2 years ago
This is an sentiment editorial by Andy Flattery, a certified fiscal planner.
An perceiver of modern civilization paying adjacent the slightest attraction mightiness aptly comparison today’s satellite to the Roman Empire successful the sixth and seventh centuries. This was a play of taste decline, wherever barbarian invasions destroyed cities, libraries, laws and adjacent governments. During this time, it was medieval monks, specified arsenic St. Benedict, who preserved and built up Western civilization. The monks did this by preserving past texts, saving agriculture successful Europe and preaching the Gospel.
Today, the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of the Apostles, are doing their portion to physique up a civilization successful the midst of taste rot. And they are doing it with the assistance of bitcoin. These accepted Catholic nuns are a monastic bid who travel St. Benedict’s regularisation and buy, person and clasp bitcoin successful acold retention connected behalf of their monastery. They past connected self-sufficiency and fiscal enactment from astir the satellite — they person nuns from Mexico, England, Germany, the Netherlands and Lithuania — making bitcoin their perfect money.
While driving done the hills northbound of Kansas City, Missouri, en way to the monastery, I wondered, “What could perchance beryllium the transportation these nuns person to bitcoin?” Father Matthew Bartulica, chaplain of the monastery enactment it to maine this way:
“The monastic beingness is astir apt the top illustration of debased clip preference! It’s each astir passing connected the traditions to aboriginal generations … This besides has a immense interaction connected the culture, due to the fact that it’s not each astir satisfying one’s contiguous desires, but gathering a amended future. Today’s satellite doesn’t connection overmuch anticipation due to the fact that thing is valued, partially due to the fact that the wealth is breached — conscionable similar it was successful Ancient Rome. The Benedictines helped rebuild civilization 1,500 years agone and I judge that the beingness of the Abbey is similar a citadel, a fashionable word with bitcoiners, that volition assistance to rebuild civilization successful the 21st century.”
Father Bartulica is the orange-pilled, Catholic priest astatine the monastery. He ably references Dr. Saifedean Ammous, writer of “The Bitcoin Standard,” connected issues specified arsenic fiat architecture and fiat food. I was introduced to the clergyman by a communal friend. “You’re a Catholic who is into bitcoin … you have to conscionable this priest!”
It was Father Bartulica who acceptable up the sisters with hardware wallets and taught them however to send, person and get connected the way toward fiscal sovereignty. He is connected a ngo to person section Catholic parishes to a bitcoin standard. So far, the Benedictines of Mary person been astir acceptable and able.
You tin spot immoderate parallels betwixt the bitcoin ethos and the mode these nuns live. The sisters locomotion the locomotion by dedicating their lives to the agelong term, adjacent into the eternal. Following the exemplary of “ora et labora,” which means enactment and commune successful Latin, they show debased clip penchant by praying 8 times a day, increasing their ain nutrient and raising their ain cattle and chickens. These nuns adjacent merchandise award-winning and soul-lifting chant and hymn music.
Mother Abbess Cecilia is the young and vibrant abbess of the monastery, and enactment it this way:
“What we are doing is gathering up civilization. We are hanging onto the traditions of the Church and the traditions that built up Western culture. We are stable, we person order, we cognize what we’re expected to bash and we bash it each day. We bash it with love, with diligence.”
One happening I was instantly struck by erstwhile visiting the monastery is the marque new, awe-inspiring religion that dominates the grounds. I expected to thrust up to a modern, utilitarian building, arsenic (disappointingly) tin beryllium expected from immoderate mean suburban religion today. Instead, the sisters built an architecturally beauteous operation that includes hand-painted murals, Italian marble, vaulted ceilings and stained-glass windows.
This was imaginable acknowledgment to generous bitcoin donations made successful 2017. These donations allowed the Benedictines to physique a religion for the ages without the load of indebtedness financing. Mother Cecilia described her archetypal brushwood with bitcoin successful 2017:
“They [their bitcoin benefactors] knew we had a request to physique the Church and, boy, did that assistance us! I mean, wow, what a blessing. Without it, I don’t cognize if we’d inactive beryllium paying disconnected a indebtedness connected this beauteous building.”
So contempt the estimation that Bitcoiners whitethorn person arsenic miserly hoarders, generosity shone done and the nuns were capable to merchantability proceeds (tax-free) for the intent of gathering their Church.
“We person had specified beauteous occurrence with respective precise ample bitcoin donations to assistance physique this location of prayer. If I were idiosyncratic who had means, I would privation to assistance successful making tangible goods, not thing that is slapped up to past for 50 years; thing that’s going to last, thing that volition beryllium passed down from procreation to generation, to past a 1000 years, this beauteous monument to God’s glory. — Mother Cecilia
At archetypal glance, it whitethorn look incongruous to spot accepted Catholic nuns embracing bitcoin — these are nuns who deterioration the afloat wont — but exertion has assisted them successful seeing important maturation successful their bid of spiritual sisters.
Many young women person discovered the Benedictines of Mary by searching for Catholic monasteries online, and accepted Latin wide ones successful particular. The internet, and present the Bitcoin network, person besides made it imaginable for generous benefactors astir the satellite to easy play a relation successful gathering a monastery. Their euphony has present been streamed implicit 3.5 cardinal times connected platforms specified arsenic Spotify; the sisters’ prudent clasp of exertion has paid off.
My favourite portion of the trip, beyond the spiritual benefits, was witnessing the fig of things the nuns bash to hole their ain food. The sisters treated maine to a luncheon of rootlike and beef soup, homemade rolls and butter, each produced connected site. The speech was implicit ideas connected honorable money, however the Church could payment by adopting bitcoin and the wellness benefits of earthy milk.
“Who knows however to workplace anymore? This is 1 happening we bash and are hopefully getting amended astatine each year, conscionable aforesaid sustaining. So we tin enactment intimately with the ground, the ungraded and God's creation, and nutrient our ain nutrient close here. It's truly a beauteous thing.” — Mother Cecilia
While admittedly overseas to galore of america surviving successful the clown world, myself included, the tendency to articulation accepted spiritual beingness is growing. Every twelvemonth the Benedictine sisters big implicit 150 visiting women from astir the satellite to discern the process of joining their order. Out of these women, astir 10 volition instrumentality imperishable vows. As a result, their abstraction is bursting astatine the seams and plans are successful the works for different caller monastery to beryllium constructed successful confederate Missouri.
It whitethorn beryllium the lawsuit that the value of accepted spiritual organizations, specified arsenic the Benedictines of Mary, adopting bitcoin volition go much indispensable arsenic the creeds they profess turn much deplorable among the mainstream. The sisters are acquainted with their unpopularity successful the eyes of our conformist civilization and person adjacent been the target of shootings successful caller years. One tin ideate this benignant of animosity being utilized arsenic justification to impede an organization’s usage of their ain slope account, arsenic successful the Canadian truckers’ concern successful aboriginal 2022 — adjacent for a radical of unassuming spiritual sisters.
While churches and monasteries beryllium to basal arsenic a refuge against a declining culture, their ain finances are inactive astatine the whim of artificial ostentation and the accepted fiscal system. The permissionless quality of bitcoin ensures that these spiritual citadels tin beryllium immune to fiscal censors portion simultaneously interacting with the planetary monetary network. So agelong arsenic they take to follow bitcoin.
The sisters judge bitcoin donations connected their website.
This is simply a impermanent station by Andy Flattery. Opinions expressed are wholly their ain and bash not needfully bespeak those of BTC Inc. oregon Bitcoin Magazine.
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