Peter's Primer For Catholic Worker Eco-Villages

Transcription

1 Peter's Primer For Catholic Worker Eco-Villages Part One: 28 Easy Excerpts On December 9th, 1932, Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day met for the first time, both interested in changing the social order and in reaching the masses with the social teaching of the Church. He wrote poetic dogma while she wrote more conventionally recognizable journalism. The movement they accidentally co founded is called the Catholic Worker (CW). In 87 Easy Essays Maurin articulated his perpetual vision and plan for a more perfect society. The practices his writings inspired, of establishing radial Christian urban houses of hospitality for poor folks, actively clarifying our thoughts through lively discussion, and living on farming communes, were needed a century ago, and even more desperately needed today for the 21st century. Peter believed that cult... culture... cultivation, also described as liturgy... literature... agriculture, is the framework for what he called the Green Revolution, as opposed to a red revolution of state communism. Two decades later the term was co opted by agribusiness and polluters of the land and came to mean chemical based industrial agriculture instead of Peter's definition. The real GREEN REVOLUTION is defined by the Aims and Means of the New York CW as: 1. rediscovering the proper meaning of our labor and our true bonds with the land 2. a radically new society where people will rely on the fruits of their own toil and labor 3. associations of mutuality, and a sense of fairness to resolve conflicts 4. a distributist communitarianism, self sufficient through farming, crafting and appropriate technology Inspired by this vision, groups of people live together in households or intentional communities, most following the CW ideal of urban houses of hospitality. The constraints of subsistence simplicity on rural CW farms ironically provide more opportunities for successful execution of fleshing out this framework than an urban CW setting, so this paper focuses on Peter's explicit words about farming communes. CW farms are proliferating, so my hope is that this listing of excerpts, along with Part Two (a synthesis called Peter's Basic Blueprint For A Farm which deciphers Peter's hope in modern language, may be useful to CW communities in general. Marcus Page Collonge, Earth Abides Catholic Worker Farm in California The format of citing these lines of Maurin ( snippets from 27 of his 87 Easy Essays ) is this: TITLE OF EASY ESSAY: Section: Sentence numbers (all in blue). My summarizing the context for each excerpt is in non bold italics. The words written by Peter are in bold. When Peter quotes others, the quotes are NOT in bold.

2 A QUESTION AND ANSWER ON CATHOLIC LABOR GUILDS: S9, S30 S37 (The real point of the Green Revolution is not urban Houses of Hospitality, but instead...) Parish Subsistence Camps are the most efficient way to make an impression on the depression. There is so much depression because there is so little expression. (In Agronomic Universities, a.k.a. Parish Subsitence Camps, these conditions exist:) scholars are workers... workers are scholars. the worker does not work for wages... the worker does not look for a bank account... the worker does not look for an insurance policy... the worker does not look for an old age pension... the worker does not look for a rainy day... work can be found for everybody THE PURPOSE OF THE CATHOLIC WORKERS' SCHOOL: S3; Communes: S1 3 The program of the Catholic Workers' School is a three point program: 1. Round table Discussions 2. Houses of Hospitality 3. Farming Communes We need Communes to help the unemployed help themselves. We need Communes to make scholars out of workers and workers out of scholars, to substitute a technique of ideals for our technique of deals. We need Communes to create a new society within the shell of the old with the philosophy of the new, which is not a new philosophy but a very old philosophy, a philosophy so old that it looks like new. ON MARXISM: Reconstructing the Social Order: S6: (The foundations of a social order are to be laid as the Irish did...) Through farming colonies, that is to say Agronomic Universities, they emphasized voluntary poverty. A RUMPUS ON THE CAMPUS: S17 & S23 (Despite past moral leadership, contemporary governments allow...) farm owners have mortgaged their farms, (... we can and should recognize that there is nothing good about...) trying to live on the sweat of somebody else's brow by lending money at interest. SCHOLARS AND BOURGEOIS: S8 & S9 (Bourgeois attitudes dis scholars and workers, leading workers to want to liquidate upper others.) The scholars must collaborate with the workers in making a path from the things as they are to the things as they should be. The scholars must become workers so the workers may be scholars. BUILDING CHURCHES: S5 & S16 18 (Past architects and craftspeople making great stuff...) knew how to combine cult, that is to say liturgy, with culture, that is to say philosophy, with cultivation, that is to say agriculture. Labor and prayer ought to be combined; labor ought to be a prayer. The liturgy of the Church is the prayer of the Church. People ought to pray with the Church and to work with the Church. The religious life of the people and the economic life of the people ought to be one.

