T21:11:00.000-04:00

This weekend I'm going to be here . Although, I've never been to the official Oktoberfest, this festival in my hometown is probably the closest I'll come to Munich in the near future. What I like about it is how family friendly the atmosphere is. Most Oktoberfests in the U.S. (or any ethnic festival where alcohol is served) can quickly become overrun with drunken people just out for a good time. At the Liederkranz festival, the focus is on the culture and the people. And the beer, while enjoyable, is in its proper place. The German influence is still strong in Lancaster, and those accompanying traditions and customs are passed down. There is no shortage of children in braids and liederhosen at this Oktoberfest.
When I picture the ideal Catholic community I want to raise my family in, I think not only of self-sufficiency, families lending one another a hand and communal prayer; I think of traditions and culture. I think of a time when all small villages had their own identity, clothing, customs, food and local dialect. Was it so long ago when acceptance was sought amongst your neighbors instead of comparing your lifestyle to those in the entertainment industry? The Jones' next door don't matter so much anymore as the Catherine Zeta-Jones'.
Most media outlets would lead you to believe the only two cities in the world worth inhabiting are NYC and LA. If you live anywhere else, you need to move, and the media tries its darndest to prove anyone 20 miles outside a city is an ignorant country hick. You need the fashions from the East Coast and the gossip from the West for a meaningful existence. If you absorbed all the media had to tell you about your hometown, whether they'd been there or not, you'd likely run screaming to the city.
We've stripped ourselves of any distinct cultural identity in an effort to assimilate into a mass-marketed culture devoid of any meaning or history. America is the great melting pot, but does that mean we can only display our Irish heritage in March and our German in September? And when is the last time you saw anyone publicly take pride in being an American? September 12, 2001? We take more pride in being "unique" and "an individual unencumbered by traditional values." We don't want to be linked to anything or anyone because "we think for ourselves." It's as if celebrating anything besides Gay Pride is offensive anymore.
Certainly, we can't live an exclusionary existence, totally removed from mainstream society. But we shouldn't allow all that is beautiful, innocent and unique to be discarded for a cheap, sexualized, generic society as a means to gain acceptance and approval.
If a tween today told her friends, "Sorry I can't go bump and grind with total strangers at the local teen club with you guys this weekend because I have to perform at the Liederkranz;" what would their response be? If even a twenty-something said he was going to the festival because he enjoys the schuplatller and not the beer, would the response be any different?
Tradition is not cool in today's society, and maybe it never is to teenagers, but mature adults should not be so quick to accept modern customs. They are as meaningful to pass on as an STD. The acceptance of true traditions are not forced down a persons, or populations, throats. They are loved, cherished and passed on carefully so as to maintain the crucial link to the past and the memory of those gone before. Children may reject them at some point, but in maturity turn to them in comfort and embrace them joyfully. I do believe the Amish and many Mennonites exhibit these characteristics.
A community where children are formed with solid Catholic teachings, traditions and local customs is where I want to settle; living in the world, but not of it. Where my children can enjoy the benefits of living in a free country and all it's abundance but not be corrupted by it. Where a small town life still exists, neighbors still look out for one another and everyone attends the local firehouse ham dinner, Memorial Day observance and parades joyfully through the streets behind the Blessed Sacrament.

A New Home At Last?

2007-09-13T21:08:00.000-04:00

Your prayers please as we prepare to sign another sales contract. We're excited about this house and we don't anticipate the same problems we faced before. It should be smooth sailing but a couple hollers to St. Joseph couldn't hurt. Many thanks in advance.

A Price to Pay for Such Beauty

2007-09-08T21:58:00.000-04:00

"Within a radius of a mile, there are four or five farms for rent either for five or ten dollars a month. The houses can be lived in, and if one owned them (the price range is from two to three thousand), repairs could be done little by little. The ground is good bottomland. There are streams for fishing, and there is hunting. There are pines and black walnut and locust on the gentle hills, and there is pulpwood to be cut for selling and plenty of wood for the fires in winter. Taxes are low, and there are no gas or electric bills. But, and here is the rub, the nearest town, of 1,500 inhabitants, is twelve miles away with its church and schools and hospital. The larger towns of Martinsburgh and Winchester are each about thirty miles away. But it's surprising how much company one has, how neighborly people are. And the joy for the children in such surroundings! But there is a price to pay for all this beauty, and that price a willingness to accept the poverty of the people on the land. Old houses, oil lamps, wood heat, water to be carried in pails, the tattletale gray of clothes so washed, and the quiet, the solitude of life with neither radio, newspaper, nor telephone, . . . where the daily mail becomes the event of the day.

People are more afraid of such a life than they are of the atom bomb! And so Peter talked of agronomic universities, farming communes, so that people could go in groups, and in groups hold each other up. Man is not made to live alone; he is a social being. So where there is a crowd, they flock together. Peter used to say, "They are not communitarian; they are gregarious."

Let us hope that Maryfarm at Newburgh will give a taste for the simplicity of life on the land and the courage to face it, and that other Maryfarms throughout the country will be performing the same function. A place to make retreats, to learn to meditate, to think in the heart, "to be quiet and see that I am God," a place to learn to work, and a place to go from, as apostles, and make a life for the family."

On Pilgrimage,
July - August
By Dorothy Day

New Blog Worth Reading

2007-09-05T13:45:00.000-04:00

Please check out the newest blog addition, Take the Poor With You. Someone else is seeking to strike a balance between service to others and service to her family. Sacrifice is not always a black and white issue. Check out Tienne's unique perspective.

Where it is easy to be good

2007-09-02T18:57:00.001-04:00

After a wonderful baptism yesterday, conversations with some of my friends turned to moving from Jersey. My husband and I are not the only ones considering an escape to the country and I'm not always sure in these conversations who is trying to convince who to move where. But I have one close friend my husband and I are always talking to who can't seem to grasp the concept. I mentioned to him about maybe fleeing to Kansas and would he join us and he made the comment that he didn't want to leave behind his good salary and his 12 weeks of vacation. (He's a public school teacher.) I said, (to paraphrase because I'm probably remembering myself as being more articulate than I was), "If you would sell your home here, you could buy a small home outright in Kansas and have no mortgage. And if you live where costs and taxes and lower and you grow or raise the majority of your own food, you don't need that salary. Imagine covering expenses by just being a substitute teacher." He had his concerns about the hard work of farming but I told him I'd rather work for myself and provide for my family than spend hours slaving away for someone else. Besides, ideally in a community we'd all help each other. I also made the point that living in Jersey can be a hindrance to a deep spiritual life because the effort (and stress) spent earning money to pay for the taxes, housing, and over priced necessities takes away from time we could be spending with our families or in prayer. In addition, we're surrounded by an overwhelming amount of worldly distractions; malls, shopping centers, designer cars, McMansions, etc. It's easier to do good and to be good in an area with less distractions. It's amazing what you learn to live without, what you learn you never needed to begin with, when it's not a quick drive from your house.
He did pause in thought for a moment or so, but I don't think I completely converted him this time. It's not about who's right or wrong, it's just trying to get people to think in new ways about how to live, one conversation at a time.

"A philosophy of work is essential if we would be whole men, holy men, healthy men, joyous men. A certain amount of goods is necessary for a man to lead a good life, and we have to make that kind of society where it is easier for men to be good. [snip]
A philosophy of work and a philosophy of poverty are necessary if we would share with all men what we have, if we would each try to be the least, if we would wash the feet of our brothers."
"On Pilgrimage - May 1948"
By Dorothy Day
The Catholic Worker, May 1948.

One Year Later...

2007-08-30T20:57:00.000-04:00

"May 2. Although the Communists and socialists had their hundreds of thousands out in the streets yesterday, we feel that the CATHOLIC WORKER made its presence felt, too. Fifteen or more high school and college students, from Manhattan, Fordham, St. John's College, Cathedral College and from City College, distributed papers and leaflets In the streets all afternoon and in the evening up around Columbus Circle and Madison Square Garden.

The man who was selling the I.W.W. paper in Madison Square came up to get a copy from me and said, "I was a Catholic myself once -- I'd like to see your paper,"' and people of all nationalities were anxious to get it.

One young woman came in this morning who said she had seen a copy in the square and wanted to find out about the House of Hospitality. She had been living down on the Bowery, paying 25¢ a night for a bed and, now her money was all gone and she had no place to go. She was telling me about her friend, who was also down and out, who went to take a room, or a bed up in Harlem, was seduced by a young Spanish American, and threw herself under a subway train a week later.

Her lips were trembling as she talked (it was only eight-thirty in the morning), so I invited her out to have a cup of coffee.

* * *

Last week a colored woman who has been staying up at the Municipal Lodging House came in for a bite to eat. She looked in need of a shelter where she could stay in bed and rest for a few days instead of having to walk the streets from morning to night as the guests of the lodging house have to do.

So that evening I went up to talk to the girls at the Teresa Joseph co-operative to see if it would be all right with them to invite Mary to stay up there. After all, I did not want to run the risk of submitting her to insult on account of her skin -- nor did I expect too much of the girls in the way of freedom from race prejudice, since I know very well that Catholics of means and better education are not free themselves from it.

I talked to the girls, reminding them how our Lord washed the feet of his disciples the night before he suffered and died for us, and told them how we all should serve each other, whether we are white, black or yellow. The girls were perfectly happy to welcome the new guest, and it was like a special birthday present for the paper to find this continuing of the co-operative spirit among them.

Mary took the paper up to Harlem to distribute for us yesterday, and all the other girls up at the house went to Mass or Communion to offer it up for our special May Day work. Margaret, despite her condition, for she is expecting a baby in six weeks, went on the subways yesterday, passing out papers from Times Square to Astoria and from Manhattan to Brooklyn. I was much touched and grateful at the help they all gave us.

An old Irishman of 73 came in this morning for his copies of the paper. He lives down In the Bowery and has a thirty dollar a month pension, from which he insisted on giving us a dollar. He also takes twenty-five copies of the paper to send out to his friends, and every morning at Mass, he says, he prays for us.

* * *

A few weeks ago I went over to St. Zita's to see a sister there and the woman who answered the door took it for granted that I came to beg for shelter. The same morning I dropped into the armory or Fourteenth street, where lunches are being served to unemployed women, and there they again motioned me into the waiting room, thinking that I had come for food. These incidents are significant. After all my heels are not run down -- my clothes were neat -- I am [missing text] girls, and women, who to the average eye, look as though they came from comfortable surroundings are really homeless and destitute.

You see them in the waiting rooms of all the department stores. To all appearances they are waiting to meet their friends, to go on a shopping tour -- to a matinee, or to a nicely served lunch in the store restaurant. But in reality they are looking for work (you can see the worn newspapers they leave behind with the help wanted page well thumbed), and they have no place to go, no place to rest but in these public places -- and no good hot lunch to look forward to. The stores are thronged with women buying dainty underwear which they could easily do without -- compacts for a dollar, when the cosmetics in the five-and-ten are just as good -- and mingling with these protected women and often indistinguishable from them, are these sad ones, these desolate ones, with no homes, no jobs, and never enough food in their stomachs.

"I often wonder what God thinks of the scribes and orators who thunder terrors at poor women for their desperate attempts at contraception and never have a word to say to the Bank of England and the Treasury which have so obviously chosen birth-restriction as the solution for unemployment and are enforcing this policy on the poor by every means in their power. . . . Indeed, our domination by money lenders is nowhere so disastrous, as in the sphere of marriage and family life. The right to marry is a human right like the right to breathe and eat -- equally the right to bring up a family. The family is the basic social unit, ordained as such by God Himself. Economic systems must be arranged to suit the family, and not the family to economic conditions. When Leo XIII demanded the living wage it was the family wage he meant. All this is ordinary Catholic teaching. For bringing up a family the first requisite is evidently an income. Under the savage economics of the past two years the children of the unemployed have been allowed two shillings per week."

(Fr. Drinkwater in the Sower, a journal of Catholic education.)"

"Day by Day - June 1934"
By Dorothy Day
The Catholic Worker, June 1934

Failure, the future and perserverance

2007-08-23T20:01:00.000-04:00

As The Next Worker prepares to turn one, I've been going through early entries and replaying in my mind all the reasons I started this blog. I wanted to document my journey down the path less travelled and capture in words my new life as a Worker. I started with pretty high hopes. And while I wouldn't say I'm discouraged by my lack of progress, I've come to realize how hard it is to leave the comforts and security of suburbia for a radical life. Even creating a plan to get from here to there has been hard. On a 1 to 10 scale of impulsiveness, my husband and I are probably a 6 or 7. However, how impulsive can you be with three small children under 5? Do you haul them all to downtown Camden to feed the poor? Do you move them hundreds of miles from friends and family to set up a homestead on affordable land? Part of me says, "Go for it, let's follow this through hard core! Let's buy and RV, traveling the country and stopping at Worker Houses and farms from coast to coast!" And then a voice says (is it my conscience?) "But if I'm wrong, what lasting negative impact will I leave with my kids?" My husband's long hours at work and the little bit of homeschooling I do, consume so much time I feel we haven't even made baby steps in our charity towards others. It's still something we're planning for, something in the future we can barely wrap our heads around. If it's this hard for us, a family with a goal of become agrarian Workers, how hard will it be for us to change society at large; to even convince friends of ours to come along on our journey? We're working against such a larger system. I sometimes wonder if we'll ever reach our goals or if we'll be stuck here forever reading books, writing fiery articles and bitterly sipping Starbucks.
But a year is only a year. And since last August I've become much more familiar with Day, distibutism and the back to the land movement. While my faith is nothing to boast about, it keeps me going and never once have I doubted the truth of my mission here. In fact I am usually encouraged by what I do read (encyclicals, articles, Church documents, etc.) Through the Internet I've developed a circle of blog acquaintances struggling along the same path, trying to fit their square pegs in the world's round holes. We're doing the best we can with what we have here and now and that's nothing to scoff at.
So my goals for the coming year are more realistic, maybe? If one can be realistic and radical at the same time. Best case, we have a small homestead and my husband goes down to part-time: worst case, we're still in an apartment and my husband is working overtime. Obviously, with the first case, the added time will allow us opportunities to garden, volunteer and write. Time will tell. Just finding affordable housing in Jersey with enough land to garden will be a miracle. I hope the last year has made you wiser with more wisdom, and grace, in the year to come for us all.

"About all the above failures, I must say that I am not much concerned. I think that such failures are inseparable to a work of this kind, and necessary for our growth in holiness. Such failure, for those of us who have dedicated our lives to this work, is our cross. As a matter of fact, our failure is so continuous that we never think of it, we just go on working, without judging ourselves, as St. Paul tells us to. We can list our accomplishments as glorious examples of God's providence, and of our faith in it. We grow in faith in it and in our very persistence, we are growing in hope and charity. God grant that we persevere." [snip]
"But in this happy season, and even while writing of failure, I am filled with a sense of great joy that God has entrusted to us a mission, that we have been given a work to do. In twenty years we seem to have accomplished little. The same long breadlines continue at our houses. Throughout the land many a Catholic Worker family struggles and seems to get nowhere. But meanwhile the children are born, and are fed and launched into life with a more vital sense, let us pray, of God and their place in the body of Christ."

By Dorothy Day
"Have We Failed Peter Maurin's Program?"
The Catholic Worker, January 1954

Beatific Vision

2007-08-18T20:49:00.000-04:00

"Sex is a profound force, having to do with life, the forces of creation which make man god-like. He shares in the power of the Creator, and, when sex is treated lightly, as a means of pleasure, I can only consider that woman is used as a plaything, not as a person. When sex is so used it takes on the quality of the demonic, and to descend into this blackness is to have a foretaste of hell, "where no order is, but everlasting horror dwelleth." (Job x.22) Aldous Huxley has given us a glimpse of this hell in "After Many a Summer dies in the Swan," showing the sexual instinct running riot like cancer cells through the body, degenerating into sadism and torture and unspeakable violence. I speak in extreme terms I admit. But long before I was a Catholic I felt how prevalent was the demi-vierge attitude. I certainly felt that the teaching of Jesus, "He who looks with lust after a woman has already committed adultery in his heart." There is no such thing as seeing how far one can go without being caught, or how far one can go without committing mortal sin.

On the other hand, the act of sex in its right order in the love life of the individual has been used in Old and New Testament as the symbol of the love between God and Man. Sexual love in its intensity makes all things new and one sees the other as God sees him. And this is not illusion. In those joyful days when one is purified by this single heartedness, this purity of vision, one truly sees the essence of the other, and this mating of flesh and spirit, the whole man and the whole woman, is the only way we know what the term "beatific vision" means. It is the foretaste we have of heaven and all other joys of the natural world are intensified by it, hearing, seeing, knowing."

"On Pilgrimage - September 1963"
By Dorothy Day
The Catholic Worker, September 1963

Back for good

2007-08-14T21:37:00.000-04:00

Would you believe I was away again? Family trip to the shores of Lake Ontario in Upstate New York plus an overnight train ride to Chicago. A nice trip overall but very exhausting.
Sorry to leave you with so little reading material. Now that September is inching closer I can start thinking about the fall routine and hopefully pencil blogging into my planner more regularily. My travels have given me ample ideas for posts and the 1st birthday of The Next Worker is just around the corner as well. Methinks it a good time to examine my mission and see what a year's worth of posts has done for me.
So stay tuned, things will be picking up again!

"The next day was the feast of the Assumption, which always reminds me of that saying of St. Augustine's "The flesh of Jesus is the flesh of Mary," and emphasizes to me the dignity of her humanity, just as the feast of the Sacred Heart emphasizes the love of God for man. The feast of the Assumption together with the doctrine of the resurrection of the body makes heaven real, and goodness knows we need to grow in faith and in hope of heaven in this perilous life which we nevertheless so treasure and cling to."
"On Pilgrimage - September 1961"
By Dorothy Day
The Catholic Worker, September 1961

Pedaling Forward

2007-07-30T20:28:00.000-04:00

I'm back from another week at the beach. Constant sand in my shoes, (and diaper bag) are some of the perks of living in South Jersey. I've never gone through so much sunscreen as I have this month.
Bike travel is popular in Ocean City, although renting a bike for a morning jaunt on the boards is as overpriced as anything else in town. I often think how nice it would be to have the option to bike everywhere. Stores, family visits, church; only a pedal away. In our town they have bike paths on the sides of some roads and through out the state I see signs to "Share the Road."
Ideally, bikes would be a viable option for the average Joe. We cut down on emissions and gas consumption, get exercise and avoid the hassles of car ownership. However, realistically, today's world is very bike unfriendly. Suburbia was not designed with the two wheeling commuter in mind. On our way to church, our van approached a family on bike. They filled the lane, disobeyed traffic signals and otherwise annoyed motorists who tried to squeeze around them without hitting oncoming traffic in the small town we were passing through (already congested with construction cones.) Our roads are designed for cars and although I try to be charitable, these streets are not made for sharing. Which is a shame for all the above mentioned benefits. Those few who do try to take advantage of pedal power are at great risk for injury (or death.) Nothing will change because more of us can't switch to using bikes as our primary form of transportation because our lifestyle won't allow it. How many live within biking distance to our jobs? How many of us want to bike in the rain to an appointment in our designer clothes with a helmet smashed on our coif? Where will our $300 in weekly groceries fit? That tiny basket in front? And most of us just couldn't stand the blow to our egos if we had to part with our luxury vehicles for a Huffy. So, we'll pump money into the roadways via taxes, which fuels the construction that clogs the commuter arteries, which feeds the anger and frustration of road rage which leads to accidents and violence...and so on. Who is willing to go simpler and smaller and live closer?
If you visit an old small town, everything is in walking or biking distance and most properties (save for a few downtown locals) have enough of a yard for a garden or a game of catch. People didn't need cars to go to the store or visit with friends so roadways were less jammed and safer for kids on their bikes heading to the park. Maybe you even had the neighborhood trolley or bus. The communities I'm talking about are too small for subways or major public transportation. Now these communities are surrounded by sprawl and their roadways are packed to capacity during normal daylight hours. Most stores have moved out to strip malls and have been replaced with specialty boutiques, pizza shops, bars, etc. if the town is lucky. How many small towns so you know are struggling to "revitalize?"
So it's a kind of a catch-22; cars and an expansive road system allow us to spread out and see the world, however, cars and an expansive road system spread out the *community* to encompass a larger area and so many aspects of the community and the principles of subsidiarity are lost...plus pollution, gas prices, yada, yada.
How we can move from a sprawled, cookie cutter development, copycat strip mall society to smaller, localized neighborhoods I don't know. But secretly, I hope rising gas prices will force us to stay closer to home. What will we decide; work from home, bike down the street or work two jobs to pay for gas for our daily commute? Only time will tell.

