Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Notes: Tuesday, July 17-Tuesday, July 31, 2012

1. A couple of points of interest from "Partnership of dioceses leads to witness in schools", by Tracey Edstein, on p. 6 of the June 2012 issue (No. 114) of Aurora, the magazine of The Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle

(It's available from that Diocese's website, and came to my attention via the version published under the headline "Catholic, Anglican bishops renew tri-diocesan pact" on p. 21 in the "Regional Round-up" section of the Sydney Catholic Weekly, Vol. 71, No. 4624, June 3, 2012.)

1.1 An amusing definition of ecumenism

by The Lord Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle (though His Lordship disagrees with it):
Our ecumenical people meet with your ecumenical people and we have a lovely time together!
Labels: ecumenism

1.2 Msgr. Wright's "message of Christian care and service rather than a message of belief or conversion"

This is the last paragraph of that article:
A feature of the Service of Worship was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, giving expression to the Covenant through a pastoral care partnership. This partnership sponsors and supports Chaplains/Pastoral Care Workers in the schools of the regions served by the three dioceses. Bishop Bill said, "It is our prayer that through this ministry, students, their families and school staffs will come to experience the loving compassion of Jesus Christ: a message of Christian care and service rather than a message of belief or conversion."
Labels: Bill Wright

2. Some links to reports which contain recent Papal mentions of the Second Vatican Council or its Catechism or both

http://www.news.va/en/news/presentation-of-the-year-of-faith

http://www.news.va/en/news/papal-message-closes-fiftieth-international-euchar

http://www.news.va/en/news/blessed-are-the-peacemakers

http://www.news.va/en/news/the-church-must-preach-truth-and-justice

http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-recalls-time-as-conciliar-expert-in-nemi

Labels: C.E.C., Vatican II

3. "Obama admin video tells Pentagon ‘Being gay isn’t about sex; it’s about life’"

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/obama-admin-video-tells-pentagon-being-gay-isnt-about-sex-its-about-life

(That article came to my attention via this AQ post of it.)

I log that quotation in relation to the observation by the Australian Gay activist Prof. Dennis Altman that
The greatest single victory of the gay movement over the past decade has been to shift the debate from behavior to identity, thus forcing opponents into a position where they can be seen as attacking the civil rights of homosexual citizens rather than attacking specific and (as they see it) antisocial behavior.
[http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2008/05/01/on-relationship-recognition/]
Labels: Dennis Altman, G.L.B.T.

4. On some recent developments regarding 'family planning'

4.1 "the Foreign Affairs Minister, Bob Carr, said Australia would double its overseas aid for family planning programs to more than $50 million a year by 2016"; "[a]t least $70 million over the next four years will go to the United Nations Population Fund to promote equitable access to family planning", and "[a]n extra $10 million will be given to the International Planned Parenthood Federation program to ensure people caught in disasters can gain access to reproductive health services." Furthermore, a "London conference, organised by the British government and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is set to refocus on the issue and garner $2 billion in pledges by 2020."

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/focus-on-family-planning-as-carr-doubles-foreign-aid-20120711-21wdw.html?skin=text-only

See also "Abortion aid 'won't help save lives of mothers in childbirth'", by Damir Govorcin, p. 7, the Sydney Catholic Weekly, Vol. 71, No. 4631, July 22, 2012, apparently available on-line, but behind a paywall, here; the following is my transcription:
Mr[ Paul] Hanrahan[, executive director of Family Life International, "Australia's largest Catholic pro-life org-anisation"] said the Rio +20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development held in Brazil recently failed to deliver what the population controllers wanted - a univer-sal 'right' to abortion.
"Obviously, the 'major fam-ily planning summit' in Lon-don which Mr Carr will at-tend, is a pathetic attempt to carry out the Rio + 20 agenda by a circuitous route, via friendly diplomats and gov-ernments, mainly in the West-ern world," he said.
Labels: contraception

4.2 "The British government is pledging to double its efforts on family planning, raising its spending from £90 million ($137 million) a year to £180 million."

http://www.smh.com.au/world/faith-in-contraception-puts-gates-on-collision-course-with-the-vatican-20120712-21yx7.html?skin=text-only

Labels: contraception

5. "The 2011 annual surveillance report into HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmissible infections in Australia, compiled by The Kirby Institute at the University of NSW" says that while "HIV transmission primarily occurred through sexual contact between men, about 25 per cent occurred through heterosexual contact."

http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/hiv-no-longer-means-certain-death-20120714-222rn.html?skin=text-only

Labels: G.L.B.T., H.I.V./A.I.D.S.

6. The text of an interview with Msgr. Di Noia

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/homepage/the-vatican/detail/articolo/society-of-st-pius-x-di-noia-16482/

(That came to my attention via this AQ post of it.)

