New Book: How to Restore the Economy and the American Soul

Return to Order -- From a Frenzied Economy to an Organic Christian Society -- Where We’ve Been, How We Got Here, and Where We Need To Go
by John Horvat II
                       
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The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) will be publishing a new book in February titled:  Return to Order -- From a Frenzied Economy to an Organic Christian Society -- Where We’ve Been, How We Got Here, and Where We Need To Go by John Horvat II.

Get a glimpse of the new book below and pre-order now at a special discount.
 

1. Understand the problem
Based on 20 years of exhaustive research, John Horvat II traces the source of our economic problems to a restless spirit of intemperance that throws our economy out of balance. He identifies a frenetic drive found in certain economic sectors that seek to rid themselves of restraints.
The result: “frenetic intemperance,” which is pushing the nation towards economic collapse.

2. Discover the solution
By applying the timeless principles of an organic socio-economic Christian order, we can produce an economy that is wonderfully adapted to our human nature and full of exuberant vitality, but also tempered by the calming influence of those natural regulating institutions such as custom, family, community, the Christian State and the Church.

Horvat’s original insights into both the present crisis and remedies for the future thrust Return to Order into the center of the debate over how to restore America to prominence.

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Early praise for Return to Order
The central theme of frenetic intemperance is original, interesting, and compelling. The diagnosis of contemporary social maladies must focus on moral failings, and Return to Order rightly does so. Its insightful thesis deserves wide circulation and consideration.
- Kevin E. Schmiesing, Ph.D.; Research Fellow at Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty; Book Review Editor for the Journal of Markets & Morality

Like the true cultural conservative he is, John Horvat takes on the idols of technological, economic, and political power. These powers exacerbate the human tendency toward frenetic intemperance. Return to Order demonstrates that we must be ever vigilant about the institutions we create lest they lose their moral compass.
- Richard Stivers, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Illinois State University

An ambitious book that calls for a major shift in the attitudes of those of us who live in a fast-paced world. Horvat calls for an order that combines the virtues of tested traditions with the creative potential of the free economy: a combination of a structured order based on traditional values and the spontaneous order of economic systems based on private property. He uses the term “frenetic intemperance” to describe the type of life which does not leave room for family, creative leisure, and prayer. A call for more balance in our economies and our lives.
- Dr. Alejandro Chafuen, President of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation

Poetically written, John Horvat II’s Return to Order elevates the argument about what is truly important. It’s rare that a book of this depth is also such a pleasure to read. Mr. Horvat’s critique of contemporary America’s “frenetic intemperance” rings true, laying bare modern man’s confusion and anomie amid plenty. An erudite cultural sculptor, Mr. Horvat chisels away materialism’s false promises and points toward God as the source of the higher revelation that makes beauty, heroism, nobility, sacrifice and true vocation discoverable and meaningful.
- Robert Knight, columnist and author of several books, including The Age of Consent: The Rise of Relativism and the Corruption of Popular Culture, and The Truth About Marriage

Can true solitude be found in an increasingly wired world? - Washington Times

CHICAGO — When was the last time you were alone and unwired? Really, truly by yourself. Just you and your thoughts — no cellphone, no tablet, no laptop.

Many of us crave that kind of solitude, though in an increasingly wired world, it’s a rare commodity.
We check texts and emails and update our online status at any hour — when we’re lying in bed or sitting at stoplights or on trains.

We feel obligated, yes. But we’re also fascinated with this connectedness, constantly tinkering and checking in — an obsession that’s starting to get push-back from a small but growing legion of tech users who are feeling the need to unplug and get away.

“What might have felt like an obligation at first has become an addiction. It’s almost as if we don’t know how to be alone, or we are afraid of what we’ll find when we are alone with ourselves,” said Camille Preston, a tech and communication consultant based in Cambridge, Mass.

Read more: Can true solitude be found in an increasingly wired world? - Washington Times http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/oct/29/can-true-solitude-be-found-in-an-increasingly-wire/#ixzz2AnTehgat

Can true solitude be found in an increasingly wired world? - Washington Times

See the Faces of the Two Newly Canonized American Saints

(Only known portrait from life of Saint Tekakwitha, circa 1690 by Father Chauchetière)

One is Kateri Tekakwitha, the Native American Indian who heroically lived a life of purity and chastity amid the terrible debauchery of the Mohawk tribe.

The other is Mother Marianne Cope, a 19th century Franciscan nun who worked with the famous Saint Damien in Molokai to care for leprosy patients.

May these two new American saints help us to value true virtue and especially heroic chastity in a world that flaunts every type of vice.  Also, may they obtain graces for us to reject the cowardice and shame that is practiced today by which people who should be speaking up against the spread of vice remain silent, which allows these vices to advance unchallenged.

