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Hot Carmel Sundae Comments

$\"Gravatar\"$ I'm one of those Catholics with a small family....three kids. I always feel somewhat judged by those with larger families, but believe me, I have very good reason to not have more. And even with those reasons, I'd still probably have more, but my husband is dead set against it.

I have such high respect for those who have large families, but I wish they'd not look down on me (not saying you are...I know you're not) for having only three children.

We don't use contraceptives, but we're very careful to not get pregnant.
WriteWingNut | Homepage | 09.27.05 - 8:13 pm | #

$\"Gravatar\"$ I know what you mean. I've known other people who wished they could have more and felt judged for having small families. We really need to reevaluate the phrase \"good Catholic family\" that gets misused so often as though what it meant was \"big Catholic family.\"

What makes a family \"good\" and \"Catholic\" is fidelity, not numbers.
Christina Martin | Homepage | 09.28.05 - 8:45 am | #

$\"Gravatar\"$ Amen Sister,

When we moved across town we were supposed to change churches. We took our very noisy toddler to a Mass where there was a (I am not making this up) Policy statement on noisy children posted on the door of the church! It tactfully stated that while the parishioners would love to have us join them if our child was going to be a disruption of the solemnity of the service they had provided a nicely apppointed., sound proofed, closet at the back where we could sit with our child, during the Liturgy, thank you very much. We never returned.

Our noisy, messy five children family took up an entire pew in another Parish that welcomed us with open arms where the priest just raised his voice louder than the children whom he said were making a \"joyful noise unto the Lord\".

Which parish do you suppose fostered more vocations?

You have that right!
Maggie | Homepage | 09.28.05 - 10:20 am | #

$\"Gravatar\"$ I married late, and after the birth of our honeymoon baby, was open to the gift of another, should the Lord send another our way. That is to say: some months I was more keen than others, but my husband always desirous of more. (He started nagging me about #2 when I was 8 months pregnant, believe it or not!) We used NFP to tell the fertile times, and sometimes did try to conceive, but it's not so easy in your 40s. The Lord did not (yet) grace us with another child.

But it astounds me how people assume that since we only have 1 child, we stopped there or we are selfishly \"holding back.\" You can see it in the way they hold their faces. Not one person, ever, has asked me if I wanted more, or mourned with me that I was not graced with more children.

My point here: just as the TV has made it the cultural norm that \"everyone is entitled to have sex...except married people (with each other),\" so the cultural attitude is that everyone is on the Pill when they are not actually pregnant. I particularly feel for those women who suffer in quiet because they can't conceive (or have miscarriage after miscarriage), yet are blamed by others for their selfishness.
quiet voice in the corner | 09.29.05 - 4:22 pm | #

$\"Gravatar\"$ Today, Oct. 2nd, is the World Sanctity of Life Day. I've posted on this at my blog, but I just wanted to let everyone hear know that we need to pray for the unborn today. Please, if you can, pray the Rosary for all those in the womb and those considering or having gone through with an abortion.
Moneybags | Homepage | 10.02.05 - 7:48 am | #

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