... and these Thy gifts ... » pro-life

People of Faith, Stand Up and Be Counted

stef — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:23:31 +0000

These are exciting times. Religious persecution is a scary thing, I don’t think my children even fully grasp yet what is happening right now in the country, though we’ve explained it to them. But to see people of all faiths standing up for what is right, not just because it’s in our Constitution, but because it is God’s will, is encouraging and moving. I’m grateful to be living in this century.

Pastor Warren, of course, is the guy who interviewed Obama in 2008 on his thoughts about abortion and when life begins:

and delivered the invocation at Obama’s inauguration.

Hockey player Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins has spoken up too.

It’s an exciting time because you see not only Catholics you’ve long-respected and admired, but other, fellow Catholics who are speaking up for the faith, like psychotherapist Dr. Michael Ludwig:

But that’s not the end of it. The non-Catholics are speaking out too! (Hooray, humans for religious freedom!)

And of course our dear, faithful bishops. God bless them!

What’s funny is the normally pro-abort pro-contraception secular media, FOR ONCE!!, is with us on this one. We may not agree on many important issues of our day, but they still recognize religious persecution when they see it.

Indeed, it’s time to push back.

See, what some of the world does not get yet, is that there are those of us who actually care about humans, more than we care about sea turtle eggs (nothing against sea turtles, though you gotta admit they’re not as warm and huggable as a human baby).

Know what I mean? They’re just not as cuddly as, you know, humans.

If you’re not Catholic, and you’re not understanding the reason behind all the uproar, it’s because the main issue here is Not the PILL, it’s religious freedom. You don’t adapt to injustice, you oppose it. In that sense, we are all Catholics now.

If you’re a person of faith, you should be up in arms too, because some people can be very very deceptive about the truth, calling evil good. Some of them love abortion so much, being appointed Planned Parenthood’s new President is now equivalent to “a sacred duty”. Well yeah, it’s sacred alright. In an anti-Christ sort of way….

And what about our youth? Long have they been given the lie that the pill is “the answer”. But like most “magic band-aid solutions” that this government seems to think helpful, this mandate will only serve to increase cases like this one.

And then there are those who are you sold us out and then quit very conveniently right after. And you’re disappointed now? Really? You *knew* this was coming! We certainly did.

Another shocker! (Not.) Doug Kmiec “breaks up” with Mr. O, though we’ll have to wait and see on that one. Me not trusting him after 2008. :/

Our waters are already polluted, a contraceptive mandate will make more contraceptives available to even more people, and the assault continues on the few remaining farmers we trust to produce food that won’t kill us. But what we do we expect from the most anti-life administration ever, right?

Compromise schmompromise. Who do they think they’re kidding? Enough is enough! Enough of the CINOs! We’ve let way too many things pass. This army will not kneel to the HHS mandate!!

Saul and David

stef — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:32:48 +0000

A few short thoughts this morning before I get started on my mammoth list of to-dos:

Samuel’s message from God to Saul.

1 Samuel 15:22-23:

²²And Samuel said, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.²³ For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.

Obedience before sacrifice. God wants our obedience FIRST before anything else we may offer Him.

How is rebellion divination? It is an attempt to foresee into a future that we are incapable of seeing because of our limited view. We presume to know better and listen to another voice (our own) instead of seeking to do the Lord’s will. Easier said than done, it applies to every little thing we do in our day, in our lives. Starting the morning right — with Scriptures and prayer — leads to obedience, because we have listened FIRST before doing.

And for all of us who fight for life:

1 Samuel 17:45-47:

⁴⁵Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶ This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down, and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, ⁴⁷and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’S and he will give you into our hand.

God is on our side, we have nothing to fear. Victory, in God’s perfect time.

Further reflection:

I vaguely remember doing another blog post a couple of years ago maybe about this very same thing. This seems to be my constant struggle. To keep a firm focus upon my primary vocation as wife and mom. It is easy to get distracted by things that are also “good” and “noble” and “holy”… but in the end when I fail to serve the ones given to me to serve first, then I’m still not obeying as I should. And if I’m going to teach my kids that obedience to the Lord comes first before anything, I have to model this for them faithfully. In this case staying faithful to my calling is my Goliath.

CMR Does It Again: Truth in Advertising

stef — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 11:34:28 +0000

Planned Parenthood Signs

Laughing over morning ~~coffee~~ hot chocolate … funny, but OH-SO-SADLY-TRUE.

Life Begins

stef — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 17:13:44 +0000

… at fertilization. That’s the plain truth.

