Alderberg (Allie's version)

Alderberg. Huh. What is it good for? Here's my two bits.

The ugly truth

The Roman Catholic Church has been in a death spiral since the Blight.

It's not because nobody believes or goes to Mass any more; many of the countries where that was the problem in the 21st century are extinct now. It's because the GEO's two-child policy (which, requiring mandatory contraception, the Church has always and everywhere loudly opposed) and the Church's vows of celibacy don't mix. In practice, every religious vocation - every priest, friar, monk, and nun - means a permanent net loss of one Catholic in all future generations until the two-child policy is repealed.

Yes, the Roman Catholic Church could repeal the requirement for priestly celibacy; no, they won't. Undoing clerical celibacy would only slow the bleed; to actually maintain a stable population, they'd have to suppress all the religious orders as well, which is clearly unacceptable. What the Church will do is argue with the GEO about it, because the Church is old and powerful and fully expects to outlast the GEO.

In the meantime, the options are limited. They can adopt children, and are pressured to. They can convert people, and have never stopped trying, but movements between Christian denominations that are unremarkable today are serious in 2199 because everyone else (rightly) see the Roman Catholic Church as a parasite that can only grow at their expense. Any ecumenical ties forged in the 20th and 21st centuries died in the Blight.

It's not a good situation all around. And the Church is looking to Poseidon for the answer.

Roman Catholics have been planning to set up something like Alderberg since the Athena Project. As soon as Earth discovered that humans on Poseidon had survived and any Christianity they brought with them hadn't, the natives became a very hot mission field that Rome would have to compete for. Long John only intensified things.

In 2199, Poseidon is a planet of immigrants, and the Roman Catholic Church plans to become a key institution newcomers turn to for support. They have officiality, and the money to invest in a community that can't pay for itself, and any converts they make on Poseidon will be able to pass the faith on to more than two kids. Poseidon will let the Church break out of its death spiral and, in the medium term, grow again.

The Monastery is Benedictine

Since v1 the Monastery of St. John the Baptist has been described as a Dominican institution. This makes no sense at all, and it may change in Blue Planet: Recontact because I pointed it out to the writers. Dominicans don't have monasteries; the closest thing they have is a priory, which is structured very differently. (For one thing, Helena Rich, OP would never be either an Abbess or in a position of power on Poseidon. As a Second Order Dominican she wouldn't even be part of St. John the Baptist's at all; she'd be part of a convent on Earth, because the Second Order's job is to be mystics in convents and it's cruel to interrupt that with IMHS.)

Instead, my suggestion is that the Monastery of St. John the Baptist is a Benedictine double monastery. In this context, Abbess Helena Rich, OSB makes sense as a community leader: with that title she'd be in charge of at least the Abbey's women, maybe the entire Abbey. It'd be weird for her to be in charge of the men too, but Alderberg IS weird and there's nothing in the Rule of Benedict that prohibits that.)

Alderberg will pay for itself

Twenty years ago the Moderator's Guide said "it is unlikely the town will ever develop a significant economic base." Sed contra, there are compelling reasons not to be pessimistic, and all of them go back to Alderberg being Catholic.

You need Mass to be Catholic, and Mass means Stuff: chrism and incense and wafers and wine. Alderberg has a lot of priests, and they all need Stuff to celebrate Mass, even at the reduced frequency they're forced to endure for the moment. And right now, all of that Stuff has to be imported from Earth at considerable expense.

One of Alderberg's objectives is to end that logistical nightmare by setting up production of liturgical Stuff on Poseidon. The "agriculture" they're doing includes hydroponic vineyards for wine, a hydroponic olive grove for chrism, and a greenhouse with Boswellia and Commiphora trees. (Wheat they're going to have to look further afield for, because you can't really grow it hydroponically, but they are looking.) And all of that is horrifically expensive right now, and will be for at least a few years to come, because it involves trees, which take years of work before they can sustainably produce Stuff.

But ask yourself: is anyone else on Poseidon trying to establish a domestic wine industry yet? How about locally produced olive oil? Because if not, one day soon Alderberg's going to have a global monopoly on both commodities until someone else can invest the same kind of capital and time they did to get production started.

That sounds like it could make for a significant economic base indeed.