I'll post something tomorrow on the Christmas Midnight Mass readings. Other than that, I'm going off-blog - and mostly offline - for a couple of weeks. News items will be ruthlessly ignored. Please don't email me. Pam, please don't send the paparazzi to stalk me this year. Thanks. A blessed last couple of days of Advent to everyone.

First, if the mom is reading Ezzo and looking for something more secular than William Sears, she should know that Ezzo's "secular" book are based on his (now discredited by his own church) theological ideas expressed for Christians in his books Growing Kids God's Way. 

She should check out the website Ezzo Info and just be aware of the concerns that have been raised by experts about all aspects, including the breastfeeding recommendations (have led some babies to be dehydrated), developmental issues from the discipline, theological and spiritual issues...it IS scary stuff. 

If she breastfeeds or plans to, I recommend The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding by La Leche League.  It's a perfect counterpart to Babywise - it presents the 10 philosophical concepts of La Leche League in a gentle way, acceptable to mothers of all types and belief-systems, employed and stay-at-home.  I would also encourage her to attend an evening LLL meeting if there is one in her area.  She would probably meet lots of other mothers there who are employed but trying to use responsive and gentle parenting.

If the mom is breastfeeding and employed, Gayle Pryor's Nursing Mother, Working Mother  and a new book about nursing and employment called Hirkani's Daughters (I haven't read this one but I expect it would be helpful.)

There are lots of good secular baby care and discipline resources, including for mothers who work outside the home, at the La Leche League International website - all the materials are reviewed to be sure that they promote good healthy breastfeeding practices and the La Leche Leauge philosophy on discipline:

From infancy on, children need loving guidance which reflects acceptance of their capabilities and sensitivity to their feelings.

Depending on what age child you are talking about - if she is reading Babywise - Sears' The Baby Book may be the best bet - or his The Discipline Book.   The Baby Book has a section on bottle-feeding - and Sears The Nutrition Book has a section on infant formulas - what they are made of and how to choose the right one (while always acknowledging breastfeeding as best, understanding that it is not always possible, or chosen). 

I always enjoyed Learning a Loving Way of Life (by LLLI) - but it may be more focused on encouraging mothers to stay at home.  It's been years since I read it.

Anyway, a look through the LLLI online store is worth it - LLLI supports many employed breastfeeding mothers (more and more) and is very strongly secular (nowadays).  

A reader emails:

There has been a lot of blowback nationwide over the passage of Prop 8 in California. I haven't heard much from Prop 8 supporters. The narrative seems to be forming nationwide that a narrow band of bigots slipped the amendment through, and now a righteous indignation is sweeping the country (even though marriage amendments are, what, 16-1?). Is there something we should be doing to let the pro-family side be heard? Or is it best to let this wave pass over, and keep with the same successful strategy?

I'm not sure that there's much more to say than what we've been saying (and will continue to say). I suspect (though I could be wrong) that the "narrative" coming from the anti-8 folks largely amounts to the proverbial "preaching to the choir."

Meanwhile, though, this doesn't sound good - by the Marriage Law Foundation's Bill Duncan, on NRO this morning: "California Betrayal: Brown vs. the people."

On Friday, California attorney general Jerry Brown decided not to honor an earlier promise to defend the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the state marriage amendment approved by voters on November 4. California voters were denied even a pro forma defense of the measure by the government official constitutionally charged to enforce state law — because he just changed his mind. ...

A reader emails:

Jeff Jacoby had a nice piece yesterday about the Apollo 8 mission, which began its first-ever trip to the moon 40 years ago yesterday.

"Courtesy of judicial activism."

In the WS, Wes Smith writes about the recent decision.

can be found at the Vatican site.

Please read and reflect on it sometime between now and Jan. 1.

Kevin - I make no promises about sending the cameras after you (or even Kim or most of all RUSTY!).  If you don't get back on-blog soon enough to keep me from worrying like I did last year, you can just keep looking over your shoulder....besides, didn't they get a great shot last year?!?!  You should be selling autographed copies of that shot!!  (Don't worry - I doubt you would really be outsold by autographed shots of Rusty...our readers are dog-lovers, but they love you too...)

Seriously - merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  I'll try not to e-mail but look out for the Cub Scout popcorn on its way.... sometime between now and May 1....

can be found at Zenit.

should appear soon at A Catholic Mom Climbing the Pillars. Look for it there, and give it a read when it appears.

Our readings for the Christmas Mass at Midnight pick up a theme that we also found in last Sunday's: Jesus Christ as a King in David's line, the fulfillment of the prophecies of a king who will defeat the enemies of God and his people. We hear tomorrow night that Christ was born of a mother married to a man of the house of David, and in the city of David.

Christ's mission does not involve smashing all earthly burdens. Still, he is adored by humble shepherds who believe the angels' words that his birth is "good news," that he is the "Savior." And the angels sing, "On earth peace to those on whom [God's] favor rests." Indeed, then, Christ comes as our perfect King, to save us from our enemies, and to bring us peace.

As St. Paul writes, "The grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age"; "Jesus Christ ... gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people as his own, eager to do what is good." The grace of God in Jesus Christ is indeed a manifestation of God's power, even more so than God's Old Testament victories over Israel's earthly enemies.

