Pro-choicer in “blind rage” at Catholic wedding’s pro-life theme
by Kelli
Weddings are a celebration of love, of the entwining of two lives, of the exciting possibility of creating even more lives from this union.
I didn’t expect to have to endorse a “pro-life” stance.
~ XOJane.com and Lesbian.com writer Natasia Langfelder (pictured), lamenting her participation in a relative’s Catholic wedding where she felt there was too much of a pro-life message, as quoted by Live Action News, August 16
[Photo via xojane.com]
Aug.19, 2014 1:00 am |
Feminism |
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 read this article. No regard for the bride and how she might have rather had a friend or some other relative who might have truly appreciated the honor of being in the wedding party. Instead, the author took up space, sneered at the sanctity of the event and plumbed her experience for her own blog. What an ungrateful blowhard.
Very self-centered article. Ms Langfelder dwells obsessively on her own beliefs rather than focus on the couple.
“Blind rage”…over someone not wearing make-up and/or becoming a nun ????
If someone is THAT easily enraged, they might want to look into some therapy.
Just sayin’.
She thinks of herself as having to “endorse” a pro-life stance just by standing there.
Can she possibly understand how WE feel about PAYING for abortions through our taxes?!
(Answer: no. She can’t see beyond herself.)
The “blind rage” was about the other woman not totally connecting with the fact that she was doing it to herself, and in the meantime also failing to see the almost-robotic following-along with the dogma.
“You know,” she continued wistfully, “this is going to be the last time I wear makeup.” I felt a flare of blind rage. I wanted to tell her that no one is making her give up makeup, it’s her choice. Meanwhile if she had her way, she would take away the right of other women to make much, much more important choices about their futures.”
“XOJane.com and Lesbian.com writer”
Interesting. The fact that it has writers heavily implies that the domain Lesbian.com is not owned by a porn website. I’m honestly kind of shocked about that.
This is what happens when a person spends all of her time in a bubble, speaking only with people who agree with her. She comes to imagine that the whole world buys into her worldview.
She went to the wedding of a devout Catholic friend, with lots of devout young friends, in her friend’s Catholic parish. What did she expect to find? Is she entirely unaware that Jesus established His Church so that we could be counter-cultural?
If I went to a lesbian wedding-thing, would I be shocked by what I would hear there? Perhaps… but I would not expect them to hold back on their passionate concerns, just because some white Christian guy might be present.
(Lots of Catholic churches have fetal development models, I am glad to say. The little children in our parish like to hold them, like dolls.)
“This is what happens when a person spends all of her time in a bubble…” True Del. I remember an editorial in my college newspaper bemoaning the presence of a conservative speaker on campus. The editorialist wrote something to the effect: “Why is this person on our campus? No one in my Sociology Department knows anyone who shares his views.”
I am thinking about the bride and her choices for bridesmaids.
One young woman was entering a cloistered monastery. The bride chose her as an act of love — offering her a last-chance opportunity to be a maiden in a wedding party, and creating a lasting final memory together. We can be sure that the bride asked the novice to pray for their marriage every day.
This same loving bride invited her pro-bort lesbian feminist friend to be another bridesmaid. It is safe to say that the bride had given a lot of thought to this, and it was also done with love. The bride wanted Natasia to meet her friends, experience their joy, and catch a glimpse of the world through their eyes.
That was a year ago, and Natasia is still processing it. Well, still fighting it anyway. She wants to imagine that young pro-life Catholics are of the lunatic fringe, and that she is in the mainstream.
All I can say is that Natasia should avoid the March For Life.
Del: This is what happens when a person spends all of her time in a bubble, speaking only with people who agree with her. She comes to imagine that the whole world buys into her worldview.
Yet surely this applies less to the author, and more to the bridesmaid “Maria.”
The author (Nastasia) says, I already knew that some of our family members didn’t approve of my lesbianism because of religion. It’s something that I accept and I treat all of my family members with love and respect.
And: I understand that because of their faith, Duke and Diamond are anti-abortion. I have close friends that identify as Republican and we have an unspoken agreement to simply keep our political opinions out of our relationship. I can respect the differences in our opinions,
So of course she knows that the whole world is not buying into her worldview.
What made an impression on her was:
but I have a problem with their wedding being a platform for them to push their views on everyone.
Another of the author’s cousins felt it was over-the-top, or something like that, i.e. they told Nastasia, “Just so you know, my church isn’t like this.
I think “Maria” comes off as much more “in a bubble,” practically automaton-like.
Who knows, maybe she’s not really all that conflicted, and will be fine in the convent. Perhaps what was showing was just a bit of melancholy over what would soon be her “past life.”
Or maybe after a while, she’ll say, ***** this, I’m outta here….
Maybe it was not appropriate to have a “pro-life” message at a wedding–but the bride and groom had a right to do it. Maybe they should have mentioned it in advance to the bridesmaids.
In today’s society, the belief in tolerance has gone so far that we are expected to be tolerant of sin. When I go to Mass on Sunday, the priest doesn’t even mention abortion or gay-marriage–they (priests) seem to avoid saying anything controversial. They don’t want to offend anyone–but no one is concerned about offending God.
“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil:: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer