From the December issue: Economist Tim Reichert makes a nuanced, convincing case that Christians should own things. What kind of things? Christians should invest strategically in the means of production and real estate, for “the heart of the difference is not the distinction between ‘consumers and producers,’ but that between dependent people and independent people.” Reichert ties in national security and G. K. Chesterton.

For further reading: While Reichert’s argument is not formally distributist (in the vein of Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc), it recognizes the intellectual heritage of the movement. Gregory Pine, O.P., wrote a brief eulogium for distributism in 2014, marking it an ideology of despair—“the movement of the sense appetite regarding a good not possessed and perceived as impossible to obtain.” Also, last year First Things regular John Duggan wrote in favor of Localism.

Stephen Adubato reviews a new book on so-called “crabgrass Catholicism.” The mass movement of urban Catholics to the suburbs initiated the dissolution of ethnic communities and, eventually, faith. Adubato focuses on how this transformation ended the Catholic ability to organize around material issues (like housing) as Catholics. Whereas in their urban enclaves Catholics had mobilized around immediate, concrete problems, in the liquid individualism of suburban living, Catholics organizing was reduced to symbolic issues.

For further reading: The book, Crabgrass Catholicism, uses emigration from the Archdiocese of New York to the surrounding suburbs as an exemplum. The late, great Gerald Russello wrote about exactly this move in “Leaving Brooklyn” (April 2013). He defended his decision, writing that “my crunchy-con friends will surely blanch at our easy acceptance of the demon automobile. But the church here is bursting, the religious-education program is an order of magnitude larger, and there’s even a very active Knights of Columbus chapter, a group I had not been involved with since college.”

Education is a perennial concern for Catholics (and a perennial headache for churchmen). Kyle Washut speculates on how Pope Leo will handle the issue. He uses the Pope’s first apostolic letter and references to SS. John Henry Newman, Pier Giorgio Frassati, and Carlo Acutis to draw a positive vision of eductation that looks upwards: “To the heights!”

For further reading: In October, UD president Jonathan Sanford considered the purpose of education: “Education Is Not a Commodity.” For the pope watchers reading, check out Fr. Raymond J. de Souza’s doubleheader review in the November issue: “Two Takes on Pope Leo.”

Upcoming Events

• February 1, 2026: Second Annual Neuhaus Lecture at the New College of Florida | Sarasota, FL. Details coming soon.

Until next time.

JACOB AKEY

Associate Editor