3 WHEN CHRIST IS KING: A Radical Change: S9; When Bankers Rule: S8; When Christ is King: S1 & S7; Rebellion is Rebellion: S5 6 I want a change from an acquisitive society to a functional society, from a society of go getters to a society of go givers. When the banker has the power we have an acquisitive, not a functional society. When the Sermon on the Mount is the standard of values then Christ is the leader. When Christ is the leader we have a functional, not an acquisitive society. The Catholic Church stands for the reunion of our separated brothers. The Catholic Church stands for the reconstruction, not the patching up, of the social order. THE CASE FOR UTOPIA: Better and Better Off: S8 10; Three Ways to Make A Living: S6 Christian capitalism is based on property with responsibility... Christian communism is based on poverty through choice. For a Christian...private property is not an absolute right, but a gift which as such cannot be wasted, but must be administered for the benefit of God's children....people do not need to work for wages, they can offer their services as a gift. FOR CATHOLIC ACTION: Spiritualizing: S4; Business Like: S1 & S2 The way to take commercialism out of everything and to put religion into everything is through Catholic Action. Catholic Action is action by Catholics for Catholics and non Catholics. Catholic Action is action by Catholic laymen in co operation with the clergy. SOCIAL STUDY SCHOOLS NEEDED: Personal Sacrifice: S2 5; Reconstruction: S6 (The following are what God wants us to do at a personal sacrifice...) To feed the hungry...to clothe the naked...to shelter the homeless...to instruct the ignorant...to serve man for God's sake... Through Farming Communes the Irish scholars made workers out of scholars and scholars out of workers. FIGHTING COMMUNISM: S2 The Catholic Worker proposes fighting Communism the way the Irish scholars fought pagan feudalism, through Round Table Discussions, Houses of Hospitality, Farming Communes. ESSAY ON COMMUNISM: Red and Green: S4 (Green Ireland of the Seventh Century holds the antidote to the complaint of working class hope in a better world through the contemporary ideal of Red Russia.) The only way to prevent a Red Revolution is to promote a Green Revolution. PETER'S REPLY TO MICHAEL GUNN: S33 (Continuing the dialog on Catholic Labor Guilds using the modern financial system instead of doing direct transfer from hand to hand.) Let the Labor Guild help all those it can help and the Farming Communes will help all those that the Guild cannot help.

4 FIVE DEFINITIONS: What the Catholic Worker Believes: S5 The Catholic Worker believes in the establishment of Farming Communes where each one works according to his ability and gets according to his need. IN THE LIGHT OF HISTORY: The Catholic Worker: S3; 1933 The Catholic Worker S4 The Catholic Worker means are the daily practice of the Works of Mercy and the fostering of Farming Communes where scholars become workers and workers become scholars. The aim of the Catholic Worker is to create a new society within the shell of the old with the philosophy of the new, which is not a new philosophy, but a very old philosophy, a philosophy so old that it looks like new. BOURGEOIS COLLEGES: On Farming Communes: S1 6 When unemployed college graduates will have been indoctrinated they will be moved to Farming Communes. On Farming Communes unemployed college graduates will be taught how to build their houses, how to gather their fuel, how to raise their food, how to make their furniture; that is to say, how to employ themselves. Unemployed college graduates must be taught how to use their hands. Unemployed college graduates have time on their hands. And while time is on the hands of college graduates their heads don't function as they should function. On Farming Communes unemployed college graduates will learn to use both their hands and their heads. FOR A NEW ORDER: The Age of Order: S2 (After the Ages of Reason, Treason, and Chaos, comes...) The new order brought about by right decisions will be functional, not acquisitive; personalist, not socialist; communitarian, not collectivist; organismic, not mechanistic. BACK TO CHRIST: BACK TO THE LAND!: On the Level: S5; Mechanized Labor S4 5; Regard for the Soil; Up to Catholics; (Regarding a fair economy...) Wheat and overalls must be on the level. (Regarding the evils of industrialism and idleness...) Creative labor is what keeps people out of mischief. Creative labor is craft labor. (Regarding the soil, Andrew Nelson Lytle is quoted...)...ignorance does not release [urban dwellers] from a final dependence upon the farm. (Regarding Catholic understanding of the family and the community, Ralph Adams Cram is quoted...)...there is no sound and righteous and enduring community where all its members are not substantially of one mind in matters of the spirit that is to say, of religion. INSTITUTIONS VS. CORPORATIONS: S2 & S3 & S6; Some Institutions S5 (Because corporations are meant to promote the wealth of the few...) I say: man is partly good and partly bad, but corporations, not institutions, make him worse. An institution, says Emerson, is the extension of the soul of man.... So let us found smaller and better institutions and not promote bigger and better corporations. (Peter names and describes Round Table Discussions, Campion Propaganda Committees, Maternity Guilds, Houses of Hospitality, and finally...) Farming Communes where the scholars may become workers so the workers may be scholars.

