Posted on 07/11/2006 1:16:06 PM PDT by NYer
There are many large families at the parish I attend, which is just a regular, suburban parish. We also have 3 young men in the seminary. (I'll see your large families and raise it with 3 seminarians!)
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What a wonderful article. Thanks for posting it!
You're contemptuous of offering children to the service of the Lord, i.e., religious life? Wow, what a selfish attitude. I reiterate, the language you use, e.g., "popping out babies", "rugrats", reveals your interior disorientation. Children are not to be "popped out". Nor are they "rugrats". Are you familiar with the concept of a "domestic church"? Because if you aren't, I suggest that you look it up and maybe incorporate it into your scheme of things. Then perhaps you will stop looking at large families with such disapproval.
I know the books you're talking about; the author is Theresa Bloomingdale, proud Catholic and unrepentant mother of ten. One of my favorite chapters is "The Marine Him", referring to one of her son's becoming one of the Few, the Proud. There's also a section on using a nun as a babysitter; Vatican II didn't change them that much.
Just considering the number of HUGE houses that are being built around here (and everywhere) I would have thought that families with 10 to 12 kids was the norm. I recently discovered that many of these monster houses aren't even finished off up stairs and are inhabited by 2 people.
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LOL!
Prayers for Regina and her family.
Pyro, that is heartbreaking.
I don't know where you are now, but in New York and northern New Jersey, large Catholic families are all but nonexistent, due to the high cost of living here.
One if you want it or I could try pinging it later.
I was thinking of my Dad, who as the eldest son of a large family, had to drop out of school at age 12 to do most of the work on the farm his folks had acquired. He was big and strong ofr his age, thankfully, for his Dad was not cut out to be a farmer. An immigrant from a German city, "Dad" had grudgingly given up his job as an engineer at brewery and bought the farm at the insistence of his farmer's daughter's wife. You know what running a dairy entails and grandpop was not up to it. He stayed in the house and had coffee while my Dad handled the cows. For more than ten years my Dad was in charge, and learned be jack of all trades. This served him well and went into the oil field, where he helped support the family by sending half his pay home, Ironically, the person left in charge was his younger sister who could outwork almost any man, except my Dad, the hardest working man I ever knew. Eventually he became the superintedent of a drilling company. Forgive me if I wave lyrical about my hero, my Dad. Kudos to you.
My wife is pregnant with our 6th, and while we try to keep our shopping to times when I can help out there are times when she has to take them in. Our 2 oldest help out very much though.
We teach our kids that we are not only ambassadors for Christ, but ambassadors for large families too, and when we are in public we have to remember that. Proper dress and behavior are part of our ambassadorship. Unfortunately there are people who snap to conclusions when they see us and we don't want to do anything to aid those conclusions. Rather, we hope our good display will help people like you to get over your prejudices.
I have noticed this, too. A lot of smaller families have large houses, while our family of seven has a tiny house. I thought maybe if we had less children, we could have had a bigger house. Then I looked at my children and couldn't think of one of them I would not want to have.
One thing I noticed about large families. Unless there is a dysfunctional problem, the children with large families will have close friends for life. A few weeks ago my sister-in-law was talking about how close her family is. As an only child it's something I will never know.
**I'm just not impressed by it.**
Sorry you feel that way.
The Lord is impressed, "Go therefore, and be fruitful and multiply."
Wonderful testimony. Thank you.
Excellent point!
Congratulations to you and your wife.
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