Changing Hearts Will Take Huge Effort
According to Prof. Scott Yenor, the reshaping of sexual relations, including acceptance of abortion, developed over 150 years. Public schooling, introduced in America in the 19th century, transferred a main function of domestic life to the state. Divorce by mutual consent had become common in the mid-1900s. Later, obscenity regulation was loosened. But, ironically, the desire for fairness embedded in anti-discrimination laws, including discrimination on the basis of sex, established the main mechanism for the public deconstruction of sex roles within the family.
The new order, supported by extensive court findings and legislated rules, promotes a sexless, egalitarian understanding of “human dignity.” Though marriage showed men and women how their different interests could converge in a life well lived, any social pattern that presumes difference amounts to wrongful discrimination. The family must be rebuilt on this basis. Today, education and careers come first. Marriage is delayed. Childbearing is deferred. Women are encouraged to celebrate their divorces and abortions. We strain to eliminate old stereotypes, but live under new ones.
Traditional practices are now deemed illegal and stigmatized, being replaced by an anti-discrimination “constitution.” The 2020 Supreme Court holding in Bostock v. Clayton County said that transgender individuals must not be discriminated against, a decision that requires us to affirm that men can become women and vice versa. The 1991 Civil Rights Act allows employers to be sued for emotional distress and punitive damages. Now corporate America “educates” its workers and seeks to deconstruct sex stereotypes.
We need to revive common-sense values reflecting the different innate roles of men and women. [For the full article by Yenor, see First Things, March 2024]
Most Abortions Are Unwanted
Recent Elliot Institute research reveals that “most women report feeling pressured to agree to an abortion that violated their own personal values.” Population controllers don’t mind unwanted abortions given their efforts to push the abortion pull to market precisely with the aim of eliminating “the barely educated, unhealthy and poor segment of our country.” For those who see babies born to “lower” classes as a burden on society, the fact that a “bare educated, unhealthy, and poor” woman wants to have her baby but feels pushed into an unwanted abortion by her male partner, social workers, doctors, or employers is just an alternative way toward achieving the goal of reducing birth rates among the poor. The goal is almost always hidden behind pro-choice euphemisms. [ElliotInstitute.org, 2/14/2024]
New Poll on Key Life Issues
Results from a newly February poll by McLaughlin & Associates, in partnership with leading pro-life organization Priests for Life, offer critical insight into American voters’ current priorities, steadfast values and stance on key issues like abortion. Poll respondents were Democrat (36%), Republican (36%), and 28% were Independent/Other.
- 85% support financial, medical and emotional assistance for women facing unplanned pregnancies.
- 81% support reducing legal and financial barriers to adoption and foster care
- 77% support ensuring faith-based organizations can help provide services to pregnant women and young mothers
- 61% say it’s good when the mother decides to keep and raise the child, or make an adoption plan
- 21% support an extremist position of abortion being available anywhere, at any time [Detailed poll info may be requested from Media@PriestsForLife.org]
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Anti-Woke Question Puts Teacher on Leave
Tiger Craven-Neely, an elementary school teacher who questioned a California school’s spending $250,000 on a teacher training program called “Woke Kindergarten,” was placed on leave by his school district, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Glassbrook Elementary School used the federal funds for underperforming schools to pay for training their teachers how to be “anti-racist” and “disrupt whiteness” in the classroom. The teacher said he had voiced concerned over the program at a staff meeting and questioned what it meant to “disrupt whiteness” in his third-grade classroom.
The bad news is that since implementing the “woke” program, scores for English and math at the school have fallen further. Fewer than 4% of students post proficient scores in math and a little under 12% test at grade level in English. [Brandon Poulter, Daily Signal, 2/11/2024]
Men Less Interested in Marriage
American men are significantly less likely to want to get married or raise a family, according to a recent analysis from religious statistician Ryan Burge who analyzed data from the Cooperative Election Study, which asks participants about their marital status. He found that in 2008, men tended to get married around 29 years old. In 2022, the average age of first marriage for both men and women jumped by about 4.5 years. Also, about 65% of 30-year old men had never been married, compared to 48% of 30-year-old women.
