I got some insight on Christmas Day, about why Traditional Catholics aren't rich.


John Doe is a protestant with 2 children. He and his wife waited 7 years after getting married to "start a family". Their children are put in daycare, the wife works, wears pants, etc. In short, a typical white American Protestant family.

John Doe owns a business. But not a mere "home business", nor do I mean that John Doe is a contract worker. No, he owns an actual business with at least a half-dozen employees. This business brings in so much income, that one of his "expenses" is a massive metal building, completely "finished" with offices/workshop/etc. which he had built.

FIRST OBSERVATION: Just by running a business of this nature, John Doe doesn't have to personally build or equip a "workshop" on his own property. That is to say, a setup for changing tires, forklift(s), vehicle lifting equipment, an industrial-strength air compressor, welding equipment, etc. Even if all these are "expenses" for his business, I would certainly consider them huge benefits and his ability to use them whenever he wants as a sort of "virtual income".  Ditto for storage. Most people pay money for extra space for storage -- some even pay "mini storage" rental fees. This man, however, has hundreds of square feet of climate controlled, secure storage space. He can just store things "at the company".

But getting to the point of my story --

A friend of his -- who is of the same Protestant sect, I might point out -- asked him a question which sums up the Protestant mentality towards money and material prosperity in a nutshell. He asked John Doe,

"So, tell me. What is your limiting factor that prevents you from expanding your business right now?"

His answer was basically, "We'd need more personnel. We keep plenty busy right now."

So, in other words: a normal person -- or a Traditional Catholic -- wouldn't always be looking for more, more, more money. If he had a successful business or career, and his family had financial security, and everyone was happy, then he would be content.

But a non-Catholic (for example, a Jєω or a protestant) always looks at "yes, great, but how could I expand and make even MORE money for myself?"

This is a huge part of why blue-collar tradesmen are looked down upon by many Protestants. Being a plumber isn't a glorious career. But owning a PLUMBING COMPANY, now THAT is a way to get rich. That's a good capitalist/Calvinist way to prove that you are successful/Elect and "have arrived", and hence you are worthy of respect.

Having large families that get no help from anyone also tends to require a lot of non-work-related attention.  

Quote from: LaramieHirsch

Having large families that get no help from anyone also tends to require a lot of non-work-related attention.  

I agree.

Many large families have about zero for a support network. Even if you're blessed with a chapel within driving distance, that chapel probably has parishioners from a wide radius -- probably most of them aren't too close to you during the week. That's how it was at our old SSPX chapel. If they didn't live far away, they were Sunday Catholics or never stayed after Mass. We even overheard one young (Mexican) couple talk about how they were going to do this & that, and then "start a family". No friend material there! Ugh.

Years ago we had a few friends at the chapel, fellow serious Catholics -- but both families moved to St. Mary's.

We have one family member that will watch our kids in emergencies -- that's it. So in our family, "Her" side is busy with their own lives, and we see very little of them outside of Thanksgiving/Easter/Christmas get-togethers. "His" side of the family lives 1,200+ miles away.

"He" has no local coworkers and "She" is a stay-at-home mom. Long story short: no local friends. The closest friends are about 1.5 hours away. Pretty much all our friends are parishioners who attend our Resistance chapel.

If we want to get something done, we always have to do it ourselves.

This is our situation almost exactly.  We have no family nearby.  All of our friends live over an hour away.  I am busy at home with the children and my husband is very selective about making friendships with co-workers.  We basically have only each other.

The life of a traditional Catholic is often filled with many sacrifices and sometimes loneliness.  However, my husband and I are very close to our children who are still at home and they have become very kind and generous towards each other.  Our oldest, who does not live at home, is also very generous and loving towards us and his siblings.  All we really have is each other.