Page 8 - Michael Journal March 2020

u Social Credit, with a monthly Dividend furnished more than thirty years after his death. They will al-
to every citizen, justified by the common inheritance ways remain relevant since Social Credit principles
of progress and natural resources, would be an emi- will forever remain valid and applicable to every eco-
nently efficacious way to assist one’s neighbour, nomic situation.
since it would help every person, particularly the This is why we do not hesitate to publish Louis
poorest amongst our neighbours. Even’s articles and essays in the journal, MICHAEL.
Louis Even not only had a genius for explaining Even though written decades ago, one would swear
Social Credit, but also had the great heart to make they were written recently because they reflect the
it known to others. In fact, Louis Even was already present situation so well. This is indeed proof that So-
putting into practice the teachings of the Church on cial Credit is a truth that transcends every era. In the
the role of the faithful thirty years before the role was forty years between 1934 and 1974, Louis Even wrote
articulated by the Second Vatican Council: to renew an extensive and general survey of Social Credit that
the entire temporal order so it was in conformity with would require an entire encyclopedia to reproduce!
the Gospel and the order desired by God. God created man with material needs, and He
Louis Even was a great Cath- also put on earth all that we require to satisfy these
olic who came from an exceptional needs. If millions of people are without food, clothing
family; he was the 14th of a family or shelter it is certainly not the fault of God! It is the
of 16 children. Six of his brothers fault of the defective financial system — and of those
and sisters entered religious com- who control it — that has interfered with a just distri-
munities and he became a Brother bution of the goods God created for the satisfaction
of Christian Instruction at the age of all human beings.
of 17, taking the name of Brother
Amaury Joseph (photo left). Social Credit is “applied Christianity”
Louis Even arrived in Can- When in 1935 Louis Even discovered what he
ada in 1903, when religious were called the “great light” of Social Credit he immediate-
forced out of France by an anticlerical government. ly recognized that the Dividend was the mechanism
He taught in the state of Montana in the U.S.A., then to incarnate the Christian principles of social justice in
in the Montreal area. In 1920, at the age of 35, he was the realm of economics, particularly relevant to each
released from his vows because he had become deaf person’s right to the use of material goods and the
and could no longer teach. (At that time, the modern distribution of daily bread to all. He made it his duty
hearing aid did not exist.) to make this known to all people.
God had plans for Louis Even. He was to launch Clifford Hugh Douglas once said that Social
a movement unique in the world, with a mission Credit could be defined by two words: applied Chris-
to overcome financial dictatorship, the Pilgrims of tianity. As has been discussed in previous issues of
St. Michael. From this mission, Louis Even’s teach- MICHAEL on Social Credit and papal teachings, a
ings are now spread throughout the world, through comparative study of Social Credit and the social doc-
the magazines, MI- trine of the Roman
CHAEL and VERS Catholic Church
DEMAIN. Millions shows how well
of booklets, trans- Douglas’ financial
lated into more proposals would
than ten differ- apply the Church’s
ent languages and teachings on so-
distributed free of cial justice.
charge, also dis- Louis Even
seminate his teach- knew the Church’s
ings. social teachings
Louis Even died and never missed
on September 27, an opportunity to
1974, the Feast of comment on them
French priest, St. in the light of the
Vincent de Paul, Social Credit pro-
the patron saint of posals. We Social
charitable works. Crediters know
His writings are God provides us with an abundance of goods. If we do not that money should
so brilliant that have access to the abundance it is because of bankers be an instrument
they remain topical and the governments who do their bidding of service, but the

10 MICHAEL January/February 2020 www.michaeljournal.org