Use creatures as they should be used: the earth,
the sea, the sky, the air, the springs and the rivers. Give praise and
glory to their Creator for all that you find beautiful and wonderful in
them. --- Pope Saint Leo the Great
(This quote was from a sermon that Fr. David Nott of Richmond copied
for me after I discussed the "conversation" with him for a
bit. I thought I would share it.)
Dear friends,
Just a quick note here and a few more updates.
A request, by the way. If you have material you want me to include
in the discussion, such as an article, pamphlet, etc., consider making
me about 20 copies and sending them. I am have been given the loan of
a photocopier to pass these around but don't want to abuse my privilege
by making too many copies, if I can help it. Don't worry about photocopying
letters - I can type those and put those in columns so that I can squeeze
as much in as possible....
1. On the spiritual end of things...I wanted to send this off
before Lent started. Lisa Delmar has suggested that we enter into a
time of prayer, fast and discernment about this whole idea before we
take any (further) concrete steps. I think that's wise. Why don't we
offer up this Lent and Pentecost for this intention? In the traditional
Catholic way, we can use Lent to pray for this intention and Easter-through-Pentecost
to thank God for answering our prayers to the fullest measure.
The way I thought we could do this communally in the most minimal way
(so that even kids could participate) would be to pray a short prayer
together every day, if possible.I thought we could use these short prayers
adapted from the writings or sayings of our proposed patrons St. Benedict
and St. Francis. I've put them on a prayer card graced with the artwork
of Dan Nichols (a piece from our "private collection.") I
thought it would be especially fitting if the domestic priest of the
home (the father) could lead his family in these prayers. They could
be said in a responsorial fashion (like antiphons after the readings
in the Office of Readings) if so desired, the father doing the first
part, the family responding. Or the father could just pray the entire
thing himself, as an exhortation for himself and the family.
Probably the easiest thing would be to add on these prayers to others
you already say. For instance, if you pray a family Rosary, the father
could start out by praying St. Benedict's exhortation and end with St.
Francis's. If you don't regularly pray a family Rosary, the prayers
would work equally well around grace before and after meals.
For personal meditation for the parents and teens and older children,
I picked out a passage that the father could also read from the apparitions
of Our Lady of Guadalupe as a sort of "lectio divina."
Also I recommended a simple song to be sung or played, in honor of
the Holy Spirit whom the Holy Father has dedicated this year to, "Spirit
of the Living God," by Michael Iverson. Or "Come Holy Ghost,"
my husband's favorite.Of course, if people feel moved to offer up other
prayers, additional fast days, Masses, rosaries, or other spiritual
acts for this intention, please do! I am only suggesting the minimum
so that everyone can participate.
2. As far as implementing something practically, Mr. Fahey has
some suggestions in his letter (included below) and I have one of my
own, which I tentatively call "Help with the Harvest." My
in-laws, Tom and Candy, have a 13 acre farm in Greenville, Michigan
(above Grand Rapids) on which they raise vegetables, pigs, assorted
poultry, strawberries, and sweet corn.
Their strawberry harvest is in June, and I thought perhaps we could
start implementing somewhat of a teen festival by sending your teenagers
(with or without yourself) to the Schmiedicke farm for a week or a long
weekend this summer. Tom and Candy can promise camp ground, the use
of indoor facilities, some kind of daily prayer (their boys like to
go to 7AM Mass at the Carmelite monastery nearby) and lots of interaction
with their own teenagers (Nathan, Sarah, Matthew, and Maria) and the
younger kids. Having helped with the strawberry harvest before, I can
add that there might be soccer games and some afternoon trips to Lake
Michigan after work is done. If you don't know anything about planting
strawberries or work on a small farm, the Schmiedicke teens will be
happy to teach you. Maybe we can organize some kind of Irish dancing
and other activities. Anyhow, Tom and Candy and family would welcome
anyone who can come to help out the week of June 20-27 or for part of
the time. (The date is a bit tentative right now as they're not sure
how the growing season will go, but Candy said that's a safe enough
bet) If you don't have teens but would like to come and help out, I
bet that would be fine, too.
So, any responses to this idea? We can refine it, do more or less,
but I thought we might as well start bouncing the idea around. If other
farm families want to organize something at their farms, that might
also be doable.
All right, on with your letters! I begin with the letter I had lost when
I sent out the last round of letters.
