Products You Can Use: SLC Branches Out

The other day, when a friend suggested that I get into the greeting card business, I mentioned that a few years ago on my blog (before I had the seven readers I have now) I launched “Tradmark”, the greeting card company for traditionally-minded Catholics. It turned out that the name “Tradmark” was taken, so I just peddle wares under the SLC brand now.

A couple of examples:
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(outside of card, first, then the interior text)

“To my Goddaughter–On Your Ninth First Friday”

Congrats on your golden ticket,
Heaven awaits you at last,
While your friends were watching T.V.,
You spent your time at Mass.
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“Best Wishes for a Speedy Recovery”

Though your sterilization reversal was painful,
May you gain strength in the knowledge that you did the right thing.
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Well, my friend’s suggestion, combined with the success of amazon in providing and shipping every kind of thing, caused me to decide to branch out and provide some gifts to go with the cards. Keep these sample products in mind for your next gift-giving occasion:
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Item 109–

Jonas Bros. Patented Three Days of Darkness Kit

Don’t get stuck three days and nights in “the belly of the whale” without this all-in-one kit!*

Contents: Two (2) Beeswax candles; ten (10) Rosaries; four (4) 4′ x 8′ sheets of 1/4 in. plywood; one (1)holy water bottle; one (1) chemical, self-sanitizing thunderbox; ten (10) pairs of hear-no-evil earplugs; five (5) ultra-thin “space” blankets; one (1) short wave radio; one (1) short synopsis of relevant Marian apparitions with basic Catholic prayers.

*Blessings not included.
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Item 271–

Off-the Chartres Pilgrimage Companion

Tired of setting off on your long journey, only to realize you forgot some necessary gear? Well, those days are over. This kit has everything you need for one low price.

Contents: Waterproof journal; Jerry Seinfeld del Boca Vista model astronaut pen (guaranteed to write upside-down!); easy snap-on/off wrinkleproof/waterproof suit-and-tie for outdoor Mass (can substitute this item for all-covering, waterproof/shapeless dress); large felt-free do-it-yourself banner with staff; handbook of basic Catholic prayers (Latin); three (3) French government wine ration coupons*+; one (1) set of knee pads (one for each knee!); ten(10) yards of moleskin.

*Santiago variant adds rabid dog-defeating stun gun.
+Auriesville version includes 9mm pistol for personal defense.
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Item 341–

St. Jude Electronic Random Saint-Name Generator (Trad-Cath Edition)

Naming a child after a Catholic saint doesn’t sound hard, but what do you do when you have so many children you run out of ideas? Worry no more. With St. Jude’s Electronic Random Saint-Name Generator, naming a baby is no longer a lost cause! Simply set device to male or female, press a button, and read aloud the name of a really great saint–complete with hagiography and “patron of” list. This new and improved Trad-Cath Edition eliminates modern-sounding names like Brittany, Haley, and John Paul, and gives emphasis to names of saints listed in the Roman Canon and those who died particularly gruesome deaths at the hands of protestants.

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Item 777–

Holy Nativity Brand “Stable Group” Traditional Mass Request Forms Packet

Having trouble navigating through your local bureaucracy in your quest to have the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite of Mass in your parish? This product is made for you. Though Summorum Pontificum seems clear enough to most people, it can befuddle those with theological degrees or liturgical training. Therefore we provide you with every possible type of form to finally claim your right as a Catholic.

Contents include: Letter asking for Extraordinary Form Mass (pastor version); Second Letter asking for Extraordinary Form Mass assuring that “Yes, I am serious” (pastor version); Third Letter asking for Extraordinary Form Mass with dictionary definitions of “stable” and “group”; Letter of Appeal from Pastor denial (chancery version); Second Letter of Appeal assuring that “Yes, I am serious” (chancery version); Third Letter of Appeal from Pastor denial with dictionary definitions of “stable” and “group”; Letter of Appeal to Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei (postage not included); Letter of inquiry for status of Appeal to Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei (three-, six-, nine-, and twelve- month versions); one copy of Summorum Pontificum in Latin and English, with accompanying letter to bishops; and finally one (1) emergency-only copy of Quo Primum, with English translation.

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More items to come, so check back often!

"Home School Mothers Lack Self-Confidence"

There, I knew that would get your attention.

The quote that forms the title of this post is from an article by economist Gary North on LewRockwell.com. He is an advocate of homeschooling, and acknowledges the growing strength of the homeschool movement and the great good it does. So, why the quote?

North discusses the need for a more-widely available set of free to minimal-cost resources on the internet and elsewhere for homeschoolers to use. He cites a couple of examples, and then points out that, typically, it isn’t a homeschooling mom who is behind such a resource, but rather some entrepreneur. He posits that most homeschooling moms lack the confidence to promote such things.

