Showing posts with label Family Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family Life. Show all posts
Eden, Wis. couple on World Meeting of Families panel Friday Sept 25th
Gina Loehr explained at the
Milwaukee Catholic Herald how a book she wrote lead to an invitation from Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadlephia.
"Because of the research I had done about the Holy Father for my book, 'Saint Francis, Pope Francis: A Common Vision, they [conference organizers] proposed that I speak on a panel about Pope Francis and the family. The congress organizers asked that Joe and I speak together as a couple."That's Joseph Loehr, her husband. The Herald notes the Loehrs are
"parents of five children, [and] are members of Shepherd of the Hills Parish, Eden. Joseph is partner-owner of Loehr Dairy, LLC, a 700-acre dairy farm that has been in his family for 130 years and Gina is an instructor of theology at Marian University of Wisconsin."(Eden is in rural Fond du Lac County, northwest of Milwaukee.)
Mrs. Loehr suggests reading Love is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive [pdf 127 pages].
"This 'preparatory catechesis' outlines 10 topics that affect families, laying the groundwork for the sessions that will be going on at the congress."Here is the website of the World Meeting of Families.
P.S. Live Streaming of the conference will be available.
St. Catherine of Siena - patroness of miscarriages
Today is the feast day of St. Catherine of Siena--one of the patron saints of miscarriage. It's also the fifth...
Posted by Steve Karlen: Pro-Life Speaker on Wednesday, April 29, 2015
As soon as I heard my wife burst out the bathroom door that sunny spring day, I knew she was pregnant. I hadn’t yet opened my eyes but I didn’t need to. Her footsteps told me everything.continue at Madison Catholic Herald
My wife didn’t have any particular reason to believe she was pregnant. But after a couple years of praying for a second child, I’d grown accustomed to Laura taking random pregnancy tests — hoping against hope that somehow that second pink line would appear. This time it did.
Joyful days
The days ahead were as joyful as any we’d experienced in our life together. We beamed when friends who knew of our struggle with secondary infertility congratulated us and we devoured all the fetal development materials we could find, eager to mark every last milestone in our baby’s nascent life.
Celebrating our first child’s birthday later that week, we couldn’t have been happier. Among the presents Peter opened was the Dr. Seuss movie, Horton Hears a Who. Reflecting on the film’s signature quote, “A person’s a person no matter how small,” it was clear that evening that our family of three had become a family of four.
more at www.rosarygarden.org
Photo: Miracle of Life - Rosary Garden
These twin babies don't realise they've been born yet and are being slowly eased into their new surroundings
These twin babies don't realise they've been born yet and are being slowly eased into their new surroundings with a new nursing technique - incredible! xVideo Credit: Sonia Rochel http://gem106.co/1E0yqrB
Posted by Gem 106 on Wednesday, April 8, 2015
HT Aunt Jeanne
Wis. Family Council releases "Wisconsin’s Cultural Indicators"
Wisconsin’s Cultural Indicators 2014 is the only document of its kind, giving statistical overview of Wisconsin, her values, and the impact on traditional families. When Wisconsin’s families are healthy, Wisconsin is healthy. When our state’s families are weak, struggling, and dependent on the government, that is sure to be reflected in the overall health of the state. The constitutionally required national ten-year census, most recently done in 2010, provides the cornerstone of much of this data. These statistics generally come from the Wisconsin and/or national government agencies responsible for tracking these indicators. We trust that public officials, educators at all levels, business leaders, pastors, ministry leaders, and lay citizens will find this Wisconsin Cultural Indicators 2014 Edition instructive and helpful as they make decisions affecting Wisconsin’s future.copies can be obtained here
Can faithful Catholics follow the advice of Dave Ramsey?
My ears perked up this morning when a friend posted a Richard Becker article in Crisis Magazine titled "Of Dave Ramsey, Babies and Birth Control" along with the commentary, "Dave Ramsey's money-first mantra is incompatible with Catholic openness to life. I'm sorry, but I choose God's way and the family over a fat bank account."