The New Distributist League

2007-07-21T22:47:00.000-04:00

Well, I guess if you blog long enough and don't totally suck, someone will eventually ask you to write for their blog. I'm just lucky that I was asked by none other than Athanasius to contribute to The New Distributist League. As I do here, I will be passing along the teachings of Dorothy Day and hopefully clearing up some misunderstandings about her message along the way. Her writings on Distributism and the Church's ethic of work provide a breath of fresh air amongst our suffocating capitalist culture. You will recognize other contributors Roy F. Moore from The Distributist Review, Gen Ferrer from The ChesterBelloc Mandate and Leo from A Voice Crying in the Wilderness. Hope I can keep up with these guys. No promises on when the first post will be but hopefully within 48 hours. Be sure to swing by before then to check out the great stuff already up.

"No one should bear the burden of their behavior"

2007-07-21T09:11:00.000-04:00

Charlotte over at IWF has a great article. Check it out.

In the face of a scorning world

2007-07-20T20:49:00.000-04:00

"In our eulogies of poverty which we have printed again and again in The Catholic Worker, one of which is running in this issue of the paper, we write with the recognition that we stand as Americans, representing in the eyes of the world the richest nation on earth. What does it matter that we live with the poor, with those of the skid rows, and that those in our other houses throughout the country are living with poverty which is so great a scandal in a land of plenty. We know that we can never attain to the poverty of the destitute around us. We awake with it in our ears in the morning, listening to the bread line forming under our window, and we see it lined up even on such a day as the gale of last Saturday when glass and tin and bricks were flying down the street.

The only way we can make up for it is by giving of our time, our strength, our cheerfulness, our loving kindness, our gentleness to all. We have to overcome our Leon Bloy tendencies to bitterness and recrimination.

Let us pray that we do not hear our Lord call out to us, "Woe unto you rich!" "Woe unto you who judge!"

What are we to do? Young men in the draft age feel caught and torn in their humility and in their desire to share the sufferings of others, and in their very real desire to fight the gigantic evils of this world under what ever name they are called. Some of them are having the grace to resist, to oppose the draft, to oppose participation in fruitless slaughter. But if they do it with pride, with condemnation of others, with bitterness, then their stand is questionable also. It is true they will suffer with bitterness, and even the little Flower herself said that bitterness was a part of suffering that made it harder. If they are jailed there are plenty of opportunities for the works of mercy in jail among the poor there. They will be even more on the side of the poor.

If they obey the call as we have seen quite a number go, against their convictions, let us pray that they have opportunity to minister to the suffering. There is no due deliberation and full consent of the will in wartime, but a blind instinct for self preservation. We can make no judgements on the armies involved, but on war itself, the means used of atomic warfare, obliteration bombing, the ever increasing use of destruction to wipe out ideas, philosophies. We can quote Ezekiel who wrote "Woe to the Shepherds who do not feed their sheep the gospel of peace."

It grows ever harder to talk of love in the face of a scorning world. We have not begun to learn the meaning of love, the strength of it, the joy of it. And I am afraid we are not going to learn it from reading the daily papers or considering the struggles that are taking place on the other side of the world and in the United Nations halls here at home."

"The Message of Love"
By Dorothy Day
The Catholic Worker, December 1950, 1, 2.

Cleaning up the house

2007-07-15T21:56:00.000-04:00

I hope in my brief absence you've all had the chance to read Summorum Pontificum and the CDF's recent release. I sipped champagne and Chartreuse in celebration on the 7th and then retreated to the shore, ignoring all ignorant media coverage for a whole week. Why ruin a good thing? A 40 year detour into the desert is coming to an end and I can only hope the radical changes so quickly accepted through the last 40 years will be as easily forgotten.
The notion of rebellion seems to figure into much of popular culture. Children outsmart their clueless and uptight parents in sitcoms, women wear revealing clothes to (somehow) liberate themselves from our male dominated culture and gay couples press for equal marriage acceptance against all known cultural and societal norms.
Many in the Church seemed to take the Second Vatican counsel as an opportunity to act out and push the limits; like a teenager whose parents went away for the weekend. Who wouldn't hold a party? Now it's up to the JPII generation and B16 to clean up the mess and straighten up the house. If you want to rebel, and do something different, join in the effort. Children, respect your parents and parents, don't get walked on by your children. And for heavens sake, get them to an extraordinary mass. Ladies, cover yourselves, dress modestly. Who's really shocked by anything that comes off the runways nowadays? Wear a long skirt everyday this week and you'll turn more heads than with any mini. If you experience same sex attraction, live a chaste life. That is rebellion. Don't indulge in every desire and perversion because our society is so morally depraved they say it's okay. It's not. Self control, deprivation and chastity will raise more eyebrows than another gay pride rally. To fit into current society you *must* rebel against all that is good and true. Today, piercing your lip and dying your hair is not as shocking as living an authentic Catholic life. I, for one, am ready to rebel against the culture and against the relativism that has invaded the Church. Turn off the TV, break out the ankle length skirts and mantillas and let the good times roll.

"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." -George Orwell

To be a Worker like Day, tradition is the only way

2007-07-06T21:49:00.000-04:00

This blog fills a small niche in that not only am I writing about the Catholic Worker Movement, it's issues and it's founder Dorothy Day, I am also of the "traditional" persuasion. Usually, the the two are viewed as mutually exclusive. I hate that I have to identify myself as 'trad' or even 'practicing' because to me, it should be enough to say Catholic. Would it be too much to have universal beliefs held by all? But, alas, current divisions in the Church require me to identify my allegiances, confusing as they might be to some. Thankfully, I'm not alone with my split personality. Perhaps the best mix of 'trad' and rad is found in Day herself. Her love for the poor was driven by her love of Jesus, and His Church on Earth. Her daily routine included helping the poor, yet she made time to read the bible, attend Mass, attend retreats, study the saints and meditate over her missal. Can you still find her faith today amongst most Catholic Workers? Can you still find such faith amongst most Catholics? Where has all the love, devotion and reverence gone? Why do so many from the inside try to change the Church and the message Jesus sent rather than obediently serve Him? The key to the renewal is the Mass. The Mass that nurtured Day was the Tridentine Latin Mass. She wasn't holding hands, clapping, singing pop tunes and chatting it up with the Jones before and after Mass while our Lord sat ignored in a tabernacle off to the side in some dim chapel. The Mass is the summit of our faith. When we treat It like a social gathering and consider our Lord to be some hippie who loves everyone no matter what, we make a mockery of almost two thousand years of tradition. And for what? Why bother? What's the point? With the misinterpretations and abuses that came out of the Second Vatican Council we've distorted everything that nurtured people like Day and centuries of saints before her. When you put God in His proper place, as in the Tridentine Mass, your life finds immediate direction. The Mass represents the ultimate sacrifice, and your life should be a sacrifice. The Novus Ordo has become about accommodating and giving everyone what they want to hear. The fruits of such an approach are apparent. If Tridentine was good enough for Day, it's good enough for me. The Next Worker welcomes Summorom Pontificum and hopes the feeling is universal.

"This is probably my last chance, this issue of the Catholic Worker for me personally to write about some things that are in my heart about the Mass, for instance, that holy sacrifice, which is the heart of our life, bringing us into the closest of all contacts with our Lord Jesus Christ, enabling us literally to "put on Christ," as St. Paul said, and to begin to say with him, "Now, not I live, but Jesus Christ in me." With a strong consciousness of this, we remember too those lines, "without Me, ye can do nothing," and "with Me you can do all things."
The New Man

We know through long experience how hard it is to think in these terms, and only through constant exercise in the works of love and peace, can we grow in faith, hope and charity. Only by nourishing ourselves as we have been bidden to do by Christ, by eating His body and drinking His blood, can we become Christ and put on the new man.

These are great mysteries. Most of the time we do not comprehend at all. Sometimes the Holy Spirit blows upon us and chases some of the fog away and we see a bit more clearly. But most of the time we see through a glass darkly. Our need to worship, to praise, to give thanksgiving, makes us return to the Mass daily, as the only fitting worship which we can offer to God. Having received our God in the consecrated bread and wine, which still to sense is bread and wine, it is now not we ourselves who do these things except by virtue of the fact that we will to do them, and put ourselves in the position to do them by coming to the Holy Sacrifice, receiving communion, and then with Christ in our hearts and literally within us in the bread we have received, giving this praise, honor and glory and thanksgiving.

How inadequate words are to say these things, to write them. [snip]
But the Mass begins our day, it is our food and drink, our delight, our refreshment, our courage, our light. [snip]

With this recognition of the importance of the Word made flesh and dwelling among us, still with us in the bread and wine of the altar, how can any priest tear through the mass as though it were a repetitious duty? This is the impression they give people when they do this, like the children at Fatima who used to say only Hail Mary, or Our Father, and think they had said their prayers, and perhaps they had if they realized the holiness of these words. The priest often says the first words and slides through the rest in meaningless mutter. And some of the best priests I have met do this, abusing the prayers of the Mass in this way.

I am begging them not to. I am begging them to speak as though the words were holy and inspired and with power in themselves to produce in us the understanding--the participation that should change our lives."

"The Council And The Mass"
By Dorothy Day
The Catholic Worker, September 1962, 2

Warning! Journalism ahead.

2007-07-02T19:35:00.000-04:00

"I shouldn't care what people think or say. It's just the fact that everyone knows I'm the kid. It was bigger than Houston. It was bigger than Texas. It was bigger than America. Everybody in the world knew what had happened and everybody knew the details of it."
-David Ritcheson

I can always depress myself by reading headlines. I came across this story and was reminded once again on how much today's media fails us. Here's a young man who was made a victim, not once, but twice. First by the deviant actions of some classmates and second by a media hell bent on exposing every disturbing detail of the crime to the world at large in the hopes of scoring more viewers and readers. This is a disturbing trend. Not only do we have to worry about excessive sex and violence in our movies, video games, websites and TV shows (many of it fictional, and grossly exaggerated) ; we have to be weary when reading the headlines and watching the news with our families after dinner. No longer is the journalist concerned with passing along information, he or she seeks to expose the gritty details better left unsaid. We've moved beyond the "if it bleeds it leads" motto which allowed us to show a twisted wreck of a car on the news to showing bodies in sheets, detailed descriptions of injuries and in depth interviews with grief stricken families. And don't think for a minute, these newsmen give a damn about what they're covering. Maybe I'm a skeptic or maybe I'm just ignorant of how things have always worked. I know it's not entirely recent; I've got a book of Weegee prints. But when did graphic depictions of sex and violence become newsworthy at even the highest levels, beyond the cheesy tabloid? This young man was attacked. Do we need to say how? Does everyone need the details? Why do people in Maine need to know about this party in Texas? What does that sensationalism do besides contribute to the desensitization of sane people and over-stimulation of the rest? Is it just me or does it seem like every abduction, party gone bad, or hazing ritual now involves sexual assault-all of which is given in detail on the 6 p.m. news for junior to hear. Where are these misfits getting the ideas for these attacks? Does the news normalize this violence? I don't know, but it does make it seem common. I would never suggest restricting freedom of speech. But what steps must be taken to stop people from consuming such media filth? I'd like to think that as decent people, we are abhorred by perverse and violent behavior and would do everything to prohibit it's spread. However, when one continues to consume violent and overtly sexual movies, TV shows, video games and support media outlets who profit from proudly detailing events *stranger than fiction* I see no end in sight. It wears us down and chips away at our morality when exposed to this trash day in and day out. What would have made our grandparents blush, is commonplace for most Saturday morning cartoons. The media believes this is what we want and they are ruthless in their hunt for the most private, personal and ultimately painful memories and details of *the story.* What control did David Ritcheson have over the media frenzy around his story? What control does any deceased victim of violence, or their family, have over the flashbulbs and microphones if their tale has been dubbed newsworthy? Yes, the attention may also bring forth prayers, donations, community support but that is not reason the story is being told over the airwaves and survivors are foolish is they believe so. If we truly want relevant news that affect us instead of frighten, educate instead of brainwash, we need to be selective in our media choices and more than likely, we need to limit our exposure. There is good journalism, and good journalists, we just need to find and encourage them. St. Frances de Sales, pray for us!

