feminine-genius

Anarchists in lockstep

Well, this was only a matter of time:

Two California high school students became one of the first lesbian couples crowned homecoming king and queen in the nation this weekend. Rebeca Arellano, a senior at Patrick Henry High School, was made the school's first female homecoming king when her name was announced Friday at a pep rally.

"They were chanting my name and it was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had," said Arellano.

Arellano's girlfriend, Haileigh Adams, who also attends Patrick Henry High School, was made homecoming queen at Saturday night's dance.

Rebeca sounds bubbly and positive (of course) but repeatedly refers to her partner as "my girl." Odd phrase, perhaps trying to be like an old-fashioned guy? Not sure, but she draws a line of demarcation in a exaggerated place:

"For all the girls who think tradition should be continued, go back to the kitchen, stop having sex before you're married, get out of school and job system, don't have an opinion, don't own any property, give up the right to marry who you love, don't vote, and allow your husband to do whatever he pleases to you. Think about the meaning of tradition when you use it in your argument against us."

That's why "tradition" is the wrong place to look for guidance on vocation--either feminine or masculine. She has confused particulars (or accidentals) with substance, not to mention ignoring the relationship between virtue and the overall health of society.

Poor dears. Egged along by their parents, their peers and the educational establishment, what were they to do? There was a time when younsters would have rebelled, but when rebellion becomes mainstream, the kids don't know integrity from a hole in the ground.

Retreat in Ohio

Just a heads up that I'll be speaking in Perrysville, OH this coming Saturday, November 5th. Details here. There will be three talks and an opportunity for confession. If other women's groups would like to plan such an event, please contact me via gskineke [at] gmail. The presentation has been very well received around the country and can be tailored to your particular circumstances. There is work that only women can to do transform our culture, and it begins with your own little patch of the world. Be not afraid to clear the decks and get started. God will provide what is necessary!

Head meet keyboard

Concerning a boy who self-identifies as a girl and wants to join the Girl Scouts:

Corey Barrett with the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Community Centerof Colorado says the Center is seeing young people exploring their gender identity at an earlier age.

"There has definitely been this increase of questioning at an early age," Barrett said, "I think it's all about providing a healthy environment for them for that to happen. Everyone needs to be prepared or at least have an idea from a policy and procedure stand point how they're going to address that. And make sure that the public is aware of that."

Mature adults in a healthy environment would identify such a child, carefully assess his situation and put him in a place where he can begin a healing process. To say that the healthy option is to play along with gender identity disorders is a lie -- that's actually child abuse.

Loving a little one demands that we see him as a precious child of God--no matter what, and yet that love also requires us to speak the truth about the human person. And we must provide help when others are being led down a dangerous and dysfunctional path. Unfortunately, with the diagnostic manual being corrupted by political correctness, currently the help that many need is withheld by a false love. This case provides a perfect example of that.

Winding down the "pink"

As October draws to a close, we'll remind readers once more about what is missing in this fluffy sea of ribbons. From the director of "Silent No More" in Spain, which held its own rally in Madrid on October 19th:

"It is no coincidence that breast cancer has skyrocketed in all countries with high rates of abortion or that 33% of those affected are between the ages of 35 and 45 years." She added that the risk "is being kept from women for ideological reasons, which is a serious violation of public health," and she demanded that women be given their rights to informed consent before undergoing an abortion.

Those at the Abortion-Breast Cancer center in the US would elaborate:

We would go one step farther. The concealment of the abortion-breast cancer link is not just a "serious violation of public health," but also an atrocity on par with German SS Dr. Josef Mengele's heinous experiments on concentration camp victims. His victims called him the "Angel of Death," but our modern day Angels of Death in science, medicine, cancer groups, and the abortion industry put Mengele to shame. By suppressing the evidence of an independent link which dates from 1957, they have caused 1.5 million additional breast cancer cases and more than 300,000 breast cancer deaths (in the U.S. alone) since the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.

Of course, there is the contraceptive element as well, which includes the majority of women who came of age from the 1960's on. The "sexual revolution" sold women a bill of goods, and the payment is now coming due. Our prayers and support go to those who suffer, but we are grossly negligent to avoid speaking plainly with what we know through research now.

