Notes: Friday, October 29, 2010

For future reference: Prof. Bagaric on his moral philosophy

... I regularly make wide-ranging comments that conflict with policies of the Left and Right. I'm apolitical; the policies of Labor and Liberal are so similar to make the debate almost irrelevant. Most of my writing is informed by one underlying principle. It's called utilitarianism. It is the theory that when you are faced with a moral or political choice you should make the decision that will maximise human flourishing, where each person's interest counts equally.

The Left doesn't like me because I'm a fan of tough counter-terrorism laws and harsher sentences for sex and violent offenders. I also oppose euthanasia, abortion and dispute the desperate need for a reduction in greenhouse gases. I often upset the Right because I push for gay marriages, animal rights, no tax for the poor and mega taxes for the rich, multiculturalism and tolerance towards Muslim values.
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/mutant-rebels-need-some-causes/story-e6frg6zo-1225944885437]

"Salazar and Catholic Social Teaching"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34429

Excerpt of most interest to me:

Salazar was above all things a Christian and a Catholic. Yet, for the revival of religion or the restoration of the Church he had done so little positively that some foreign observers had even taken scandal thereat. General Franco, who in so many ways resembled him, had done much more in 12. Why this? Some had attributed it to timidity. But Salazar was not timid. His personal influence had been exerted to its utmost for religion.

If then, he had moved so slowly there must have been grave reason. Salazar felt that State patronage exercised against the present disposition of important sections of opinion, would not help to anchor the Church in the hearts of the people.

He thought it wiser to give the Church freedom and let it rebuild from the base upwards upon new and better foundations than could be laid by any statesman setting it up as a department of the new State. In giving the Church liberty and equality before the law he had already done much.

"Qld pro-abortion MPs would face 12% against them, says survey"

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=23973

"Tasmanian Labor-Green Coalition Government has released a discussion paper on a Human Rights bill"

http://australiaincognita.blogspot.com/2010/10/secularist-attacks.html
http://www.media.tas.gov.au/release.php?id=30717

Interesting comment by Mr. Schütz:

Yes, and I am not rejecting that centuries old tradition and synthesis in any way. The problem comes when this synthesis is read back into the exegesis of the scriptural passages, thus missing an important element in the understanding of the passage (nb. I am not saying that the passage cannot be legitimately understood in other ways, but that we must have appreciation for how it sounded to the first readers). When it comes to the Lutheran Catholic dialogue, it is quite appropriate to argue about “infused grace” or “imparted righteousness” over against “imputed righteousness” and “forensic justification”, as long as we understand that this was not Paul’s argument. And that is important, because the Lutheran argument is that Catholic doctrine is “unscriptural”, not “untrue”. The fact is that Lutheran doctrine is “unscriptural” too, because the scriptures they quote to support their position doesn’t address their position any more than it addresses the Catholic position.
[http://scecclesia.wordpress.com/2010/10/27/taking-your-greek-bible-to-church/#comment-17856]

H.H. The Pope on, among other things, "the depenalisation of abortion [and] euthanasia"

Excerpts from an item from today's edition of the Vatican Information Service daily e-mail bulletin:

BRAZIL: CHURCH TEACHES MAN HIS DIGNITY AS CHILD OF GOD

VATICAN CITY, 28 OCT 2010 (VIS) - Prelates from the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (Northeast region 5) who have just complete their five-yearly "ad limina" visit were received this morning by the Holy Father. [...]

"First, the duty of direct action to ensure a just ordering of society falls to the lay faithful who, as free and responsible citizens, strive to contribute to the just configuration of social life, while respecting legitimate autonomy and natural moral law", the Holy Father explained. "Your duty as bishops, together with your clergy, is indirect because you must contribute to the purification of reason, and to the moral awakening of the forces necessary to build a just and fraternal society. Nonetheless, when required by the fundamental rights of the person or the salvation of souls, pastors have the binding duty to emit moral judgments, even on political themes".

"When forming these judgements, pastors must bear in mind the absolute value of those ... precepts which make it morally unacceptable to chose a particular action which is intrinsically evil and incompatible with human dignity. This decision cannot be justified by the merit of some specific goal, intention, consequence or circumstance, Thus it would be completely false and illusory to defend, political, economic or social rights which do not comprehend a vigorous defence of the right to life from conception to natural end. When it comes to defending the weakest, who is more defenceless than an unborn child or a patient in a vegetative or comatose state?"

"When political projects openly or covertly contemplate the depenalisation of abortion or euthanasia, the democratic ideal (which is truly democratic when it recognises and protects the dignity of all human beings) is betrayed at its very foundations. For this reason, dear brothers in the episcopate, when defending life we must not fear hostility or unpopularity, rejecting all compromise and ambiguity which would conform us to the mentality of this world". [...]
AL/ VIS 20101028 (630)
[my square-bracketed interpolations]

Blog comments by me

Just this one:

Cardinal Pole
October 29, 2010 at 2:52 am

Here’s the rectified link:

http://coo-eesfromthecloister.blogspot.com/search/label/Fr%20Crothers
[http://scecclesia.wordpress.com/2010/10/27/our-st-mary-more-likely-to-pray-for-vocations-than-to-challenge-for-women-priests/#comment-17874]

Reginaldvs Cantvar

29.X.2010

Notes: Tuesday-Thursday, October 26-28, 2010 (Part 2 of 2)

6. Local government conference rejects motion to endorse the Declaration of Montreal

An item in the Diary section of yesterday's Herald:

TOUCHY-FEELY STUFF

What flies like a swift in the inner-city of Sydney can sometimes drop like a dead turkey in the outer suburbs. At the local government conference in Albury yesterday, Leichhardt Council asked delegates to condemn the federal government's refugee policies, a move derided by a Wollondilly councillor, Benn Banasik, who argued that refugees were not one of the ''three R's of local government'': rubbish, rates and roads. Malikeh Michaels from Auburn Council, demurred. She had seen the devastating effects of detention centres on recently arrived refugees and so supported Leichhardt. But the motion was lost, as was another, from the City of Sydney, endorsing the Declaration of Montreal, which recognises the human rights of gay, lesbian and transgender people. Banasik also criticised this, claiming discrimination did not exist at his council."
[http://www.smh.com.au/national/the-diary/sartor-sangas-off-the-menu-20101026-172f0.html?skin=text-only]

I hadn't heard of the "Declaration of Montreal". I'll have to check it out. (I was amused to see that the next Diary item's heading was "STARS ALIGN FOR SODS". Not over Albury, it would seem!)

7. Wise comment on how error advances

I was interested to read the following by the Lutheran "Harry" in a comment at Mr. Schütz's blog:

... Charles Porterfield Krauth said that Error creeps into the Church in three stages. First, it tell Truth that it will not make waves, jut leave it be. Second, Error tells Truth, that their position should have equal rights. Then Error tells Truth that Truth is causing disorder in the Church. ...
[http://scecclesia.wordpress.com/2010/10/27/our-st-mary-more-likely-to-pray-for-vocations-than-to-challenge-for-women-priests/#comment-17826]

Replace "Church" with 'Society' and you've got what could be a description of the philosophy and advancement of Liberalism (the inevitable consequence of Protestantism).

8. Vatican Information Service daily e-mail bulletin item, with an incongruous headline, on the death sentence handed down for Tariq Aziz:

In today's edition of the bulletin:

HOLY SEE CONDEMNS DEATH PENALTY AGAINST TARIQ AZIZ

VATICAN CITY, 27 OCT 2010 (VIS) - Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. released the following declaration yesterday afternoon:

"The Catholic Church's position on the death penalty is well known. It is hoped, therefore, that the sentence against Tariq Aziz will not be implemented, precisely in order to favour reconciliation and the reconstruction of peace and justice in Iraq after the great sufferings the country has experienced. As concerns the possibility of a humanitarian intervention, the Holy See is not accustomed to operate publicly but through the diplomatic channels at its disposal".
OP/ VIS 20101027 (110)

I don't see how that headline fits the content of the body of that item. The latter is a legitimate, if debatable, prudential judgment; hardly a 'condemnation'. Perhaps part of the 'condemnation' went unreported?

