Yesterday I was thinking about the Christian duty of a mother to care for her own children (if possible). What is the force of that duty? Is it objectively wrong to make other arrangements? Is it a virtuous ideal that should be ever striven for, but is not actually a practical necessity? Is it not really a duty at all?
We Catholics don't have, as far as I know, any kind of mandate in Church teachings on the subject. There is no Woman, thou shalt not work outside the home. There is no condemnation of day care, nor admonition against a father's caring for children while a mother earns money.
Part of this is because the question "Should a woman stay home with her children, or should she work?" would be meaningless to a large number of Catholics. First, we are a trans-cultural Church; what the universal Church teaches must apply to Catholics in Uganda, in Brazil, in the United States to the poor and the rich alike, in Syria, in Poland. Second, we are an ancient Church; we pre-date the Industrial Revolution; and while practical applications have varied, the moral principles on which they're based don't. In this "democracy of the dead" the Saints speak loudly. And for most of Christian history, in most places where Christians live, woman's work in or near her home, just like man's work in or near his home, has been an obvious and indispensable economic contribution to the welfare of the family.
The mommy wars are so recent, and so confined to Certain Classes of People in Certain Countries, that the Universal Church has not bothered to speak about them in any detailed way that I am aware of (perhaps individual bishops' conferences have; I don't know).
More on this later in a subsequent post. I'm leaving for Adoration of the Blessed Thanksgiving... and if that's Greek to you, I mean the Eucharist, of course.
UPDATE. Here's Part 2.
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