The Real War On Women

A writer over on substack wrote about the "war on women."

She repeated all the usual talking points that deny nature and reality.

I wanted to respond directly, but only paid subscribers are allowed to respond to her posts.

So I'll respond here.

She is right that there is a "war on women." But she was wrong about how it is being waged.

The war involves the use of cultural propaganda to attack women, and, indeed, some folks have a hard time even defining what a woman is. 

Women are told that in order to achieve worldly success they have to essentially sterilize themselves.

Children are dehumanized and become disposable.

Pregnancy is a viewed as a kind of "disease."

Marriage is disparaged.

Femininity is belittled.

Sex is viewed only in a materialistic way, separated from commitment, and women are increasingly objectified.

Indeed, women become easily disposable, leading to all sort of emotional and mental issues, and when they make a mistake and have children, to increasing chances that they will live in poverty.

Some young women are convinced that they need to become men - because of confusion, immaturity, insecurity, and peer pressure - leading to mutilation of their bodies. 

Meanwhile it's gotten to the point that some folks claim a man who identifies as a woman has to be accepted as a woman in so many circumstances, including sports.

With all these attacks, women are dealing with higher rates of emotional and mental illness. 

Yes, there is a war on women. And women themselves are being manipulated to attack themselves.

Like that misguided writer to which this is a response.

 

Pax et bonum

Carter Clerihew

Good Jimmy Carter,
when it comes to presidents was one of the smarter.
Historians rank his presidency pretty low,
but it’s looking better these days thanks to “Scranton Joe.”

Pax et bonum

Sacramental Dates

The late Pope Francis once said that we should celebrate our Baptismal dates.

"It is like a birthday because baptism makes us reborn in Christian life," he said to parents. "That is why I advise you to teach your children the date of their baptism as a new birthday: that every year they will remember and thank God for this grace of becoming a Christian.“

I decided to dig out my Baptismal record, and the dates of my other Sacraments. 

I was Baptized on July 17, 1955, at St. Margaret Church in Brockton, Massachusetts.

It’s fitting it was at St. Margaret Church. My mother was a Scottish immigrant, and St. Margaret was not only a Queen of Scotland, but is also the patron saint of Scotland.

I was also please with the date when I realized it’s the feast of Saint Charbel Makhlouf, a Lebanese Maronite Catholic monk.

I had first become aware of Saint Charbel at the Fatima Shrine in Lewiston, N.Y. They have a statue of him there, and I was impressed by his beard!

And a couple of years ago, some local Lebanese Catholics donated a statue of him and some prayers to him to the Saint Padre Pio Chapel where I volunteer and where my Secular Franciscan Fraternity meets. I took information about a Novena to Saint Charbel, and I have been saying it every day since as part of my night prayers.

My baptismal names are “Lee” and “Francis.”

Lee comes from my father’s middle name, and is the name by which he was known; only his mother and siblings called him by his first name.

Francis comes from my great grandfather on my mother’s side. He lived in Scotland, and I only met him briefly when I was a child and my mother brought my brother and I to Scotland for a visit that lasted a couple of months. I cried when I first met him because he had a beard! Beards were not common in the U.S. in the 1950’s.

My First Communion took place May 27th, 1962, at Sacred Heart Church in Brockton, Massachusetts.

We attended that parish, and I went to the parish school for first and part of second grade. That I got into the school my mother considered a miracle. When she went to enroll me she was told the first grade classes were all full and there was no room for me. She left the school and walked across the parking lot to the church. She went in and prayed for a while. When she came out, the principal, a nun, called her over. Apparently she had been watching mom and saw her go into the church. The principal told her that they would make room for me.

I remained at the school long enough to be part of the First Penance and Communion classed. Alas, I don’t know the date of my First Penance. Then, part way through second grade, we moved because my father got a job in Western New York.

My Confirmation date was October 13, 1965, at St. Stephen's Church in Geneva, N.Y. When I looked it up that date it jumped out at me immediately.

On October 13, 1917, thousands of people witnessed the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima.

The Apparition of Our Lady at Fatima has been declared worthy of belief by the Church. On the anniversary of that Marian day I chose as my Confirmation name Joseph. How appropriate.

I admit I chose that name for non-religious reasons. Joseph was my brother’s middle name, and that’s why I chose it. I have since come to appreciate who St. Joseph is, and to ask for his guidance as I raised my own children.