9. Mr. Coyne's 'historical Jesus'

... Again though, when I use the descriptor "Jesus" I'm not alone speaking or thinking of the individual who I do believe roamed around Ancient Galilee and was executed in Jerusalem around 2,000 years ago give or take a few decades. The "figure" that is important to me is BOTH the historical figure — and the record left of his sayings and parables — but also the interpretation put on those by others. That process of placing a patina on Jesus I strongly suspect had begun before the first Gospels were written. They are theological stories rather than some "historical, factual record of the individual man named Jesus".
[http://www.catholica.com.au/forum/index.php?id=58901]

10. Blog comments by me

Three, all of them more or less the same:

10.1

Cardinal Pole said...

Dr. Bugg's article capped off four days of letters published on the topic of Catholic womenpriests, with the last two days' worth responding to this one from the second day:

"I think many Catholics saw the irony of the Mary MacKillop celebrations in a church in which women are still excluded from full participation. As I said at Mass last Sunday: "Today we celebrate a woman's canonisation; hopefully it won't be too long before we celebrate a woman's ordination."

"Father John CrothersSt Declan's Church, Penshurst
[http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/settlement-of-djs-case-doesnt-ease-the-tension-20101019-16sfb.html?skin=text-only
See this blog post and comment by me in order to see all the letters collated.]

I wonder how Fr. Crothers's Local Ordinary has dealt or will deal with this scandal?

October 28, 2010 3:52 AM
Your comment has been saved and will be visible after blog owner approval.
[http://australiaincognita.blogspot.com/2010/10/women-priests-and-st-mary-of-cross-sigh.html]

10.2

Cardinal Pole said...

Dr. Bugg's article capped off four days of letters published in the Herald on the topic of Catholic womenpriests, with the last two days' worth responding to this one from the second day:

"I think many Catholics saw the irony of the Mary MacKillop celebrations in a church in which women are still excluded from full participation. As I said at Mass last Sunday: "Today we celebrate a woman's canonisation; hopefully it won't be too long before we celebrate a woman's ordination."

"Father John CrothersSt Declan's Church, Penshurst"
[http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/settlement-of-djs-case-doesnt-ease-the-tension-20101019-16sfb.html?skin=text-only
See this blog post and comment by me in order to see all the letters collated.]

(Something new to add to your "Fr Crothers" label, my dear Cloistered ones?) I wonder how Fr. Crothers's Local Ordinary has dealt or will deal with this scandal?

October 28, 2010 4:13 AM
Your comment has been saved and will be visible after blog owner approval.
[http://coo-eesfromthecloister.blogspot.com/2010/10/laura-bugg-er-awf.html]

10.3

Dr. Bugg's article capped off four days of letters published in the Herald on the topic of Catholic womenpriests, with the last two days' worth responding to this one from the second day:

"I think many Catholics saw the irony of the Mary MacKillop celebrations in a church in which women are still excluded from full participation. As I said at Mass last Sunday: "Today we celebrate a woman's canonisation; hopefully it won't be too long before we celebrate a woman's ordination."

"Father John CrothersSt Declan's Church, Penshurst"
[http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/settlement-of-djs-case-doesnt-ease-the-tension-20101019-16sfb.html?skin=text-only
See this blog post and comment by me in order to see all the letters collated.]

I wonder how Fr. Crothers's Local Ordinary has dealt or will deal with this scandal?

(Before submitting this comment it occured to me that I had better do a Google search in order to see whether His Eminence is already dealing with this, and lo and behold, I found that Coo-ees has a whole blog label devoted to Fr. Crothers! Here's the U.R.L.:

http://coo-eesfromthecloister.blogspot.com/search/label/Fr%20Crothers)
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
[http://scecclesia.wordpress.com/2010/10/27/our-st-mary-more-likely-to-pray-for-vocations-than-to-challenge-for-women-priests/#comment-17853]

Reginaldvs Cantvar

Feast of Sts. Simon and Jude, Apostles, A.D. 2010

Notes: Tuesday-Thursday, October 26-28, 2010 (Part 1 of 2)

1. Some interesting figures on S.T.I.s in Australia

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/wellbeing/hiv-rate-rising-but-other-infections-less-common-20101018-16qxf.html?skin=text-only

2. Mr. Foley with "Eight Reasons Why Men Only should Serve at the Altar"

http://www.insidecatholic.com/feature/eight-reasons-why-men-only-should-serve-at-mass.html

Brought to my attention by this post at Cath Pews, Mr. Foley's article doesn't quite hit the nail on the head, and there are some points on which I might disagree with him, but there are nevertheless some good point in there, with implications for why women are ineligible for Ordination.

3."Athanasius"'s transcript of an article on "The Response due to non-definitive exercises of the magisterium"

http://athanasiuscm.blogspot.com/2010/10/response-due-to-non-definitive.html

4. Former chief Sephardi rabbi of The State of Israel: "Non-Jews exist to serve Jews"

http://mauricepinay.blogspot.com/2010/10/israeli-chief-rabbi-gentiles-exist-only.html
http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34388

5. "The Sybil" on the cancellation of The Diocese of Wollongong's pastoral planning process's third plenary session

http://wollongongensis.blogspot.com/2010/10/wollongong-diocese-pastoral-plan.html

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of Sts. Simon and Jude, Apostles, A.D. 2010

Notes: Saturday-Monday, October 16-25, 2010 (part 2 of 2)

7. Interesting books reviewed in the weekend papers

Just one from last weekend, but I've been meaning to blog on a number of them from earlier weekends, though it seems I won't get round to it. This review, apparently not available on-line so my transcript follows, is from the Herald's Spectrum supplement:

THE COURIER'S TALE
Peter Walker
Bloomsbury, 352 pp,
$32.99

There's a lot of dreadful historical fiction about but this is an intelligent, literate historical novel whose emphasis is on character and whose narrative voice is that of a quirky, bemused minor player in the drama. Michael Throckmorton was a real historical persaonage, as was the other main character in this story, the virtuous but indecisive Cardinal Pole.
Throckmorton finds himself travelling backwards and forwards between England and Italy for most of his adult life, the uneasy servant of two warring masters.
He belongs to that turbulent period of English history that starts with the marriage of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn and ends with the succession of their daughter, Elizabeth I, to the throne in 1558. In sticking to historical events and characters, Walker becomes enmeshed in detail at the expense of the narrative; after its promising start, the novel loses its way.
[Review by Kerryn Goldsworthy]

8. Two recent blog comments by me:

At Mr. Schütz's blog:

8.1

Cardinal Pole
October 20, 2010 at 5:20 pm

“[You] might misleading suggest that the bread and wine are physically Jesus.”

They are. A man’s metaphysical parts are his animality and rationality, his physical parts are his body and soul, and his integral parts are his faculties and members. ‘Physis‘ means ‘nature’, and human nature is the conjunction of animal body and rational soul. By virtue of the Sacrament, the bread is converted into the Body of Christ, and by virtue of concomitance, His Blood, Soul, and Divinity are present there too, and the same goes mutatis mutandis for the wine.