Judy Bratten sent us a copy of your recent "possible solution"
letter. We're happy to hear that people are trying to address issues connected
with establishing Catholic agrarian communities.
We are sending you a copy of our Rule. We would be happy to be in correspondence/conversation
with anyone about the recovery of Catholic agrarian culture. We have been
in correspondence with over 50 families or individuals with varying levels
of interest and understanding. At the present time, there are just two
of us.
We wish for you and your family that the joy of Christ's Advent will
fill your hearts this Christmas and throughout the New Year.
I am very heartened that there is a will to continue
the conversation begun by Caelum Et Terra. Every step to make this
conversation a reality is prophetic for Catholic families during these
times. It is my understanding that the families you address are widely
scattered, some living on farms individually or in close proximity to
one another while others are living in towns or cities? If the families
genuinely wish to keep in touch with one another, and aspire to further
an integral Catholic way of life as espoused by Caelum Et Terra, I
recommend that you continue to do so in much the same way as you came
to know one another through Caelum Et Terra.
I recommend that you continue to call the gatherings "Caelem Et
Terra Annual Gatherings." This gives emphasis to the source of
the coming together and maintains the tradition, the handing on of what
has been received. I wouldn't suggest a separate gathering of youth,
but rather that certain activities be organized as part of the Gathering.
(Regina comments: I am still trying to figure out why I feel such
a need for a specific youth gathering, and will hazard a defense, though
I need to think more on it. Perhaps because although this would be fun
for the teens, it would be an apostolic work for we adults. Also because
perhaps it would make us consider just what we are trying to hand on
to our children. Is it a way of life just for us, or for them too? Are
we doing this for ourselves or for our families? For some reason, having
teen events seems to be a healthy, unself-conscious way of doing it.
In some groups, the focus seems a bit too much like navel-gazing --
the adult members so conscious of what they are trying to accomplish
and so anxious to proselytize others into it while their kids sit off
on the sidelines, waiting for Mom and Dad to finish up and come home.
Whereas if all the adults put their energy into doing something for
the teens and their other kids, I feel like the rest -- form, substance,
even converts -- might come. Am I babbling or does this make any sense?
I would like to hear others' opinions on this)
2. Caelum Et Terra Conversation:
I think it would be possible to continue the "Caelum Et Terra
Conversation" by means of a simply-produced letter. The participating
families would submit articles, letters, updates on what they are doing,
how-to articles, recommended books, good articles from periodicals,
etc. to one person. This individual would simply put together what has
been received and would send out, let us say, five copies to individuals
representing five regions of the country. These five representatives
would make copies for the families in their region and send them out.
In turn, these families would sent copies to other interested parties
or on an ad hoc basis.
This method sounds messy and inefficient, but I am just trying to come
up with a "distributist" method, given that a periodical isn't
possible. Is this not how underground movements under repressive regimes
operate?
(Regina comments again: Sounds possible. I would need to check it
out with my husband (whom I have put in charge of my projects, since
I tend to overcommit) but perhaps I could be the aforementioned "one
person" since I can type fast, have less kids, am not homeschooling
yet, and also have email access, since some of this discussion is going
on electronically. I suppose if we want to be incarnational about our
economic ideals, we should take this suggestion and be distributist
as opposed to socialist (or is it communist?) with me as Big Writer
over all. I smile. But again, what do you think? Any volunteers to be
"local messengers?" (Let's say "messengers" as opposed
to something horribly vague and corporate like "regional coordinators"
lest we start thinking this whole enterprise is something really important.))
It would be a very informal letter to keep the conversation going and
to foster links among the interested families. The regional representatives[Regina:
local messengers :) ] could bill the families for the cost of photocopying
and postage. It would probably be sufficient to communicate twice or
thrice a year, surrounding the annual gathering.
[Regina isn't sure about that. She likes to talk]
3. Level of Organization:
I recommend that the level of organization be kept to a minimum, specifically
the "Caelum Et Terra Annual Gathering" and the "Caelum
Et Terra Conversation," as described above.
4. Prelature
I would not recommend this kind of organization nor would I use the
term. My reasons are:
(i) The mention of the word Prelature would set off alarm bells among
the clergy
(ii) Your movement is a lay movement, not a clerical movement. The
aspiration to or application for prelature status would kick in a whole
ecclesiastical, canonical, and clerical apparatus and procedure.
