traditionnalist catholic family

[Mudball]

Honestly, it seems like she loves all the stuff about being Catholic that I do. The saints, Mary, the candles, the holidays, the traditions. When I was the age of those girls I would have loved those gifts, my goal in life was to be a saint and St. Therese was my favorite.

That changed with puberty. :wink-kitty:

The difference also being that I grew up and grew to find some of the beliefs in direct opposition to my own. Now I identify as a cultural Catholic but not a religious one.

So, in a way, I get her. I still think she's rather silly for focusing on all the ephemera, but then so am I.

The food blog is hilarious, but this discussion has inspired me to celebrate my name saint's day with some kind of food. I might make the cocoa pebbles grotto just to entertain my Pagan husband. lol

[patsymae]

"An increasing number of very trad Catholics are homeschooling because the local parish school is too progressive."

Also because in the cities the Catholic schools are largely nonwhite and many of whom "aren't even Catholic." And in some areas, like where I live, a large number of Hindus and Muslims send their kids to Catholic schools.

On the plus side, the Catholic homeschooling families that I know of have homeschool associations and the kids get an actual education and do interact with others (even if only white ethnic Catholic others) and not just their families, and the parents aren't functionally illiterate numbskulls.

[JenXer]

On the plus side, the Catholic homeschooling families that I know of have homeschool associations and the kids get an actual education and do interact with others

That is our situation. Please keep a good thought for my oldest child... he's at MIT.

Thankfully he's doing a project that is off campus so he is not in particular danger. But that doesn't stop me from being worried.

[Mudball]

JenXer - my thoughts are with your son (and with his worried mama).

Here Catholic schools are closing at an alarming rate. there are less and less to choose from every year. That could be part of it, as well. Also, if the Catholic family is a right wing religious family chances are the mother is home with the kids and a private school might be cost prohibitive.

[docmom]

I truly love the Catholic cuisine blog! I'm not Catholic but anything that tells stories through food is OK by me. However, I was a little :shock: by this one:

The Crown of Thorns- Glutino crackers with cream cheese and tortilla chip thorn bits

I get a little queasy thinking about an instrument of torture as a cheesy treat.

ETA: wrong crown initially!

[kpmom]

I truly love the Catholic cuisine blog! I'm not Catholic but anything that tells stories through food is OK by me. However, I was a little :shock: by this one:

I get a little queasy thinking about an instrument of torture as a cheesy treat.

ETA: wrong crown initially!

I felt similarly when she wrote in her regular blog about putting chocolate crosses in her children's Easter baskets. Something about eating the very thing Christ died on kind of put me off.

[docmom]

I felt similarly when she wrote in her regular blog about putting chocolate crosses in her children's Easter baskets. Something about eating the very thing Christ died on kind of put me off.

This reminds me of a quote I saw once (not exact but) "If Jesus had come in more modern times would we be walking around with little electric chairs on our necklaces?" Haven't been able to look at a cross the same way since.

[GeoBQn]

At the Jordan River gift shop, they sell bars of soap in the shape of crosses. I'm not even Christian, and I think the idea of washing your nether regions with a sacred symbol seems pretty offensive.

[rollmeover]

My overwhelming impression is how exhausting her life must be - with all the gift giving and book buying and the very frequent blogging with lots of links and photos, and the events and the special cooking for every saints day and the worrying about how the children dress and keeping mantillas on small heads, and the big family and running all the groups and hosting all the parties. I think she must be a perfectionist. I don't get the genderedness of her children's lives either - why is a tea party only for girls/women? why is it that her boys study normal history and geography while the girls cook and craft based on those stupid dolls and that alphabet state books?

And how does she afford to buy so many books and give her children so many gifts on so many occassions? And what do they do to need so many replacement rosaries and statues and scapulars?

[ems]

Here is her other blog, focusing on Catholic food.

catholiccuisine.blogspot.com/

I'm pretty sure I've seen this site before, posted by one of my more conservative Catholic friends on fb.

She's not traditionalist in a pre-vatican II sense, but she's very devoutly "orthodox" in her faith.

Interestingly, she's one of two people I know from my Catholic hs who I would term "fundie-lite" Catholics; the rest are more moderate or cafeteria-style.

On a semi-related note, I think all the holidays are a draw for some Catholics. The woman I know calls it "living the liturgical year." Some people are definitely attracted to ritual and that type of tradition and liturgy, but beyond that, it's pretty easy to see the surface appeal of a religion with so many holidays/occasions for celebration.

[ems]

I've wondered this as well. It seems to be quite the trend among more fundie-fied Catholics to homeschool, however. Just looking at the Catholic cuisine blog, almost all the contributors mention being "homeschooling families."

I too thought it was odd b/c I used to think homeschooling among the religious as being more of a fundie Protestant thing. I don't know if there aren't that many Catholic schools in some of the more rural areas, those with larger families can't afford them...or it's just a case of wanting to be "more Catholic than the pope"...

[FeministShrew]

Chocolate crosses in Easter baskets was a big thing at my old church. It was supposed to remind the kids Easter was about Jeebus, not the Easter bunny.

[Irishy]

Had a rummage back a year or so. She was "churched" after her last baby. We always thought this was an antiquated ritual involving cleansing the woman of the sin of conception and birth and all that filth and making her all nice and clean to attend mass again. My mother is 70 and she was churched after baby number 1. She and her friends were all glad to say goodbye to that shite with Vatican II

[snarktastic]

Well, er, nice to see that Catholics don't have to miss out on the whole pink frilly teaparty religio-Victoriana thing. :cray-cray: She reminds me a bit of Living Sacrifice Lady.

Having a 'soldier' party - fine. But to call it a WW2 party gave me a cold shudder. Maybe there's a difference between how Europeans and N Americans see the war?

BTW the Churching thing was still in our protestant prayerbooks when I was a kid, I never heard of it happen in real life though. Funnily enough.

[Savoring Samsara]

Okay, now I'm curious...What is churching? Link to the relevant entry please?

[divadivine]

Her blog made my teeth hurt.... way too sweet. It also nearly made my computer have a seizure. Too many pictures.... took forever to load.

Ugh, the whole chapel veil thing makes me want to hurl. Seriously, if we go back to wearing veils, I'm gone. We have a few women who have gone back to wearing veils- the older ladies, I understand. It's what they grew up with. I get it. But, we have a younger lady (I can't tell how old she really is... she looks young, but then with the long black skirt and the veil she looks older) has taken to wearing a veil. I want to shake her and tell her "STOP NOW!!!!! We left that nonsense back with Vatican II." There is at least one priest in our diocese who is all about going back to pre-Vatican II. He's actually at the parish in my hometown. I went to Mass there one day a few years ago and said I'd never go back. He used incense at the Mass, turned his back to the congregation during different points of the Mass and there were no female alter servers or Lectors. I have heard he will not let women play any role, other than music ministry. Different groups of families had all their daughters in dresses and veils. It was the most awful Mass experience ever. I knew this priest before he went to the seminary. He said then "The Church is too progressive. We need to get back to our roots." I never dreamed he'd go all hardcore. He also has decided he's from Ireland and tries to talk with an Irish accent. I wanted to pull him aside after Mass and say "Dude, I know where you're from and it's not Ireland."

[JenXer]

I want to shake her and tell her "STOP NOW!!!!! We left that nonsense back with Vatican II."

How tolerant. How loving. How totally ignorant.

If you came up to me or my daughters and tried shaking us and lecturing us on how to worship your way, I'd take you down, honey. And my veil wouldn't even go askew.

[Nothing2CHere]

Okay, now I'm curious...What is churching? Link to the relevant entry please?

I second that request. I have never heard of that before!

[Loveday]

I second that request. I have never heard of that before!

I've seen mention of churching in historical novels set in the Middle Ages. After women gave birth, they were still in seclusion for a few weeks--40 days, I think--and then they went to church to be blessed and 'purified.' And now that I've said that much, I need to do some research because I'm sure there's more to it and I want details.

ETA: And yes, I'd love a link to the relevant post! :)

[Arete]

"Churching" still exists today in the Orthodox church. A baby cannot go to church until 40 days after birth. It is done to remembrance of Jesus's dedication at the Temple after birth (Luke 2:22). That is the sweet, life affirming part of this practice.

The mother is also ritually "purified" to reenter the church at this time- this is the idiotic, vestigal Levitical practice. :roll:

Both Orthodoxy and Catholicism carried over certain Levitical practices into their church life. Orthodoxy's other Levitical practices revolve around the sex lives of priests and their wives.

[FaustianSlip]

You know, she's bonkers, of course, but credit where due, at least she cares about doing things that are fun for her kids and reflect their interests, which is more than we can say for most of the fundie crowd we discuss. And the Settlers of Catan party that she did for one of her kids was kind of brilliant. All I could think while looking through her blog, though, was that this family must be pretty loaded. Seven kids, most of them with braces, presents and parties for all kinds of occasions... that adds up, financially-speaking.

[yewchapel]

How tolerant. How loving. How totally ignorant.

If you came up to me or my daughters and tried shaking us and lecturing us on how to worship your way, I'd take you down, honey. And my veil wouldn't even go askew.

Quite. I wear a headcovering (usually a pashmina as opposed to a mantilla) to church sometimes (I am Anglican not Catholic though). It's entirely my choice and I don't see why choosing to do so is so bad. And I'm not even Catholic and I know that Vatican II just says that a mantilla or other covering is no longer mandatory for women attending mass, so women are quite free to wear one if they wish. Which is how it should be.

[FundieBunny]

Ah yes, chocolate Easter crosses instead of bunnies. I know that one well. They also had to be WHITE chocolate. I won't even try to read into that....

[Marianne]

I second that request. I have never heard of that before!

here http://showerofroses.blogspot.fr/2012/0 ... women.html

Here. In my rural country catholic-by-front-pagan-by-behind, it was done mutch, ten years ago.

Having a 'soldier' party - fine. But to call it a WW2 party gave me a cold shudder. Maybe there's a difference between how Europeans and N Americans see the war?

Oh yes. At least for 2WW : for USA it's a pride, you're the liberator, for european, it's a shame (okay, there was De gaulle and some resistant... but some collaborator. And not, we don't remember Petain and the collaboration, but De Gaulle and the FFI) Here, in the south of France, if you want to play the 2WW, you must make a false camp for Spanish Republicans. "Okay, we'll play, you are the Nazi guarding the camp, I am the Republican who expect to leave ..." When I was little, I had a fake gun. Once, I wanted to play with the gun, and my grandfather was here. He broke the gun. "we do not play with toy guns. This is not fun to kill someone. War is not fun." After that, he tolds me the horrors he had seen during Spanish Civil War, the 2WW, Algeria, etc... I've never played at the war after that. I'm not an extremist like my grandfather : it is not dangerous to play at the war, but it is ... insulting to the victims of war to play with a REALwar (especially 2WW and genocide).

[Irishy]

Sorry for the delay.... Busy weekend!

http://showerofroses.blogspot.ie/2012/0 ... n.html?m=1

She makes it sound all nice and just a blessing but the origins of churching come from Leviticus and the notion that women are unclean after childbirth. More info here http://wdtprs.com/blog/2012/08/quaeritu ... hildbirth/