www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Parish Life & Evangelization Building a Byzantine Catholic Village

OK...

I'm going to share a pipedream of mine:

A Byzantine Catholic Village as a center for renewal on 1000 acres (or more).

A town square (for play and cultural events)with a large wooden church in the center of the town surrounded by houses that are owned by the families (personal property is key).

A priest (and his family?) or a small religious/monastic community in residence.

Plots of land for organic farming (several acres per family - kind of in the great Distributist tradition of Belloc and Chesterton). Other acres could be set aside for visitors from the surrounding towns or cities that want to come to a family friendly environment - and get their hands dirty producing something good and healthy.

Regular cycles of worship and play.

A Byzantine media/apostlate center that could be on the forefront of the new evangelization in North America (one that offers a new Byzantine release of "Caelum et Terra" - Dan N., did I ever tell you I was a real fan?)

A school of iconography and catechesis.

A one room schoolhouse - or two, with a newly published Eastern Catholic homeschooling curriculum.

A retreat/poustinia center for visiting clergy and families.

Alright. That's it.

Gordo

Holy distributivist economics Batman! I'm not the only one who has read the Servile State...or who never got Don Quixote out of his system

Gordo, this is very close to what I have been thinking of and working towards for years. Grab your lance and let's find some windmills...

This has been done to a large extent by Catherine Doherty and Madonna House in Combermere - I wholeheartedly recommend her works if you haven't read them yet, and what she has done is nothing short of miraculous (having Archbishop Raya for the community spiritual father was certainly a plus ).

Did you know we have one of the two existing Belloc Societies in the US right here in Kansas (I was a founding member )?

"Wher'er the Catholic sun doth shine
There's always laughter and good red wine.
At least I've always found it so
Benedicamus Domino! (Belloc)

Great idea. Please, not in the cold climate. What's the southern most point in Parma?

Dan L

The farthest southwest point would be - Kansas. Perfect, we're already on board and underway.

Thoughts on Apostolic Farming by Baroness Catherine de Hueck Doherty (whose case is being examined for beatification):

"A farm can be looked at from a hundred different angles, but for me it must always be from an apostolic angle. I look upon our farm as apostolic farming. By this, I simply mean that we are engaged in the occupation of farming because we want to spread the Good News by living the Gospel, and there is no better place to live the Gospel than on a farm.

"When one thinks about it, Jesus was born in the countryside and He lived in the countryside most of His life. He wasn't a farmer, but His Gospel is filled with examples and parables taken from farming and the earth. He talked about vineyards, crops, grain and seeds. He talked about plowing and sowing and harvesting.

"Why do we farm? Our first reason is because we have to eat. The simplest way is to work for it, by the sweat of our brows as we are supposed to do. So we farm for a reason seemingly utilitarian. Yet, it embodies the very essence of apostolicity: it brings us face to face with the fact that we are poor, that we have to work for the things we need, or do without them.

"Apostolic farming is love that spills over into the earth - that gazes at the earth reverently. It knows that God has created it and that it is beloved by God. Apostolic farming is also the love of a person for his fellowman and for the earth, exemplified again and again in its very depths through the use of ingenuity.

"Apostolic farming is a very slow process. It teaches farmers lessons which are not in any books. It strips them naked of many preconceived notions and makes them whole again. He who works with the earth from whence he came will be healed of his wounds. In a strange way, he is somehow deeply reconciled with God again and walks at eventide with Him while they both look over the works of their hands.

"Holy poverty should be the constant meditation of an apostolic farmer. Forever and forever he or she should ask, 'How can I do without this? How can I substitute something less expensive?' And you begin to see that, like a refrain, the strange phrase 'ingenuity of love' is at the heart of apostolic farming.

"Nothing apostolic is ever beneath anyone. There was a time when so many people thought that farming was 'beneath' them, but that is impossible because every apostolic action has an eternal value. Tossing manure around has the same value as writing a thesis or working at any other occupation that appears to be cleaner. There is nothing dirty about farming. Everything the farmer deals with is clean and everything has a purpose. The manure is going to give us food for next year. The hog will be eaten. The cow will produce calves and give milk and meat. Everything on the farm leads to the feeding of mankind. How can it be dirty when it feeds the Temple of God and allows Christ to come and dwell in it?

"Apostolic farming must be approached with great humility. The learned man - the really learned one - knows that he knows nothing or very little. The apostolic farmer understands the tranquillity of God's order, accepts it, and shares it. He is a man of integrity and he deals with things of integrity. There is nothing deceitful about a field. It grows straight and clean, for it comes from the hands of God.

