Finding authentic femininity
Monday, February 5, 2018
Carmen I Santamaria
As I reflect on my own teenage years, I can see how little I knew about my body and the changes it was going through. Sure, I sat through human growth and development classes and learned some basic anatomy and biology, but I was not taught where God fit into the picture. By God’s grace I survived those years and came to learn more as a young adult. I discovered Theology of the Body, Humanae Vitae and learned Natural Family Planning before getting married. Now as a parent, I want to spare my children the scars of my mistakes and ignorance.
I have two daughters — my oldest is 12 years old — and all too quickly we are entering the time of adolescence and the changes that accompany it. My daughters deserve the truth, the truth about their bodies, their sexuality. I want them to know that God created them in a beautiful way and that their bodies are a gift. I want my daughters to make informed and educated decisions but when I look at what society tells them, I see a lack of truth. I see women who march and wear pink hats but miss the mark of what true femininity is.
With all of this in mind, some friends and I had a crazy idea to bring together powerful speakers to South Florida to share the truth with other women of all ages. We can’t keep a good thing to ourselves and hence the Women’s Health and Fertility Seminar was born.
We are so excited to be offering our community the opportunity to hear the truth about authentic femininity, infertility, the dangers of the Pill, the benefits of Natural Family Planning, SoulCore stretching and exercises and much more. There will be resources on NaProTechnology, which medically treats women as individuals and not with cookie-cutter medicine, as well as ways to boost our spiritual health too.
In this year, as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae, we are reminded that many of his predictions in this document have come true, including the loss of respect for women we see in our culture today.
The Catholic Church has truth to counter the cultural lies, and incredible alternatives that fully support women’s health and dignity. We invite everyone — women, men, teens, young adults, clergy, religious, medical professionals — to come learn about the beautiful options we have to offer; options that can heal our culture and need to be shared.
Please join us and invite others to hear more about these truths on February 24 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at St. Thomas University.
The more people know the truth and the beauty of God’s design for women the better our world will be.
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