(iii) From your letter, I believe that there are many different visions
of "how we should live", different visions of the shape of
a Catholic culture, different opinions about where to draw the line
with regard to technology, etc. At the same time, I believe all the
families are drawn in the same general direction. Therefore, I would
suggest that you leave your association with one another at the level
of the Gathering and the Conversation. Out of this, local communities
might well begin to take shape. Over the course of time, some families
might find it possible to move to another location to join other families
who have worked out a more precise vision. The annual gathering and
letters could well foster such local developments and, at the same time,
provide encouragement to those who are unable to make such a move.
b. Community
I would also not refer to your group as a community. It is important,
I believe, to limit the word community to a group of families / individuals
living in the same area. As stated above, communities might well develop
in particular localities as a result of your efforts.
(Regina comments yet again: I agree that I was probably mistaken
to use the word "prelature" and I think we would agree that
"community" is not a good word to describe our current situation.
We should probably avoid using it. How then would we describe our current
situation? Under canon law, what we might have at first would rank as
an association of the faithful, not under any Church authority. Dan
Nichols had suggested that our spiritual focus would be the Assumption,
the marriage of heaven and earth, of caelum et terra. But the name "Association
of the Assumption" sounds a little too sibilant and God help us
if anyone should abbreviate it. My husband and I were kicking around
name ideas, and we brought up Tolkien again, and I joked and said we
could call ourselves the Fellowship of the Thing, since we didn't have
a Ring, and then it occurred to me that a Fellowship is sort of what
we have, don't we? We definitely have friendship, and a certain comradeship
in terms of a goal or vision, as Mr. Lewis says. So what about "Assumption
Fellowship?" Or "Fellowship of the Assumption"? Or "Caelum
Et Terra Fellowship"? I personally prefer the first, it being the
shortest. The juxtaposition of the definitely Catholic word "Assumption"
with the semi-Protestant connotations of "Fellowship" has
a nice intrigue, I think. Again, comments? We can vote on this, since
I'm terrible at naming things.)
4. Commitments:
The one hard and fast commitment should be to complete and whole-hearted
assent to the faith and morals of the Catholic Church. The other commitments
which you put forward are all excellent. They should serve as a kind
of umbrella for each family or individual or group of families to incarnate
locally. Indeed, how these commitments are incarnated could be part
of the conversation in the circulating letter. I suggest a couple of
minor revisions to the commitments.
a. Poverty - this is a heavily weighted term with a particular
ecclesiastical meaning. It is a perfectly good one, but not well understood.
I suggest that a more appropriate and more easily understood term would
be simplicity, or simplicity of living.
b. Chastity - Once again, this term carries a particular ecclesiastical
meaning. I suggest it be replaced by the more explicit "Modesty
in Dress."
5. Economics and Technology:
These two areas of life which indeed envelop, penetrate, dominate,
and order almost every sphere of the main stream of life, are, I believe,
the two main stream of life, are, I believe, the two main topics for
you and the families to wrestle with and to try to arrive at a common
understanding. These two areas need to be brought to account and cut
down to their appropriate size.
As you stated in your letter, it is these two areas which generate
the most disagreement. However, with sufficient contemplation and understanding
brought to bear on them, I think a common Catholic consensus can be
achieved, at least within particular Catholic communities.
As a word of caution or prophecy, I would predict that unless groups
of families bring Catholic discernment and prudence to bear upon the
economic and technological orders, it will be possible neither to have
a Catholic community, nor a Catholic culture.
6. Common Dress
I was pleased to see the topic listed. It is indeed uncommon during
these times to find anyone, lay or clerical, who understands its theological
and cultural importance. It goes right back to Genesis and is found
throughout the Scriptures. The great irony is that, while in the Church
rarely a word is said about clothing's incarnational significance, the
media most clearly understand the power of the meaning of clothing.
Even the most recent movies and commercials dress their nuns and monks
in full habits!
Nevertheless, I would leave clothing to be decided upon by individual
families or groups of families. The important thing is that families
adopt simple, distinctive, archetypal dress, free of the fashion industry,
and ordered to perennial Catholic goods. It may well happen that families
in various locations will adopt the same dress. So much the good. This
commonality should be arrived at locally and not across the localities.
7. Patron Saints
I recommend that Caelum Et Terra's patron saints, St. Benedict,
St. Francis, and Our Lady of Guadalupe be retained.
