Is a Catholic mother’s place really – and only – in the home? In most spheres of life, and perhaps here too, posing this question will provoke an exasperated “It’s 2018, for crying out loud!!” Yet I have several reasons for putting my head on the block now. Firstly, the date is not itself an argument. Secondly, this issue has reared its head in my own social circles recently.
A few years ago a group of young Catholic men told me confidently about the social malaise caused by women forgetting their proper role in life. More recently, a friend and fellow mother looking for work to improve her family’s financial security received an array of suggestions ranging from “the Lord will provide” to “a mother’s vocation is her children.”