And remember where the Susan G. Komen dollars are going:

Even as scientific evidence connecting breast cancer to abortion and the use of the oral contraceptive pill continues to mount, one breast cancer cure charity, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, is funding the abortion giant Planned Parenthood to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to a new report.

Malec also noted that, according to Komen’s 990 Forms submitted to the IRS for 2010, the charity gave millions to at least five research and educational facilities that engage in embryonic stem cell research, research that has yet to provide even a single positive treatment or cure for any disease, yet involves the destruction of countless unborn children.

That pink so quickly turns to a bloody red.

Reminder in this month of Pink

One cannot escape Breast Cancer Awareness month around town -- from the supermarket to the local high school football games, one is constantly reminded to help women by giving money to cancer research.

Actually, I did find one place that did neglect to spread the pink: health.com. They have kindly shared some information with women who are wondering how to have sterile sex, listing the down-side of oral contraceptives: mood swings, decreased libido, breakthrough bleeding, nausea, headaches, breast tenderness, and dizziness. Such a small price to pay! And if one experiments long enough, she just might find a way to minimise these "annoyances" and almost be free from such side effects.

Missing, of course, is the possibility of breast cancer, which has been firmly linked to hormone-based contraceptives when used long enough -- especially before the first pregnancy.

“I was viewing a local TV program several nights ago where the guests — [including obstetricians] — discussed the signs and symptoms of breast cancer, how to avoid breast cancer and the contributory factors on how women may be afflicted with breast cancer. I was shocked that they never mentioned the role of oral contraceptives in triggering breast cancer,” said Dr. Bullecer. “One of the doctor-panelists even denied the pill-cancer connection.”

“As a doctor of medicine and a pro-life fighter, I cannot afford to just close my eyes and ears to the truth that the use of oral contraceptive pills, as well as Depo-Provera injectables, can cause cancer,” Dr. Bullecer said. “The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared on July 29, 2005 that ‘artificial contraceptives’ are ‘carcinogenic,’ on par with cigarettes and asbestos.”

“[T]he World Health Organization has identified synthetic estrogen as a ‘Group 1 Carcinogen,’ which increases the risk for the most common and deadly cancers for women—most notably breast cancer, which accounts for 26% of cancers in women. Studies that show a heightened risk of breast cancer for users of oral contraception have been published in the most prestigious medical journals,” according to Nichols and Dr. Hunnell.

Additionally, “The National Cancer Institute emphasizes that contraception brings a risk of other cancers including cervical and liver cancer, and notes that teenagers constitute the group whose risk most increases with contraceptive use,” the authors said.

The risk is compounded with abortion, which is so often procured by those who engage in sexual relations with no intention of having a child. Abortion is naturally the next step for "contraceptive failures" -- in fact, most women seeking to terminate their pregnancies were already using some sort of birth control. And here we remind the reader that both birth control and abortion contribute to the high levels of breast cancer in our society today. 

Unfortunately, none of this enters into the snazzy campaign currently blanketing the country, in which authentic concern for women's health devolves into the same old lust-driven marketing. Who will really speak for women?

A "powerhouse of creativity"

That is how Dr Margaret Ogola saw the feminine vocation, and she provided a marvelous example of its potential. This mother of six was driven by her love for the family -- especially children -- and was ultimately responsible for administering roughly 20% of the health care facilities in her native Kenya, speaking out tirelessly on behalf of human dignity.

She attacked the sacred cows of international development organisations by insisting on “the availability of cheap and safe methods of child spacing such as Natural Family Planning”, expressing her distress “that there seems to be a conspiracy to keep women in the dark, especially the African woman, regarding the many dangerous side-effects of contraceptives”, and calling for recognition of “the irreplaceable role of parents and the family in educating and in forming children in matters of sexuality”. (She herself wrote a book to help parents with this.)

While recognising that the collapse of sexual morality was basically to blame for the AIDS epidemic, she was full of compassion for those suffering in one way or another from the disease and insistent that poverty was driving its spread among women.

One can see how such a philosophy placed her at odds with the United Nations, which constantly ties its development dollars to the implementaion of immoral "family planning" structures. She knew better, realising how the family was always undermined by such initiatives.