The right ordering of work

2007-06-26T15:37:00.000-04:00

"It is natural that the worker should seek an increase of wages and shorter hours. There is no longer any relationship between their work and themselves, other than that of its being a marketable commodity, to be governed by the same laws as govern other commodities. Such work is a curse and the only hope of the worker, of the country, is that the periodical revolt for higher wages and shorter hours will be diverted into what should be its real end, a demand for a return to the right ordering of work in accordance with the nature of man. The greatest of all dangers is that men shall accept this state of things and consent to their complete degradation, for the spiritual outlook was crushed out in the early days of the [industrial] revolution. The great strides made in the perfecting of the system, the enormous extension of the use of machinery and the greater efficiency of the same, the blind acceptance of the system by the people generally as being inevitable, and greatest of all, the physical comforts made possible at the price of his soul, all combine to make it very difficult for the workman to visualize a state of things more in accordance with the dignity of labour."

George Maxwell
From his essay, "The Reconstruction of the Crafts"
which was Chapter IX in the book, 'Flee to the Fields, The Founding Papers of the Catholic Land Movement'
Originally published in 1934, currently available through IHS Press

Where it is easier to be good...

2007-06-23T15:07:00.000-04:00

"A thousand years are as one day" in the history of the Church, so of course the Church has not gotten very far in the solving of this problem which started with Constantine. Actually if the State, City, and the whole secular world with its "inspector generals" and bureaucracies did not demand our conformity to such insane standards of luxury, Holy Mother the Church would not have to be pleading for funds for schools, and books, and buses, and health and welfare aids. (As St. Hilary wrote a thousand, (or a few days) ago, "The less we ask of Caesar, the less we will have to render to Caesar." This was his commentary on Jesus' words--"Render to Caesar the things of Caesar and to God the things of God.")

How good it would be to see the Church closer and closer to poverty and the poor; little schools set up on every block, in idle rooms, in empty buildings, with the students themselves helping repair them and getting meanwhile some sense of the joy of manual labor (and the pains of it, too). And idle Church-owned lands given over to the disorderly poor, the unworthy poor, to build up little villages of huts, tepees, log cabins, yes, even outhouses. Which might come to resemble (if a Church of sorts were built in the center) an ancient Irish monastery. Ireland used to be called the land of Saints and Scholars.

Actually, we see some of these attempts today in "communes" all over the country and among the dreamers, the "freaked out." Even the shacks of the farm workers on the lands of the growers could be made into a community of common purpose--"to make the kind of society where it is easier to be good."

Overcoming our enemies is slow work indeed. Loving our enemies is commanded of us by Christ. And I can lie here on my couch on a snowy January afternoon and dream dreams, and write this letter to our readers. But of course our greatest enemy is ourselves, our lethargy, our neglect of those most powerful means--prayer and fasting (and the sacraments)."

"On Pilgrimage - January 1973"
By Dorothy Day
The Catholic Worker, January 1973, 2, 6.

The Middle ground

2007-06-23T14:45:00.000-04:00

My husband and I have been having many discussions of the importance of community. More specifically, a Catholic community of friends to stay close to when all the temptations of the world seem to be creeping in. We talk with friends about starting a community off some where in the hills away from the barrage of sexual stimulation and consumerism that runs unchecked through mainstream society. Most think of such things as pipe dreams or fantasies. I read of earlier attempts at a Catholic Land movement or Catholic 'communes' and see their strong points and their failings. My question is, how far away does one have to be to insulate themselves from the unholy distractions of the modern world but yet stay close to those who most need our charity and our example? My greatest concern is for the souls of myself, my husband and our children. It would be so easy in one sense to pack up and move away and cloister ourselves away in a cabin somewhere; but should concern for our own eternal salvation keep us from leading others to Christ through our work? Are we selfish for wanting to avoid temptation? Is it wrong to avoid helping others for fear of leading one's soul or the soul of a child astray? But perhaps, I'm worrying about nothing. If our intentions lie in helping others, wouldn't He protect the innocence of our children along the way? Is their a *safe* charity that does real good? There is also the argument that we do our children a disservice by shipping them off somewhere and living in an exclusive Catholic community or commune (although I dislike that word.) After seeking out a community I would be devastated if my children left the faith, because it has happened in the past. So I guess I could screw up either way. Can you see my dilemma? We're looking for the safe middle ground and I guess, it doesn't exist. For now, I pray for guidance and strength and always for my children.

Early summer thoughts

2007-06-18T21:21:00.000-04:00

At what point in life does time suddenly go into hyper drive? For my three and four year old, days seem never ending, weeks eternal, their last birthday is a distant memory their next birthday is a lie, a carrot I dangle in front of their nose whenever they ask for a new toy: "Just put it on your birthday list. " They think I mean never. For me, I have to stop and think every time someone asks my age, mentally I'm still fresh out of college, physically...well, I've started purchasing Oil of Olay.
For my children, summer is just starting, they have so much to look forward to. I've manged to fill practically (read: overschedule) every weekend through August and there's still tons of people and places we won't get to see. The older I get the faster the years go because I'm living life on the weekends. People waste five days a week at work and try to do what matters in two. I think 'weekend living' intensifies in the summer. Why doesn't somebody plan something to help me through those long, dark, cold January weekends?
I've been less motivated to blog since my passions haven't been aroused with any current events lately, or maybe, I'm just too distracted to notice much these days. Sometimes, I think I have nothing left to say but then I'm struck with an idea I forget to write down. Eventually, these brilliant insights might make it into cyber space but until they do, please excuse any gaps in posting. Until time slows down, my children find endless ways to amuse themselves and social events and far flung travels are spread neatly during the week and through out the year I leave you with something from someone who always has something to say.

"Children, too, need to be taught a mysticism of labor. Peter Maurin used to call it a philosophy of work. Fr. Jimmy Tompkins used to say that all work should be considered in the light of the works of mercy. Is our work that we are preparing to do in life helping to feed, clothe, shelter people? Are children being taught a reverence for the soil, out of which all things come, since we are but dust? The table we work at, the food we eat, the bed we lie on, the covers on it, all come from the soil. To dig, to sow and reap, to build and construct,--all children love to do these things at first. But in school literacy takes first place and reading is no longer taught, beginning with the Little Office, Our Lady's Primer.
I remember one of my young nieces coming home from school with a project book she was making. Her task was to furnish a home, to cut out all the things one would need in that home, and she pored over magazines, and cut out linoleum, furniture, kitchen sets, parlor sets, gadgets, and had a lovely time doing it. And all the while standards were being set up in her mind desires were being stimulated to buy what the advertisers present and to get the job, to get the money, to buy what the advertisers present. [snip]
Are our children being taught not only to work for what they need, not what they want, and also to work for others, so that they will always have a surplus to give away? Are they taught to tithe themselves to give even one-tenth of what they are going to earn, to the poor?"
"Education and Work"
By Dorothy Day
The Catholic Worker, September 1953, 2,6.

Enough

2007-06-14T20:33:00.000-04:00

I recently finished reading 'Ten Acres Enough', by Edmund Morris. Written around 1864 it is a fascinating account of the authors family moving from Philadelphia to South Jersey and establishing a small farm on 10 acres. When I first received the book, I didn't realize the close proximity of the author's homestead to my suburban apartment. It is sickening to me to read the prices he quotes for acreage and the descriptions of rural solitude, yet close proximity to urban entertainment. He lived in Jersey when it truly was "The Garden State." Yes, prices go up everywhere over the course of 150 years, however, the New Jersey of today would seem alien to Morris. Reasonably priced, affordable homes are nonexistent and the closet *farmers* market to my home sells mostly cheap imported plastic doo-dads and fast food. There is one butcher and in the summer I think maybe two tables of produce. The way the locomotive opened up Jersey for farmers supplying Philly and NYC, the automobile opened up Jersey for suburban sprawl extending from those same locations. Reading Morris's book allowed me to escape back to a simpler era in Jersey's past. It's funny how even in the early 1860's Morris was itching to escape to the country, and today many suburbanites and city dwellers aspire to the same goal. How do so many country folk find themselves in the city or the vast suburban wasteland? What lies have we been telling ourselves and false goals have we slaving towards before realizing that true happiness lies in self sufficiency, not consumerism.

"I knew that I was not rich, but it was certain that I was not poor. [snip] The millionaire could not have more than his share of the pure atmosphere that I was breathing, while the poorest of all men could have as much. God only can give all these, and to many of the poor he has thus given. All that is most valuable can be had for nothing. The come as presents from the hand of an indulgent Father, and neither air nor sky, no beauty, genius, health, or strength, can be bought or sold. Whatever may be one's condition in life, the great art is to learn to be content and happy, indulging in no feverish longings for what we have not, but satisfied and thankful for what we have."
Ten Acres Enough, E. Morris pg, 22

If Jersey is where I am to be, than I will find happiness in Jersey. Despite many things, I am happy here, and I will make a 10th of an acre enough, if that is what we acquire.

