Another post (and all those issues) to be ignored by the world at large.

I realized one reason why I just can't stand to have people belittle the issue of abortion, or belittle the Catholic Church. It's the same reason that (in movies, at least; I'm not sure if this ever happens in real life) people start fighting because of Yo Mama jokes. In fact, it's exactly that. Because the Church is our mother. I had never really thought of it like this before, but on Saturday in a talk Bishop Conley gave, he said that the Church is a she and not an it; a mother and teacher, not a religious corporation. And it hurts me to have my mother, whom I love with all my heart, made fun of, the teachings she's given me and countless others for two thousand years trampled upon.

And with abortion, I simply can't comprehend how people can make fun of that issue. How people can say that the lives of helpless babies aren't important. How people can say they don't even count as babies. Or, perhaps, agree that they're living beings, but less important beings than their mothers. It doesn't make sense to me. It seems like such an obvious thing. I mean, aren't the eggs of endangered species (who have eggs, obviously) protected just like the adult versions of those species? Why should it be any different with humans? I especially, especially can't understand women who have had children themselves who are pro-choice. Obviously I've never had children, don't know what it's like to be pregnant, don't know any of that. But from what I've heard, it changes you. To an incredible degree. To the point where you know you'd do absolutely anything to protect your child, born or unborn. So how can you go through that and still think it permissible for other women legally to kill their own unborn children?

This is going way off the subject of what I wanted to say, but I wonder what the early feminists (Susan B Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, etc) would say if they knew what women were doing and calling for under the guise of feminism today. From what I've read and understand, they were all very much against abortion, and probably wouldn't be able to comprehend how it's become such an issue of "women's rights" now. I've also heard that at least Susan B Anthony, if not the rest as well, was against birth control because it takes away a woman's true calling, turns women into sexual objects and not women as women were meant to be. And that is oh so true. Contraception and abortion (one directly leads to the other, and they're so tied up together, which is why we need to get rid of both) have taken away any responsibility men have. They are released from the responsibilities they otherwise would have to deal with, and really should deal with. We're turning (well, have turned) into a nation without any sort of culpability for our actions. And it's not good. It's awful, really, what abortion (and contraception) have done to society.

This past weekend I went to a conference in Denver, the Archdiocese's annual (apparently - I had never heard of it before, and it was pretty much by luck that I heard about it this time around) Gospel of Life conference. And, lo and behold, it happened to be on pretty much my favorite topic - Humanae Vitae. Oh, how I love that encyclical. Hm, I guess I've already mentioned that I was going to the conference. So anyway. I went. And it was great. I was going to write up a blog post about it, better than this one, but when I tried I realized it was hard to make it flow right. Plus, no one cares and everyone is sick of me talking about this stuff already. But...it's so important. Especially with the question of contraception, people tend to brush it off and think of it as "not a big deal." But it is a big deal. It's a very big deal. And I realize that I can only talk about it from a certain viewpoint (the viewpoint of never really having to live out any of the stuff in Humanae Vitae, being quite single and all that), but that doesn't mean I don't know what I'm talking about. If that were the case, then why are there male OB/GYNs? I mean, what do men really know about any of that, beyond what they learn and read and experience through others?

Anyway, so the conference. Bishop Conley gave a great talk, and I now love him. (I had no real knowledge of him or anything prior to this weekend, other than that he was ordained a bishop in...May?ish, and is the Auxiliary Bishop in Denver.) Archbishop Chaput also said a few things, both before and after Bishop Conley's talk, and he also presided over the Mass, and now I really love him. I already loved him for everything he's said the past few months, and everything I had heard about him, but wow. He's amazing. They're both so smart, and so wonderful. It's so great, too, to know that there are such solidly Catholic men leading the Catholics of Denver (not to take away from Bishop Sheridan here in the Springs, who I also happen to think is great). And, really, they're great voices for Catholics everywhere to hear. (Speaking of which, last I heard, over 100 bishops in the country have spoken out about the importance of voting pro-life in this election. That's very much a good chunk of the bishops here, which is so great to hear.)

