Inspiring story on Primetime

The Bates are good friends of the Duggars, and Nightline just did an hour special on them, since to my knowledge, they are now tied with the Duggar family for "America's largest family". Please watch it and support it, especially in the comments.

I have read some very nasty comments on a traditional Catholic website on the Duggars, twisting their beliefs on spanking and on other issues, but I actually think many traditional Catholics could learn a lot from them. We have, and not just in the practicalities of "how to do it" with a large homeschooling family. After all, if you think about it, they're just living out our faith! I especially admire their evident joy in the children, and the witness they are in homeschooling and modesty. It has challenged me many times: if they, based on their personal interpretation of Scripture, are willing to turn their lives over to Christ in this fashion, why aren't more Catholics? We have the authoritative interpretation of Scripture, Church teaching, the lives of the saints, the examples of so many families. Where they either have to home-church or are usually alone in their churches, we have a Church that takes an authoritative stance against birth control. How many Catholics, even among traditional Catholics, refuse to dress modestly, have a negative attitude towards their children, and how many would welcome a 19th child? The Catholic families who I know who are like that are an inspiration, and I hope to become a little more like that some day. Our family of six children gets stares everywhere we go- I can't imagine 18!

(My biggest warning is you can see the error of Calvinism in the comments on government assistance- "we do X so God gives us Y, and if you would simply do X, you'd have Y too", but that's common among conservative Americans of any stripe, unfortunately

Anyways, here's the link: http://www.hulu.com/watch/271402/abc-primetime-nightline-my-extraordinary-family-bates-18-kids-?review_id=517030&reviews=1