When Christ defeats the power of sin and death in us, he defeats God's, and our, greatest and most powerful enemy. We might note how the Catechism says that the effects of the fall make our life a battle. This is the most important battle of all, against the worst enemy of all. In Jesus Christ, our divine King whose birth we celebrate, and who shares his life with us, makes his life present and active in our own souls, this battle is already definitively won - sin and death are truly conquered. We are thus assured that we can, with Christ, win the battle against our enemy, and so be freed from the burdens of our fallen condition and enter into everlasting peace.

With the angels and the shepherds, let us rejoice in this good news. Let us celebrate with joy the great feast of Christmas. And let us, in cooperation with our victorious King, with God's grace, be renewed in our life of holiness.

A Prayer to Our Lady of La Leche for Help in Childbirth (but one all mothers can adapt to offer their own "aches and pains" - never mind our "useless and consuming worries" at whatever stage in life, as well as to place their children of any age under the Lord's protection), remembering Our Blessed Mother's sufferings during pregnancy, at the time of birth and throughout every stage of her motherhood.  She knows all our needs and cares tenderly for us all.   We can rest in this assurance this Christmas Day!

O Lord Jesus Christ,
through the intercession of Your tender Mother, Our Lady of La Leche,
Who bore You close to her heart during those long months before Your birth,
I place my baby and myself entirely in Your Hands.
Free me, I beseech You, from useless and consuming worry.
Accept the sacrifice of my aches and pains,
which I unite to Your sufferings on the Cross.
Above all, most merciful and loving Jesus,
protect this child You have given to me from all harm,
bestowing the health and vigor every baby needs.
Implant in my heart and on my lips the words and prayers of Your Mother and mine,
our Lovely Lady of La Leche.
All this I ask that my child and I may live to praise forever Your Holy Name.
Amen.

Good op-ed on changes to childbirth practices that would help women, babies and the country:

Some healthcare trivia: In the United States, what is the No. 1 reason people are admitted to the hospital? Not diabetes, not heart attack, not stroke. The answer is something that isn't even a disease: childbirth.

Not only is childbirth the most common reason for a hospital stay -- more than 4 million American women give birth each year -- it costs the country far more than any other health condition. Six of the 15 most frequent hospital procedures billed to private insurers and Medicaid are maternity-related. The nation's maternity bill totaled $86 billion in 2006, nearly half of which was picked up by taxpayers.

But cost hasn't translated into quality. We spend more than double per capita on childbirth than other industrialized countries, yet our rates of pre-term birth, newborn death and maternal death rank us dismally in comparison. Last month, the March of Dimes gave the country a "D" on its prematurity report card; California got a "C," but 18 other states and the District of Columbia, where 15.9% of babies are born too early, failed entirely.

The U.S. ranks 41st among industrialized nations in maternal mortality. And there are unconscionable racial disparities: African American mothers are three times more likely to die in childbirth than white mothers.

In short, we are overspending and under-serving women and families. If the United States is serious about health reform, we need to begin, well, at the beginning.

Read the whole thing to see the excellent recommendations....

I understand that the Holy Father has taken some flack for opposing gender ideology, based on his comments summarized below:

Far more important, he said, is the Church's mission to preserve what he called referred to as "something like an ecology of the human being, understood in the proper manner." In this context, the Pope said that the Church must teach clearly about the nature of the human person, to counteract the influence of secular ideologies that confuse and diminish human dignity. He spoke specifically about "gender ideology," insisting that God created man and woman as complementary, and the Church "demands that this order of creation be respected" by promotion of marriage and family life.

But the idea of an "ecology of the human being" brings to my mind the concept I first learned from Sheila Kippley, in her book "The Ecology of Natural Mothering,"  another aspect of "human ecology" - the mother-child relationship especially in the early years, which is hated and opposed by many in the secular world. 

I had the privilege this year of writing the introduction to her newly-reissued classic edition of Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing:  The Ecology of Natural Mothering."  In my review, I called ecological breastfeeding

a natural way, a loving way, a healthy way for myself and my baby and my family. [In this book] I found a description of mothering and breastfeeding the way nature intended it, of the mother's body as a habitat for her baby, and of an ecological relationship between mother and child, relying on both and contributing to the health and happiness of each. ...

In the 21st Century, the ecology of natural mothering has a hip and trendy new nickname: “eco-breastfeeding”. Far from being a mere trend, however, the ecology itself – a human ecology – has never been more important to women, children, families, even to human society itself.

The secular media wants to make the Pope's comments about "human ecology" about same sex marriage, but we need to remember that the vocation of mothering and the real biological and psychological (never mind emotional and spiritual) needs of young children are also under attack by a culture that is more self-consciously "green" and "organic" than ever before.

Take this opportunity to learn about the ecology of natural mothering - and practice what you learn!  In this day and age, practicing ecological breastfeeding and natural mothering is practically radical and subversive!  Be a rebel!

"Her children will rise up and call her blessed."

I may not agree that Caroline Kennedy is the best choice for NY senator, depending on her pro-life views.  However, I nominate this articulate high-school student, who writes eloquently about her highly-educated mother's REAL job - her vocation to motherhood.