Honoring Mothers

Women have been historically abused and put down by the power of men. Men often believe themselves superior to women, especially if they are mediocre themselves, and claim that they are great because they are men and they have a right to use women for their pleasure. For thousands of years this has been the attitude of the world at large, that women are defective, weak, and can be enjoyed as objects. Even to this day the great atrocity of selling little girls to men as play things to be used, abused, raped, and then killed goes on everywhere, even in this country. However, I cannot continue on that subject or I'll be sick. Great thinkers have long thought women deficient. Aristotle viewed women as deficient males, lacking the essentials of a human being. Thomas Aquinas and Augustine too took this view as well as other intelligent people, but this just goes to show that even the most intelligent folks can be very wrong at times.

What was woman's reaction to all of this? Eventually she rebelled. Every rebellion has in it at least an ounce of truth, but always tends to excess. Woman wanted to be recognized as a human being having rights and a soul, but she eventually pursued the idea of equality meaning no difference, no variation. Simone de Beauvoir is revered as a champion of woman's rights and she certainly had good cause, but she went on to claim that there is no difference between men and women, that they should do the same things, and to be freed from the indignity that lies in being feminine. The only thing which stood between woman and man was the fact that woman was charged with the continuation of the race, so then we must rid woman of that responsibility; it is wrong to think of her in the context of the home where she has been unjustly confined for so many years. According to Miss de Beauvoir housework is pointless and torturous, and pregnancy unfortunate. Therefore, we welcome birth control that woman no longer be tied to her sexuality and be as free as men can be, send women to higher education to get degrees, dress them in pants and suits, cut off their hair, etc. Now she is free to be a man!

When our Lord was ascending Calvary he met several women beating their breasts and crying out in sorrow for the evils done to him. He did not thank them for their sorrow for he told them "do not weep for me but for your children, for the day is coming when people will say 'blessed are those wombs which never bore and breasts which never nursed'." That day has certainly come. While the rest of the world allows itself to be complacent with radical shifts in society, it is the woman who embraces her femininity and stands barefoot in her kitchen with a baby on each hip who will affect the redemption of the world.

In the midst of all such stupidity around us, many Catholic women are still standing against the tyranny of secularism by embracing life. Our church holds a baby shower for every expectant mother, whether it is her first or her seventh child, and in this way seeks to honor every mother for her choice to follow such a sacred vocation.


Lena's baby arrived and was baptized before the shower could take place.
Mallory was quite overwhelmed by everyone's generosity, and the fact that she received notes from both her mother and her mother-in-law who live out of state.


Emily is a new arrival to the church and quite happy to receive so much for her second baby.
Rowanne is expecting her 4th girl and this was the very first baby shower she had ever had. The poor dear was quite overcome.