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[marginalia]

in other news, i read vox nova because sometimes it's interesting (like recent posts on the danger of conflating religion & patriotism) and because sometimes it pisses me off, which is fun. i'm not gonna lie.

like tonight, in a post about high school kids & minimum wage:

The only thing I'm really convinced of is the social teaching that free men

Comments

Reply from the author

[anonymous]

I was being a tad sarcastic in the comment. I probably shouldn't have posted it, because it has obviously detracted from the post. For the record, I don't subscribe to the notion of a single's vocation, but there are folks who do, and there is plenty of room within Catholic teaching for such a view.

Fundamental to the community is the propagation of itself. We have kind of moved to a point where single folks and many couples look down upon couples who have children or lots of children. They claim such couples are being irresponsible. In "Population Bomb" circles, such couples may even be viewed as selfish and exploiting the general community.

I tend to the view that life is fullfilled in communion with others. Often single folks will become very active in the community. For example, the protestant Church my wife's aunt is a part is very indebted for her efforts in volunteering. The place wouldn't be the same without her, and this is true of many of our social institutions. While some are not called to the family life, I believe all are called to communion, and I think this manifests itself in vocations to the religious life often; and if it doesn't, service to the community is typically very present.

You probably do not want me to tell you the old stereotypes of the old, single person. Spinster, Old Maid, and others were often used of women in such a state. Even with a successful job, a mother would ask her son what he planned to do with his life if he was still single after a certain age. My point in including it was that we shouldn't set policy on the expectation that people will reject family just because they can enjoy increased earnings with both spouses working in an environment where a family wage was the just wage. Societal pressure should be enough to prevent such things form occurring. My apologizes for the offense given.

~M.Z. Forrest

Re: Reply from the author

[fishbellygirl]

In case you were wondering, sir, I have never met a person who didn't have children because they wanted to enjoy more spending money. The concept of bringing a life into the world and being responsible for shaping it is completely separate from "we want a big screen TV". There are people who wait until they are more financially stable (ahem, like my husband and me), but no one says "I don't want to have kids because I want the money for myself." They say "I don't want to have kids because I DON'T WANT TO HAVE KIDS."