"The apostolic farmer is reverent with himself and with growing things, for he deals with the mystery of life. He touches God all the time in the mystery of nature and so can easily give God to others - for he is familiar with Him. There are in the world two people who really touch God. The priest touches God in His very essence. The farmer touches God in His creation as it comes from His hands.

"So apostolic farming in Madonna House has two aims. First, to provide food for the growing family that God sends. Second, to learn to farm so that we can go to the farthest end of the earth and produce food for men and children who have never known one day of freedom from the pangs of hunger.

"The apostolic farmer talks to God and to our Blessed Mother and to St. Isidore, who were able to do so much with so little. So he is a man of prayer and he is a man of dreams, this apostolic farmer. For unless he dreams, he will not go very far. But his dreams must be dreamt in God. He must place all his dreams in God and ask Him to make them come true. But he must not dream of making more money to build bigger barns, get more machinery, or make his life easier. He must dream of simpler ways so as to make the life of other people easier by using ingenuity as a sort of fruit of his dreams and his love for others.

"Yes, deep are the roots of apostolic farming! Deep is the idea of apostolic farming! But its roots, deep as they are, like its fruits, are always God's, and they are fertilized with the things of God which are death to self, poverty, obedience, chastity, knowledge of the value of time, veneration for all creatures, seeds, and animals. Even the tools of farming should be as holy to the apostolic farmer as the vessels of the altar."

Tremendous book and person. May she and her spiritual father Archbishop Raya intercede for us poor sinners.

Why don't you all just go over to Canadensis, PA and take over the existing Carpathian Village? If anyone argues, you could always say that Saint Nicholas appeared and told you to do it. Such things worked in the past!

Dave

Sounds interesting but isn't it cold up there? How about two farms. You can run that one and I'll join the Southern Kansas farm. I'm pretty good with flowers and tomatoes.

Dan L

The southernmost point in the Parma Eparchy is not Kansas in any way shape or form. It is the villiage of Rington, which is on the MISSOURI-Arkansas border, at the bottom of the Bootheel. But unless you like Deep South kind of clime, i would not suggest there, but places like northern (or central) Missouri, or central-Southern Illinois (I am partial to West Central Illinois). These are all good farming areas, that still have a fair amount of population, but are not too crowded. If you want non crowded, then Nebraska, Ks, Iowa, are good places. Ohio and Indiana are pretty crowded, and it would be hard to find 1000 acres that would be reasonable (here taht would only cost 1-1.5 million dollars-bigger parcels can still be had as well for a similar price).

Of course, with the way many counties are emptying out, one could find a villiage to buy someplace already built :-D .

Adam - I said Kansas was the farthest SOUTHWEST point (as the Eparchy is currently drawn - you can check my post) but methinks too many trees to clear, ticks, and way too much humidity down at the Ark-Mo border.

We already have two small family farms underway of Greek Catholics, and everyone is welcome, Dan - grab a hoe (or milk a goat).

Dear Diak:

Just make sure that Dan is milking a she-goat!

Amado

I think a he-goat would make his gender known pretty quickly.

CDL

I just saw a whole town for sale in North Dakota! Might be a little cold though. Probably not expensive at all...it is North Dakota.

Sorry Randy, must be selective reading. I coulda swore you said south-probably since Dan asked for the southern-most point in the Eparchy, that must've stuck. Besides-the point i mentioned is mostly swamp anyways. And there is nothing wrong with trees-that means there is water, unlike certain treeless, semi-arid expanses i can think of that are rife with vermin of the sneaker-wearing bird variety.

In Christ,
Adam

Nord-Dakoda?

Well - I know that there is at least ONE BC villager up dere!

A nice mild climate is a good thing. What's the weather like down there in Homer Glenn, eh?

Diak,

I love the article on Apostolic Farming. ANother great work by Catherine (my daughter - my little cricket - is named after her, did I mention that?) is her work on Russian village life ("My Russian Yesterdays"). For those who have not read this work, it is a great insight into how "incarnational" the faith can be in simple, Christian village living!

Gordo

Oh, that's good stuff, Gordo. "My Russian Yesterdays" is very good stuff.

Since Catherine came up, my wife and I pulled out Poustinia the other night and were reminiscing about reading that right after we were married - in fact I think it was the first spiritual book we read together after being married, soon followed by Raya's "Face of God". A few years back, now... :rolleyes:

A good friend of ours a couple of towns over, a spiritual daughter of Catherine's who spent many years at Madonna House and now teaches at a small Catholic coop school, wants to take a van trip to Combermere this fall. I'm really tempted.

Nordd Dakoota, ya sure, you betcha.