Communitarianism

The Catholic Church has preserved commune living for centuries in religious orders of priests like the Franciscans, Jesuits and Dominicans and others.  These priests and brothers lived in Monasteries and typically support themselves by selling and making wine and bread and growing their own food.  Orders of Nuns like Loreto and sisters of Charity and others lived in Convents attached to schools and hospitals. Education for those choosing to become Nuns and Priests was subsidized by donations. Nuns were trained to be teachers and nurses. Priests were trained in seminaries and typically graduated with a masters in theology.

 

They take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. The “order” owned their convents and monasteries and paid for utilities, food, transportation and healthcare and paid each a salary of $50 per month.

 

In exchange, they taught in Catholic grade schools attached to the Parish and Catholic high schools and universities. The Nuns also ran Catholic hospitals.  After Vatican II in 1962, the hospitals were sold and the schools began to disappear.

 

All of this was additionally supported with donations. Many Catholics included the Church in their Wills. Education in Parish-based grade schools was often free and education in Catholic high schools and universities was generally inexpensive and excellent.

 

All of that is different now. Catholic education is expensive. There are still religious orders, but they are much smaller than they were before 1962 and they work in special ministries. There are still convents, but many Nuns live in houses next to Parishes or near the ministries they now work in. There are still monasteries, but not many. Priests from religious orders often live in Parish rectories and serve as Diocesian Priests.  

The kind of communitarian living the Catholic Church provided worked well for almost 2000 years and didn’t fail because it didn’t work. It failed because the church told its priests and nuns to go out and live among the people. Most of them just had their vows dispensed and they left to become civilians. All were well educated. The Nuns were teachers and nurses and hospital administrators. When they left, the cost of education and healthcare skyrocketed.

In 1962, the rise of secular government control began. Government wanted to replace religion. The Catholic Church had historically been manipulated by the Kings of nation-states and this corrupt influence remains today. Pope Francis continues to be manipulated by the UN and its cadre of Globalist Marxists.

Communitarianism doesn’t work as a national policy in the free market economy with poor populations unless it is subsidized by “contributors”, like US taxpayers. It certainly doesn’t work with prosperous populations that require self-reliance.

Communitarianism worked in the Catholic Church, because it was voluntary for those with a religious vocation. It also works with families who take care of their own.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader