The greatly inspiring but now http://www.caelumetterra.com/ defunct Caelum et Terra journal was, for a time, the pre-eminent “crunchy Catholic” magazine in the English language. In a new blog by the same name, a former editor of the journal describes the C & T vision thus:
“Let me just free-associate for a moment: our vision was (and is) mystical, contemplative, distributist, agrarian, sacramental, ecumenical, aesthetic, traditionalist, and progressive. Note the last two: there are significant political differences among us, but we all believe that the Catholic faith is simultaneously the most conservative and the most revolutionary force on earth. And we agree that there really is a culture of death growing in the world, and that Christianity naturally tends toward the development of a culture of life.”
In his latest entry, the blogmaster muses on the failure of most people associated with the journal to live the kind of agrarian Catholic life that C & T held up as ideal. We find in the comment boxes some frank discussion of the challenges faced by those attempting this lifestyle:
“I had some experience with back-to-the-land hippie farming as a youth, being the only editor or writer for the magazine, aside from Eric, to actually ever plow with horses or broadcast seed. Nevertheless, returning to the land became a long-delayed destiny as I got sidetracked by life’s twisting path, and my drawn-out vocational search. So I married late, and it only required a few more disillusionments to lose the goal forever. Chief of these is economic reality.
I came to suspect that those who have moved to the country and achieved some sort of success [a tiny percentage of those who attempted this] were in fact the beneficiaries of an inheritance, or a trust fund. Anyway, all we could afford was a large lot in town, albeit one backing up to a small woods on one side and a cemetary in the back. I immediately began transforming this spot into a mini-farmstead, planting a garden and berry bushes and fruit trees. And the groundhogs, at home in the city forest, with no predators to keep them in check, began annihilating everything I planted. After a couple of years, and an attempt at mass murder of the groundhog population I admitted defeat.
Then a couple of serious health problems finally put that dream to rest. I must take medication these days which limits my energy level to work and the essential duties of home life. When younger I could work all day at my physically demanding job and come home and work harder around the house. No more.”
Yet, for all the disillusionment, the core of the C & T message is realistic and can be lived by everyone:
“I have been giving this some thought, and here is what C&T did for me that I would have longed for but never found. True Friends. Over the course of the years I have miraculously run into fellow subscribers. We have pulled out our beloved back copies, and read, discussed, and recommitted ourselves to maintain whatever of the lifestyle proposed that we could. Searching out a beautiful liturgy, making room for the beautiful and sacred in our homes, teaching our children to observe and appreciate the beauty of nature, having solidarity with the less fortunate, attemting to limit consumerism as much as possible, adapt our lives around the liturgical cycle, and keep an essence of Holy Simplicity in our lives. These are all attainable no matter where we live.”
I think this is the right focus. It can be lived in both town and country, although a semi-rural setting would seem to be the best. Add genuine community life (with its associated joys and sufferings) to the mix, and you have as near-perfect a Catholic ideal as it is possible to live in the modern world.
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