My first thought was, can this guy ever have been married? Does he have any idea of the complete lack of time the diligent homeschooling mom possesses? I mean, it would not surprise me to examine the schedule of a random homeschooling mom (and they are usually quite detailed) and see the entry, “8:15, and at least once every thirty seconds thereafter: Breathe.”

Therefore, I provide the above intro so that any homeschooling mom reading this will get past the initial coffee-splattering spit-take when reading the above, and then move on to the meat of the article. There does seem to be a need for that low- to no-cost resource center for homeschoolers. North seems to be more familiar with the evangelical and secular homeschooling resources, and does not mention the growing number of Catholic homeschooling resources. In that area, anyone familiar with Laura Berquist knows that a homeschooling mom is certainly capable of mass producing valuable resources.

I know in my own little homeschool, where I reign as principal (i.e., where I do whatever Sharon tells me to), we employ a variety of means and methods, and use tutors, real and digital, for certain subjects. We make use of the local co-op. All of this works to a harmonious end, where in the midst of a calamity of clutter we are from time-to-time amazed at the wisdom accumulated and exhibited in our children. One tribute to Sharon’s program was posted here.

But it is true, if I can stick to anecdotal evidence, that many of the homeschoolng moms of my acquaintance, moms whose children are by and large shining examples of a Catholic educational renaissance, not only can’t step back one large step and see the results of their own work, but also are very slow to think that they are at all qualified to handle the job.

This is the work of at least four, and likely eight or more, decades of being conditioned by our society that “education” is best left in the hands of self-appointed and unaccountable experts. Think Dewey, and you’ll see the conditioning goes back much further than the tumultuous ’60s. It is the default position that schooling a child at home is only slightly less ridiculous than becoming Amish. In fact, the snarkier critics of homeschooling are likely to identify the two lifestyles.

But, at least through the elementary years, I ask you to consider which persons are more expertly qualified to teach– and to form–one’s children: the parents of such children, who love them more than anyone else on earth, who know their strengths and weaknesses intimately, who have a vested interest and Divine mandate to form and educate them, and who make a sincere effort to perform this task to the best of their ability; or, persons with a degree in education and who are licensed by the state, who are trained in the latest pedagogical techniques and who perform this task for a salary?

Absent unusual circumstances, I take the parent. Well, since we homeschool, this may be obvious. But the parent has the mandate to raise and educate. Sending a child to school is a decision to use a proxy to accomplish this mandate, and this option is fine, as long as the parents remember the responsibility–and the right– never leaves them. Keeping proper vigilance over the school to properly form the child is almost as exhausting as teaching them oneself. And in the end, the teacher is not accountable to the parent or the child. He is accountable to the school, the district, the Board, the principal, the state, or whatever the ultimate decision-making entity may be. The parent is accountable to the child, and to God.

Christ’s parable of the Good Shepherd comes to mind. The institutional school and its teachers are the hireling, who may not react the same way as the parent when the wolf approaches. I don’t say this to be provocative. I am not saying that the majority of teachers don’t care deeply about educating their students as well as they can. But though they do care, they have constraints. The homosexual agenda, P.C. social studies, neo-pagan environmentalism, and watered-down, inoffensive spirituality in the place of true religion– how many school teachers have the ability (even if they have the inclination) to resist the latest diktat of the board, state, or group of experts? You can answer that question yourself.

I have remarked in this space before that it is my opinion that the homeschooling mom is a modern day St. Benedict. St. Benedict, the father of Western monasticism, was raised in the time after the Roman empire fell, and civilization itself was threatened with extinction. He formed little communities to collect the remnant of those who wished (among other goals) to preserve it. What someone floundering about in the wreckage of society in the fifth and sixth centuries might have called “escapism” and “sheltering from reality”, was in fact the incubator of civilization’s rebirth. The little communities that kept the faith, knowledge, culture, and charity in their care, grew and expanded to provide the foundation of Christendom. They protected the remnant, they acted as leaven, and they proved irresistible. They triumphed, and that triumph lasted more than a thousand years.

So, homeschooling moms, be confident– your work in that little dining room, study or basement is transformational. You have the care of immortal souls, first and foremost. But know that your efforts will inevitably tend to the transformation and sanctification of society. It is truly a movement that has generational potential. That is why it is opposed. That is why the experts tell you that you can’t do it.

You can and will prove them wrong.

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Update: As for education being thought the exclusive domain of the experts, and as for the notion that parents’ direct influence should be minimized, I present for your review this story in the Post-Dispatch today. I got a kick out of the comments of State Senator Jane Cunningham.