The (Forgotten) Paternal Instinct

stef — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 15:22:30 +0000

Over the last few days, my head has been swirling with thoughts about fathers. My hubby being gone a lot these days for work and scoutmaster training, we’ve noticed a change in the boys that can only be remedied by some intensive daddy time. Which is why I took all the boys — big and small — to the park yesterday and left them there for 2 hours while I ran errands. They went boating for an hour, threw frisbees and just hung out together. At this time in their lives my two older boys need their dad more than they need me. They’re young men eager to take on the world and I know it will take a man to mentor them from this stage to the next with as little damage as possible. Dads are good for that because they don’t get as emotional as Mom, and my boys need a good dose of manly, no-nonsense advice as well as the perspective that only a man who’s been there and gets it can give.

I’ve also been thinking about fathers because my Papa’s birthday is coming up. He’s turning 82 this year. We have indeed been blessed that he’s still very much active, putting around the house, cooking, tending his garden and growing all manner of beans and tomatoes and squash and bitter gourd. I always feel a bit nervous about fall and winter coming, recalling how in years past he’d found it difficult to stay put in a warm house, often preferring to brave the biting cold and slippery streets just so he can get out a bit and *do something*. Because that’s how he is. He does things. He keeps busy. And though I love that he’s able to nap whenever he wants to — one of the biggest privileges of being retired — I know in the wintertime he can’t wait for spring to arrive again so he can get back to his garden. Having written all that I am now thinking that what I need to do is hunt for a tiny farm hereabouts that we can perhaps share, if I can ever convince him and Mommy to move closer to us. We’ll have fun picking out seeds in the winter, since he’s grown to like catalogs and I’ll be happy to introduce him to more… I can try and get him interested in wintersowing perhaps… maybe even plant a winter garden. And if he wants to take a walk around the farm in the middle of winter I can drive him there myself so he won’t have to navigate sloping driveways or unplowed roads. Hey, a daughter can dream.

But getting back to fathers. The past weeks I’ve been reading so many books (this is what a homeschooling mom does when her boys devour books — she is compelled to pre-read them, even if she would normally forego science fiction and other non-Jane-Austen selections) and it seems lately there’s always a father figure in these books that’s missing… an absence that was keenly felt by the main characters, both fictional and non-fictional. An absence that clearly explains why certain choices had to be made, paths taken that otherwise would have been ignored or altogether gone unnoticed…. an absence that’s a growing reality in much of the world today.

My cousin has been posting pictures on Facebook. Several of them has my mother’s father’s smiling face in them. He passed away the day of my church wedding, seven hours before the ceremony. We were in sudden, deep mourning, and though it was a day to celebrate, we decided we just couldn’t dress up when Lolo was lying in the hospital and not going to wake up again, at least not here on earth. So we got married in jeans. Through my mother’s stories I have come to know the man even more than I knew him when he was living. Though my grandfather had faults of his own, I am mostly left with the profound realization that he was a man who sacrificed, and gave, and gave, and gave, until he hurt. I still tear up at the memory of his particular heartaches and physical sufferings…. earthly burdens that he often chose to downplay or shoulder quietly, for the good of many.

I am very much aware that my life is the way it is because of fathers who were FATHERS in every good sense of that word…. my own Papa, then my Lolo who lived with us the last four years of his life, and now my husband, whose daily actions constantly speak of commitment and caring and self-denial.

I think of great fathers I’ve known through the years…. fathers who relish every moment of being a parent, the ones that take pride in pulling out those 2×3-inch portraits of their children, the ones that tell you of their kids’ latest accomplishments in sports, or music, or academics; the ones who have lost jobs and now take their children to daily Mass; the ones who hang around at parties even when it’s mostly the moms that are there and the dads mostly end up lost in the storm of chatter; those who take jobs thousands of miles away, enduring loneliness and separation, just to provide for their families; those who are torn apart from their wives and children to defend and protect an all too often ungrateful country….

I’ve been thinking of wannabe fathers…. the ones that have always wanted kids, and yet were not gifted with any. The ones you just KNOW would make AWESOME dads, but it just didn’t happen for them. I think about the father who has been married 12 years and who finally got to hold his newly adopted daughter just a few months ago. I think of the father who was left by his wife, and now keep dreaming about children that might not come. I call him a “father” even though, technically speaking, he isn’t yet, because I know in his heart of hearts he already is, he’s just waiting for his dream to be born.

I also think of fathers who, for one reason or another, have a somewhat limited view of what fatherhood is and could be. The father who dotes on his three beautiful children, but who insisted on getting a vasectomy because he just didn’t think he could handle any more. The father who left his wife and four children to travel halfway around the world to father three more by another woman. What was going through their heads?

Naturally, the Holy Father has been a lot on my mind lately, especially as he visited England where he’s got quite a few wayward children . How his leadership is so, so needed by our world today. There are two words I often use to describe the fathers I’ve admired: GENTLE yet FIRM. They’re attributes that aren’t present in every dad, but blessed are the children that can describe their dads this way. Those two things are how I perceive Papa Benedict at any rate. Then, of course, there are the ones we’ve called “Father” through the years, these men who choose to live their lives in the service of Christ and His Bride, the Church. I’m tickled pink that I recently found (thank you, Google!) the priest who married us 20 years ago; he’s only 6 hours away. The last time we saw him we had one child. We kept in touch through letters for a while, but the last time I wrote him we had three children still. I can only imagine how pleased he will be when we present ourselves at his parish in Chicago, with two more…. one of these days, I hope.

This being “40 Days for Life”, I can’t help but think of the many, many fathers who have lost children through abortion. Often when I read articles or blog posts, I am struck by the overwhelming support for the mother…. regardless of whether the writer is pro-life or pro-abortion (funny how that works). Hardly, if ever, is the choice of the father mentioned. I’d like to believe that more men would step up to the plate and be the fathers their children need them to be, if only society would give them a fair chance. In working so hard to give women a “choice” (and there’s a good reason that word is in quotation marks), I fear we have left many men without any. The continued emasculation of our men fueled by the lie masquerading as “women’s reproductive health” is hurting us more than we care to admit.

It is a pity that we now have, in our world, what seems to be two distinct types of men: those who would embrace fatherhood and everything that that entails wholeheartedly, and those who shun it like it’s a dreaded disease. We purport to give women “freedom”, but we seem to have forgotten that women will always carry in their genes and in their hearts something that’s called maternal instinct. Whether we accept or deny it isn’t relevant, as it is imprinted in our very natures, like indelible ink that won’t scrub off no matter how many showers we take or how many drinks we down or how many pills we pop. Guess what? There’s such a thing as paternal instinct too — that undeniable yearning to beget an offspring: flesh of one’s flesh, blood of one’s blood. It is a desire that cannot be quenched by mindless sex, if there is indeed such a thing. It is still a wonder to me how in one breath we boast of being learned, modern intellectuals, supposedly holding our destinies in our own hands, and then in the next proclaim that we are mere animals, ruled by our passions, and that the only way we can minimize the “consequences” of our actions is through such artificial means as the pill, or failing that, the ultimate control freak’s weapon, abortion. No room for abstinence, no room for mastery of self.

That there is incredible pain in abortion seems to be unbelievable to a good loud segment of our society. But it really shouldn’t surprise, should it, given that what we tear away from women’s bodies isn’t a bunch of dead cells like our hair or our nails. It is a living, breathing organism that’s as much a part of us as, or rather even more so than our pinky or our ear. Given that this other person isn’t simply an extension of us, ourselves, but the extension of another human being as well, its father — is it any wonder that fathers hurt too? We all hurt.

I think we sell our men short when we either tell them we don’t want or need their children, or we don’t need them but for their seed, or we don’t need them at all, or when we deny them the very choice that we then demand is our right: to govern our bodies and those of our unborn. In insisting that we are masters of our own bodies and our babies’ we deprive our men of the freedom to be fully men. Too long we have yelled from the rooftops that we want freedom, freedom, freedom… refusing to understand that what we call freedom is that which enslaves us and that what we fear will tie us down will actually set us free. Too long we have expected men to give up responsibility and then we are disappointed and devastated when they do just that. We tell men that they can freely sow their seed, and leave to others the cultivating, the tending, the watering, and yes, if we so choose, the weeding, the exterminating. And when they champion the cause for extermination (because that’s what abortion is) that shocks us even more. But we cannot expect to reap what we did not sow.

How often I have seen immature men grow into mature adulthood by becoming a father. (Surprise, surprise, it happens to women too.) I’m not saying that that’s the sole purpose of children — to bring men to maturity, but it does happen. I say let our men be men. Let them be fathers. They just might surprise us.

More thoughts on men and fatherhood:

40 Days, Abortion and Men
On Father’s Day: Abortion Debate Should Include Forgotten Dads, They Hurt Too
Fatherhood Forever
Reclaiming Fatherhood
When Daddy’s Dream Died, Daddy Died Too
Cohabitation: Why Not?
Facing Life Head-On: Men Hurt Too
Fatherless America: Confronting Our Most Urgent Social Problem

And I am no rap fan, but this one contains a powerful message, one that needs to be heard.

Thou Shalt Not Kill: The Fifth Commandment in the Catechism

stef — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 14:00:02 +0000

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

2258 “Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains for ever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being.”

2260 The covenant between God and mankind is interwoven with reminders of God’s gift of human life and man’s murderous violence. The Old Testament always considered blood a sacred sign of life. This teaching remains necessary for all time.

2261 Scripture specifies the prohibition contained in the fifth commandment: “Do not slay the innocent and the righteous.” The deliberate murder of an innocent person is gravely contrary to the dignity of the human being, to the golden rule, and to the holiness of the Creator. The law forbidding it is universally valid: it obliges each and everyone, always and everywhere.

2268 The fifth commandment forbids direct and intentional killing as gravely sinful. The murderer and those who cooperate voluntarily in murder commit a sin that cries out to heaven for vengeance.

Infanticide, fratricide, parricide, and the murder of a spouse are especially grave crimes by reason of the natural bonds which they break. Concern for eugenics or public health cannot justify any murder, even if commanded by public authority.

2270 Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person – among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.

2271 Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law.

You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish. – Didache 2:2

God, the Lord of life, has entrusted to men the noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of themselves. Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes. – Gaudium et Spes – Pope Paul VI, 1965

2272 Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. “A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae,” “by the very commission of the offense,” and subject to the conditions provided by Canon Law. The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the parents and the whole of society.

2273 The inalienable right to life of every innocent human individual is a constitutive element of a civil society and its legislation:

The inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and the political authority. These human rights depend neither on single individuals nor on parents; nor do they represent a concession made by society and the state; they belong to human nature and are inherent in the person by virtue of the creative act from which the person took his origin. Among such fundamental rights one should mention in this regard every human being’s right to life and physical integrity from the moment of conception until death. The moment a positive law deprives a category of human beings of the protection which civil legislation ought to accord them, the state is denying the equality of all before the law. When the state does not place its power at the service of the rights of each citizen, and in particular of the more vulnerable, the very foundations of a state based on law are undermined. . . . As a consequence of the respect and protection which must be ensured for the unborn child from the moment of conception, the law must provide appropriate penal sanctions for every deliberate violation of the child’s rights.” – Donum Vitae, III

2274 Since it must be treated from conception as a person, the embryo must be defended in its integrity, cared for, and healed, as far as possible, like any other human being.

Prenatal diagnosis is morally licit, “if it respects the life and integrity of the embryo and the human fetus and is directed toward its safe guarding or healing as an individual. . . . It is gravely opposed to the moral law when this is done with the thought of possibly inducing an abortion, depending upon the results: a diagnosis must not be the equivalent of a death sentence.” – Donum Vitae, I

2275 “One must hold as licit procedures carried out on the human embryo which respect the life and integrity of the embryo and do not involve disproportionate risks for it, but are directed toward its healing the improvement of its condition of health, or its individual survival.”

It is immoral to produce human embryos intended for exploitation as disposable biological material. Certain attempts to influence chromosomic or genetic inheritance are not therapeutic but are aimed at producing human beings selected according to sex or other predetermined qualities. Such manipulations are contrary to the personal dignity of the human being and his integrity and identity” which are unique and unrepeatable. Donum Vitae I

Euthanasia

2276 Those whose lives are diminished or weakened deserve special respect. Sick or handicapped persons should be helped to lead lives as normal as possible.

2277 Whatever its motives and means, direct euthanasia consists in putting an end to the lives of handicapped, sick, or dying persons. It is morally unacceptable.

Life, in Sacred Scripture

stef — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 13:09:50 +0000

Children too are a gift from the Lord, the fruit of the womb, a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children born in one’s youth.
Blessed are they whose quivers are full. – Psalm 127:3-5

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. – Jeremiah 1:5

On you I depend since birth; from my mother’s womb you are my strenth; my hope in you never wavers. – Psalm 71-6

You shall not kill. – Exodus 20:13

You formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, so wonderfully you made me;
wonderful are your works!
My very self you knew;
my bones were not hidden from you,
When I was being made in secret,
fashioned as in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes foresaw my actions
in your book all are written down;
my days were shaped,
before one came to be. – Psalm 139:13-16

Can a mother forget her infant,
be without tenderness for the child of her womb?
Even should she forget,
I will never forget you. – Isaiah 49:15

[Scripture Passages from the New American Bible]

Want more?

The Bible’s Teaching Against Abortion, by Fr. Frank Pavone.

Prayer to God, the Father of All Life

stef — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 12:04:35 +0000

Eternal God, You have revealed Yourself as the Father of all Life.
We praise You for the Fatherly care which You extend to all creation, and especially to us, made in Your image and likeness.

Father, extend Your hand of protection to those threatened by abortion, and save them from its destructive power.
Give Your strength to all fathers, that they may never give in to the fears that may tempt them to facilitate abortions.

Bless our families and bless our land, that we may have the joy of welcoming and nurturing the life of which You are the source and the Eternal Father.
Amen.

40 Days for Life Begins September 22, Wednesday

stef — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 02:44:01 +0000

For Cincinnati area residents. The schedule is here if you’d like to sign up for a time slot.

There’s a weekly Friday night candlelight vigil from 7 to 9. This Friday is also Credo so we won’t be there. Hopefully next week we’ll be there if hubby is sufficiently recovered from his minor surgery.

If any homeschoolers are reading this and you’d like to join a group in praying at the PP on Auburn, e-mail me or comment here and I’ll provide you with details.

If you’re still not convinced this is something you need to get involved in, please take some time to watch this video, and then decide:

40 Days for Life at Keep God in America rally from David on Vimeo.

Pro-Life Doctor, Where Art Thou?

stef — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:55:35 +0000

Frustrating.

Looking for a pro-life doctor within an hour’s drive of Cincinnati who’s willing to order vaccines for us, not cultivated using aborted fetal cell lines.

We went back to our old pediatrician when we came back to Ohio. He doesn’t know a thing about aborted fetal cell lines and asked me to send him an e-mail with information. I sent it to him more than a month ago. No response.

Oldest dd saw a NAPRO doctor a week ago for a cyst issue and I find out he also does pediatrics. (I would have taken her to see my ob-gyn who is (mostly) pro-life, but they would have prescribed BCPs. No thanks.) Today I phoned to find out if he would order the pro-life vaccines for us, but no, his nurse hasn’t ever heard of this either. They do space out vaccines which is what some families I know do.

I googled “pro-life doctor Cincinnati” and found one in Dayton, about 45 minutes from here. Called his office. Disconnected. ~~Cannot find his info anywhere else online.~~ ETA: I found him!

Eight years ago when our then 2-month-old was diagnosed neutropenic, she had to stay away from vaccines for 1 1/2 years. A good thing because that was about the same time I learned about Children of God fo Life. I spent quite some time researching and decided that we needed a pro-life doctor to administer her next shots when the right time came. Four years ago we went back to Cincinnati and the first thing I looked for was such a doctor. I got 2 recommendations. One wasn’t taking new patients. One never responded to voice mail messages that I left. We ended up taking her to our old pediatrician, letting her receive the regular vaccines and just prayed that nothing untoward would happen and that we weren’t culpable — he did say the vaccines are now cultured “synthetically” — whatever that means. I’m not a science person so my understanding is limited. I’m concerned about both the religious and moral implications as well as the health implications, autism on the rise and all that….

~~So I’m still on the hunt. The “nearest” ones to us are a couple of hours away at least.~~

~~I may just have to opt for St. Louis, and time it for when we visit my folks.~~

Pro-life resources:

COG for Life
Pope Paul VI Institute
One More Soul

Gives A Whole New Meaning To “Blood Money”

stef — Sat, 01 May 2010 02:57:48 +0000

Largest Abortion Clinic in U.S., opening in 10 days — a building that used to house a bank. It’s even “cash-register shaped”. Goosebumps, anyone?

h/t: Red Cardigan/Erin.

Gendercide at The Economist

stef — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:13:54 +0000

I was at Costco today and while passing the magazine rack the cover of The Economist caught my eye. Quickly perused the article on Gendercide: The war on baby girls | Killed, aborted or neglected, at least 100m girls have disappeared—and the number is rising. I’m not a regular reader at all of The Economist, but this one is worth your time.

