Obamanation Parasitic on ... Domestic Church

Aristotle’s remark that man is by nature a social animal is not often paired with another of his: man is even more naturally a marrying animal. The union of man and woman with the aim of reproduction creates the most fundamental society of all, the family. Any further society presupposes the family and is parasitic on it. The mark of any society is concern for the common good, and where better than in the family do I learn that I have goods that are not simply mine but ours? Parents and children, each with their private goods, must give precedence to the shared or common good of the family if it, and they, are to flourish.

- Fr Ralph McNierny, The Marrying Animal

Children in an Age of Terror

Dr. Carol Lieberman at Family Security Matters offers excerpts from her upcoming book, American Dreams Interrupted - How to Stay Sane and Safe in a Time of Terror. I find it helpful for those of us concerned about chivalry and legitimate defense.

While yet in their cribs, children begin a lifetime addiction to media violence: escalating from cartoons and action toys to movies, music and videogames. Research has concluded that the more media violence a child consumes, the more aggressive and desensitized to violence he becomes. He also tends to see the world as a meaner and scarier place (even more of a liability, now that terrorism has made the world a genuinely meaner and scarier place).

Thousands of children are on swelling child protective registers. Most have been abused by neglect, followed by physical, emotional and sexual abuse. More girls than boys are targeted for sexual abuse, while boys are more often victims in the other categories. The saddest part is that, erroneously, these children blame themselves for somehow causing the abuse and neglect, by not being lovable enough.

Consequently, even before the explosions of 9/11, the bloom was already off the rose of childhood. Our progeny have had to struggle with thornier issues than their ancestors ever imagined. These troubles had already begun taking their toll, manifested as truancy, stress-related medical conditions, shoplifting, anxiety, depression, learning and attention deficit disorders, conduct disorders, alcohol and drug experimentation and myriad other problems. Running in front of a car, eating poisonous berries or drinking household products are no longer seen as “accidents” but are recognized for the conscious or unconscious suicide attempts that they actually are.

The main causes of mortality for children aged one to fifteen are: accidents, cancers, undetermined injuries (including suicide, homicide and mental disorders), nervous system and sense organ disorders and congenital abnormalities (birth defects).

Like most parents, you love your children and probably find these reflections hit too close to home. You want your sons and daughters to have a bigger, better life than yours, with more success, self-worth and security. Already feeling overwhelmed with the responsibility of putting food on the table and smiles on their faces, you’ve been grappling to get by, while barely keeping guilt at bay. Now terrorism is on the scene, as never before, and the precarious juggling act called today’s family is tottering. As plates go flying, metaphorically and literally, children are at risk of being hurt.

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Bringing Back Marriage & Family

What children need most are mothers and fathers. Not caregivers. Not parent-like adults. Not even ‘parents.' What a child wants and needs more than anything else are the mother and the father who together made the child, who love the child, and who love each other.

Bless Your Family

I like it - Sacramentals are a growing edge for me:

The West & Ent Wives

Sadly, in The Lord of the Rings, Treebeard tells us that the Ent Wives (without whom which no entings shall ever come about for obvious reasons of sexual differentiation) have taken a hike. Gone. Vamoosed. Outahere. He can't even recall their appearances, poor fellow.

As Mark Gordon noted, commenting on my post, 600-Pound Gorilla, "A burkha-clad woman driving in Virginia should see the Western man in her windshield as the 600-pound gorilla, but she doesn’t. Why? Because on some level she is intimately involved in the building of a civilization, while the Westerners around her are either actively dismantling theirs or allowing it to crumble into dust."

This is frequently how I feel when I notice a Muslim woman dutifully behind her Muslim husband adorned in hijab with a gaggle of children in tow. Do I long for a spouse captivated by the primitive Sacred, in mortal fear and peril of Honor Killings, per se?

Hardly. What I pine for is a unified West, beginning with the "domestic Church," the family: husband and wife sacramentally committed to lifelong sacrificial self-giving. Islam, albeit a veritable hive of characteristics of the worst of human nature, understands the indelible stamp of our human nature in the importance of the family. (And, of course, there is the demographic theory of war.)

If the West remembers nothing else, may Our Lady of Guadelupe, Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (pray for us) intercede and help the West remember this.