That’s bananas. “Any child is a gift” and “vasectomies being popular” aren’t mutually exclusive. I have a lot of kids and I reached a point where I’d had enough. I love them all so deeply and if my wife said to me tomorrow that she was pregnant well then I would love that child dearly. I love kids.
Still…No more child tho plz. ✂️
There’s a cautionary tale that does the rounds in our family about my auntie who somehow (now remember we’re talking 1950’s aggressively Catholic Ireland here) ended up having a conversation with her priest where she somehow implied that herself and her husband avoided sex around ovulation. From recollection it was during confession.
Priest says “no bueno”. She says “okiedokie”.
Nine kids. Nine. My mother is still angry about it and she’s very, very old.
That makes me think of a story of my wife’s uncle who was an, apparently somewhat heretical, Irish priest. Effectively telling a parishioner who was pregnant and would not be able to be able to support another child, nor any health complications that might arise, that if the local bishop was so concerned that she carry the child to term, maybe said bishop should be the one to take responsibility for the care of the child.
Not sure when for certain but likely 70s or 80s Ireland.
Ireland was more or less entirely run by the unseen hand of the church until, I’d say, the 70’s and to some extent the early 80’s. Sure they even had a special position for the church in the original constitution in 1937.
In the early 80’s people were becoming very wary and then all the various scandals broke loose, coming thick and fast in what seemed like a never ending flood at the time. In the space of the 30 years between 1970 and 2000 the country essentially became irreligious as a result.
That priest was not speaking based on the Church’s beliefs, then. Natural family planning has been largely accepted by the Church for centuries, and the Pope more formally said it was ok in the early 50s. You just have to be ok if it leads to children anyway.
Good to know but I will not be telling my mother that. My auntie has long since passed (mum’s the baby in her family) and that would outrage her to the point of heart attack.
That’s bananas. “Any child is a gift” and “vasectomies being popular” aren’t mutually exclusive. I have a lot of kids and I reached a point where I’d had enough. I love them all so deeply and if my wife said to me tomorrow that she was pregnant well then I would love that child dearly. I love kids.
Still…No more child tho plz. ✂️
There’s a cautionary tale that does the rounds in our family about my auntie who somehow (now remember we’re talking 1950’s aggressively Catholic Ireland here) ended up having a conversation with her priest where she somehow implied that herself and her husband avoided sex around ovulation. From recollection it was during confession.
Priest says “no bueno”. She says “okiedokie”.
Nine kids. Nine. My mother is still angry about it and she’s very, very old.
That makes me think of a story of my wife’s uncle who was an, apparently somewhat heretical, Irish priest. Effectively telling a parishioner who was pregnant and would not be able to be able to support another child, nor any health complications that might arise, that if the local bishop was so concerned that she carry the child to term, maybe said bishop should be the one to take responsibility for the care of the child.
Not sure when for certain but likely 70s or 80s Ireland.
Ireland was more or less entirely run by the unseen hand of the church until, I’d say, the 70’s and to some extent the early 80’s. Sure they even had a special position for the church in the original constitution in 1937.
In the early 80’s people were becoming very wary and then all the various scandals broke loose, coming thick and fast in what seemed like a never ending flood at the time. In the space of the 30 years between 1970 and 2000 the country essentially became irreligious as a result.
I’m reminded of a certain song from Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life.
It’s almost as if one shouldn’t take advice from an imaginary source.
That priest was not speaking based on the Church’s beliefs, then. Natural family planning has been largely accepted by the Church for centuries, and the Pope more formally said it was ok in the early 50s. You just have to be ok if it leads to children anyway.
Good to know but I will not be telling my mother that. My auntie has long since passed (mum’s the baby in her family) and that would outrage her to the point of heart attack.