These days people tend to mean something else by ‘physical’, though, and that’s presumably what you have in mind. Paul VI. dealt with this in an allocution, though I don’t have time to find the reference.
[http://scecclesia.wordpress.com/2010/10/15/no-knowledge-without-education/#comment-17721]

8.2

Cardinal Pole
October 21, 2010 at 5:34 pm

“… not in the way bodies normally are”

Quite right–He is present ‘as in a Sacrament’. (Unfortunately there are some, even in the Priesthood, who would like to speak only of ‘Sacramental Presence’ while remaining silent on the question of Substantial Presence. See this old Coo-ees post, and also my comment there of January 16, 2009 6:02 PM (which also contains an interesting example of a Magisterial usage of the term ‘natural’):

http://coo-eesfromthecloister.blogspot.com/2009/01/move-of-zwingli-luther-and-calvin-its.html

“… although not in the manner in which bodies are in a place.”

Good to see His late Holiness re-stating the doctrine of the Catechism of the Council of Trent. After publishing that earlier comment it occured to me that it might have been Mysterium Fidei of which I was thinking when I wrote of Paul VI. dealing with ‘physical’ presence.
[http://scecclesia.wordpress.com/2010/10/15/no-knowledge-without-education/#comment-17737]

Reginaldvs Cantvar

Feast of Sts. Chrysanthus and Daria, Martyrs, A.D. 2010

Notes: Saturday-Monday, October 16-25, 2010 (part 1 of 2)

1. Some recent media items on abortion

1.1 "Abortion legalised [in Queensland] by pair's acquittal"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/legal-affairs/abortion-legalised-by-pairs-acquittal/story-e6frg97x-1225939895811

1.2 "Anti-abortion while remaining firmly pro-choice"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/anti-abortion-while-remaining-firmly-pro-choice/story-e6frg6zo-1225939077008

1.3 A little snapshot from Australia's abortion culture

From time to time one hears reported that some certain huge proportion of women will have an abortion at some point in their respective lives or that some similarly huge proportion of pregnancies will end in abortion, but such figures, appalling yet abstract and impersonal as they are, perhaps don't sink in in such a way as for us to understand the culture of abortion which they involve (and perpetuate). The following paragraph in a recent news/opinion article helps to 'personalise' one's understanding of Australia's squalid but widespread abortion culture:

[Tegan Leach] turned to boyfriend Sergie Brennan, now 23. They agreed to abort. Together they told their parents. Both had sisters who’d been through a suction curette and told them, if a little bluntly, “it gets sucked out and scraped out’’.
[http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/this-abortion-trial-should-never-be-repeated/]

1.4 Mr. Schütz contra Ms O'Brien on abortion

A mostly good fisking of some pro-abortion nonsense published in the Melbourne Herald Sun:

http://scecclesia.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/truth-is-dispensible-if-it-makes-you-feel-guilty/

1.5 Dr. Durie (Anglican minister) on late-term abortions in Victoria

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34355

2. Msgr. Fellay on, among other things, Vatican policy on the S.S.P.X as a policy of "contradictions"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34323http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34323

See also

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34360

3. Interesting series of items in the Herald regarding Catholic womenpriests

The first was a letter published, with other letters, under the heading "Lapses - and laps - of Catholic faith":

I think many Catholics saw the irony of the Mary MacKillop celebrations in a church in which women are still excluded from full participation. As I said at Mass last Sunday: "Today we celebrate a woman's canonisation; hopefully it won't be too long before we celebrate a woman's ordination."

Father John CrothersSt Declan's Church, Penshurst
[http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/settlement-of-djs-case-doesnt-ease-the-tension-20101019-16sfb.html?skin=text-only]

Then came a response published, with other letters, under the heading "Where science meets miracles" the next day:

Father John Crothers (Letters, October 20) will rejoice if women are ordained priests. Frankly I will celebrate when, as a Catholic priest ought, he upholds definitive Catholic teaching on non-ordination of women, instead of encouraging dissent and scandalous confusion.

Father John George Randwick
[http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/ten-more-years-floundering-in-afghanistan-20101020-16u65.html?skin=text-only]

The day after that came two (or three) more letters, published, with one other, unrelated letter, under the heading "Grassroots Catholics ready for change":

Thank you, Father John George (Letters, October 21), for reminding me how fortunate I am to be a parishioner of St Declan's, Penshurst. Father John Crothers understands we can think for ourselves and, far from encouraging dissent, I expect he reflects the views of most Catholics in the universal church, practising and non-practising. That is why his church is packed every Sunday, many people travelling from other parishes because their own parish priests express views such as those of Father George.

Mary Lawson Mortdale

No good deed goes unpunished, it seems. According to Father John George, Father John Crothers, by advocating the ordination of women in the Catholic Church, is spreading ''dissent and scandalous confusion''. Some said Our Lord spread a bit of dissent in his time, too.

Hugh Sturgess Balmain

Apparently it is not just atheists who find diversity of opinion discomforting. The letters page is full of Christians who seem to find diversity of opinion among other Christians discomforting. Maybe we all need to be a bit more relaxed about what other people believe.

Robin Herbert Hornsby
[http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/absence-reveals-leaders-contempt-for-debate-20101021-16vwc.html?skin=text-only]

On the same day, the Herald also published an opinion piece, brought to my attention by a post by Terra, by Dr. Laura Beth Bugg:

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/catholic-women-need-to-challenge-hierarchy-for-good-of-the-church-20101021-16vxh.html?skin=text-only

Interesting how the Herald has facilitated the debate.

4. New tactic for ethics classes advocates to neutralise opposition

[...] The Australian Christian Lobby called for more consultation with the government following Ms Firth's announcement.

Its NSW director, David Hutt, said nothing in the report allayed fears of church groups that having ethics classes at the same time as scripture classes would mean that scripture students ''will be forced to forgo ethics teaching''.

However, Ms Firth said ethics course material would be made available to scripture teachers.

Simon Longstaff, the executive director of the St James Ethics Centre, which ran the trial, said providing the material would ''help ensure that no child is drawn away from scripture simply to explore material provided in the ethics course''.
[my emphasis,
http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/lock-in-ethics-classes-say-greens-20101020-16ud8.html?skin=text-only]

Quite clever, from a P.R. perspective, but it still fails to invalidate the (in my opinion cleverer, again from a P.R. perspective) objection of ethics class opponents that pupils and their respective parents will be forced to choose between S.R.E. and the ethics classes, because the same trade-off between S.R.E. content or ethics class content remains.

5. Latest figures on Australian popular support for so-called gay marriage

MORE than three-quarters of Australians support a conscience vote on same-sex marriage and an increased majority want gay and lesbian couples to be able to marry.

Findings from a new poll of 1050 respondents came as the independent MP Andrew Wilkie called on the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, to move on the issue, saying she was ''out of step with the people''.

[...] The Galaxy poll showed support for same-sex marriage increased from 60 per cent of respondents in 2009 to 62 per cent this year.

The survey, which was conducted over two days earlier this month, showed uniform support for a conscience vote across party lines with 80 per cent of Labor and 75 per cent of Liberal voters agreeing to the idea.

While supporting a conscience vote, Liberal voters were much less likely to agree to allow same-sex couples to marry, with less than half supporting the change. Nearly three-quarters of Labor voters and four out of five Greens voters support same-sex marriage.

The survey also shows that younger Australians are more likely (80 per cent) to support same-sex marriage than those aged over 50 years (46 per cent). [...]
[http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/pm-should-let-the-people-vote-on-gay-marriage-20101022-16xx8.html?from=watoday_ft?skin=text-only]

6. Impending naming-and-shaming of insufficiently pro-G.L.B.T. businesses by a new initiative of the Sodomites' League

One can't even read the careers section of a newspaper these days without finding gay propaganda. An article on page three in the public sector section of The Weekend Australian's "Weekend Professional" supplement last Saturday entitled "'Homophobia keeps employees in closet'" (apparently not available on-line) brought an interesting new initiative to the attention of readers:

The Pride in Diversity program was created by community-based LGBT health and HIV/AIDS group ACON , in partnership with Diversity Council Australia and Stonewall, a London-based LGBT advocacy group. Since being launched in February, a broad range of employers have signed up as foundation members, including the Australian Federal Police, the Department of Defence, Telstra, KPMG and IBM.

