As I was putting on my bra this morning, I thought how nice it is to no longer need to arrange that whole portion of my body for nursing access. How having a child makes your body Not Entirely Your Own in so many ways. Is it any wonder the Church warns against birth control? It short circuits the truth that we are all connected, that our bodies have a language of their own, that at our peril we belie the nature of sex by treating it as a consumer good, that we think that "my body, my choice" were ever possible, as in a social vacuum. As a mother who firmly supports my daughter *not* having to hug someone she doesn't want to, I embrace the importance of Body Autonomy, but let's not act as if our bodies aren't inextricably linked to others' or that sex doesn't have a meaning outside of our personal definition. And it's a beautiful thing that the physical act of love is the initiation of self-gift, that would by its nature bloom and grow into more se
My husband's latest blog post concludes with, "I am Catholic and I am queer. I wish it didn't hurt to say both together." I'd like to add my perspective: It occurred to me that I say "I am Catholic and I am queer" with no pain. Not to invalidate the pain of people who do continue to struggle. Not to say I haven't felt this pain in the past. But I would like to offer hope to (for lack of a better umbrella term) queer folk that the people we're attracted to don't wreck us for communion with God and Eir people. (Bear with the Spivak pronoun for God, there, and if it's not clicking/you want to know more about Spivak...worth a Google.) All I'm trying to offer here is my limited experience, not in a normative sense: I've been attracted to people regardless of gender for as long as I can remember; I didn't realize the implications until well later in life. I used to play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Magic Nursery Babies with m