"It takes mankind a great while to learn the ways of Providence, and to understand that things are better contrived for him than he can contrive them for himself."
T.A.E., E. Morris pg, 89

A.P. eats from hand of dictator

2007-06-11T17:38:00.000-04:00

Quick quiz, who recently made this quote;
"The agrarian revolution has arrived."

a. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
b. National FFA President
c. Hugo Chavez

The answer, is Hugo "Adolf" Chavez. In a recent AP story, Chavez is portrayed as the savior of the nations poor with hundreds running up to his Toyota 4Runner to praise him and, otherwise exalt this god-like being. Sure, he's buying up the nations private companies and putting them under his control but let's talk more about U.S. imperialism. I hope Chavez didn't mind the AP reporter salivating over his notes while discussing Chavez's socialist propaganda. If Mr. James is lucky, maybe he can get a job at one of the new state run papers in Venezuela and write glowing stories about Chavez all day.
Back to that lovely quote, yes, Chavez thinks he's starting a agrarian revolution, but let's clarify how his view may differ with fans of the Catholic Worker and distributism.

"Even as Venezuela is transformed into a socialist state, Chavez promised private property will be respected.
"There will continue to be all the individual freedoms, collective freedoms, fundamental rights," he said. "We accept private education. We accept private health care, as long as it's regulated and in keeping with national policy. ... The same goes for banks." [snip]
His government has also taken over what it considers underused agricultural lands, including the cattle ranch he visited Saturday. He described plans for housing, more cattle and cooperative farms on the giant plot as he circled overhead in a helicopter.
"The agrarian revolution has arrived," he said."

Yes, private *regulated* land and the taking over of *underused* agricultural land. Funny how no where in this article is there mention of Chavez's views of the Catholic Church and the treatment of those who disagree with his new utopia, Catholic or otherwise. For now, Chavez is buying out businesses who disagree or "pose a threat" to his person. Can ghettos really be that far down the road? In 100 years will we remember the Venezuelan martyrs? Pray for Venzuela.

"Another weapon I discovered early was the power of the printed word to sway souls to me. The newspaper was soon my gun, my flag - a thing with a soul that could mirror my own."
Benito Mussolini contributing to the "London Sunday Express,"
December 8, 1935:

We...can conquer the world.

2007-06-10T21:29:00.000-04:00

"Our faith is stronger than death, our philosophy is firmer than flesh, and the spread of the Kingdom of God upon the earth is more sublime and more compelling. We Catholics must pray, act and sacrifice together for Christ the King, for the spread of His Kingdom and the salvation of the world. We Catholics, together, can conquer the world.

The Liturgy, then, is common worship, concorporate worship, worship in one mind and with one heart, and with one mouth. Our common action in the Sacrifice of the Mass, impersonal, anti-individualistic is the best weapon against the world.

"Pius X tells us that the liturgy is the indispensable source of the true Christian spirit.

"Pius XI tells us that the true Christian spirit is indispensable for social regeneration.

"Hence the conclusion: The Liturgy is the indispensable basis of Christian social regeneration.""

"Liturgy and Sociology"By Dorothy Day
The Catholic Worker, December 1935, 4.

Community Improvement Projects

2007-06-06T20:19:00.001-04:00

It starts with city counsels condemning waterfront property in order to redevelop downtown. They say the homes are blighted, regardless of their condition and offer the homeowners enough money to move somewhere else. The amount usually falls far short of what it would cost to buy another house in the same area, most especially the new construction. Sometimes, the community does benefit from eminent domain. Perhaps, a new highway...and, um...I suppose there are lots of other legitimate reasons to seize private property. I wonder though, what sorts of compensation the founders of our country had in mind when they drafted the 5th amendment; because it seems to me, compensation is offered at a level to keep the poor, the lower and even upper middle class out of most new "community" redevelopment projects. It is not the current residents of a "blighted" area that most developers and city counsel members have in mind when they are envisioning new high rises, casinos or gaming venues. Cities and communities will improve when the residents of said area take the initiative themselves to improve it. Elected officials, many out of touch with the lowest of whom they *serve* want to attract money and care little for building and saving a community. It is a slippery slope once we start seizing property to create luxuries for the upper crust of society. Where could it lead I wonder?

Beijing to Evict 1.5 million for Olympics
BEIJING (Reuters) - Some 1.5 million residents of Beijing will be displaced by the time it hosts the 2008 Olympics, many of them evicted against their will, a rights group said on Tuesday, prompting a sharp denial by China.
The Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) said residents were often forced from their homes with little notice and little compensation, as the government embarks on a massive city redevelopment to accommodate the Games.

New Link

2007-06-03T19:54:00.001-04:00

Check out the new link at right for BALLE, the Business Alliance for Local Living Economics. Distributism and subsidarity at work. See what's happening in your backyard or get something started. H/T The Distributist Review.

Think small

2007-06-03T18:40:00.001-04:00

Thank you for the excellent comment Athanasius;

"Might I suggest the power of local government though the participation of a whole community. Everyone is obsessed with what goes on in D.C., which has nothing to do with the decisions we make. If we vote for A we get B, and if we vote for B we get A.

If people paid attention to their local government, and say, 10,000 people picketed the mayor or 1st selectman every time he did something that gave big business or big government more power, there would be results! If 3rd parties got started by running and creating awareness at the state level, we could accomplish Distributist goals on a small scale, and put us in place at a national level to be recognizable. 3rd parties don't get traction because no one knows who they are. Suppose they started running locally in all 50 states? They might win more often.

Your post is right on. We are Catholic first, not Americans or Republicans. That doesn't mean we can't love our country or be patriotic, but we must put the Church advocates (the Church universal) ahead of what Rush Limabaugh advocates because the social kingship of Jesus Christ is more important than the 1st amendment."

Local political involvement should become the preferred approach in combating 'big government.' However, I'll bet most people don't even know who their local mayor, country commissioner or board of supervisors' members are. Would you know who to picket if the town wanted to seize your house by eminent domain? As a newspaper intern or stringer, I covered many township meetings. Often the board members were my grandfathers age and had held their position for over a decade. I was sometimes the only non-township employee at the meeting and if I had company it was a resident older than the board members or someone looking to build a deck or complain about the trash on a neighbors lawn. It's not until a Wal-Mart tries to set up shop that local government meetings get any attendance at all. If we want to work from the bottom up, and bring distributism to our neighborhoods (and eventually our country), there's a easy way to do it. All we have to do is care about our local government because not many other people do.

1. Start attending meetings. Yes, they can be boring as hell, but you will learn tons about the area in which you live.
2. Get to know the board members. They'll probably notice you if you're a regular attendee. Most will be happy to discuss local goings on.
3. Get to know the people in your town. Community involvement through Chambers of Commerce, volunteering, work the polls, hang out at the local diner, etc.
4. Run for a local government position; start small. These elections are nothing more than popularity contests. It will be easier if a position is opening up-you might not have anyone to run against. It will be harder to oust an incumbent as most people don't care who serves and they will vote for the status quo. Sadly, most voters are ignorant about local officials and their duties so they don't even show up on election day. You will have to present convincing evidence on why this person shouldn't be where he/she is, for example, they approved the destruction of the orphanage for *another* strip club. If you can rally enough friends or outrage enough people who show up to vote, you'll win.
5. Once in office, your opportunities for promoting the cause may be limited but you'll certainly be gaining experience and making more friends who will help you on your way up the ladder. You'll also have the opportunity to convince other like minded individuals the importance of local government involvement and hopefully bring some onto the payroll with you.

It will be much easier to get Catholics, Distributists, etc. into state office if they've made their name in their hometown. If you don't want to hold office, than by all means, at least stay informed and organize against causes contrary to our true faith. Someone has to start the petition, march on the state capital and stand up against some of these local officials who think a county position gives them the right to ignore the wishes of the voters and in many cases, keep them in the dark about what is going on. Learn about Sunshine Laws and the Freedom of Information Act and hold officials responsible for what they do. Given our current system, a third party candidate has no chance, usually, in the presidential election. However, a third party candidate is just another candidate at the local level where party allegiance is not crucial. Let's take back our country one municipality, one town, one city and one state at a time.

Allegiance

2007-05-30T17:28:00.000-04:00

I'm heading away for another family visit butt I wanted to put up a quick post on the whole Cindy Sheehan thing. I've avoided mentioning her in the past but some comments she made in an AP story actually reminded me of the Pro-Life movement.

"I have tried every (day) since he died to make his sacrifice meaningful. Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives.
"It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most."
She said she had lost faith in the anti-war movement's ability to make change and even in Democrats, who are largely opposed to the war and who took control of the House and Senate last year.
"Bush will never be impeached because if the Democrats dig too deeply, they may unearth a few skeletons in their own graves and the system will perpetuate itself in perpetuity," she said.

What strikes me is that, whether you agree with the methods she employed in protesting the war, she is pulling out because she feels she is now getting lack of support from those who originally stood by her; ie liberals, specifically Democrats. This should be a lesson to anyone who hopes to change the state of our country or the world by aligning with a political party. Pro-Life republicans, take note, you're going to get burned next; if you've held on this long. Our two party system is not working in this country. I don't know what a better option is. Obviously something along distributism lines but beyond that, I'm no political pundit so your guess is as good as mine. The lesson to be taken away is this; if you wish to help people, just do it. Don't align yourself with any government or political entity because they will take it upon themselves to build you up, if it suits them and smash you into the ground if you stand in their way. And along the way, they'll try to dictate your every move and word. In fact, I would run the other way if too many people on one side of the fence started defending what I do or say. Cindy Sheehan became like any Hollywood celebrity basking in their five minutes before some gossip rag, which previously heralded their triumphant debut on the red carpet, trashed their reputation. You will not succeed in your mission if you become a liberal media darling. We'll see if Sheehan learned her lesson. Let this be a warning to the rest of us fighting the powers at be.

Yet another new link

2007-05-25T22:16:00.001-04:00

Another new link for the Catholic Worker Digest blog. If you don't get the Catholic Worker paper out of NYC, it'll let you know what you're missing.

A philosophy of work

2007-05-25T21:47:00.000-04:00

"One night, just as we were beginning compline, two young boys came from Mott street, hitch-hiking, to pay a call on us at Maryfarm, Easton, 75 miles from New York. They would not come upstairs to the chapel, so while I fed them bread and milk and tomatoes (that was all that was left of supper), I talked to them. One is half Polish and half Italian, and the other Italian. They are both sixteen, smooth-cheeked, round eyed, young, strong and soft. Both have been in trouble with truant officers and probation officers for years. The reform schools are all crowded, accommodating sometimes twice as many as they have room for, so the boys know that there is no penalty for their minor misdemeanors. They merrily go on their way of petty stealing from their mothers and families, hanging around street corners and social clubs, of which our neighborhood is full, loafing, swearing, smoking, drinking--well on their way to more serious crime. The courts are full of just such young ones. How to reach them? They are cynical, they gamble, they want to get rich quick. They play the numbers, the horses. They dont want a job, because they want big money. They see others making a killing. Everyone wants to get ahead, to be better off. This is what they are taught in the school, public schools and in the Catholic schools. But they are not taught to work--they are not taught a philosophy of work. They are not taught a philosophy of poverty which will make them use their talents rather than seek wages.