5 GO GETTERS VS. GO GIVERS: Franciscans and Jesuits: S5; Counsels of the Gospels: S1 2, S6 Franciscans and Jesuits believe in the responsibility of private property but they believe also in the practicality of voluntary poverty. Someone said that The Catholic Worker is taking monasticism out of the monasteries. The Counsels of the Gospel are for everybody, not only for monks....and if everybody tried to live up to it we would bring order out of chaos, and Chesterton would not have said that the Christian ideal as been left untried. FEEDING THE POOR: At a Sacrifice: S4 And because the poor are no longer fed, clothed and sheltered the pagans say about the Christians, See how they pass the buck. RADICALS OF THE RIGHT: The Right Word: S3 & S7 My word is tradition. The thing to do is to restate the never new and never old principles in the vernacular of the man of the street. OUTDOOR UNIVERSITIES: S11 12 (Citing an example of a religious group which combines manual labor with intellectual pursuits...) They go to the Catholic University in the morning, build their own campus or cultivate their land in the afternoon and do their homework in the evening. While they do manual labor their mind is taken off their studies, which is to the benefit both of their health and their studies. THE SIXTH COLUMN: S5, S8 The Catholic Worker stands for co operativism against capitalism. The Catholic Worker stands for agrarianism against industrialism. THE ROAD TO COMMUNISM: Paraguay Reductions: S3 6 In Paraguay the Jesuits established a Communist society. Part of the land was held individually. The other part, known as God's land, was cultivated in common. The produce was used for the maintenance of the aged, the infirm, and the young. LOGICAL AND PRACTICAL: S7 The Sermon on the Mount will be called practical when Christians make up their mind to practice it. THE WAY TO FIGHT COMMUNISM: Irish Scholars: S1 3 (In laying the foundations of medieval Europe the Irish scholars established...) Centers of Thought... Houses of Hospitality where Christian charity was exemplified. Agricultural Centers where they combined (a) Cult that is to say Liturgy (b) with Culture that is to say Literature (c) with Cultivation that is to say Agriculture.

6 IRISH CULTURE: S12 14 (The Irish brought light into the Dark age) The Irish scholars established agricultural centers all over Europe where they combined cult that is to say liturgy with culture that is to say literature with cultivation that is to say agriculture. And the word America was for the first time printed on a map in a town...where an Irish scholar by the name Deodad founded an agricultural center. What was done by Irish missionaries after the fall of the Roman Empire can be done today during and after the fall of modern empires. A young farmer ponders the green revolution amidst autumn meadow yellowness at the Earth Abides Catholic Worker Farm.

