Down Under Journalists Turn Cynic Towards Chaste Catholics

NewsBusters.org ^ | 7/15/2008 | Matthew Balan

[Pyro7480]

Friend and fellow blogger Dawn Eden, touring Australia for Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the country for World Youth Day, reported on her site on Tuesday that she fell prey to the Down Under version of liberal media bias. "A Current Affair," a program on Sky Television that shares the same name and ilk with the Maury Povich program, interviewed Eden, an author and convert to Catholicism, for a segment they labeled "No Sex Pilgrims" (video available here). The Aussie tabloid television reporters who featured her seemed incredulous that anyone in this day and age would live chastely.

...[C]orrespondent Ben McCormack interviewed Eden and Ruth Russell, a 20-year-old native Australian who is a "committed Catholic and a virgin." ...McCormack reminded viewers that "[w]e live in a sex-filled world -- movies, television, advertising, and film clips..." He continued, "...[W]hile many teenagers are doing it younger and more often, Ruth Russell has chosen to just say no." He later described Russell as "an out and proud Catholic, and an out and proud virgin, choosing to save sex until she's married."

...At another point in McCormack’s interview of Russell, the young Aussie stated that if she never got married, she "will never have sex, because part of chastity, as a single person, is abstinence." The tabloid correspondent replied condescendingly: "That sounds really, really tough. You'll never get to experience sex if you don't get married." Russell confidently responded, "The people that ask me those sort of questions almost say that that's the only thing in life. I see so many other things. But it's a lifestyle that I'm committed to, and I'm happy this way. I'm fulfilled. Why would I change?"

[Pyro7480]

Liberal media bias is international.

[Pyro7480]

Catholic ping!

[marron]

You have to be retarded to get hired as a “journalist”. Retards hire retards. Its the way of the world.

[Dilbert San Diego]

It’s amazing that the concept of chastity or virginity is a foreign concept to some. It’s like sex activity is just expected. They can’t conceive of someone who will keep their pants up. They can’t conceive of a young woman keeping her legs together. They can’t conceive of the idea of the sexuality being something that these young people hope to share on their wedding night. It just is unbelievable to me at just how unbelievable the concept is to the liberal news people.

[wastedyears]

I’m 22 and I’m celibate. I have her beat.

Where are the Aussies interviewing me?

[Tax-chick]

Ping to another piece about your niece. She’s really hobnobbing with the stars here - Dawn Eden is big time :-). It’s a shame she’s much too old for my son Tom, who has always wanted to live in Australia!

[Salvation]

For more on the virtue of chastity:

Christopher West's Theology of the Body Webiste

Books, tapes, CDs, DVDs, etc.

From book by the same name by Pope John Paul II.

[Tax-chick]

If a person is single, being chaste means being abstinent, as Russell clearly stated. If a person is married, chastity means having sex only with one’s spouse. In most cases, chastity for those in the religious life means celibacy.

Pretty good, but marital chastity also requires that all sexual activity be open to life. An understandable (but unfortunate) omission in a piece mainly focussing on non-marital sexual activity.

[Pyro7480]

It was probably better to not overcomplicate the explanation.

[Tax-chick]

Yes, that’s true. Simply mentioning the fact that “chastity” and “abstinence” aren’t the same thing is useful for the secular audience.

Of course, chastity as a virtue includes more than sexual abstinence for the unmarried, as well. It’s a mental and spiritual discipline as well as a restraint on action.

[Pyro7480]

Dawn Eden would agree with you. :-)

[Tax-chick]

I think Dawn Eden is one of the very best writers on the subject. I also think she’s older than I am, although I could be wrong ... but I’m sure she’s much more fashionable.

But why does she get to go to Australia while I’m sitting here drinking wine, cooking Cuban food, and FReeping? I’m a chaste middle-aged lady, too!

[count-your-change]

“The tabloid correspondent replied condescendingly: “That sounds really, really tough. You’ll never get to experience sex if you don’t get married.”
He’s disappointed that she’s unavailable to him.

[netmilsmom]

>>I’m 22 and I’m celibate. I have her beat.<<

Me too. I went to 34.

[Tax-chick]

I got married at 22. (Which is not to say I was celibate until then, because it was before my conversion, but that is neither here nor there - just ask Dawn Eden.)

[Pyro7480]

You have FR mail.

[NYer]

"The people that ask me those sort of questions almost say that that's the only thing in life. I see so many other things. But it's a lifestyle that I'm committed to, and I'm happy this way. I'm fulfilled. Why would I change?"

The voice of sanity in a sex crazed world.

[wastedyears]

Jeez

[trisham]

But why does she get to go to Australia while I’m sitting here drinking wine, cooking Cuban food, and FReeping? I’m a chaste middle-aged lady, too!

***********************

Hold on a second..did you say "Cuban food"? Are you sure you really want to be somewhere else? :)

[Tax-chick]

Australian wines are worth the trip just for that, and I’d trade their seafood for my Cuban beans. I’ve been practicing Cuban cooking for a couple of years now, in anticipation of the official passing of Fidel Castro. We plan to shoot off fireworks and invite the neighborhood over to eat.