« Psychology of handouts | Main | Even worse "economic" news »

Where God leads

Jennifer has conducted a lovely interview with Karen Santorum, wife of Rick who is running for President of the United States. I had heard that they were serious Catholics, but am in awe of their journey, which is very much linked to Our Lord's Cross:

In 2008, Rick and Karen welcomed little Isabella to their family.  Just four days after her birth, they got the devastating news that Bella has Trisomy 18, a rare and usually fatal genetic disease.  Since that moment, they have intensely battled our culture of death, protecting their daughter from being euthanized and fighting for her medical care.  Most doctors urge women to abort babies with genetic diseases, and many such infants are euthanized after birth in order to “relieve their suffering.”

Listen to Karen talk about Bella, and you’ll hear one word over and over:  blessing.  Rick and Karen want the whole world to know the joy they’ve found in their sweet angel.

KS:  After having Bella I had to relearn how to live my life.  Now I’m a blessed mother of a special-needs child.  Since her birth, I’ve learned that God truly has a reason for everything.  Like every one of us, God has a purpose for her.  Bella has made all of us grow in our faith like never before, made us more virtuous and shown us God’s love and mercy.  Her life is a very happy and joyful life.  Bella is an angel.  I truly believe I am in the care of a saint.

We are so blessed to be her parents and her family.  Yes, there’s also a painful side of the journey because you’re fighting for her life, to have her treated with the same dignity as every other child.

Please read the whole interview -- not because they feel called to serve in the visible crucible of political life -- but because they are witnesses to a more perfect means of purification: parenting a special needs child. Do look into their work for Trisomy 18, and consider Karen's book about their son Gabriel, whose premature birth and death was another means of trial and growth in the faith.

Pray for this country, and that good people will not be discouraged from stepping forward to serve because of the hostile climate for Christians. This seems to be our last chance to preserve a Godly nation.

Posted by on Thursday, 22 September 2011 at 10:25 AM |

Comments

The comments to this entry are closed.

Speaking Engagements

  • Contact info
    Kindly email me at gskineke [at] gmail.com for me to speak to your parish or women's group.

Twitter Updates

    follow me on Twitter

    Recent Posts

    Recent Comments

    Comments

    • From Benedict XVI
      “People have realized that the complete removal of the feminine element from the Christian message is a shortcoming from an anthropological viewpoint. It is theologically and anthropologically important for woman to be at the center of Christianity."
    • Anger and Patrimony (from Donna)
      This is just another of the unintended consequences of the cultural acceptance of contraception and abortion! Men's sexuality has been robbed of its creative essence. It is now viewed as something that imposes a burden on women (when conception happens to occur), something used to control women or something that is purely recreational. Why would men bother?? In taking away their responsibility, we've also robbed them of their significance! In the big picture of humanity, men have been made into nothing more than a nuisance women have to figure out how to control in order to bring about the next generation. Men don't see it as their task to protect the vulnerable because they see themselves as the vulnerable ones. A few well preserved vials of sperm would make men entirely obsolete in the world's ethos today!!
    • Excellent, Dom! (from Teresa)
      That is astounding Robin, and good for you for standing up. At the heart of that matter, I think, is even worse than a gender mixing message. There is an increased sharper and sharper focus on the "self." Solid Catholic teaching returns our focus away from ourselves to Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The original sin, Eve denied her womanhood when she desired to be like "gods." Since the only god she knew was the Father. Where was Adam? He stood impotent... in other words, they were divorced. There's a young girl at Robin's son's high school who was just told that she is the center of the universe and it's a tragic disservice to her.
    • Find the logic (from "me")
      Ditto what Mary said! A lot of high schools have very poor math and science depts, for boys and girls. I also am educated as a chemical engineer, but chose to teach the two years before we had children because its hours were more suited to spending time with children. (I was looking ahead). When it came time and I was pregnant with our first, I realized that I did not want to leave him with someone else, and was able to stay home full time. I am not sure it would have been that easy if we were used to another engineering income and not just a private school teacher income. Also some of my first job offers were out on oil rigs - I had no interest in that at all even though I enjoyed my engineering classes and did well in them. No one discouraged me from an engineering job, on the contrary I got a lot of flack for my decision not to pursue an engineering career.
    • Find the logic (from Mary)
      I've been lurking, but this is one that irritates me. Beats the heck out of me what these "barriers" are. I was educated as a chemical engineer, where 1/3 of our class was women. However, in electrical engineering, only 1 or 2 out of 30 were women. Is it possible that women are Just Not Interested in some areas? Nah, it must be The Man keeping us down so we must legislate (and, I agree -- when they say "legistlate", I hear "quota"). And actually, I have a friend that was also a chemical engineer. When she lost her job, she decided not to go back into engineering and started working from home so she could spend more time with her 3 kids. Also, if nothing else, there are all kinds of incentives for women to enter science and engineering -- scholarships not available to men, guaranteed housing on campuses that do not guarantee housing to the general population, etc. I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that schools in general are not preparing students for the hard sciences. It is truly a sad state of affairs, the lack of science education these days.

    About

    Subscribe here

    • My Catholic Homepage

    Categories

    Subscribe to this blog's feed

    Archives

    More...