I married the good-looking one on August 22, 1992, at Corpus Christi Church in Rochester, New York. I had met her two years earlier at an abortion protest.

In 1990, she was part of a Catholic group staging a sit-in at a site where abortions were taking place. I was a reporter, covering the protest - I was pro-life, but as a reporter had to remain objective when covering it. I tried to interview one of the leaders of the protest, a woman I knew from church, but she suggested I talk to the woman who would become my wife. My future wife deferred, but the following Saturday, I spotted her at church; turns out we attended the same church and always went to the same Mass. We chatted after the Mass, then in subsequent weeks began sitting together, and, well, married two years later.

Since I was never ordained, I did not receive those sacraments. The closest I came it when I professed as a Secular Franciscan July 9, 2011.

I have not yet received Anointing of the Sick - which used to be called Extreme Unction or the Last Rites.

I hope it will be a while before I enjoy that Sacrament!

Thank you for the suggestion Pope Francis. May you rest in peace.

(This is an expanded version of an earlier post.)

Pax et bonum

Saints' Lives

When I looked at the works I'd read by midpoint this year, I saw three biographies/autobiographies of saints:  John Henry Newman: Snapdragon in the Wall by Joyce Sugg, Apologia Pro Vita Sua by St. John Henry Cardinal Newman, and St. Thomas More by E. E. Reynolds. That's a good start, but I thought it was not enough. Saints provide spiritual role models. Their lives inspire and challenge me.

So I decided I had to read more.

But which biographies/autobiographies?

When I look online for suggestions, I found a wide variety of recommendations. Some of them overlap.

Some of them also involve books that I had already read.

And some of them recommended novelized version of their lives. Again, some of which I had already read.

I started to pursue my goal by digging out my copy of the concise edition of Butler's Lives of the Saints. I now read the saint listed for each day - today was a Franciscan, St. Bonaventure.

Butler's original multi-volume set made several of the lists, by the way.

I also ordered a copy of Sigrid Undset's Catherine of Siena. It's next up on my list of books to read - it also made several of the recommended lists.

I just reread The Confessions by St. Augustine, another book that made a number of lists. As did Saint Thomas Aquinas by G. K. Chesterton, which I just reread in 2022.  

Among those showing up on the lists that I have read - but it's been a long time, so some rereading is in order: Journal of a Soul by Pope St. John XXIII, Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux by Thérèse of Lisieux, St. Francis of Assisi by G. K. Chesterton, and St. Francis of Assisi: A Biography by Omer Engelert.

Among the novelized lives are several by Louis de Wohl. I actually have read several of them in recent years. But there are more!

Fortunately, I have many of these books on hand to pursue this goal.

Once I get through them, I will seek out more. 

Pax et bonum

Public Radio and Me

Federal funding for public radio and television has been in the news lately. The call is for ending that federal funding, and hence requiring the stations to seek support from their viewers, listeners, and other sources.

I have a history with public radio.

Back in the mid 1980’s I was teaching at a Catholic High School. I was married, with a family. The pay at the school was so low we could have qualified for food stamps. To supplement my income I was the bowling coach and the assistant track coach. But the income was still low, and the coaching cut into my family time.

I don’t recall how I heard about it, but the local public television/radio corporation was expanding and needed radio announcers and board operators. The corporation at that time had an FM radio station and a television station. It was adding an AM station to broadcast more news and public affairs programs.

I had hosted shows on my college radio station, and I had a decent “radio” voice, so I thought I’d give it a shot.

I don’t know if I somehow impressed them during my interview, or if they were just desperate, but they hired me in January of 1985 for the AM station. I was to host the Saturday evening programming. From 6 p.m. to midnight I did the breaks and played all sorts of prerecorded programs.

I did that for six months. Then, the Saturday and Sunday morning slots opened up. I applied, and got them. From 6 a.m. to noon I was the local announcer and board operator, going on air in between prerecorded programs, and, eventually live syndicated programs like Weekend Edition. At first, the Saturday shift also included an hour when I was able to play jazz records from the station’s library. I loved that, organizing the hour about themes, or particular groups and musicians. Alas, eventually that time was filled with syndicated shows, and I was no longer able to play jazz - except when the overnight jazz and blues host went on vacation and I subbed for him.