For those of you who are unfamiliar, Dave Ramsey is a Christian financial adviser, author and radio host. His strategy is aggressive debt retirement--living frugally and with a strict budget until student loans, car loans, credit card debt and even home mortgages are entirely paid off. It's a common sense approach that makes a lot of sense given how many households are crippled by debt accumulated through financial decisions that were naive at best naive and reckless at worst.
As newlyweds right out of college, Laura and I didn't live on a budget and we didn't even balance our checkbook. We didn't run up debt, but we also barely scraping by. With a growing family it became clear we were headed nowhere fast.
Fortunately, some friends told us about Dave Ramsey. We got on a budget, started aggressively limited expenditures, and retired significant student debt ahead of schedule. These decisions paved the way for us to become homeowners two years ago and provided some extra peace when Laura gave birth for the second time last fall. There's always room to quibble, but you can definitely say that Dave Ramsey's advice has been a huge help in our marriage.
So what's the gripe in Crisis Magazine?
Becker goes on to argue that Ramsey's approach is incompatible with openness to life, citing a response he gave on the radio to a woman asking how the program changes for large families:
But surely it's unacceptable to say that large families are "carrying too much", right? Who is Dave Ramsey to tell this poor woman how many kids are too many!"
The issue here is that Ramsey isn't telling his listener that her family is too big. He's saying her family is just too big to retire debt at the same pace as smaller families. Let's take a look at some context the author skipped over:
Still, Becker continues by attacking Ramsey for placing his faith in money, control and planning:
When Becker asks "Why not throw caution to the wind, and lean heavily on the Providence of God", I'm reminded of something my dad once said: "Yes, we need to trust God. But He gave us two arms, two legs and a brain for a reason." Budgeting is simply intelligent stewardship of the gifts God has blessed us with.
Becker's fourth and final attack on Ramsey concerns his suggestion that those in debt take a second job to help retire that debt:
Of course, we might also consider that our perspective in 21st century America is little different from real life in any other time and place in history. I highly doubt that St. Joseph worked a 9-5, 40 hour a week job back in Nazareth. But among the reasons we honor him is that he worked himself into the ground--even dying an early death!--to provide for his family.
Ultimately, the critical error that Becker makes is in repeatedly implying that openness to life and financial responsibility are mutually exclusive. And if they are, then openness to life is, by definition, irresponsible. But a rational God would never call us to be irresponsible. When it comes to our children, He calls us to dutifully "provid[e] for their physical and intellectual wants."
What do you think?
For those of you who are unfamiliar, Dave Ramsey is a Christian financial adviser, author and radio host. His strategy is aggressive debt retirement--living frugally and with a strict budget until student loans, car loans, credit card debt and even home mortgages are entirely paid off. It's a common sense approach that makes a lot of sense given how many households are crippled by debt accumulated through financial decisions that were naive at best naive and reckless at worst.
As newlyweds right out of college, Laura and I didn't live on a budget and we didn't even balance our checkbook. We didn't run up debt, but we also barely scraping by. With a growing family it became clear we were headed nowhere fast.
Fortunately, some friends told us about Dave Ramsey. We got on a budget, started aggressively limited expenditures, and retired significant student debt ahead of schedule. These decisions paved the way for us to become homeowners two years ago and provided some extra peace when Laura gave birth for the second time last fall. There's always room to quibble, but you can definitely say that Dave Ramsey's advice has been a huge help in our marriage.
So what's the gripe in Crisis Magazine?
Anyway, for a brief time—an extremely brief time—we were debt-free, except for the mortgage. We had become “gazelle intense,” in Ramsey parlance, and we were on the road to becoming totally debt-free! But then God blessed us with another baby. And then another. Suddenly, our “financial peace” went out the window, and we were scrambling to replace those shredded credit cards.Obviously, Becker's suggestion here is that having children requires accumulation of credit card debt and that financial peace depends on a family spending more than it earns. And is the author suggesting that retiring all his credit card debt before the kids started coming was a detriment to financial peace? I think it should be immediately clear that this is a silly stance, and I won't waste any more words refuting it.
