Instead of outrage against birth control pills, employers should be demanding fertility treatments

[SoCalDem]

It appears that modernity (the era since 1960 ) has brought on an epidemic of "barren-ness"


http://www.ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/EVANGEL.HTM

These various ecclesial ills have naturally had an impact not only on Catholic belief but also in the vital areas of marriage and family. One-third to one-half of Catholic marriages now end in divorce.

The rate of abortion is almost as high among Catholics as it is among non-Catholics. The widespread use of artificial contraception in Catholic families has contributed to Catholics going from an average rate of five to six children per family in 1960 to 1.8 children in 1980 (it is probably even lower now). In short, secularization.[13]

For the first time in history, U.S. dioceses are being forced to close churches and schools by the hundreds due to dwindling financial resources, declining Church attendance, and lack of vocations to staff the institutions. Millions of Catholics have joined Protestant evangelical and fundamentalist sects, having found insufficient challenge or meaning in Catholic practice. Ironically and sadly, the U.S. is gradually turning into a "mission country" only thirty years after the Church appeared to be on the brink of playing a preponderant religious and cultural role.[14]

[HockeyMom]

1. I went to Catholic School in the 1950s

I did not know ANY family growing up who had more than 3 kids. Oh, why was that among the "faithfull"? I lived in Manhattan in a tiny, one bedroom apartment and slept in the living room sofa bed. My best friend, and her sister, slept together in their living room sofa bed. Where in world would these Catolic familes PUT 5 or 6 kids in a tiny NYC apartment?

Duh? These couples didn't use birth control, even 60 years ago? My Mom told me she used a diaphragm, not rythmn. She said one "gift" was enough.

If Catholics ignored the church 60 years ago, they aren't NOW in the 21st Century? Maybe the church hierarcy is furious about this, but are the average Catholic? Probably only the minority, like a Santorum.

[SoCalDem]

2. Growing up in an Irish Catholic family, most families I knew had 7 or 8

Last edited Tue Feb 7, 2012, 11:19 AM - Edit history (1)

and they were 3 or 4 to a bedroom.. Back then Moms did not have paid jobs so they tended house & kids all day.

To be fair, those Boomer-kids pretty much all had easy and cheap access to college if they had good grades, to it was do-able, but look at how many really smart women never knew what their potential was, because they spent their whole lives tending large families.

What's funny too is that most of the people I knew who grew up in a large family were happy to CHOOSE a very small one for themselves.

One of my junior high friends shared a bedroom with her 8 yr old sister, her 3 yr old brother and a 2 yr old sister.

They had a two bedroom house.

Her two older teen-brothers lived in the basement

[LiberalEsto]

4. My husband was one of 8 Irish Catholic kids

He grew up in a housing project on New York's Lower East Side. They were really crowded. In those days the laundry was hung on clotheslines throughout the apartment, and ironing was a never-ending chore. Everything got ironed, sheets, underwear, handkerchiefs included.

I remember my late mother-in-law telling me how much was involved when the kids walked home from school for lunch in the winter. She had to help several kids unbutton their coats and take off their boots, mittens, hats, feed them quickly and start the buttoning up right away so they would get back to school on time.

[Nikia]

6. In small town America it was easier to have large families

Not only was there the whole farm help mentality, but there were bigger houses for not too much more money. Even now, there are old inexpensive 3-4 bedroom houses.
I graduated from high school in 1996. There were still a few large families going to school with me. Most of them generally thought that their parents had too many children. I think that their large families will be no more than 3-4 with 1-2 being more typical.

[justiceischeap]

3. Of course the one thing they don't seem to be considering is

that people can't afford to have more than 1.8 kids these days. Or that some think they are too many people on the planet and don't want to add to that number. It amazes me how much the Catholic church thinks everything is about them. That's a large case of narcism right there.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Catholic doctrine is against a lot of infertility treatments

I think this site gives the official line:

http://www.catholicinfertility.org/guidelines.html

[Lunacee2012]

7. I thought Catholics had more

abortions than people of other faiths. I swear I just read that here in another thread.