Not Ready for Prime Time, by Randall Smith

By Randall Smith, The Catholic Thing, June 13, 2023

Randall B. Smith is a Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. His latest book is From Here to Eternity: Reflections on Death, Immortality, and the Resurrection of the Body.

As a teacher, I have met dozens of bright, beautiful, serious-minded young women keen on finding a husband, getting married, and starting a family.  Most were eager to devote themselves to society in other ways too, but they saw motherhood and family as an important part of their vocation, and they were eager to get started.  But there was a problem. They couldn’t find men who were “ready for prime time”: ready to commit; ready to make someone else’s needs and goals their own; ready, in other words, to “man up” and become mature adults.

During this same period, I have also had male students who were bright, engaged, and genuinely community-minded.  But very few were “ready for prime time.”  They just weren’t good marriage material — yet. In the not-too-distant future, probably; but not yet. ….

Continue reading >>>>