Today’s Episode Of “One Step Closer To Worldwide Adoption”: Oct. 17th
In today’s episode, we meet the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles from Kansas City who are building their church and bettering their world with Bitcoin:
MEET THE CATHOLIC NUNS WHO ARE BUILDING A NEW CHURCH WITH BITCOIN
An observer of modern culture paying even the slightest attention might aptly compare today’s world to the Roman Empire in the sixth and seventh centuries. This was a period of cultural decline, where barbarian invasions destroyed cities, libraries, laws and even governments. During this time, it was medieval monks, such as St. Benedict, who preserved and built up Western civilization. The monks did this by preserving ancient texts, saving agriculture in Europe and preaching the Gospel.
Today, the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of the Apostles, are doing their part to build up a civilization in the midst of cultural rot. And they are doing it with the help of bitcoin. These traditional Catholic nuns are a monastic order who follow St. Benedict’s rule and buy, receive and hold bitcoin in cold storage on behalf of their monastery. They survive on self-sufficiency and financial support from around the world — they have nuns from Mexico, England, Germany, the Netherlands and Lithuania — making bitcoin their ideal money.
While driving through the hills north of Kansas City, Missouri, en route to the monastery, I wondered, “What could possibly be the connection these nuns have to bitcoin?” Father Matthew Bartulica, chaplain of the monastery put it to me this way:
“The monastic life is probably the greatest example of low time preference! It’s all about passing on the traditions to future generations … This also has a huge impact on the culture, because it’s not all about satisfying one’s immediate desires, but building a better future. Today’s world doesn’t offer much hope because nothing is valued, partially because the money is broken — just like it was in Ancient Rome. The Benedictines helped rebuild civilization 1,500 years ago and I believe that the life of the Abbey is like a citadel, a popular term with bitcoiners, that will help to rebuild civilization in the 21st century.”
Father Bartulica is the orange-pilled, Catholic priest at the monastery. He ably references Dr. Saifedean Ammous, author of “The Bitcoin Standard,” on issues such as fiat architecture and fiat food. I was introduced to the priest by a mutual friend. “You’re a Catholic who is into bitcoin … you have to meet this priest!”
It was Father Bartulica who set up the sisters with hardware wallets and taught them how to send, receive and get on the path toward financial sovereignty. He is on a mission to convert local Catholic parishes to a bitcoin standard. So far, the Benedictines of Mary have been most ready and able.
You can see some parallels between the bitcoin ethos and the way these nuns live. The sisters walk the walk by dedicating their lives to the long term, even into the eternal. Following the model of “ora et labora,” which means work and pray in Latin, they demonstrate low time preference by praying eight times a day, growing their own produce and raising their own cattle and chickens. These nuns even release award-winning and soul-lifting chant and hymn music.
Mother Abbess Cecilia is the young and vibrant abbess of the monastery, and put it this way:
“What we are doing is building up civilization. We are hanging onto the traditions of the Church and the traditions that built up Western culture. We are stable, we have order, we know what we’re supposed to do and we do it every day. We do it with love, with diligence.”
Full article here: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/catholic-nuns-building-church-with-bitcoin