2004-08-20 Rasing Catholic Children

It's stories such as these that seriously make me question whether or not raising my children catholic is the right thing to do.

I was rasied catholic, attended church weekly, and was baptized and confirmed. I would have liked to say I had a choice in this matter but really, I just did it because my parents said I had to. This is not to say that I minded...it was fine really.

As I got older though(and perhaps wiser) I did have some questions about certain rules that as a catholic I was/am supposed to follow...sex before mariage, birth control, freedom of choice etc.

Plain and simple, I just didn't/don't agree.

It would really be a terrible if you met someone, fell in love, decided to marry and then discovered that you weren't compatible. This may seem like a silly thing to worry about but it is an important part of a relationship and if it's not good then you've got a problem.

I am not going to raise my children to believe that they must wait until they are married, nor am I going to tell them to have sex with whomever they want. I am going to make sure that they know that sex should not be recreational and should be reserved for those in serious, committed relationships.

The whole "God will only give you as many children as you can handle" thing is so unbelievabley crazy I can't even tell you. Time to wake up and discover the cold hard truth: As much as we love them, kids cost money. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, depending on how you look at it, money doesn't come in an unending supply. I don't deny that it is a sad state of affairs when money has to be considered, but it does. It's called reality.

As far as freedom of choice is concerned, personally I would never have an abortion...ever. That decision is mine though and other women should have the right to choose too.

The rules of the Church are outdated, or in the case of the girl who could not receive communion, just plain dumb.