Girls Just Want to Have Fun!
Today’s post is from Fr. Eric Nielsen, a priest in Wisconsin.
As a young man I went on a motorcycle trip through Corsica at the same time that the Italians were on their school break. The beautiful winding roads of this Mediterranean island were filled with young Italian men on motorcycles with their lovely Italian girlfriends gracefully sitting behind them. At night they would enjoy the night life of the island and in the morning I would see them at the campgrounds we shared.
It was not a pretty sight. While their boyfriends slept in I watched the girls coming out of their tents, hair in a mess, tight clothes that looked not quite put on right, and long faces as they prepared something for breakfast. I didn’t speak Italian, but the short words spoken back into the tent did not seem like gentle wake-up calls.
On the third morning of the trip I noticed a young woman in front of her tent looked different. Her hair was neatly combed and held back by a headband, she was comfortably dressed, and she looked happy as she started to collect the things necessary for breakfast. What made her so different, I wondered? Like the rest she had crawled out of the same little tent pitched next to a motorbike.
What made her so unusual, I noticed, was her wedding ring. Unlike the other girls who were traveling and sleeping with boys who had given them little commitment this young woman had a man who loved her enough to make a permanent commitment to her. It was a vivid visual symbol of the difference between a relationship built on pleasure and one built on a lifelong promise of love.
One of the results of a contraceptive society is that young people can easily pursue a sexual relationship without the responsibility of commitment. Rare is the young man or woman who does not desire a relationship with someone of the opposite sex, and what seems equally rare is the young person in such a relationship who is ready to be married.
This is a very bad mix for it leads to relationships built more on a selfish desire for instant physical and superficial emotional pleasures rather than on a wise and authentic pursuit for genuine and comprehensive marital love. With couples habitually forging their intimate relationships with such mutually selfish practices, it is no wonder so many marriages end in failure.
Furthermore, it is our fault that young people lead this type of destructive lifestyle because we do little to stop it. It seems we would rather see them graduate from college, pursue a good career, develop some wealth, and keep their options open, than mary too young and be “burdened” with children. Thus we condone things such as vacations together on un-chaperoned trips with the only stipulation that no one gets pregnant. And we give them such sage advice as, “don’t get married too early.”
Let’s be honest, very few people will have the skills and opportunity to find a great measure of satisfaction in their careers, while most people, by simply following God’s plan for them, can find great happiness in their marriages.
We need to rethink our principles. Open-ended youthful relationships may look intriguing, but in the end they mostly bring about misery. The sacrificial love of marriage is what brings true lasting joy, and only those serious about getting married have the necessary intentions and dispositions to form a serious dating relationship.
Our expectations for our children should be clear and firm. For their own long-term happiness we expect nothing short of complete chastity prior to marriage and long-term relationships only when the intention for marriage is clear and foreseen.
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What a difference a wedding ring makes
Girls Just Want to Have Fun!
Today’s post is from Fr. Eric Nielsen, a priest in Wisconsin.
As a young man I went on a motorcycle trip through Corsica at the same time that the Italians were on their school break. The beautiful winding roads of this Mediterranean island were filled with young Italian men on motorcycles with their lovely Italian girlfriends gracefully sitting behind them. At night they would enjoy the night life of the island and in the morning I would see them at the campgrounds we shared.
It was not a pretty sight. While their boyfriends slept in I watched the girls coming out of their tents, hair in a mess, tight clothes that looked not quite put on right, and long faces as they prepared something for breakfast. I didn’t speak Italian, but the short words spoken back into the tent did not seem like gentle wake-up calls.
On the third morning of the trip I noticed a young woman in front of her tent looked different. Her hair was neatly combed and held back by a headband, she was comfortably dressed, and she looked happy as she started to collect the things necessary for breakfast. What made her so different, I wondered? Like the rest she had crawled out of the same little tent pitched next to a motorbike.
What made her so unusual, I noticed, was her wedding ring. Unlike the other girls who were traveling and sleeping with boys who had given them little commitment this young woman had a man who loved her enough to make a permanent commitment to her. It was a vivid visual symbol of the difference between a relationship built on pleasure and one built on a lifelong promise of love.
One of the results of a contraceptive society is that young people can easily pursue a sexual relationship without the responsibility of commitment. Rare is the young man or woman who does not desire a relationship with someone of the opposite sex, and what seems equally rare is the young person in such a relationship who is ready to be married.
This is a very bad mix for it leads to relationships built more on a selfish desire for instant physical and superficial emotional pleasures rather than on a wise and authentic pursuit for genuine and comprehensive marital love. With couples habitually forging their intimate relationships with such mutually selfish practices, it is no wonder so many marriages end in failure.
Furthermore, it is our fault that young people lead this type of destructive lifestyle because we do little to stop it. It seems we would rather see them graduate from college, pursue a good career, develop some wealth, and keep their options open, than mary too young and be “burdened” with children. Thus we condone things such as vacations together on un-chaperoned trips with the only stipulation that no one gets pregnant. And we give them such sage advice as, “don’t get married too early.”
Let’s be honest, very few people will have the skills and opportunity to find a great measure of satisfaction in their careers, while most people, by simply following God’s plan for them, can find great happiness in their marriages.
We need to rethink our principles. Open-ended youthful relationships may look intriguing, but in the end they mostly bring about misery. The sacrificial love of marriage is what brings true lasting joy, and only those serious about getting married have the necessary intentions and dispositions to form a serious dating relationship.
Our expectations for our children should be clear and firm. For their own long-term happiness we expect nothing short of complete chastity prior to marriage and long-term relationships only when the intention for marriage is clear and foreseen.
This entry was posted on Saturday, October 25th, 2025 at 9:55 pm and is filed under News & Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.