7 Peter's Primer For Catholic Worker Eco-Villages Part Two: Peter's Basic Blueprint For A Farm Green Revolution, Voluntary Poverty & Christian Society Peter Maurin, co founder of the Catholic Worker movement, stated clearly that the people living within the empire ought to create a Green Revolution (which includes round table discussions, urban houses of hospitality, and farming communes). The Green Revolution's framework is cult... culture... cultivation, also described as liturgy... literature... agriculture. That means we follow the technique of ideals rather than the technique of profiteering deals (as in capitalistic political shenanigans). The Catholic Worker movement, which has mostly focused on round table discussions and urban houses of hospitality, has not gone far enough in actually altering the lethal course that first world nations are posing to humanity. We need more farming communes, also known as parish subsistence camps, which allow for unemployed folks to live free from rent, have free fuel on the land, and free food. These parish subsistence camps can furthermore be agronomic universities insofar as they improve the minds for the unemployed, offer spiritual guidance for all, and help everyone master situations, as opposed to mastering subjects. At agronomic universities, the unemployed help themselves, rather than having charity given to them, because work can be found for everybody including crafts and creative labor. We can make scholars out of workers and workers out of scholars at an agronomic university. Each person shall work according to their ability, and receive according to their need. Catholic Worker farmers can translate Peter's Anarcho grarian Philosophy into a Spiritual Economic Praxis by following a three part blueprint of Revolution, Poverty & Society: Honor The Earthly Rhythms (REVOLUTION). We want a daily practice of the Works of Mercy, and know the Works can be part of the maintenance of our Agronomic University (a.k.a. Parish Subsistence Camps, Farming Colonies, or Farming Communes). After potential farm workers have become indoctrinated, they move here where they are taught how to build their houses, how to gather their fuel, how to raise their food, how to make their furniture; that is to say, how to employ themselves. In these Agronomic Universities the scholars must collaborate with the workers in making a path from the things as they are to the things as they should be in the world at large. The cross fertilization of academia with agricultural labor benefits all people involved as they continue Jesus' mandate encoded in the Works of Mercy. With such mindfulness we will intelligently combine liturgy with philosophy and agriculture. Labor ought to be a prayer. Creative labor is craft labor. Manual labor is holy. Creative labor keeps people engaged in holiness. Manual labor benefits both our health and our studies our heads function properly when we use our hands and our heads. We resist empires and domination systems through this aspect of the Green Revolution in which we depend as much as possible on the soil, air, and people sharing our watershed in order to survive.

8 Practice Creative Work Freely (POVERTY) We are a Farming Commune where people offer their work according to their abilities and receive according to their needs. Our Agronomic University is how we replace the industrialized world's technique of deals with a technique of ideals. Because our work is creative, we do not work for wages, we have no personal insurance policies, we seek no an old age pension, we can work and play on rainy days and sunny days, individuals have no economic security, and we find a way for everybody to have some creative labor to do. We don't need individual bank accounts, we can have communal credit union accounts. We don't need wages, our services are gifts. Together we power up a better world. Manage Land for the Benefit of God's Children. (SOCIETY) What was done by Irish missionaries after the fall of the Roman Empire can be done today during and after the fall of modern empires. We are here to reconstruct, not patch up, the social order. We aim to create a new society within the shell of the old with an ancient philosophy (restated so that it looks like new.) This old philosophy is The Sermon on the Mount, guiding and supporting us as our standard of values, which means that Christ is the standard bearer and leader, so that we have a functional (not an acquisitive) farming colony, modeling a better society, moving from a society of go getters to a society of go givers. Private property is a gift which cannot be wasted. Parts of the land are managed by individual family units, and a different part, known as God's land, is cultivated in common for the benefit of those who cannot farm it on their own, yet need to eat too. Right decisions bring us into a new order that is functional, not acquisitive; personalist, not socialist; communitarian, not collectivist; organismic, not mechanistic. Our philosophy includes Christian capitalism (property with responsibility) and a Christian communism (poverty through choice) and Christian socialism (communal resources shared). Our religious life is one of economics, prayer, and creative work. The religious life and the economic life of the people are to be unified. When the banker has power over others we have an acquisitive, not a functional society. We agree with Peter Maurin and Ralph Adams Cram that,...there is no sound and righteous and enduring community where all its members are not substantially of one mind in matters of the spirit that is to say, of religion. To maintain religious integrity, we have daily prayer (in groups and individually). The Counsels of the Gospel are for everybody, and we are trying to bring order out of chaos. We are so organized as to be a small institution, because institutions are the extensions of the soul. We take commercialism out of everything and put religion into everything through Catholic Action.