So KPMG goes LGBT. A double serving of alphabet soup.

[...] Pride in Diversity will launch the first workplace equality index in November, whereby employers will be able to measure how inclusive their workplace is of LGBT staff.

Something to look forward to.

Reginaldvs Cantvar

Feast of Sts. Chrysanthus and Daria, Martyrs, A.D. 2010

Notes: Friday, October 15, 2010

Queensland couple acquitted of abortion-related charges

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/reform-unlikely-after-abortion-verdict-20101014-16lwm.html?skin=text-only

I was interested, and perplexed, to learn from that article that

In his closing directions, Judge Bill Everson told the jury it needed to be satisfied the drugs Ms Leach had taken were noxious to her own health. This was a significant direction: the drugs needed to be harmful to her, as distinct from the foetus.

I haven't read the text of the relevant section of Queensland's Crimes Act, but I would have thought that if 'procuring one's miscarriage' were a fair description of the crime then the question of whether the drug's direct effect was to harm the mother's health, with miscarriage as an indirect effect, or whether the miscarriage was the direct effect, would be irrelevant. The Australian has more information:

The jurors returned their not-guilty verdict after Cairns District Court judge Bill Everson instructed them that in order to convict 21-year-old Tegan Simone Leach, they had to be satisfied that the drugs she took were harmful or noxious to her own health, rather than the fetus.

[...] In summing up the two-day trial, Judge Everson explained to the jury that Ms Leach could be found guilty regardless of whether she had been pregnant or not when she attempted to procure her own miscarriage.

As a result, he said, the jury must be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the drugs Ms Leach took were noxious to her health, rather than to the health of her unborn child.
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/jury-frees-abortion-couple-in-less-than-an-hour/story-e6frg6nf-1225938906094]

If so, then it would seem that the description of the charges as "procuring an abortion and supplying drugs for the abortion" is inadequate.

Interesting mix of Herald letters on God, miracles, and religion

A better balance than one might have expected. Under the heading "Consensus on divine power would be the miracle":

http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/consensus-on-divine-power-would-be-the-miracle-20101014-16lop.html?skin=text-only

Also interesting was the pair of letters under the heading "An abortion always takes a life".

More from Mr. Hitchens on morality

But [Christopher] Hitchens is weaker on the personal and ethical challenge presented by atheism: of course we can be good without God, but why the hell bother? If there are no moral lines except the ones we draw ourselves, why not draw and redraw them in places most favourable to our interests? Hitchens parries these concerns instead of answering them: since all moral rules have exceptions and complications, he says, all moral choices are relative. Peter Hitchens responds that any journey becomes difficult when a compass points differently at different times.

[...] At the Pew Forum, [Christopher] Hitchens was asked: What positive lesson have you learned from Christianity? He replied, with great earnestness: the transience and ephemeral nature of power and all things human. ...
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/the-courage-of-a-deathbed-atheist/story-e6frg6zo-1225938873174]

"Bugnini: "I am the liturgical reform!""

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34192
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2010/10/bugnini-i-am-the-liturgical-reform/

I would be interested to obtain and read that book by The Rev. Fr. Anscar Chupungco O.S.B.

(Here's an interesting comment by Dr. Brown talking about what 'I am the liturgical reform' refers to.)

Mr. Rudd still a Catholic?

One of the items in yesterday's edition of CathNews drew from a Sydney Daily Telegraph article on The Hon. Kevin Rudd M.P. and his connection to Bl. Mary of the Cross (née Mary MacKillop). That CathNews article did not mention (understandably, given its desired context) the most interesting thing to be learnt from that Tele article, which I learnt from reading the print edition before reading CathNews: Mr. Rudd still identifies as Catholic:

Mr Rudd, who is Catholic but attends an Anglican Church, also revealed that he carries an image of Australia's first saint in his wallet.

[...] Mr Rudd was raised a Catholic but now attends an Anglican Church with his wife Therese Rein.

His acceptance of communion at Mary MacKillop Chapel last year sparked controversy.

"I certainly grew up as a Catholic, the only reason I go to Anglican Church is because my wife is Anglican," he said.

"For me denominational questions have never been terribly important, so I have maintained close connection with Christians of all sorts of denominational affiliations. The most important thing is whether people are of faith, that they are serious about their faith and what they try to do with their lives.
[http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/specials/mary-mackillop/tea-breaks-with-nuns-takes-rudd-to-vatican/story-fn6qd4pl-1225938398462
That CathNews item linked to the wrong article's web-page.]

Interesting comment by "gpmtrad" at AQ:

St. Ephrem the Syriac, Doctor of the Church, explains that what most provoked God concerning Cain was the latter's indifference to sacrifice.
[italics in the original,
http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=383362#383362]

Reginaldvs Cantvar

Feast of St. Teresa of Avila, Virgin, A.D. 2010

Notes: Thursday, October 14, 2010

A good question from Ms Farrelly

In the Herald today:

Fine's insistence that boys and girls are born with identical brains does not explain how an un-gendered mind, fully steeped in boy-type context, can reach adulthood with the life-or-death conviction that it is actually, profoundly, female. How could that happen? [http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/gender-and-feminism-a-guilt-trip-20101013-16jyv.html?skin=text-only]

Interesting opinion piece by Mr. Sheridan

in today's Australian. An excerpt:

Like World Youth Day, the canonisation of Mary is one of those fairly rare occasions when popular Catholicism breaks through the gatekeepers of official culture in Australia and commands some mainstream attention.

Christianity generally is massively under-regarded in Australia. More people go to church every Sunday than go to football, but the media coverage is hardly commensurate.

I cannot recall seeing Pell on ABC1's Q&A, yet there is a Muslim representative on about every fourth episode of that show. There's certainly nothing wrong with having Muslims on the show, but it's almost as if there is a policy that any mainstream Catholic Church leader is ipso facto boring, not to be listened to or simply not a suitable person to participate in the mainstream media.

This is a sign both of a kind of immature provincialism in our culture and a serious ongoing prejudice against orthodox Christianity of any kind.

There is, of course, specific anti-Catholic prejudice, of the kind seen in the ridiculous treatment of Tony Abbott on ABC1's Four Corners when he became leader of the Liberal Party.

This kind of prejudice used to be called the anti-Semitism of the intellectual and its tired persistence in Australian culture is sad, not only because of the unfairness of the prejudice but because of the consequence it has of the media missing so big a part of modern life.

[...] Of course, all the great secular dictators have taken the church seriously and understood it is one of their most formidable opponents. This is partly because the universality of the Catholic Church transcends all national borders.

Adolf Hitler planned to abolish the papacy and set up a separate pope in every country he ruled. ...
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/attack-on-christianity-will-undermine-society/story-e6frg6zo-1225938377118]

That last sentence came as a surprise to me, though; I hadn't heard about that before. Also, while Protestantism might have been 'foundational' for "secularism", Catholicism certainly wasn't, and only hopped on that bandwagon in recent decades i.e. with Vatican II.