Becker goes on to argue that Ramsey's approach is incompatible with openness to life, citing a response he gave on the radio to a woman asking how the program changes for large families:
The program doesn’t change one ounce. What does change is—and you already knew this long before you met Dave Ramsey—when you choose to have seven children, that is called a lot of financial burden. It’s not a criticism; it’s just a mathematical fact.Let's take a look at the phrases Becker bolded in his attempt to prove that Ramsey's approach is incompatible with openness to life. "When you choose to have seven children...", I suppose, could seem like it's a criticism. Except for the fact that Ramsey immediately followed it up by saying, "It's not a criticism; it's just a mathematical fact."
You’re not going to be fleet of foot and run from the cheetah because you’re carrying too much.
But surely it's unacceptable to say that large families are "carrying too much", right? Who is Dave Ramsey to tell this poor woman how many kids are too many!"
The issue here is that Ramsey isn't telling his listener that her family is too big. He's saying her family is just too big to retire debt at the same pace as smaller families. Let's take a look at some context the author skipped over:
It slows down the plan. It slows down you hitting big financial goals or little financial goals because you’ve got this drain on the math. It’s a wonderful drain; it’s a glorious drain, but it’s a drain....You’re not going to be fleet of foot and run from the cheetah because you’re carrying too much. You’re going to be a Clydesdale, but the Clydesdale wins. They just win in a different fashion than the gazelle wins.If Dave Ramsey were truly hostile to human life, he'd probably be recommending a vasectomy, and he certainly wouldn't be referring to a big family as wonderful and glorious.
Still, Becker continues by attacking Ramsey for placing his faith in money, control and planning:
Ramsey posits planning and control that revolves around money, whereas the Church advocates abandonment and surrender revolving around generous openness to new life—something that doesn’t always make sense on the spreadsheet. And, like it or not, that abandonment, surrender, and generosity can’t be budgeted for nor planned. It’s not math; it’s more like falling in love.Becker has engaged in a straw man argument. Nowhere did Ramsey say that people should have fewer kids or be less open to life. I do find some irony in the fact that while Ramsey never suggests postponing pregnancy due to economic concerns, Humana Vitae does:
With regard to physical, economic, psychological and social conditions, responsible parenthood is exercised by those who prudently and generously decide to have more children, and by those who, for serious reasons and with due respect to moral precepts, decide not to have additional children for either a certain or an indefinite period of time.Yes, we need to be generous in our openness to life. Yes, we need to be willing to spontaneously answer the Lord's call. But we should also remember the Lord's words in the Gospel of Luke: "Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion?"
When Becker asks "Why not throw caution to the wind, and lean heavily on the Providence of God", I'm reminded of something my dad once said: "Yes, we need to trust God. But He gave us two arms, two legs and a brain for a reason." Budgeting is simply intelligent stewardship of the gifts God has blessed us with.
Becker's fourth and final attack on Ramsey concerns his suggestion that those in debt take a second job to help retire that debt:
Even the Pew Research Center gets this, as demonstrated in their study on parents and kids. “When it comes to feeling happy,” the study concludes, “time with children … beats time at work.” Does this create a paradox for those trying to follow the Ramsey way? You bet! Dave would have those parents out working a second job in order to pare down their debt and work toward a life of leisure in the future.I wonder how happy those children will feel when the house is foreclosed upon. Ramsey's suggestion of a second job is typically offered as a temporary means of escaping crippling debt--especially debt that is so problematic that the family is put at risk.
Of course, we might also consider that our perspective in 21st century America is little different from real life in any other time and place in history. I highly doubt that St. Joseph worked a 9-5, 40 hour a week job back in Nazareth. But among the reasons we honor him is that he worked himself into the ground--even dying an early death!--to provide for his family.
Ultimately, the critical error that Becker makes is in repeatedly implying that openness to life and financial responsibility are mutually exclusive. And if they are, then openness to life is, by definition, irresponsible. But a rational God would never call us to be irresponsible. When it comes to our children, He calls us to dutifully "provid[e] for their physical and intellectual wants."
What do you think?
A joyful family
"To maintain a joyful family requires much from both the parents and the children. Each member of the family has to become, in a special way, the servant of the others." - Blessed Pope John Paul II
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MadCatHerald: The importance of family meals
continue at MadCatWhen I was growing up, our family ate all of our meals together at home. This included breakfast, lunch, and supper. We sat around our kitchen table, often lingering to talk after the food was gone.
