Notes: Thursday, July 7-Tuesday, July 12, 2011

1. Dr. Biddulph on paternal involvement in families

Father love is known in countless studies to help children grow happy and strong. It is the key to boys feeling motivated and believing in themselves, that being a good man is something to strive for. It gives daughters self-esteem and a sense of their intelligence and a value beyond mere sexual attraction. In families where mothers would otherwise do all the emotional heavy lifting, an involved dad provides the missing key to everyone's mental health. Women love a good father. They often wish they had had one themselves.
[http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/goodbye-to-the-distant-authority-figure-hello-to-handson-dads-20110705-1h0oo.html?skin=text-only]

Labels: families, parenthood, social trends, Steve Biddulph

2. Associate Professor Craig on, among other things, Australian "work-family balance strategies and parents' time in paid work, domestic work and childcare"

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/fathers-left-alone-can-spread-load-of-parenting-20110706-1h2d9.html?skin=text-only

Labels: families, parenthood, social trends, work

3. "'That's racist' as a punch line"

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ct-oped-0707-goldberg-20110707,0,1863723.story

Labels: racism, social trends

4. "the FSSP ... have a general indult to use both the 2nd confiteor and St. Joseph in the canon"

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/07/wdtprs-poll-the-2nd-confiteor/#comment-283797

Labels: F.S.S.P., T.L.M.

5. Ms Irvine and Mr. Penberthy on, among other things, marriage

I highlight here the two articles in question for some of the facts and figures which they report. From Ms Irvine:

... Two thirds of marriages in Australia are performed by civil celebrants rather than religious ministers. ... In the mid-1980s, 60 per cent of the population aged 15 and over were married. By the early noughties, this had fallen to 55 per cent.

The proportion of the population who will never marry increased from 29 per cent to 32 per cent.

Meanwhile, the probability of marriages ending in divorce has risen. The Bureau of Statistics estimates about 28 per cent of marriages entered into in the mid-1980s could be expected to end in divorce. By the early noughties, this had risen to 33 per cent. ...
[http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/equality-for-all-parents-straight-or-gay-20110701-1gv6u.html?skin=text-only]

Mr. Penberthy had more on the relative proportions of civilly- and religiously-celebrated weddings:

... ABS figures released this month show that religious wedding ceremonies are now very much in the minority for couples tying the knot. Almost two-thirds of all wedding ceremonies are now conducted by celebrants. In 1969, 90 per cent of couples opted for church weddings. In 1999 it was 50 per cent. In 2009 it was just 35 per cent. That’s a decline of 15 per cent in the space of one decade.
[http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/free-to-believe-in-god-free-to-keep-quiet-about-it/]

Labels: divorce, marriage, social trends

6. A new initiative for propagating the Darwinist worldview

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/big-history-to-give-students-big-picture/story-fn59niix-1226081625657

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/big-picture-showman-puts-history-lessons-up-in-lights/story-fn59niix-1226080801441

Labels: David Christian, education, evolution, history, secularism

7. More on 'sleeping rough' by the homeless

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), on Census night in 2006 the homeless population in Australia was 105,000. There are more than 27,000 living in NSW, a figure that has seen no decline since 1990 (ABS 2009).

The bureau’s most recent report on homelessness – Counting the Homeless, 2006 (which includes data from the 2006 Census and other sources, such as the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) – found that primary homelessness, such as ‘sleeping rough’ or in an improvised shelter, accounted for 16 per cent of all homelessness in Australia.
[http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/article.php?classID=1&subclassID=2&articleID=8471&class=Latest
News&subclass=CW National]

See also the editorial:

http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/article.php?classID=2&subclassID=6&articleID=8481&class=Comment&subclass=Editorial

(Again, I ask you not to jump to conclusions about why I'm posting this. And note that the inverted commas in this item's title are not scare quotes; I'm just following the usage of the linked article.)

Labels: homelessness, poverty

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. John Gualbert, Abbot, and of Sts. Nabor and Felix, Martyrs, A.D. 2011