Volume > Issue > Note List > What It Means to Be A "Better Person"

What It Means to Be A “Better Person”

In reference to the two previous New Oxford Notes, it’s funny how things come together. Meet Donna Freitas, a professor of religion at St. Michael’s College in Colchester, in the Diocese of Burlington, Vermont. According to a story on her in the Times Argus newspaper (Jan. 30) of Vermont, she’s written a new book called Becoming the Goddess of Inner Poise.

We pretty much know what the goddess is. But what is “inner poise”? Freitas defines it in part as “challenging yourself to be a better person.”(Garofalo and Seder, you gotta get this dame on your show.) So how do you become a better person? Well, for example, by having a better body image and better relationships. She writes in her book that abstinence until marriage is unrealistic because women marry later or don’t marry at all: “To deny ourselves as sexual beings until well into our 30s and 40s is, for most of us, simply an unrealistic and outdated expectation.” Freitas wants women to have free sex, guilt-free.

So, obviously, women need contraception and abortion-on-demand (just in case).

Enjoyed reading this?

READ MORE! REGISTER TODAY

SUBSCRIBE

You May Also Enjoy

New Oxford Notes: March 2002

Archbishop Levada: Call Your Office!... An Embarrassment of Martyrs... An Inexplicable Apology... Monkey See, Monkey NOT Do?

The Galileo Legend

Popular legends are strange mixtures with curious effects. Although their historical elements may be mingled…

Pope Francis: Put-Down Artist?

Generally speaking, Pope Francis's language of mercy and compassion has been directed toward "outsiders." To those inside the sheepfold, he's struck a startlingly different tone.