Cardinal Pole's Blog on Church and State

Notes: Thursday, January 12-Tuesday, January 17, 2012

2012-01-17T01:46:00.008+11:00

1. More Modernism from Dr. Elmer?

Ultimately, the scriptures are not straight-forward historical and objective texts that yield reliable information akin to say a police crime report or a thoroughly researched documentary on current events. Ultimately the Gospels specifically and the Bible generally are the products of faith communities that have preserved, augmented and passed on these stories as relevant to their lived faith experience. …
[…] I agree with Johnson’s view that the only “real Jesus” is not the one found in history books, but “he” who we encounter in the lived and living traditions of the community of faith. …
[http://scecclesia.com/?p=6111&cpage=1#comment-27258]

Labels: Ian Elmer, modernism, Scripture, theology

2. H.H. The Pope on how, according to His Holiness, "[a]t the Last Supper, with its overtones of the Passover and the commemoration of Israel’s liberation, Jesus’ prayer echoes the Hebrew berakah"

General Audience of Wednesday, January 11, 2012
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2012/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20120111_en.html

"THE PRAYER OF JESUS AT THE LAST SUPPER"
VIS 20120111 (880)
http://www.news.va/en/news/the-prayer-of-jesus-at-the-last-supper

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, Jews, liturgy, Scripture, theology

3. More from Msgr. Williamson on the State's religious duties

Eleison Comments Number CCXXXV (235), January 14, 2012, "STATE RELIGION? III",
http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40390

(In posting "STATE RELIGION? III" at AQ, the poster omitted the following formatting of the e-mail version:

In the second paragraph: The text from the start of the paragraph up to, but not including, the word "Answer" was italicised in the e-mail, and the "not" in "Our Lord is not here separating Church from State" and the "social beings" in "what they owe to him as social beings, namely" were underlined.

In the third paragraph: The text from the start of the paragraph up to, but not including, the word "Answer" was italicised in the e-mail, and the words "cannot" and "will not" in "that is not because its citizens cannot discern, but because for a variety of reasons they will not, or do not" was underlined.

In the fourth paragraph: The text from the start of the paragraph up to, but not including, "It is for the glory of God" was italicised in the e-mail.

There were also "Â"s distributed here and there throughout the e-mail version, but presumably that was just a typographical problem.)

Labels: Church and State, Confessional State, morality, political science, theology

4. "Italian bishop suggests registration of civil unions, not same-sex marriage"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40381

Labels: civil unions, Paolo Urso

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Anthony, Abbot, A.D. 2012

Notes: Some previously-unpublished items from 2011 (part 2 of 2)

2012-01-17T01:27:00.002+11:00

4. Dr. McGavin on the "pastoral function" of "Magisterial teaching" in the thought of Benedict XVI.:

… The present Holy Father when Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith treats the issue of ["discriminating the grades of ["Magisterial"] teaching"], and questioningly instances particular aspects of the anti-Modernist decisions of the Church (implicitly involving the decisions of Pope St Pius X. He speaks of their having fulfilled their pastoral function in the situation of their time. On this, see particularly page 106 in his volume The Nature and Mission of Theology (Ignatius Press San Francisco, 1995), where he speaks of applications of the principles that he develops in that book.
["Not ‘dead wrong’", a letter by The Rev. Dr. P. A. McGavin, from the Sydney Catholic Weekly of November 6, 2011, downloaded from The Catholic Weekly's website:
http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/article.php?classID=2&subclassID=5&articleID=9266&class=Comment&subclass=Letters]

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, Magisterium, modernism, theology

5. "Benedict XVI to Further Alter 1962 Missal"

http://mauricepinay.blogspot.com/2011/10/benedict-xvi-to-further-alter-1962.html

(See also item 2 of this edition of Notes.)

Labels: liturgy, Roman Curia, T.L.M.

