The economy of woman's work?

It has been a while since my last post and I have my husband to thank for prompting to write this one after a chat about a recent article my uncle wrote. In this particular piece my very talented and prolific uncle Dr. Ian McDonald was venting rightly placed anger regarding abuse and the overall undervaluing of women. (http://www.stabroeknews.com/2010/features/11/21/the-world-insult-to-women) One would be hard pressed to disagree with his frustration and disgust. He went on to summarize and support Professor Marilyn Waring's explanation that it is "patriarchal economic paradigms" that are largely to blame for this phenomenon.

Ms. Waring argues, “For me the patriarchal economic paradigm is the theory and practice of economics that says that women unpaid work is not worth anything at all. It’s not that I want to estimate its monetary value. I want to make it visible for policy-making, purposes, for fairness and equality. If you’re not visible as a worker, then you’re not visible in the distribution of benefits.”

Dr. McDonald goes on to concur with her and explains "If women as housewives and mothers were more visible economically, if the prodigious  volume of devoted work they do day in and day out was given official recognition, do you think, for instance, that such valuable actors in society would have to use up as much as 85 per cent of their daily calorie intake to fetch water and suffer, as they do in many rural areas of the world, from anaemia and spinal and pelvic deformities from carrying heavy pails for miles before their families rise in the morning? In such a case, if their true value was factored into national accounts, there is no doubt that the location of public sources of water would be very quickly improved. The fact is that if a woman’s work is given no value she will be treated worthlessly."

At the risk of seeming disrespectful of my uncle I must disagree with this and propose that there is a much deeper root to the lack of value given to women and to people in general who are so often treated as chattel, disposable and worthless. I would also like to suggest that this view not only risks to further devalue women but devalues parenting on a the whole.

First I do not believe that we can put a value to the role of motherhood and homemaking monetarily or as recognizable economically, be it by a mother or father. I believe the minute we try and put a price tag on it and make it a market variable we reduce it and objectify it like we do some many things today. How can you put a value on love, nurturing, caring, forming, supporting the ones you love? Does this not seem a little obscene? And what are we saying to those parents who are out of the home earning an income, that their parenting is done once they have finished their days work, or that they too should be compensated for coming home and caring for their wife and children, cleaning up messes, preparing meals, helping in the ongoing formation of their children and families? And how would we incorporate such things in an economic model?

Next I think that by saying that once we have given a monetary value or economic recognition to the work women do this will open oppressive, objectifying eyes to the worth of women does not go to the root of why women are abused, neglected, and "undervalued". In order for people to be respected and treated with dignity there must first exist a recognition of that human dignity and where that human dignity comes from. If a culture, community, nation does not acknowledge and protect the intrinsic God given human dignity of each and every individual soul, man, woman, and child, then how can we hope to nurture it. Quantifying a persons worth does not enhance dignity it objectifies human beings.

I think that the greater contributor to abuse, neglect and objectification of women and human life altogether is explained more aptly in looking at the contraceptive culture we live in which encourages women to become even more objectified. The minute we see pregnancy and child rearing as a burden rather than a gift we have devalued woman's dignity and human dignity. When we separate sex from its God given gift as a procreative activity we have reduced each other as mere objects of pleasure and have cemented even further the use of women, children, and even men, as less than human things to be discarded when they are no longer useful or wanted.

And let us not forget abortion as a contributor and tool to further devalue human beings. What does it say about a culture that can extinguish innocent lives at the rate of thousands a day. Is this a culture that really understands and protects the dignity of human life? If life at its most vulnerable and innocent stage can so easily be snuffed out why are we surprised at the wide scale under valuing of life at any stage? A culture that encourages women to abort children who may potentially be "handicapped", a culture that neglects its aging population and over medicates and under supports its elderly is not a culture that understands the dignity of human beings, and will not treat those weakest with caring and compassion, but rather with indifference and disdain.

 

God Bless,

Dominique

All Souls Day (another good one from www.fisheaters.com)

