First Contact

The first person who said anything to me about the site gets a post about him (and because I want to address some of his thoughts to everyone). His name ddjango his blog is P! And this is some of what he had to say.

"I discovered your new blog with immediate excitement, followed quickly by disappointment.

The excitement: I have been convinced for several years that the human race is rapidly and dangerously devolving. Liberalism and capitalism, with their core elevation of the individual over society and cooperative community, have generated a fatal narcissism. I believe we are experiencing the result of that, full force, in every aspect of our lives. Except at the local level, American electoral politics offers no solution. It is, I believe, a matter of necessity and urgency, to find solutions in small, localized, purposeful communities and economies based in values and principles.

The disappointment: as an atheist (but decidedly not an anti-theist), I found your foundational principles based in Catholicism immediately off-putting. Since I have used the term "communitarian" to define my own philosophy, I feel both co-opted and disenfranchised at the same time."

and here is part of my response

"Thank you so much for you comments and excitement. As for your disappointment let me assure you that my foundational principles are not Catholic nor am I. today I added The Six Principles of United Methodist Social Teaching. The goal of the posts on social teaching is to share those teachings from a verity of groups that have formal social teachings. As for me including the Rerum Novarum the Centesimus Annus and the Bible in the Documents worth thinking about section, its because a) they are worth thinking about b) I was turned on to communitarianism by looking into the Christian Democracy movement so I see strong links between the two and these documents are foundational to that movement."

but the most important thing I said was "I want all people who care about their communities to feel welcome here." the line below the title of the blog is true (This is a site dedicated to communitarian ideals and those who support them). If any of you have any thoughts, suggestions, or words of encouragement please E-mail me or even better post in the comments.