I would like to add my two cents to the “Dan Saga.” My parents, like Dan, are very, very devout Catholics. They have been married over 45 years, and have 5 children, including me. I am one of those much-talked of, dreaded, fallen “young Catholic ladies” who attended a fairly liberal Catholic college. However, I had rejected Catholicism and Christianity as whole long before I decided to attend that particular university, in my high school Sophomore Catholic Theology class. My gradual process of “drawing away” happened when we begin to discuss the intrinsic differences between men and women. The differences were illustrated as women as “active recipients” both in the sexual act and the receiving of communion, men as the “providers” in the sexual act, Transubstantiation of the host, and families. Drawing “connect-the-dot” lines between these ideas and then using them as the basis of theological and practical conclusions seemed icky and wrong to me.
Attending a Catholic college has challenged me to re-examine the the basic principles of the Catholic faith, and even though I still do not consider myself religious at all, I have more respect for its deep foundations of faith and tradition than I did in the past. So college, for me, has done the opposite of what you fear, Dan.
On a side note, my mother who is a devout Catholic married at 18 with 5 kids and who has served as a homemaker all her life (sounds like your ideal woman, eh Dan?) has cried to me on more than one occasion about how her worst regret in life was never attending college. My father just retired last year, has footed my educational bill, and has plenty of income to live on for the rest of their lives, so her desire is not out of financial necessity. She sees how it has emotionally and spiritually benefitted me and the 1 sister I have that did attend college. 2 out of 3 of my sisters did not attend college, either, and they express similar sentiments, especially since my sister’s husband just injured his back badly at work and is unable to work while he waits for surgery. My one sister who did is the most Catholic of my whole family, a homemaker with 10 children.
I was a late “surprise” with 20 years difference between me and my closest sibling, and my parents made attending college a priority, seeing how not attending it has adversely affected my brothers and sisters. College has added so much to my life. I thank God for the opportunities for intellectual and emotional growth that it has allowed me.
What bothers me most, though about you, Dan, is not the decisions you make for your own self and family, as much as I disagree with them, but how you claim that your decisions are Catholic dogma and every other supposed Catholic’s soul is in jeopardy if they do not strongly discourage higher education in their children. Hogwash.
Just another side to the coin.
In closing, I AM WOMAN, HEAR ME ROAR!!

:extrahappy:

:curtsey::curtsey::slapfight::slapfight::egyptian: