Bethune Catholic

Funny to say, I have never read anything by Wendell Berry-until today. I came across an essay of his on local economies at The Briarpatch. Here's the excerpt:

Of course, everything needed locally cannot be produced locally. But a viable neighborhood is a community; and a viable community is made up of neighbors who cherish and protect what they have in common. This is the principle of subsistence. A viable community, like a viable farm, protects its own production capacities. It does not import products that it can produce for itself. And it does not export local products until local needs have been met. The economic products of a viable community are understood either as belonging to the community’s subsistence or as surplus, and only the surplus is considered to be marketable abroad. A community, if it is to be viable, cannot think of producing solely for export, and it cannot permit importers to use cheaper labor and goods from other places to destroy the local capacity to produce goods that are needed locally. In charity, moreover, it must refuse to import goods that are produced at the cost of human or ecological degradation elsewhere. This principle applies not just to localities, but to regions and nations as well.

Rod Dreher talks today about an WB essay appearing in the May issue of Harpers. I'll have to read it. I think I need to read more of Mr. Berry.

Oremus pro invicem!