Why Virginity Matters

NC Register ^ | JENNIFER FULWILER

[NYer]

I always used to pause at that oft-used description of the saints. The martyr part made sense. But why virgin? To make it a point to highlight that aspect of a person’s life seemed a little…personal. To use internet parlance, it struck me as TMI. I knew that the problem must be with me, and not with a tradition of the 2,000-year-old Church, but I never could figure out why that designation was so important.

Then I began to notice something: Our society has lost the concept that it is possible to live a fulfilling life without having sex. And this fact alone is responsible for some of the worst scourges that plague the modern world. For example:

It’s the fuel that drives contraceptive culture: If people think that they must have sex in order to have a good life—regardless of whether or not they want children—contraception starts to be considered a necessity. And the resulting mentality, which completely separates sex from its life-giving potential, is the fuel that drives abortion culture.

It leads to unfair and unnecessary suspicion of people who have chosen celibacy as part of a life devoted to God and others.

It makes people who are same-sex attracted feel like Christianity leaves them no options for a good life.

It’s especially dangerous now that our society believes that we can determine other people’s worthiness of life, since it devalues the lives of people who have disabilities that preclude sexual activity.

[NYer]

A society has lost all real respect for human life when it believes that people would be better off dead than celibate.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I'm astounded that the mom and dad referenced briefly in the article would kill their son because he was diagnosed prenatally with spina bifida, and would ---the doctor predicted--- be incontinent and impotent.

For one thing, the degree of disabiliity, and the degree of repair which is possible in the case of spina bifida, cannot be diagnosed before birth (or for quite awhile afterward.)

Second: if one of their two other children had a disabling disease or injury (this can happen in a flash at any playground or swimming pool or at any busy intersection) would she kill the 2-year-ol? The 7-year-old? If this woman's husband became impotent, would she kill him?

I'm aghast.

[Tax-chick]

This seems like a good place to reference this recent article:

http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2011/10/hope-and-homosexuality

***Because sex is not a free-floating good but a component of the call to marriage, celibacy must be the norm for many people. (***) He is also aware that marriage and parenthood carry their own burdens. Neither marriage nor the rejection of marriage guarantees happiness. Sexual intimacy is not a certain cure for loneliness or for anything else that goes wrong in the tragedy and comedy of human existence.***

[Tax-chick]

If this woman's husband became impotent, would she kill him?

Maybe just divorce him. After all, Pat Robertson says that if a spouse can no longer perform the roles for which he/she was contracted (as it were), it's the same as if he were dead.

[ADSUM]

Some numbers highlight the issue:

In NYC 41% of pregancies result in abortion and 60% for blacks.

Over 50 million abortions.

No wonder we have economic problems, too many in the US have turned against GOD.

From WSJ:

Archbishop Timothy Dolan joined other religious leaders Thursday vowing to work to reduce the number of abortions in New York City.

Leaders of various faiths denounced figures that showed that 41% of pregnancies in the city were terminated in 2009. They also criticized sex-education programs in the public school system that include distributing condoms.

In a statement, Mary Alice Carr, NARAL Pro-Choice New York’s vice president for communications, said, “These men continue to meddle in women’s lives and preach a gospel of shame and stigma,” adding that pro-choice groups “will never stand quietly by and watch self-proclaimed moral authorities attempt to interfere in the reproductive lives of others.”

[Tax-chick]

There was a good question in one of the comments at the source: are any male saints ever designated as “virgin,” the way female saints are? Surely a single layman such as Pier-Giorgio Frassati should merit that designation, although it could be considered implied in “priest” or “religious,” at least for some.

I was a bit put out to find that St. Martha is listed as a virgin. The Gospels clearly depict her as the “head of household,” so I’d figured her for a widow. Maybe Lazarus was a lifelong invalid, instead of coming down with a sudden ailment to most impressively die and be raised.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I think that originally, "virgin" simply meant "maiden" in the sense of "unmarried woman." It indicated her title or status, maiden, as contrasted to matron, widow, abbess, foundress, queen, etc.

In that sense, you couldn' tcall a male saint a "virgin" any more than you could call him a "matron."

There were certainly male saints who were famous for their devotion to chastity. St.Thomas Aquinas' brothers tried to deter him from joining the Dominicans by arranging for an attractive girl to accost him in his bedroom and seduce him. He reportedly grabbed a flaming stick out of the fireplace and brandished it at her until she was obliged to decamp. She must have been pretty aggressive. And/or he must have been pretty tempted.

[Tax-chick]

In that sense, you couldn't call a male saint a "virgin" any more than you could call him a "matron."

Good point. Are unmarried male saints listed as "celibate"? I haven't looked, and there aren't all that many unmarried, canonized, laymen.

[narses]

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[netmilsmom]

bttt

[yldstrk]

Satan wants everybody fornicating all the time.