Catholic Nuns Build Church With Bitcoin – Bitcoin Magazine
This is an opinion editorial by Andy Flattery, a Certified Financial Planner.
An observer of modern culture who pays even the slightest attention can aptly compare today’s world with the Roman Empire of the sixth and seventh centuries. This was a period of cultural decline, where barbarian invasions destroyed cities, libraries, laws and even governments. During this time, it was medieval monks, such as St. Benedict, who preserved and built up Western civilization. The monks did this by preserving ancient texts, saving agriculture in Europe and preaching the gospel.
Today, the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of the Apostles, are doing their part to build a civilization in the midst of cultural decay. And they do it using bitcoin. These traditional Catholic nuns are a monastic order that follows the Rule of St. Benedict and buy, receive and store bitcoin in cold storage on behalf of their monastery. They survive on self-sufficiency and financial support from around the world – they have nuns from Mexico, England, Germany, the Netherlands and Lithuania – making bitcoin their ideal money.
As I drove through the hills north of Kansas City, Missouri, on my way to the convent, I wondered, “What could possibly be the connection these nuns have to bitcoin?” Father Matthew Bartulica, chaplain of the monastery told me this way:
“Monastic life is probably the greatest example of short-term preference! It’s about passing on the traditions to future generations… This also has a huge impact on culture, because it’s not just about satisfying one’s immediate desires, but building a better future. Today’s world does not offer much hope because nothing is valued, partly because money is broken – just as it was in ancient Rome. The Benedictines helped rebuild civilization 1,500 years ago, and I believe that the life of the monastery is like a citadel, a popular term with bitcoiners, that will help rebuild civilization in the 21st century.”
Father Bartulica is the orange-pilled Catholic priest at the monastery. He ably references Dr. Saifedean Ammous, author of “The Bitcoin Standard,” on issues such as fiat architecture and fiat food. I was introduced to the priest by a mutual friend. “You are a Catholic interested in bitcoin…you have to meet this priest!”
It was Father Bartulica who set the sisters up with hardware wallets and taught them how to send, receive and get on the road to financial sovereignty. He is on a mission to convert local Catholic parishes to a bitcoin standard. So far, Mary’s Benedictines have been the most ready and able.
You can see some parallels between the bitcoin ethos and the way these nuns live. The sisters walk the walk by devoting their lives to the long term, even into the eternal. Following the “ora et labora” model, which means work and pray in Latin, they demonstrate low time preferences by praying eight times a day, growing their own produce and raising their own cattle and chickens. These nuns even release award-winning and soul-lifting songs and hymns.
Abbess Cecilia is the young and lively abbess in the monastery, and said it like this:
“What we are doing is building up civilization. We hang on to the church’s traditions and the traditions that built up Western culture. We are stable, we have order, we know what to do and we do it every day. We do it with love, with diligence.”
One thing I was immediately struck by when I visited the monastery is the brand new, awe-inspiring church that dominates the grounds. I expected to drive up to a modern, utilitarian building, as (disappointingly) might be expected from any average suburban church today. Instead, the sisters built an architecturally beautiful structure that includes hand-painted murals, Italian marble, vaulted ceilings and stained glass windows.
This was possible thanks to generous bitcoin donations made in 2017. These donations enabled the Benedictines to build a church for the ages without the burden of debt financing. Mother Cecilia described her first encounter with bitcoin in 2017:
“The [their bitcoin benefactors] knew we had a need to build the Church and, boy, did it help us! I mean, wow, what a blessing. Without that, I don’t know if we would still be paying off a loan on this beautiful building.”
So despite the reputation that bitcoiners may have as lousy hoarders, the generosity shone through and the nuns were able to sell the proceeds (tax free) for the purpose of building their church.
“We’ve had such beautiful success with several very large bitcoin donations to build this house of worship. If I were someone with funds, I’d want to help make tangible goods, not something thrown up to last 50 years; something that will last, something that will be passed down from generation to generation, to last for a thousand years, this beautiful monument to the glory of God. —Mother Cecilia
At first glance, it may seem incongruous to see traditional Catholic nuns embrace bitcoin – these are nuns who wear the full habit – but the technology has helped them see significant growth in their order of religious sisters.
Many young women have discovered the Benedictines of Mary by searching for Catholic monasteries online, and especially traditional Latin Masses. The Internet, and now the Bitcoin network, has also made it possible for generous benefactors around the world to easily play a role in the construction of a monastery. Their music has now been streamed over 3.5 million times on platforms such as Spotify; the sisters’ wise embrace of technology has paid off.
My favorite part of the trip, beyond the spiritual benefits, was seeing how many things the nuns do to prepare their own food. The sisters treated themselves to a lunch of vegetable and beef soup, homemade rolls and butter, all produced on site. The conversation was about honest money ideas, how the church could benefit from adopting bitcoin and the health benefits of raw milk.
“Who knows how to farm anymore? This is something we do and hopefully get better at every year, just self-sustaining. So we can work closely with the soil, the soil and God’s creation, and produce our own food right here. It is truly a beautiful thing.” — Mother Cecilia
Although foreign to many of us who live in the clown world, myself included, the desire to join the traditional religious life is growing. Each year the Benedictine Sisters host over 150 visiting women from around the world to witness the process of joining their order. Of these women, around 10 will take permanent vows. As a result, their place is bursting at the seams, and plans are in the works for a new monastery to be built in southern Missouri.
It may be the case that the importance of traditional religious organizations, such as the Benedictines of Mary, adopting bitcoin will become more essential as the creeds they profess become more deplorable among the mainstream. The sisters are known for their unpopularity in the eyes of our conformist culture and have even been the target of shootings in recent years. One can imagine this kind of animosity being used as justification to prevent an organization from using its own bank account, as in the Canadian truckers’ situation in early 2022 – even for a group of unassuming religious sisters.
While churches and monasteries exist to stand as a refuge against a declining culture, their own economy remains under the whims of artificial inflation and the traditional financial system. The permissionless nature of bitcoin ensures that these spiritual citadels can be immune to financial censors while interacting with the global monetary network. As long as they choose to adopt bitcoin.
The sisters accept bitcoin donations on their website.
This is a guest post by Andy Flattery. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.
