Have You Found Your Ideal....

Not, I don’t mean the ideal man. But of course, there’s that too. What I mean is the ideal woman’s magazine. I’ve been reading lots of magazines lately when I want a study break, and I just find myself having to read lots of different ones (which is not so bad, after all) to get what I crave: a mixture of faith, fashion, cooking, and all things feminine genius. Let me give you a rundown: I love Real Simple - great recipes, has fashion, beauty, home décor, all the stuff we ladies love. But what does it lack? Serious intellectual discourse. For that I turn to First Things, an intellectual journal - not a woman’s magazine. Then there’s Oprah’s magazine, which I admit, I did look through for her amazing give-aways - I mean, who does not want to enter a chance to win a $5,000 shopping spree to Ann Taylor or a nine day all expenses paid tour of Israel? Yes, those are actual give-aways. But the magazine always includes some snide remark about the Catholic Church - whether it be on the Church’s “outdated” stance on birth control or some story about “Pope Joan” and that alone is enough to repel me.

Then I found Martha Stewart’s magazine called Whole Living (it used to be called Body+Soul) and I really like it - it depicts all kinds of creative ways for green living, natural eating, and health lifestyles. However, it absolutely touts a New Age approach, complete with marking the Dali Lama’s birthday and depicting which yoga moves will put you in touch with the divine goddess in you. Ugh. And who does not love InStyle? All about style - no tips on sex tricks like almost all other fashion magazines. However, even InStyle includes ads that depict over sexualized, scantily clad models for a designer selling jeans or handbags. Or how about those ads for sterility drugs and birth control? I am so sick of seeing glossy ads that depict young, happy, healthy women for birth control ads, giving out the message that “if-you-use-our-drug-you-will-happy-and-free-and-all-your-dreams-will-come-true-you-can-even-be-a-princess!” Yes, unfortunately, those ads are in ALL women’s magazines.

Then I saw one on the market for Protestant women that includes daily Scripture verses, recipes, home décor, beauty, and lots of fluffy sermons from prominent Protestant ministers. That got me thinking: What we need is a Catholic woman’s magazine: one that shows true beauty, modestly, includes recipes, home decorating tips, beauty tips, but had no birth control or sterility drug ads, no New Age - no trash. It would include articles on theology and perhaps some essays on contemporary issues from our perspective. Why don’t we have such a magazine? And moreover, would you read it if I started such a thing - cause I am pretty tempted!!!

A Surprise Treasure from Newsweek

I really encourage taking the time to read the article "Harvard's Crisis of Faith," found in this week's print and online version of Newsweek. Lisa Miller explores the debate at the Ivy League institution about whether or not to require undergraduates to take one (count it, one) class that falls under a "Reason and Faith" core curriculum category. Currently, this suggestion is being met with significant opposition from deans and professors at the university.

Miller notes the significance of Harvard's lack of religious education:

In the end, Menand & Co. backed down, and the matter never made it to a vote. A more brutal fight was put off for another day. But that's a pity—for Harvard, its students, and the rest of us who need leaders better informed about faith and the motivations of the faithful. Harvard may or may not be the pinnacle of higher learning in the world, but because it isHarvard, it reflects—for better or worse—the priorities of the nation's intellectual set. To decline to grapple head-on with the role of religion in a liberal-arts education, even as debates over faith and reason rage on blogs, and as publishers churn out books defending and attacking religious belief, is at best timid and at worst self-defeating.

She follows:

Harvard's distaste for engaging with religion as an academic subject is particularly ironic, given that it was founded in 1636 as a training ground for Christian ministers. According to the office of the president, Veritas was only officially adopted as its motto in 1843; until then it had been Christo et Ecclesiae ("For Christ and the Church"). While it's true that other Ivy League colleges don't require undergrads to take religion (with the exception of Columbia, where readings in the mandatory Contemporary Civilization course include selections from Exodus, the Book of Matthew, Saint Augustine, and the Quran), it's fair to say that the study of religion at Harvard is uniquely dysfunctional.

Read until you reach the end -- Catholics will really appreciate the interview with a young man who knows that faith is actually quite reasonable. Well done, Newsweek.

A Shocker Over a Women's Magazine

I happened to be in a coffee shop and found a the September 2009 edition of the popular women's fashion magazine Marie Claire (which I don't hyperlink, simply because I could not find an online edition). Anyway, two stories shocked me in a slightly good and hopeful way. One story was just a little bleep about the up and coming trend on modesty in fashion. It featured the program called Pure Fashion, which I had never heard of before. According the article, it is a new movement that targets teen-age girls and is affiliated with a Catholic lay organization called Regnum Christi. I was shocked that the same fashion magazine featuring a spread of Ashley Olson in her undies had such an article -- and spoke positively about it!

This issue also featured a section inspired by the recent murder of abortionist George Tiller . It featured two women's testimonies. One who chose life, even though her baby would be deformed and would die within hours after birth. And of course, one who chose an abortion by none other than the infamous Tiller. I was impressed by the woman's testimony who chose life -- it was beautiful, heart-wrenching, and inspiring. The woman who chose abortion was equally heart-wrenching, although there was nothing beautiful or inspiring about it -- it was depressing. Her baby was deformed with a genetic defect, and she aborted. She was a Catholic from Louisiana -- an extremely Catholic state. Her testimony did not vilify the Church like I expected, but some of her last words in the article were 'I don't even feel Catholic anymore, which another issue in itself." Heart-breaking. Truly, truly heart-breaking.

Anyway, I was surprised with this issue of this typically trashy women's mag. (And what is up with me delving into the typically trashy stuff these past weeks, anyway?) I wouldn't recommend running out to buy it, it still has plenty of trash. But it certainly made me slightly more hopeful that perhaps women are truly starting to change things for the better. I wonder if the recent murder of pro-life activist James Pullion will inspire a follow up for the Marie Claire editors...I am not holding my breath, though.