Labels: Augustine Di Noia

7. Mr. Copland—"the political editor of ACT queer magazine FUSE" and "the convenor of the ACT Greens"—on "an ongoing problem with the queer movement where people[ such as polyamorists] who don’t fit into the mainstream queer mould are being excluded from the debate, with claims that they are ruining our chances to reach equality"

http://www.starobserver.com.au/opinion/soapbox-opinion/2012/06/14/we-need-to-return-to-our-liberation-roots/79005

(That came to my attention via this Australian article.)

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

8. The Statement, given at Ecône, on July 14, 2012, of the General Chapter of The Society of St. Pius X. to Rome

http://www.dici.org/en/news/society-of-st-pius-x-general-chapter-statement/

The Statement has also been posted on the "Announcements" page of the S.S.P.X.'s District of Australia website.

Labels: S.S.P.X.

9. Dr. Feser on, among other things, how he "came to see that existing naturalistic accounts of language and meaning were no good"

http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/road-from-atheism.html

See also this interview with Dr. Feser, which came to my attention via the version published as "New Atheism 'is devoid of moral, intellectual merit'", "A conversation with Dr Edward Feser, university professor, author, philosopher and former atheist", by Damir Govorcin, on pp. 11 f. in the "Connections" section of the Sydney Catholic Weekly, Vol. 71, No. 4631, July 22, 2012.

Labels: languages

10. "Men work twice as long as women in paid employment; women work twice as long as men in unpaid employment at home."

http://www.smh.com.au/national/statistics-confirm-its-still-a-mans-world-20120727-22zki.html?skin=text-only

(That article came to my attention via the version published as "Statistics confirm it's still a man's world", by Tim Colebatch "with Andrew Stevenson", p. 10, "News" section, The Sydney Morning Herald, Weekend Edition, July 28-29, 2012, No. 54542, ISSN 0312-6315.)

Presuambly the source for the quotation in that headline is ultimately the "Engagement in work (employment related and unpaid)" page at the website of The Australian Bureau of Statistics (A.B.S.), where it says that
While in 2006 males spent nearly twice as long as females on employment related activities, females on average spent nearly double the time spent by males on primary activities associated with unpaid work.
and proximately the A.B.S.'s media release "Men fare worse than women in education, health and crime", July 27, 2012, which has a link to the "Gender Indicators" page, which in turn has a link to a "Time use" page (in the context of "Work and Family Balance"), where there is a link to the ultimate source.

Labels: work

11. Mr. Creighton on the intentions of the Federal Government's childcare policies:
JUDGED by its intentions, the Australian government's childcare policies are superb.

"Gone are the days when this sector was considered a babysitting service," trumpeted Childcare Minister Kate Ellis this week, as she foreshadowed $22.3 billion of spending on early childhood services over the next four years.

[… ]According to the federal government, that money aims to ensure "nurturing, culturally appropriate, safe and socially inclusive" care for children in "approved childcare services", whose parents in turn enjoy "workforce participation choices".

[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/broken-puzzle-of-childcare/story-fn59niix-1226431226541]
(That article came to my attention via its publication under the same headline ("Broken puzzle of childcare"), by the same author (Adam Creighton), on p. 15 in the "Inquirer" section of The Weekend Australian, Second Edition, No. 14866, ISSN 1038-8761, July 21-22, 2012, published by Nationwide News Pty. Limited.)

Labels: childcare

12. Mr. Unwin on historical Masonic influence in Manitoba, Canada:
I spend my final evening creeping through the corridors of the Manitoba Legislative Building. Built between 1913 and 1920 by British architect Frank Worthington Simon, this grand edifice is the ultimate monument to Winnipeg's good times. My guide is local author Frank Albo, whose bestselling Hermetic Code unlocks a world of occult mystery smuggled into the architecture.

"Everything is hidden in plain view," he tells our wide-eyed tour group as he reveals Masonic codes, hieroglyphic inscriptions and an intriguing hotchpotch of Christian and pagan symbolism.

Manitoba's legislators (all Freemasons, it turns out) believed they were reconstructing nothing less than Solomon's Temple amid the prairies. It's gripping stuff. But what really catches my eye are the two magnificent stone bison either side of the great marble steps to the upper chamber - a Manitoban take on the totemic wild boars of classical temples.

[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/travel/holiday-at-the-heart/story-e6frg8rf-1226430230929]
(That article came to my attention via the version published under the same headline ("Holiday at the heart"), by the same author (Mike Unwin), on p. 8 of the "Travel & Indulgence" supplement of The Weekend Australian, Second Edition, No. 14866, ISSN 1038-8761, July 21-22, 2012, published by Nationwide News Pty. Limited.)

