Kelly Stafford, wife of Rams QB Matt Stafford, took exception to Harrison Butker’s comments at a recent commencement address by stressing women have the right to “choose” their careers. She also took issue with Butker’s comments on invitro-fertilization (IVF), gays, and a host of other issues.
Butker gave a commencement speech to the graduates at Benedictine College last weekend, in which he spoke of faith, family, and masculinity as he ushered the graduates into the rest of their lives, speaking in no uncertain terms to both the men and the women in the audience.
The Super Bowl champ urged men to “embrace masculinity” and told the women that, despite the success they may have in their careers, it will pale in comparison to the fulfillment they will experience as mothers and homemakers.
Stafford addressed the comments made by Butker on her podcast, The Morning After.
“I just want to point out a few things. It is a choice. It is a woman’s choice whether she is just a mom. It is a woman’s choice whether she decides to be a career woman,” she said. “It is a woman’s choice if she decides to do both and balance and do all that. And I think for someone to get up at a commencement speech and tell women who have been working their butts off for four years, possibly paying their way and are now in debt and they’re gonna need a career that their biggest success story will be being a mom and a wife and don’t get me wrong, that might be. But it’s their choice whether they do that or not.
“To tell them they have been ‘diabolically lied to,’ you know, in a world where it’s tough. I feel like we constantly tear each other down. I feel like to build each other up to build men and women up, not tear either down because, you know what, there’s some bright a— women that can change this world. And to tell them that they don’t really belong in the workplace …”
Kelly Hall (C) and Matthew Stafford (R) attend The Netflix Slam at Michelob ULTRA Arena on March 03, 2024, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Getty Images)
Butker also attacked the “disorder” in our culture, as evidenced by IVF, abortion, and other issues.
“Things like abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, as well as a growing support for degenerate cultural values and media all stem from the pervasiveness of disorder,” Butker said.
“Not only that, but the IVF really hit home to me, saying that, we are playing God by using IVF. I believe that God put IVF on this Earth as a miracle,” Stafford said..” And that some of us, yeah, we have trouble getting pregnant. Maybe we were putting things in our bodies that we didn’t know were going got do this to us. And to further – I’m a damn good mom. And I’m going to do my best to raise my kids to make this world a better place. know a lot of moms that used IVF and surrogacy that are doing the same – raising their kids the right way. So, we deserve kids.
“So, to kind of end it, passing judgment on gay people … I feel like as Christians, it’s our job to, one, not pass judgment, but also to just lift each other up because at the end of the day, we don’t decide. I also want to say, at the end of the day, the choice you make, you have to live with. So, make sure you’re making a choice for you and not because other people are telling you where you belong.”
Regardless of Stafford’s personal feelings on IVF, the Catholic Church is opposed to invitro-fertilization. The Catechism of the Catholic Church No. 2377 states that “Techniques involving only the married couple (homologous artificial insemination and fertilization) are perhaps less reprehensible yet remain morally unacceptable. They dissociate the sexual act from the procreative act.”
So, Butker’s opposition to IVF, speaking as a Catholic to a Catholic audience, shouldn’t come as a surprise.
The official teachings of both the Catholic Church and most Christian churches also condemn homosexuality.
Stafford added, “Building men up and not tearing them down is important. Building women up and not tearing them down is important. Everyone has a choice of what they want his/her life to look like. It’s not up to anyone else or society. The more society tells women where they belong, the more imposter syndrome starts to creep in, that they don’t belong because that’s what society is telling them.”
It’s important to note that Butker did not say women had no place in professional life.
“How many of you are sitting here now, about to cross this stage, and are thinking about all the promotions and titles you are going to get in your career?” Butker asked in his speech. “Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.
“I can tell you that my beautiful wife Isabelle would be the first to say that her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and a mother. I am on this stage and able to be the man I am because I have a wife who leans into her vocation … It cannot be overstated that all of my success is made possible because of a girl I met in class back in middle school, convert to the faith, become my wife and embrace one of the most-important titles of all: homemaker.”