There is a Mexican saying that we die three deaths: the first when our bodies die, the second when our bodies are lowered into the earth out of sight, and the third when our loved ones forget us. Catholics forestall that last death by seeing the faithful dead as members of the Church, alive in Christ, and by praying for them -- and asking their prayers for us -- always. Cardinal Wiseman wrote in his Lecture XI: Sweet is the consolation of the dying man, who, conscious of imperfection, believes that there are others to make intercession for him, when his own time for merit has expired; soothing to the afflicted survivors the thought that they possess powerful means of relieving their friend. In the first moments of grief, this sentiment will often overpower religious prejudice, cast down the unbeliever on his knees beside the remains of his friend and snatch from him an unconscious prayer for rest; it is an impulse of nature which for the moment, aided by the analogies of revealed truth, seizes at once upon this consoling belief. But it is only a flitting and melancholy light, while the Catholic feeling, cheering though with solemn dimness, resembles the unfailing lamp, which the piety of the ancients is said to have hung before the sepulchres of their dead. Though we should daily pray for the dead in Purgatory, above all for our ancestors, today is especially set aside for hanging that "unfailing lamp before the sepulchres of our dead" as we are told to do by Sacred Scripture: II Machabees 12: 43-46 And making a gathering, [Judas] sent twelve thousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection, (For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead,) And because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with godliness, had great grace laid up for them. It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins. At the three Masses offered today, the glorious Sequence "Dies Irae" (also used in Requiem Masses, i.e., Masses for the Dead) will be recited after the Epistle, Gradual, and Tract ("Dies Irae" means "Day of Wrath"). Between Noon of November 1 and Midnight tonight, a person who has been to confession and Communion can gain a plenary indulgence, under the usual conditions, for the poor souls each time he visits a church or public oratory and recites the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Glory be to the Father six times. This is a special exception to the ordinary law of the Church according to which a plenary indulgence for the same work can be gained only once a day. Because of this, some of the customs described below may be begun on All Saints Day. Also, the faithful who, during the period of eight days from All Saints Day, visit a cemetery and pray for the dead may gain a plenary indulgence, under the usual conditions, on each day of the Octave, applicable only to the dead. Here is a simple invocation for the dead, called the "Eternal Rest" prayer: Eternal rest grant unto him/her (them), O Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon him/her (them). May he/she (they) rest in peace. Amen. Latin version: Réquiem ætérnam dona ei (eis) Dómine; et lux perpétua lúceat ei (eis). Requiéscat (Requiéscant) in pace. Amen. Catholics also pray this prayer for the dead anytime throughout the year, and whenever they pass a cemetery. Many families pray a Rosary nightly for the dead throughout the Octave of All Saints, replacing the Fatima prayer with the Eternal Rest prayer. Customs It is practically universal folk belief that the souls in Purgatory are allowed to return to earth on All Souls Day. In Austria, they are said to wander the forests, praying for release. In Poland, they are said to visit their parish churches at midnight, where a light can be seen because of their presence. Afterward, they visit their families, and to make them welcome, a door or window is left open. In many places, a place is set for the dead at supper, or food is otherwise left out for them. In any case, throughout the Octave of All Saints, our beloved dead should be remembered, commemorated, and prayed for. During our visits to their graves, we spruce up their resting sites, sprinkling them with holy water, leaving votive candles, and adorning them flowers (especially chrysanthemums and marigolds) to symbolize the Eden-like paradise that man was created to enjoy, and may, if saved, enjoy after death and any needed purgation. Today is a good day to not only remember the dead spiritually, but to tell your children about their ancestors. Bring out those old photo albums and family trees! Write down your family's stories for your children and grandchildren! Impress upon them the importance of their ancestors! Bring to their minds these words from Ecclesiasticus: Ecclesiasticus 44:1-15 Let us now praise men of renown, and our fathers in their generation. The Lord hath wrought great glory through his magnificence from the beginning. Such as have borne rule in their dominions, men of great power, and endued with their wisdom, shewing forth in the prophets the dignity of prophets, And ruling over the present people, and by the strength of wisdom instructing the people in most holy words. Such as by their skill sought out musical tunes, and published canticles of the scriptures. Rich men in virtue, studying beautifulness: living at peace in their houses. All these have gained glory in their generations, and were praised in their days. They that were born of them have left a name behind them, that their praises might be related: And there are some, of whom there is no memorial: who are perished, as if they had never been: and are become as if they had never been born, and their children with them. But these were men of mercy, whose godly deeds have not failed: Good things continue with their seed, Their posterity are a holy inheritance, and their seed hath stood in the covenants. And their children for their sakes remain for ever: their seed and their glory shall not be forsaken. Their bodies are buried in peace, and their name liveth unto generation and generation. Let the people shew forth their wisdom, and the Church declare their praise. As usual with big Catholic Feast days, food is involved with the day, with many Catholic families having picnics near their loved ones' graves. Traditional foods include "Soul Food" --- food made of lentils or peas. Basic Split Pea Soup (serves 4) 1 cup chopped onion 2 cloves garlic (optional) 1 teaspoon vegetable oil  or bacon grease 1 pound dried split peas 1 pound ham bone 1 c. chopped ham 1 c. chopped carrots (optional) salt and pepper to taste In a medium pot, sauté onions in oil or bacon grease. (Optional: add garlic and sauté until just golden, then remove). Remove from heat and add split peas, ham bone and  ham. Add enough water to cover ingredients, and season with salt and pepper. Cover, and cook until there are no peas left, just a green liquid, 2 hours. (Optional: add carrots halfway through) While it is cooking, check to see if water has evaporated. You may need to add more water as the soup continues to cook. Once the soup is a green liquid remove from heat, and let stand so it will thicken. Once thickened you may need to heat through to serve. Serve with either sherry or sour cream on top, and with a crusty bread. In Italy, the sine qua non of All Souls' celebrations is a cookie called "Ossi di Morto," or "Bones of the Dead": Ossi di Morto 1 1/4 cups flour 10 oz almonds 1/2 cup sugar 1 oz pine nuts 1 TBSP butter A shot glass full of brandy or grappa The grated zest of half a lemon Cinnamon One egg and one egg white, lightly beaten Blanch the almonds, peel them, and chop them finely (you can do this in a blender, but be careful not to over-chop and liquefy). Combine all the ingredients except the egg in a bowl, mixing them with a spoon until you have a firm dough. Dust your hands and work surface with flour, and roll the dough out between your palms to make a "snake" about a half inch thick. Cut it into two-inch long pieces on the diagonal. Put on greased and floured cookie sheet, brush with the beaten egg, and bake them in a 330-350 oven for about 20 minutes. Serve them cold. Because they are a dry, hard cookie, it is good to serve these with something to drink. In Mexico "Dia de Los Muertos" (Day of the Dead) is celebrated very joyfully -- and colorfully. A special altar, called an ofrenda, is made just for these days of the dead (1 and 2 November). It has at least three tiers, and is covered with pictures of Saints, pictures of and personal items belonging to dead loved ones, skulls, pictures of cavorting skeletons (calaveras), marigolds, water, salt, bread, and a candle for each of their dead (plus one extra so no one is left out). Chicanos will make a special bread just for this day, Pan de Muerto, which is sometimes baked with a toy skeleton inside. The one who finds the skeleton will have "good luck." This bread is eaten during picnics at the graves along with tamales, cookies, and chocolate. They also make brightly-colored skulls out of sugar to place on the family altars and give to children. Below are recipes for those skulls and for Pan de Muerto: Sugar Skulls 2 cups powdered sugar 1 egg white 1 TBSP. corn syrup 1/2 tsp. vanilla 1/3 cup cornstarch colored icing 1 fine paintbrush Sift powdered sugar. Mix the egg white, corn syrup, and vanilla in a very clean bowl, then add the powdered sugar with a wooden spoon. When almost incorporated, start kneading with the tip of your fingers until you can form a small ball. Dust with cornstarch on board. Keep on kneading until smooth, then form into skull shapes. Let dry completely, then paint with colored icing, including the names of the people you are giving them to. Pan De Muerto (makes two loaves) 1 tablespoon active, dry yeast 1/4 cup of lukewarm water 4 to 5 cups all-purpose flour and extra flour for dusting 1 teaspoon of salt 1/4 teaspoon of fresh grated nutmeg 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature 3/4 cup white sugar 6 extra large eggs at room temperature zest of 1 orange 2 tablespoons orange blossom water 3 tablespoons Sambuca liqueur (optional) 1 egg for egg wash 2 tablespoons of water for egg wash 1/4 cup water for brushing bread 1/2 cup white sugar for dusting Glaze: 1/2 cup sugar 1/3 cup fresh orange juice 2 tablespoons grated orange zest In a small bowl combine the water, yeast, 1/3 cup of flour, mix well and let it stand until it doubles in volume. In a large bowl mix the flour, salt, nutmeg and set aside. In a large bowl with a whisk mix the butter and sugar until creamy color. In a medium bowl mix the eggs, orange blossom water, orange zest (and Sambuca, optional). Set aside. With a whisk, incorporate the egg mixture 1/3 at the time to the butter mixture. Incorporate the yeast mixture to the butter/egg mixture. Add the flour mix 1/3 at the time and work it with a wooden spoon until it incorporates. Dust the working counter and your hands with flour and transfer the dough to the counter. Start working the dough by folding it with a scraper. It should be sticky. Keep dusting dough with flour and folding in order to firm it up. Once it firms up, continue to dust with flour and start kneading. Knead the dough by pulling then folding it back and forth for 3 minutes. Then lightly dust the dough and continue working for another 3 minutes and dust again until the dough is smooth and a little sticky, but don't add large amounts of flour at once or your bread my have flour traps. As it firms up continue to knead for 15 minutes. Don't worry if the dough is slightly sticky - it will change after you let it rest. When you're finished kneading form it into a loose ball and cinch it closed. Flip it over and transfer the dough into a large greased bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature until it doubles in volume. Flour your knuckles and punch down the dough so it deflates and turn it onto a floured counter. Divide the dough into 3 portions. Punch down 2 portions of dough, fold and cinch dough then flip over and shape each one into a ball. Place the 2 balls of dough on a baking tray with parchment paper. Press both dough balls down to make them flat. Divide the last portion into three more portions. Make 2 of the 3 portions into little balls. Cut the last piece of dough in half and roll one portion of that piece into a long rope. Cut the rope in half and then cut one of the halves into smaller segments. Mould each segment to look like little bones by rolling and pinching them. Trim the edges with your pastry scraper and set them aside on baking tray. Form small tear-shaped pieces with the other segment of rope. Roll out the last piece of excess dough into 2 long ropes and another ball and set all pieces on baking sheet. You may not have enough dough for this, but if you do, simply make another small loaf. Cover with a dry cloth and let rest in a warm place for an hour or when it doubles in volume. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Let the dough rest until it almost doubles in size. Then very carefully brush the round loaves with egg wash. Immediately place and press the "bones" and "the tears" onto each loaf before the egg wash dries. And place the smaller dough balls on top of each. Glaze each loaf with egg wash. Decorate the extra remaining ball with the last 2 pieces of rope and finish off with small tears. Place the decorated loaves in the oven, turn down to 350º F and bake for 15 minutes. Turn the tray around and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes or until bread is brown. Pull bread out of the oven when it is ready and cool loaves on cooling wire racks for 10 minutes. Mix glaze ingredients, apply glaze all over the bread with a pastry brush, then immediately dust each loaf with sugar. Let it rest for 10 minutes. Serve warm. Readings Tales from The Golden Legend's "The Commemoration of All Souls" By Jacobus de Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa, A.D. 1275 ...It is read that some fishers of S. Thibault that fished on a time in harvest, and took a great piece of ice instead of a fish. And they were gladder thereof than of a fish, because the bishop had a great burning of heat in his leg, and they laid that ice thereto and it refreshed him much. And on a time the bishop heard the voice of a man in the ice, and he conjured him to tell him what he was. And the voice said to him: I am a soul which for my sins am tormented in this ice, and may be delivered if thou say for me thirty Masses continually together in thirty days. And the bishop emprised to say them, and when he had said half of them he made him ready to continue forth and say the other. And the devil made a dissension in the city, that the people of the city fought each against other, and then the bishop was called for to appease this discord, and did off his vestments and left to say the Mass. And on the morn he began all new again. And when he had said the two parts, him seemed that a great host had besieged the city, so that he was constrained by dread, and left to say the office of the Mass. And after, yet he began again service, and when he had all accomplished except the last Mass, which he would have begun, all the town and the bishop's house were taken by fire. And when his servants came to him, and bade him leave his Mass, he said: Though all the city should be burnt, I shall not Ieave to say the Mass. And when the Mass was done the ice was molten, and the fire that they had supposed to have seen was but a phantom and did no harm. There was a master which was chancellor at Paris named Silo, which had a scholar sick, and he prayed him that after his death he should come again to him and say to him of his estate. And he promised him so to do, and after died. And a while after he appeared to him clad in a cope written full of arguments fallacious, and sophisms, and was of parchment, and withinforth all full of flame of fire. And the chancellor demanded him what he was. And he told to him: I am such one that am come again to thee. And the chancellor demanded him of his estate, and he said: This cope weigheth on me more than a mill-stone or a tower, and it is given me for to bear, for the glory that I had in my sophisms and sophistical arguments, that is to say, deceivable and fallacious. The skins be light, but the flame of fire withinforth tormenteth and all to-burneth me. And when the master judged the pain to be light, the dead scholar said to him, that he should put forth his hand and feel the lightness of his pain. And he put forth his hand, and that other let fall a drop of his sweat on it, and the drop pierced through his hand sooner than an arrow could be shot through, whereby he felt a marvellous torment. And the dead man said: I am all in such pain. And then the chancellor was all afeard of the cruel and terrible pain that he had felt, and concluded to forsake the world, and entered into religion with great devotion. As S. Augustine saith: Sometimes souls be punished in the places where they have sinned, as appeareth by an ensample that S. Gregory reciteth in the fourth book of his Dialogues, and saith that there was a priest which used gladly a bath, and when he came in to the bath he found a man whom he knew always ready for to serve him. And it happed on a day, that for his diligent service and his reward, the priest gave to him a holy loaf. And he weeping, answered: Father, wherefore givest thou me this thing? I may not eat it for it is holy. I was sometime lord of this place, but after my death, I was deputed for to serve here for my sins, but I pray thee that thou wilt offer this bread unto Almighty God for my sins, and know thou for certain that thy prayer shall be heard, and when then thou shalt come to wash thee, thou shalt not find me. And then this priest offered a week entire sacrifice to God for him, and when he came again he found him not. And Peter, abbot of Cluny, saith that there was a priest that sung every day Mass of requiem for all Christian souls, and hereof he was accused to the bishop, and was suspended therefor of his oflice. And as the bishop went on a day of great solemnity in the churchyard, all the dead arose up against him, saying: This bishop giveth to us no Mass, and yet he hath taken away our priest from us, now he shall be certain but if he amend he shall die. And then the bishop assailed the priest, and sang himself gladly for them that were passed out of this world. And so it appeareth that the prayers of living people be profitable to them that be departed, by this that the chanter of Paris rehearseth. There was a man that always as he passed through the churchyard he said De Profundis for all Christian souls. And on a time he was beset with his enemies, so that for succour he leapt into the churchyard. And they followed for to have slain him, and anon all the dead bodies arose, and each