I wonder if the next generation of Trads will be like the Baby Boomers, not quite D.I.N.K. or 2 child-level, but not "natural sized" either. Kind of like a repeat of the Baby Boomer generation born in the 40's thru early 60's.

Boomers rarely had more than 4 children, which (among many other reasons) is why they are so materially prosperous today. They also rarely homeschooled. While Boomers were of childbearing age, homeschooling was rare and fringe. So now that they're in their 60's, the copious amounts of time & money some of them donate to good causes (pro-Life, the Church, etc.) is, let's be honest, the least they can do to help the cause. You can't exactly go back in time and "do the right thing" (lay off the NFP or worse, and let God decide your family size)

Let's put it this way:
GOOD: Retired Baby Boomer with 3 kids (grown, of course) donating $5,000 a month to his Trad chapel, and/or donating a lump sum of $200,000.
BETTER: Gen X or Millennial using no NFP or birth control, wife stays home and homeschools, teaches kids the Faith, and family can only afford to donate $10 a week to the Church collection.

*Note, when I talk family sizes, I'm speaking generally here. I'm not talking about couples with age, fertility or health issues. Generally speaking, a healthy couple that marries before 30 can expect to have more than 4 children. Just look at natural family sizes anywhere in the world, before 1940 or so.

Totally agreed that people who have enriched themselves in the past, through not having had the children they should have had (least of all if they used contraception to this end!), should give some of these riches back.  It is ill-gotten gain which justice demands should be repaid in some way. 


I would like to see this restitution made, first of all, by means of charity, to help those who are struggling to live right with regard to family size --- it's too late for many to undo what they have done in the past (by having fewer or, God forbid, no children), but it's not too late to "do the right thing" and help out those who are making the sacrifices that they themselves didn't wish to make in their child-bearing years.  It could even be a form of penance!  I'd like to see this become a kind of formalized initiative, where struggling large families could apply for aid, and have it be funded by those who abused NFP or practiced contraception in the past --- a kind of "penitential relief fund" (which sounds like a weird mash-up of Catholic and Mormon terminology...).  Think of the possibilities.

Jaguars are just luxury cars, they are mechanically high maintenance, really junk compared to a Toyota. They depreciate through the roof! All the opposite of what you think. Jaguars are for suckers who want to show off. The smart people who used their money wisely to become well off, drive a Lexus or to be low key a Toyota or Honda. Those are the cars that are high quality and depreciate the least.

I did not know that, I thought Jaguars were well-manufactured and of high quality, kind of like a poor man's Rolls-Royce.  I have heard many good things about the Lexus and have been considering getting a well-maintained used one through Carmax when that time comes.  Right now I foresee driving my "lemony" old Buick until the wheels fall off --- it has degenerated into basically a clean, superficially attractive beater car.  Just had to get new brakes on it last week after a road trip where we took back roads all the way home, lest the brakes go out on the interstate, praying it would hold together long enough to get home and get it back to our trusty mechanic.  Not good.

Totally agreed that people who have enriched themselves in the past, through not having had the children they should have had (least of all if they used contraception to this end!), should give some of these riches back.  It is ill-gotten gain which justice demands should be repaid in some way.  

So the woman with only 2 children, who buried 2 shortly after birth and had 6 miscarriages is now judged that her wealth is ILL-GOTTEN and justice demands she should repay it in some way?
Just when did God tell you how many children any specific couple should have?

The STAS Letter to Friends and Benefactors by Fr. Le Roux, which I received today, explains that:

"The prize is a Jaguar, not to encourage a disordered concupiscence, but to make this fundraiser attractive to other people who otherwise perhaps would not contribute to the goal that we have in mind.

Knowing that your personal resources are not unlimited, this "Giveaway" is primarily addressed to people of your acquaintance who are not in Tradition and who perhaps could, in this roundabout way, discover it..."

I am wondering whether the practical result of this giveaway, however, is to encourage in people outside of Tradition the very disordered concupiscence which Fr. Le Roux desires not to encourage in those currently within Tradition.

I am very much reminded about the SSPX responses to those who complained 6-7 years ago about all the modern technology and website marketing the neo-SSPX was using:

"Ah, but these websites and internet sites are not for OUR people, but for people outside Tradition."

Was not the practical effect -then as now- to infect BOTH those inside and outside Tradition?

Will those SSPXers selling tickets to those outside Tradition really maintain a contempt for the worldliness such exotic automobiles represent (or will they secretly hope they are the lucky winners)?

Read the bolded words above, then see this scene from The Godfather (beginning at 25 seconds):

You don't need to be so defensive.

He clearly wasn't talking about those in your position:
"people who have enriched themselves in the past, through not having had the children they should have had"

Speaking for most people, miscarriages and other infant mortality are NOT considered by anyone "not having the children you should have had". Who goes up to a woman who's had a miscarriage and shakes their finger, "You should have seen that child to term!" give me a break!

That's a textbook definition of "out of my hands", "God's will" or, the Exception Which Proves the Rule.

Thank you for the good defense.  Incidentally, my wife and I had at least one miscarriage, probably others as well.

People who have deliberately refrained from having children they should have had, know who they are. Deep down they know "yes, we took the high road", and if they function the way a Catholic should function, they will feel remorse and wish there were some way they could undo it.  I offer the voluntary giving of assistance to Catholics who do obey the Church's teachings and are struggling to raise large families, as one thing they could do, in some small way, to set things right (assuming they are no longer of childbearing age and "it's too late").  Kids cost money --- boy oh boy, do they ever!  If you've refused to have children you could have afforded to have --- even if it would have meant living a more modest lifestyle --- then in some way you've been enriched, and to this day you enjoy the benefits of that wealth, ill-gotten though it was.

Maybe not the most practical vehicle, but in winter up here I would go with this


As for a Jaguar.....

The neoSSPX is definitely Tiffany twisted;
they got their Mercedes Benz,
Sure they got a lot of wealthy Juden friends.

Living it up at the VA seminary,
tis a massive place,
but a Catholic disgrace.

Plenty of room at the brand new seminary
but can the depart anytime and become Resistance priests?

(As inspired by The Eagles Hotel California)

Alas when I see the fascination with Mercedes by the neoSSPX, a certain unpleasant historical time period comes in mind about another group who loved their Benzes.