The Pope and Working Moms

I am fascinated by the Catholic Church. I attended Catholic school from first through sixth grade. I was sent there by my very much not religious agnostic mother and atheist father. It’s like a set up for a bad sitcom, right? I loved my Catholic school education though was always deeply skeptical of organized religion thanks to my hippie parents who to this day can’t believe I actually enjoy going to church. While I don’t attend Catholic church anymore (I go to a mega-Christian church which my parents are equally disdainful of) or count myself as a Catholic I still have a soft spot in my heart for certain aspects of Catholicism. Currently Pope Francis tops that list.

So I totally geeked out about his visit. I watched his every move since he landed with unabashed curiosity. Would he wither in the bright lights of the U.S. media or would he prove to be as humble, inclusive, and honest as all us lapsed Catholics were hoping he would be? But a funny thing happened when I was so focused on what the Pope would say about the pedophile scandal, or the role of women in the church, or the direction of the church – he surprised me.

It happened during his second to last point in his speech to Congress. Congress had been applauding wildly as the Pope built to what everyone anticipated would be the end of his speech. Then just as the audience was on a roll and ready to for Pope Francis to bring it home he said this:

“At the risk of oversimplifying, we might say that we live in a culture which pressures young people not to start a family, because they lack possibilities for the future. Yet this same culture presents others with so many options that they too are dissuaded from starting a family.”- Pope Francis

Boom! I held my breath. My mind was whirling. Did he just say that being a parent in today’s culture is ridiculously freaking hard – so hard that it isn’t an appealing option for just about anyone contemplating joining our ranks? Unappealing not just for those of us who weren’t born with silver spoons in our mouths, and are strapped with student loan debt from putting ourselves through school, and have to live pay check to pay check to just squeak by but for those of us who have money, and options and are disgusted at the prospect of starting a family in a culture where the maternity and paternity leave supports are spotty at best and non-existent at worst, where the choice between parent shaming versus a new pair of Jimmy Choo’s is, let face it, not even close? Did he just say what I thought he said?

Congress was pretty confused too because the thunderous applause turned into halting, tepid, sporadic clapping. They were like: “Um, what did that guy just say? I thought we really had something going here.” Which is pretty indicative of where Congress stands on most issues pertaining to working families – and working mothers in particular.

But I picked up what he was throwing down. I hear you loud and clear, Pope Francis. Thank you for stating the obvious. I just wish it were more obvious to our own lawmakers. So for now I’ll be comforted knowing that God is listening.