held such an instrument in his hand that they defended him that prayed for them, and chased away his enemies, putting them in great fear. There was a knight that lay dead and his spirit taken from him, and a while after the soul returned to the body again. And what he had seen done he told, and said there was a bridge, and under that bridge was a flood, foul, horrible, and full of stench, and on that other side of the bridge was a meadow, sweet, odorous, and adorned full of all manner of flowers. And there on that side of the bridge were people assembled, clad all in white, that were filled with the sweet odour of the flowers. And the bridge was such that if any of the unjust would pass over the bridge, he should slide and fall into that stinking river, and the righteous people passed over lightly and surely into that delectable place. And this knight saw there a man named Peter, which lay bound and great weight of iron upon him, which when he asked why he lay so there, it was said to him of another: He suffereth because if any man were delivered to him to do vengeance, he desired it more to do it by cruelty than by obedience. Also he said he saw there a pilgrim that, when he came to the bridge, he passed over with great lightness and shortly, because he had well-lived here and purely in the world, and without sin. And he saw there another named Stephen, which when he would have passed, his foot slid that he fell half over the bridge, and then there came some horrible black men and did all that they might to draw him down by the legs, and then came other right fair creatures and white, and took him by the arms and drew him up. And as this strife endured, this knight that saw these things returned to his body and knew not which of them vanquished. But this way we understand that the wicked deeds that he had done strove against the works of alms, for by them that drew him by the arms upward it appeared that he loved alms, and by the other that he had not perfectly lived against the sins of the flesh. Like as S. Gregory recounteth, in the fourth book of his Dialogues, that one of his monks named Justus when he came to his last end, he showed that he had hid three pieces of gold, and thereof sorrowed sore, and anon after he died. And then S. Gregory commanded his brethren that they should bury his body in a dunghill, and the three pieces of gold with him, saying: Thy money be to thee in perdition. Nevertheless, S. Gregory commanded one of his brethren to say for him every day mass, thirty days long, and so he did. And when he had accomplished his term, the monk that was dead appeared on the thirtieth day to one which demanded how it was with him, and he answered to him: I have been evil at ease unto this day, but now I am well. I have this day received Communion, and thie sacrifice of the altar profiteth not only to them that be dead, but also to them that be living in this world. It happed there was a man which was with others, laboured in a rock for to dig for silver, and suddenly the rock fell on them and slew them all save this one man, which was saved in a crevice of the rock, but for all that he might not issue ne go out, and his wife supposed that he had been dead, and did do sing every day a Mass for him, and bare every day to the offering a loaf and a pot of wine and a candle. And the devil which had envy thereat appeared three days continually to this woman in form of a man, and demanded her whither she went, and when she had said to him, he said to her: Thou goest in vain, for the Mass is done. And thus she left the Mass three days that she did not sing for him. And after this another man digged in the same rock for silver, and heard under this the voice of this man, which said to him: Smite softly and spare thine hand, for I have a great stone hanging over my head. And he was afeard, and called more men to him for to hear this voice, and began to dig again, and then they heard semblably that voice, and then they went more near and said: Who art thou? And he said: I pray you to spare your smiting, for a great stone hangeth over my head. And then they went and digged on that one side till that they came to him and drew him out all whole. And they enquired of him in what manner he had so long lived there. And he said that every day was brought to him a loaf, a pot of wine, a candle, save these three days. And when his wife heard that, she had great joy, and knew well that he had been sustained of her offering, and that the devil had deceived her that she had do sing no Mass those three days. And as Peter, the abbot of Cluny, witnesseth and saith that, in the town of Ferrara in the diocese of Grationopolitana, that a mariner was fallen into the sea by a tempest, and anon a priest sang Mass for him, and at the last he came out of the sea all safe. And when he was demanded how he escaped, he said that when he was in the sea and almost dead, there came to him a man which gave to him bread, and when he had eaten he was well comforted, and recovered his strength, and was taken up of a ship that passed by. And that was found that it was the same time that the priest offered to God the blessed sacrament for him. ...a solemn doctor which rehearseth that, there was a woman which had her husband dead, and she was in great despair for poverty. And the devil appeared to her, and said that he would make her rich if she would do as he would say to her, and she promised to do it. And he enjoined her that the men of the church that she should receive into her house, that she should make them do fornication. Secondly, that she should take into her house by daytime poor men, and in the night drive them out void, and having nothing. Thirdly, that she should in the church let prayers by her jangling, and that she should not confess her of none of all these things. And at the last, as she approached towards her death, her son warned her to be confessed, and she discovered to him what she had promised, and said that she might not be shriven, and that her confession should avail her nothing. But her son hasted her, and said he would do penance for her. She repented her, and sent for to fetch the priest, but tofore ere the priest came, the devils ran to her and she died by the horribleness of them. Then the son confessed the sin of the mother and did for her seven years penance, and that accomplished he saw his mother, and she thanked him of her deliverance. And in likewise avail the indulgences of the Church. It happed that a legate of the pope prayed a noble knight, that he would make war in the service of the church and ride to the Albigeois, and he would therefor give pardon to his father which was dead. And the knight rode forth, and abode there a whole Lent, and that done his father appeared to him more clear than the day, and thanked him for his deliverance. Whereof is read that when a knight lay in his bed with his wife, and the moon shone right clear which entered in by the crevices, he marvelled much wherefore man which was reasonable obeyed not to his Maker, when the creatures not reasonable obeyed to him. And then began to say evil of a knight which was dead, and had been familiar with him; and then this knight, of whom they so talked, entered into the chamber and said to him: Friend, have none evil suspicion of any man, but pardon me if I have trespassed to thee. And when he had demanded him of his state, he answered: I am tormented of divers torments and pains, and especially because I defouled the churchyard and hurt a man therein, and despoiled him of his mantle which he ware, which mantle I bear on me and is heavier than a mountain. And then he prayed the knight that he would do pray for him. And then he demanded if he would that such a priest should pray for him, or such one, and the dead man wagged his head, and answered not, as he would not have him. Then he asked of him if he would that such a hermit should pray for him, and then the dead man answered: Would God that he would pray for me. And the living knight promised that he should pray for him, and then the dead man said: And I say to thee that this day two years thou shalt die, and so vanished away. And this knight changed his life into better and at the day slept in our Lord. As Turpin the archbishop of Rheims saith, that there was a noble knight that was in the battle with Charles the Great for to fight against the Moors, and prayed one that was his cousin that if he died in battle, that he should sell his horse and give the price thereof to poor people. And he died, and that other desired the horse and retained it for himself. And a little while after, he that was dead appeared to that other knight, shining as the sun, and said to him: Cousin, thou hast made me to suffer pain eight days in purgatory, because thou gavest not the price of my horse to poor people, but thou shalt not escape away unpunished. This day devils shall bear thy soul into hell, and I being purged go into the kingdom of heaven. And suddenly was a great cry heard in the air, as of bears, lions, and wolves, which bare him away. Then let every executor beware that he execute well the goods of them that they have charge of, and to beware by this ensample heretofore written, for he is blessed that can beware by other men's harms. And let us also pray diligently for all Christian souls, that by the moyen of our prayers, alms, and fastings, they may be eased and lessed of their pains.