Editor's View by Mary C. UhlerMealtime became an opportunity to share our plans for the day, to find out what we thought about the day’s news, and even to debate various issues. My parents always encouraged open discussion, even on such topics as politics and religion.
With our own children, my husband and I also encouraged shared meal times. We almost always ate dinner together, even delaying the meal for sports and after-school activities so that we could sit down and share a meal.
I think our children — now grown with children of their own — enjoyed those times to eat and talk with each other. Now we like getting together with our extended families for meals. Even the grandchildren from babies and up are brought to the table when possible to join with the family for hors d’oeuvres and the meal.
Eating together makes a difference
It’s sad to hear that many families today do not eat together. That’s why it was necessary to set aside a day to remind families to eat together. This year’s “Family Day — A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children” will be held on Monday, Sept. 26.
Family Day is a national movement that reminds parents that dinner makes a difference. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University launched Family Day in 2001. It grew out of research which consistently found that the more often kids eat dinner with their families, the less likely are they to smoke, drink, or use drugs. Those kids are also more likely to get better grades in school and have an excellent relationship with their parents.
Many Catholic archdioceses and dioceses are promoting Family Day. Andy Galvin, coordinator of marriage preparation in the Diocese of Madison, is encouraging families to support this initiative.
State of Illinois severs foster-care ties with Catholic Charities
the rest at Chicago TribThe state of Illinois has declined to renew its foster care and adoption contracts with Catholic Charities across Illinois, possibly ending a historic public and private partnership initiated by the Roman Catholic Church a half century ago and potentially severing the relationship between 2,500 foster children and their caseworkers.
Who else will the State of Illinois look to shut down?
Lawyers for three of the Catholic Charities agencies will seek an injunction from a Sangamon County judge on Tuesday.
In a letter sent last week to Catholic Charities in the dioceses of Peoria, Joliet, Springfield and Belleville, the Department of Children and Family Services told all four agencies that the state could not accept its signed contracts for the 2012 fiscal year because “your agency has made it clear that it does not intend to comply with the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act.”
“That law applies to foster care and adoption services,” each letter stated. “Thus, there is no meeting of the minds as to the [Fiscal Year 2012] Foster Care and Adoption Contracts.”
Last month, Catholic Charities in the dioceses of Springfield, Peoria and Joliet sued the Illinois attorney general and DCFS for threatening to enforce new policies that accommodate civil unions. The three agencies asked the court to declare that they are legally justified to preserve their current policy of exclusively granting licenses to married couples and single, non-cohabiting individuals and referring couples in civil unions to other child welfare agencies.
Let's be consistent here
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| "And the villain still pursues her", a satirical Victorian era postcard |
CrisisMag: If Contraception, Why Not Gay Marriage?
“Contraception is the selfish practice of mutual masturbation.” - Fr. John Hardon, SJ
Say what you will about those who support "gay marriage," but at least they are being consistent. They see Protestants(and dissident Catholics) advocate that immoral sexual practices like contraception and direct sterilization are legally acceptable, so why are other immoral sexual practices like sodomy not legally acceptable. To me, that crowd is just being consistent. Either sexuality has a purpose and there is such a thing as a natural sexuality (that should be supported by law), or sexuality's only true purpose is self gratification. There is a design or not, a Designer or not. Also, certain readers of the blog think that it's okay for the state to inflict morality on business practices but not to inflict "morality" (really it's not morality being inflicted but human nature) in defense of the natural family. There are no abortion advocates that don't also support contraception, and there are no "gay marriage" advocates that don't also support contraception, in vitro fertilization, ect. That smallest unit of society, the family, has been under attack for some time. But the "gay marriage" crowd isn't the cause of the attack on family life, it is the symptom.
Support for MN Marriage Amendment in Winona Daily News
Recent letters to the editor allege that support for maintaining the traditional definition of marriage in the eyes of the law is based on fear and bigotry, particularly religiously motivated bigotry.
However, a closer examination of the institution of marriage and the reason government recognizes it shows those claims are false.
Man and woman naturally complement each other physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. They were made to give themselves completely and fully to each other, for the two to become one. Marriage is merely one man and one woman making a complete and total gift of self to the other, for the rest of their earthly lives, and this is consummated in the act of sexual intercourse, which reflects and echoes this two becoming one in a physical way.
