Life Matters ~ Part 2

This is the continuation and finish of the article I posted yesterday. Enjoy!


So, what's wrong with the picture?
Nothing. In fact, what this picture demonstrates is that it is possible and, in some cases, desirable to successfully raise 17 (and soon to be 18) children.

What is wrong is the outrageous condemnation of large families expressed by so many people today. Sadly, even among some of out Catholic brothers and sisters, it is not unusual to hear negative comments about families that have more than the socially accepted 2 child family.

Secular society and, unfortunately, some religious institutions continue to insist that responsible parenthood includes contraception, sterilization and abortion. In 1958, Pope Pius XII commented that "one of the most harmful aberrations that has appeared in modern society with its pagan tendencies is the opinion of those who are eager to classsifyt fruitfulness in marriage as a 'social malady', and who maintain that any nation that finds itself thus afflicted must exert every effort and use every means to cure the disease." It's still true today.

Responsible partenthood.
The Church has never taught that married couples should have a certain number of children, but it does teach about responsible parenthood. WHile married couples are called to be open to life, they may for just reasons limit the size of their families by the practice of Natural Family Planning (NFP). They may not, however, resort to contraceptive means "even if such use is inspired by reasons which my appear honest and serious." [Humanae Vitae #16]

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) summarizes that the "Church encourages people to be 'responsible' stewards over their fertility:

In this view of "responsible parenthood" married couples carefully weigh their responsibilities to God, each other, the children they already have, and the world in which they live when making decision about the number and spacing of children.
Responsible parenthood is lived out within the structures which God has established in human nature. The nature of sexual intercourse, which is both life-giving (pro-creative), and love-giving (unitive), reflects a Divine place. That is why the Church teaches that couples must not actively intervene to separate their fertility from their bodily union. To do so is to show disrespect for an important gift of the Creator."

Even though not of the Catholic faith, the Duggars by all accounts appear to be exercising responsible parenthood. The negative comments about them and about those Catholics with large families is unacceptable.

As Pope Pius XII said, "Wherever you find large families in great numbers, they point to" the physical and moral health of a Christian people; a living faith in God and trust in His Providence; the fruitful and joyful holiness of Catholic marriage."

While not all married couples will be called to have large families, we need to repent of any negative responses we may have about large families and recognize that children are precious gifts. We must also remember that faithful Christian families come in all sizes.

For information on this wonderful Christan family, visit their website: www.duggarfamily.com

Life Matters ~ Part 1

We picked up this edition of "Life Matters" from our church bulletin, and I thought that I would post it on here in two parts, since it is rather long. It is a great article! Hope you all enjoy it!

What's wrong with this picture?
By Patricia Pitkus Bainbridge

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are happily expecting their 18th child in January 2009, With that announcement, the family (pictured in front of their home) has once again become the object of world wide media coverage and blogoshpere discussion.

The fascination, of course, is with the size of the Duggar family. Back in 2005, the Dallas Morning News ran a story on the family (which then consisted of only 16 children) observing, "in an era when the ideal family is is widely viewed as two children - one girl, one boy - the Duggars are an anomaly..."

The U.S. Census Bureau reported in 2003 that family groups with four or more children continue to decline from 17% in 1970 to 5% in 2003. In addition, the Census Bureau reported in 2004 that "During the past decade, the [fertility] rate has fluctuated between 2.0 and 2.1 births per woman, close to the rate required for natural replacement of the population (about 2.1 births per woman.)

Unwarranted criticism and attacks
Based on this information, there is no doubt the Duggar family size is atypical. But "atypical" should in no way generate criticism of Jim Bob and Michelle's openness to life, an yet, that is exactly what has and continues to happen.

With the exception of Mark Morford, a popular columnist who writes for the San Franciscan Chronicle and sfgate.com, the mainstream media has generally shied away from judgmental comments about the Duggars. In his October 2005 column - entitled "God does not want 16 kids" -Morford referred to Michelle and Jim Bob's decision to have a large family as "weird pathological protofamily breeding happy gluttony". Then he asked, "Why does this sort of bizarre hyperbreeding only seem to afflict antiseptic megareligious families from the Midwest?"

Following these vitriolic comments, Morford lamented that these "kidbots will never be allowed near a decent pair of designer jeans or a tolerable haircut from a recent decade, and assuming that they will all be tragically encoded with the values of the homophobic asexual Christian right - where are the forces that shall help neutralize their effect on culture? Where is the counterbalance to offset the damage?"

There you have it. This "tolerant", progressive so-called "pro-choice" writer does not believe the Duggars (or other large families) should have the freedom to choose how many children they have. He has no tolerance for people who have what he believes are too many children and he has no tolerance for those of us who believe in God. And, he apparently thinks designer jean and a good hair cut are more important than love and responsibility.

Moford comments "mild" compared to blogosphere.
Just as the case in 2007 when Michelle gave birth to her 17th child, the blogosphere is abuzz about her 18th baby in utero. While there certainly have been positive comments about the Duggars, the majority are negative. Many are down right malicious and venomous - terribly cruel to say the least. Many are so sexually explicit that I would not even consider citing them in this publication.

The majority of the negative comments contain over the top stereotypical remarks not based on factual information. I found the comments from the pro-abortion radical feminists to be the most interesting and ironic. Their mantra has always included "a women has the right to choose", "all children should be wanted", and "women have the right to choose if and when to have a child."

Yet, the feminist blogs are chock-full of condemnations of Michelle Duggar's choice to have 18 children. One feminist who dared to challenge the criticism was told, "What the Duggars are doing amounts to the emotional abuse of the mother, not reproductive freedom."
Unbelievable.

I have seen the Duggar family a number of times on The Learning Channel and they appear to be a happy, well-adjusted, responsible Baptist family. Michelle was named Arkansas mother of the year for 2004. They live in a 7,000 square foot house with nine bathrooms on 20 acres in Tontitown, Arkansas. They are debt free and the children are home-schooled.

The rest of this article will be continued tomorrow. Once again, I did not write this article. Comments are welcome, but keep them positive. Anything abusive, rude or with inappropriate language will not be published. Keep your thoughts and comments kind and charitable!