All Saints' Day (All Hallows' Day, or "Hallowmas") (again thanks to www.fisheaters.com)

This is a Holy Day of Obligation on which we celebrate the Church Triumphant -- all the Saints in Heaven, canonized or unknown. After Noon today, and until Midnight tomorrow, a person who has been to confession and Communion can gain a plenary indulgence, under the usual conditions, for the poor souls in Purgatory (who will be commemorated tomorrow) each time he visits a church or public oratory and recites the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Glory be to the Father six times. This is a special exception to the ordinary law of the Church according to which a plenary indulgence for the same work can be gained only once a day. Some of the grave-visiting customs described on the entry for All Souls Day, then, may begin today in some places. In anticipation of All Souls' Day tomorrow, when night comes on this day, we darken the room, light a candle blessed at Candlemas, and pray the Rosary for our dead. Praying the 129th Psalm (the De Profundis) and/or the Litany of the Saints would also be lovely. You can download the Litany, in Microsoft Word .doc format, in English or in Latin. You can also download the following reading for All Saints' Day -- St. Gregory Thamaturgus (b. A.D. 213) -- in Microsoft .doc format by clicking here (2 pages).   Reading On All the Saints By St. Gregory Thamaturgus Grant thy blessing, Lord. It was my desire to be silent, and not to make a public display of the rustic rudeness of my tongue. For silence is a matter of great consequence when one's speech is mean. And to refrain from utterance is indeed an admirable thing, where there is lack of training; and verily he is the highest philosopher who knows how to cover his ignorance by abstinence from public address. Knowing, therefore, the feebleness of tongue proper to me, I should have preferred such a course. Nevertheless the spectacle of the onlookers impels me to speak. Since, then, this solemnity is a glorious one among our festivals, and the spectators form a crowded gathering, and our assembly is one of elevated fervour in the faith, I shall face the task of commencing an address with confidence. And this I may attempt all the more boldly, since the Father requests me, and the Church is with me, and the sainted martyrs with this object strengthen what is weak in me. For these have inspired aged men to accomplish with much love a long course, and constrained them to support their failing steps by the staff of the word; and they have stimulated women to finish their course like the young men, and have brought to this, too, those of tender years, yea, even creeping children. In this wise have the martyrs shown their power, leaping with joy in the presence of death, laughing at the sword, making sport of the wrath of princes, grasping at death as the producer of deathlessness, making victory their own by their fall, through the body taking their leap to heaven, suffering their members to be scattered abroad in order that they might hold their souls, and, bursting the bars of life, that they might open the. gates of heaven. And if any one believes not that death is abolished, that Hades is trodden under foot, that the chains thereof are broken, that the tyrant is bound, let him look on the martyrs disporting themselves in the presence of death, and taking up the jubilant strain of the victory of Christ. O the marvel! Since the hour when Christ despoiled Hades, men have danced in triumph over death. "O death, where is thy sting! O grave, where is thy victory?" Hades and the devil have been despoiled, and stripped of their ancient armour, and cast out of their peculiar power. And even as Goliath had his head cut off with his own sword, so also is the devil, who has been the father of death, put to rout through death; and he finds that the selfsame thing which he was wont to use as the ready weapon of his deceit, has become the mighty instrument of his own destruction. Yea, if we may so speak, casting his hook at the Godhead, and seizing the wonted enjoyment of the baited pleasure, he is himself manifestly caught while he deems himself the captor, and discovers that in place of the man he has touched the God. By reason thereof do the martyrs leap upon the head of the dragon, and despise every species of torment. For since the second Adam has brought up the first Adam out of the deeps of Hades, as Jonah was delivered out of the whale, and has set forth him who was deceived as a citizen of heaven to the shame of the deceiver, the gates of Hades have been shut, and the gates of heaven have been opened, so as to offer an unimpeded entrance to those who rise thither in faith. In olden time Jacob beheld a ladder erected reaching to heaven, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon it. But now, having been made man for man's sake, He who is the Friend of man has crushed with the foot of His divinity him who is the enemy of man, and has borne up the man with the hand of His Christhood, and has made the trackless ether to be trodden by the feet of man. Then the angels were ascending and descending; but now the Angel of the great counsel neither ascendeth nor descendeth: for whence or where shall He change His position, who is present everywhere, and filleth all things, and holds in His hand the ends. of the world? Once, indeed, He descended, and once He ascended,--not, however, through any change of nature, but only in the condescension of His philanthropic Christhood; and He is seated as the Word with the Father, and as the Word He dwells in the womb, and as the Word He is found everywhere, and is never separated from the God of the universe. Aforetime did the devil deride the nature of man with great laughter, and he has had his joy over the times of our calamity as his festal-days. But the laughter is only a three days' pleasure, while the wailing is eternal; and his great laughter has prepared for him a greater wailing and ceaseless tears, and inconsolable weeping, and a sword in his heart. This sword did our Leader forge against the enemy with fire in the virgin furnace, in such wise and after such fashion as He willed, and gave it its point by the energy of His invincible divinity, and dipped it in the water of an undefiled baptism, and sharpened it by sufferings without passion in them, and made it bright by the mystical resurrection; and herewith by Himself He put to death the vengeful adversary, together with his whole host. What manner of word, therefore, will express our joy or his misery? For he who was once an archangel is now a devil; he who once lived in heaven is now seen crawling like a serpent upon earth; he who once was jubilant with the cherubim, is now shut up in pain in the guard-house of swine; and him, too, in fine, shall we put to rout if we mind those things which are contrary to his choice, by the grace and kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power unto the ages of the ages. Amen.