The two literally become "one flesh" and this one flesh union is the sole means by which human life is transmitted. This procreative capacity of marriage is the reason the government recognizes and bestows financial and legal benefits on it that are not bestowed on any other union. Those benefits are given to bind the husband and wife together, to bind the children to their mother and father, and to help the mother and father financially support their children, because children do best when they grow up in a stable home with their mother and father.
Recognizing marriage and endowing it with government benefits helps guarantee such an environment for children, and government has a compelling reason to do this in virtue of its responsibility to safeguard and promote the common good.
Government is justified in denying same-sex relationships as equivalent with marriage for the simple fact that same-sex sexual acts, such as sodomy and mutual masturbation, are inherently sterile and can never under any circumstances result in the transmission of human life.
Dane County judge rules for domestic partnership registry
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Madison - In a strongly worded decision, a Dane County judge ruled Monday that Wisconsin's domestic partnership registries do not violate the state constitution's ban on gay marriage and civil unions.the rest at JSOnline
Circuit Judge Daniel R. Moeser ruled that Chapter 770, the law that legalized the registries for same-sex couples, does not grant status to domestic partners identical or substantially similar to marriage, according to a copy of the ruling.
"Ultimately, it is clear that (the law) does not violate the marriage amendment because it does not create a legal status for domestic partners that is identical or substantially similar to that of marriage. The state does not recognize domestic partnership in a way that even remotely resembles how the state recognizes marriage," Moeser wrote.
In 2006, Wisconsin voters approved with 60% of the vote a constitutional ban on both marriage and a "legal status identical or substantially similar to marriage" for same-sex couples. Wisconsin Family Action, a group that supports marriage as being between a man and a woman, filed suit against the law in September.
That fair and balanced Dane County, yeah, I know, a shocker. "Catholic" Gov Doyle imposed domestic partnerships on the state in complete disregard for the Wisconsin traditional marriage constitutional amendment of 2006. Taken to the Wisconsin Supreme Court the measure will be overruled.
It's all about adoption.
Remember to support Wisconsin Family Action!
State of Illinios forces Catholic Charities of Rockford to shut down adoption work
The Diocese of Rockford has announced that its Catholic Charities offices will no longer offer state-funded adoptions and foster-care services when the new Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Unions Act takes effect June 1.Get the scoop at American Papist
Because the law did not include an exemption allowing religious organizations to refer adoptions or foster-care arrangements involving same-sex or unmarried cohabitating couples to other agencies, “the Diocese of Rockford is forced to permanently discontinue all state-funded adoption and foster-care operations as of June 1,” said Penny Wiegert, diocesan director of communications, at a May 26 news conference.
Some Catholics want to shut us down here in Wisconsin too. It's what every single gay marriage or civil union legislation has set as it's goal; adoption.
Toronto parents psychologically abuse child in the name of equality
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| I am totally going to mess with you idiots til I move out |
When many couples have a baby, they send out an email to family and friends that fills them in on the key details: name, gender, birth weight, that sort of thing. (You know the drill: "Both Mom and little Ethan are doing great!")more at Yahoo news
But the email sent recently by Kathy Witterick and David Stocker of Toronto, Canada to announce the birth of their baby, Storm, was missing one important piece of information. "We've decided not to share Storm's sex for now--a tribute to freedom and choice in place of limitation, a stand up to what the world could become in Storm's lifetime (a more progressive place? ...)," it said.
That's right. They're not saying whether Storm is a boy or a girl.
There's nothing ambiguous about the baby's genitals. But as Stocker puts it: "If you really want to get to know someone, you don't ask what's between their legs." So only the parents, their two other children (both boys), a close friend, and the two midwives who helped deliver the now 4-month-old baby know its gender. Even the grandparents have been left in the dark.
In fact, they should not name the baby either. Wait until he or she can speak to name themselves. And language? Why limit it to the parents'? The child should not be bound to the social constructs of society. If they call "red" something like "uzzabuuzaaah" who's to say the child is wrong? Really? They do put other oppressive restrictions on the child's growth. Why stop at gender? In fact who's to say these so called parents have been chosen by the child? Why not let the child decide? I think this couple really needs to examine themselves. Far, far to conservative to really be considered "a tribute to freedom and choice in place of limitation." What they need is to be true liberals in every facet of the child's development.
