Roomin' House Blues

Eric Gill, 1882-1940, Catholic convert, Lay Dominican, artist,writer, typographer, influential person in the Arts and Crafts movement.From his youth on he had a tremendous interest in social justice.  Gill rejected the tepid Anglican conversion of his family and created his own system of religious thought.  Later he realized that his system was essentially Catholic, so he converted. A stone carver, he soon acquired apprentices and the association of like minded artists.   They owned some communal equipment, including a printing press.  They felt there should be a spiritual order as well so they joined what was then known as the Third Order of St. Dominic, now the Lay Dominicans. The group founded itself as a guild and became known at the Guild of St. Joseph and St. Dominic. This group was essentially modeled after the medieval guilds, but with some influence of religious organizations in it's constitution, and definitely...

Recently a friend of mine sent me an email with a link to a U-Tube posting from something called "Real Catholics" on the subject of justice.  I watched the U-Tube because a friend of my wished me to, and replied to him about what I thought.  I could only agree with some of the content, which I felt to be a one sided application of Aquinas that made one fundamental mistake in the definition of justice. It was also a one sided condemnation of Catholics who it classified as Peace and Justice Catholics, whom it held to not ever really be pro-life and the cause of abortions.  That is quite a charge, since very  few Catholics are involved in providing abortion services or actively encouraging it.  And many progressive Catholics are actively against abortion.  I myself have prayed rosaries in front of abortion clinics with my friend who refereed me to this site.  In fact once we were the only two. Here is what I said to my friend. "Than...

I have no finished solution, no absolutes for fixing societies problems, because I believe that man cannot do anything good without dependency on God.  But I do have views are similar to what Dorothy Day actually believed and experiences like her's. Dorothy, before she converted to the Catholic faith,  wrote for leftist and communist publications and thought that Marx had the answer.  While she was closer to an agnostic than an atheist, she definitely did not look to God for guidance.  After her conversion she stated categorically to a communist friend that she believed in all the church taught. She believed, as Aquinas taught, that there was a role for property in protecting people, a role for the State and a role for non-state actors.  She followed in her own fashion, G.K. Chesterton.   Chesterton sought a economic system of greater equality through the distribution to economic power.  More Capitalist not less he said, whe...

Dear Reader, a more mundane post this time, less poetic and less sweeping. I simply wanted to give you my picks for films that touch on the subjects at hand in this blog.  These are not necessarily the "best films" but are the ones appropriate to the issues at hand. 1. Wall Street.  This film shows what has been wrong with run away capitalism in the post Vietnam War America. 2. Sugar Can Alley. French with English subtitles, from the caribean island of Martinique.  The story of a boy growing up living by the cane fields, living with his grandmother, who is determined he will rise above their poverty through education. 3. Our Daily Bread.  One of the New York Times 10 best films in 1934. A depressions ear look at attempts at Utopian community. 4. Of Mice and Men, from the Steinbeck novel.  A look at the dreams and hopes of those who labor as farmworkers. 5. Enron, The Smartest Guys in then Room.  A documentary on the canar...