Bravely, Dreher puts out the call for someone else to buy it, and for others to go live there under the Benedict Option that he himself has been calling for:
Is there anyone who would have the means to make this a Benedict Option community, in which Catholic (and perhaps other Christian) families live together in community, and work in the surrounding area? . . . .
Somebody, please help. . . .
. . . . Are there any faithful singles and families who would be willing to relocate for the prospect of living this way?
Now, now. Before y'all get catty and accuse Dreher of asking others to do what he himself is unwilling to do (i.e., part with some money toward the purchase, or (gasp) pack up and move his own family there), take note that he is indeed willing to pitch in and do his part:
Share this with the people you know. Let's see if we can get something going.
That's right. He'll offer the TAC server to handle the blog hits from getting the word out.
A writer doesn't make shoes, Pik, he writes about shoemaking, ideally to be consumed in elite forums and by paying consumers of his written and spoken word. And, as I keep telling you guys, when shoes aren't available, religions will do fine as a substitute.
ReplyDeleteWait, "Catholic...families"? He's playing pied Peter piper Maurin, not to his own Church, but to Catholics?
ReplyDeleteThat's messed up.
If you think of them as disciples rather than as Catholics or Orthodox or Baptists all those problems go away.
DeleteWhat Keith said.
DeleteHow far down the path of making this a Benedict Option community do you suppose people could get before they realized that "Benedict Option community" has no meaning?
ReplyDeleteI suppose we could test it. Does Dreher's home town know of this wonderful opportunity for them and their families to escape the oppressive Louisiana climate for a planned spiritual community in temperate PA remotely led from whatever eatery Rod's laptop happens to be parked in that day?
DeleteIf you can't swing Puggy Boudreaux the HVAC guy, remaining prospects seem dim to me.
Tom, what you just said made me realize something. These people who follow Rod think of "The Benedict Option" as something totally meaningful. But you are correct; the BO is meaningless.
DeleteSo what a clever entrepreneur would do is tap the over-earnestness of the people gushing about the Benedict Option and sell the sizzle off in slices. How do you do that? Easy: timeshares. You buy these old, crappy properties and say "hey, this is the shambles that Western Civilization is in, man. But we can fix it up--just like Saint Benedict!" Then people PAY to go there and clean the place up, re-plaster, paint, etc.
You don't really even have to feed them. Buy some old pizza ovens and supply them with milk, eggs, flour and tomatoes. Plus whatever they decide to grow on the roof or in the garden.
Face it. Most people are perfectly willing to make an oath of stability with a 2-3 week duration.
This is already done with mission trips to Mexico and El Salvador, mostly with young people. But just think if you could leverage religious fervor to make capital improvements to some slum you just purchased for practically nothing?
There will be some hard-cores who want to live there for more than the 3 weeks. You could make a longer deal with them involving reduced rent and a higher level of maintenance responsibility.
I think this idea has enough zeroes after it to make even Donald Trump "get religion".
And the good news about that approach for this particular Benedictine property is its location, location, location. It is remote (check out Google Maps for Elk County PA) so as to have B.O. cachet, and it sits on the Marcellus Shale so as to have ROI cachet.
DeleteSo what is the origin of his obsession with Cardinal Kasper? It's getting embarrassing. There were what, five posts about the guy in the last 36 hours? Each one more pugnacious than the last.
ReplyDeleteTo be clear, I'm not Kasper's #1 fan or anything. All I really know pro or con is the book by him about ecumenicism I tried to read was disappointingly boring.
Sounds like linkbait.
DeleteHow many posts has he written on his own Church's pro-Putin intervention at the Synod?
http://byztex.blogspot.com/2014/10/russian-church-speaks-very-plainly-to.html
Kasper made a complete ass out of himself this week, and simultaneously tried to throw a journalist just doing his job under the bus. It's a topic of discussion for good reason.
Delete