Msgr. Hart contra Mr. Pead (and vice versa)

This comment in a thread at AQ brought to my attention an interesting pair of letters to Christian Order regarding the late-2003/early-2004 scandal over Knights of the Southern Cross/Freemason co-operation and fraternisation:

http://www.christianorder.com/features/features_2004/features_apr04_bonus.html

Reginaldvs Cantvar

Feast of St. Callistus I., Pope, Martyr, A.D. 2010

H.H. The Pope formally establishes Pontifical Council for Promoting [the?] New Evangelisation

Two items from the one edition of the Vatican Information Service daily e-mail bulletin:

PRESENTATION OF COUNCIL FOR NEW EVANGELISATION

VATICAN CITY, 12 OCT 2010 (VIS) - This morning in the Holy See Press Office Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the newly-founded Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation, explained the contents of "Ubicumque et semper", the Apostolic Letter "Motu Proprio data" by which Benedict XVI establishes the new dicastery.

"The theme of new evangelisation has been the subject of deep reflection by Church Magisterium over recent decades", said Archbishop Fisichella. "It is immediately clear that this goal represents a challenge to the entire Church, which must ... find adequate ways to renew her announcement to many baptised people who no longer understand what it means to belong to the Christian community, and are victims of the subjectivism of our times with its closure in an individualism that often lacks public and social responsibility. The 'Motu Proprio' directly identifies those Churches of ancient tradition which ... require a renewed missionary spirit, one capable of helping them make a forward leap to meet the new requirements which the current historical situation imposes".

"As 'Ubicumque et semper' makes clear, new evangelisation is not a mere formula, identical in all circumstances", the archbishop explained. "Rather, it obliges us to develop well-founded ideas capable of acting as support to a corresponding pastoral activity. Moreover it must be capable of carefully verifying the various traditions and goals that the Churches possess by virtue of the treasure of their centuries-long history: a plurality of forms that does not undermine unity".

Nor must new evangelisation sound like "an abstract formula", the president of the new dicastery continued his remarks. "We must", he said, "fill it with theological and pastoral content, and we will do so with the strong support of the Magisterium of recent decades", also bearing in mind "the many initiatives which, over the course of recent years, have been enacted by individual bishops in their particular Churches, epsicopal conferences and groups of believers".

Among the tasks entrusted to the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation is that of promoting the use of the Catechism of the Universal Church. "The Catechism is indeed", the prelate noted, "one of the most mature fruits to emerge from the directives of Vatican Council II. It is an organic compilation of the entire heritage of the development of dogma and is the most complete instrument to transmit the unchanging faith in the face of the constant changes and questions the world poses to believers".

Thus the new dicastery will use "all the inventions that progress in communications technology has created, making them positive instruments at the service of new evangelisation", Archbishop Fisichella concluded.
OP/ VIS 20101012 (440)

HOLY FATHER'S MOTU PROPRIO "UBICUMQUE ET SEMPER"

VATICAN CITY, 12 OCT 2010 (VIS) - Given below are extracts of "Ubicumque et semper", the Apostolic Letter "Motu Proprio data" by which Benedict XVI establishes the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation.

"The Church has the duty to announce the Gospel of Jesus Christ always and everywhere. ... Over history this mission has assumed new forms and methods, depending on place, situation and historical moment. In our own time, one of its most singular characteristics has been that of having to measure itself against the phenomenon of abandonment of the faith, which has become progressively more evident in societies and cultures that were, for centuries, impregnated with the Gospel.

"The social transformations we have seen over recent decades have complex causes, the roots of which are distant in time and have profoundly modified our perception of the world. ... If, on the one hand, humanity has seen undeniable benefits from these transformations and the Church received further stimuli to give reasons for the hope she carries, on the other, we have seen a worrying loss of the sense of the sacred, even going so far as to call into discussion apparently unquestionable foundations, such as faith in the God of creation and providence; the revelation of Jesus Christ our only Saviour, the shared understating of man's fundamental experiences like birth, death and family life, and the reference to natural moral law".

"Among the central themes examined by Vatican Council II was the question of relations between the Church and the modern world. In the wake of this conciliar teaching, my predecessors dedicated further reflection to the need to find adequate forms to allow our contemporaries to still hear the Lord's living and eternal Word".

"Venerable Servant of God John Paul II made this demanding undertaking one of the pivotal points of his vast Magisterium, summarising the task awaiting the Church today in the concept of 'new evangelisation' (which he systematically developed in numerous occasions), especially in regions of age-old Christianity".

"Thus, in my turn, sharing the concern of my venerated predecessors, I feel it appropriate to offer an adequate response so that the entire Church, allowing herself to be regenerated by the Holy Spirit, may present herself to the modern world with a missionary vigour capable of promoting a new evangelisation".

"In Churches of ancient foundation, ... although the phenomenon of secularisation continues its course, Christian practice still shows signs of possessing vitality and profound roots among entire peoples. ... We also know, unfortunately, of areas which appear almost completely de-Christianised, areas in which the light of faith is entrusted to the witness of small communities. These lands, which need a renewed first announcement of the Gospel, seem particularly unreceptive to many aspects of the Christian message".

"At the root of all evangelisation there is no human project of expansion, but the desire to share the priceless gift that God wished to give us, sharing His life with us".
MP/ VIS 20101012 (500)

See also Fr. Zuhlsdorf's coverage:

"Ubicumque et semper: New Motu Proprio and new Vatican office"
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2010/10/ubicumque-et-semper-new-motu-proprio-and-new-vatican-office/

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Edward, King, Confessor, A.D. 2010

Notes: Tuesday-Wednesday, October 12-13, 2010

"Drug taken before pregnancy confirmed" (Queensland miscarriage procurement case)

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/drug-taken-before-pregnancy-confirmed/story-e6frg6nf-1225937859544

It is believed to be the first abortion-related trial in Queensland in 24 years, and pro-choice demonstrators from around Australia have converged on Cairns to call for the decriminalisation of abortion. Anti-abortion activists are also watching the case closely.

Interesting choice of descriptions there: "pro-choice" and "anti-abortion". Why not be consistent and speak of either pro- and anti-abortion (if we are to describe them by reference to their respective attitudes to the matter at hand, namely abortion) or of pro-choice and pro-life (if we are to describe them by their respective preferred descriptions)?

"I wanted to give my kid the best," Mr [Sergie] Brennan told the police, in an interview replayed to the court. "At that moment I felt I couldn't give my kid the best."

You couldn't give him or her the best, so you gave him or her the worst? Talk about making the perfect the enemy of the good.

"Synod bishops raps Israeli plan for citizenship oath"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34147

Interesting AQ thread on geocentrism

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33799&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Particularly this:

if we look at the Church's constant teaching, we find that She holds that the objective, physical geocentricity of the universe is a fact that can only be known by Divine revelation. (See St. Thomas Aquinas.)
[http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=383042#383042]

Mr. Ferrara on "Christ the King and the Catholic Tea Party"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34142

I was interested to learn that

in 1874 a nationwide movement of prominent Protestant clergy, academics, legislators and jurists known as the National Reform Association (NRA) presented a Memorial and Petition to Congress, which had been circulating since 1864, calling for nothing less than an explicit recognition of the sovereignty of God and the Social Kingship of Christ in the Constitution. Referring to “our national sins, which have provoked the Divine displeasure”—that is, the Civil War—and the need of “of imploring forgiveness through Jesus Christ,” NRA’s petition called upon Congress to initiate the process for amending the Constitution’s Preamble to read as follows:

We, the people of the United States, [humbly acknowledging Almighty God as the source of all authority and power in civil government, the Lord Jesus Christ as the Ruler among the nations, his revealed will as the supreme law of the land, in order to constitute a Christian government,] and in order to form a more perfect union…
[italics and ellipsis in the original]

Related (to the Kingship of Christ) post by Fr. Zuhlsdorf:

"Card. Rivera: Priests must work to transform society"
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2010/10/card-rivera-priests-must-work-to-transform-society/

