I want to engineer a Catholic version of the "Free State Project" on a smaller scale

[Gnarwhal]

Broadly speaking.

My town is only 15% Catholic at best, it's grown to about 108,000 people so that means about 16,000 of us are Catholic here. I see a lot of posts on sites and pages specific to my town from people looking to move here, the problem is so many of them are irreligious and often a lot of them are LGBT. They're always inquiring about my town to ask if it's "racist" or unfriendly to the rainbow crowd at all.

I really want to offset and even displace this evil incursion by developing some sort of campaign to invite Catholics to move here and former a larger, denser community. I'm biased but I think it's a wonderful town and area to live, and I see a lot of "Catholic potential" here, it's just that it's hardy to justify pursuing that potential right now when there aren't quite as many Catholics to support it.

The problem is, it's not an easy sell like Clear Creek Abbey where the state and local community lend themselves more closely to Catholic values. I'm in (far) Northern California, granted a part of California that is deep red, but my particular city is turning more purple because of people like mentioned above moving here more and more, plus the state university here being a major part of the economy it has a lot of influence on the culture here.

That all being said, how would a movement to see Catholics from various places around the country come together in a commitment to relocate and transform (essentially terraform) a particular place to be another Ave Maria, FL or similar all come together?

 

[chevyontheriver]

Broadly speaking.

My town is only 15% Catholic at best, it's grown to about 108,000 people so that means about 16,000 of us are Catholic here. I see a lot of posts on sites and pages specific to my town from people looking to move here, the problem is so many of them are irreligious and often a lot of them are LGBT. They're always inquiring about my town to ask if it's "racist" or unfriendly to the rainbow crowd at all.

I really want to offset and even displace this evil incursion by developing some sort of campaign to invite Catholics to move here and former a larger, denser community. I'm biased but I think it's a wonderful town and area to live, and I see a lot of "Catholic potential" here, it's just that it's hardy to justify pursuing that potential right now when there aren't quite as many Catholics to support it.

The problem is, it's not an easy sell like Clear Creek Abbey where the state and local community lend themselves more closely to Catholic values. I'm in (far) Northern California, granted a part of California that is deep red, but my particular city is turning more purple because of people like mentioned above moving here more and more, plus the state university here being a major part of the economy it has a lot of influence on the culture here.

That all being said, how would a movement to see Catholics from various places around the country come together in a commitment to relocate and transform (essentially terraform) a particular place to be another Ave Maria, FL or similar all come together?

Ave Maria started from building on swamp land, de novo. And it's cool walking around the place. It's growing and getting better.

I'd worry about any such place in California being stomped on by the state government. I think you would have to pick your state very carefully, and I'm not sure I would pick California. North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas might be better bets. Then carefully pick a county within that state. Then figure out how you can shift the balance by ten percent. That's really all you would need if that ten percent was committed to the project. If they aren't, maybe even 50% wouldn't be enough. Oh, and it helps to have a faithful university or something and a deep pockets donor like Ave Maria has.

 

[Gnarwhal]

Ave Maria started from building on swamp land, de novo. And it's cool walking around the place. It's growing and getting better.

I'd worry about any such place in California being stomped on by the state government. I think you would have to pick your state very carefully, and I'm not sure I would pick California. North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas might be better bets. Then carefully pick a county within that state. Then figure out how you can shift the balance by ten percent. That's really all you would need if that ten percent was committed to the project. If they aren't, maybe even 50% wouldn't be enough. Oh, and it helps to have a faithful university or something and a deep pockets donor like Ave Maria has.

I guess I'm wanting all this for selfish reasons, cause basically I don't ever want to move away from where I am again so I wanted to bring a richer Catholicism here instead.

 

[chevyontheriver]

I guess I'm wanting all this for selfish reasons, cause basically I don't ever want to move away from where I am again so I wanted to bring a richer Catholicism here instead.

What is the situation of the Catholic Church in that location? If it's really something special then maybe it's a good idea. If it's moribund then fixing that would be the first step, maybe by bringing in like-minded Catholics. A good Catholic parish will be a healing balm for a neighborhood or a town. A not so good parish and the neighborhood will go downhill unless the evangelicals have a big presence there.

I saw a list once of best places to be Catholic. It can vary by state or by county or by diocese. And of course if we live in some of the not quite best locations it can still be OK if we are in a good parish with a good priest.

 

[Gnarwhal]

What is the situation of the Catholic Church in that location? If it's really something special then maybe it's a good idea. If it's moribund then fixing that would be the first step, maybe by bringing in like-minded Catholics. A good Catholic parish will be a healing balm for a neighborhood or a town. A not so good parish and the neighborhood will go downhill unless the evangelicals have a big presence there.

I saw a list once of best places to be Catholic. It can vary by state or by county or by diocese. And of course if we live in some of the not quite best locations it can still be OK if we are in a good parish with a good priest.

Speaking as objectively as possible, my parish is tied for the most thriving parish I've been a part of since my conversion. Including parishes I attended/joined in Virginia, Maryland, and New York during my east coast stint.

They've kinda rewritten (or restored perhaps?) the book on RCIA and it's been tremendously successful, evident by classes of 30+ receiving their sacraments on Easter Vigil. The person responsible for reforming the program has kind of passed the torch and gone on to develop something new called RCIF (Rite of Christian Initiation for Families) that encourages parents who want their kids to be baptized and receive their sacraments to learn what their kids are learning for support, but it's also kind of a sneaky way of winning more souls, and it works. I'm co-teaching a class of adults whose kids have been at it for a bit and there's some enthusiastic parents who are excited to become Catholic themselves.

Beyond that the five Sunday Masses (counting Saturday vigil) are typically full, in some cases standing room only. I haven't been to daily Mass in years but I assume the attendance there is about average, or slightly above.

Parish events like the KOC crab feed and the parish picnic, etc are always sell out crowds.

I would characterize the Catholic community here as "brimming with vitality".

This kind of goes with my theory that some of the best places to be Catholic are actually embedded in more broadly "hostile" states. I hear the Archdioceses of San Francisco and Portland are amazing and those cities are notoriously liberal. I suspect the goodness of the Churches there stems from a sense that the Catholics need to bond more closely as a community to withstand the temptations and opposition to God's work.

My thinking was I hope we get to a place where the richness of the Catholic community here extends beyond my parish. There's another parish here but it's not as vibrant. What I hope to see is maybe 1-2 religious communities established here, we have Trappists and Carmelites close by but they're not like Franciscans or Dominicans who are "out there" in the community. One thing I really wish I could do is help the Sisters of Life open a west coast chapter here, their presence is overwhelmingly in NY with a smaller chapter in Colorado, but I see incredible potential for their ministry here in CA and where I'm located it would be easy to find a place within shouting distance that could be built up as a retreat in the mountains or something.

With that kind of growth then hopefully other kinds of growth are inspired, like the creation of more shrines and the establishing of new regular events that bring Catholics together like Catholic Underground in NYC.

Obviously this would all happen incrementally, not at once but these are some big picture ideas I've hoped and prayed for.