Only 33% of 30-year-old men were parenting, but for 30-year-old women, the number was 50%. Also, 65% of women between the ages of 35 to 40 were currently parenting young children. “Not only are women much more likely to get married, they are also much more likely to become parents, as well. In essence it’s like women are trying to maintain some of the traditional familial institutions in American society while men have decided that this is not the direction they want their life to go,” Burge wrote. For men, having a higher level of education makes one less likely to stay single and never have kids. Said another way, educated men settle down. But more highly educated women are more likely to be single & childless between the ages of 35 & 50 after controlling for race, ideology, income & religion. [H. Hiester, CatholicVote.org, 2/20/24]
Does Marriage Really Work?
If you were to form your opinions by relying solely on TikTok influencers, Netflix movies like “Marriage Story” or cultural commentary in The New York Times or the New Yorker, you could be forgiven for thinking marriage was dreadful. Sealed off from reality, young and middle-aged men and women think that anything but marriage is where to find fulfillment, happiness and prosperity. Boy, are they in for a surprise!
Sociologist Brad Wilcox found just the opposite in his book Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization. The data show that married men and women are the most financially secure, least lonely, healthiest and happiest people in America. Their children have the best life outcomes compared to peers whose parents are not married. The evidence from multiple studies is overwhelming, hence the title of his book. For example, 60% of married mothers aged 18-55, compared to only 36% of single, childless women of the same ages were completely or somewhat satisfied with their life. Also, happiness is reported even higher for those who regularly attend religious services with their spouses.
On average, men and women married with children, despite all of the challenges of marriage, are more likely to navigate life successfully, forging financially stable, meaningful and happy lives. [Our Sunday Visitor, 2/4/2024]
Have You Visited These Websites?
- For those having sexual identity issues, visit https://sexchangeregret.com/
- For those whose marriage is not doing well, a lot of help may be found at https://www.helpourmarriage.org/ and https://www.catholictherapists.com/
- Interested in social and political views from a Catholic perspective? Then try a visit to https://catholicvote.org/
- With easy electronic access, pornography is widespread. To free oneself from this addiction, visit https://www.covenanteyes.com/ and also https://www.strive21.com/
- Need relief from negative TV, radio and streaming news? Try https://relevantradio.com/ (free app) and https://www.ncregister.com/ (6 weekly issues free).
Reversing the STI Epidemic
In 2000, genital Chlamydia trachomatis infection was reported by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) at a rate of 257.5 cases per 100,000 persons. That rate of reported chlamydial infection among women had been increasing annually since the late 1980s. By 2021, the rate had nearly doubled to 495.5 cases per 100,000 population, In 2021, 58% of all reported chlamydia cases were among persons aged 15–24 years.
More striking is that back in 1994 the Surgeon General announced a “National Plan to Eliminate Syphilis from the United States.” The rate in the year 2000 was still too high at 2.2 per 100,000 persons. In 2021, the syphilis rate had skyrocketed to a huge 53.2 per 100,000 persons.
The latest CDC report states: “Reversing the STI epidemic is possible with a holistic approach” that employs holistic, coordinated care to address concurrent epidemics and health disparities. A critical first step is connecting people to the STI testing and treatment services they need. And, in recent months, we’ve seen historic progress toward new STI prevention innovations. Admitting that it cannot do this alone, the CDC director concluded that through collaboration and a whole-of-nation, whole-person approach, “I am hopeful that we can improve our nation’s health and well-being.” [The full reports are at https://www.cdc.gov/std/stats/archive/2000-Surv-All.pdf and https://www.cdc.gov/std/statistics/2022/2021-STD-Surveillance-Report.]
Ed. Note: What is really striking is that nothing is mentioned about trying to change people’s behavior that continues to feed the STI explosion. Promoting moral behavior seems to be sadly forbidden for consideration by government agencies like the CDC. Several agencies and organizations promote so-called “safe sex” and we now see the unhealthy results.