6. "Families-- not autonomous individuals-- are basic units of society, Pope writes"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39659

"UNEMPLOYMENT UNDERMINES HUMAN DIGNITY"
VIS 20111110 (590)
http://www.news.va/en/news/unemployment-undermines-human-dignity

Message on the occasion of the Second National Family Conference [Ecuador, 9-12 November 2011] (1 November 2011):
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/pont-messages/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20111101_familia-ecuador_en.html

Labels: families, political science

7. "POPE SENDS GREETINGS TO CHIEF RABBI FOR ROSH HASHANAH"

"POPE SENDS GREETINGS TO CHIEF RABBI FOR ROSH HASHANAH"
VIS 20110929 (150)
http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-sends-greetings-to-chief-rabbi-for-rosh-hasha

http://mauricepinay.blogspot.com/2011/10/pope-greets-his-brother-rabbis-for.html

(See also the item headed "The Old Law: A bringer of blessings, or a bringer of death?" at the following post:
http://cardinalpole.blogspot.com/2010/09/on-some-recents-pronouncements-by-hh.html)

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, Jews, theology

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Anthony, Abbot, A.D. 2012

Notes: Some previously-unpublished items from 2011 (part 1 of 2)

2012-01-17T00:53:00.011+11:00

In no particular order:

1. "HUMANITAS MAGAZINE TO HAVE ENGLISH-LANGUAGE EDITION"

"HUMANITAS MAGAZINE TO HAVE ENGLISH-LANGUAGE EDITION"
VIS 20111129 (280)
http://www.news.va/en/news/humanitas-magazine-to-have-english-language-editio

This is the linked U.R.L. for Humanitas Review's website:

http://www.humanitas.cl/

Of particular interest in the first issue of Humanitas Review is the posthumous contribution on pp. 27-41 by His late Eminence Avery Robert, Cardinal Dulles S.J. on Bl. John Paul II. and Dignitatis humanæ (though you might be familiar with the content of that contribution already, since that contribution is based, according to footnote 21, on a lecture given at Oxford University under the sponsorship of the Becket Fund on October 26, 2000).

Labels: Church and State, Confessional State, Dignitatis Humanæ, John Paul II. Wojtyla, religious liberty

2. Some points of interest from a recent AD2000 article on Russia:

[…] In early July this year, the Russian Orthodox Church declared it was against becoming the state religion: "The Moscow Patriarchate's position on what relations between the state and the Church should be is invariable. We do not want the Church to become part of the state apparatus, state machinery, to assume secular functions," Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations, said.

He was commenting on a poll conducted by the Sreda Agency along with the Public Opinion foundation, of 1,500 people across 44 Russian regions, 100 towns and villages. According to the poll, 30% of Russians want Orthodoxy to become the state religion, 48% are against it and 23% did not have an opinion.

[…] According to Russia's census, the country's population plummeted by more than 12 million between 1992 and 2008, and stands at around 143 million today. Legalised abortion has accounted for a significant part of that drop, with some 1.5 million abortions reported in the country in 2007 - nearly the same as the number of children born in that year. Unofficial estimates indicate that there are nearly four million abortions per year in Russia yet only 1.7 million live births. The UN has predicted that by 2050 the Russian population will have dipped to 116 million. Russia's population will not be able to support its elderly citizens and the nation faces an acute worker shortage.

[…] WCF [World Congress of Families] Managing Director, Larry Jacobs, noted the Summit was coming at a crucial time. "It's not Russia alone that's experiencing demographic winter," Jacobs observed. "Worldwide, birthrates have declined by more than 50% since the late 1960s. By the year 2050, there will be 248 million fewer children under five years of age in the world than there are today. This birth dearth will be one of the greatest challenges confronting humanity in the 21st century," he said.

[…] A member of the Duma (Russia's parliament) Viktor Zvagelsky, said ads for abortion had made "young girls believe they won't have any problems interrupting a pregnancy." Another Duma member, Valery Draganov, said the "number of abortions in our country reaches six to eight million a year. Every minute, two abortions are carried out in Russia. Due to botched abortions, 20 percent of families lose the ability to become parents. One in every five pregnant women who dies, dies as a result of abortion. These are catastrophic statistics."

