Post War II for Moms

Two things changed for women after WWII, especially if they were wives and moms.  One change was money and the other was something to buy.  During and before WWII there was little money and not much to buy outside of necessities like food, shelter and clothing, of the barest sort.  The church’s spiritual teaching was that of simplicity of lifestyle, having little, was a good ascetic practice for getting a good seat after we die.  The monastic life for all.  The one percent folk who had a lot and lived lavishly, purchased lots of mass intentions for when they died because they knew they had not lived the ideal spirit of simplicity.   The church, especially monasteries with lots of monk priests made a good income saying mass for rich people and royalty.  But after WWII the consumer society took off with the fifties.  Families had some discretionary income and there were new consumer goods to buy.   I loved the 50s.  This trend has continued more or less since then. But the church has had a lot of difficulty coming up with a spirituality for the consumer society.  Government adjusted.  The Mom and Wife is expected to act more like the disappearing nuns of old.  A seat at the table with some economic power is not the model of old.