'Many of these girls were having babies, to have someone to love them ...'. I believe that is so true Casey.... when one of my daughters became pregnant at 16, i believe it was in a very large part, because of our inability as parents to give her the affection that she so needed .....

Some of you have mentioned sex education as taught within the church and the behavior of certain nuns .....

We all know that thousands more women in the past, went into the convent then now, but i doubt the reasons were always spiritual. Death or severe lifetime complications because of pregnancy and childbirthing was a very real possibility, (and apparently still is some nations with poor health services). Birth control was not easily available and certainly not approved of by the church. Nor was there a possibility of getting out of a bad marriage...... surely the convent may have seemed the lesser of two evils to more than a few.....

When i read the 'lives of the saints', over and over again, it seemed to be girls/women who maintaned their 'virginity' at all costs, were somehow deemed saints more than others, the unmarried, or those who did not remarry after the death of a spouse, seem to have been cannonized more than the married of either gender, these teachings, the requirement of celebacy and the whole concept that the mother of Jesus, being forever a virgin , certainly implies that no sex is better than having sex....... whether that is the intent or not......

Kids are constantly exposed to an education about sex, through television and other outlets..... unfortunately, the messages seldom seem to speak of sacrifice, tenderness or responsibility which is certainly part of love........

[ January 29, 2006, 05:04 PM: Message edited by: norma ]