Catholic Town?

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JackieO123

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I’ve been wondering about a lot of things lately. For one, I want to know what people think of the concept I’m going to put down here. A Catholic Town, based on Catholic teaching, and one that follows the Democratic process while still keeping the rights of a religion flourishing. If such a place were to exist, I think it would probably be Distributist when it comes to its economy.

What are your opinions on this crude idea? Is it applicable? What about funding? Could it be in a generally remote area? Post below what you think.
 
JackieO123 said:
I’ve been wondering about a lot of things lately. For one, I want to know what people think of the concept I’m going to put down here. A Catholic Town, based on Catholic teaching, and one that follows the Democratic process while still keeping the rights of a religion flourishing. If such a place were to exist, I think it would probably be Distributist when it comes to its economy.

What are your opinions on this crude idea? Is it applicable? What about funding? Could it be in a generally remote area? Post below what you think.
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Do you mean like Ave Maria, Florida?
 
Similar to Ave Maria, yes. Though I’m not quite sure Ave Maria is Distributist.
 
The way things are going, this may be the only hope for Catholics in some countries.
 
This reminds me of that great movie, The Truman Show, where a perfect type of town was created as part of a reality show. While it sounds like a great idea, too many questions are brought up such as: could you kick out someone from the town if they were not Catholic or if they had different views? How would you enforce the whole Ctholic thing?
 
I recently read about a Christian religious community made up of people of varying Christian denominations called Chemin Neuf. It is made up of single people, married people and families, and religious (priests, nuns etc…) Something like this on a wider scale where sharing is the priority would be difficult. Early Christian communities filled with fervour from the Holy Spirit no doubt achieved this on a wide scale which is probably why they attracted so much attention from the Romans. Not sure though if Utopia can exist in this lifetime, in a country or even in a town, in anything bigger than a small community of people, because there are always new outside influences seeking to walk individualistic paths trying and succeeding in asserting influence, and pressure, and power.
 
How would you limit the town to Catholic citizens?

How would the distributist economy work with relation to federal, state, and county taxes?

How would you eliminate the possibility of people moving there just to take advantage of the distributist economy?

Would the laws be based on Catholic morality?

In what way would it be based on Catholic teaching?
 
I often think of a Catholic condo or apartment building, where there would be a chapel, please could only live there who were practicing Chastity, etc. it would kind of like a monastery for lay people. In order to live there, you would need a letter from your pastor stating that you were in good standings with the Church (similar to one needed to be a God parent).

A “Catholic Town” could be very similar, if it uses land leases. People own their house, but lease the land. A Catholic town could offer free land to Catholic (or very cheap) and issue “penalties” or fees to non-Catholics, non-practicing, or people who do not live a public life of Chastity. Or perhaps even not allow people to lease land who are not practicing Catholics in good standing (a letter from pastor to confirm), with an interview process.

The key would be to set rules/laws/bi-laws in a way that are legally binding to protect both the community and the home owners.

As far as a distributist economy, I see that being more possible in a condo or co-opt type environment.
 
There is a city in the united states where there is no tuition to attend catholic grammar school anb high school.
 
I think what would be necessary to accomplish this would be to purchase an entire community, and hold residents to a series of agreements contingent upon leasing property.
 
Maybe the only Condition for applying would be
"In the flock of St. Francis, and a faithful practising Catholic, with a note from the Parish Priest saying you follow the Magisterium.

While its a great idea hard to put into practise.

Let me know when its set up I will be a Resident.

Saying that there parts of Israel that only the very Orthodox live, and I suppose one would have to be the same to live there, same as a Catholic neighbourhood .
 
Discrimination based on religion in the sale or leasing of real estate is against the law in the US.
 
hadulzo said:
There is a city in the united states where there is no tuition to attend catholic grammar school anb high school.
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Where is this located? If you would like, you could PM me.🙂 Thanks & God bless.
 
I hope that a religious community like this is possible. That way we can escape from the dictatorship of relativism, and people pushing their agendas against the Church.
 
JackieO123 said:
I hope that a religious community like this is possible. That way we can escape from the dictatorship of relativism, and people pushing their agendas against the Church.
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The problem with this is that then we would cease to be true Catholics because the narrow path is what ‘defines’ (as far as a person can be defined) a true Catholic - putting up with suffering is part of the reality. If we all escaped then we would be declaring our right to be in Heaven before God had actually permitted us to go there and would be indicating that those outside of the Church had no hope because they would be considered outsiders. This is why a psalm speaks about the need for God who is our rock who saves us and why Jesus spoke about the need of having our faith planted in rich soil.
 
friardchips said:
The problem with this is that then we would cease to be true Catholics because the narrow path is what ‘defines’ (as far as a person can be defined) a true Catholic - putting up with suffering is part of the reality. If we all escaped then we would be declaring our right to be in Heaven before God had actually permitted us to go there and would be indicating that those outside of the Church had no hope because they would be considered outsiders. This is why a psalm speaks about the need for God who is our rock who saves us and why Jesus spoke about the need of having our faith planted in rich soil.
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There is a point here.

We are told not to put our “lamp under a bushel basket”. I think hiding away in an exclusive community might not be the best way to try to bring the Light of Christ to the world. It may be bad, but that means that the world in it’s darkness needs Christ’s Church more than ever.
 
phil19034 said:
I often think of a Catholic condo or apartment building, where there would be a chapel, please could only live there who were practicing Chastity, etc. it would kind of like a monastery for lay people. In order to live there, you would need a letter from your pastor stating that you were in good standings with the Church (similar to one needed to be a God parent).

A “Catholic Town” could be very similar, if it uses land leases. People own their house, but lease the land. A Catholic town could offer free land to Catholic (or very cheap) and issue “penalties” or fees to non-Catholics, non-practicing, or people who do not live a public life of Chastity. Or perhaps even not allow people to lease land who are not practicing Catholics in good standing (a letter from pastor to confirm), with an interview process.

The key would be to set rules/laws/bi-laws in a way that are legally binding to protect both the community and the home owners.

As far as a distributist economy, I see that being more possible in a condo or co-opt type environment.
Click to expand...
Sorry, but this describes a theocratic nightmare. In addition to the numerous federal and state laws that would rightfully stand in the way of such a venture, you might want to re-read “The Scarlet Letter” to see how such a community would be in practice.
 
JackieO123 said:
I hope that a religious community like this is possible. That way we can escape from the dictatorship of relativism, and people pushing their agendas against the Church.
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Opus Dei has communities similar to this concept.
 
Tarpeian_Rock said:
Sorry, but this describes a theocratic nightmare. In addition to the numerous federal and state laws that would rightfully stand in the way of such a venture, you might want to re-read “The Scarlet Letter” to see how such a community would be in practice.
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I’ve read the Scarlet Letter, and they were not Catholic.

How does Ave Maria, FL stay Catholic?
 
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