Debauchery of Olympic Proportions

ChelseaPro LifeLeave a Comment

The Olympics are finally here! I absolutely love watching the Olympics — especially swimming, a sport I competed in, myself, years and years…and years ago. That is why I really wish that I could unread this ESPN article about the debauchery that goes on amongst our ‘heroes’ in Olympic Village, the place where all or most athletes stay during the Olympic games.

olympic-condoms.pngArriving at Olympic Village is “like the first day of college,” said water polo captain Tony Azevedo, a veteran of Beijing, Athens and Sydney who is returning to London. “You’re nervous, super excited. Everyone’s meeting people and trying to hook up with someone.” And many, many of them do. So many that there is now a standing order of 100,000 condoms per Olympics.

Carrie Sheinberg, an alpine skier at the ’94 Winter Games, called Olympic Village “a magical, fairy-tale place, like Alice in Wonderland, where everything is possible. You could win a gold medal and you can sleep with a really hot guy.” Wow. No wonder Lolo Jones, said that remaining a virgin is, “the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.” Good luck at the Olympics this year, Lolo, both on the track and off!

Julie Foudy, who has two golds and one silver from playing soccer in three Olympics, said that in the dining hall, “We’d graze over our food for hours watching all the eye candy, wondering why I got married.” Lovely. It’s worth noting here that, like college, in the village athletes room together in same gender dorm-like halls and, apparently, they do not have accommodations for athletes who are married to stay with their spouses.

Of all of the Olympians quoted in the ESPN article, I think I was most disappointed to hear what swimmer Ryan Lochte, who I’ve been anxiously looking forward to cheering on with the rest of Gator Nation, had to say. “My last Olympics, I had a girlfriend — big mistake,” he told ESPN. “Now I’m single, so London should be really good. I’m excited.” What a class act.

To cut down on some of the shenanigans in the past some coaches have imposed bans on alcohol consumption and even cross-gender visitation in bedrooms. I’m also glad to see that there will be a good number of chaplains on hand in the village this year. It sounds like many of our Olympians could benefit from their guidance.

Look, I was never under the delusion that these people were absolutely flawless human beings, and I don’t expect them to me, but I don’t think I’ll ever watch the Olympics the same way again after reading this. The New York Post also wrote about it earlier this month.

What does it profit a man if he wins gold in the Olympic games and forfeits his soul in Olympic Village?

Self discipline is not just for athletic training.

You Don’t Have to Use NFP

ChelseaFamily, Natural Family Planning3 Comments

nfpweek2012.pngWe are in the midst of yet another NFP Awareness Week. If you regularly follow Catholic blogs and news sites you’re going to read a lot about the benefits of natural family planning over artificial contraception and it can seem as though practicing NFP (by practicing NFP, I’m referring to using some sort of charting method to track one’s fertility) is essential for married couples who want to be faithful to Church teaching. That’s why I’d like to take a moment here to offer a reminder that you don’t have to use NFP to be a good Catholic.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a major proponent of NFP, myself, but I definitely don’t think that it is necessary for everyone. There are many different reasons to use NFP, but I’m talking specifically about it being presented as an ‘alternative’ to artificial contraception – with the focus being largely on how to avoid possibly conceiving when one wants or needs to. Colleen identifies the flaw in this approach perfectly:

“Instead of offering NFP as the main alternative to contraception, let’s offer CHILDREN as the alternative. The opposite of being “against conception” is being FOR conception. The Church teaches that having children is the ideal, and NFP is merely a tool we can use in our marriage if necessary…”

According to Humanae Vitae, which is often quoted when Catholics promote NFP, ‘responsible parenthood’ is about being open to more children unless there are serious reasons to postpone or avoid pregnancy:

With regard to physical, economic, psychological and social conditions, responsible parenthood is exercised by those who prudently and generously decide to have more children, and by those who, for serious reasons and with due respect to moral precepts, decide not to have additional children for either a certain or an indefinite period of time.

Obviously, every couple has to discern for themselves what those serious reasons are based on their own personal situations, but it strikes me that that our fertility rate is so low (2.06, last I checked) despite being one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Surely we can afford to be having more babies — not that finances are the only reason couples avoid pregnancy.

