The Problem with Planned Catholic Communities

 There's a big story in the Catholic world.  A group of Catholics have announced their intention to build a new community outside of Tyler, Texas, home of Bishop Strickland.  They are planning to buy a good 600 acres.  The reason this is being done is because these Catholics, impacted by lengthy lockdowns without the sacraments, wish to have a community where that access will always be available, and they want to build a community inspired by the values of John Paul II.

I don't doubt the sincerity of these individuals, or their good faith.  I do however doubt their judgement.  Whether it was a community around Fisher Moore College, Ave Maria in Florida, or St. Mary's in Kansas, the Mother of God community, the track record of these communities isn't very good.  The initial thrill gives way to infighting, ego, and inevitably, the grift.  Those who have the means to pack up and move around the country to a new area will have means that someone can have redirected to their cause.

There is also the question of what a "Catholic community" is.  Is it just a sacrament dispensary?  Liturgical snob I am, I think there's a danger if we reduce a Catholic community to being primarily built around a church we all go to Mass at.  What are some of the other marks of that community.  Would the housing be affordable?  Would business owners in those communities pay their workers a living wage with benefits?  What would be done to help people raise the size of families they want to?  These kind of questions are just as important to the Catholic as "will the Church have Mass?"  Also, what other services will that Church provide?  How will oversight function so that this group stays true to their mission?  What is the source of that mission?  These kind of questions are seldom considered.

There is also a question about the education there.  We are told that some of the education will focus on:

The seven institutes of Veritatis Splendor will encompass a range of issues that concern Catholics in the modern world, including life, education, liberty, human rights, law, media and culture.

Liberty, media, and culture.  What kind of liberty are we talking about?  I'm skeptical we are talking about liberty as Leo XIII defines it in Libertas, in which man is free to pursue a life in Jesus Christ, and anything in society that interferes with that right is dangeorus.  This sounds more like your run of the mill American conservative understanding, where they seek to create an environment where their political values are taught.  I don't want to touch on those values right now, I just wish to point out there will be parts of a real Catholic community that differ from those values substantially.

We should probably also consider where, even if we could overcome these problems, we should actually want to.  Communities grow organically, they are very hard to centrally plan.  Communities that have been planned into existence historically often required vast sums of money and time.  In a certain sense most Catholics in America have to search a little to find a good parish.  Yet to uproot and travel across the country to one?  Even if one has the means, perhaps it could be better spent enhancing your own local community.

There has been some success with monastic communities where small towns/villages have grown around them, but this was not centrally planned.  Clear Creek Abbey was not founded to serve as the nexus of a city of Catholics, quite the opposite.  Would that individuals who have the wealth to engage in these kind of endeavors would focus on building communities around them, in their own neighborhoods, that build and foster a Catholic community.

Now some will object that you cannot have this without the Mass and the sacraments, and you need that community to have that as a building block.  Yet my dear friend, episcopal appointments are conditional upon the pope and Rome.  There will come a time when Strickland will be gone, and be replaced by someone else.  A traditional bishop can be replaced by a modernist, a servant bishop be replaced by a raging narcissist.  At this point, you will have the situation you attempted to flee from, except now you'll be out of money substantially.

Catholics need to focus more on building their local communities.  Veritatis Splendor is launching a 22,000,000 dollar capital campaign for their community.  Let's say someone is donating even a "small" sum like 100,000 dollars.  Imagine if that individual showed up at the local pro-life clinic and informed the individual that 100,000 dollars worth of diapers and formula would be provided to the clinic for expectant mothers.  That could help a mother with her first child for.... a week, but go with it.  I have a friend who is a lawyer who wanted to help setup an organization that helps people get out of the crippling credit card and other forms of usurious debt, but nobody seems very interested in that kind of Catholic community.

If you want access to the Latin Mass (or any Mass), that 100,000 you setup can get you a lot in your home area.  It can help you setup a lay organization that can purchase everything needed for a liturgy readily available.  It can purchase resources to help priests and parishes learn and say the Latin Mass.  One could help subsidize a local business into paying workers better.  Will these things generate a return on your investment, or be as easy to write off in your tax forms?  Probably not!  They probably won't get you noticed by the big and powerful in your community.  You might even get viewed a sucker for throwing away that money.  Yet maybe, just maybe, you will help instill Catholic virtues around you, and become salt of the earth for those right in front of you.