Hallowe'en (courtesy of www.fisheaters.com)

31 October and 1 and 2 November are called, colloquially (not officially), "Hallowtide" or the "Days of the Dead" because on these days we pray for or remember those who've left this world. The days of the dead center around All Saints' Day (also known as All Hallows') on November 1, when we celebrate all the Saints in Heaven. On the day after All Hallows', we remember the saved souls who are in Purgatory being cleansed of the temporal effects of their sins before they can enter Heaven. The day that comes before All Hallows', though, is one on which we unofficially remember the damned and the reality of Hell. The schema, then, for the Days of the Dead looks like this:   31 October: Hallowe'en: unofficially recalls the souls of the damned. Practices center around the reality of Hell and how to avoid it. 1 November: All Saints': set aside to officially honor the Church Triumphant. Practices center around recalling our great Saints, including those whose names are unknown to us and, so, are not canonized 2 November: All Souls': set aside officially to pray for the Church Suffering (the souls in Purgatory). Practices center around praying for the souls in Purgatory, especially our loved ones       The earliest form of All Saints' (or "All Hallows'") was first celebrated in the 300s, but originally took place on 13 May, as it still does in some Eastern Church es. The Feast first commemorated only the martyrs, but came to include all of the Saints by 741. It was transferred to 1 November in 844 when Pope Gregory III consecrated a chapel in St. Peter's Basilica to All Saints (so much for the theory that the day was fixed on 1 November because of a bunch of Irish pagans had harvest festivals at that time). All Souls' has its origins in A.D. 1048 when the Bishop of Cluny decreed that the Benedictines of Cluny pray for the souls in Purgatory on this day. The practice spread until Pope Sylvester II recommended it for the entire Latin Church. The Vigil of, or evening before, All Hallows' ("Hallows' Eve," or "Hallowe'en") came, in Irish popular piety, to be a day of remembering the dead who are neither in Purgatory or Heaven, but are damned, and these customs spread to many parts of the world. Thus we have the popular focus of Hallowe'en as the reality of Hell, hence its scary character and focus on evil and how to avoid it, the sad fate of the souls of the damned, etc. 1 How, or even whether, to celebrate Hallowe'en is a controversial topic in traditional circles. One hears too often that "Hallowe'en is a pagan holiday" -- an impossibility because "Hallowe'en," as said, means "All Hallows' Evening" which is as Catholic a holiday as one can get. Some say that the holiday actually stems from Samhain, a pagan Celtic celebration, or is Satanic, but this isn't true, either, any more than Christmas "stems from" the Druids' Yule, though popular customs that predated the Church may be involved in our celebrations (it is rather amusing that October 31 is also "Reformation Day" in Protestant circles -- the day to recall Luther's having nailed his 95 Theses to Wittenberg's cathedral door -- but Protestants who reject "Hallowe'en" because pagans used to do things on October 31 don't object to commemorating that event on this day). Some traditional Catholics, objecting to the definite secularization of the holiday and to the myth that the entire thing is "pagan" to begin with, refuse to celebrate it in any way at all, etc. Other traditional Catholics celebrate it without qualm, though keeping it Catholic and staying far away from some of the ugliness that surrounds the day in the secular world. However one decides to spend the day, it is hoped that the facts are kept straight, and that Catholics refrain from judging other Catholics who decide to celebrate differently. For those who do want to celebrate Hallowe'en, customs of this day are a mixture of Catholic popular devotions, and French, Irish, and English customs all mixed together. From the French we get the custom of dressing up, which originated during the time of the Black Death when artistic renderings of the dead known as the "Danse Macabre," were popular. These "Dances of Death" were also acted out by people who dressed as the dead. Later, these practices were moved to Hallowe'en when the Irish and French began to intermarry in America. From the Irish come the carved Jack-o-lanterns, which were originally carved turnips. The legend surrounding the Jack-o-Lantern is this: There once was an old drunken trickster named Jack, a man known so much for his miserly ways that he was known as "Stingy Jack," He loved making mischief on everyone -- even his own family, even the Devil himself! One day, he tricked Satan into climbing up an apple tree -- but then carved Crosses on the trunk so the Devil couldn't get back down. He bargained with the Evil One, saying he would remove the Crosses only if the Devil would promise not to take his soul to Hell; to this, the Devil agreed. After Jack died, after many years filled with vice, he went up to the Pearly Gates -- but was told by St. Peter that he was too miserable a creature to see the Face of Almighty God. But when he went to the Gates of Hell, he was reminded that he couldn't enter there, either! So, he was doomed to spend his eternity roaming the earth. The only good thing that happened to him was that the Devil threw him an ember from the burning pits to light his way, an ember he carried inside a hollowed-out, carved turnip.   And when you carve up your pumpkin, keep the seeds to roast! Here's a recipe: Roasted Pumpkin Seeds 2 cups pumpkin seeds (approx.) 2 TSP melted butter or oil  (approx.) Salt to taste Optional: garlic powder; cayenne pepper; seasoned salt; Worcestershire Sauce; Cajun seasoning; or Hot Spice Mix (1/2 tsp. Tabasco sauce, 1 tsp. cayenne pepper, 1/2 tsp. cumin, 2 tsp. chili powder) Preheat oven to 300° F. Toss pumpkin seeds in a bowl with the melted butter or oil and any optional ingredients of your choice. Spread pumpkin seeds in a single layer on baking sheet. Bake for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and crispy. Store airtight. Option: If you roast them without any of the above optional flavorings, you can now flavor them Spicy-Sweet by doing this: Heat a TBSP of peanut oil in a skillet, add 2 TBSP sugar, and the seeds. Cook the pumpkin seeds over medium high heat for about 1 minute or until the sugar melts and starts to caramelize. Place pumpkin seeds in a large bowl and sprinkle with this mixture: 3 TBSP sugar, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. ginger, and a pinch of ground cayenne pepper. From the English Catholics we get begging from door to door, the earlier and more pure form of "trick-or-treating." Children would go about begging their neighbors for a "Soul Cake," for which they would say a prayer for those neighbors' dead. Instead of knocking on a door and saying the threatening, "Trick-or-treat" (or the ugly "Trick-or-treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat"), children would say either: A Soul Cake, a Soul Cake, have mercy on all Christian souls for a soul cake! or Soul, soul, an apple or two, If you haven't an apple, a pear will do, One for Peter, two for Paul, Three for the Man Who made us all. While Soul Cakes were originally a type of shortbread, it is said that a clever medieval cook wanted to make Soul Cakes designed to remind people of eternity, so she cut a hole in the middle of round cakes before frying them, thereby inventing donuts! Fresh plain cake donuts would be a nice food to eat on this day. Cake Doughnuts (makes 20) 2 quarts canola oil 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting 1/4 cup sour cream 1 1/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising) 3/4 cup granulated sugar 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 1/2 tsp coarse salt 1 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg 1 packet active dry yeast or 0.6 ounces cake yeast 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons nonfat buttermilk 1 extra-large whole egg 2 extra-large egg yolks 1 tsp pure vanilla extract 1 1/4 cups nonmelting or confectioners' sugar 1. Heat oil in a low-sided six-quart saucepan over medium-high heat until a deep-frying thermometer registers 375°. Lightly dust a baking pan with all-purpose flour, and line a second one with paper towels; set both aside. 2. Meanwhile, place sour cream in a heat-proof bowl or top of a double boiler; set over a pan of simmering water. Heat until warm to the touch. Remove from heat; set aside. 3. In a large bowl, sift together all-purpose flour, cake flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. Make a large well; place yeast in center. Pour warm sour cream over yeast, and let sit 1 minute. 4. Place buttermilk, whole egg, egg yolks, and vanilla in a medium bowl; whisk to combine. Pour egg mixture over sour cream. Using a wooden spoon, gradually draw flour mixture into egg mixture, stirring until smooth before drawing in more flour. Continue until all flour mixture has been incorporated; dough will be very sticky. 5. Sift a heavy coat of flour onto a clean work surface. Turn out dough. Sift another heavy layer of flour over dough. Using your hands, pat dough until it is 1/2 inch thick. Using a 2 3/4-inch doughnut cutter, cut out doughnuts as close together as possible, dipping the cutter in flour before each cut. Transfer doughnuts to floured pan, and let rest 10 minutes, but not more. 6. Carefully transfer four doughnuts to hot oil. Cook until golden, about 2 minutes. Turn over; continue cooking until evenly browned on both sides, about 2 minutes more. Using a slotted spoon, transfer doughnuts to lined pan. Repeat with remaining doughnuts. 7. Gather remaining dough scraps into a ball. Let rest 10 minutes; pat into a 1/2-inch-thick rectangle. Cut, let rest 10 minutes, and cook. 8. When cool enough to handle, sift nonmelting sugar over tops; serve immediately. (Recipe from Martha Stewart). Other customary foods for All Hallows' Eve include cider, nuts, popcorn, and apples -- best eaten around a bonfire or fireplace! Another Hallowe'en custom is the old Celtic "bobbing for apples." To do this, fill a large tub two thirds full with water and float apples in it. Children take turns trying to pick up one of the floating apples using only their mouths (hands are not allowed and must be held or tied behind the back!) -- very tricky to do! The first to do so wins a prize (some say he will be the first one to marry someday). You can make the game more fun by carving an initial into the bottom of each apple, letting that initial indicate the name of the person each apple-bobber will marry, and/or using different colored apples with different assigned meanings or prizes. (You can play a dry version of this game by tying the stems of the apples to strings and suspending them. If you do this, carve any initials at the tops of the apples. Of course, all of this sort of thing is a parlor game and should never be taken seriously or cross the line into divination!). ...and tell scary stories! If you want the perfect poems to relate to your children on this day, see Little Orphant Annie, The Raven, The Stolen Child, and the Wreck of the Hesperus. And here are those poems and some stories for you to download in Microsoft Word .doc format: Little Orphant Annie by James Whitcomb Riley (2 pages) The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe (3 pages) The Stolen Child by William Butler Yeats (2 pages) The Wreck of the Hesperus by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow (3 pages) The Monkey's Paw, by W. W. Jacobs (11 pages) The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson (5 pages) The Tell Tale Heart, by Edgar Allan Poe (4 pages) The Cask of Amontillado, by Edgar Allan Poe (7 pages) The Masque of the Red Death, by Edgar Allan Poe (5 pages) The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving (22 pages) After teaching your children about the frightening realities of Hell and the fate of the damned, reassure them by telling them that the Evil One has already been conquered! Satan has no real power over those who are in Christ, and mocking him and his minions is a way of demonstrating this; teach your children how to call on the power of Christ and His Church to protect themselves from their snares. Warn them that magic (the art of performing actions beyond the power of man with the aid of powers other than the Divine) is real, that there is no such thing as "white magic," that playing with the occult -- whether by divination, necromancy, the casting of spells, playing with Ouija boards, etc. -- is an invitation to demons to respond, and that it is from demons that magic gets any power it has. Remember St. Michael to them, teach them about the power of sacramentals and prayers that ward off evil when piously used (the Sign of the Cross, Holy Water, blessed salt, the Crucifix, the St. Benedict Medal, St. Anthony's Brief, etc.), teach them to call on the Holy Name of Jesus when they are afraid, etc. And please pray to all the Saints that they might intercede and bring pagans and witches to Christ so they might know the peace that comes from knowing that God loves them so much that He allowed Himself to take on a human nature, to suffer, and to die for them..

Vietnamese Man Saves Kids from Abortion by Adopting – 80 of Them!

PS Some thoughts on fairness and Careerism.

I am not sure if there is such a word as careerism. Don't know if I heard it said or if it just seemed to sound about right when thinking about vocations to family. I have not bothered to look it up because whether it is a word or not is of no import as I will explain what I mean by it and in so doing give you the definition of it as I see it.

In my previous post I talked about population decline and the brave new world we live in. Part of that discussion touched on women in the work force and the impact a woman choosing a career path has on the number of children she is likely to have, on population and on family. This part of the post actual came from a debate that took place between myself and a few other women on the issue of career versus family and why women had to choose between the two and men did not. Some of the women found it unreasonable and unfair that this should be the case. They argued that it was because of short sighted social attitudes and by extension a lack of effective social policy. Oh were it that simple! If only we could just throw a little public policy, and public money, and correct all the perceived injustices in our societies! But just because a segment of society perceives an injustice does that make something an injustice? Here are some examples of possible perceived injustices that my girlfriend Alane and I came up with that we might want to try and fix with a little social policy and public money.

• while people sunburn and black people don't (and if they do not nearly as quickly and it does not look nearly as bad)
• my daughter and husband have beautiful singing voices and I don't 
• I know many people who are much faster runners than I am
• my friend Jocelyn is a much better cook than I am
• my friend Alane plays many musical instruments, she is gifted and I am not
• my sister is a wonderful painter and I am not
• I have several friends who have much more money than I do
• One of our friends is a multi millionaire.
• My friend Thea can knit a baptismal gown and I cannot
• I know people who speak five or more languages, I only speak three
• etc, etc, etc,

I could go on with the list but I think you get where I am going with this. There are plenty of things in life that seem unfair, but just because they seem unfair does not make them worthy of massive social engineering and social outcry. As Alane quite rightly put it, "Oh come on, get over it, for crying out loud!"

