Plug This: I Have to Sit Down

Two things I notice in the Catholic blogosphere.

First, there is the occasional debate, as heated as it is short-lived, over whether a proper woman should wear trousers or pants, as opposed to dresses or skirts, especially in public. Most of the pundits in this arena are men, make that married men, with sufficient influence over their wives (from whom we usually do not hear) for compliance with this standard. Steve Skojec, a man who should know better, got more than he bargained for on his Facebook page recently.

The catalyst for his presentation, was a blog piece written by a relative newcomer (as far as I can tell) to Saint Blog's, one Simcha Fisher, the author of I Have to Sit Down.

Skirts won’t change the world. I’ll tell you what will change the world: men loving their wives — their actual wives, not some bizarre, imaginary amalgam of the Blessed Virgin and Grace Kelly.

UPDATE: With that kind of talk, the rancor has moved to Simcha's place. Click here and enjoy.

This brings up the second thing worthy of note, which is the occasional kindred spirit who arises out of the thousands of voices publishing the occasional journal. For this writer -- a divorced, middle-aged, admittedly cantankerous, would-be recluse -- it is a most unlikely place. One wonders before such discovery: do stay-at-home mothers have anything to discuss other than -- well, stay-at-home stuff? Or did they only spend four years at John-Paul-The-Great-On-The-Hillside College for the still-coveted "Mrs" degree? It is here that we learn otherwise.

Simcha (a Hebrew name meaning "joy") is a freelance writer and mother of eight (not necessarily in that order) from New Hampshire. She has written for Faith and Family, as well as Inside Catholic. She is part of the growing ranks among the Catholic "mommy blog" circuit, although she brings more to the table than coffee talk.

I don’t know what my problem is, but I have a problem with novenas. I guess I’m overly cautious about superstition — maybe I’ve seen too many of those classified ads: “Force the Sacred Heart of Jesus to grant your top wishes!” I may be an idiot, but even I know better than to drag the Holy Spirit into a pyramid scheme.

But seriously, I do understand the theology behind a novena ...

If you've had your fill of domestic diatribes, and still wonder how the stay-at-home half of the world lives, she is worth the occasional peruse.

UPDATE: The first blockquote is from an article which was a response to this piece at the blog of Colleen Hammond, who refers to Simcha's response as "scathing." Meow.
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