Create a monastic-type community – inclusive of daily prayer and liturgy, the Sacramental life, and an orientation towards service, based on Catholic social teaching. Follow Jesus’ example to serve and lift up “the least of these” – those who are lost, having been rejected and abandoned by the world. Welcome all, but they must be willing to begin with obedience, to grow in faith, hope, and charity, if the community is to be successful. Let them be guided in the faith, their needs met, and given jobs and educated according to their desires, but ever under the guidance of God and embodying the obedience of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

In part, this represents the type of community I wish would have been available to me when I was at my worst. The rehabilitative approach is based on the two decades-long experience that has slowly brought me closer to God and a realization that the liberation and social justice I have long sought to realize in the world has always been a reality with God in the Church since Christ came in the flesh. However, both the personal and social rehabilitation God offers is not as easy as “joining the collective;” it demands genuine faith and conviction.

I have always wanted to have that kind of faith but it’s not as easy as just saying, “yes, I believe.” It took me years to come to terms with it, then years of apostasy to end up right back where I was, then a few more months of discernment and contemplative prayer to put the pieces together, before I reached my “St. Thomas the Apostle moment,” wherein I could say, “my Lord and my God! I believe!” A great deal of my struggle was facilitated by the world’s penchant for presenting “counter offers” to the faith that sustained me through many periods when I was forced to be wholly dependent on God’s providence. It came in cycles: I would spend months or years with nothing, wholly dependent on God; I was, at different times, a folk-punk “train kid” and anarcho-activist, the bearer of the burden of failed careers and wasted tuition, and a homeless griever of lost time and failed relationships. God would intervene, things would get better, and I would get a small bit of stability.

But when the time came to commit my life to God, I would get nervous and the world would miraculously offer some temptation – wealth, knowledge, adventure, influence, whatever was appealing in the moment – and I would get pulled away from the very real faith I had survived on for months or years. Recently, I beat myself up for months over my impetuosity and inability to commit when I had every opportunity. It was a mistake. But perhaps it was also a lesson – a final experience I needed to hear the call clear enough to understand the request. I believe that to be the case, but I will not “lighten up” on myself, lest I be led astray again by worldly comforts.

A large part of this is an intentional immersion into that holistic dependence on God, rather than the typical quest to eventually replace or augment it with “worldly stability.” While traditional paths of social support, recovery communities, and mutual aid collectives focus on guiding the afflicted through their struggle just until they regain enough stability to be “released” back into the world, this goes in a different direction: providing a permanent (or semi-permanent) “home base” for those who are the right fit, based on the faith and lifestyles of the first century Apostolic Church and drawing inspiration from the Monastic scholars of the “Dark Ages” and the Catholic Worker movement begun by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in the 20th century.

The “vision” is of a community led by monks, nuns, oblates, and third ordinaries, assisted by clergy and laity willing to donate their time and talents as they are able. It is a community for those who are capable yet would be matriculated into the system, institutionalized, or abandoned by secular society: the “traveling kids” and anarcho-activists, the unemployed college graduates saddled with thousands in student loan debt, those called to vocations yet trapped by desperation and fear. They are not beyond grace; though the world has rejected them, God has and will not. Modern individualism and neoliberal capitalism have led astray many who might otherwise be willing to come, penitent and contrite, to find God and obey him; it keeps them desperate and fills them full of false hope: if they could only “get it right,” they, too, could have all the world has to offer. Therefore, let us be the instruments through which God reaches them in their time of need to welcome them and, like the Apostolic Church, devote our time to prayer and the breaking of bread, in anticipation of Christ’s return.

He that receiveth you, receiveth me: and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me. […] whosoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, amen I say to you, he shall not lose his reward. (Douay-Rheims Bible, Matt. 10:40, 42)

Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day worked tirelessly to establish the Catholic Worker movement, and envisioned houses and communities where the faithful might go to live in community, serve those in need, and build the foundations of a new society based on Catholic social teaching and the Benedictine initiatives that preserved western civilization after the collapse of the Roman Empire. Their vision was largely and essentially a recreation of the earliest Church as described in Acts of the Apostles (2: 44-47, 4: 32-35) and they proved its efficacy in their time. Yet, as the world has shifted since their departure to the Heavenly kingdom, the Catholic Worker movement has been forced to make concessions to secular demands that have diluted the movement’s efficacy, and largely stripped it of its spiritual component.

