Pope Francis: Dogs and cats no substitute for children
by Kelli
You can go explore the world, go on holiday, you can have a villa in the countryside, you can be carefree….
It might be better - more comfortable - to have a dog, two cats, and the love goes to the two cats and the dog. Is this true or not? Have you seen it?
Then, in the end this marriage comes to old age in solitude, with the bitterness of loneliness.
~ Pope Francis, criticizing the “culture of ‘well-being’ that says life is better without kids,” as quoted by Religion News Service, June 2
[HT: Jill; photo via petstrollers.cc]
Jun.03, 2014 1:00 am |
The Church |
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
I have nothing against animals. I used to be an equestrian I had a black lab and a mutt. Ive had a few cats but I dont own any now and I havent in years but Ive noticed that most childless women tend to own about 3 to 4 cats. They are also post abortive.
Well I’m childless, but not by choice (nor am I post-abortive). As much as I might love to, I’m probably ineligible to foster/adopt domestically due to a serious mental health diagnosis. I have, however, adopted two cats (one from a shelter and the other from a friend). Sure my cats keep me company & warm at night, but my fulfillment comes not from them, but from my work with the developmentally disabled and volunteering in the community.
Well. Life is certainly more *comfortable* without kids, but what is comfortable isn’t always best for us.
I’m not convinced having kids is for everyone. But a lot of people do delay or avoid it because of fear of what kids bring, when it’s okay just to jump in sometimes. You’re never fully ready. (Well, some people are I guess).
And I don’t think he should just knock having pets. There are many women who cannot have children or who had a series of miscarriages and loving a pet is therapeutic.
My father had an uncle and aunt who had a dream to build a small mansion in California and host lavish parties in the 1950s and 1960s. To fulfill the dream, they chose not to have children. Several years ago, my dad spoke with him when he turned 90, and his uncle was asking my dad how I and my siblings were doing, and my dad said his uncle teared up about how lonely he was, how all their partying friends had passed away and he and his aunt had no children to speak about with pride like my dad did.
Libertybelle, he wasn’t knocking pet ownership. I haven’t found the full transcript yet, but the focus of the Holy Father’s homily were on the faithfulness, perseverance, and fruitfulness of Christ’s love for His bride, the Church – three characteristics that are also at the heart of Christian marriage.
This passage came from his section on fruitfulness. A more complete quote is:
————————
Then the Holy Father discussed the third characteristic: fruitfulness. The love of Jesus, he said, “makes the Church fruitful,” providing her with new children through Baptism, and the Church grows with this spousal fruitfulness.
“In a marriage, fertility can sometimes be put to the test when the children do not arrive, or are sick,” he said, and added that in such times of trial, there are couples who look to Jesus and draw on the power of fertility that Christ has with His Church.
There are also other things that Jesus does not like – such as marriages that are sterile by choice, ones in which the spouses “do not want children” or “want to remain without fertility.
“This culture of well-being from ten years ago convinced us: ‘It’s better not to have children! It’s better! You can go explore the world, go on holiday, you can have a villa in the countryside, you can be care-free…it might be better – more comfortable – to have a dog, two cats, and the love goes to the two cats and the dog. Is this true or is this not? Have you seen it? Then, in the end this marriage comes to old age in solitude, with the bitterness of loneliness. It is not fruitful, it does not do what Jesus does with his Church: He makes His Church fruitful.”
——————–
So, what is important in marriage is the fruit that is produced by it. (Heck, that is what is important for every person, married or not.) For most marriages, fruitfulness involves children. However, as Pope Francis acknowledged, some couples are not able to conceive and are not able to adopt. Their fruitfulness may be demonstrated in other ways.
Ah, that makes sense.
Thanks for clearing it up.