I sympathize with your feelings on the matter. It seems horribly unfair and upside-down.

But with all due respect, most people don't have a choice. Most Trad Catholics, just like virtually all Americans, are not self-sufficient. They don't produce anything for themselves. Most Americans can't even cook their own meals or take care of haircuts at home, much less produce their own soap, toothpaste, hairbrushes, tools...

And what Catholic-friendly store is going to sell us our electronics, books, etc.?

Is patronizing Wal-mart, Costco, or Barnes & Noble really going to be any better for the Catholic Faith? Pretty much every large company supports ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖity, abortion, etc. Wal-mart has a horrible reputation that they treat employees like slaves. Both Lowe's and Home Depot are both bad. Where am I supposed to get my concrete and lumber? I don't have a choice. So I spend hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars at these places every year.

We have a mom & pop hardware store, but they are very small. Tools? Yes. Lumber and concrete? no. And even then, they are sometimes more expensive. Most large Trad families are strapped for cash, and they need to buy their necessary goods at large, high-volume discount stores, rather than convenience or specialty stores where everything is 20-40% more expensive.

It's like the old issue of businesses that make their employees work on Sunday. There just aren't enough REAL Catholics to make them change. So every option you and I have to buy groceries, for example, falls short in this way.

Trying to support only Trad Catholic organizations is an exercise in futility.

Wal-mart has a horrible reputation that they treat employees like slaves.

Which they try to offset by those smiley face benign old-timers greeting people as they sit at the front door.  Hmm...come to think of it, maybe I should apply. :) 

Which they try to offset by those smiley face benign old-timers greeting people as they sit at the front door.  Hmm...come to think of it, maybe I should apply. :)

Uhh...on the other hand, I think I'm having second thoughts. 

All I'm saying is that it is time to make some hard choices.

There are enough businesses out there that are not actively anti-Catholic and/or anti-Christian to do business with, we don't need to lick the boot that kicks us.

What if all the grocery stores near you supported the LGBT movement, liberalism, political correctness, etc.

Would you die of hunger for your principles, would you move, or would you *gasp* compromise?

Personally, I'm compromising my principles completely in the area of shopping. I have completely given up on sticking to any principles in this area. It's the exact opposite of how I am with regards to resisting Vatican II (where I'm ready to do anything, even die, for my beliefs).

Perhaps it's because resisting Vatican II is required to be a Catholic, or to save one's soul. It's important, and will have a direct effect on my children. But Divine and Church law say absolutely nothing about supporting a Home Depot that makes generous contributions to sodomite causes. (I also remember there was a small anti-Abortion protest outside a new Target, many years ago, in the Midwest city I grew up in.) Furthermore, there are so few REAL (7 days a week) Catholics today that we're not going to change anything in this regard. Half the country wants the criminal Hillary for president, for crying out loud!

The Church teaches that as long as you are not personally, directly donating to the sodomites or Freemasons, you're in the clear. If that wasn't the case, we'd all be in trouble -- or living a very different lifestyle than we live today (think: Bear Grylls)

I'm not saying "be ridiculously scrupulous" about your purchasing decisions.  Don't emote, just think.

Don't compromise on paying too much.  Fight, if need be, for the best deal ever.