Wow, talk about a misunderstanding! First of all, I do not live in America, however I have personally known the lifestyle of some traditional Catholic, American families. I am definitely not advocating necessarily living exactly as the saints I cited lived or living in a way that would invite wicked government interference. I don't understand why traditional Catholics have this tendency to treat what others say as if it should have the clarity of a dogmatic pronouncement, and so literally.
I was simply trying to illustrate by those examples of the saints, that what candidates for marriage should be focused more on, is their ability to raise children for Heaven, and with due prudence, to rely more on God's Providence for temporal necessities. In other words, the financial considerations are important, but should not be overly emphasized. Being able to afford only one's basic necessities, in North America, is usually referred to as being poor, and I thought people would understand that.
The times are never so bad that God allows it to become impossible for good people to live in them and do His will. I have observed that among Americans (generally, of course there are exceptions), there is a tendency to mistake wants for necessities, and to be obsessed with money and luxury, and this is something that is a problem even among traditional Catholics. There are many things about raising a family that young people are simply are not aware of, and they mistakingly think they need all of these things in order to provide for their families.
The person who told me the family they knew that lived on the Starbucks income, was from the United States, and this was about ten years ago. To my knowledge, he did not receive government benefits, he could have been a manager or something. Does that mean I propose young men literally go to Starbucks and make a living there? No. Again, I was only trying to illustrate a point, the point being that maybe it is not so much the times that are bad (though of course they are, but let's not exaggerate, it could be much worse), as much as it is we who have too high of standards sometimes. I have personally seen the lifestyle of truly poor people in third world countries. There is a way to economize and be creative when an income is lower than desired, without the government feeling the need to interfere.
For example, babies do not need disposable diapers for 3 years, which costs thousands of dollars. It is American propaganda that baby isn't potty-trained until 3-4 years old. It was customary in the past for babies to be potty-trained by 18 months, through elimination communication. Moreover, cloth diapering will save lots of money.
To save money on clothing, buy at thrift stores, they have things there that look brand new and fashionable, as well as modest.
For food: buy the cheap cuts of meat, the organs, bones for broth, fats, whole chickens, etc. Bone broth is protein sparing, which means that you can eat less meat when consuming bone broth with it, due to the gelatin present in the broth. Lentils and eggs are both wonderful sources of protein and amino acids, and are also among the cheaper foods. The most nutritious vegetables, cabbage, carrots and potatoes, are among the cheapest. This is what I mean by God providing, and are only a few examples of the many simple ways to economize.
Matthew, in one of your podcasts, Gladius was explaining how he would rather give his child a simple Catholic education by sending him into a forest with a few books, then send him to a public school, and you agreed. Can you clarify? because by your recent posts it now seems like you would vehemently reject such a statement.
Topic: Advice on immodest adult daughter (Read 1188 times)