IN TWO articles posted at Tradition in Action last year (here and here), Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, now deceased, reflected on the decay of gravitas in the modern Catholic clergy. He illustrated his points with numerous images, including the photo above and a painting of St. Dominic by Fra Angelico.

Of the priests above, he wrote:

Note the optimism of these priests. For these poor men nothing is elevated any more. Should someone try to speak to them about the sublimity of God, he would be looked at askew. For them life is a cloudless horizon. Their main concern is to joke, which is the lowest level of amiability: to make others laugh. They do not want to see that the Church is going through the most apocalyptic time of her existence.

Do these poor men have an idea of what it means for us laymen to persevere in the Catholic faith and morals? Do they have any notion of the fights, persecutions and adversities we have to face in order to remain faithful? Do they think that they will guide people to practice virtue with this attitude? They imagine that this is what they are doing and that everyone is following them; they believe they are conquering the world. But they are not. They are helping the Church to lose her credibility. (more…)

IN most of the forlorn cities of upstate New York, less than 50 percent of the children born in 2010 were born to married parents. In Rochester, almost 70 percent of children are illegitimate at birth. But just south of Rochester, there is a scattered community where such things are virtually unheard of.

As this article in The New York Times about a crash that killed five Amish reports, the Amish population in upstate New York has grown by 13 percent in two years, with many migrating from nearby Ohio and Pennsylvania. Illegitimacy is not a problem for the Amish.

The Amish are an island of social stability in the region, evidence that it is not the economy that determines whether traditional sex roles survive, but the metaphysics of a people.

An Amish woman’s life revolves around her children and her home, and the idea of her being ashamed to live this way is ludicrous. She  may easily leave behind enough children and grandchildren to populate a small village before she dies. Many decades from now, her legacy will live and breathe while today’s female graduates of, say, Columbia Law School, supposedly so much smarter than the frumpy, apron-clad Amish housewives, have a good chance of vanishing without a trace.

Not only will the Amish woman leave raw numbers behind, she will leave behind functioning human beings, who are able to take part in civil society, to marry and have children of their own, to work hard and build upon what she did. And, yet by the values of modern leftist society, she has wasted her life.

(more…)

JEFF W. writes:

Here is a statement that I believe is true. It’s something that Vitalist women should think about.

A man reserves his true and deepest love not for the species of woman in whose company he finds himself electrified and enkindled, but for that one in whose company he may feel tenderly drowsy.

– George Jean Nathan

(more…)

THIS nineteenth century portrait by James Charles of Mrs. Alfred Illingworth might seem to modern sensibilities to be a portrait of luxury and its unearned privileges. But this interpretation cannot survive an honest appraisal of Mrs. Illingworth’s face. Every thing in the picture is a prop to the magnificent, communicative face. She is serene and self-effacing. Her gaze is steady, not defiant. Like Stoic Roman matrons immortalized in busts, or a weathered cliff on a lovely shore, she is a bulwark of receptivity. She is not beautiful, but she is highly feminine.

Feminists have often scared women with the idea that when their children are raised they will have nothing to do. What can I say, but how stupid this idea is? Nothing to do?  Does the cliff have nothing to do? Does a work of art have nothing to do?

What can a woman do after her children are raised? She need not do. But she must be.

(more…)

IN THIS AD, Republican women in the House of Representatives show off how pro-woman they are, as if we needed to know. They give the impression that the universe is female and never mention that jobs and businesses for men should be a far greater priority than jobs and businesses for women.

Can women in a modern democracy move beyond the politics of narcissism?

(more…)

ROBIN writes:

Carla writes: 

…And most important, if feminism is making women so unhappy why are women not embracing traditional role more?…

I would add to your excellent commentary only by suggesting that men are also not embracing traditional role more. When Betty Friedan and Margaret Sanger, et al, began their wicked, Marxist campaign, I believe they were well aware that they would influence men as well as women, eventually altering an entire society. 

As a reformed (and continually reforming, thanks be to God) feminist myself, I can confidently say that I have the utmost respect for men. I am far from a man-hating feminazi, so to speak. However, I will say that there exists a sea of men in America who are quite comfortable with their feminist wives. Not happy, mind you, but quite comfortable – some even encourage feminist qualities in their wives!  (more…)

AT HER blog Camera Lucida, Kidist Paulos Asrat recently posted photos of Niagara Falls.

(more…)

  A READER writes: I was persuing the IKEA catalogue on this very hot summer day when I came up with my own additions to the merchandiser's Swedish names for sofas, bookcases, cabinets and tables: Rïppoff Häardtoassembel Faallapåart Päartikalbørd Lostscrü Missingpåart Kollapsprøn Wherdidwepäark Løstyœngestchild

    SAMSON writes: Since you've had a few recent posts on the changing face of medicine, may I recommend a painting? It dates from 1887, by a British painter named Luke Fildes. It's called "The Doctor." To me, it conveys gravitas, dedication and the sanctity of the profession.

JAMES N., a physician, writes:

I just googled “physician burnout” and got 3,600,000 hits.”Resident burnout” got 5,580,000 hits. “Medical student burnout” got only 228,000 hits.

Prior to, say, 1990, “burnout” as applied to medical students, residents, and physicians was not a concept in general use.

What is different? The question answers itself. As the blogger Dr. Helen points out here, women often are surprised or shocked at what is actually involved in holding a job, never mind in constructing, developing, and holding a career. The low number of “medical student burnout” hits is probably because medical school is the last place a bright and studious girl can get by with her exemplary social (teacher pleasing) and academic (studying hard) skills that she has been crafting since kindergarten. (more…)

PATRICK HOLDEN writes:

One aspect of the Michele Bachman controversy over gay reparative therapy struck me as odd. Opponents of gay reparative therapy criticize it as cruel and inhumane. My understanding is that the therapy consists of reading the Bible, praying and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). In addition, celibacy was recommended as an alternative to engaging in homosexual behavior. I see nothing wrong with a competent adult deciding to attempt to live a life of celibacy based on the very traditional belief that homosexuality is wrong. I also don’t see anything wrong with obtaining psychological services in furtherance of this goal. 

Contrast this with the reaction to sex reassignment surgery, which is never condemned in leftist circles as cruel or inhumane. (more…)

CARLA writes:

Reading your blog makes me wonder. If older generations were happy with the traditional role of women in society, why was feminism embraced by the later generation? Maybe you think it was propaganda, but why did the propaganda take hold? Were women discontent with their role to begin with? Was feminism offering something women thought they were lacking? And most important, if feminism is making women so unhappy why are women not embracing traditional role more?… Just curious. I think is a fascinating topic. (more…)

DEPARTMENTAL
  —  Robert Frost

An ant on the tablecloth
Ran into a dormant moth
Of many times his size.
He showed not the least surprise.
His business wasn’t with such.
He gave it scarcely a touch,
And was off on his duty run.
Yet if he encountered one
Of the hive’s enquiry squad
Whose work is to find out God
And the nature of time and space,
He would put him onto the case. (more…)

  A FRIEND  recently showed me photos of Air Force One on her cell phone. She had taken the photos on the tarmac of our local airport, where she went to watch the plane's descent and to catch a glimpse of The One. Her eyes still glowed in the aftermath of this experience. My friend, a middle-aged, married professional, said that she found Obama overwhelmingly attractive and that even babies are drawn to his magnetism. Lawrence Auster writes that Obama love is the psychological antithesis of Bush-hatred and "is, for the Obama lovers, a constant ecstatic force in their daily psyche."

  A FRONT PAGE article in today's New York Times examines Michele Bachmann's remarkable fight in Minnesota against same-sex "marriage," for which she is sure to face increasing venom in the weeks ahead even though she has downplayed the issue since announcing her candidacy for president. Bachmann has not just opposed same-sex "marriage," but stated that homosexuality is immoral and harmful. The Times quotes a Minnesota Democrat as saying that Bachmann resorted to "junk science and debunked claims that being gay is a choice." Given the amount of hatred she will encounter for her stance on this issue, Michele Bachmann is heroically courageous.

WRITING in Chronicles magazine on passage of same-sex “marriage” in New York, Patrick Buchanan says,

We are entering an era where communities will secede from one another and civil disobedience on moral grounds will become as common as it was in the days of segregation.

(more…)

  FOR THE first time in American history, troops and veterans openly participated in a gay pride parade on Saturday. About 200 service men and women from various branches of the military marched in the San Diego parade to cheering crowds. Even though "don't ask, don't tell" is still officially on the books, last year's Congressional repeal of the policy which forbids openly homosexual soldiers from serving is expected to go into effect soon. Military contingents will now presumably be regular features of gay pride parades.

GRACE A. writes:

My cynical elderly father once said to me that everything comes down to money and when you cannot figure out why someone is doing something, look for the money. Unfortunately, he is right about that all too often, and I thought of his words when reading your post about the “Spirited Woman Awards.” There are many financial interests behind Spirited Women.  (more…)