In contrast to what we see around us, as well as within ourselves, stands St. Thomas Aquinas' doctrine of the Common Good, a vision of a society where the good of each member is bound to the good of the whole in the service of God.
To this end, we advocate:
--Personalism, a philosophy which regards the freedom and dignity of each person as the basis, focus and goal of all metaphysics and morals. In following such wisdom, we move away from a self-centered individualism toward the good of the other. This is to be done by taking personal responsibility for changing conditions, rather than looking to the state or other institutions to provide impersonal "charity." We pray for a Church renewed by this philosophy and for a time when all those who feel excluded from participation are welcomed with love, drawn by the gentle personalism Peter Maurin taught.
--A decentralized society, in contrast to the present bigness of government, industry, education, health care and agriculture. We encourage efforts such as family farms, rural and urban land trusts, worker ownership and management of small factories, homesteading projects, food, housing and other cooperatives--any effort in which money can once more become merely a medium of exchange, and human beings are no longer commodities.
--A "green revolution," so that it is possible to rediscover the proper meaning of our labor and our true bonds with the land; a distributist communitarianism, self-sufficient through farming, crafting and appropriate technology; a radically new society where people will rely on the fruits of their own toil and labor; associations of mutuality, and a sense of fairness to resolve conflicts.
It all comes from the anarchist group Catholic Workers. I will address some of these points....
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
1 comments:
I absolutely agree with Dorothy & Peter as I did back in the 60's in New York City when I used to go over to the Catholic Worker & had good friends there. To find people who know & live their truth is very inspiring. Unfortunately our situation seems much worse now than it was then and i imagine will need to get even worse with a huge reduction in population and no one left to prey on before people even think of coming together. 10 years ago I moved to a town of less than 500 people hoping for community but it seems the main industry here is to get your neighbor. The low-mindedness and stupidity is appalling - whatever happened to love? Some people seem to get a lot of energy from hating & victimizing others - it seems to go in cycles.
I hope what i see is not true.
christina
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