Our spiritual eyes have become rather clouded here in the West, so it is not much of a wonder to find causes and effects being confused in Sen. Conrad Appel’s recent essay about reviving New Orleans and other cities in the US. He expresses his belief that economics and politics are the main drivers of the well-being of cities:
'Somewhere at the intersection of two great political-economic principles lies the future of America’s cities. The United States is a nation that long ago achieved stability and faith in government because it is a constitutional republican form of government, a form of government whose leaders are democratically elected. It also is a nation whose embrace of free market capitalism underpinned by a reliance on the precepts of western legal tradition propelled it from an economic sideshow to the world’s strongest democracy, a nation in which opportunity and prosperity are co-equal.
'For most of America’s history cities were the epicenter of accomplishment. The underlying reason was that these two powerful principles, political stability, and economic freedom, co-existed in a balanced steady state, in a form of political and economic harmony evolved through a millennium of Western trial and error. The vitality of cities, conceived in the balance of political and economic interests, spread nationwide and became the progenitor of good fortune for all the people.
'In our times we are seeing the advent mainly in cities of a rapidly evolving social democratic philosophy of government, a system contrary to what Americans have known, one that Americans are only slowly coming to terms with, one to which America’s response may be for good, or for worse.'
Then we get the clincher at the end (bolding added): ‘History is replete with numerous examples of the brutal reality of nature; a city does not exist unless there is an economic reason for it to exist. There is no reason to think that American cities are immune to the forces that determine whether a city is vital or not, and government support is not the path to self-sustaining vitality.’
So, again, the main point is that a city comes into being and remains in existence mainly for the sake of economic activity of men and women. This is where our spiritual blindness comes in, for, historically speaking, it is not commerce that has been at the center of city life but worship, religion.
One of the oldest archaeological sites confirms this. Gobekli Tepe is a vast complex in southern Turkey, older than the pyramids of Egypt, consisting of giant pillars and other artwork. What was the reason for building this large urban center in the middle of nowhere? To engage in trade and politics? No. It was constructed so that religious rites could be performed there.
Think of other cities. What was at the heart of Jerusalem in the Kingdom of Israel; what was her defining feature? A trading market? A parliament? No, it was the Temple of Solomon.
Jump ahead to the Christian era. What dominated the magnificent city of Constantinople/New Rome for 1,000 years? The sublime cathedral of Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom), one of the wonders of the world.
And many other cities throughout Christendom grew up around churches and monasteries. The monastery of St. Finbarr is illustrative:
‘. . . But the man of God’s main achievement was the foundation on the river Lee of his most important and influential monastery, on the site called Cork, which in the tenth century would become a thriving town. Now it is a very beautiful city in the south of Ireland. In effect the city of Cork grew and developed around the saint’s monastery. Thus, Finbarr, the first Abbot of Cork, was one of many early saints of the British Isles and Ireland who contributed to formation of future large settlements with their churches or monasteries at the center of the community.’
We see, then, that religion, rather than commerce or politics, is the beating heart of the city. The latter two are subordinate, outgrowths of the first, and subject to its commandments. Religion is the cause of city life; commerce and politics follow as effects.
A look at New Orleans gives further confirmation that something more defines a truly good and vibrant city than wealth and politics. Grace King, a loyal daughter of New Orleans and a fine writer, wrote about the essence of this city just after the turn of the 20th century in 1902 in her book New Orleans: The Place and the People:
. . .
The rest is at https://thehayride.com/2023/04/garlington-what-will-it-take-to-revive-hollowed-out-cities/.
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Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!
Anathema to the Union!
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