Labels: Freemasons

13. "A study published in medical journal Psychosomatic Medicine found mums and dads were 52 per cent less likely to catch a cold compared to those couples without children", "[a]nd the bigger the family, the better mum and dad's odds of staying healthy, research by Carnegie Mellon University found."

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/parents-less-likely-to-catch-their-childs-cold/story-e6freuy9-1226422949125

(That article came to my attention via the version published under the same headline ("Parents less likely to catch their child's cold"), by the same authors (Lisa Power and Samantha Malagre), on p. 07 of the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Vol. 1, No. 2589, ISSN 1038-8745, Wednesday, July 11, 2012, published by Nationwide News Pty. Ltd.)

Labels: families, health

14. "Secret minutes of a meeting on June 30 also revealed that the leadership of the Australian Young Greens party wanted to push for a public debate on polyamorous marriage, which allows people to have several wives or husbands."

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/greens-caught-recruiting-youth-on-refugee-issue/story-fnejm6bt-1226423536728

(That article came to my attention via the version published under the headline "Greens use refugees as lure", by the same author (Simon Benson), on p. 11 of the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Vol. 1, No. 2589, ISSN 1038-8745, Wednesday, July 11, 2012, published by Nationwide News Pty. Ltd.)

Labels: Greens, polyamory

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Confessor, A.D. 2012

Monday, July 16, 2012

Notes: Tuesday, June 26-Monday, July 16, 2012 (part 2 of 2)

14. On July 5, 2012, H.M. The Queen installed H.R.H. The Duke of Cambridge as a(n Extra, or Royal) Knight of the Thistle

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/prince-william-made-a-knight-of-the-thistle/story-fnddckzi-1226418553981

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/prince-william/9378595/Queen-makes-Prince-William-Knight-of-the-Thistle.html

http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/newsandgallery/news/the_duke_of_cambridge_is_installed_as_a_knight_of_the_order__1146487589.html

See also the Court Circular of that date.

July 5 was the date of His Royal Highness's installation as a Knight of the Thistle, but May 29, 2012 was the date of Her Majesty's appointment of The Earl of Strathearn (as His Royal Highness is known when in Scotland) to the Order.

(The installation came to my attention via the publication of a photo with a three-line caption and the heading "Another feather in the cap for royals" on p. 31 in the "WORLD" section of the Sydney Daily Telegraph of Friday, July 6, 2012, Vol. 1, No. 2585, ISSN 1038-8745.)

Labels: Order of the Thistle, William Wales

15. The Directoire "sent Napoleon to conquer Egypt. … The most enduring result of the Egyptian adventure was the enormous impetus it gave to modern Egyptology … and the fashion for Egyptian designs, which became an important component of the Empire style."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/napoleonic-adventures-at-the-national-gallery-of-victoria/story-fn9n8gph-1226417034133

(That article came to my attention via its publication as "Napoleonic adventures", Christopher Allen's review of the "Napoleon: Revolution to Empire" exhibit at The National Gallery of Victoria, on pp. 11-13 of the "VISUAL ARTS" section of the "review" supplement in The Weekend Australian, July 7-8, 2012, Second Edition, No. 14854, ISSN 1038-8761; the quotation was on p. 12.)

Labels: Egypt, Napoleonic Empire

16. "it appears that most jurisdictions that have legislated for gay marriage have first provided for civil unions, including the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Norway and Canada."

http://www.smh.com.au/national/its-all-about-commitment-20120706-21lxv.html?skin=text-only

(That article came to my attention via its publication as "THE ESSAY", under the heading "It's all about commitment", by The Hon. Malcolm Turnbull M.P., in the "News Review" supplement, p. 13, The Sydney Morning Herald, Weekend Edition, July 7-8, 2012, No. 54524, ISSN 0312-6315.)

Labels: civil unions

17. "In the 1980s, Australian state and territory governments began amending legislation to provide de facto couples with similar rights to married couples, and from the end of the 90s they began to extend these rights to same-sex de facto couples to remove discrimination based on sexual orientation in relationships."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/children-the-victims-in-minefield-of-same-sex-marriage-breakdowns/story-fn8v83qk-1226403491438

Labels: law

18. "Families do their own planning"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/families-do-their-own-planning/story-fnbkvnk7-1226414994128

Labels: contraception

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, A.D. 2012

Notes: Tuesday, June 26-Monday, July 16, 2012 (part 1 of 2)

1. Some facts and figures regarding paid parental leave

"Paid parental leave and flexible working paying dividends for employers", a media release dated June 19, 2012 from Diversity Council Australia, available for download from this web-page:

http://www.dca.org.au/News/All/Paid-parental-leave-and-flexible-working-paying-dividends-for-employers/267

(That research came to my attention via an article entitled "Parental leave boosts retention", with no byline, in a column headed "WORKOUT", p. 1, "Weekend Professional" section, "Weekend Professional" supplement, The Weekend Australian, June 23-24, 2012, First Edition, No. 14843, ISSN 1038-8761, apparently not available on-line.)

