Distributism

Speaking to a potential convert to the Church recently, I brought up the subject of the many and various problems with American democracy and capitalism. It reminded me of a conversation that I had with someone about ten years ago. Back then I had expressed a concern that Catholics were far too presumptuous that American politics was equivalent to the Kingdom of God, and that they believed that America could never be criticized. He was not pleased.

When I mentioned distributism to him he said he knew what that was, and did not think it was good for Catholic priests to encourage communism. Yes, he equated communism with distributism. I spent a good deal of time explaining that the two were radically different. This often happens when someone only has a cursory knowledge of something; they presume all the wrong things about it.

When we do this with the basics of our faith, it is disastrous. Catholics with this weak understanding of the faith are easily misled into following protestant ideas and practices, completely unaware of how different those two actually are. In the same way, we need to learn what the Catholic Church actually does say about governmental structures and social practices in order to see clearly how far from Catholic practice America is (in the early history of America, many Catholics doubted it would be able to last very long).

I presume most of you know what distributism is, and have a grasp on the problems of what America has become (the democracy of today is only a little like what it was in 1776!). As we approach a voting event which will have vast consequences for the future of our land, it would be good to know what the Church has actually taught on these subjects. Few know what really is wise and unwise for societies to do; let us be different. The Society of G.K. Chesterton has some useful resources to help: https://www.chesterton.org/category/discover-chesterton/chestertons-selected-works/the-distributist/