Disney (including Baby Einstein) – twists classic storylines; makes “sexy” female main characters like Pocahontas; uses foreign sweatshops; and more as detailed in the Schweizers’ book “The Mouse Betrayed” (used products you didn’t pay for like a Pinocchio are generally okay)

American Baby magazine – content makes it a waste of paper

clothing that advertises brand names instead of being cute or pretty (example: saying “Baby Gap” on the front of the shirt instead of just on the tag)

conventionally grown apples – we buy organic applesauce and apples because the skin is so nutritious, and pesticides stick to the skin or go right through: same with pears and grapes

trick-or-treating – we want to celebrate Saints on the eve of All Saints Day, not glorify witches, demons, vampires, etc. & get a ton of junk food . . . Catherine likes pumpkins so we might decorate one and try to make a pumpkin pie, and pass out Catholic or healthy things to anybody who comes to the door that night (or just keep the porch light off if it’s too cold to keep opening the door!)

sugar – except when cooking for Luke, I substitute with stevia because it doesn’t hurt my teeth or mess with my blood sugar levels, and I minimize the sugar I feed to Catherine

hydrogenated oils – these are unhealthy so we use butter instead of margarine, and buy natural Smart Balance Omega-3 peanut butter for our celery

gluten – no, I haven’t been diagnosed as having an intolerance to gluten, but I do sometimes feel yucky and have diarrhea after consuming it so I avoid it because both David and I can’t afford to lose nutrients through diarrhea, and gluten is not a necessary food

soda/pop – only Luke drinks this and only occassionally; as long as you don’t give it to us or try to give any to Catherine, you’re OK putting some in the fridge for you when you need to

music with a defining beat – I can’t stand it but we love piano, a tiny bit of country, some ethnic music, classical, Gregorian (played most often upstairs), etc.

pacifiers – babies are so beautiful without them, they can interfere with breastfeeding by causing nipple confusion (and I wonder if I would always be able to tell when our babies are hungry if they were using pacifiers), and they can be hard to take away from the baby when the parents want to stop giving it to him – and fingers are better than plastic when Mama is not available!

vaccines – many of these are made from aborted babies. Most, if not all, have toxic ingredients such as mercury and fermaldehyde. Some do cause autism in some children and many other severe health problems in some children. Mass vaccinations can lead to mutated viruses that people are unable to fight. Our children will not be exposed to the germs at school except on Sundays, and our healthy diets will help their immune systems to be prepared for whatever trials God leads us through.

jeans – none of us wear jeans because they emphasize the shape of the buttocks and make an upside down V pointing to the private area instead of taking attention away from it like skirts, dresses and some baggy pants

shorts – none of us wear shorts so that we will have more protection against sunburn for our fair skins and because Marylike modesty entails covering the knees

tank tops – see shorts and substitute shoulders for knees

V-necks – these go too low to be modest on me but are OK on some women in terms of not going too far down to the chest when exposing skin

tv – we don’t have a hooked-up tv, we only have cable for the Internet connection, and we watch some movies on Luke’s computer – this lack of a tv gives us peace and quiet when we don’t want to play music and helps protect our innocence

cribs – we’ve done the research and decided to continue with our happy family bed

http://skindeep.ewg.org will tell you which ingredients in cosmetics should be avoided (we don’t use Johnson & Johnson because of this and stick with safer, organic and natural brands)

I was reading Sheila Kitzinger’s book “The Complete Book of Pregnancy and Childbirth” this morning when I realized how offensive parts of it are to us. I am writing to ask for your prayers and any other help you can give me so that we can publish a pregnancy and childbirth book written by and for Catholic mothers.

It would not have any nude pictures of laboring women that you would hide from your husband or sons. Most pictures would be of women in dresses.
The term “family planning”, if used at all, would refer to helping the mother and father allocate funds for medical care and baby supplies, and think about how living arrangements will change after their baby’s birth.
Contraception will never be endorsed as a valid option. If mentioned at all, it will be in the context of helping the woman’s body heal from past contraception. NFP will be presented only as a means to conceive, with relevant Church teaching.
Abortion and sterilization will never be presented as valid options or “choices”. There could be a section for mothers whose bodies have survived an abortion or a reversed sterilization, perhaps with a piece by a priest about repentance, forgiveness, and healing.
The baby, whether born or unborn, will never be referred to as an “it”. I realize that many Catholic authors have done this, but it is especially disconcerting to me as a mother in third trimester to continually read “it” in place of “him” or even “him or her”. Our children have souls, therefore they are never “it”s.

Catholic teaching about the beauty and responsibilities of motherhood will be sprinkled throughout. Sections written by priests are welcome! Breastfeeding will be given precedence over formula feeding, and healthy alternatives to conventional formula will be presented. There could be a short discussion about circumcision with medical facts, and instructions on how to care for an “intact” penis and a circumcised penis.

I would love to include information about breastfeeding from Catholic professionals. I’ve heard that La Leche League was begun by Catholic mothers, but I have yet to find a Catholic LLL Leader.

Are you interested in accomplishing this with me? Do you think this is needed, or at least a good idea? Will you pray to St. Anne, St. Gerard, the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, and the Divine Infant Jesus of Prague for this effort, that it may be pleasing to God?

By Samantha Singson
     (NEW YORK — C-FAM) The US delegation to the UN sharply scolded a top UN official this week for perpetuating the falsehood that there is a new UN mandated global goal related to “sexual and reproductive health.” The exchange came during the Executive Board meeting of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). The US also criticized UNFPA’s promotion of abortion.

     UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Obaid was presenting UNFPA’s strategic plan and its proposed global and regional programs.  In her report Obaid claimed “The target on universal access to reproductive health under Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5 paves the way for further progress to improve the health of women, reduce maternal and newborn deaths, expand contraceptive choice, and protect reproductive rights.” The US representative interjected that there is no new global target on reproductive health and that the only thing that could generate one was a resolution of the General Assembly.

     The Millennium Development Goals were first negotiated in 2000 by more than 150 heads of state, the largest such gathering in history, and included eight broad goals none of which included the controversial issue of “reproductive health,” a term that is frequently used by UN agencies to promote abortion. Pro-abortion radicals, including UNFPA, tried to get a new goal on “reproductive health” negotiated by heads of state in 2005 but they were defeated. Since then, they have tried to get a ninth goal or at least a target as part of an existing goal but continue to be defeated. Their defeat has not stopped UNFPA and others from continuing to claim that such a new target exists. Governments around the world are being told such a target exists and are being asked to change their laws accordingly, most recently in the Philippines.

     The US also complained to Obaid about UNFPA’s promotion of abortion and asked Obaid for a clarification. Obaid claimed UNFPA was neutral on abortion and only tries to prevent “unsafe abortion.”  “UNFPA does not speak for or against the legalization of abortion,” said Obaid. UNFPA, however, has a history of promoting the legalization of abortion most recently when the agency intervened when Nicaragua’s National Assembly banned all abortion. UNFPA, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other UN agencies directly intervened to stop the law which eventually was passed unanimously by the Nicaraguan Assembly.

     In contrast to the US position, the Swedish delegate urged Obaid to “make sure that sexual and reproductive health and rights remain squarely on the agenda.” A final decision by the country delegations on the UNFPA strategic plan and programming will be made when executive board meetings wrap up this week.

     On Friday, the United States announced that it would suspend its contribution to UNFPA for the sixth year in a row. The US first suspended funding in 2002 upon receiving evidence that UNFPA was complicit in China’s draconian one child policy.

For more news visit us at www.c-fam.org

Our Lady of Good Success said “. . . that impurity would inundate the streets like filthy ocean waters so that ‘there would be almost no virgin souls’” and “Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women. In this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent.” “The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time . . .” During one of the apparitions she saw swords above the head of Christ that read, “I shall punish heresy, blasphemy and impurity.”

Ecclesiasticus 19:27: “The attire of the body, laughter of the teeth, and the gait of the man, shew what he is.”

Deuteronomy 22:5: “A woman shall not be clothed with man’s apparel; neither shall a man use woman’s apparel; for he that doeth these things is abominable before God.”

1 Timothy 2:9-10 “In like manner I wish women to be decently dressed, adorning themselves with modesty and dignity, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but with good works, such as become women professing Godliness.”

St. John Chrysostom said in the late 3rd century: “The beauty of women is the greatest snare. Or rather, not the beauty of woman, but unchastened gazing.” “You carry your snare everywhere and spread your nets in all places. You allege that you never invited others to sin. You did not indeed, by your words, but you have done so by your dress, and by your deportment and much more effectively than you could by your voice. When you have made another sin in his heart, how can you be innocent? Tell me, whom does this world condemn? Whom do judges in court punish? Those who drink poison or those who prepare and administer the fatal potion? You have prepared the abominable cup, you have given the death-dealing drink, and you are more criminal than are those who poison the body, you murder not the body but the soul. And it is not to enemies you do this, nor are you urged on by any imaginary necessity, nor provoked by injury, but out of foolish vanity and pride.”

St. Nilus in the fifth century: “After the year 1900, toward the middle of the 20th century, the people of that time will become unrecognizable . . . People’s appearances will change, and it will be impossible to distinguish men from women due to their shamelessness in dress and style of hair.” St. Nilus also predicted Internet so that prophecy is worth looking up.

St. Thomas Aquinas is quoted in “A Tour of the Summa” quoting St. Ambrose: “that the body should be clad and adorned appropriately, unaffectedly, simply, not in an over-nice fashion, nor with costly or dazzling apparel. Modesty has a place in regulating the attire. In dress, as in all outward things, there is a reasonable and decent norm. Dress should not conflict too gaudily with established custom, provided the custom itself is decent. Nor should dress too largely absorb a person’s interest and attention, for excessive pleasure in dress is vainglory . . . On the other hand . . . slovenliness in dress (or negligence) offends against modesty.”

she also quoted a dream or two of St. Don Bosco’s in the book “Smiling Don Bosco”

Look up immodesty in the Catechism of the Council of Trent (note to myself)

quote from Our Lady of Fatima to 10-year-old Jacinta in 1920: “Fashions will be introduced which will offend Our Divine Lord very much. Those who serve God ought not to follow these fashions. The Church has no fashions. Our Lord is always the same. . . More people go to hell because of sins of the flesh than for any other reason.”

Pope Benedict XV in his encyclical Sacra Propediem in 1921: “One cannot sufficiently deplore the blindness of so many women of every age and station. Made foolish by a desire to please, they do not see to what degree the indecency of their clothing shocks every honest man and offends God. Most of them would formerly have blushed for such apparel as a grave fault against Christian modesty. Now it does not suffice to exhibit themselves on public thoroughfares; they do not fear to cross the threshold of churches to assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and even to bear the seducing food of shameful passions to the Eucharistic Table, where one receives the Heavenly Author of Purity”

in 1926 Father Dolan, Director of the Little Flower Society, visited Liseaux and spoke to St. Therese’s sister Pauline, then Mother Agnes; she said to the ladies of the Society: “that if they would please the Little Flower and win her favor, they must not follow the fashion when fashion demands immodest dress.”

In 1928 the Cardinal Vicar of Pope Pius XI, Cardinal Pompili ordered a “Crusade Against Immodest Fashions, Especially in Schools Directed by Religious” and his letter said “that a dress cannot be called decent which is cut deeper than two fingers breadth under the pit of the throat, which does not cover the arms at least to the elbows and scarcely reaches a bit beyond the knees. Furthermore, dresses of transparent materials are improper.”

In 1930 Cardinal Sbaretti in a Letter from the Sacred Congregation of the Council issued by direction of Pope Pius XI to persons in positions of authority: “condemn emphatically the immodest fashion of dress adopted by Catholic women and girls, which fashion not only offends the dignity of women, but conduces to the temporal ruin, miserably dragging down others in their fall. . .

Dresses contain crumbs very well until you can reach a low trash can.

When a woman wears a dress, there is no danger of showing lower back skin or underwear when the woman bends over, and if the dress is modest, she will not show her chest to anybody in any position.

Dresses are wonderful if you have trouble finding a skirt that fits right. Loose dresses are incredibly comfortable in almost any weather.

Dresses provide a much better silhoutte when both men and woman are pictured together. They are also on every woman’s restroom I have seen that has a picture.

Dresses are extremely handy when you are prone to making a mess, e.g. if you have a baby on your bladder or you have a bladder control problem, or when you get to the toilet in time but the toilet is very poorly designed. You have to lift up your dress in order to sit down, so it is very difficult to soil it.

Dresses are definitely woman’s dress so they are approved by Deuteronomy and the Church. Mary always appears to her children in full length dresses with proper necklines and no slits. She is the most beautiful woman, so why not imitate her and please Our Lord instead of changing, uncomfortable fashions?

Little girls are so beautiful in dresses! If you always clothe them in dresses, they will not want to wear pants, and they will be naturally more ladylike and feminine than if they were raised in mostly pants like I was.

Long dresses (past the knee, ideally to the ankles, past the elbows) with high necklines (but not choking) and no slits or see-through fabric are encouraged by the Church and will always make a woman look good if she takes care of her body and her clothes.

Some of it is okay The above really bothers me, with the occasional swear word – the authors represent the kind of people I want to keep my family away from. Thank God I also checked out the book that inspired “The Sound of Music”, called “The Trapp Family Singers”, a heartwarming tale written by a truly Catholic mother. That’s what I’m going to read in bed while Catherine sleeps!

How can any pregnant woman deny that her child is a baby? It saddens me to think of all the pro-choice and otherwise anti-life women out there. If you can read (and many humans can’t), you’re human. You’re just like me in that our lives started when our parents’ sperm and egg met at the moment of conception. The real choice is between birth and adoption, not murder of unborn children. Murder is never a moral, ethical option, and doctors who abort children need lots of prayers.

Contraception. There’s a hard topic to bring up in public. “Hey, you’re not using condoms with that girlfriend of yours, right? I really hope that you’re respecting her as a woman and respecting her virginity (or helping her to heal from pre- or extra-marital sex) by building her up and learning about her personality.” Who wants to talk about our sin? I only do that in the Sacrament of Penance, where the priest doesn’t judge me and God, through the priest, absolves me of my sins. What a great feeling it is to have a clean soul!! There are so many things to do besides have sex. If you’re sitting in class and trying to stay awake, you’re abstaining from sex. If you’re not a prostitute and you’re enjoying a hard day’s work, you’re abstaining from sex. The only thing stopping people from abstaining with their loved ones of the opposite (and sometimes, same) sex is their inability to fight their desires. Self-control is a must for everyone. Most people use self-control when driving, so they don’t kill pedestrians and run into other cars. Why not exercise the same self-restraint, self-discipline, self-control when in a relationship with someone? I pray that the Body of Christ will think about these things more often. I pray that people will receive help from friends, nuns, priests, and others in becoming and staying chaste, pure, modest, and truly loving. Our world will be so much better when this happens. God bless you!