Begin at the Beginning

"You've got to begin at the beginning," a priest said to me when I was talking to him about the Carmens and the Pasquales of our acquaintance.

You cannot talk to these boys on religious grounds because they are not convinced there is a God, nor that the Bible is His inspired truth. They don't believe in the ten commandments, nor in the Gospel of love of the New Testament. And they don't believe because they do not see it worked out in the lives of religious any more than they see it worked out in the lives of lay people. We live in a business world just like everyone else, and we live by investments, usury, big business; by our present industrial system which is materialist and as godless as Communism. So how can we talk to them. It is too late to reach them in ordinary ways. They need a conversion. A shock treatment. They are too old. Only a revolution will change them. Thats why people accept Hitlerism, Fascism, Communism. They accept it like a religious conversion." [snip]

"It is significant that it is in reformatories that boys are taught crafts and trades. It is significant that it is in insane hospitals that the patients, some few of them, are taught to use their hands to do creative work.

But the sad part of it is that though they have these schools, teaching skills, and some learn to do things very well, and probably get great joy out of doing them, they do them with the sad sense of futility, of boondoggling, of having been given something to do because they are either criminal or insane--and not that they are doing things which are good and natural to man that they can continue doing when they get out, creating, making, using mind and body to work on beautiful things God has given man, raw materials He has provided, and in so working on God's good things, getting a sense of the sacramentality of life, the holiness, the symbolism of things."

"Reflections on Work - November 1946"
By Dorothy Day
The Catholic Worker, November 1946, 1, 4. Emphasis added.

The smugness of fools destroys them...

2007-05-24T08:27:00.001-04:00

'Wisdom builds her house, but folly tears hers down with her own hands.'
Proverbs 14:1

What makes a well-rounded person? I was discussing this question with my husband during a long drive. My dad, and my father-in-law are both, what I consider to be, well-rounded. Both men are self employed and as such they know all the ins and outs of small business management, marketing, advertising, finances, etc. Both know basic car maintenance and in addition, my dad can do a lot of major car repair. Both can do home repair such as plumbing, electric, painting, drywall, as well as basic landscaping and gardening. They are both published writers, and could be considered experts in their respective fields. I know I can ask either a question on a variety of topics and get a straight answer. However, I believe their's is a dying breed. Most people don't even want to learn these skills, they just want to spend money to make whatever problem they may have, go away. Doing things yourself is for the poor man unable to hire a landscaper, a pool boy or a plumber when the toilet keeps running. My father's knowledge is viewed as useless and he is seen as a relic because he can't list the top 25 iTunes downloads or the latest summer fashion trend for women. My children's grandfather's are role models. I will not have my son idolizing sport stars or celebrities who father numerous children to various women, drop thousands of dollars on clothes and grooming and who's only passion is things material. Today's "man" relies on a laundry list of hired specialists to tackle basic problems around the house while he memorizes sports stats, discusses Hollywood at the water cooler and reads the latest NY Times fiction bestseller (if he reads at all.) Seventy years ago, such men could not exist. If you couldn't or didn't fix something yourself, you went without. The same goes for women. Women in my family can cook, clean and raise children and I'm proud of that. My great-grandmother, Elma, lived in a home with her husband, his two sisters and his parents. Soon two children joined them and Elma took care of them all. She sewed and knitted all the kids clothes, baked all the bread, canned food etc. Today, women seek out a career, a good daycare for their children and boxes of instant food to pop in the microwave for them all. She hires a housekeeper, shops for the latest fashions and knows all the gossip at church, across town and from all the tabloids. And this is considered progress? Society would argue Elma was oppressed and overworked. But in a crisis I would take a hundred Elma's over a hundred dollars hands down. We need to reexamine the qualities we value in one another. Convenience and expediency should not replace old fashioned know how and hard work. The ability to gossip, sit all day at a desk and memorize pop trivia is worthless and yet we devote so much time and energy to such things. When we become well-read, well-rounded and self-reliant we are worth emulating. We gain knowledge to pass on and teach others; knowledge and experiences that in time become wisdom, an invaluable asset.

Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the open squares she raises her voice; Down the crowded ways she calls out, at the city gates she utters her words: "How long, you simple ones, will you love inanity, how long will you turn away at my reproof? Lo! I will pour out to you my spirit, I will acquaint you with my words. Because I called and you refused, I extended my hand and no one took notice; because you disdained all my counsel, and my reproof you ignored- I, in my turn, will laugh at your doom; I will mock when terror overtakes you; When terror comes upon you like a storm, and your doom approaches like a whirlwind; when distress and anguish befall you. Then they call me, but I answer not; they seek me, but find me not; because they hated knowledge and chose not the fear of the Lord; they ignored my counsel, they spurned all my reproof; and in their arrogance they preferred arrogance, and like fools they hated knowledge:Now they must eat the fruit of their own way and with their own devices be glutted. For the self-will of the simple kills them, the smugness of fools destroys them. But he who obeys me dwells in security, in peace, without fear of harm. Proverbs1:20-33

New Link

2007-05-24T06:44:00.000-04:00

Another new blog link to check out; Domine Non Sum Dignus. Good stuff, cute kids and he attends an awesome church!

Telescopic Philanthropy

2007-05-21T20:36:00.000-04:00

"A long time ago I read Bleak House and I'll never forget the phrase Dickens used about one of the characters, her 'telescopic philanthropy.' I forget the name of the person, but she was someone who neglected her own family while being preoccupied with the problems of distant natives in Africa or Asia or wherever. For a while the two words kept ringing in my ears: an accusation. I was in the middle of my Greenwich Village life, full of concerns for people everywhere, but not doing the best job with my personal life. I would get angry with myself for letting those words bother me. I said to myself: Someone has to stand up for people far away from us who are being exploited or who are starving to death. What's wrong with telescopic philanthropy? I would ask the question, and I would mobilize my answers to it, but I was still upset. I felt - inside me, someplace - that Dickens had someone like me in mind when he wrote those words. I remember, once, feeling torn between the desire to throw that book [Bleak House] out the window, and a desire to brand myself with the initials T.P., my 'scarlet letters.'
"I'm being foolish now - I was being foolish then" melodramatic. But seriously, we have our risks to run, all of us, and I think Dickens had taken the measure of many of us when he gave us telescopic philanthropy."
-Dorothy Day, "...A Radical Devotion," pgs 155-156

College Debt

2007-05-18T07:58:00.000-04:00

I saw an article on Yahoo! yesterday that advised parents on what job advice they shouldn't give to their recent college grad kids. One piece of advice was that most parents tell their children to get a job that pays their rent. The Yahoo! columnist said today, kids leave college with so much student debt and earn so little at their entry level jobs, they should move back home for awhile to save money. When I shared this information with my husband he relayed a story from his freshman economics class at a pricey private college. The teacher showed a chart of a student getting a job right out of high school vs a college grad. While the high school grad made less after graduation than the college grad after his, the college grad started out with $120,000 in debt (after attending a $30K a year private college for four years.) The college grad started so far in the hole that it took him until almost retirement to actually earn as much as the high school grad. And this doesn't count the kids who spend six years "deciding on a major" or those who continue on to get a masters or PhD. Honestly, how many people you know are still doing what they went to college for? Is college worth it? I'm beginning to think not. The majority of people spend the majority of their waking hours from the age of 5 to 21 in a classroom. When they graduate college everything changes. I've seen many of my friends falter. The job that sounded so good at 18, that they studied about between parties and liberal arts classes, is a lot different when you spend 40 hours a week at it. Plus, no longer do you have a meal plan and parents pumping you cash on the weekends. You leave college with mountains of debt, a crappy entry level job you soon hate and no idea what to do with yourself. Most people don't return home to save money, they return home because they don't know what else to do. Up to this point everything has been fed to them. It makes me wonder if the reason most people don't question things is because school doesn't teach kids to think for themselves. It just loads them with information to memorize, without context or meaning. A degree used to be special, only a few pursued it and were rewarded. Today, college is expected. Students are taught they'll be homeless losers unless they ace the SATS and go to college. This pressure has created some disturbing trends and what for? While my husband and I are saving for our children's future, we both agree college is overrated. If my daughter wants to get married and have children, I'm not going to force her off to college so she can get a career when all she wants is a family. If my son doesn't want to be a priest, I hope he selects a field that doesn't make him a wage slave for the rest of his life. It's not about pushing my kids to make as much money as possible. Hopefully, they will find mentors or tradesman to help them learn about a field before we commit major moolah to it. Then, if eight months into, say, a photo assistant's position my child decides, photography isn't for them, they he/she moves on and we're not out $30K for a lost year at art college. I had a few good professors but most of what I learned, I learned on my internship and getting a part time job in my field. My husband's degree helped him get a job but everything he does at work now, he taught himself at work. If you want to do social work, try working as a Catholic Worker before getting a degree that will stick you behind a desk with mountains of bureaucratic paperwork while children die. I admire those who go to school to become teachers because they want to help children but maybe, you should just be open to having a large family and then raise them strong in their faith (homeschooling is good too.) There will always be some fields in which a degree is the best way to succeed, however we need be more active in seeking out work through alternate means. I will encourage my child to volunteer or work "in the real world" for at least a year before entering school. 'The Teenage Liberation Handbook", which I believe I've plugged before, offers some great ideas for higher education with additional resources listed.
We've come to value a piece of paper over real learning and the consequence is tons of graduates unable to get by in the real world. Seek knowledge over diplomas, and satisfaction over money and see where that gets us.

Not this time

2007-05-13T19:53:00.000-04:00

So, less than two weeks from our closing date, the whole deal for this 2+ acre property tanks. Of course I'm disappointed, but I don't feel too bad. Previous experience taught us to be diligent and I'm confident we explored all avenues before walking away. Had the property been better represented from the get go, we probably wouldn't have even gotten our hopes up. Thankfully, the Lord led us away what would have been a disaster with very clear and definite signs. Sometimes, it's hard to figure what the Lord is telling you to do. Other times, you're so sure of what you think the Lord wants you to do you ignore everything telling you you're wrong. And then there's times like these where, God made it very clear, it just ain't happening.
I kept thinking, and praying for it to work out, telling God that this was the perfect site for all our hopes and aspirations. His will was surely for us to get this property at all costs. Luckily, we didn't ignore all the warning signs. We made sure God wasn't telling us to go about things in a different way either. Its hard when you realize what you thought was an answer to a prayer (aka this property) was just another milestone on your way to what God really has planned for you. I know something better awaits. I hope I know it when I see it and don't get distracted by something else. This lesson was not as costly as our previous real estate transactions so I'm thankful for that, and now we'll be that much more prepared when the real deal shows up. Until then, it's back to the daily grind which should be easier since I'll be spending less time arranging furniture and planting crops in my mind.

