As I speak with more people and reflect upon the callous statement from JD Vance, “The Democrat ladies are a bunch of childless cat ladies with miserable lives,” I want you to know that I stand with you, not with JD Vance. I can think of people I deeply love who fit this category, my own children, Catholics nuns, women who couldn’t have children, women who chose not to have children, and women who were capable of having less children than desired like me. As a woman who originally set out to have five or six children and have a large devoutly religious family, I am coming to the defense of all of my childless cat lady family and friends, not JD Vance’s. I will revise part of my last essay and add to it.
Me as a wife of 30 years and mother of young adults who originally set out to have a large traditional religious family (five to six children), as an Educational Therapist who has devoted my career to families with disabled children, I can confirm this with absolute certainty. “All of the stars have to align” biologically, medically, circumstantially, and financially for a large family to exist, especially if the family has Neurodivergent and/or LGBTQ+ children and/or one of the parents cannot deliver due to life-altering health issues or unhelped circumstances. There are more factors outside of a woman’s control or a married couple’s control than factors which are within the family’s capabilities.
The traditional family model can never be forced, either within or outside the Church, not because of family decisions and choices made but due to external factors. I’m thrilled for those who are both willing and capable, and the key words are “willing and capable.” Therefore, no family outside of the large traditional nuclear family, no matter how different they may seem, should be viewed as “less than” when it comes to inclusion of all types of families, both inside and outside the Church. A family model can never be forced on civil society.
The hateful statement JD Vance made is tied into the Project 2025 playbook for a Neo-Nazi takeover in the name of “Christianity.” In short, Project 2025 seeks to force women back into a subservient role and out of the workforce, deport, encamp , and/or destroy those who do not seek the large traditional nuclear family, destroy those who promote anything outside of this, and enforce compliance by violence. It is terrifying to think of who might actually support this. Sadly, it’s some people I know.
There will come a day when religious fascism worldwide will once again prove its harmful affects to those who are incapable of “being the strongest, most religious, most privileged, and the mightiest.” In our family’s case, we are trying to faithfully survive with multiple factors none of us can control which is all God expects of us. Grant and I are thankful for the closeness in our nuclear family, that our marriage reached our 30th year, and that we are still alive. We never know what people are experiencing. Be kind, always, no matter the circumstances and without exception. All lives and all families are equally-sacred and should be treated as such, both in civil society and the church. JD Vance and the Project 2025 playbook parallels Nazi-Germany to place more value on those who comply and either harm or destroy those who don’t. That’s not America.
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