I’m admittedly curious about the kind of response this article would generate, particularly from pro-choice people. If it’s okay to abort babies, why wouldn’t it be okay to choose which babies should survive? And if it’s not right to decide which gender is allowed to survive, could it be that it’s not right to decide which lives are worth terminating either? If you think it’s okay for people to terminate a pregnancy, then you should also be completely okay with the thinking that females are expendable. And you should agree that when people are given the opportunity and the means to do away with a particular segment of the population, they WILL use that opportunity for whatever reason they deem appropriate.

This is just one consequence of the abortion and anti-family mentality, and its implications reverberate throughout.

Higher Learning Indeed

stef — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 06:12:27 +0000

Higher Learning? by Anne Hendershott

As the mom of a college student (and more coming in just a few years), I keep my eye open for articles such as this which I see as a “state of the nation” type of report.

As the mom of a previously-homeschooled college student, you can bet I still keep an eye open for whatever material my child is exposed to at school. Just because our oldest is now 18, a young adult — and very mature for her age, I think — that doesn’t mean our job of parenting and guiding her is over. If anything, we are trying to be ever more vigilant. The dangers are many and oftentimes sneakier. This is, of course, part of the “real world” (whatever that means) that she has to be exposed to, just because we can’t shelter our children forever. For our children to be effective harbingers of peace, justice and love in the world, it is sometimes necessary that they see the unrest, the injustice, the hatred that is around us in their rawest forms. Much as we’d like to continue to shield her from all of that, we realize it is futile, and perhaps harmful in the long term.

What worries me sometimes, and brings me to my knees, is the insidious nature of secular thought. I hate to sound paranoid but the fact is that you cannot let your guard down, even for one minute. This is not something to be complacent about. We have spent many years of our lives exposing our child to — hopefully — the true, the good, the beautiful… so that when faced with the lies and ugliness out there, she can distinguish the difference, and make choices in accordance with who she is: a loving child of God. The scary part is that these ugly lies are often cloaked in colorful, shimmering robes that attract and deceive. Sometimes they come full force, with malicious intent, but more often than not the root is something innocent (or ignorant), and can therefore be easily dismissed as nothing of consequence. And that is where we/she might make our/her biggest mistakes.

As we navigate the waters of college life, one thing we hope to maintain is that parent-child dialogue that, due to ever-busier schedules, is often hard to find time for. Beyond the usual “How was your day?” there still needs to be time for mother-child and father-child and father-mother-child talks. And so, in a way, the homeschooling hasn’t really ended. None of us have graduated yet. In just a few short months, we have had our eyes opened to this process of enculturation that goes on in the college world and beyond. It is a frightening thing to behold. But it’s also a challenging thing, and therefore exciting. Our college student is bringing home experiences and thoughts and ideas that we as a family need to put under a microscope and examine, with great care. I am thankful that she allows us this scrutiny and joins in with much enthusiasm and openness.

My concern right now with this particular child is achieving that balance… somewhere between letting go of this young adult who is stretching her wings and flapping them gently, more strongly by the day… and keeping just enough of a hold on her to keep her grounded, attached to the values and beliefs that she has leaned upon and cherished in her young life. I don’t want to hamper or hinder.

I wonder… if the awareness and the vigilance are there, would those be enough? It’s so easy to say, she’ll be fine, she’s a prayerful person, she loves God…. but looking at these politicians and seeing the fruits, I worry. Did their parents see this coming? Or did they see it coming but did not recognize it? Did they say to themselves, he/she’ll be fine — he/she is in a Catholic college/university and that’s *good enough*. Apparently for these people in office, it wasn’t.

Where I’ve Been (reading list)

stef — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 01:22:31 +0000

Mother’s Last Skin-to-Skin Goodbye Saves her 20 oz Baby

Bush Quietly Saved a Million African Lives

What Do You Want, an Engraved Dismissal?

We can’t have that…

Evangelization Training for Catholics: Learn to Share the Authentic Gospel Message!

license to exterminate our unborn

and this video — warning: may not be suitable for your children

US House Health Care Bill Online

stef — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:45:51 +0000

The whole document can be found here.

And you have guys like these, who think it’s too long to plow through, and therefore let’s just vote on it?

You know, my mom always used to say, “If you’re not sure, don’t.” Think Conyers et al. ever heard those words of wisdom? Apparently not.

From RTL: “The Congressional Budget Office is saying that this bill could increase the current federal budget deficit by $239 billion over the next 10 years, despite attempted “cost saving” revisions made to the bill last week.”

… I try not to worry about my children’s future in this country, but it’s difficult. And I’m not just talking about money here. I’m talking about the morally-depraved society/government that thinks abortion = health care.