Fools for Christ

2007-05-08T22:05:00.000-04:00

"When I was young I would wake up and wonder about the new people I'd see or what new and interesting thing I might end up doing. I would be full of new plans, and I would be interested in the newest ideas. I'd want to read everything 'new and interesting': those words always went together. Then we got our Catholic Worker family going, and all of us have the same kind of lives. We aren't looking for new twists on this life. We're not hoping to meet so-and-so and then a new so-and-so. We've already met everyone who counts - the Lord and those who followed Him, His disciples, and some of the saints of the church, who help remind us what He was really like. And we've met one another here in St. Joseph's House or in other hospitality houses, and we know that together we're all that any of us could ever hope to find: a big bunch of 'fools for Christ.' We're foolish kin, you might call us."
Dorothy Day, "...A Radical Devotion," pg 140

A shrug of the shoulders

2007-05-04T10:05:00.000-04:00

I'll admit to being a John Mayer fan. I'm not the die hard, throw my bra on stage type, but I do buy his music and visit his blog. On his latest CD is the single "Waiting on the World to Change," maybe you've heard it. I don't listen to the radio much, so I'm not sure if it's in heavy rotation or not. Anyway, I've always been disappointed in the lyrics and the general message of the song. Today, after perusing Mayer's blog I came across his solution to global warming, a method he calls Light Green. To summarize, it's a cure for global warming like lite beer is the cure for obesity. The lyrics of 'Waiting...' and the Light Green approach assume individuals are so overwhelmed by the worlds problems they feel powerless and do nothing. Mayer advises that the horrible scourge of global warming can be combated through a third way, "A laid-back, panic free approach to environmentalism." For instance, even though he drives a Porsche SUV, his tour bus is biodiesal. And if you have to drive your gas guzzler to the supermarket, just take some reusable grocery bags. It reads like the presentation my fourth grade teacher gave on Earth Day. Mayer's mindset is reflected throughout mainstream society. It's why people like Al Gore make movies like 'Inconvenient Truth' but justify living in a huge mansion because they can afford to buy all that power from green sources. Or why Mayer travels the world singing "Waiting..." but the best he can do for the environment, or his country, is introduce his fans to plastic alternatives via his blog. These people want solutions to problems that don't require sacrifices. Do you think it's Mayer who retrofitted his tour bus and is responsible for tracking down and filling up the tank with biodiesal? They want other people to solve the world's problems or, if they feel moved, they'll help out in ways that don't disrupt their daily lives. It's like answering the call to feed the hungry by scrapping the leftovers off your plate after dinner and dropping them off at a soup kitchen. As Christians, we're called to sacrifice in service to others. Unfortunately, many celebrities and politicians think service means offering lip service and donations while living a life that never brings them in contact with those in need. With all his money and starpower, if Mayer thinks the best he can do for global warming is Light Green, we can be glad he's not leading the fight against poverty. What gets me, is the mainstream media eats this stuff up and hails initiatives like this as 'making a difference.' Mayer is called a celebrity worth emulating. So then, people who start following this plan actually think they're helping the greater good and can become self righteous over nothing more than a glorified reduce-reuse-recycle plug.
Yes, poverty, global warming, war, hunger, etc., are large overwhelming problems that can seem beyond our power to change. Sometimes, we may believe that such problems can only be solved by large, far off committees or federally funded government agencies. Or we may convince ourselves of such to justify turning a blind eye to the needy in our neighborhood. We must be willing to start small to tackle the problems. Rosa Parks was one woman who didn't give up her seat. Mother Teresa started helping the poor of India by herself. Dorthy Day and Peter Maurin started with one paper and one hospitality house. If we start small and are willing to sacrifice we make a difference. It's unfortunate that many people, some Christians included, do not see the value in sacrifice. Unless we are willing to lose everything we won't gain anything. People who value the comforts of this life have the hardest time sacrificing in an effort to help others. Those of us who aspire for heavenly reward are the ones who must lead the charge to overcome our communities, our state's, our country's and our world's problems. We cannot rely on those who cling to their riches while extolling easy solutions or pass more laws.
So, in conclusion, I don' t hate John Mayer. I still enjoy his music and will continue to read his blog. (Not that he'll care either way.) But I think his flawed views are representative of many people in the country in regards to how we tackle society's ills. As long as we are content with, and popularize, such surface treatments, we will never make a dent in the underlying cause. Until we wake up, and embrace self sacrifice-the total giving of oneself- as the means to end all problems, we will struggle along in our selfishness. If you think you're not up to the challenge, that you're not strong enough to tackle even the problems in your town, you've failed to learn from those before you and given in to the temptation of sloth and apathy.

"We would like to see more small communities organizing themselves, people talking with people, people caring for people, people coming together in order to make known what they believe and what they would like their nation to do. Apathy, like sloth, is a sin. Why do we have to think that a shrug of the shoulder is being realistic, that indifference to the bureaucratic power of federal officials or the power of some of those union officials who behave like the company folks they bargain with is the only sane alternative?"
Dorothy Day, '...A Radical Devotion', pgs 107-108

New Blog Link

2007-05-03T08:35:00.000-04:00

Check out the link for the new blog, Athanasius Contra Mundum. Be sure to read his current, and previous, posts on Distributism.

St. Joseph was NOT a communist.

2007-05-01T21:27:00.000-04:00

First issue of Catholic Worker Distributed May Day in Union Square

"The crowds in Union Square stopped to gaze on May 1, not only at the massed parades, blary bands, and various red banners, but also at the caption, The CATHOLIC WORKER, being displayed and distributed everywhere. Communists who make soap-box speeches were frankly shocked at its appearance, refuting as it did their claim that the Church is interested only in squeezing money from the people to send to Rome. Even more surprising to them was the revelation that Catholicism has a definite social program to aid the worker.

One old Italian, turned Communist because of unemployment and near starvation, remarked after reading a copy of our paper, "Ya know, da Church, she wanta help us after all. I t'ink I drop da red flag an' take up da ross again."

Some comments, of course, were not favorable. A young fellow, unshaven, his hair almost to his shoulder, and wearing a variety of red ribbons on his coat, reminded the writer of a scotch terrier that had won a half dozen second prizes at some kennel show. Glancing at our title, he muttered, "Aw, ya can't fool us . . . you're just tryin' to put the comrades we've liberated under the yoke of capitalism again."

If only he bad taken the trouble to look over our program he would have realized that that is exactly what we are not trying to do. We are entirely in sympathy with demands for better labor conditions, decent wages, and unprejudiced justice. We who edit and contribute to this sheet are unemployed ourselves, barely eking out an existence. Yet because of our desire for better conditions we see no reason for renouncing Christianity-the religion that has helped and elevated mankind for nearly 2,000 years.

Although the Communists may not as yet be aware of it, they witnessed in Union Square on May Day the inception of a new struggle for social justice. A germ of more than mere passive interest was planted in the minds of many who either read The CATHOLIC WORKER or saw its headlines displayed.

As soon as the worker realizes that the Church Militant is interested in man's welfare as well as his soul, he will stop to consider before embracing Communism and its atheistic ideas. The Scriptures, history, tradition and common sense will tell him that without God there is neither happiness, security or prosperity, either in men or in nations."

"The Listener"
By Dorothy Day
The Catholic Worker, June-July 1933, 1, 5.

Seek, and ye shall find

2007-04-30T20:27:00.000-04:00

"As far back as I can remember I asked questions about 'life' - why we're here and where we're going. [snip] [God] put us here to ask, to try to find out the best way possible to live with our neighbors. Of course, you can go through a life not asking, and that's the tragedy: so many lives lived in moral blindness."
Dorothy Day, A Radical Devotion, pgs 23-24

I've been wondering a lot lately why some people don't seem to question anything. They coast through life, engaging in the status quo never stepping outside the norm because "that's just how it is" and never wondering why it is. I've always been a thinker. Questions were the first things out of my mouth. I wanted to understand everything and ponder their meanings, whether it be from a child's perspective, the all knowing teenage mind or from my current lowly standpoint. I can remember trying to argue points with my father because I had just learned the *truth* on MTV or the latest issue of Mother Jones. I can write off my blunders now as youthful brashness or rebellion, but yet I think of those around me who still lap up what the media and society puts out for them the way a dog happily licks up antifreeze, unaware of the deadly consequences of such a sweet elixir. How many voters never get beyond the sound bites on CNN or MSNBC in selecting their candidate? And in the same vein, how many people slave away for a corporate overseer 40 or more hours a week because that's what they've been conditioned to believe is the American dream? Working for yourself and being self reliant is a foolish dream; how can you afford a flat screen and two new SUVs with out the glamorous job that keeps you from your family 5 days a week? Such folk would rather think inside the box because outside those four safe corners is uncertainty. I believe most of society would prefer to have their information fed to them and have all the thinking done for them, it's easier and usually makes us feel good about ourselves. When we start thinking about things around us and why they are the way they are, our thoughts tend to turn to God and our purpose here. And if you spend any amount of time studying and really contemplating God's plan for us, you'd realize how far off the mark society and mainstream media is and you'd have to reexamine everything in your life. Whoa Nelly! Why not stop right there and just pick up the latest paperback self-help book on the NY Times bestseller list and reaffirm your self esteem. Unfortunately, there is only one book that God expects us to pick up and it's not a popular selection for most liberals. People who allow themselves to be catechized by society without taking charge for their own, and their family's, spiritual formation will follow the status quo straight into an unpleasant eternity. It's a basic Baltimore Catechism lesson; to gain the happiness of heaven, we must know, love and serve God in this world. *Know* is the key word here. You cannot know God if you live solely amongst men and earthly desires. We were given higher intelligence to aspire to higher things. If you haven't, question things around you. Why do you do what you do every day? Do you enjoy it? Is it getting you closer to your heavenly reward? Do you know what will? There are answers to life's questions. Stop keeping up with the Jones and start setting some new Christ centered priorities.

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" Mathew 7:7

"We are here to bear witness to our Lord."