Again, back to the conference. After Conley, we were privileged to hear Dr. Alice von Hildebrand. It must be nice to be an 85 year old woman and being past the point of caring if you offend someone. Especially if it's offending them with the truth. People need to be offended by the truth. Too many people tiptoe around issues, so that those who don't really know never really find out the truth. Anyway. She made no secret of what she thinks of feminism today (I believe she referred to them as idiots), and thinks that today's fashions and clothes are disgusting, and she even managed to make fun of Obama (although she didn't mention him by name), and his superhuman ability to fix the world if he's elected president. She talked a lot about the nature of men vs women, and how they're complementary and feminism is trying to make them the exact same. She talked about how feminism has not only managed to distort what it is to be a woman, but it's effectively torn down what it is to be a man, so that men aren't really men anymore. She mentioned that the problem in our country, in society today, is immorality. Not the economy. All great kingdoms and empires were destroyed because they were rich and filled with moral decadence. We need to try to steer clear of the path that so many before us have gone down (and, hint, voting for Obama is not the way to avoid that path). She also focused a great deal on Mary, and how important Mary is for combating all these evils that the devil is throwing at us on a daily, hourly, second(ly?) basis. I most certainly am not giving justice to her great talk, but she was so great, and I love her.

After lunch there was a panel discussion for people to ask questions of Dr. Hildebrand, Bishop Conley, and Christian and Christine Meert (who are the head of the Office of Marriage and Family Life here in the Springs diocese. I had heard/read their names before, heard of them, but I had no idea they came over here from France 10 years ago or so, recognizing a call to minister to engaged couples in the Rocky Mountain area. They have an amazing story of conversion and change of heart and all that (they lived together before getting married, and even had an abortion). I loved hearing their perspective of things, especially regarding how terrible the situation is in Europe. Worse than here. Hard to imagine, but we're heading in exactly that same direction. One thing they said that was utterly depressing to me was that something like 95% of the couples who come to them for marriage prep (so, presumably, at least somewhat Catholic) are sexually active. Ugh. I mean, I know that statistic is out there, but I hate that no one seems to care or think that sex is that big a deal. How did we ever get to this point? Anyway. It was a very interesting panel discussion, depending on the questions. (The first one was about the prevalence of cohabitation, and it was discussed by the panelists for awhile. It's an important thing to discuss, but it seems almost impossible to combat because it's just so entrenched in our culture now. All of these evils are.)

Speaking of culture, at one point Dr. Hildebrand mentioned that it peeves her to hear the word "culture" being used in the sense that I just used it, because as her husband would say, we have no culture anymore. And it might have been in a separate context than the culture thing, but she also talked about how we don't know what beauty is anymore. And it's so true. All our buildings (as she mentioned) are horribly ugly, fashions are awful, songs are just garbled messages. People used to sit and listen to orchestral entertainment. Some people still do, but all the popular music is just all this crap that's put out that doesn't mean anything and doesn't do anything. People who compose multi-instrument pieces are geniuses. Kelly Clarkson? Not so much.

Oh, and just so you don't think that I'm all "contraception bad. NFP, aka Catholic contraception, good", someone brought up the point at the conference (a point which I am all for, by the way) that even within NFP, there is too much of a contraceptive mentality used. I am of the opinion, and I think the Church in general is the same (not necessarily the majority of the people who are part of the Church), that unless there is a very grave reason, trying for children shouldn't be postponed once a couple gets married. I think most at the conference would agree with this, that part of being married in the Church is procreation, and getting married when the couple isn't yet ready to have children is maybe not the best idea. And it's sort of a difficult thing to bring up, because no one wants to say to the good Catholic couple practicing NFP so that they can wait to have kids until they're done with college or med school or until this that or the other, "You're not really following God's teaching." But no one said God's teaching was easy. I mean, at least there's the fact that those practicing NFP will most likely be more open and happy about an unplanned pregnancy. But I do think that, for many people, NFP is sort of used as a default. It's still that issue of illusive control that we want (hence the prevalent use of birth control). We're not willing to let go and just trust God. But again, what do I know.

Anyway. This post is already ridiculously off-course, and waaaaaaay longer than I was meaning, and it's waaaaaay later than I should be up (especially writing a stupid blog post that five people will read and no one will care about), but these issues, and the beautiful Church, are so deeply a part of me that I can't just let people manipulate and disparage them.

So, um, sorry.

(Oh, and if you want to hear the two talks and the panel discussion, they're up at the Archdiocese website. And are highly recommended by this friendly neighborhood blogger.)