Father Habiger wrote,
I commend you and your team for putting together a well thought out collaborative in St. Louis. Everyone should be very impressed with it.
Most of my contacts throughout the country are with family life directors, NFP [i.e., "Natural Family Planning] teachers and coordinators, clergy and parishes. The focus is marriage, spousal love and family life. Thus, my contacts might not be the natural ones for the Abraham Federation.
The Abraham Federation is more oriented to a just economic order, which, of course, includes everyone. Those most concerned would be businessmen, economists, politicians, and strong patriots.
Perhaps when Michael writes up a brief synopsis of the First Social Justice Collaborative, and the origins of the Abraham Federation, . . . He could mention that the Abraham Federation is looking for many groups/organizations to link arms with them. That would give great publicity to the AF [i.e., "Abraham Federation"], and locate sympathetic organizations.
Warm regards to all,
Fr. Matthew Habiger OSB
To which we replied:
It's not too much of a stretch when you think about it. Your contacts might actually be more receptive than many others to the Abraham Federation. Strong families imply the financial means to keep them going; as we understand it, more marriages break up over questions of money than any other single cause (I'm just repeating that, I have no statistics available, but it sounds reasonable).
The necessity of financial security in turn implies access to the means of acquiring and possessing private, productive property, which — to choose at random — Popes Leo XIII and Pius XII noted is the primary means of securing an income sufficient to meet common domestic needs adequately.
The Abraham Federation is designed not only to fulfill its primary purpose of providing a rational and financially feasible means to achieve peace in the Middle East and end the war in Iraq, but to provide an exemplar for the rest of the world — particularly the United States — to follow. We also believe that the East St. Louis, Illinois, proposal will do much to open people's eyes to the possibilities inherent in the Just Third Way.
Whichever one succeeds first, however, the Abraham Federation and the Iraq oil proposal, both described in detail on CESJ's web site, will complement whatever is achieved in East St. Louis, providing a global demonstration to match the more localized effort in Illinois.
Whatever their religious or philosophical beliefs, everyone interested in strong and stable families should be told of the Abraham Federation, if only to alert them to the possibility that something exists that has the potential to counter a culture often hostile, and even more often indifferent to the plight of families throughout the world. NFP and pro-life groups are a natural constituency for the Just Third Way — as are pro-choice groups genuinely concerned about the economic wellbeing of individuals and families.
Donations to CESJ are tax deductible in the United States under IRC § 501(c)(3):