2007-04-27T10:16:00.000-04:00

"Many young people have come here and worked with us, and they tell us after a while that they have learned a lot and are grateful to us, but they disagree with us on various matters - our pacifism, our opposition to the death penalty, our interest in small communities, and our opposition to the coercive power of the state. You people are impractical, they tell us, nice idealists, but not headed anywhere big and important. They are right. We are impractical, as one of us put it, as impractical as Calvary. There is no point in trying to make us into something we are not. We are not another Community Fund group, anxious to help people with some bread and butter and a cup of coffee or tea. We feed the hungry, yes; we try to shelter the homeless and give them clothes, if we have some, but there is a strong faith and work; we pray. If an outsider who comes to visit doesn't pay attention to our praying and what that means, they he'll miss the whole point of things.
We are here to bear witness to our Lord. We are here to follow His lead. We are here to celebrate Him through these works of mercy. We are here, I repeat, to follow His lead - to oppose war and the murder of our fellow human beings, to reach out to all we see and meet. We are not here to prove that our technique of working with the poor is useful, or to prove that we are able to be effective humanitarians. That's what one visitor told me we are, effective humanitarians. Then he added what he thought was his ultimate compliment. He told me that there's a lot that city and state and federal agencies could learn from us, that we have excellent relationships with our patrons, that we have become efficient and reach our target population quite well, and that we work with a minimum of friction and red-tape. I was supposed to be impressed and grateful.
I don't mean to sound as ungrateful as I just did. It is interesting how we find a target for our frustrations. That man became one form. I turned him into a representation of all the government bureaucrats and of all the agnostic reformers want to get the poor off the streets and into various programs and projects funded by the Congress of the United State of America. [snip] He told me once - joking, but he was serious, also - that if he could ever become secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, he would try to abolish poverty in America. I asked him why he wanted to do that. He recited all the statistics he knew, and they did sound awful, but I had the feeling he wasn't thinking of any particular poor person, but of all those numbers and percentages.
I told him there were lots of numbers and percentages that I didn't know, but I was sure that when poverty is abolished in America there will still be plenty of poverty. And the question will be, What kind of poverty has one embraced; spiritual poverty, or a voluntary poverty meant to help one avoid spiritual poverty? He looked at me as if he was having trouble with my talk, and I could see why. I wasn't being as helpful to him as I might have been. I was using him, I later realized. After you've heard a lot of people tell you that you're part of a cute little experiment that has no real meaning for the tough real world out there, you being to act a little cute yourself - as if you're in some trance that makes you useless - or you begin to look at your accusers with a jaundiced eye and ask yourself who in the world they are, and what in the world are they accomplishing with their various legislative victories, their big offices, and their massive appropriations."
Dorothy Day, pg 97-98 'Dorothy Day: A Radical Devotion'

"The Church is my home."

2007-04-23T19:29:00.000-04:00

While visiting relatives along the shores of Lake Ontario, I finally picked up my second hand copy of 'Dorothy Day, A Radical Devotion,' by Robert Coles. Despite having read one other biography and Day's autobiography, I am engaged by 'A Radical Devotion' because of all the fabulous quotes Coles was lucky enough to obtain and pass along in this book. The journalist in me would love to sit down and listen to the original interview tapes and read over the pages of hand written notes compiled by Coles in the early 1970's. There are passages in the book where I believe Coles tries to fit Day into a preconceived mold, however, he admits most of his own leanings early on and does not hesitate to provide quotations from Day that may contradict his earlier notions. As an orthodox Catholic, I feel at times I understand Day's words better than Coles. Where he sometimes has lingering questions, I am satisfied and pleased with the direction Day had lead the conversation. By the time the two met, Day was a seasoned journalist and interview subject (perhaps sometime media darling) and she remains mindful of her words throughout. There would be no Barbara Walter style surprise sobs during these interviews (at least not in anything I've read so far.) Day lived outside popular classifications; liberal, conservative, anarchist, radical, well-educated, down to earth. She encompassed all of these much to the chagrin of those who would like to pin her down. She articulates her points expertly and exactly and has no time to mince words with those who would like to spin her phrases to suit their own agenda. I would like to pass along some interesting quotes I come across in the book and then eventually review the book once I complete it. Enjoy and pick up a copy if you are able.

"I didn't ever see myself as posing a challenge to church authority. I was a Catholic then, and I am one now, and I hope and pray I die one. I have not wanted to challenge the church, not on any of its doctrinal positions. I try to be loyal to the church-to its teachings, its ideals. I love the church with all my heart and soul. I never go inside a church without thanking God Almighty for giving me a home. The church is my home, and I don't want to be homeless. I may work with the homeless, but I have had no desire to join their ranks."
Day quote, A.R.D pg 82

"His whole way of life was revolutionary."

2007-04-18T18:13:00.000-04:00

I'll be away for a few days. Enjoy until next time.

"All this morning the words have been in my mind, "What you have done to the least of these, my brethren, you have done to me." How hard and terrible a thing is the Christian religion, which teaches us that those who take the sword will die by the sword, that we must forgive our enemies, who are to be found in "our own household," Jesus Christ said.

We call ourselves Christian, we citizens of the United States, the majority of us, but no one would ever know us as Christians. Reflect on the life of Jesus who came to call sinners, who was born in poverty, who lived as a worker for thirty years. He was an itinerant teacher, walking the roads of Palestine, who hungered and thirsted and was fatigued to the point of exhaustion, who was tempted in all things like us but He did not sin, because He was also God. As the apostles said, we are called to be other-Christs, we are called to put off the old man and put on Christ, we are told to see Christ in our brother. Hard sayings and who can understand it. Only the Spirit can teach us. It is some comfort to remember those further words, when Christ himself died because His whole way of life was revolutionary. He spoke them from the torture in which He hung, nailed as He was to a cross"Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." And He also said to the thief dying by His side, "This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise."
"Attica"
By Dorothy Day
The Catholic Worker, September 1971, 1.

A new stranger

2007-04-17T22:18:00.000-04:00

Be sure to check out the new link to Stranger in a Strange Land. Some of the art on there is awesome, although I'm totally intimidated by the 'current reads' list. This guy/gal can't possibly have children. I could handle, maybe one of those books (over the course of a year) in the wee bit of time around naps and bedtime. Good stuff though. I'll be updating my Amazon wish list.

Why We Bear Arms

2007-04-17T20:48:00.000-04:00

The recent tragedy at Virgina Tech has stirred up the ongoing debate on "the right to bear arms." The White House doesn't want to discuss the issue now, because the of fresh wounds, which I agree with to a point, however, people die everyday from gun violence so there will always be those who are mourning. Last time I checked, the number of shooting deaths in Philly for 2007 was about 118. The media is screaming gun control! and foreign countries are condemning us for our barbaric gun culture.
However growing up in a house with a Solider of Fortune Magazine subscriber, NRA member and hunter, I've seen the other side first hand as well. My house was FILLED with guns of all types and calibers and I never once thought of touching them. I can't remember a time when I didn't know the consequence of playing with guns. Even when I received my own rifle at age 11, I never took it out unless I was going to target practice. And despite depressing periods in my life when I was mercilessly picked on and felt unloved, I never considered using a gun on another human.
So why is it today kids immediately turn to guns? Why is murder and suicide such an appealing option to troubled people? Disgruntled employees, broken hearted lovers, bullied kids all turning to guns. Is it the violence that saturates our culture through the media and entertainment industries that inspire people? Is it the lack of faith which leaves people feeling like there's no other option, no one to turn to and nothing to look forward to? Is it a feeling of power one feels when wielding an instrument capable of death?
Without knowing the cause, we can't change the effect. We can regulate and create all sorts of waiting periods but without changing the reasons that motivate people to turn to deadly force, like firearms, we will have little affect on the outcome. But because many of the problems that lead people down this dark path are ignored or condoned by society, I doubt any real solutions will be offered by anyone on Capitol Hill.
Broken homes, premarital sex, lack of faith and greed can lead to gun violence. Kids in gangs will continue to shoot each other regardless of a semi automatic weapons ban because they never grew up with a father figure and now they seek the approval of a gang plus the wealth that a drug dealer position provides them. You find me a gang comprised of those who came from a two parent Christ-centered family. Everyday it seems a man shoots his former girlfriend and/or his children, then kills himself. It's becoming common place. How many of these people are in married relationships? How many of these people entered into the holy sacrament of marriage? Not many if any. And school shootings; whether bullied students acting out or nuts on a rampage these are people who clearly feel there is nothing left to live for and wish to die. Where along the way did they lose faith in God, in His unending love and plan for them? Where along the way did people stop reaching out in charity and concern? But nowadays I guess, it's not cool to witness or even give a damn about someone who's a little different.
So who's to blame? People are always able to rise above their circumstances, however, lack of religious upbringing, peer pressure, abuse and neglect can leave people unable to resist the temptation of the devil. And when these behaviors (single parent homes, cohabitation, rejection of religious morals, etc. ) are endorsed by mainstream society we convince ourselves there has to be another reason for the violence. So we blame guns.
I don't know if gun control is the answer since the lack of control starts before the gun is ever picked up. It's a problem the federal government could only screw up more. It is a problem that can only be solved by those who reach out and love those around them.

"“I’m not going to let you guys fight one another,” I said. “If I have to get in the way, in between you, I will - even if it means that I get hurt.”

Clark shook his head at me and walked away, saying, “You’ll get beat bad if you do that. Don’t do it. It’s not worth it.”

If there was one thing I said right tonight, it was what I said next. “You’re wrong. It is worth it. You are worth it.”

Later Clark apologized. Although things are still tense between the men in the house, at least we survived the night. One day down, an eternity to go. How long will it take us to put away our hatred of one another - our hatred of ourselves? How easily we fight, maim, and kill. Thank God that tonight, we found a different way! Thank God!"
Nate at Lamb & Dragon

The Next Worker Farm?

2007-04-17T20:37:00.000-04:00

As you know, my family is working on acquiring a 2.65 parcel to turn into our own homestead/Worker farm thingy. Things look promising, and I'm not a total basket case as I'm wont to do because I've left it with St. Joseph to take care of. Hopefully, he won't hold it against me that I left him buried at a previous residence. (It was totally an accident I swear!)
Anyway, we're having a hard time coming up with a name. So I need suggestions. I like St. Benedict, St. Joseph or anything Marian, however, despite my traditional leanings, I'm not interested in a Latin name.
So if anyone has a catchy farm name, please pass it along. If there's enough interest, I'll even do a poll and let my readers vote on the name. Please leave it in the comments or email it directly to me.
Once the property is officially in our hands, I'll give you all the details, with pictures. Maybe I'll even make the renovation a regular feature, as I'm sure it will give us many moments to reflect upon and question our decision, our sanity and our future.

The rest of the month

2007-04-15T15:39:00.000-04:00

Be sure to check out today's feature on Catholic Daily. Information you probably won't hear anywhere else regarding April's liturgical calendar. Yes, there's more going on than just Easter.