[…] Russian lawmakers have now passed a bill requiring all abortion advertisements to carry health warnings. Under this law, passed by the the Duma in early July, ten percent of the space used in abortion ads must carry a list of possible negative consequences for women, including infertility. The bill also stipulates that mothers who don't want to keep their babies will be able to leave their newborn children anonymously in special adoption centres.

Russia's upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, followed the Duma in approving the measure and President Dmitry Medvedev signed the legislation into law in mid-July.

[…] One of Russia's most visible pro-life leaders, is Svetlana Medvedeva, wife of Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev. At a "Sanctity of Motherhood" forum last year Mrs Medvedeva spoke about the "rights of a child to life," and about the "general lack of support" that usually drove women to "artificial termination of pregnancy."

[…] In a recent speech, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin pledged to raise the nation's birthrate by up to 30% in just three years. Putin's plan calls for spending the equivalent of $53 billion to encourage Russian families to have more children. But Larry Jacobs says that more than cash incentives and government benefits will be needed to raise Russia's well below replacement birth rate. Family & Demography Foundation, which represents the World Congress of Families in Russia, and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) has announced the launch of its latest project: The Life-Family Medical Centers Network. These will be opened in all of the major cities in Russia and the CIS.
[My square-bracketed interpolations, everything else as in the original,
"Glimpses of a new dawn in Russia", by Babette Francis, from the September 2011 issue of AD2000, downloaded from the AD2000 website:
http://www.ad2000.com.au/articles/2011/sep2011p8_3606.html]

Labels: abortion, Church and State, Confessional State, demography, R.O.C., Russia, Vladimir Putin

3. Fr. Harrison on God's creation of Eve

"Old or young earth?", a letter by The Rev. Fr. Brian Harrison O.S., from the October 2011 issue of AD2000, available on-line here:
http://www.ad2000.com.au/articles/2011/oct2011p14_3634.html

"First Parents", a letter by The Rev. Fr. Brian Harrison O.S., from the November 2011 issue of AD2000, available on-line here:
http://www.ad2000.com.au/articles/2011/nov2011p13_3657.html

"DID WOMAN EVOLVE FROM THE BEASTS?[:] A DEFENCE OF TRADITIONAL CATHOLIC DOCTRINE - PART I", by The Rev. Fr. Brian Harrison O.S., in Living Tradtion, No. 97, January 2002
http://www.rtforum.org/lt/lt97.html

"DID WOMAN EVOLVE FROM THE BEASTS?[:] A DEFENCE OF TRADITIONAL CATHOLIC DOCTRINE - PART II", by The Rev. Fr. Brian Harrison O.S., in Living Tradtion, No. 98, March 2002
http://www.rtforum.org/lt/lt98.html

I was glad to see that there was someone else who agreed with me that "we must necessarily admit the special creation of … Eve" (source). For convenience, here are Fr. Harrison's sources, taken from those two letters to AD2000, for his contention:

the Profession of Faith of Pope Pelagius I., DS 443, Dz. 228a, available here:
http://www.catecheticsonline.com/SourcesofDogma3.php

the Profession of Faith of The Ecumenical Council of Vienne, DS 901, Dz. 480, available here:
http://www.catecheticsonline.com/SourcesofDogma5.php

the Encyclical Letter Arcanum, Leo XIII., A.D. 1880, available in English here:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_10021880_arcanum_en.html
and in the original Latin, from the Acta Sanctae Sedis, 12, 1879-1880, p. 386, available here:
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ass/documents/ASS%2012%20[1879]%20-%20ocr.pdf

the Response of the Biblical Commission, June 30, 1909, to Question III, Dz. 2123, available here:
http://www.catecheticsonline.com/SourcesofDogma22.php

I Cor. 11:8, 12

Labels: Adam (Patriarch), Creation, theology

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Anthony, Abbot, A.D. 2012

Notice regarding changes to this blog's lay-out

2012-01-12T01:53:00.004+11:00

This post is just to point out that I have finally got round to making some changes to this blog's lay-out. (I have saved in a Notepad document the html text of the old lay-out, so if there's something from it which you want but which is not in the new lay-out, then let me know and I can e-mail it to you.)

