The Way

As I watched The Way, I was extremely inspired by the different stories and burdens of each individual. Although each of the main characters led themselves along different journeys of self-discovery as they walked El Camino, they found solace and companionship in those sharing the same physical journey. My favorite part of the movie as a whole was that the pilgrimage united a mismatched group of people who not only lead very different lifestyles, but also probably never would have met if not for undertaking this journey. The characters were all able to connect and understand each other, despite their differing backgrounds, cultures, and interests. The film inspired me because it never got overly sentimental or dove too deep into the personal experiences of each character. As a religious movie, you might almost expect it to focus on the major change Tom made in his life after making this trek, but instead, the movie ended when the pilgrimage ended. I think the film didn't focus on how El Camino changed Tom's life because the whole movie was about how different people have different reasons for making the pilgrimage and most definitely have different outcomes at the end. Of course we see that Tom's journey evolves from a journey for his son to a journey for himself (or, more accurately, both his son and himself). I loved at the end of the movie when Tom reached the final destination and he put his name on the certificate, but then asked to have the name switched to "Daniel" for his son. While Tom made the physical trek, both Tom and his son, whom Tom carried with him, shared in a spiritual journey.

Mixed Messages

Having been in Catholic school for 12 years of my education, I can definitely say I've received mixed messages from the Catholic Church about the role of women in the Church. The Church encourages young women to live out the life of Christ by participating in community service and Church activities, whether it be a Church-sponsored event or participating in the Mass as a lector, cantor, or Eucharistic minister. In this way, the Church establishes an important role in the community and in the Church. However, much of the Bible is focused on men, and in discussing the sacrament of marriage, women are limited in their roles. For my newspaper project, I researched quotes in the Bible pertaining to marriage, and some of them seemed to be derogatory to the role of women. One quote starts:  "Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord." Similarly, women are allowed to participate in the Mass, but they are not allowed to hold leadership positions in the Church. While the Church looks up to Mary, the Mother of Jesus, as a role model, it does not seem to emphasize the important impact young women can have.

Abortion

According to the US Catholic article, abortion rates have increased exponentially in the developing world, where abortions are either illegal, unsafe, or both. However, according to a different article, abortion rates in the United States are at the lowest level since 1973. Bryan Cone's article attests that a large part of the differing rates of abortion in the developing world versus the developed world relates to contraception and its availability in different countries.

In countries where contraception is readily available, there is a notably lower rate of abortions, as women are able to prevent unwanted pregnancies and do not have to turn to abortion. If the Church is unwilling to change its views on contraception, the best way to prevent abortions would probably be education. Informing people in the developing world about natural family planning has potential.

However, as the article suggests that while abortion and contraceptives are both against the views of the Church, choosing contraception as "the lesser of two evils" may resolve rising abortion rates while still maintaining a respect for the dignity of human life.

IVF: Pros and Cons

According to the US Catholic article, "the Vatican has been on record that most procedures resulting in the conception of a child outside the act of sex between a married couple are morally wrong." IVF is a topic of controversy in the Catholic Church, but the procedure offers both pros and cons. What leads to the Church's position against IVF?

The most obvious con to the IVF procedure is the cost. Because it is so expensive, IVF is very limited in its reach—only those who can afford it have access. However, in countries with centralized healthcare, such as Great Britain, IVF is included in healthcare costs. However, on the same note, some may argue that the cost restricts the process only to those who are financially able to care for a child. While I see the potential benefit of this point, I think it is partly this restriction that makes IVF an immoral practice in the eyes of the Church. If the overall goal is to create new life for those who seek it, the procedure should be more readily available.

Similarly, the Church is against the potential for couples to "play God." Because there is a possibility of donor sperm/eggs in the IVF process, there is a temptation to create the "perfect" baby—to manipulate the process to determine the characteristics of a child and select those embryos with the most favorable characteristics.

The Church is against the formation of an embryo in a petri dish not only because the extra embryos may be destroyed at any time, but also because of the involvement of a third-party, which diminishes the role of family and God in the creation of a child. And yet, the Church supports GIFT simply because the embryo is created in the uterus instead of a petri dish. Although I understand the thought that IVF leads to an embryo becoming a "science experiment," the comment that most hit me from the US Catholic article was a father's statement that God created those people who then discovered IVF. As we can see in the article, average Catholic parents have a wide variety of stances on IVF, but those who chose to pursue this method of fertilization do not feel any less Catholic. Therefore, the true morality of IVF is determined differently from person to person. Life is life, so does it really matter how we get there if the end result is the same?

He's Just Not That Into You

He's Just Not That Into You examines different types of relationships, including that of Beth and Neil, as well as the relationship between Gigi and Alex.

The relationship between Beth and Neil is probably the best example of what marriage should be. In class, we discussed how marriage is often idealized, because people are more concerned with the extravagant wedding ceremony than the actual marriage. Although Beth wants to get married, Neil does not believe in marriage; however, even when they break up, Neil proves that he is a more loyal and caring partner than both Ben, who is cheating on his wife, and all of her sisters' husbands. When Beth is caring for her father, Neil shows up to help purely because he knows she needed him. Through his kindness and dedication, Beth realizes that Neil is not only more of a husband than her sisters' husbands, but also that her life with Neil is already everything she would expect from marriage, just without the official marriage license. In the end, Neil proposes to Beth because he cares for her and her happiness. However, even without this added plot point, their relationship remains a good example of a healthy relationship.

Gigi is portrayed as an clingy girl who is overly concerned with finding a relationship to the point that she obsessively overanalyzes her dates and incessantly calls when the guy doesn't call her. She tries to find signals through words and actions. Contrarily, Alex is seemingly the typical guy that Gigi dates—he doesn't feel the need to call a girl if he is uninterested. Through Alex's brutally honest advice, Gigi learns that she is not "the exception." However, when Alex eventually falls for her, he tells her that she is his "exception," and in doing so, he contradicts all of his other advice. While it's a lovely sentiment that Gigi is able to find a relationship because there's someone for everyone, I personally didn't like this relationship because she didn't really have enough time on her own to develop healthy dating habits. 

The Changing Face of Marriage

My personal experience of the 'domestic church' is evident through my family, particularly my parents, sister, and grandparents. I was raised Catholic, and my parents taught me about God before I went to school. Similarly, my grandmother, a devout Catholic, frequently referenced the stories of Jesus in the Bible before I even knew how to read it myself. Because I had an older sister who entered Catholic school before me, she would tell me about her religion classes in school, teaching me about God from a young age.

Evidenced by He's Just Not That Into You, there are pros and cons to the changing structure of marriage in modern society. As a society, people are getting married later; this can be seen as both a benefit and a problem. Gigi feels that she needs to find someone immediately, and she becomes desperate and a little crazy in her quest to find love. Because she thinks she needs to have a boyfriend and be in a serious relationship to be in the right place in her life—values instilled in her by the traditional marriage structure—she is willing to stalk out her potential boyfriends. Conversely, Beth and Neil have been waiting to get married, but they've been together long enough to build a great relationship with each other.

I agree with the study that says those with college degrees are less likely to experience divorce because college allows people to experience the dating culture, establish your beliefs, and find who you are from a very young age. From then on, people can be more secure in what they want from themselves and others, and therefore, they are more prepared for the marriage scene. Obviously the most important reason to go to college is to better yourself through education and a future means of employment, but it isn't bad to know that going to college will also increase my chances at a more durable relationship in the future.

Personally, I think it's important for people to decide their own faith. That being said, I want to establish the 'domestic church' in my home because I think it's important to give my children a solid foundation in the Catholic church because it emphasizes values such as kindness and charity.

Dating Culture

Throughout history, dating has evolved with the times. While many of us view dating as a precursor to marriage, anti-daters such as Josh Harris criticize dating for many reasons.

In his book I Kissed Dating Goodbye, Harris claimed that dating was essentially practice for divorce because of the frequency of break-ups. Because dating is often short-term, it instills the idea that relationships are temporary. Although anti-daters are not totally against going out with your potential partner, they believe that dating should mostly be about determining suitability for marriage. Most anti-daters believe that God plays a hand in connecting them and their future spouse, so they are not worried about missing out on potential partners.

I disagree with this view; to me, it seems like an excuse to sit around and wait for the "perfect" person to fall into your life by the grace of God. Instead of thinking as a break-up or bad relationship as a precursor for divorce, I like to think of it as a learning experience. If a relationship doesn't work out for the long term, there was a reason:  something about that person that you couldn't overlook. Whether it's an annoying habit or a personality trait that got under your skin, you can now put that on your list of things that you are not willing to compromise. Each relationship provides us with learning experiences about both ourselves and others that teach us what we want in other people and what we don't want. 

Contrary to the view of Harris and the anti-daters, Donna Freitas and Jason King argue that we learn from all of the relationships and that through relationships of all sorts, we can grow in our understanding of who God calls us to be. Freitas and Jason King claim that anti-daters choose not to pursue dating because they assume dating is all about sex, but they refute this thought, saying that while dating is not entirely about sex, romantic gestures and intimacy allow us to think of the needs of others.