Labels: leave

2. "Australians may play it[, i.e., God Save The Queen] and sing it whenever they wish"

That quotation comes from a letter, by Sir David Smith K.C.V.O. A.O., under the heading "Our royal anthem", published at The Australian's website here:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/our-royal-anthem/story-fn558imw-1226405956092

(That letter came to my attention via its publication, under the same heading, on p. 23 ("Letters to the Editor"), "Commentary" section, "Inquirer" pages, The Weekend Australian, June 23-24, 2012, First Edition, No. 14843, ISSN 1038-8761.)

Labels: God Save The Queen

3. "The Catholic Herald’s Online Archive is ready to go!"

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2012/06/the-catholic-heralds-online-archive-is-ready-to-go/

Labels: media

4. "Women working longer hours 'have smaller babies'"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/women-working-longer-hours-have-smaller-babies/story-fnb64oi6-1226411078461

Labels: pregnancy, work

5. Some facts and figures, from the 2011 Census, on "Same-sex Couple Families"

http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/2071.0main+features852012-2013

(That came to my attention via the comment of 2.7.12 / 4pm by one Peter Baade in the comments section of this post by Mr. Muehlenberg.)

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

6. "Homiletic and Pastoral Review online"

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2012/06/homiletic-and-pastoral-review-online/

Labels: media

7. The Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts was "created by John Paul II in 1988 to replace the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of the Decrees of the Second Vatican Council, created by Paul VI in 1967."

http://www.remnantnewspaper.com/Archives/2012-0615-ferrara-vatileaks.htm

(That article came to my attention via its posting at AQ here.)

Labels: Roman Curia

8. Ireland's "Minister for Justice Alan Shatter (FG) said it was possible that if a priest or a bishop was prosecuted under withholding of information legislation they might claim entitlement to some form of privilege. However, the legal basis for such a claim no longer held, as the special position of the Catholic church had been removed from the Constitution. If such a claim was based on freedom of religion, the courts might be called on to decide the issue."

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0613/1224317819220.html

(That article came to my attention via its posting at AQ here.)

See also

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2012/06/15/the-irish-government-is-going-to-make-it-a-criminal-offence-for-a-priest-not-to-tell-the-gardai-when-a-sex-offender-confesses-his-crime-i-say-bring-it-on/

(That article was highlighted here at Coo-ees and here at CathNews.)

Labels: Alan Shatter, Ireland, Sacraments

9. H.H. The Pope has appointed "Archbishop Joseph Augustine Di Noia, O.P., secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, as vice president of the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei"" and has appointed "Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Muller of Regensburg, Germany, as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and as president of the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei", of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and of the International Theological Commission, at the same time elevating him to the dignity of archbishop."

http://www.news.va/en/news/other-pontifical-acts-189

http://www.news.va/en/news/other-pontifical-acts-192

See here for some commentary by Fr. Roberts.

Labels: Roman Curia

10. "A Californian politician is pushing legislation to allow a child to have more than two parents."

http://www.smh.com.au/world/and-baby-makes-four-20120703-21fdk.html?skin=text-only

Labels: birth certificates

11. "A survey by pollster IFOP said gays in France make up 6.5 per cent of the electorate, compared with practising Cath-olics at 6.5 per cent."

I transcribed that quotation from the article "Freedom for French gays", no byline, on p. 21 in the "WORLD" section of the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Thursday, July 5, 2012, Vol. 1, No. 2584, ISSN 1038-8745. A longer version of that article is available here:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/france-to-allow-gay-couples-to-marry-and-adopt-children/story-fn6b3v4f-1226416737223

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

12. R.I.P. Mr. Abney-Hastings (The (14th) Earl of Loudoun)

http://www.smh.com.au/national/obituaries/the-jerilderie-man-who-could-have-been-king-20120705-21jwz.html?skin=text-only

Labels: Michael Abney-Hastings

13. "In the most recent ABS report on social trends, it was noted children are financially dependent on their parents until 24 in Australia."

That quotation comes from "[s]ocial researcher Mark McCrindle", quoted in the article "Techie teens are the biggest wallet strain", by Phil Jacob and Nathan Klein, dated June 29, 2012, downloaded from here:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/techie-teens-are-the-biggest-wallet-strain/story-e6freuy9-1226411559024

(That article came to my attention via its publication under the same heading and by the same authors on p. 09 of the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Friday, June 29, 2012, Vol. 1, No. 2579 (presumably, though I could find neither volume nor number stated in the paper), ISSN 1038-8745.)

Labels: demography, economics

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, A.D. 2012