Beyond the reproductive issues, she promoted women, whom she recognised as the backbone of the family, and who must be supported in her vocation in order for the poor to overcome their marginalisation:

The main reason for this is poverty and the disadvantaged place of women. Therefore prevention programs should have women at the core, not only to help them say "no", but also to have alternatives when they say "no". This means attention to the poverty prevailing in our country which is extremely severe, with about 57 per cent of Kenyans living on less than one dollar a day. Most of the poor are women, and particularly young women, because socially they are not considered equal to men and so have less access to education and resources at every level. Their situation has to be addressed in a holistic and integral manner, so that you not only foster family values but also give them opportunities to make a living other than by transactional sex, which young girls get into out of sheer poverty.

Her death is a real loss for Kenya on one level, though an advocate in heaven may allow the truth to prevail. She was always a woman of hope, as this account from her funeral attests:

She was progressively closer and closer to God. Today at the funeral Mass the priest who looked after her mentioned that she wanted to do everything, big or small, no matter how difficult it was, for love. Different people who spoke at her funeral – family, friends, colleagues and government officials -- highlighted the fact that she was a very talented and determined person, an untiring worker and always seeking ways to serve better in the medical profession, especially in the care of HIV/AIDS orphans who were her special concern as a paediatrician. She had a great love for children and fought for respect for the dignity of human life. They also highlighted the faith and trust in God which characterized her life.

With God, all things are possible. Rest in peace, dear sister, and remember these little ones before the celestial throne.

[This video is not in English, but the point is clear -- much work remains to be done.]

 

Warehousing people

Great Britain is suffering from a healthcare crisis far more severe than in the States, which is forcing them to make difficult choices concerning the allocation of resources. There are two diverse views held firmly by two diverse populations:

1. cutting costs by withholding care (elderly and chronically ill are expendable), and
2. standing firm for the dignity of human life, no matter the cost.

The bulk of any population, though, is in the mushy middle -- being torn by limited finances, a decent sense of filial piety, but also confused by the intense physical suffering that some endure, especially later in life.

That is where this priest, Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith, indicates that a radical shift is necessary so that we don't wander into some black hole of utilitarian horror.

But here is the crunch – if we want to look after our old people well, then it is going to cost us something. The price may not necessarily be one in money. The institutionalisation of old people needing care is very expensive, but there is an alternative – care in the home by members of the family. Most people I speak to think that is preferable: being in the home, not in a “home”; being looked after by your nearest and dearest, not by strangers who are paid to do so. But for this to happen, quite a few social and economic changes would have to take place. Family life would have to change: we would have to move away from more and more people living alone, towards more people living together, particularly in three generational family groups. It would mean more people working in the home and not out of it, and rewarding and valuing such work accordingly.

There are costs and benefits to both home care and collective care. Any caregiver can tell of the burdens, and even the burnout. While nursing homes may have a better standard of delivering meds and meals, these settings are often sterile and deficient in other ways. And both homes and institutions are prone to abuses of all sorts, depending on who is in charge.

What he's talking about, though, is a change in culture. The two "ends of life" -- childhood and old age -- depend on women and how they arrange family life. Many children and old people are "warehoused" so that women can work -- interestingly enough, to pay for their care (through tuitions, fees or taxes). Honestly speaking, as strained as some familial relations are, working any shift is more appealing than having to deal with some people on a daily, hourly basis. But that's where the faith comes in.

We cannot change what happened decades ago, but we can work on our response in the here and now. One must forgive, and learn to love again -- even the unrepentant, those difficult to love, even the most demanding. Truth be told, they touch our buttons, so we must eradicate our buttons. Forgiveness will change the world, and will offer a better life for these families. Sounds impossible, but we must begin -- and we have to consider it now during this economic challenge, because these necessities may land on our doorstep sooner, rather than later.

Shameless plug: I give workshops on forgiveness, and am available to speak anywhere. gskineke [at] gmail [dot] com) -- wouldn't Lent be a great time for me to talk to your women's group?

Communicating life

Short piece at Catholic Lane today:

The alignment of a few highly visible events this month provide an opportunity to consider the most important topic before us: life. There is the death of Apple founder, Steve Jobs; there is the 40 Days for Life campaign that takes place around the country; and finally there are the “Occupy” sit-ins around the country, beginning with Wall Street, but echoed in other cities from coast to coast.

Read it all, and please spread the word about that wonderful site. Comprehensive and Catholic -- all good, fresh every day!