Priests, Nurses, and Chlamydia

By Wolfgang Staudt from Saarbruecken, Germany (6.59 am  Uploaded by russavia)
 [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

We attended a medical careers conference today with Elyse. One of the speakers was a nurse who wasted no time in informing the mostly college-aged audience that our region leads the state in incidence of various sexually transmitted diseases and is second in the state for incidence of teenage pregnancy.  Apparently the pregnancy statistic is cause for celebration, because last year we were in first place.

I suppose that there is something positive about maximizing the opportunity to educate young people about sexual health, but --me being me -- I couldn't help but think that what we really needed on that stage was a priest or a chastity speaker. It isn't particularly easy to tame a wildfire, and a wildfire of fornication is what we have at present in our culture. I don't suppose that words like "fornication" are given much serious thought these days, but I am inclined to call things what they are. Rules are there for a reason, are given in love, and are the sure path to health, safety, and happiness.

At any rate, as we were driving out of the University parking lot, our eighteen year old daughter said to us, "what we really needed on that stage was a priest, not a nurse." --and my mother heart smiled. Parenting pays off, and paves the way for healthy, happy families of the future.  Here's hoping some mother out there is raising a young man with the same values and beliefs.  Fingers crossed--better yet, hands folded in prayer. Whomever she is, I have been praying for her son for 18 years.

On a much lighter note, we purchased some absolutely lovely Easter laces today and some Pentecost red.  Easter veils are on the way!

Pax Christi dear ones,
~Michelle