"Stemma Papale"

"On Sunday a new stemma papale [the Pope's coat-of-arms] was seen"--with the Papal Tiara replacing the mitre which the Holy Father has on his coat-of-arms:

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2010/10/stemma-papale/

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Edward, King, Confessor, A.D. 2010

Notes: Saturday-Monday, October 9-11, 2010

"Attitudes harden towards the lot of a working mother"

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/attitudes-harden-towards-the-lot-of-a-working-mother-20101010-16e39.html?skin=text-only

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/takes-two-to-bake-and-make-the-bread-20101010-16e3s.html?skin=text-only

"Russian Orthodox patriarch lauds Putin’s leadership" and "Moscow Patriarchate thanks Catholics for support to Orthodox abroad"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34137

http://www.angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=382540&sid=f93e38554ba45bb2dc83ab52c5fef176

Mr. Muehlenberg with some statistics on Australian doctors and euthanasia

The situation in Australia appears to be no better. In South Australia, for example, where voluntary euthanasia is illegal, a recent survey of doctors who had taken active steps to end a patient’s life found that 49 per cent of them had never received a request from the patient to do so.

And a more recent survey of nearly 1000 Australian surgeons found that more than one third had intentionally hastened the death of a patient by administering more medication than was necessary to treat the patient’s symptoms. Of this group, more than half said they did so without an explicit request from the patient.

Another survey of 683 general surgeons, conducted a year later by the University of Newcastle, found similar results: over a third had sped up the death of terminally ill patients, and over half of the patients had not explicitly asked for a lethal dose of drugs. Only a few of the patients had clearly asked for euthanasia.
[http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2010/10/09/euthanasia-%e2%80%9csafeguards%e2%80%9d-and-the-slippery-slope/]

Mr. Coyne on "the "essential message" of Jesus"

http://www.catholica.com.au/forum/index.php?id=57547

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, A.D. 2010

Notes: Friday, October 8, 2010

Interesting Herald article on marriage annulment law in Australia (and, historically, in Britain)

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/till-debt-us-do-part-case-dismissed-20101007-169px.html?skin=text-only

Mr. Macintosh on voting

A letter in today's Herald:

Arguments aplenty to feed intellectually hungry

Date: October 08 2010

[...] In her excellent article Elizabeth Farrelly suggests that voting should be not just a duty but ''a privilege, earnable by demonstrating some semblance of knowledge''.

This reminded me of Neville Shute's novel In The Wet, in which he imagined that Australia at some time in the future had adopted a multiple voting system, with everyone able to have up to seven votes, based on educational attainment and achievement.

This led to a flowering of achievement here, whereas Britain had stagnated under the single-vote-for-all system.

It would offend against our so-called egalitarianism, but perhaps it is an idea whose time has come.

Andrew Macintosh Queenscliff
[http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/arguments-aplenty-to-feed-intellectually-hungry-20101007-169oy.html?skin=text-only]

I seem to recall that John Stuart Mill (a Liberal, of course) suggested giving university graduates an additional vote.

"Moscow [Russian Orthodox] patriarchate criticizes Nobel Prize award for in-vitro pioneer"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34066

Fr. Zuhlsdorf on the origin of the Novus Ordo Missæ's 'Preparation of the Gifts' formula

Frankly, this sort of thing [celebrants changing the 'Preparation of the Gifts' formula] comes from the – in my opinion – ill-considered change to the offertory prayers for the Novus Ordo. This would be impossible to do in the older, traditional form of Mass, since the two offertory prayers are quite different and actually Catholic in their origin. The two new offertory prayers – which are Jewish berakha in origin – are so similar as to nearly invite this sort of editing when the less than careful priest has one of these flashes of brilliant insight as to how he can make improvements.
[My interpolation, italics in the original,
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2010/10/quaeritur-priest-changes-the-words-of-the-offertory/]

Now a true ritual sacrifice has three 'stages' (I'm not sure that that's the best word but it'll do): Oblation, consecration, and consummation. So Father is acknowledging in his post that the New Mass basically 1. gets rid of one of the parts of a true ritual sacrifice and 2. replaces it with Jewish (i.e. Talmudic, i.e. not just non-Catholic, but anti-Catholic) table blessings, and yet he continues not just to approve of, but even celebrate, this evil (since evil is a deprivation of the due good, and 1. and 2. clearly involve such a lack) rite? Incredible.

Mr. Christopherson on marriage

A commenter at Mr. Muehlenberg's blog wrote the following:

... The holy scriptures give three valid reasons for the end of a marriage. Death of one of the partners, adultery which was punishable by death under the Old Covenant effectively declaring the erring partner dead to the marriage, and permanent abandonment. ...
[http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2010/10/07/christians-living-like-pagans/]

Where does it say that in Scripture? If he's referring to the provisions of the Old Law, then clearly that is not a valid basis for his argument, since the Old Law has been abolished. And under the New Law, only the Pope can dissolve the natural contract of marriage (and no-one can dissolve the Sacrament of Marriage).

H.H. The Pope on Church-State relations and public morality

An item in today's Vatican Information Service daily e-mail bulletin:

REAPPRAISING THE SPIRITUAL AND HUMAN HERITAGE OF CHILE

VATICAN CITY, 7 OCT 2010 (VIS) - Benedict XVI today received the Letters of Credence of Fernando Zegers Santa Cruz, the new ambassador of Chile to the Holy See. He began his address to the diplomat by expressing his closeness to the Chilean people following February's earthquake, and he recalled "the immense efforts being made by the Chilean Catholic Church, many of whose communities were also badly affected by the quake, to help people most in need. ... Nor can I forget", he continued, "the miners of the Atacama region and their loved ones, for whom I continue to pray fervently".

Going on then to observe that the new ambassador is beginning his mission in the year in which Chile celebrates the bicentenary of its independence, the Pope said: "Many are the fruits the Gospel has produced in that blessed land: abundant fruits of sanctity, charity, human promotion, and of constant striving for peace and coexistence". In this context he also recalled last year's celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship with Argentina which, "with pontifical mediation, put an end to that dispute in the southern hemisphere", he said.

"That historical agreement", the Holy Father proceeded, "will remain for future generations as a shining example of the immense benefits that peace brings, and of the importance of preserving and encouraging the moral and religious values that constitute the most intimate fabric of a people's soul. We cannot hope to explain the triumph of this longing for peace, harmony and understanding without bearing in mind how deep the seed of the Gospel has taken root in the hearts of Chileans".

"It is very important, and even more so in present circumstances in which so many challenges threaten cultural identity, to encourage, especially among the young, a healthy pride and a renewed appreciation and reappraisal for their faith, history, culture, traditions and artistic heritage, and for everything that constitutes the best and richest spiritual and human patrimony of Chile".

At this point Benedict XVI also noted how, "although Church and State are independent and autonomous, each in its own field, they are both called to loyal and respectful collaboration in order to serve the personal and social vocation of the same people. In carrying out her specific mission to announce the good news of Jesus Christ, the Church seeks to respond to man's expectations and doubts, while at the same time drawing on those ethical and anthropological values and principles which are inscribed in the nature of human beings".

"When the Church raises her voice on the great challenges and problems of the present time - such as wars, hunger, widespread extreme poverty, the defence of human life from conception until natural end, or the promotion of the family founded on marriage between a man and woman, primary educator of children - she is not acting out of special interest or of principles perceptible only to people who profess a particular religious faith. Respecting the rules of democratic coexistence, the Church does this for the good of all society, and in the name of values that everyone can share", the Holy Father concluded.
CD/ VIS 20101007 (540)

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Bridget of Sweden, Widow, A.D. 2010

Notes: Thursday, October 7, 2010

A good question in a letter in today's Australian

The last sentence of this letter in the "Last Post" section of the letters section:

Why does marriage need to be between one man and one woman? The arguments for same-sex marriage equally apply to polygamy and polyandry. If people want to fundamentally transform Australia's culture, why stop at half measures?