Minnesota birth rate lowest in decades
ST. PAUL, Minn. - The tough economy may be tied to a sharp decline in the number of babies born in Minnesota.Winona Daily News
State demographer Tom Gillaspy says the birth rate is close to being the lowest it has been in 100 years. He says people are saving their money and not spending on big ticket items - and what could be bigger than having a child.
There were about 67,000 births in Minnesota hospitals in 2009, a decline of more than 3,000 from 2007. Admissions at Children's Hospital was off by 10 percent last year, in part because of the low birth rate. The University of Minnesota Amplatz Children's Hospital also saw a significant decline in pediatric admissions.
Gillapsy tells the Pioneer Press the birth rate in Minnesota should start to grow in the second half of this year.
Pioneer Press says it's the economy
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HT The wife
Fr. Z: QUAERITUR: obligation to go to Christmas Mass twice so as to bring the squeakers
From a reader:Father Z
My wife and I this year were going to attend Midnight Mass this year. My father was going to stay at our house to watch our 2 and 1 year olds since they will be sleeping. Are we obliged to then go to Mass Christmas morning with the children so that they attend? My thought was that when the kids get to be 4 or 5 years old (and will a> understand the Mass and b> not throw a fit every time the organ wakes them up) that at that point we would bring the older children with but leave the wee ones at home to sleep. We bring the children on all Sundays and feasts unless they are sick. Someone on my blog commented “Did not Christ specifically request ‘the little children’?” which I agree, but… did he really want those sleep deprived children screaming during Silent Night?
Kids that young do not have an obligation to fulfill. You are not obliged to take them so they can fulfill an obligation they don’t have.
For the rest… this is a parenting question, and parents with children can chime in with their views.
You have to decide how to expose your children to the celebration of the sacred mysteries.
That said, I do not mind it at all when people leave their infants and very small children at home (in the care of an excellent sitter) rather than bring them to Midnight Mass.
“Squeakers”, by the way is a term used for the ship-board children in the Aubrey/Maturin books. Which it’s a term of endearment, ain’t it?
Thanks Father!
Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI on Sports
“Sports are not merely the exercise of muscles, but the school of moral values and of training in courage, in perseverance, and in overcoming laziness and carelessness. There is no doubt that these values are of greatest interest for the formation of a personality, which considers sports not an end in itself but as a means to total and harmonious physical, moral and social development.”Verso l'Alto
(John Paul II, 1984 Address to European Olympians in L.A.)
“Sport has a notable educational potential above all in the realm of youth and, because of this, it is of great importance not only in the use of free time, but also in the formation of the person. Hence, it is necessary that, in our time – in which we see the urgent need to educate the new generations – the Church continue to support sports for young people, fully appreciating also competitive activity in its positive aspects, as for example, in the capacity to stimulate competitiveness, courage and tenacity in the pursuit of objectives avoiding, however, all tendencies that pervert its very nature with recourse to practices that are also dangerous to the organism, as is the case of doping.”
(Benedict XVI, 2009 Address to Pontifical Council for the Laity’s seminar on sports and education)
Despising Children: The Left's Heels
Yesterday we ran a post about the happiest warrior in Wisconsin, a boy with Spina Bifida who lost his 100-yard dash (the other child did not have SB), but loved every single second of his race.Dad29
We also posted an item noting with approval that a Federal judge stopped Obama's illegal ESCR funding. Killing babies, you know.
Now go to to the happy-warrior link and read the combox.
Draw your own conclusions. I drew mine in the title-box for this post.
Here's the original post with comments.
The Spina Bifida Association of Wisconsin held its annual run/walk a few weeks ago.
One part of the festivities included races for the kids.
This guy[pictured right] lost his race. But don't tell him that.
And no, there wasn't a dry eye in the whole crowd.
Dad29: A Winner. And You'll Cry
- Perhaps this youngster would have benefited from some stem cell research...ummmh just saying.
- Umm, no. Learn something about spina bifda.
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