This isn’t to say that all Catholic Worker houses should (re-)adopt a more monastic and Church-oriented approach to their missions and ministries. On the contrary; those collectives are already doing a great deal of the necessary work… but I believe God is now urging us to focus our efforts on the next step: the establishment of what Peter Maurin called “rural communes”, complementing the Catholic Worker houses that fulfill his definition of “urban hospitality houses,” and “agronomic universities” – these three elements comprising the foundations of his vision for the “Green Revolution” (Holland, 2015).

Providing education in the darkest of times is a long-held monastic tradition, going back to the Benedictine monks who preserved culture, community, and the artes liberales through the Dark Ages after the collapse of the Roman Empire. For the younger residents, we would provide education based on a classical curriculum (much like the monastery schooling of the Middle Ages; coincidentally, this is something I have recently discovered I have an innate talent for), while older youths and adults could find and take advantage of vocationally-oriented training that prepares them for a Godly life, whether permanently in the community or beyond its walls.

Just as St. Benedict demanded of his monks a balance of work and prayer, members of the community would be required to negotiate and commit to a bare minimum of spiritual immersion that suits them. The religious element – while not necessarily suitable for all as a vocation – is the basis of this way of life, and the key to the personal transformation it offers and it must be accepted willingly and cheerfully (not with reluctance, or by compulsion). The community at large must remain focused on its role to support and guide those already willing whom God leads to us, not to force those who are as yet not willingly obedient to capitulate and submit. This shouldn’t be misunderstood as advocating hard-line discipline, so that fear of punishment becomes a motivator, but rather that we are seeking those who are already broken, willing to surrender and accept correction, and make their best efforts to be obedient to God as He works through the community.

The community mustn’t be a public spectacle. Referrals must come through the Church. Because a spiritual element is necessary, and our role is not to force these people to come to God, they must already be seeking Him and believe the Church can help. We cannot afford to entertain the half-hearted efforts of those who believe it is simply an “easy” or “convenient” option – not because they are “less than,” but because their lackluster threatens both the stability of the community and the welfare of its members. When they have been beaten down enough by the world to finally surrender – just as I had been – they will be welcomed with open arms. Until then, we must allow them the same freedom God has given to each of us to choose, or reject, His way, and entrust them to His care while they are “in the world.” This dynamic, expressed so beautifully in Jesus’ “Parable of the Prodigal Son”, is so critical that it has provided the working title for this little project (another parable – “Parable of the Lost Sheep” – has also been considered; I leave the final choice to the community at large; perhaps they will have even more creative ideas)¹.

The Boys Town ministry founded by Msgr. Edward Flannigan might be an excellent example to learn and draw inspiration from. I would not have known about this particular ministry had it not been for a well-timed post on Reddit months ago (and I would be lying if I said I didn’t believe God guided me to that information).

Our community must be as self-sufficient as possible — community farming; essential skills to maintain operations (education, nursing, carpenters and plumbers and electricians, etc.) being handled “internally” whenever possible; etc. — with economics only being adopted inasmuch as it is unavoidable (i.e. utilities, sourcing supplies, taxes, etc.), to be shared collectively by the residents by offering their various skills as they are able and most or all of their earnings being paid to the community². Even if we must start with nothing, we should promote and/or endeavor to facilitate:

• a chapel with ordained ministry and duly commissioned laity; some trained and able to provide counseling and spiritual direction
• farms and livestock for food production, with a goal of total subsistence (perhaps even with overflow to send to other ministries like urban CW houses and food banks); all participate in maintaining farms inasmuch as they are able
• animal-friendly and eco-centric lifestyle welcoming companion animals and advocating recycling, renewable energy, environmentally-sound lifestyles, etc.
• educational resources — classical liberal arts education as per the Benedictine tradition; on-site libraries; mentoring/apprenticeship in job skills; strong cooperation with Catholic universities to facilitate higher education if possible
• liaisons and trained support for services “of the world,” like medical care and counseling; not to replace the need for such services but to help facilitate them as individuals have need (i.e., nursing assistants who can provide support to someone recovering from a surgical procedure; someone with paralegal experience who can guide newcomers through handling any outstanding legal issues before they commit to a long-term or permanent stay; counselling for younger residents who have come from a troubled past)

The spiritual life of the community can be modeled on the prayer rules, commitments, liturgical traditions, etc., of avowed monastic communities to provide structure, orientation, and spiritual continuity with the Church at large. The Benedictine, Franciscan, and Discalced Carmelite traditions have all been very influential in my own devotional life and I have always endeavored to embody a commitment to service and poverty as spiritual virtues; more recently I have included chastity and obedience, recognizing their necessity in my own spiritual growth. This has been an essential component of my own experience of conversion, and the ongoing experience of being formed by God to serve His will in the world. Community members should be willing to forego wealth (owning land, businesses, etc. – those things which are generally considered private property; this is to say nothing of personal belongings, which comprise a different matter) for distributism or communalism, and romantic relationships for charity, and should be committed to obedience to God inasmuch as his will is made known through the community.

In secular terminology, this could be considered an anarchist community in the mutualist (Proudhon) and communist (Kropotkin) tradition, but with the crucial influence of Catholic social teaching and spirituality. The religious element is essential. If we must make a non-religious justification for this, let it be that the Catholic Faith establishes, at the very least, a basic spiritual-ethical framework that ensures the community need not debate political philosophies (as the Church has already proven this over centuries of success with this exact framework). Such debate, considering the demographic of people we are aiming to help, this would easily become more a hindrance than a help. A more philosophically-inclined discussion of the cohesion of Catholicism with anarchist philosophy is provided in the essay, Catholic Anarcho-mutualism.

It has only been very recently that I have understood that this vision is one that God has been inspiring and pulling me to commit to for, give or take, two decades. At one time or another, I have been one of millions around the world who could have benefited from such a community. Since my conversion experience, I have longed for nothing more than a life that is filled with God’s presence in every way, and building such a community feels like an unshakable need. At the peak of my apostasy, even, I still longed for a community like the Church of the Apostolic era, and at the times I have been closest to God, I have wanted nothing less than to fully immerse myself in the sacramental life of prayer and service. As the world spirals further out of control every moment, and thousands are left struggling every day, then I pray that the right people may be brought together to manifest this idea in accordance with His will.

You may notice that I have intentionally avoiding giving my name or any identifying details of myself anywhere on this website; that’s intentional. I don’t want credit for this concept, or for any of the things I achieve in this life. All the good that I have wrought has been by His grace, and the credit is due to God, not to me, and this project is no different.

Endnotes

1. I have recently been made aware that both “Community of the Prodigal Sons” and “Lost Sheep Koinonia” (koinonia being a synonym for community) are in use by other groups in the global Catholic community, so whether either of these is suitable and acceptable is beyond my scope of understanding. I leave the final decision on a name, along with its patrons and other emblems, to those to whom the community will belong long after my passing.
2. The suggestion to receive payment for services rendered through the community must also not be a hard-line and non-negotiable mandate. It is meant to reduce the stress and burden on individuals, by sharing the economic burden (just as the Church in Acts did) inasmuch as members are willing. However, in keeping with the principles of voluntaryism, it must be the choice of the individual, not a compulsory demands of the community, that determines each individual’s degree of economic communalism. Members who do not wish to participate in this way should be permitted to work out their own arrangements for contributing a fair and manageable amount off their earnings and/or labor to the community.

Sources

Holland, Joe. Peter Maurin’s Ecological Lay Monasticism. 2015. Pacem in Terris Press. Washington, DC.