Notes: Tuesday, October 9-Monday, December 31, 2012 (part 1 of 2)

1. A couple of recent items regarding the death penalty

1.1 "The secular power can, without mortal sin, exercise judgment of blood, provided that it punishes with justice, not out of hatred, with prudence, not precipitation."

The quotation in that headline is an alternative translation to the one found in Denzinger (see the Systematic Index). My proximate source for it is this B.B.C. web-page (which came to my attention via the September 22, 2012 9:54 PM comment by Papalinton in the combox at this blog post by Prof. Feser):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/christianethics/capitalpunishment_1.shtml

and its ultimate source, at least on-line, seems to be Cardinal Dulles's April 2001 First Things article "Catholicism & Capital Punishment":

http://www.firstthings.com/article/2008/08/catholicism-amp-capital-punishment-21

Labels: death penalty

1.2 "The Mosaic Law specifies 36 offences which carry the death penalty with provision for execution by a variety of means: stoning, burning, decapitation and strangulation."

The quotation in that headline comes from the paper "Reflections on the death penalty on the tenth anniversary of the Bali Bombings", by The Rev. Fr. Frank Brennan S.J. A.O.:

http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/preview.aspx?aeid=33646

Interestingly, Fr. Brennan goes on to mention something which Catholic opponents of the death penalty tend to fail to take into account:

Jesus accepted that the State may impose capital punishment; he himself was subject to such penalty, without his questioning the right of the State to impose such punishment.

(That paper came to my attention via this Catholica thread-starter.)

Labels: death penalty

2. Victoria's abortion laws "are classed as the second worst in the world after China's one baby per family policy."

The quotation in that headline comes from the letter printed under the heading "Abortion", by Robert Bom, on p. 8 (the "Editorial and Letters" page) of the Sydney Catholic Weekly, October 7, 2012, Vol. 71, No. 4642, published by The Catholic Press Newspaper Company Pty. Ltd., available on-line here:

http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/article.php?classID=2&subclassID=5&articleID=10908&class=Comment&subclass=Letters

Labels: abortion, Victoria

3. Fr. Flader on, among other things, Paul VI.'s Apostolic Exhortation Petrum et Paulum Apostolos of February 22, 1967:

http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/article.php?classID=3&subclassID=59&articleID=10892&class=Features&subclass=Question Time

(That article came to my attention via its printing on p. 10, same column, same headline, same author, the Sydney Catholic Weekly, October 7, 2012, Vol. 71, No. 4642, published by The Catholic Press Newspaper Company Pty. Ltd.)

Labels: Paul VI. Montini

4. "The results of the research of recent years, and of the conference, "will be a preliminary inventory of the Council Fathers' archives. This will be fed into an online database which may be consulted free of charge on the website of the Pontifical Council"."

http://www.news.va/en/news/studying-vatican-council-ii-from-the-archives

Labels: Vatican II

5. "THE Bodleian Library has put more than 300,000 rare books online"

Find them here:

http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&fromLogin=true&dstmp=1349937982316&vid=OXVU1&fromLogin=true&fromLogin=true

(The quotation in that headline comes from the article "Precious Bodleian manuscripts now just a click away", by Nicola Woolcock, dated October 10, 2012, downloaded from (behind the paywall at) The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/precious-bodleian-manuscripts-now-just-a-click-away/story-fnb64oi6-1226492687379)

Labels: books

6. Ms Devine on the Proud Schools programme

See

• the article "HETEROSEXIST HIGH[: ]Schoolkids told straight isn't 'norm'", by Miranda Devine, on the front page of the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Wednesday, October 17, 2012, Vol. 1, No. 2671, ISSN 1038-8745, published by Nationwide News Pty. Ltd., apparently not available on-line

• the article "Being straight no longer normal, students taught", by Miranda Devine, p. 02, ibid., the updated on-line version of which has a new first paragraph (the old one was "STUDENTS at 12 NSW high schools are being taught it is wrong and "heterosexist" to regard heterosexuality as the norm for human relationships.") but the rest of which is, judging by a cursory inspection, the same as the old version and which is available here:
  
  http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-news/being-straight-no-longer-normal-students-taught/story-e6freuzi-1226497360980

• the opinion piece "The thought police telling kids heterosexuality's not the norm", by Miranda Devine, p. 13, ibid., available on-line here:
  
  http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/the-thought-police-telling-kids-heterosexualitys-not-the-norm/story-e6frezz0-1226497311742
  
  or at Ms Devine's blog here:
  
  http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/the_thought_police_telling_kids_heterosexualitys_not_the_norm/

Related material:

• the editorial "Is this tolerance or propaganda?", Editor: Paul Whittaker, p. 24, ibid., available on-line here:
  
  http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/is-this-tolerance-or-propaganda/story-e6frezz0-1226497251221

• the Warren (Brown) cartoon, p. 25, ibid.