When talking about choices between career and family I only very briefly touched on something which I would now like to expound upon a little. I mentioned that one rarely sees male CEOs of companies who were also devoted, dedicated husbands and fathers. They may have a child or two but their lives are pretty much tied to their careers, because that is what it takes to be the best in any given career. This is the danger and, I believe, inevitable trapping of careerism.

Careerists are very different from those who are dedicated to being good at what they do. A careerist is someone who has come to define themselves by the success or failure of their career, for whom their career is their life! All that they do, all that they are is based on how well they succeed in their given career. In the end a careerist serves his/her career first, at the expense of all else, sometimes even life itself.

Our culture promotes this, it applauds this, it feeds this. How many times have you heard someone say, "my work is my life" "my career is my whole world." This is all is quite sad, and even sadder when the person saying it is a mother or father.

What is the purpose and end of work? Well depending on who you talk to there will be varying answers. I believe that the purpose and end of work has always been to provide for and care for your family and yourself. I think it is important that you get some satisfaction in the work you do, and I think that if you can find work that can be rewarding and enjoyable as well as provide for your family that is great. I am not advocating that we should suffer miserably and unnecessarily in our chosen profession, not at all. But I do think that once you are spending all of your quality time and energy devoting it to your profession at the expense of time spent nurturing and caring for your family you have allowed yourself to be dangerously side tracked into careerism.

Culturally we have lost sight of what is truly important, men and women alike. I think one of the reasons why a career seems so appealing to women is that they watch men virtually abandon their families for the sake of, greater career opportunities, public acclamation, peer adulation, more status, more money, etc, and with seemingly no consequences. People talk about how history remembers so and so, and their successes, and sometimes their failure. We talk about how so an so will be remembered in the annals of history for their great successes. But really who cares. Does it mean that the great historical figure has lead a better life than the person who fathered/mothered children to become good people who went on to have families who themselves were good and caring people and so on. Who really has the greater legacy?

Many of these great successful men have wives who have made a choice to stay home and care for their families so that their husbands can pursue their careers. And in some cases men have chosen to stay home with the children while their wives go out and pursue their careers. I would say that if it is unfair for a woman to be expected to stay home and essentially bring up her children by herself, it is just as much unfair for her to expect her husband to go it alone while she goes off to "fulfill herself" through her career.

It is a sad statement of how truly lost we are when we need a career to feel fulfilled. When we cannot find fulfillment it caring for our families, helping to guide our children, being companions and helpers to our mates. True fulfillment, I believe, can only be found in taking the time to commune with God and discern what he is calling you to. And that may very well be to a profession, but it certainly would not be to a professional life that would pull you away from your vocation as husband and father, or wife and mother.

So while it may seem unfair to some that women have to make the choice between career and family, as it may seem unfair that some people have green eyes while others do not, fairness really is not the issue is it? The issue I believe is truly about the difference between what we should do and what we want to do, what is best for our families as opposed to what seems best for our wants. Only in recent decades have we seen women have doors open to them, career opportunities made available to them, that have never been before and instead of taking the time to truly discern a life's vocation we have gone clamoring right behind so many men making all the same mistakes that they have been making. We are wanting to make many of the same selfish sacrifices. How unoriginal!

 Who do you think is more fulfilled?

God Bless,
Dominique

Alice Demo Dancing Under the Gallows H264 No TCB

God is dead and our populations are dying!

For more than a century we have heard the Malthusians tell us about the dangers and damage an ever growing population would do to our societies, to our environment, to the Earth. In recent decades we've heard about the depletion of our natural resources from environmentalists, we heard about the social strain of increasingly denser populations by some economists, we have heard about the dangers of growing pollution to our world if we did not curb the growth of our populations world wide. But little mention was made until recent year of the dangers and harm of the opposite. Only in recent years are we becoming more and more aware of the reality of declining birth rates.

If we look at what has been happening in parts of Asia where there have been government imposed limits on family size. Singapore is now looking at a fertility rate of 1.1 which is so far below the replacement rate that there is little likelihood they will be able to pull it back up again. So what does this mean? Well is means that we are looking at a population that is essentially dying! And what will happen as the aging population ceases to be able to work and there are not enough young people to sustain care for this population? I shudder to think, in a society where abortion and infanticide was the means of choice to reduce their population it does not take much mental gymnastics to imagine a viable means for decreasing the aging population.

When we talk about replacement rates we are referring to the number of children per woman, on average, necessary for a population to replace itself. That is, for a society to maintain a level in the work force to sustain the economy, and in societies that are dependent on government funded programs to care for those who cannot care for themselves to sustain the tax base to run said programs. If the fertility rate falls below replacement rate then there is cause for concern.



In a recent New York Times article "As Populations Change a chance for younger Nations" by Ted C. Fishman author of   “Shock of Gray: The Aging of the World’s Population and How It Pits Young Against Old, Child Against Parent, Worker Against Boss, Company Against Rival and Nation Against Nation,” outlines for us some of these concerns. One of them is how to care for our aging population. In other words if our younger population is out numbered by the aging populations who will provide for the care necessary for them? The other concern is the economy. An aging workforce is a workforce that will struggle to keep up in a global economy. "The globalization of the economy is accelerating because the world is rapidly aging, and at the same time the pace of global aging is quickened by the speed and scope of globalization. These intertwined dynamics also bear on the international competition for wealth and power. The high costs of keeping our aging population healthy and out of poverty has caused the United States and other rich democracies to lose their economic and political footing. Countries on the rise amass wealth and geopolitical clout by refusing to bear those costs. Older countries lose work to younger countries." 

Immigration while an immediate aid for declining fertility rates in rapidly aging countries, in turn harm those countries from which young people are emigrating. Case in point, says Fishman is Spain and Ecuador. Of course, immigration for one country means emigration from another — and an older population left behind. Spain, which rivals Japan as the world’s oldest country, was for much of the 20th century one of the youngest nations in the West. Before 2000, it had virtually no foreign-born residents. Today, nearly 12 percent of Spain’s population is foreign born. Among the arrivals are hundreds of thousands of Ecuadoreans (many of them female caregivers for elderly Spanish) whose absence at home increases the median age of Ecuador’s population. More than one in 10 Ecuadoreans has left in search of work, and the loss of so many of the country’s youngest and most enterprising workers means Ecuador has little chance of developing. Recently, its president initiated the Welcome Home Program to lure emigrants back with tax breaks and money to start businesses. 


So as people in the environmental movements continue to cry about the need for population control and tell developing nations to forgo industrialization because they need to be responsible for the environment, as the Al Gore's and James Cameron's tell us all to live with less and have less children while they own millions of dollars worth of property and vehicles for families of two, let us spend some time thinking of the legacy we will be leaving behind! I suppose if one loves nature more than humanity the idea of less humans and more nature is not so bad, and for some of these people that is exactly what is the goal. Let us rid the world of the scourge that is humanity so that nature can thrive!


