A Christian Woman's Cry and Promise: I Will Not Be Dissuaded

I am sad for my country, and for the world. I grieve for the immorality that has become so commonplace and celebrated. I grieve for the family -- father, mother, and children -- as I watch it crumble and be slowly erased from our collective understanding. I grieve for the innocence of our children that is snatched from them before they can even ride a bike. I grieve for the death of romance and sacrificial love, which has been replaced by indiscriminate, sterile sex without commitment or obligation. I seethe with anger at the objectification of women and the so-called empowerment that is nothing more than vulgar, degrading, pornographic smut. With every fiber of my being I reject a so-called feminism that says I can only have equality and freedom if I am willing and able to kill my children in the womb.  There will always be fundamental, inherent, and complimentary differences between men and women. There will always be only two possible genders of the human person: male and female. You see, you didn't create the human person. You didn't create marriage. You aren't the author and giver of new life. You didn't establish the human family. You don't have the power or authority to change what God has ordained from the foundation of the world.

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WASHINGTON,DC (Catholic Online) - I don't think I ever expected my daily life to become such a fierce battle. I never imagined that I would come to feel as though I'd fallen through some bizarre looking glass; that society at large would resemble a Mad Hatter's tea party.

I wanted something much different for my children. I didn't want them to grow up in this insanity, where wrong is suddenly right and freedom is gladly traded in for empirical dictates, but so much for that. It's time to face facts, and the fact is, hostility toward Christianity is increasing rapidly. We are no longer welcome in the culture. Christianity has always been the anti-culture in every age, but here in America, in this present age, it is now a targeted threat; a presence that will no longer be tolerated.

So be it.

I am sad for my country, and for the world. I grieve for the immorality that has become so commonplace and celebrated. I grieve for the family -- father, mother, and children -- as I watch it crumble and be slowly erased from our collective understanding. I grieve for the innocence of our children that is snatched from them before they can even ride a bike.

I grieve for the death of romance and sacrificial love, which has been replaced by indiscriminate, sterile sex without commitment or obligation. I seethe with anger at the objectification of women and the so-called empowerment that is nothing more than vulgar, degrading, pornographic smut.

With every fiber of my being I reject a so-called feminism that says I can only have equality and freedom if I am willing and able to kill my children in the womb. 

I grieve deeply for our profane and mercenary practice of manufacturing babies to suit our fancies. We treat children like accessories to be added to our lives whenever we choose, and to reject whenever we choose. We order them up the way we'd special-order an automobile. And we expect that if some defect shows itself, we are entitled to cancel the order and have the product-child destroyed.

Wombs are for rent, and babies must accept being denied a mother or father, depending on the adults' sexual preferences. No one cares what the children need -- only what the adults want. All that matters is affording the adults' lifestyle the legitimacy and status they demand. The children are there to serve that end, period.

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I grieve deeply for the slow death of marriage that has been coming for decades, and the lightning-fast speed at which the final blows are being delivered as we attempt to redefine marriage into meaninglessness and chaos. I shake my head at the blind stupidity and apathy which has taken over the consciousness of so many people.

And all of this must be celebrated and hailed as progress. It is utterly selfish and depraved, yet it must be codified as the new love. To oppose this desecration of life, sex, and marriage makes one now an enemy of the state.

So be it.

What you, the culture, fail to understand is that I am not motivated to please you or appease you. I will not be bullied into submission. I will not "adapt" my beliefs to suit you. It doesn't matter that you have decided there is no sin in abortion, same-sex "marriage", sex-on-demand, and the treatment of babies as commodities -- I disagree because I know that God has said otherwise.

What you cannot accept is that I will not cease to worship the true God in favor of your gods. I will not abandon the Truth in favor of your empty, self-serving doctrines. It doesn't matter how many names you call me, or how many insults you hurl in my direction, or how you may wish to ostracize and push me to the outer edges of society. It will not change anything.

Abortion will always be a grave evil and utterly unjust, no matter what the Supreme Court says. Marriage will always be the union of a man and woman, for life, for the benefit of their children, no matter what the Supreme Court or any government says.

Sex will always be designed to be life-giving and unitive, no matter how much you trivialize it or how much contraception you demand.

There will always be fundamental, inherent, and complimentary differences between men and women. There will always be only two possible genders of the human person: male and female.

You see, you didn't create the human person. You didn't create marriage. You aren't the author and giver of new life. You didn't establish the human family.

You don't have the power or authority to change what God has ordained from the foundation of the world.

You will try, nonetheless, and to a large degree it will seem you have succeeded. You will perhaps change civil laws, but you can never change the Moral law. You will be able to upend the natural order of things, but you will never undo the Natural law. You will sow havoc and confusion into the very heart of our society, and we will all reap the destructive whirlwind.

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As that happens more and more, as the carnage increases and the damage leaves no one untouched, then perhaps people will finally awaken from their deceived stupor and see that they eagerly bought a barrel of poisoned apples. Perhaps then they will look around for someone who can help restore the order, sanity, and morality that had been violently cast aside.

They will find the Church. They will find Christians, the very ones they scorned and sued, bankrupted and put in prison. They'll find the Catholic Church, and the late Cardinal George's prediction will come to pass:

"I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison, and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the Church has done so often in human history."

Do not misunderstand me. This is not arrogant boasting or a finger-wagging "I told you so!" I don't say this to you, the culture, out of spite or snickering glee, but with a heavy heart that longs to see such a dismal future averted. Yet I know that even if the darkness closing in on us is not lifted, then the Church will suffer through it, be purified by it, and will be there, still standing, when souls come in need of healing and hope again. God is not mocked, and He is not dead.

You may hate me and hate my Christian values; you may despise the Church and all Her teachings; you may be certain that if only the old-fashioned notions of marriage and sex could be jettisoned, and if God could be adapted to your enlightened, modern sensibilities, then "equality" would win the day and everyone would be free and happy.

But I know you are wrong. I know it because nothing good can possibly come from eviscerating marriage of its meaning, or of distorting and twisting human sexuality into a pretzel of fabricated varieties and initials; or of wrenching innocence and modesty from our children in the name of sexual freedom and autonomy. Nothing good will ever, ever come of the brutality of abortion.

Love will never be found in the sexless manufacture of children, or the selfish denial of their right to their mother and father.

Love is "willing the good of the other, as other" the great saint Thomas Aquinas said. If I love you, I will want and do only what is for your good, even if it costs me. If you love me, you will do the same.

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The signs all along the road our culture is currently speeding down do not point to love at all. They point to hedonism, nihilism, and despair. When sacrificial love is no longer the guiding principle, we are hopelessly lost.

The plans and vision you wish to bring about in our country are loveless, empty, and hopeless. You may very well be gaining ground, and you may win a few battles, thanks to decades of a lackluster witness and worse, friendly cooperation from Christians who should have known better, and should have done better.

Even so, the Church will survive you. She has watched as every major world empire has ended up on the ash heap of history. She will survive you. But not arrogantly, and not due to any cleverness or merit of Her own, but only because Jesus Christ has promised that the gates of Hell shall not prevail.

As long as I have breath, I will battle to restore to America God's vision of the human person, the human family, authentic freedom, and genuine equality of dignity. Nothing you can say or do will dissuade me or slow me down.

I just thought you should know.

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Jennifer Hartline is a contributing writer for Catholic Online.

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