Originally posted by Conrau K
Of course. But the profits go to charities. A monastery of strict-observant Cistercians in my state make hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. In three years they were able to repay a substantial loan for their newly acquired property. They then built a retreat house so that any Catholic can stay there for prayer and silence. I understand that they have also donated to charities outside their apostolate.
Again, the 'charity' is the entity itself. Yes, they made candles. And then they used the money
to build a building for themselves, not for the homeless. Another example: the Capuchin's here
in Pittsburgh have two huge fundraisers, both of which go to raising funds to pay for seminarians.
Don't get me wrong: I have no problem with raising money for your own establishment. But
that's not charity in the sense that Jesus said. Jesus didn't say, 'Collect money and
spend it on buildings.' He said, 'Feed the hungry.'
Again, let me be clear: I've no problem with the erection of a church (or, in my case, the
installation of a pipe organ), or prayer house, or giving money to seminarians. But that's not
Jesus' command. And to pretend otherwise is just dishonest.
But I disagree that all Christians have such a capacity. Not everyone is able to live in the modern world and some Christians may find that the only way to maintain their faith is by a hermetic life.
Huh? People would lose their faith if they were out in the rank and file feeding the hungry?
Faith without works isn't faith, Conrau. Shutting yourself off in a building, hiding away from
the world's problems is the epitome of a 'dead faith.'
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can
that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day,
and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,' but you do not give them
the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works,
is dead. James 2:14-17
The real world is the place where the faith Jesus and His Disciples described is lived out.
Is there a place for solitude in the life of a person with a healthy faith? Of course. Jesus went
out into the desert. But He came back. Is there a place for personal pleas for intercession?
Yes. But, as Saint Teresa said, Christ has no hands but that of His believers.
If those hands are willingly idle, then the so-called believers are just consenting to let Jesus
go hungry, thirsty, naked and lonely.
Nemesio