In their rush to decrease the rate of growth of populations nations have used various methods. It is agreed that some of the main reasons for a decline in population replacement and of aging populations are the following: growth in wealth, urbanization (it is harder to have big families in urban areas because the higher cost of living), increase in family planning through contraception and abortion, and more women going onto higher education and entering the work force and waiting to have children until after they have established a career. Barbara Kay argues Read more: http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/10/20/barbara-kay-the-coming-demographic-crisis-%E2%80%94-too-much-school-not-enough-babies/#ixzz13UNm5aDr

The lie of many of these modern movements is a better life of all, but it is in reality motivated by a desire to make life better for fewer, the fewer enlightened. Along with this lie are the lies to rationalize the extermination of some members of society so that others may thrive. In the past decades we have seen nations, including our own, justify the whole scale slaughter of millions of babies in the name of  "women's reproductive rights" and a world where "babies are wanted". Some nations implementing actual government imposed initiatives to reduce family sizes to one child per family at the cost of an entire generation of an unnatural male to female ratio. The elderly, sick and disabled are being viewed and treated like burdens to both themselves and their families and being offered Euthanasia as a reasonable alternative to being said burdens. In other words humans are treated as means to an end, are objectified, are dehumanized, so that a few can live in the kind of world that they have reasoned is best.

Should we be surprised? NO! In their book "Architects of the Culture of Death" Donald de Marco and Benjamin Wiker go to great lengths to explain the origins of the kind of culture that makes the above seem reasonable and justifiable. They go all the way back to the likes of Schopenhauer, Darwin, Marx, Sartre, and many more who through have varying interpretations of human nature all share something fundamental in common. They have chosen to extract God from the picture and by so doing have promulgated the dehumanization of humanity. He says that human beings freed from God as these architects would have us, man created by a natural force rather than from God in his own image is then free to define salvation for himself. "The new doctrine of salvation is, to say the least, multifaceted--salvation by the expression of naked instinct, by sexual indulgence, by bloody proletarian revolution, by raw acts of the will, by population control, by contraception, by scientism, by eugenics, and on, and on...Indeed we could well define modernity as the ongoing depersonalization of humanity, the attempt to reduce human beings to the subhuman, not only according to some abstract definition, but also in regard to ever aspect of humanity. The origin of life has become depersonalized by the ever expanding technological displacement of natural procreation by unnatural mechanical methods of conception. Sexuality thus torn from its proper expression, as the unitive procreative  consummation of marriage, has been reduced to pleasure seeking where others and even oneself become mere objects...(H)umane treatment of human beings (is no different) than humane treatment of animals, so that it becomes an equivalent act of mercy to "put down" the elderly and suffering human beings in the same way and for the same reason as we put down elderly and suffering pets." 

What a brave new world we live in! The challenge then becomes how do we reverse the trend? Can we? Kay says that in her research governments have had great success at promoting and implementing population reduction but despite some nations efforts the opposite has not been the case. How do you tell people in a world of self interest as self fulfillment that "oops we were wrong, you need to go back to believing in God, you need to start recognizing self sacrifice as a good, you need to start having big families again and give up career aspirations and higher education at the cost of solid families! The idea of having it all is really a myth!" Can a Godless people accept any of this?

God Bless,

Dominique

Fr. Barron comments on The Depressing Pew Forum Study

A moment in time

I find myself more and more yearning for calm and a true charity toward others in my aging. I used to think that as we get older we get more tolerant, less uptight, and more ready to let things go....apparently that is not part of my aging process!

To be fair, I do find myself better able to let things go in some important areas of my life, for example in my marriage. Well at  least more of the time than I did in my youth anyway! My husband and I have overtime grown better at resolving our conflicts than we ever were, and I believe that that is due in part to our ability to just let things slide that we used to jump on. It is also due in larger part to God's Divine Mercy and Grace in our lives. Though we are by no means near good at it, but better is nothing to sneeze at.es

With my children I find that I am not nearly as patient and laid back as I once was, for some things anyway, but then I find that it is such as tenuous dynamic with teenagers and preteens than with toddlers and young children. And of course looking at the world through my current eyes, the eyes of an old pregnant lady who is struggling with severe nausea, tolerance is not something that comes easy to me about anything these days!!! But even factoring that in, and I would not say that I am an old curmudgeon, at least not yet, I do find some things more and more difficult to be tolerant about, or to be immediately forgiving of.

I got to thinking about this today after losing my temper while I was standing in line waiting to go to confession before Mass. One Mass had just ended and people were mulling out of the sanctuary and the noise level was almost deafening.

The Mass that our family attends is a noon High Mass and we often get there about half an hour early as our older boys serve and one assists the sacristan and helps to set up the alter for the High Mass. So it is quite common for us to be there as the earlier Mass is getting out. Usually around this time one of the men who attends the noon Mass begins to pray the Rosary out loud. This sometimes helps to remind those leaving that there are people there who are either still praying or who have arrived early in order to spend quiet time in God's real presence to pray.

Anyway I digress. As I stood in line waiting and praying, trying to take some time to reflect upon my difficult week, a week of vacillating between feeling sorry for myself, feeling angry at my children's failings in their household duties (and at my own,) and losing sight of God's many Blessings and great Mercies in my life, I found myself getting distracted by the noise. All of a sudden I was not thinking of my failings, I was focusing on the failings of all these people, most complete strangers, who were seemingly oblivious to where they were and of the fact that there were people there who desperately yearned for the silence and peace of a quiet church before Mass. I forgot about my own failings and instead could not seem to let go of a growing anger at these noise makers. What made matters worse, I thought to myself, was there was a priest, standing there in the sanctuary, chatting away with a parishioner. Oh that just made me fume, how on earth can we expect lay people understand that this a sacred place, a place which is deserving of the greatest reverence, chit chatting about who knows what. Why can't he go to his office to chat? Why not the breezeway, why not the Hall where there was at that moment a social going on with refreshments?

By the time I got into the confessional I was confessing anger and lack of charity toward neighbour that had more to do with my disposition at that very moment and the swell of emotion just prior to entering the confessional than all the instances throughout the previous two weeks!

As I walked away, acutely aware of my stumbling I began to think of the level of self righteousness involved in feeling as angry as I was. Don't get me wrong, I do think there are times when it is appropriate to be offended by the ignorance of others, but to stand in judgement, to find oneself fuming with anger at what one might perceive to be blatant disrespect, is not right, is not charitable, is not what I believe we are called to. After all it was not that long ago that I was one of those people chatting and even gossiping in the presence of our Lord. So what are we to do in such situations? Is it reasonable to spend our time and energy dwelling on and condemning others?

No I do not believe so. I wish that our Bishops and our Priests would foster a greater reverence for the Sacred spaces that are our churches. We might pray for a conversion of heart of the faithful, and a greater interest in coming to understand the Mass and the Real Presence of Christ in the Tabernacle. But I must also pray for a more charitable disposition toward my neighbour. I need to stop thinking and assuming that it is out of disrespect that many people behave the way they do in Christ's presence. I need to remember that our faithful are not taught reverence and our catholic culture has been so busy over the last several decades trying to make the Faith more down to earth, more palatable, more relevant, that we have pushed the Sacred right out of the picture. In our local parish Christ has been ushered out into a seperate room, the Jesus closet as my children call it. I think it is ironic that in the same church we have two glass enclosed areas, a crying room and a room to put the tabernacle. It is no wonder that so many forget where they are and in Whose presence they are.

Everywhere we turn there are places to socialize, cafes, community  centres, Church halls, bowling alleys, friends' homes, gyms, book clubs, dance clubs, pubs, and the list goes on. But how many truly Sacred spaces do we have? How many spaces are there where we are able to spend time in God's presence, in His Real presence? If you are Catholic then it is really and truly only in our churches, before Christ in the Tabernacle. What a gift that is! What a miracle! What an opportunity to be able to reach out, in time, and join with all the angels in Heaven and commune with the true and living God! And would that gift not be better appreciated in a spirit of charity and prayer rather than judgement and condemnation?

God Bless,
Dominique