• the article "Piccoli won't ditch Proud Schools trial", by Alicia Wood, p. 02, the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Thursday, October 18, 2012, Vol. 1, No. 2672, ISSN 1038-8745, published by Nationwide News Pty. Ltd., available on-line here:
  
  http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-news/adrian-piccoli-wont-ditch-proud-schools-trial/story-e6freuzi-1226498118748

• the letters "Foster tolerance not differences", "A valuable program to prevent school thugs", "Time for a reminder to departmental heads", and "We need a broader approach to bullies", p. 56, ibid., and two S.M.S.s in the "TXTTHEEDITOR" column, p. 57, ibid.; neither the letters nor the S.M.S.s are available on-line

• the letters "Proud Schools goes a step too far for some", "A sense of pride in controversial program", and one in the "SHORTANDSHARP" section with no heading of its own, pp. 104-5, the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Friday, October 19, 2012, Vol. 1, No. 2673, ISSN 1038-8745, published by Nationwide News Pty. Ltd., not available on-line

• the opinion piece "Left uses schools as recruiting grounds for its gender war", by Kevin Donnelly, p. 16 of the "INQUIRER" section of The Weekend Australian, October 20-21, 2012, First Edition, No. 14943, ISSN 1038-8761, published by Nationwide News Pty. Limited, available on-line, but behind a paywall, here:
  
  http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/left-uses-schools-as-recruiting-grounds-for-its-gender-war/story-e6frgd0x-1226499523400

• the article "Pilot schools program 'denigrates marriage'", no by-line, p. 5, the Sydney Catholic Weekly, October 28, 2012, Vol. 71, No. 4645, published by The Catholic Press Newspaper Company Pty. Ltd., available on-line here:
  
  http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/article.php?classID=1&subclassID=2&articleID=11065&class=Latest News&subclass=CW National

• the letter "'Brainwashed'", by Henk Verhoeven, p. 8 ("Editorial and Letters" page), ibid., available on-line here:
  
  http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/article.php?classID=2&subclassID=5&articleID=11072&class=Comment&subclass=Letters
  

• the blog post "And Even More of the Tolerance Brigade", by Bill Muehlenberg, dated October 17, 2012, available here:
  
  http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2012/10/17/and-even-more-of-the-tolerance-brigade/

The following links lead to web-pages which I found using Google:

http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/view/11380

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/children-to-be-taught-39heterosexuality-not-the-norm39-in-australian-school/

http://catefaehrmann.org/2012/10/devines-fear-mongering-out-of-touch-greens/

http://gaynewsnetwork.com.au/news/national/9200-proud-schools-trial-here-to-stay.html

http://www.samesame.com.au/news/local/9044/Fear-mongering-over-not-so-straight-school-program.htm

Labels: education, G.L.B.T., Proud Schools

7. "On the Security Council we'll be working for the rights of women and girls - to education, training and jobs, and to maternal and reproductive healthcare. Its what we're already doing in Myanmar, Indonesia and elsewhere in the Asia Pacific."

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "Our rightful place at the table of world powers", by Sen. The Hon. Bob Carr, dated October 22, 2012, downloaded from the Sydney Daily Telegraph's website:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/our-rightful-place-at-the-table-of-world-powers/story-e6frezz0-1226500165396

(That article came to my attention via its printing with the same headline and author on p. 13 of the Sydney Daily Telegraph of Monday, October 22, 2012, Vol. 1, No. 2675, ISSN 1038-8745, published by Nationwide News Pty. Ltd.)

Labels: abortion, contraception, feminism

8. Some recent items regarding the G.L.B.T. proportion of the population

8.1 "Massive study finds only 3.4% of American adults identify as LGBT"

The quotation in that headline is the headline of an article by Andrew Malcolm, dated October 18, 2012, published at INVESTORS.com:

http://news.investors.com/politics-andrew-malcolm/101812-629809-tiny-fraction-of-americans-publicly-identify-as-lesbian-gay-bisexual-or-transgender-lgbt.htm#ixzz29lG9hrAI

(That article came to my attention via the blog post "Study shows self-identifying homosexuals are actually a very small percent of US population", by The Rev. Fr. John Zuhlsdorf, downloaded from his blog:

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2012/10/study-shows-self-identifying-homosexuals-are-actually-a-very-small-percent-of-population/)

Labels: demography, G.L.B.T.

8.2 "One in 66 Britons is gay or bisexual - NOT one in ten, as previously thought"

The quotation in that headline is the headline of an article by Steve Doughty, dated September 29, 2012, downloaded from the British Daily Mail's website:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2210310/One-66-Britons-gay-bisexual--NOT-previously-thought.html#ixzz283ZfWAIw

and brought to my attention by this True Catholic post:

http://members7.boardhost.com/TrueCatholic/msg/1350435583.html

Labels: demography, G.L.B.T.

9. Some recent items regarding economics and families

9.1 "ABOUT 87,000 families a year will receive a baby bonus worth $3000 instead of $5000 for their second or subsequent children, prompting warnings from welfare groups that the poor would suffer and criticism from the Coalition that it was an attack on larger families. "

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "'Mean, nasty' cut an attack on poor and bigger families", by Patricia Karvelas, dated October 23, 2012, downloaded from The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/treasury/mean-nasty-cut-an-attack-on-poor-and-bigger-families/story-fn59nsif-1226501034300

Labels: economics, families

9.2 Mrs. Shanahan on the Federal Government's agenda to "[f]orce more women into the workforce by skewing all family benefits to working women who put their children in institutional childcare"

See the opinion piece "Baby bonus cut a slap at stay-at-home mums", by Angela Shanahan, dated October 27, 2012, downloaded from The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/baby-bonus-cut-a-slap-at-stay-at-home-mums/story-e6frg6zo-1226504051315

(That came to my attention via the version printed under the same headline, by the same author, on p. 18, "INQUIRER" section, The Weekend Australian, October 27-28, 2012, Second Edition, No. 14949, ISSN 1038-8761, published by Nationwide News Pty. Limited.)

Labels: economics, families

9.3 "ALMOST half of all mothers in two-parent families are back at work before their youngest child turns one"

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "Social revolution at work: mums go back to their jobs as reality hits home", by George Megalogenis and Sophie Gosper, dated October 31, 2012, downloaded from The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/social-revolution-at-work-mums-go-back-to-their-jobs-as-reality-hits-home/story-fnegj121-1226507043793

See also Mr. Megalogenis's opinion piece "Howard-era baby payments failed to do the job intended", dated November 3, 2012, downloaded from The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/howard-era-baby-payments-failed-to-do-the-job-intended/story-e6frg7ex-1226509430778

(That came to my attention via the version printed under the same headline, by the same author, on p. 24 of the "INQUIRER" section of The Weekend Australian, November 3-4, 2012, First Edition, No. 14955, ISSN 1038-8761, published by Nationwide News Pty. Limited.)

Labels: economics, families

9.4 "The majority of pregnant women take at least two months sick leave from work, according to a new study."

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "Pregnant women take 'at least two months sick leave' from work, says controversial study", no byline, dated November 7, 2012, downloaded from the Mail Online website:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2228829/Pregnant-women-months-sick-leave-work-says-controversial-study.html

See also the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' press release "BJOG release: New study finds majority of pregnant women require an average of two months additional sick leave from work", published by Caitlin Walsh, dated November 7, 2012:

http://www.rcog.org.uk/news/bjog-release-new-study-finds-majority-pregnant-women-require-average-two-months-additional-sick

and also the British National Health Service article "Pregnant women 'take two months sick leave'":

http://www.nhs.uk/news/2012/11November/Pages/Pregnant-women-take-two-months-sick-leave.aspx

(That research came to my attention via an article, apparently not available on-line, in the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Saturday, November 10, 2012, presumably Vol. 1, No. 2692, ISSN 1038-8745, published by Nationwide News Pty. Ltd.)

Labels: economics, families, pregnancy

9.5 "Fisher imagined a country in which "every person honestly able and willing to work should be able to earn sufficient to enable him to keep his wife and family in comfort"."

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "Labor defines itself through the voices of its statesmen", Nick Cater's review of For the True Believers: Great Labor Speeches that Shaped History, dated October 8, 2012, downloaded from The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/labor-defines-itself-through-the-voices-of-its-statesmen/story-fn9n8gph-1226531416233

(That came to my attention via the version printed under the same headline, by the same author, on p. 25 in the "BOOKS" section of the "review" supplement of The Weekend Australian, December 8-9, 2012, First Edition, No. 14985, ISSN 1038-8761, published by Nationwide News Pty. Limited.)

Labels: economics, families

9.6 "WOMEN are being discouraged from returning to work after having children, as tax, childcare costs, and lost government benefits leave some earning as little as 20¢ for every dollar they earn."

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "Mothers penalised for working", by Stephanie Peatling, dated November 25, 2012, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/national/mothers-penalised-for-working-20121124-2a00y.html?skin=text-only

Labels: economics, families

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Monday in the Octave of Christmas, A.D. 2012