I have copied and pasted a local reader’s comment to one of my blog posts about employment and Catholics in Dickinson, North Dakota:

First of all, I did not say that your facts about how many jobs posted was incorrect.  I meant your facts about me, my family, and my life.  Second of all, here is another example where you need to open up that closed mind of yours.  You are absolutely correct that it is not the same as it was in 2011-2014.  But that does not mean that it is not picking up.

There is a big difference between then and now.  At that time we had such a huge influx of people and no housing, that of course the hotels were full.  Since then the housing market has caught up and more hotels have opened up, along with many people leaving when it slowed way down.

I don’t believe that job service has someone scouring the internet looking for jobs that have been posted. That would not be a good business practice. Again things have changed. Companies are holding job fairs, utilizing tv and radio, posting on social media.

I read your post to a business owner who says he won’t use job service. He had in the past and didn’t receive one application from there. It is starting to be an outdated service. Yes people network and of course they want someone they know to work along side them.  This is something that happens everywhere not just Dickinson.  In a different post, you complained about businesses in Watford City hiring lesbians. North Dakota is a right to work state and employers are not allowed to discriminate against you for your sexuality or religion. Also, in the end, a business owner is in it for the money, and will not hire someone they know if it is not a good business decision.

Alright and now the Catholics….. just let it go already.  You are grouping so many people into your bs prejudice.   Yes a very large part of the population here is Catholic. But they aren’t all out to get you.

You said something about how the settlers discouraged kids from higher education.  This is not true.  99% of these people were farmers.  The local schools went to 8th grade.  Once you finished that, you were expected to help out at home.  Many of these families had 10 plus children along with all the farm work.  Mouths need to be fed and work needed to be done. Again things today are very different than they were 100 years ago.

Now about the housing prices going up, this is simple supply and demand.  Anyone regardless of religion, race, sexuality, whatever would do the exact same thing.  If people are willing to pay it, they will charge it.  This would happen anywhere. There was also a comment about the Catholics having vacant land that could be used for low income housing or a homeless shelter.  These people bought this land and it is theirs to use how they see fit.  I highly doubt that anyone anywhere would just give up land so that apartments could be built.  If you want to buy it that’s a different story.  I assume you have a bed, why don’t you give it up to a homeless person tonight?

I wanted to post this reader’s comments, so that more people can read them.  The reader spent some time putting her thoughts together in these comments.  She wanted to express her point of view, and she wanted to disagree with many of the things that I wrote.

It would be useful for out of state workers who are considering moving to Dickinson, to read this local Dickinson woman’s comments.

There are just a few things that I want to explain to the author of the comments, Ali:

Yes, I have let a person in Dickinson that did not have a place to stay, stay where I live, when he did not have any money.  Eventually when he did got a job, his rent was based on how much he could afford to pay.  When his truck broke down, I let him borrow my new mountain bike, which he damaged, and I did not make him pay for it.  Because he used the same shower and bathroom as me, I got athlete’s foot fungus from him.  Helping people is sometimes inconvenient.  His name was Mike.

Mike was Catholic.  He went to Catholic Mass in Dickinson at least twice a week.  He tried every Catholic Church in Dickinson, Richardton, and Belfield, and at each Catholic Church, the people were very unfriendly to him.  I repeat, he went to every Catholic Church in Dickinson, Richardton, and Belfield, and at each Catholic Church, the people were very unfriendly to him.

At one Catholic Church service, the priest said, “Reach out and shake the hand of the person next to you in fellowship.”  When Mike reached out to shake the hand of the woman next to him, she scowled at Mike and stepped back from him.

At my home in Idaho, I have let a person stay in my home without paying rent or paying utilities for several months, because he did not have any money to pay.  It caused me some problems and inconvenience.

It does not hurt me financially to let people stay where I live, or stay in the home that I own.  I would still have to pay insurance, property tax, and utilities anyway.  I am not wealthy, and I don’t have a high income, yet I was willing and able to help others.  Besides the Biblical teaching “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, there is the common wise saying, “There but for the grace of God, go I”, which means, the same thing can happen to you.

Many of the property owners in Dickinson are financially well off, and their properties were long ago paid for.  They could have charged reasonable rent, or increased their rent by 100%.  The rent increases of 400% to 500%, are what the Bible refers to as “usury”.  “Usury” is lending money at interest, but as it is used in the Bible, it means any manner of taking advantage of others financially.

The Catholics in Dickinson committed Usury, a very bad sin, and no amount of denying it, or trying to justify it, changes the fact that it was Usury.