I Have A Say Thanks to My Mom and Dad!!!

Being the oldest of 11, I am so thankful, especially now, for my Mom and Dad saying "yes" to life! Growing up, we never had a ton of money. My Dad was a high school chemistry teacher and my parents decided from the beginning that they wanted to have one of them home with us. My mom gave up her teaching career, and raised me, followed by 10 others! My Mom also taught all 11 of us at home for part of our childhood before we would head off to Nativity Catholic Grade School. My Dad worked long hours, eventually earning other degrees so that he could first become dean, then principal, and finally, when I was a sophomore, he was named Roncalli High School's first president. My Dad and Mom both sacrificed SO MUCH for us.

I remember, even as a young person, getting stared at by people, and I remember the comments they would make. I can still hear a dental receptionist asking my Mom "Are these all yours? You know how children are made right?" followed by a real insidious but ditzy chuckle, followed by a secretarial gum crackle. My Mom and Dad were always tight budget wise, and I'm sure at times ached with a desire to not have to take bags of clothes from other families so that we could have clothes. I'm sure my Mom and Dad had desires to simply go to Nordstrom and buy us and give us all our own new clothes and Gameboys and Reebok Pumps etc. I'm sure they at times really wished they could just get a new car and not have to drive a fifteen passenger van around. I'm sure at times they wanted really badly to just go to a restaurant and sit back and enjoy a big expensive meal instead of having to cut coupons and craft together economic meals on the stove.

But they chose life for us, and they chose sacrifice for themselves.

I often think about that ditzy secretary now when our family gets together almost every weekend for dinner to laugh and hang out. Some of the siblings might be out of town or busy with other obligations, but inevitably, all weekend long, every weekend, our family gets together. Sometimes, when we're out at a restaraunt, I see the couples who are alone with each other. They hardly talk to each other and the loneliness is palpable. A part of me feels bad that we're having so much fun with our 8 tables shoved together, telling stories, laughing good hearty and healthy laughs. Sometimes I wonder if one of the couples sitting in the restaurant quietly and solemnly is that dental secretary - who now has piles of money and can eat wherever she wants, but doesn't have hardly anyone to share it with. My heart breaks for the people who are alone, especially the ones who are alone because, when they could have been having children, they instead bought into the contraception lie and lived for themselves only.

I have a say today, and so do my ten younger brothers and sisters, because my parents chose life. Mom and Dad - thanks a million!!!

Friday, March 2, 2012

Joe Brochtrup

I have a say because my parents chose to have seven children.  It would have been more but for miscarriages.  They sacrificed much but one of the most appreciated by all of us siblings is their choice to pay tuition (at a group rate, thank God) at a Catholic school in Houston for all 7 children for all 12 years, grades 1-12.  The School Sisters of Notre Dame and the Carmelites had significant influence on our lives. 
We have a say in many ways but one of the most important is political activism, voting if nothing else.  (It goes unspoken that living our lives per our convictions is the most important).  As I grew up, my parents seemed to be in the minority as they supported conservative philosophies and candidates, while many around us supported candidates and parties that saw it as the government's job to minister to the poor and disenfranchised.  Certainly they have a role there but we have now seen the light at the end of the tunnel and unfortunately it is a freight train of government confiscation of our religious liberties coming straight at us.  I pray that the bishops and the lay Catholics have awakened because the biggest mistake would be to think that all we have to do is convince this HHS secretary that this ruling is a violation of religious liberty.  The complete law that many Catholic leaders supported is full of "as the HHS secretary shall determine".  And do not be deluded into thinking that end of life decisions will not be an issue if the new health care law is allowed to stand. 
If the game is on and the Catholic Church is going to really fight this intrusion of government in our religious lives, I stand by you as I walk to the ballot box to vote out every politician that voted for the health care reform law.
Hope to see you there.
Thanks and God Bless You for fighting this fight.
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