A Social Worker, a Stubborn Latina, and Another Hispanic Baby

From today's news:

"Florida bishop recalls how mother considered aborting him"
EWTN News (May 21, 2010)

"In a recent column, Bishop Victor Galeone of St. Augustine, Florida, recalled how his mother several decades ago told him before he left for a missionary trip abroad that she had considered aborting him some 35 years earlier.

"Bishop Galeone wrote in the May/June issue of the St. Augustine Catholic magazine how vividly he remembers Mother's Day of 1970, as he was preparing to leave for a five-year missionary trip to the Peruvian Andes. His mother, Rita, was convinced that he would come to some untimely end while overseas, and as they sat eating dinner together before he left, she started to cry.

"When the bishop started to apologize for leaving and causing her anxiety, she responded 'I'm not crying about that.'

" 'Well, why are you crying?' he asked is bewilderment.

" 'I'm going to tell you something that I've told no one except your father,' she continued.

"Bishop Galeone then recalled how his mother began to explain to him that he was conceived during the the Great Depression, and that soon afterward a social worker had paid a customary visit to their house. His mother told the woman at the time that she was pregnant with her fourth child...."

The Great Depression was genuinely bad news for a great many people - and meant more than skipping a Hawaiian vacation or having to sell that recreational vehicle.

The social worker had a predictable reaction: " 'Oh, that's very bad news, Signora Rita!'...." The baby had to be killed, of course. Or, to put it more nicely, Signora Rita was told that she'd be taken to a doctor's office for an abortion.

She refused, saying that she "...'would rather die'..." than kill her child. That's not the sort of thing you tell at least some social workers, if you expect them to regard you as properly compliant. The social worker threatened to cut off the family's government cards - good for "...a bag of dried beans every two weeks and an occasional delivery of coal...."

As that 'compassionate' social worker said:

"...'Three young mouths to feed already and you won't cooperate!' the social worker yelled. 'When your husband returns, talk this over with him. If you don't cooperate, we just might take those cards away from you.'..."
(EWTN News)

That's the sort of 'compassion' I've come to expect from the dominant American culture. It's not a new phenomenon: remember, that frustrated social worker was trying to hammer sense into a 'stubborn' Latina¹ during the Great Depression.

The bishop-to-be's mother was married - or in a relationship of legalized rape, depending on how you like your reality (May 8, 2010) - so she let her husband know what the score was.

"...When Rita's husband returned two hours later, frostbitten from the cold outside, she told him what happened. 'Your father just stood there for the longest while without saying a word,' the bishop's mother told him, according to the St. Augustine Catholic. 'Finally he spoke: "Very well, let them! Let them have their cards back! The Lord will provide." '..."
(EWTN News)

Looks to me like the Lord did provide. And America is 'burdened' with another 'hungry mouth.' Or Bishop Victor Galeone - again, depending on your preferences when it comes to the real world.

There's more to that EWTN News article - I suggest reading it.

I'm not entirely unsympathetic with that social worker. That individual may really have believed that one less Hispanic baby in America would be a good thing, and that no reasonable person would hesitate to kill the younger members of their family when the going got rough. Remember: that was before a German Chancellor implemented policies which gave phrases like 'improving the race' and 'human defectives' a nasty taste.

It took several decades for eugenics to regain some popularity, this time with phrases like 'quality lifestyle' and 'every child a wanted child.' Which seems to translate as, 'if you can't jog, you're better off dead,' and 'kill the kids you don't like.' Doesn't sound very nice, when the ideas are put that way.

Bishop Galeone's mother and father decided not to have him killed. And, apparently, didn't regret that decision. I think there's a lesson here.

Somewhat-related posts:

• "Sustainable African Development: And Swift's Modest Proposal"
  (May 6, 2010)
• "Abortion, 'Health Care,' Feelings and Unpleasant Realities"
  (April 2, 2010)
• "The Fight for Life, God, and Choosing Sides"
  (March 27, 2010)
• "Rebellious Youth, Protests, and The Establishment: in 2010"
  (January 26, 2010)
• "Abortion, 'Health Care,' 'Life of the Mother,' and a Story About Two Guys"
  (November 20, 2009)
• "Inconvenient Classes of Persons and Health Care"
  (July 26, 2009)
• "'Hand of Hope' Spinal Bifida Case - Eugenics, Ersatz Compassion, and Life"
  (May 6, 2009)
• "Life: It's a Single Issue, and an Important One"
  (November 2, 2008)

In the news:

• "Florida bishop recalls how mother considered aborting him"
  EWTN News (May 21, 2010)

More, about eugenics:

• "Eugenics: A Historical Analysis"
  Kevin Nilsson, Chronology of the History of Science, Department of History, University of Dayton

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¹ I know: Latino/Latina and Hispanic don't mean quite the same thing. I'm guessing - and trying to use terms that most visitors will understand.