Monday, August 23, 2010

Why? Because I'm a Catholic Mom!





Note: I wrote this on my other blog in response to a conversation that was tossed on the table after a Baptism I attended.  I figured it had some insights, so I'd pass it on, but know that it's not directed at any of you, my dear and Faithful readers!:)

I took some heat this past weekend about my blog posts being "too political" and not being "worthy of a read" because of their political nature.  Fine.  I would like to justify why I post what I do.

I'm a stay at home Catholic Mom.  I homeschool my children for the exact same reason that I stay involved in the public square.  Because I'm a Catholic Mom.  I feel that being a Catholic witness publicly (and in our times, that means politically) is a vital part of my vocation.  I feel that I have a lot of messes to tidy up both in my home and out of it.  Look at all that is happening in this administration.  Even if you bury your head in your skirt, ladies, you can't help but feel the tension when you announce with your family or by your words that you are a practicing Catholic in this day and age.  I don't want to leave my children (that means my sons and my daughters) such a societal mess to inherit when I'm no longer to be so active (when they either lock me away in a nursing home if I'm lucky, or they euthanize me if I'm not lucky.)

I heard it reiterated again recently that if enough Catholics in this country practiced their Faith through their vote, the socially conservative issues for which we are to stand would not be "an issue" but would never have been brought to be.  Therefore, I do not blame even the politicians themselves so much for passing the vote needed to create the mess I inherited from the generation before me.  I blame in part...You guessed it...Catholic mothers....Hear me out.

If more Catholic mothers had stood up in the public square and decried abortion for the sin of murder that it is, our Nation wouldn't be stained with the blood of 245 million abortions (that's the latest estimate including chemical abortions from Pharmacists for Life).  If more Catholic mothers had tended to their homes and their families, and instructed them in the Faith, we wouldn't have failed politicians like Nancy Pelosi and Sean Hannity.  If more Catholic mothers had stood with their husbands and lived a true Catholic vocation in the image of Mary, we wouldn't have to fight the mockery of marriage that homosexuals are freely pushing for in our culture (with new advocates including conservative talk radio hosts Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Ann Coulter.)  One could almost be led to make the argument, that if more Catholic mothers trusted their husbands and married through discernment, women wouldn't have the vote at all, leaving out the whole fallacy of "voting for whom you feel is best" rather than who you are educated on to make the best choices for our nation...How do you think Obama got in in the first place???  A bunch of "well intentioned" obviously NON Catholic women!

So go ahead, don't read my blog posts.  Consider yourselves politicallly active to the point you are comfortable with.  If you wanted to hear the reasons why I am continuing to write in the vein I have been, that's pretty much the sum total of it.  I'll keep sporadically posting cutsie pics of my children and a few recipes, you could even convince me to not post politics on here at all.  But when my daughter turns to me with our nation crumbling around her ears and tells me she's going to the March for Life, or the March in Defense of Marriage, or writing yet another letter to the editor, or campaigning for the Catholic conservative politician in her town, or supporting the Crisis Care Pregnancy Center near her, or blogging on a failed culture, or even homeschooling her own children, I've already made up my mind not to give her anything but support for it. 

So if I offend you, or embarrass you with my political viewpoints or posts, I apologize.  That was never my intention.  I know that part of being both a good American and a good Catholic is to form my conscience, and to live by my Faith.  I stay involved in politics, actively involved, and I make it a point to keep my family (including both my male and female children involved.)  Because its part of who I am.  It's part of who Mike is.  And mostly because I want to be set apart, at least in my daughter's eyes, from yet another failed generation of Catholic mothers.

5 comments:

  1. Catholic Action is for both Catholic men and Catholic women. You are spot on, Patty: a valiant woman--your children will rise up and call you blessed. Saint Margaret Clitherow taught all of her children to be witnesses for the Faith in an anti-Catholic society; and we Catholic mothers must do the same today.

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  2. I agree. I was floored when I read in my latest venue "Catholic for a Reason II" an essay by Scott Hahn that directly related Mary, the Mother of Christ, back to Jael and Judith of the Old Testament. Both these O.T. heroines helped defeat enemies to the tribes of Israel, and were held up in their Jewish Faith as brave warriors. I never thought of Mary the Mother of God as a warrior, but I believe its fitting. Her fiat was an infinite sucker punch (if you'll pardon the expression!)

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  3. Amen Sistah! I wish I wrote and expressed myself half as well as you do! I agree with you 100% We owe it to our children to not be afraid to authentically live our faith. You've got me doing research now..GB, RL and AC are advocates of the homosexual agenda? What did I miss?

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  4. Yeah, Glenn Beck came out a couple weeks ago after being on the O'Reilly Factor show as not wanting to be against gay marriage because "it was no skin off his nose" (he made it sound better with a Jeffersonian quote, which I can't remember off hand, but you get the point:) Ann Coulter was a spokeswoman at the GOPride Convention advocating for this group who advocates for same sex marriage. And Rushy? This breaks my heart...He's all for gay civil unions, but not marriage...Ugh!
    It's just another way to stick it to social conservatives. We tolerate you because we need your vote, but there's too much money in abortion and same-sex marriage to really want us to take a stand against it.

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  5. Spot on. We can't divorce our faith from our culture...and culture is directly affected by politics. We are called as Christians to the defense of the innocent. I certainly don't see how we can do that by refusing to take part responsibly in the political debate. Our silence will condemn millions.

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