D. Straface, Perth, WA
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/last-post-october-07/story-fn558imw-1225935108767]

Mr. Magister on the September 20 to 27 meeting of the joint international commission for theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church ("Papal Primacy. Russia Heads the Resistance Against Rome")

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34058

I was interested to read in that article that

the Eastern Churches are slowly approaching the convocation of the pan-Orthodox "Great and Holy Council" that should finally unite them in a single assembly after centuries of incomplete "synodality," [...]

Material preparation for the end of the Eastern Schism after the Consecration of Russia, perhaps.

Mr. Schütz contra Dr. Gray on euthanasia

http://scecclesia.wordpress.com/2010/10/06/you-do-not-have-a-right-to-chose-your-time-of-death/

Mr. Schütz uses a very good piece of rhetoric in that rejoinder to Dr. Gray's opinion piece, which (opinion piece) I covered in yesterday's edition of Notes:

To die with dignity is, I would agree, a “human right” – but in a secondary sense: ie. everyone is entitled to that “dignity” which is due to them because they are a human being in BOTH life and death. The question is: what do you mean by “dignity” in this context? Japanese warriors and Jihadist Terrorists both had/have ideas about what a “dignified” death is. We disagree with both their accounts. We disagree with Nigel Gray’s too.
[my emphasis]

Pro-Confessional-State pronouncement from the Vatican?

http://mauricepinay.blogspot.com/2007/03/theyre-making-their-move.html

I was interested to read the following from the text of the conclusions from the meeting of March 11-13, 2007 of the Bilateral Commission of the Delegation of the Holy See's Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel's Delegation for Relations with the Catholic Church in an old post at the Maurice Pinay blog:

6. In addition to respecting the freedom of religious choices, the integrity of faith communities should also be guaranteed. Accordingly it is legitimate for a society with a predominant religious identity to preserve its character, as long as this does not limit the freedom of minority communities and individuals to profess their alternative religious commitments, nor to limit their full civil rights and status as citizens, individuals and communities. This obliges us all to safeguard the integrity and dignity of holy sites, places of worship and cemeteries of all religious communities.

A few thoughts:

• To say that "it is legitimate for a society with a predominant religious identity to preserve its character" is encouraging insofar as that it is saying that it is legitimate for a Catholic Confessional State to have Catholicism as the State religion and the Catholic Church as the established Church. (Unfortunately that does not seem to have been Vatican policy in the aftermath of Vatican II.)
• But of course, it is discouraging insofar as it is saying, by the same token, that an Anglican Confessional State, or Lutheran Confessional State, or Muslim Confessional State, or Atheist Confessional State, or, given the context, Jewish Confessional State, is also legitimate, which is false.
• It is also discouraging insofar as it does not affirm, or does not affirm adequately, the right (and duty) of a Catholic Confessional State to repress, where prudent, offenders of the Catholic religion.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of The Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of St. Mark I., Pope, Confessor, and of St. Sergius and Companions, A.D. 2010

Facts and figures: On sexual activity by Australian high school pupils

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/teenage-girls-more-sexually-active-than-a-decade-ago-20101005-1669s.html?skin=text-only

Body of the Herald article:

YEAR 12 girls are more likely to have had sex than boys, and teenagers are likely to have had sex with more partners than a decade ago, a national survey has shown.

More than 61 per cent of year 12 girls said they had had sex, compared to 44 per cent of boys of that year, the study by LaTrobe University's faculty of health sciences researchers found.

In a trend the report links to heavier drinking by adolescents, the proportion of sexually active year 12 girls who reported having had sex with three or more partners in the previous year more than doubled to 27 per cent in the decade to 2008. Among boys, 38 per cent said they had had three or more sexual partners in the year.

The survey of 8800 year 10 and year 12 students in 300 schools around Australia was taken in three snapshots between 1997 and 2008.

The proportion of year 10 boys who had had sex rose slightly from 23 per cent to 27 per cent between 1997 and 2008, while for year 10 girls the rise was more significant, up from 16 per cent to 27 per cent.

In year 12, the number of boys who reported having had sex dipped slightly from 47 per cent in 1997 to 44 per cent in 2008, while the rate for girls rose from 48 per cent to 61 per cent.

The report, published in the latest Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, said the increased numbers of students having multiple sexual partners was significantly higher than that found in a large survey in the US and may be linked to heavier drinking among Australian teenagers.

''In Australia, rates of alcohol consumption among secondary students have increased markedly, as has the proportion of young people engaging in sex while under the influence of alcohol or drugs - these factors may be associated with the increases observed in sexual activity here,'' the report says. The report said that given the increases in sexual activity and still moderate levels of knowledge about sexually transmitted infections among young people, it was ''of some concern'' that the levels of safe sex practised by adolescents had not increased in Australia since 1997.

It was significant that year 10 students showed lower levels of knowledge about STIs than those in year 12, even though they had comparable rates of sexual partnerships to year 12 students.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Bruno, Confessor, A.D. 2010

Notes: Tuesday-Wednesday, October 5-6, 2010

Unintentionally hilarious critique of a pro-Lesbian movie which is not pro-Lesbian enough for the critic!

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/its-not-all-right/story-e6frg8n6-1225930639218

Long, but worth reading if you have five minutes to spare and need a good laugh. (It occured to me that the article might really have been satirical, but, looking at the article overall, I think that it's supposed to be a genuine critique.) A sample:

Despite, or perhaps because of, the present energetic push towards normalising homosexuality (let's all get married, have babies and not rock the Judaeo-Christian boat), gays remain a menace. Heterosexual men and the society over which they have power are threatened every which way by homosexuality. Lesbians, and lesbian couples in particular, limit male sexual access. Men don't like that.

Dr. Gray on euthanasia

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/choosing-ones-time-of-death-is-a-basic-human-right/story-e6frg6zo-1225934570662

Here's another article from The Australian which had me wondering at several points whether it was really a satire. Points like this:

If we take away the labels such as euthanasia, kill, murder, suicide, we can look at the issues.

The people who join the Dying with Dignity movement simply want to die with dignity. ...

So one euphemism (euthanasia) is replaced with another euphemism--'dying with dignity'. But euthanasia isn't just any old kind of dying; it really is killing (a term to which Dr. Gray objects), either of oneself, or assisting someone else to do it.

And also at this point (Dr. Gray's conclusion):

The reason for wanting choice is that this is one's own business, no one else's. We should not have to give reasons. It may indeed be a terminal disease and one may have consulted a doctor, or one may have gone bankrupt, or the wrong team may have won the grand final, but these are not relevant to anyone else. A personal decision, which is made as a human right, is all that is required. The necessary legislation should be simple enough.

What a disconcerting thing it is to live in a world in which one can no longer be quite sure whether a text is serious or satirical.

Remnant opinion piece on monarchy and democracy

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=382178#382178

This article looks interesting (though off-topic for the AQ thread in which it was posted), but unfortunately its author thinks that "the will of the people ... should determine the shape of any political order", which is too much like one of the condemned errors in Quanta cura for my liking. Nevertheless, the article might be interesting to read in full, which I'll do if I have time.

Book(let?) on the evidence that St. Peter was in Rome ...