8. Final Word:
What you are doing is a very important and very good work within the
Body of Christ. I sincerely pray that the families will be able to keep
in touch with one another and that your effort will engender mutual
encouragement and support. Catholic Orthodoxy is sustained by the integral
relationships of three sacred sources - Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition,
and the Sacred Magisterium. If one or two of these sacred sources is
missing, Catholic faith and morals erode.
A similar parallel can be made for a Catholic Orthopraxis. A Catholic
Orthopraxis (and it must always be understood that there can be more
than one Catholic Orthopraxis) is sustained by the integral relationship
of Cult - Culture - Cultivation. Where these three are kept interlocked
and in balance, a Catholic community should find it possible to flourish
and to maintain its identity.
Sincerely in Christ Jesus,
Larry C. Lewis
Regina comments: Thanks very much, Mr. Lewis, for joining the discussion.
I found your letter edifying, and welcome other's comments on it. Perhaps
with some more imput, we can sort of draw out a more or less concrete
sketch of some general guidelines in the way you've done soon.
From Teresa Squire,
Maryland
Dear Regina,
Sorry I haven't gotten back to you sooner! Here are some stamps, please
keep it up! The most recent letter was very enjoyable, especially Richard
Fahey's contribution and your suggestion of praying "the Glory
be." My 19-month old son Owen enjoys it and tried to imitate it
right away!
Well, at least we've started some sort of community by mail. You may
get some more members from down here. Great idea about having a meeting
this summer at the Fahey's homestead (late summer would be preferable
for me, as I am expecting a baby in June). I was just reading over a
copy of the "home birth letter" by the Tippetts. Maybe you
should mention them in the next letter? A lot of networking (the non-tech
kind) could come out of the "community on paper." [Regina:
"fellowship," you mean :)].
I loved the idea presented in the first letter of our apostolate. For
now, maybe we could share ideas on how to meet this goal. A good source
of interesting ways of celebrating Catholic feasts is provided by Women
for Faith and Family. $10 will get you two booklets - one centered
around Christmas and the other around Easter. I incorporated a lot of
their ideas into our celebration of the Christmas Holy Days. Their address
is
Women for Faith and Family,
P. O. Box 8326, St. Louis, MO 63132.
They update it regularly so that you can send in suggestions.
Teresa and Andrew Squire.
Regina comments: I use two books I found out about from my in-laws:
the excellent The Year and Our Children by Mary Newland, and
the cookbook A
Continual Feast. Ronda Chervin and her daughter have also written
a book on the topic, The
Book of Catholic Customs and Traditions (Servant Publications).
From
Richard Fahey, the Christian Homesteading Movement, Oxford, NY
Dear Regina,
Thanks again for Puzzle Pieces. You mention about meeting here. That
would be fine with us. The best date is June 7, the Solemnity of the
Holy Trinity. We will be finishing up a Survival Course on June 6 about
12:00 and guests are welcome to come any time Saturday.
There are two times a year that the full moon coincides with two great
feasts. Most educated Catholics know the full moon comes during Holy
Week each year. If it's clear on Holy Thursday even, that moon helps
stimulate you to keep vigil. When I was younger, I'd stay up all night
in memory of Jesus not sleeping and go to be after 3 PM Good Friday.
Now the family takes an hour each through the night. A very worthwhile
exercise.
The other full moon feast? 57 days after the feast of the Resurrection
is Holy Trinity Sunday. It takes about 60 days for two lunar cycles
so if the Holy Week full moon is on Holy Thursday, the Feast of the
Holy Trinity will be graced with a full moon. This year the moon will
be almost full. All creation is full, fertile, and in its glory just
then. What a perfect time to come together and share the God-grace we
are impelled by!
We invite you to submit topics to lead the group in discussion with.
We invite you to prepare a song, poem, reflection, or skit to glorify
our God. We ordinarily have a fire and a dance in the evening. We require
men to wear long pants and women long dresses when visiting as well
as the children. Does anyone know a priest who might come to celebrate
the liturgy?
It is easy to express confusion and reaction to all that is wrong with
society and the Church. On the other hand, it takes creativity, solitude,
and prayer to bring forth positive directions, illumination, and good
things to practice right away.
One in the Lord,
Richard and Anna Marie Fahey.
