You Can Blame This Post on Fr Longenecker

Yesterdy he put up a post entitled Raquel Welch on Moral Values. In it he links to an article by Raquel Welch @ the CNN website. Naturally the article was titled It's sex o'clock in America. In it she talks about the changes in sexual morality over the last 50 years. Some of her comments are a bit surprizing given her reputation as a sex symbol. While she is applauding the Pill as a basicly good thing she honestly acknowledges some of the bad things that have resulted from its availability.

Her take on motherhood is very refreshing in this day & age where we have some radical feminists extoling abortion to avoid ever having a child. & esp denying the man any part in the decision. "But "the choice" was not mine alone to make. I had always wanted to have Jim's babies, but wasn't at all sure how he would react. At the time, we were 19-year-old newlyweds, struggling to make ends meet. But he was unflinching in his desire to keep our baby and his positive, upbeat attitude about the whole prospect turned everything around."

"During my pregnancy, I came to realize that this process was not about me. I was just a spectator to the metamorphosis that was happening inside my womb so that another life could be born. It came down to an act of self-sacrifice, especially for me, as a woman."

"my children didn't impede my progress. They grounded me in reality and forced me into an early maturity. I should add that having two babies didn't destroy my figure." (emphasis mine)

Like I said, she doesn't condemn the Pill, but she does have some interesting comments about "One significant, and enduring, effect of The Pill on female sexual attitudes during the 60's, was: "Now we can have sex anytime we want, without the consequences. Hallelujah, let's party!""

She doesn't see that as a good thing. "These days, nobody seems able to "keep it in their pants" or honor a commitment! Raising the question: Is marriage still a viable option? I'm ashamed to admit that I myself have been married four times, and yet I still feel that it is the cornerstone of civilization, an essential institution that stabilizes society, provides a sanctuary for children and save us from anarchy. (She is honest to admit her four marriages is not how it should have been.)

In stark contrast, a lack of sexual inhibitions, or as some call it, "sexual freedom," has taken the caution and discernment out of choosing a sexual partner, which used to be the equivalent of choosing a life partner. Without a commitment, the trust and loyalty between couples of childbearing age is missing, and obviously leads to incidents of infidelity. No one seems immune." (emphasis mine again)

"As a result of the example set by their elders, by the 1990s teenage sexual promiscuity -- or hooking up -- with multiple partners had become a common occurrence. Many of my friends who were parents of teenagers sat in stunned silence several years ago when it came to light that oral sex had become a popular practice among adolescent girls in middle schools across the country.
. . . . Apparently, since it's not the act of intercourse, kids don't count it as sex. Can any sane person fail to make a judgment call about that?" (again emphasis mine) In other words, she lays the blame right at the feet of the parents for failing to set the right example.

"Seriously, folks, if an aging sex symbol like me starts waving the red flag of caution over how low moral standards have plummeted, you know it's gotta be pretty bad. In fact, it's precisely because of the sexy image I've had that it's important for me to speak up and say, Come on girls! Time to pull up our socks! We're capable of so much better."

While I applaud her for speaking up & saying wait a minute, let's look at what we have become, I have to ask if she ever considered that many of her roles she played helped to contribute to the problem?

As Fr Longenecker points out, "We need more frank and courageous words like this from mainstream people who don't necessarily speak from a strongly religious point of view."

Honestly, I am surprized that CNN allowed an article like this to show up on their website. Basicly this article attacks the world's reasons for both abortion & artificial birth control. It says, maybe unintentionally, that Pope Paul was right when he warned us in Humanae Vitae of the damage artificial birth contol would cause.

Without saying it in an "I told you so!" arrogance, I see this as a way for us to say there is a better way than that that the Pill offers. A way that is better because it is the way that God who created us intended us to follow. It is the way we were made to follow for true happiness & fulfillment. George Weigel gives us a clue as to what we have that will enable us to provide the solution, Pope John Paul's Theology of the Body. As Weigel said, it will is a " theological time bomb set to go off with dramatic consequences". The consequences will include a restoration of the Godly morality that has been so under attack in recent decades. & when even Raquel Welch begins to admit the world's way is failing, can those consequences be far off?

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Raquel Welch will turn 70 on 5 September 2010.