After posting yesterday's edition of Notes, in which I mentioned the testimony of Caius to the death of St. Peter (and St. Paul) in Rome, it occured to me that the book which that Catholic Encyclopedia article cited (St. Peter in Rome) might be available on-line. So I searched for it using the N.L.A.'s Trove search service, and though it is apparently not available on-line (though the search results show that there are copies of it, or of books very much like it, to be found in several Australian libraries, including The University of Sydney's one), I found the following booklet, published in 1874 by one John Stewart M'Corry:

http://www.archive.org/details/a591190500mcoruoft

It looks very interesting, though I haven't read it all yet (though it's not too long).

... and a very old letter-to-the-editor citing Protestant affirmation of that Tradition

Found while doing that Trove search:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/25656734?searchTerm=St. Peter in Rome&searchLimits=

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Bruno, Confessor, A.D. 2010

Notes: Saturday-Monday, October 2-4, 2010

(I have not finished reading the weekend papers yet, so there might be more items to come from Saturday. There were many book reviews of interest to me and perhaps to you in the weekend papers, so I'll cover them in a separate post.)

Two recent Vatican Information Service daily e-mail bulletin items mentioning religious liberty

First one:

ARCHBISHOP MAMBERTI ADDRESSES U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY

VATICAN CITY, 1 OCT 2010 (VIS) - On 29 September Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Holy See secretary for Relations with States, addressed the sixty-fifth session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York. [...]

[...] On the subject of the Millennium Development Goals, the archbishop remarked on the importance of "bearing the great moral imperatives in mind: ... fulfilment of the promises of aid for development given by rich nations to weaker nations, and a guarantee of a more favourable financial and commercial climate". At a global level, the secretary for Relations with States identified the need "for more decisive and effective concern for refugees, displaced persons and the great migratory flows". In order for there to be integral human development there must also be a guarantee "of the exercise of religious freedom, ... the cornerstone of the entire edifice of human rights", he said [...]
DELSS/ VIS 20101001 (660)
[my square-bracketed ellipses, other ellipses in the original]

I'll have to find out what that ellipsis after "of the exercise of religious freedom" replaced.

Second one:

MISSION, AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THE MISSION OF THE BAPTISED

VATICAN CITY, 4 OCT 2010 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received prelates from the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (North region 1 and Northeast region), who have just completed their "ad limina" visit.

[...] "Sometimes we hear the objection that imposing the truth - though it be the truth of the Gospel and of salvation - can be a violation of religious freedom", said the Holy Father, in which context he quoted words of Paul VI: "It would, of course, be a mistake to impose anything on the conscience of our brothers and sisters, but propounding knowledge of the truth of the Gospel and the salvation of Jesus Christ, with absolute clarity and full respect for the free choice of conscience (hence without coercion or dishonest persuasion), ... far from being an attack on religious freedom, is a homage to that freedom, which can choose a route that even non-believers consider noble and edifying. ... To present Christ and His kingdom in a respectful way, more than a right, is a duty of evangelisation".
[...]
AL/ VIS 20101004 (530)
[my square-bracketed ellipses, other ellipses in the original]

A startling figure on sexual activity by U.S. minors

From The Australian:

The National Survey of Sexual Health and Behaviour found sexually active 14 to 17-year-olds - 80 per cent of boys and 69 per cent of girls ...
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/us-teens-use-more-condoms-than-adults-survey/story-fn3dxity-1225934015781]

Transalpine Non-Redemptorists still waiting for canonical regularisation

From a U.K. Catholic Herald article brought to my attention by Terra:

They have not been ecstatically welcomed, either. It is more than two years since they first approached Rome, yet they are still waiting for their bishop, Bishop Peter Moran of Aberdeen, to grant them legal status within the Church.

[...] On the advice of Fr [Josef] Bisig [F.S.S.P.], they arranged a meeting with Fr José Monteiro Guimarães, a Redemptorist official in the Congregation for Clergy (he is now Bishop of Garanhuns in Brazil). They travelled to Rome, staying in a hotel. It was, he says, very daunting. “We had the feeling that we should go back, that we had made a big mistake. We were completely out of our camp.”

In the months that followed they met officials at Ecclesia Dei, the body set up to negotiate with the SSPX. They met its prefect, Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos. Their priestly suspensions were lifted. Later they wrote a constitution, lifting parts of old Redemptorist constitutions from 1921 and 1936. That has been approved. All that is needed now is for Bishop Moran, their local bishop, to issue a “decree of erection” that will put them in canonical good order. (Last Friday Bishop Moran issued a statement which said he was waiting for guidance from the Congregation for Religious, to whom the matter has now been passed.)

[...] “Nobody expected it to take this long,” says Fr Michael Mary.

“Nobody expected it to take this long”. Seriously?

Sydney Archdiocese Life, Marriage and Family Centre publication "Euthanasia: Myths and Reality"

http://www.lifemarriagefamily.org.au/RLS2010.pdf

As well as refuting the standard pro-euthanasia talking points, it contains some useful facts and figures, such as that

Government-sanctioned studies in the Netherlands have found that: 50% of cases of assisted suicide and euthanasia are not reported, more than 50% of Dutch physicians feel free to suggest euthanasia to their patients, and 25% of these physicians admit to ending patients’ lives without their consent (more than 1000 people each year).

Caius on the death of Sts. Peter and Paul at Rome

From a Catholic Encyclopedia article brought to my attention by last Sunday's Sydney Catholic Weekly:

We owe to Caius a very valuable evidence of the death of Sts. Peter and Paul at Rome, and the public veneration of their remains at Rome about the year 200. It is taken from the above-mentioned disputation with Proclus, and reads as follows (Eusebius, Church History II.25): "But I can show the trophies of the Apostles. For if you will go to the Vatican or to the Ostian Way you will find the trophies of those who laid the foundations of this church". By "trophies" is of course understood the memorial chapel that preserved in each case the body of the Apostle (cf. Barnes, St. Peter in Rome, London, 1900, p 145).
[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03144a.htm]

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Placid and Companions, Martyrs, A.D. 2010

Notes: Friday, October 1, 2010

"Google Translate Now Supports Latin!"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33973

Fr. Zuhlsdorf and Terra mention this too.

"Polish Bishops Will Not Consecrate Poland to Christ the King"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33972

Someone in that thread has helpfully provided the key relevant excerpts from Quas Primas.

Some interesting findings on optimal group functioning

http://www.smh.com.au/world/socially-sensitive-women-boost-group-intelligence-by-letting-everyone-have-their-say-20101001-15zws.html?skin=text-only

Mr. Addison contra Mr. Robertson on the Vatican City State and 'arresting the Pope'

A letter in today's Herald:

Robertson's fiction

Geoffrey Robertson is disingenuous in claiming he does not want the Pope arrested and blaming the media (''Holding Pope responsible for abuses is not too dangerous'', September 29).

In the British newspaper The Guardian on April 2, Robertson specifically accused the Pope of a ''crime against humanity'' contrary to the rules of the International Criminal Court. It is only the realisation that this suggestion has made him look ridiculous in the eyes of other lawyers that has caused him to backtrack.

As far as the legal status of the Vatican is concerned, Robertson is presenting his personal opinion that the Vatican should not be a state and pretending that he is putting forward a legal argument.

More importantly, Robertson is pretending that the legal status of the Vatican is protecting abusive priests, but the reality is that Catholic priests and bishops throughout the world are citizens of their individual countries and not the Vatican and they are answerable to national law.

No country has ever suggested that the legal status of the Vatican has prevented the proper investigation of any allegations of abuse by any Catholic priest.

Neil Addison national director, Thomas More Legal Centre, Warrington (England)
[hyperlink, bold, and italics in the original,
http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/several-billion-good-reasons-to-challenge-advice-20100930-15z6y.html?skin=text-only]

Reginaldvs Cantvar

Feast of St. Remigius, Bishop, Confessor, A.D. 2010