Of course, couples who practice NFP have large families, too. I guess all I’m really saying here is that 1.) ideally NFP should be promoted with an emphasis first and foremost on being generously open to life and
2.) if you’re like my aunt and uncle, for example, who found NFP to be too much work and decided to dump it in favor of just accepting children as they come — possibly purposely abstaining (without the use of thermometers and charts) if a really serious reason to avoid pregnancy ever did present itself — there’s nothing wrong with that. I can’t think of a more natural way of ‘planning’ your family!

Recommended: What’s So Great About Large Families?

Baby Holster

ChelseaCute Baby BloggingLeave a Comment

Couldn’t resist! I’m sure some of you have already seen this. I only came across it just this weeend:

via howtobeadad.com

Meet the 2012 Paralympians

ChelseaPro LifeLeave a Comment

Believe it or not, I’ve been told by people who are athletes that they would kill themselves if they were ever seriously injured and forced to be in a wheelchair because they could no longer participate in this or that sport. In 2008, 23 year old rugby player Daniel James actually did just that. That was also the subject of the 2005 Oscar winner for Best Picture, Million Dollar Baby.

But, who says you can’t be just as active and athletic with a disability? Meet the 2012 Paralympians (h/t Deacon Greg):

Yes, it takes a lot of hard work (does it not when you’re able bodied?), no one bounces back right away from a traumatic injury. But, you’re only really “limited” by your own lack of imagination, determination and ingenuity.

Life with a disability is not as awful as you might think. Trust me.

It would be really nice if these games were broadcast live for all to see.

TOB Tuesday: Revisiting the Great Bikini Debate

ChelseaModesty, TOB Tuesday, video4 Comments

mannequin2.pngI’ve talked about this here a little bit before, but most of the debate is over at Elizabeth Hillgrove’s blog where she has a whole category for all things bikini related. Click here and scroll down for her thoughts (about both female and male modesty in swimwear), lots of combox discussion and some links to others defending the bikini.

Given this ongoing debate, I thought it was funny today when I came across a video in which widely popular YouTuber Philip DeFranco attempts to answer a viewer who asks: “Bra n Panties vs. Swimwear, What’s the Dif? Help Me Out”

mannequin.pngI think DeFranco’s viewer’s question is on the right track, but should be flipped around. He asks: if there’s no difference in coverage, why is it unacceptable for women to go out in their underwear? When it should be: if there’s no difference in coverage why is it acceptable for women to go out in bikinis when they wouldn’t go out in their underwear? When and why did this style of bathing attire become so mainstream? Does being made of different material and having a different purpose really make that big of a…well, difference?

Once again, what do you think? Some of you might not care, but of all the modesty debates I’ve seen, I think this is probably the most worthy of being discussed. We’re not just talking about whether something is a little too short or low-cut, but literally whether it’s appropriate to leave the house wearing nothing but your underwear.

Healing in the Fire

ChelseaAbortion, Pro LifeLeave a Comment

mpickup.pngFor the past nearly six years I’ve spent in the blogosphere, Mark Pickup has been one of my very favorite fellow bloggers. I’ve shared many of his posts here and I publish a lot of his writing over at Catholic Lane. Currently I’m running the story of his life that he wrote recently in seven articles.

Yesterday I ran part four in which he talks about pressuring his then girlfriend (and now wife) into aborting their first child:

Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to be a Dad someday, but not now. There were parties to be had, songs to be sung, drinks to be drunk, opportunities to be explored. A child would, well, cramp my style. With each passing day of pregnancy I intensified the pressure on LaRee to have an abortion. Quite simply, the baby had to die.
…
By day, I could squelch the guilt of the abortion and willful abandoning of my own innocent offspring. But at night I drifted to the land of Nod.[4] It was during the quiet rhythms of sleep in my dark bedroom that human defenses relaxed. Guilt would break through and I could hear blood of my child crying out from the ground. It was as though I bore the [M]ark of Cain.

I hope you will go read the whole thing. Everything Mark writes is moving and powerful, but this is some of his best work. While you’re at it, be sure to check out parts one, two and three and stay tuned for parts five-seven.

Also, please keep Mark and his family in your prayers. On top of being in the advanced stages of multiple sclerosis, he was recently diagnosed with cancer and is now undergoing treatment for that. Knowing Mark, I’m sure he has abandoned himself completely to the will of God and I pray that his burden will be light.

Marriage Laws: It’s Not About Regulating Love

ChelseaGay Marriage/Homosexuality, Marriage, video1 Comment

What is marriage?

This short and to-the-point video is for Australia, but it perfectly explains why the government has an interest in regulating marriage in any country, including the US.

Whenever a marriage amendment passes in one state or another, I can’t tell you how many times I hear someone lament, “why would anyone deny two people the right to affirm their love?” This is not about love, people! No one is being denied the right to love whomever they choose.

Marriage, in both the religious and secular sense, is not merely about affirming the love between two people, as far too many people (hetero and homosexual, alike) think. It is our most foundational institution for raising children and building families (and, as a result, building society). It is a gift and a great responsibility, not a right.

In many ways, it’s actually heterosexuals who are making the defense of the traditional, natural marriage and family structure so difficult. While divorce rates are not nearly as high as most people like to claim, fewer people are getting married in general, with a good many of the adults who are in (semi) serious relationships opting for cohabitation instead of marriage (I swear, I’ll scream the next time I hear, “we don’t need a piece of paper to make our love legitimate”) and over forty percent of the children born in the US today are born to single mothers. It’s kind of hard to argue the importance of marriage as it has always been understood when this is the accepted (and often celebrated) new normal. Ah, but, for the sake of future generations, we must press on.

Recommended: How to Make the Case for Marriage (without using religious lingo). When we’re talking about marriage laws, the argument is not about why the church doesn’t approve of same-sex marriage, but why the state should have a problem with it. And we need to be able to answer that question.

Life is Beautiful

ChelseaPro LifeLeave a Comment

beautifullife.png

Life is good and beautiful just as it is, including its burden of suffering. When God created man and woman, he laid an immense blessing on every human life, and that blessing has never been withdrawn despite sin and all its consequences: “For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29) -especially the first gift and first call, that of life itself. Every life, even when subject to pain, is infinitely blessed and valuable.
-Fr. Jaques Philippe, Interior Freedom p.49

Friday Funny: The Fall of Pinterest

ChelseaHumor, video2 Comments

This is hilarious! The women of Pinterest try to defend it from the male invasion.

P.S. you can follow me on Pinterest!

Brad Pitt’s Mother: Obama is “a liberal who supports the killing of unborn babies…”

ChelseaAbortion, Gay Marriage/Homosexuality, PoliticsLeave a Comment



pitt.pngThis Tuesday, July, 3, the Springield News-Leader ran the following letter from Jane Pitt:

I have given much thought to Richard Stoecker’s letter (“Vote for Mormon against beliefs,” June 15). I am also a Christian and differ with the Mormon religion.

But I think any Christian should spend much time in prayer before refusing to vote for a family man with high morals, business experience, who is against abortion, and shares Christian conviction concerning homosexuality just because he is a Mormon.

Any Christian who does not vote or writes in a name is casting a vote for Romney’s opponent, Barack Hussein Obama — a man who sat in Jeremiah Wright’s church for years, did not hold a public ceremony to mark the National Day of Prayer, and is a liberal who supports the killing of unborn babies and same-sex marriage.

I hope all Christians give their vote prayerful consideration because voting is a sacred privilege and a serious responsibility.

Editor’s note: To clear up earlier confusion, the News-Leader has verified the letter writer is the mother of actor Brad Pitt and local businessman Doug Pitt.

Interesting. Not sure what his views on abortion are, but Pitt’s most famous son is an outspoken supporter of both Barack Obama and same-sex marriage. Before announcing their engagement this year, he was known to tell people that he and long time partner/mother of his six children Angelina Jolie would not get married until “everyone in this country had the right to get married.”

Speaking of Jolie. Her father, John Voight is also a very outspoken Republican. And, I’ve been told that Brad’s brother, Doug, is also very pro-life. At a pro-life deanery meeting last year one of the representatives from a new crisis pregnancy center that was opening up in our hometown said that they were talking to Doug about being the keynote speaker for the center’s opening banquet.

I wonder if things get a little tense at Pitt/Jolie family get-togethers whenever politics get brought up. We try to avoid it as much as we possibly can with my mom’s very liberal, pro-choice side of the family, ourselves.