Reginaldvs Cantvar
12.I.2012

Notes: Wednesday, December 21, 2011-Wednesday, January 11, 2012 (part 2 of 2)

2012-01-11T01:43:00.004+11:00

8. H.H. The Pope's homily at a Mass on the 2012 World Day of Peace (January 1): In at least one respect, a vast improvement on His Holiness's Message ("Religious Freedom, the Path to Peace") for the celebration of the 2011 World Day of Peace:

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2012/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20120101_world-day-peace_en.html

(That homily came to my attention via this item in a recent edition of the Vatican Information Service's (V.I.S.'s) daily e-mail bulletin:

"IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATING YOUNG PEOPLE IN JUSTICE AND PEACE"
VIS 20120102 (1090)
http://www.news.va/en/news/importance-of-educating-young-people-in-justice-an

See also this V.I.S. daily e-mail bulletin item:

"ANGELUS: PRAYING THAT THE NEW YEAR MAY BE A TIME OF PEACE"
VIS 20120102 (440)
http://www.news.va/en/news/angelus-praying-that-the-new-year-may-be-a-time-of)

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, religious liberty

9. On the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011

9.1 "ALL new laws will be checked to see whether they stack up against Australia's human rights commitments, after Attorney-General Nicola Roxon declared the sharper focus on rights would ensure legislation lived up to the nation's obligations"

"Laws to face human rights check", by Patricia Karvelas, dated January 4, 2012, downloaded from The Australian's website:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/laws-to-face-human-rights-check/story-fn59niix-1226235954400

Labels: Bill of Rights, human rights

9.2 Two editorials in The Australian:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/the-case-for-trusting-the-judgment-of-parliament/story-e6frg71x-1226236809315

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/the-right-to-common-sense/story-e6frg71x-1226237750214

Labels: Bill of Rights, human rights

9.3 In relation to the so-called Malaysia Solution:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/the-malaysia-solution-ducks-rights-scrutiny/story-fn9hm1gu-1226236845046

Labels: Bill of Rights, human rights

10. A major new initiative for propagating the teachings of Vatican II

"Note with pastoral recommendations for the Year of Faith", from the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, dated January 6, 2012:
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20120106_nota-anno-fede_en.html

See here for the accompanying "Communiqué on the Note of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with pastoral recommendations for the Year of Faith".

(The web-page for the text of the Note came to my attention via this post by Terra; originally, the Note came to my attention via the following V.I.S. e-mail bulletin items:

"PASTORAL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE YEAR OF FAITH"
VIS 20120105 (770)
http://www.news.va/en/news/pastoral-recommendations-for-the-year-of-faith

"PASTORAL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE YEAR OF FAITH"
VIS 20120107 (1430)
http://www.news.va/en/news/pastoral-recommendations-for-the-year-of-faith-2)

Labels: C.E.C., Roman Curia, Vatican II

11. "[Catholics and others] will either have to change their views [on marriage] or be treated in the same way that white supremacists and the segregationist Senators were treated"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40323

Labels: discrimination, G.L.B.T., marriage, religious liberty

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Hyginus, Pope, Martyr, A.D. 2012

Notes: Wednesday, December 21, 2011-Wednesday, January 11, 2012 (part 1 of 2)

2012-01-11T01:25:00.007+11:00

Firstly, let me say that I hope that you had a merry Christmas and are having a happy New Year.

1. Some recent data on the respective ages of Australian women who have given birth:

[The] experience of [an Australian woman] having her first baby after the age of 35 is increasingly common, new Australian Institute of Health and Welfare figures show, with the number of first-time mothers aged 35+ rising from 10.3 per cent in 2000 to 13.7 per cent in 2009 (the most recent year of data).

