The Math Tutor
"I would come to math tutoring after school and Mr. Ludlow would sit next to me. During the tutoring session, he put his hand down my pants. I could see his face get red and he started breathing faster...."
This is a paraphrase from a man I know who was a 4th Grader at St. David's School back in the 1970s.
Mr. Ludlow taught at St. David's in the 1960s and early 1970s. Before coming to the school, he had been an active member of the Catholic Worker movement, writing in their publication and working with Dorothy Day.
He wrote once, "There are enough things binding us already under pain of mortal sin to not wish to multiply them, to place another burden on ourselves. Some of us might wish that the Commandments themsielves were rather a matter of counsel than of precept. But then again, in these matters, we have to abstract from our personal psychological makeup, as far as that is possible, and employ reason in attempting to determine what would be a right conscience" (The Catholic Worker, Vol XXII, No. 7, February 1956).
It's pretty hard to figure out what he's saying - and that's true in all the articles he wrote back then. Is he saying we are too burdened by ethical precepts ("Commandments")?
In his obituary in The Catholic Worker in January-February 1996, he is described as "A sweet old curmudgeon, crusty and opinionated."
He also writes a long article defining the positions of the Catholic Worker movement.
Current St. David's parents - especially hedge fund managers - might feel uncomfortable with this completely Marxist position.
At the same time, you also might want to vomit.
One the one hand, this man is fucking small boys.
On the other, he is writing "Persecution of any people is a serious sin and denial of free will."
Catholic Worker Positions
By Robert Ludlow
The general aim of the Catholic Worker Movement is to realize in the individual and in society the expressed and implied teachings of Christ....
The society in which we live and which is generally called capitalist (because of its method of producing wealth) and bourgeois (because of the prevalent mentality) is not in accord with justice and charity ... A just order would provide the necessities of life for all, and needs would determine what would be produced. From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs. Today we have a non-producing class which is maintained by the labor of others with the consequence that the laborer is systematically robbed of that wealth which he produces over and above what is need for his bare maintenance....
Capitalist society fails to take in the whole nature of man but rather regards him as an economic factor in production. He is an item in the expense sheet of the employer. Profit determines what type of work he shall do....
Capitalism is maintained by class war. Since the aim of the capitalist employer is to obtain labor as cheaply as possible and the aim of labor is to sell itself as dearly as possible and buy the products produced as cheaply as possible there is an inevitable and persistent conflict which can only be overcome when the capitalist ceases to exist as a class.
TO ACHIEVE THIS SOCIETY WE ADVOCATE:
A complete rejection of the present social order and a non-violent revolution to establish an order more in accord with Christian values. This can only be done by direct action since political means have failed as a method for bringing about this society. Therefore we advocate a personalism which takes on ourselves responsibility for changing conditions to the extent that we are able to do so....
We believe in a withdrawal from the capitalist system so far as each one is able to do so. Toward this end we favor the establishment of a Distributist economy wherein those who have a vocation to the land will work on the farms surrounding the village and those who have other vocations will work in the village itself. In this way we will have a decentralized economy which will dispense with the State as we know it and will be federationist in character as was society during certain periods that preceded the rise of national states.
We believe in the complete equality of all men as brothers under the Fatherhood of God. Racism in any form is blasphemy against God who created all mankind in His image and who offers redemption to all. Man comes to God freely or not at all and it is not the function of any man or institution to force the Faith on anyone. Persecution of any people is therefore a serious sin and denial of free will....
When we fight tyranny and injustice and the class war we must do so by spiritual weapons and by non-cooperation. Refusal to pay taxes, refusal to register for conscription, refusal to take part in civil-defense drills, non-violent strikes, withdrawal from the system are all methods that can be employed in this fight for justice.
http://old.catholicworker.org/aimsandmeanstext.cfm?Number=201
He also wrote poetry that I, personally, would have to describe as insane.
(The Catholic Worker, December, 1955)
There are no photos of Bob Ludlow on the internet. Maybe St. David's has a few in its archives?