The station decided it needed local news on weekends along with the national news, so they hired a reporter/newscaster. I would serve as the board operator for his broadcasts.

But, the person they hired as the newscaster proved unreliable. He did not always show up. Needing to fill that time, I began writing and delivering the newscasts.

After this happened a couple of time, the news director finally realized I was delivering the news and not the person they had hired to do it. He called me, learned the situation, and a couple of days later the reporter/newscaster was fired, and my job description was revised. I was now board operator/local host/newscaster/reporter. And I got a small raise!

Because I was a teacher and had summers free, I also began to be the substitute for some of the weekday shifts.

The station continued to grow and to become more computerized. I kept up with those changes. I also changed my full time job; I began writing for a newspaper. So I was a newsman seven days a week.

For a time, I was very happy. There were some great people at the stations. I enjoyed interacting with them. And people in the community recognized my name and voice, something that appealed to my ego.

But other changes gradually came. The station eventually phased out most of the jazz programming. It eliminated the overnight shifts, going automated, and letting go some of my friends. On top of their leaving, my best friend at the station passed away. Meanwhile, the station also began automating most of the weekend programming; I was the only live person on the am station. I even had to prerecord newscasts for later in the day for both of the radio stations.

There was always a growing openly progressive tendency at the station. Most of the guests on the programs and talk shows tended to be left-leaning. When right-leaning guests were invited they tended to be treated poorly, or to have the other guests and callers stacked against them. Though it was not called it at the time, there seemed to be a lot of DEI hiring. There also appeared to be more subtle hostility against traditional Catholics and Christians, and traditional sexual mores. I learned to keep my mouth shut.

By the early 2000’s I had returned to teaching for my full time job, freeing me up to substitute for more weekday shifts, and to go out and do more reporting. Yes, I even got a chance to cover Chuck Schumer!

But then the head of the local Planned Parenthood became the head of the corporation board. In the news department we were suddenly required to change the way we reported about abortion; we had to use more pro-choice friendly language. I objected to my news director, saying we should keep the language balanced and objective. He came back a few days later and said the requirement remained in effect. I was not happy, but I complied.

Still, I enjoyed being on the radio. Then there came a full-time opening: the afternoon and evening weekday shift, which meant being the local host for NPR’s flagship news program, All Things Considered. I applied. Some folks in the news department supported me, noting that my years with the station and as a print reporter gave me knowledge of the community and plenty of contacts. Soon it was clear that I was a finalist.

I did not get the job.

Instead, they hired a young Hispanic woman from out of the area. Part of me understood; if I had gotten the job the entire news department would have been all middle aged white men. But I was not happy.

She was not very good. She lasted just about a year, and left. The job opened again.

The station decided to rotate hosts until they found a permanent host; because it was summer and I was free I was one of them. Three of us continued to rotate the shift for a substantial portion of the summer.

I made it clear that I planned to apply for the full-time position.

Then one of the members of the news staff took me aside and spoke off the record. He told me he thought I would do a great job, but I had no chance. The word was that the job would go to a woman.

It did.

To be fair, I will say the second woman was actually very good.

But it was clear that I had no full-time future at the station.

Indeed, when the second woman moved to a new position, the morning host took her place, and he was replaced in the morning shift by a woman. And the news director was later also replaced by a woman.

Yep. No chance. It must have been my beard.

In 2007, I quit. The lack of the future, the abortion directive, the increasing progressive and biased direction of the station and NPR in general all made the decision easy. Even if I had gotten the full-time job I don’t know how much longer I could have stayed there.

And I was seeing that 18 years ago.

So when I hear talk of cutting federal funds for PBS, NPR, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, I don’t object.

When PBS was launched, there were few television options on the air. PBS created programming to meet many educational and informational needs. The public radio network also filled gaps. It made sense for the government to help support this needed resource.

But all that was decades ago. Now there are multiple networks, many of them filling the gaps, making NPR not as necessary. And the proliferation of social media, YouTube, podcasts, and so on, also lessens the need for public broadcasting.

So there is no reason to continue government funding. The patrons of the stations should step forward if they want to see the stations continue. Plus, it might make the stations more balanced and fair, and broaden their acceptance of more diverse programming and views.

Such as those of bearded traditional Catholics who like the music of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.

Pax et bonum