Catholictopia... and you. Certainly not me.

I have been (probably uncharitably, but that is the way it goes sometimes), tossing rocks over at the bunker and retreat set in Mark Shea's comboxes. You see, the problem that they see is this: impurity has settled over the land. All is hopeless. Old Europe is uncontrollably beset by papism; even in lands that are no longer papist, romish customs last on. The only thing to do is to pick up and move to a Niiiieeeew land, and build a Niiiiiieeeew house, with a select group of the pure, the elect.

Florida anyone?

Oh, there are farms that provide work for migrant farm workers? No problem. A little sprawl never hurt anyone, in fact, it ensures that we will always have Niiiiieeeeeew houses. And the "pizza" will arrive in thirty minutes or it is free.

You didn't know that old St. Peter actually led two congregations of Christians. One was the Catholic Church, and the other, well, they had some peculiar notions:

Elder Peter: We must convert these death-obsessed, pagan, pervert Romans.
Goodman Flavius: Well, Elder Peter, it seems that is a great idea, but it is not really practical, and, well, you know, the children and all that. Your ideas might work well with single men, but you really wouldn't want to raise your children in the shadow of the Coliseum, what with all the orgies and idol worship...not to mention the persecution. The other day my neighbor made fun of me. I about wanted to cry.
Elder Peter: What do you suggest, then?
Goodman Flavius: We could find some pure land, uninhabited, and untainted by the practices of Rome. Preferably the country, so that we would not have any neighbors to get in the way.
Elder Peter: But, Goodman, Love thy neighbor is the Law.
Goodman Flavius: Well I daresay that Jesus never knew my neighbors. Hmmm. Your opposition to our plan makes us think that perhaps you are not the apostle you were cracked up to be. Perhaps you are a backslider, no? Well, you go sacrifice your children, but as for me and my family, we will go off to Pureland (R) and set up a lucrative business.

What we can piece together from remnants of manuscripts is that this second community flaked off from the Church as well as from society and only lasted a couple of generations before the grandchildren ended up more pagan and depraved than what the parents fled from.

Meanwhile Rome ended up Catholic.

At the very least I would like to get the concession to sell front row seats for the legal battles. Not the ones between the ACLU and the Ave Maria folks, rather the ones between disgruntled and angry settlers who feel that have been duped by this preposterous venture and the Ave Maria higher-ups.

You would think that at some point, folks would wake up and stop having anything to do with Monaghan's Shenanigans.