Living here in NW Indiana, I see a lot of Amish. In fact, a four man Amish crew built the stable and riding arena here at the compound. I buy saw dust from an Amish pallet making company and have done a lot business with the local Amish lumber company.
Given their main means of transportation is horse and buggy, the Amish tend to cluster in tight knit communities. When one needs help raising a barn or getting the crops in, it’s not uncommon to see dozens of buggies – or as the young Amish call them bugs – parked field side or in the front yard.
When I built my fence, I hired a young Amish fellow to help. I was supposed to pick him up at 5:30 am Saturday morning. I pulled into the drive right on time but not a single light was on in the house, as the Amish eschew electricity, running water and other so-called modern conveniences. I tapped on the horn. In the early morning stillness, I could hear rustling from an open window and then feet tapping down the stairs. I heard the door open and a dark figure approached the truck. The door opened and the dome light revealed Josiah all dressed Amish style with traditional Amish hat and ready to go. The only thing missing was the ever present Amish beard. Josiah was 17 years old, and the facial hair gene had somehow missed blessing him with an Amish beard that for some reason never includes a mustache.
Strong as a bull and able to do just about anything in the construction field, Josiah’s skills far exceeded his age. That’s probably because while he was only 17, he’d already been on the job 5-6 years. Amish kids attend school through the 8th grade and then enter a career field.
When he hopped in, Josiah pulled and i-pod from his pocket and plugged it into the Aux jack of the truck radio and we drove on listening to a Josiah mix of rap, country, and top 40 back to the compound. Weird huh. Can’t have electricity but the kid has an i-pod and a cell phone and can drive a bobcat and use electricity to run a compressor to operate a nail gun etc. etc. See once on the job, the Amish bishop can allow all kinds of exceptions. In fact even at home there is some electricity. Many Amish are allowed to install wind turbines and batteries to run LED lights and small appliances. It’s all up to the bishop.
So, why all this background on the Amish? It occurred to me in church yesterday that as the world becomes more and more secular, perhaps religious people, Christians in general and Catholics in particular may become more and more like the Amish. Many people, the LB administration for example, probably already consider Catholics some kind of weird cult. One guy, a friend – I think – asked me once if Catholics were even Christians. My dead pan response was, “Yeah, the ORIGINAL Christians.”
I just wonder if at some point Catholics will have to become the insular type of community the Amish have become?
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