However, there is a predominant type which outnumbers any other portrayal, and which thus appears to be presented as the ideal of a conservative Catholic family. This ideal family typically shares three characteristics: (a) stay-at-home mothers, (b) many children, and (c) husbands with high-earning, demanding careers.
Among the most recent stories on the Opus Dei website, the following are examples of this ideal:
- An interview with the father of seven children. He is a successful sales engineer who travels frequently for work; his wife dropped out of her engineering degree to get married and immediately became a stay-at-home mom. She has never worked outside the home.
- The story of a Spanish couple with eight children. The husband is a gynecologist; the wife stays home.
- A short piece about a mother of eleven children. She stays home while her husband is a Physicist at the University of Sydney.
- An interview with an Australian couple with nine children. The wife stays home while the father is the breadwinner (the nature of his work is not mentioned).
- An interview with a mother of seven who has a degree in education but chose not to work outside the home.
- Another interview with a stay-at-home mother of seven.
- The story of a woman who once dreamed of being a foreign correspondent and having two children. She ended up having seven children, and although she worked for some years after becoming a mother, she eventually became a homemaker while her husband rose up the career ladder. This change caused her some internal struggle, but she now relishes this role.
- And so on; I will not list all of the interviews here.
In contrast, far fewer Personal Testimonies focus on working mothers and/or mothers of small families, especially in recent years:
- There is one story this year about a married woman who works as a graphic designer and has two children.
- There is also a mention of a mother of twelve who is a qualified speech pathologist and special needs teacher, but it’s not made clear whether she actually works outside the home.
Going back a few years, I was able to find more such stories:
- Four years ago, the website ran an interview with a Japanese stay-at-home mother of one.
- Five years ago, there was an interview with a mother of eight who works out of the home writing novels.
- Six years ago, there was an interview with a professional working mother with three children, a married mother of one who works as a lawyer, and a widowed working mother of three.
- Nine years ago, the website ran a fantastic interview with a mother who stayed home with twelve children, then started her own business when her children were older. They also featured a short interview with a working mother of three.
- Ten years ago, there was a short interview with a French working mother.
I don’t know why Opus Dei is running less stories about working mothers nowadays compared to several years ago, and I would like to encourage a reversal of that trend.
