I can’t find too much info on this online, but I stumbled upon it as related to “distributism”; seems to have been a movement sparked by opposition to industrialism in the 1800s, by Catholics, who wanted to preserve a more agrarian way of life. It has been revived in recent years, or there is an attempt to create a “Neo-Catholic Land Movement”, as mentioned on sites like catholiclandmovement.info.
The Industrial Revolution initially created a lot of instability in society and the papal encyclical “Rerum Novarum” was issued partially in response to it. Even into much of the 20th century, agriculture was a big part of the economy in the U.S., but now in the 21st century life has changed more dramatically, which has created further moral problems.
There was a book published called something like “The Catholic Land Movement’s Founding Papers” with a collection by some recognized authors like Hilaire Belloc, and a reprint of said book in more recent years called “Flee to the Fields”. I can’t find much of these contents online but maybe I could cobble them together if requested (I can obtain access to “Flee” book).
I do see this online which may offer a sketch of the idea:
“The Catholic Land Movement: Its Motives” by Fr. Vincent Mcnabb, O.P., S.T.M, Foreword by G. K. Chesterton (early 20th century?)
https://www.ecatholic2000.com/cts/untitled-495.shtml
In my view a “CL movement” would simply be sharing practical homesteading skills, as many secular sites probably already do, but would also argue for how the agrarian way of life might be conducive to living a sound moral life, from a Catholic standpoint.
“On Rural Life” by Pope Pius XII (1946)
https://www.papalencyclicals.net/pius12/poprural.htm
It’s good this time of year to give thanks for farms and food and the “fruits of harvest”, and to reflect on their importance and impact on our way of life today.
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Isn’t this just the Amish but
actually ChristianCatholic?Anyway sounds like a pretty peaceful life. I wonder what scale it could work at. I have a feeling that such communities can only work if made by a few families, more than that and you start to lose cohesion. But maybe if it’s religiously motivated the community could get a little larger.
“Amish but Catholic”
Could be kind of, that sounds like a fair approximate characterization, I don’t know what the main differences are in technological acceptance versus religious differences
In principle Catholics don’t seem too anti-technology; this group was more against industrialization and its effects, like I’m not sure they’d be against small industrial home factories whereas I imagine Amish would be
Like Amish I think go to pains to avoid things like electricity and use gas contraptions instead, I don’t think those who identify with the “Catholic Land Movement” would necessarily be against using electricity, or maybe not for the same reasons
Ok point there. While I don’t know this “Catholic Land Movement”, as a Catholic myself I can assure you we don’t really have a problem with technology in general.
I was mostly thinking about the Amish for their living in separated agrarian communities with little contacts with the external world, but I guess there’s more way more to it.
