A
family from our church who live miraculously close to us invited a bunch of other families from church over to their place for a get-together today. Because of the fecundity of our community, the seven families together totalled almost 50 people by my count, most of them quite small. It was an idyllic day, and a ridiculous number of blonde children were running about playing like kids have been playing together for thousands of years, not a phone or video game console in sight.
It's almost a surreal experience for me to be around people who agree with me on a lot of moral points -- I'm very used to being the odd one out who has to watch what he says, lest he get involved in an intense and confrontational argument. Honestly, I do still somewhat feel this way, as regardless of my status as a "traditional Catholic", I'm always going to have some ideosyncratic views compared with whatever community I find myself in. But overall, it was refreshing to be around a bunch of people burned out on politics, but hopefully about their children's future, concerned about land and family and beauty, and bound together by their faith. Elena and I stayed late and got to chat with Eric and Rachel about their journey from Protestantism to Catholicism, and about the architect Christopher Alexander, who has exerted great influence and both me and Eric. Perhaps there will be an Alexandrian Society in the works.