Stacy Keyte and her family

DON VINCENZO writes:

Last week, we buried the choir director in our small church cemetery in northern Virginia. For the funeral Mass, which was said in the Traditional Latin Rite, there was not an empty seat in our church, and not too many dry eyes either as the pastor gave his homily praising this magnificent woman and mother who died unexpectedly one month after her 50th birthday. She left eight children, ranging in ages from seven to 25.

I had known Cheryl Kraus for the 17 years that my wife and I have attended St. Athanasius Church, during which time she directed the choir, but she was far more than that. She was a veritable force of God’s Nature.There was not a pastoral assignment that was beyond her ability and/or willingness to perform, often under the most trying conditions. Yet, I – and everyone who knew her – also knew that anything that was asked by the church’s pastor was carried out, always with a smile and always most effectively. And this included the requests made shortly after her husband, my co-usher at Mass, died three years ago of colon cancer. That death brought Cheryl to unprecedented heights as a mother who took her children to Mass, and made sure that they were doing well in our local parish  school. On a personal note, she baked a cake when my wife and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary. Perhaps it was the zeal that converts bring to the Church, for Cheryl was baptized into the Church at 24, and her affection for the Mother of God was noticeable to anyone who spoke to her.

The choir, which is not large, was a perfect accompaniment to our small church, and Cheryl worked endlessly to bring about a magnificent group of both young and older folks in harmony with the hymns of the Traditional Church. In recognition of her work, no one in the parish left his or her seat after the conclusion of the Mass until the choir had finished its last hymn. In all of the funeral Masses I’ve attended for more than a decade and a half, I’ve never seen our pastor choke up in delivering his homily until last week. Cheryl Kraus touched a lot of people.

On November 10, two days after Cheryl’s funeral, I came across Parade Magazine, which is inserted in many Sunday newspapers nationwide. It carried a front-page article entitled: What Did You Do in the War, Mommy? and featured the story of Sgt. Stacy Keyte, with a front page photo of her greeting her six-year-old after returning from Iraq in 2006.

The article begins: “When Stacy Keyte was deployed to Iraq in 2005, her life as a young wife and mother had just begun to take shape.” I will not repeat the feminist mantra that follows, but what is known is that both Keyte and her husband were deployed simultaneously, and their three-year-old son was sent to live with “…his father’s best friend’s mother.” In Newspeak, the expression used in the article was that Keyte and her husband, “…put their family life on hold.” One might ask why two parents were members of the Texas Army National Guard, but that would raise a series of difficult questions for the feminists to answer. What we are told in this article, however, is that “By 2040, …women will comprise almost 18% of veterans.”

The role of women in the military and their assignments to combat positions has been expanding for more than a decade. Former President G.W. Bush did absolutely nothing to stem that tide as more women came back in body bags, and families were disrupted in ways unimaginable to those who had fought for their country in earlier wars.

I do not know or dislike Stacy Keyte, but what I do know is that the disintegration of family life has been aided and abetted by women in the military. The article about her claims that, “The marriages of women enlistees are more than twice as likely as men’s to crumble.” All the medals that she proudly displays cannot change that fact.

In contrast, Cheryl Kraus never received military medals or national honors, but in her own sphere she was the very definition of a hero.

— Comments —

Paula writes:

This topic hits home for me.  I was in the Army back in the ’80s for one enlistment and left the military when I became pregnant with my first child.  For many years I was embarrassed to tell people that I left the military after just one tour to become a full time mother.  Actually, I still am.  The Army certainly did not get any return on its investment in my training and the cost of shipping me off to Europe for two years.

Laura writes:

Please, don’t tell me you blame yourself.

You were lied to, not just by the military but by an entire culture. When you are young and innocent and everyone around you is telling you that the most important things are achievement and money, you can hardly appreciate the importance and duties of motherhood. You did the right thing by leaving and you should feel proud of it.

Carolyn writes:

I am almost aghast at a country that allows children to be deserted for the “greater good” of serving our country. The two should never be done simultaneously and I consider this child abuse that harms generations to come.

Laura writes:

It is institutionalized child abuse.

A reader writes:

Don Vincenzo writes:

One might ask why two parents were members of the Texas Army National Guard, but that would raise a series of difficult questions for the feminists to answer.

The word difficult implies that feminists care what happens to children compared to careers. (Remember many feminists are pro-abortion to begin with, which is hardly maternal.) Leaving a young child with someone barely known is appalling, though considering daycare, it is an accepted way of raising children today.

Please follow and like us: