"Isn't is just nice to do for someone?"
In a move that was perhaps questionable from the outset, I decided to open the floor to questions for the entirety of a class period. After a couple weeks of my classes being off-sync, I wanted to finally draw them together and the rampant questions of one class had provided the perfect opening. However, that class asked questions that flowed naturally from one to the next and with only thirteen in the class, there was a feeling of closeness and simplicity. Trying to re-create that atmosphere for a class of twenty-nine was a different story. I offered to them the chance to simply ask questions that they had about the Church or the faith. The first class had found questions that flowed from Our Lady to salvation to exorcisms. The next class found a different route and were spurred on by different questions. They followed the line of exorcisms with a leap to evolution and surrogacy. The result was a class that ended with a bit more intensity and moral depth. Time ran out and they left unsatisfied with some of my answers.
I have never really discussed surrogacy with a class before but I had recently talked about such things with a friend of mine. One girl originally asked the question and she seemed alright with my answer. Others were not.
"Wouldn't spending the money and going through the extra effort prove they loved the child more?"
I tried to explain that spending money doesn't mean more love. (Only later did I think of prostitution as a fitting example.) Can the couple love this child? Of course. I'm not denying that a couple can love a child they "paid" for, but I don't think it means they love him/her more. A great example came to mind (thanks, Holy Spirit) that the true statement of love would not be that I can afford to create a life in a laboratory but rather that I can let go of my desire to have a biological child and rather adopt. (They argued that adoption was spending money, too. A different matter, I believe.) The love is found not in the willingness to spend a large sum of money so that their desires can be fulfilled but rather that they can accept the disappointment and then love a child that isn't theirs biologically but is accepted totally into their loving family. That seems to indicate a great love.
"Isn't it just nice to do for someone?"
The heartache of infertility is not one that I have experienced nor one that I hope to experience. However, lending my womb to a friend doesn't seem to fall under that category of "nice." This world tends to approach situations with an "how can I get what I want?" attitude. The desire isn't simply, "I want a child." That would be easily remedied. The desire is, "I want a child that is biologically mine even if I cannot carry that life in my womb." Perhaps, even, the "want" is changed to "deserve" or "have a right" to a child.
It isn't "nice" to let yourself be a host for a child. You can love that child, you can love that couple, but you are not permitted to let your womb be used in a paid/unpaid transaction. The worth of woman is more than just a womb. I don't quite understand what people mean when they say the Church suppresses women or has a negative view of women. They have never read Chesterton. Chesterton will throw men under the bus and elevate the dignity of women in one fell swoop. They also have never looked very closely at theology. The Church says no only so that she may say a greater Yes.
Woman, you may not engage in sex outside of marriage because you deserve the lasting love and devotion of a man who will offer his very life for you, not just a few moments right now.
Woman, you may not have an abortion because that little baby in your womb needs you and you will only inflict a great wound on yourself. You deserve better.
Woman, you may not use contraception because you are a precious gift in your entirety and when you offer yourself to your husband, you must offer your whole self holding nothing back, masking nothing of your beauty. Your ability to create life is not something to be disabled but something to be exalted.
Woman, you may not be a surrogate mother because you are far more than a host for the baby of your friends or strangers. You are not an object to be used but rather you are a person to be loved. It is beautiful for the gift of life to grow within your womb but it should be planted there by God and your husband, not by the doctor in the laboratory. You are more than what they would lead you to believe.
How any of this becomes heard as "Women are stepped on by the Church" is beyond me.
This "niceness" is not something that should be encouraged because it is the same "niceness" that will cause me to put you out of your misery if I think your quality of life is not good enough. "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions" is a cliche because there is truth to it. It is not enough to just intend to do good things, you must actually do them. And this good must go beyond my personal understanding of good. (Cue Hitler and his quest for what he deemed good.)
I was surprised with the direction the class took the Q&A session and how we wandered into the realm of sexual morality. Again I am convinced that the way to win the next generation is to have holy couples that teach their children the faith in their home and live it out daily. My rant is finished but I cannot help but wonder what the future holds for this world. The youth are such an important part of the future and their hearts can be in a world-imposed ignorance.
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.
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