I don't think this is what Revelation 21:2 was referring to

New Jerusalem, Mexico, sounds a wee bit creepy (from today's edition of The Arizona Republic):

The bell towers and domes rise like a vision out of the sugarcane fields, a medieval city sprouting from the hills of western Mexico.

A 30-foot-high gate, complete with Disney-esque turrets, blocks the end of a winding road. Behind it, a massive cross and an 11-story tower loom over a statue of a knight in armor. Women in Renaissance garb parade through the streets, chanting prayers.

This is New Jerusalem, a theocracy where soccer balls are illegal, John F. Kennedy is a saint, freedom of religion doesn't exist and the end of the world is just around the corner. It is the largest and longest surviving of a string of traditionalist Catholic colonies that have sprung up around the world. But now, 35 years after its founding, things have gone terribly wrong in New Jerusalem, many residents say. Palace intrigues, purges and the deaths of the sect's spiritual leaders this year have left followers divided and confused.

The dogma has become increasingly bizarre, with apocalyptic deadlines that come and go and mysterious "seers" who order one monolithic construction project after another. At the same time, the Mexican government is trying to establish its control over the town, setting up a public school and sending in riot police to protect dissidents.

The divisions and outside pressures have weakened what was once a Catholic utopia, residents say. Its population has dropped from 8,000 to 3,000, and is rapidly aging.

It's easy enough, of course, to think of how strange and sad and whacky this is. Yet I can't help but think that the flip side of this sort of madness can be found in far too many Catholic institutions (especially, but not limited to, colleges and universities) in the United States, where sexual immorality is the norm, orthodox beliefs and practices are mocked, the dogma of relativism is strictly observed, and secular oligarchies are praised and toasted. "But," states the Revelator, "as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, as for murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their lot shall be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death." Lord have mercy.

Comments

[Michael Tinkler]

The difference is that people who go to school in college towns grow up and leave, with the exception of the faculty and the really maladjusted folks who stay (permanent residents of Chapel Hill, Athens, Austin, Berkeley, Madison, Ithaca, etc).

This reminds me more of what the Society of St John WANTED to become - a city on a hill.

[Jackson]

JFK a saint for traditionalists? Strange.