Here’s an interesting site: Plain Catholics. It was pointed out on a Telegraph blog thread. They say:
Plain Catholics seek to separate themselves from the values of the secular world and to live their lives in the simplicity of the Gospels both in attitude and gratitude as well as faithfulness to the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church ut in omnibus glorificetur Deus…so that in all things, God may be glorified. Plain Catholics seek to preach the Gospel with their walk and do not engage in doctrinal debates nor door to door evangelization. When asked, they obey 1 Peter 3: 15-16
.. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame.
The source of this movement is Joyce Laird, a lady from Dahlonega, GA, who is trying to generate interest and gather people to form a Plain Catholic intentional community.
She has another blog, too, “Plain Catholic in the Mountains”:
plaincatholic.blogspot.com
and a longstanding Yahoogroup, “Catholic_Covered_Plain_N_Crunchy
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Catholic_Covered_Plain_N_Crunchy/
The Yahoogroup bills itself as being about:
“This is a women’s only list for encouragement & support in parenting & homesteading in the spirit of Titus 2. Some of us are Plain Catholics who lead a plain life both in our dress and simple homestead living. Some are Catholics who seek to lead a simple life in rural areas; some are suburban & urban homesteaders who follow a simplified lifestyle of growing vegetables & raising chickens. Some are seekers. All respect & recognize the authority of the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church. WE DO NOT DEBATE official Catholic doctrine or other issues. We are a source of info & support only. If you have doctrinal issues with the Roman Catholic Church this is not the group for you. We cover our hair full or part time. Reasons vary from 1 Corinthians 11 to respect for the Blessed Sacrament & Our Lady. We may cover at Mass with veils or bonnets. We dress plainly or simply, always modestly, usually wearing skirts or dresses. We practice some degree of Attachment Parenting. We may homebirth, wear our children, breastfeed, homeschool, eat organic, cosleep–basically, we parent our children. All are encouraged to pray thrice & think twice before posting. We all have times of difficulty & may not interpret a post correctly. Let us enourage one another as in: Hebrews 3:13 “But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11 – encourage, build up one another Disclaimer: Any health advice given should be checked first with your personal physician before it is followed. We are not responsible for the content of the Yahoo ads attached.
Mrs. Laird was formerly a frequent poster on several Mennonite/Anabaptist Yahoo groups (though at the time she didn’t make it known that she was Catholic), which is where I first became aware of her. She invited me to join her Yahoogroup, and I was a member there for a number of years, and an active poster until fairly recently, when comments to the list became heavily censored.
This spring the list was purged of most of its less active posters, myself included; one of the last things I recall being discussed there was the planning of a trip to a Midwestern state where the members of the group would travel to meet with one another and discuss the feasibility of actually starting an Amish-Catholic community.
And, interest in this movement appears to be growing.
Here is a blog by a man in Texas, which takes the idea of Amish Catholicism and an Amish-Catholic monastery/commune one step further:
http://rosariansofthepoorchrist.blogspot.com/
I’m on the Yahoo group mentioned and there is no one there who lives in Georgia much less called by that name. This lady seems to be ax grinding.
The list is very charitable with none of the snarkies you normally see on discussion lists.