* Christine Vollmer’s well-balanced and sensitive examination of how modernity has, in so many ways, failed women was very touching. Vollmer, the President of the Latin American Alliance for the Family, described the intensity of pressure upon women who are, at various times, directed to be all things: worker and wife, activist and homemaker, mother and feminist sister, nurturer and lover, and so on. No wonder there’s despondency and confusion and inconsistency tearing at modern women’s self-esteem and sense of purpose. No wonder that feminism’s grand promises of the 1960’s have turned out to be problematic in the extreme. And no wonder, as Vollmer so poignantly described, that among the wreckage wrought by the impossible demands and schizophrenic strains faced by modern women are their dreams, their passions…and their children.
* Men haven’t escaped taking their own hits from modern secularism and the session presented by Jacek Pulikowski (photo at right) featured the Polish civil engineering professor's insightful analysis of how men have lost much of their former strength and direction. This is especially grievous when considering the loss of role models, motivation and training regarding fatherhood. Historically, the father has had an elevated place, one of honor and devotion yet one full of responsibility. He was, in his home, like the captain of a ship – first under God in authority but responsible for the well-being of his crew, including the duty which kept him as the last man to leave a ship in crisis. Our sons and daughters desperately need such fathers today. And so too do their wives, their neighbors and the culture at large. An excellent session!
* A final admonition from Pulikowski stayed with me all day. Nothing new perhaps but profound and invaluable nonetheless. “The two most important things a father can do for his child? Number one, love his child’s mother! And number two, spend time with your child. The issue isn’t what you do with them, just be with them.”
* The sessions on the media and the family were quite good and among the dominant themes was that the most damaging thing about television, video games and the internet is not their content (as vain and venal as that undoubtedly can be) but rather, the most damaging thing about one’s involvement with media is what it prohibits, as in the time it steals from doing other more worthwhile things. Timely advice.
* The visual image dominates. That’s why there is such an entrenched problem with children (of all ages!) being too much of the spectators instead of being the actors on the stage of real life. Also, the domination of the visual explains why the most memorable presentation of the day was a one-minute Spanish TV commercial advising kids not to watch much TV. Terrific!
* Don Feder’s (at left) comments on the agenda of the Hollywood left were spot on…but way too short. Among his wry observations today:“Hollywood was once a friend of families and family values. Now, at best, the traditional family is irrelevant to them.”
“From Father Knows Best, we’ve now moved to Father’s a Beast!”
“How well do the values displayed in Hollywood films actually work in the real world? Well, try comparing the divorce rates of Beverly Hills and Biloxi, Mississippi. Or perhaps the per capta number of psychiatrists in Manhattan vs. Cedar Rapids.”
* Among the items reported in Ted Baehr’s session was that by age 17, the average modern American kid has spent 800 hours in church; 2,000 hours with his parents; 11,000 hours in school and…get ready…63,000 hours involved with media!
* Demographic winter” was the alarming scenario examined in several of the afternoon sessions but none could top the detail and applications presented by Phillip Longman, Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation. For instance, Longman (shown at right) carefully explained for us how Europe’s population could still be growing at present and yet already be way past the crisis level for depopulation. The matter involves how drastically the number of children in Europe is shrinking – 34% fewer children than in 1960…6 million fewer than in 1990! Indeed, none of the EU countries are at replacement levels for their population.
* A second appearance by Marek Jurek, the former Speaker of the Polish Parliament, proved as popular and energizing as the one yesterday. Particularly effective was his substitution of another immoral practice to expose the intellectual bankruptcy of pro-abortion advocates. (“Of course, I wouldn’t personally abuse the slaves on my plantation but I am adamantly pro-choice as to what another planter might feel led to do with his own property.”
Jurek also pointed out just how loony the press can get in pushing their own opinions. For instance, Jurek described how the most common word used in headlines referring to Poland's pro-life initiatives has been, “restrictive.” The word, of course, is a pejorative and is meant to be that way. But, asked Jurek, what is the action that is truly “restrictive” in the controversy? After all, the pro-lifers want to liberate and protect and empower (both baby and mom), whereas it is the pro-abortion crowd who, in point of fact, are being restrictive. They want to restrict a child’s right to life. They want to restrict a doctor from having convictions of conscience against abortion. They want to restrict the state from acting to preserve the innocent and therefore protect relevant state interests. Restrictive indeed!
* A review of the 10 years of Tony Blair’s administration in the U.K. was anything but pleasant for the assembly as John Smeaton from the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children ticked off item after item describing how the Blair administration enacted far-reaching policies favorable to abortion, euthanasia, and embryonic stem cell research. The ten years, Smeaton said, had been an “ethical abyss.” However, he was quick to stress that the blame couldn’t be laid entirely on the Prime Minister’s shoulders. For even more odious actions came via the cowardice of the country’s Roman Catholic leaders who have “rolled over and played dead” on issues of homosexuality, chemical abortion and value-less sex education in Catholic schools. Terribly sad.
* Much, much more could be said, of course, but I hope that you’ll be motivated enough by what was posted here to read in entirety the World Congress of Families IV presentations when they get them formulated and printed. Keep an eye on their availability at the WCF home page here. In those pages you’ll read the full text of speeches like Stephen Mosher’s, whose time was shortened (but who still gave a bang-up performance!), as well as the presentations of Rev. Maxim Obukhov, Bill Saunders, Sr. Barbara Chyrowicz, Nigel Cameron and all the others.
* That's all for tonight. I'll finish up after the Congress does tomorrow afternoon. Until then.