Never Allow Kindness to Degenerate Into Weakness

Written by Saint Therese of the Child Jesus

  We should never allow kindness to degenerate into weakness. When we have scolded someone with just reason, we must leave the matter there, without allowing ourselves to be touched to the point of tormenting ourselves for having caused pain or at seeing one suffer and cry. To run after the afflicted one to console her does more harm than good. Leaving her to herself forces her to have recourse to God in order to see her faults and humble herself. Otherwise, accustomed to receiving consolation after a merited reprimand, she will always act, in the same circumstances, like a spoiled child, stamping her feet and crying until her mother comes to dry her tears.




St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Her Last Conversations
 (Washington, D.C. Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1977)

I Was There at the 2012 Public Square Rosary Rally!

Written by John Horvat II

  I could have found plenty of reasons not to the go to the Public Square Rosary Rally this October 13. But as the date approached, I was determined that I would not miss it for anything in the world. All across the country, tens of thousands of Catholics would be gathering at 9,077 public places and praying for our nation in these troubled times. This was an historic event and I wanted to be part of it.

What made my rally particularly exciting was that I was going to one of America’s premier public places—Fifth Avenue. We were situated in a small square in front of Rockefeller Center and across from St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The place was so full of foreign tourists that we can say that it is really the world’s public square. We could not have asked for a busier and more representative place to pray the rosary.

What I like about Public Square Rosary Rallies is that they have impact. If you pray a Rosary inside a church, no one is especially surprised. But when you are at a busy intersection or on Fifth Avenue, people are shocked, intrigued, edified or consoled. No one expects to see two hundred people standing—some even kneeling—on the sidewalk affirming our Catholic Faith. Thousands of people are impacted by the spectacle. Many leave the scene changed.

Of course, we want to cause impact. Rosary Rally Captains are encouraged to be conspicuous. At our rally, I could sense the maximum impact caused by our banners, signs and bagpipes as tens of thousands passed by. Our voices were loud as we proudly prayed and sang hymns to Our Lady, which echoed off the glass and concrete canyons of midtown Manhattan. The sight of people praying for the nation in face of abortion, same-sex “marriage,” blasphemy and so many other ills is very strong.

What is impressive is that few think it strange that we are out there. Many think it is logical that we pray since the state of the nation is such that it merits prayer. The dramatic circumstances of our times demand that we do something of this nature. So compelling are the reasons for prayer that some people actually came up and joined us. I saw several others praying rather timidly from afar but who gradually made their way to the prayerful crowd and became part of our rally. Still others prayed a few Hail Marys at a distance. Some dared not even pray, but took out their cameras, cell phones and iPads, snapping plenty of pictures which found their way into the social media.   

I cannot say that everyone was edified by our appearance there. There were definitely people who did not like it. I saw the smirks, the patronizing looks and the scowls of the enlightened ones who despise religion. Nor is this surprising, since as faithful followers of Our Lady, we can expect the scorn of the world.  These poor figures acted as if our prayers were hopelessly out of time and place as they watched our invasion of “their” world. They feigned a disregard for our action but in the back of their heads, we shook their certainties. You could tell that that we disturbed their smug complacency by our lively, proud and public witness to the Faith. Who knows? Maybe we planted a seed of grace in their souls that might sprout in the future.

There were also those who were indifferent. For them, our presence on the street was an inconvenience. We got in their way as they jogged down the street. We hardly existed to others inside their cyber-cocoons tethered to their electronic devices.

The most important part of the Public Square Rosary Rallies for me was the fact that Our Lady was queen at all 9,077 locations for a full hour. Even the police were there to protect our right to proclaim her as queen. It was truly an historic event. We do not know how many people were reached by the rallies. We cannot gauge the immense impact these rallies had on souls. We do know that the pleas of faithful Catholics across America and the world were heard by God in Heaven. We can be consoled by the fact that we heeded the requests of Our Lady at Fatima to pray the Rosary for the conversion of sinners and in reparation for the sins of man.  

I can only give the impressions for my rally, but I suspect from speaking with others that similar considerations apply to all the rallies. Nine thousand points of light dared to pierce the moral darkness of our days. This veritable flood of light was invisible to the media but not to God who looked down upon us. All sensed the blessing of Our Lady who took comfort to see literally hundreds of thousands of her children honoring her on this special day, the 95th anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima.

Many years hence, when the present confusion in men’s minds is dispelled, history will record that there were those who braved the scorn of men and gathered in public squares to pray for our nation. While others went about their affairs, I can say that I was there, making history on the public square. And I would have it no other way.