The report, Australia's mothers and babies 2009, released today, shows the average age of women who gave birth reaching 30 years, up from 29 in 2000.

"The proportion of mothers aged 35 and over also continues to rise -- up from 17.1 per cent in 2000 to 22.8 per cent in 2009," AIHW national perinatal epidemiology and statistics unit spokeswoman Elizabeth Sullivan said. "And mothers aged 40 and over made up 4 per cent of women giving birth in 2009 compared with 2.6 per cent in 2000."
["Happy to labour later in life, first-time mums push the age barrier", by Stephen Lunn, dated December 21, 2011, downloaded from The Australian's website:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/happy-to-labour-later-in-life-first-time-mums-push-the-age-barrier/story-e6frg8y6-1226227102521]

Labels: demography, families

2. "A woman has died from a failed legal abortion in Australia"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40166

http://australiaincognita.blogspot.com/2011/12/another-woman-dies-after-melbourne.html

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/12/22/abortion-hurts-women-not-to-mention-babies

Labels: abortion

3. "[Australian p]sychologists urge support of gay marriage as beneficial to mental health"

"Psychologists urge support of gay marriage as beneficial to mental health", by Milanda Rout, dated December 23, 2011, downloaded from The Australian's website:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/psychologists-urge-support-of-gay-marriage-as-beneficial-to-mental-health/story-e6frg8y6-1226228887945

Labels: A.P.S., G.L.B.T., marriage, mental health

4. "Navy rumour"

http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/more-work-not-higher-fares-will-solve-problem-20111229-1pe6y.html?skin=text-only

(That letter, of December 30, 2011, was a rejoinder to a letter published here under the heading "Under the carpet"; date: December 29, 2011.)

Labels: A.D.F., G.L.B.T.

5. Prof. Freddoso's (incomplete) translation of St. Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica:

http://www.nd.edu/~afreddos/summa-translation/TOC.htm

(That came to my attention via one of the Christmas presents which I received, namely the book Just the Arguments; this is its website.)

Labels: philosophy, St. Thomas Aquinas, theology

6. Fr. Gleize on the teachings of Vatican II

http://www.dici.org/en/documents/debate-about-vatican-ii-fr-gleize-responds-to-msgr-ocariz/

(If I recall correctly, that came to my attention via a recent issue of the e-mail newsletter of the S.S.P.X.'s U.S. District.)

Labels: Vatican II

7. Together At One Altar—"a resource for school aged children in years F-12 in Australia to develop their formation in the Eucharist and assist their full, active and conscious participation in the Eucharist":

http://www.togetheratonealtar.catholic.edu.au/index.cfm

(That came to my attention via this post at Terra's blog.)

Labels: liturgy, theology, Together At One Altar

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Hyginus, Pope, Martyr, A.D. 2012

Notes: Wednesday, December 7-Tuesday, December 20, 2011

2011-12-20T02:08:00.005+11:00

1. "If present trends continue, Europe and Japan will lose half their population by the end of the century"

http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/article.php?classID=3&subclassID=7&articleID=9327&class=Features&subclass=Cardinal's Comment

Labels: demography

2. Several web-pages on or relating to a recent development in U.S. foreign policy

2.1 "US ready to push for gay rights abroad"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/obama-warns-world-against-gay-and-lesbian-discrimination/story-e6frg6so-1226215897814

http://www.smh.com.au/world/us-ready-to-push-for-gay-rights-abroad-20111207-1ojak.html?skin=text-only

http://www.smh.com.au/world/rights-of-gays-to-figure-in-us-foreign-aid-20111207-1oj4l.html?skin=text-only

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40020

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/12/09/obama-the-real-ugly-american/

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/12/06/presidential-memorandum-international-initiatives-advance-human-rights-l

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40069

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/12/14/yet-another-ugly-american/

Labels: G.L.B.T., human rights, U.S.A.

2.2 "Nigeria’s bishops praise ban on public expression of homosexuality"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40081

Labels: G.L.B.T., Hierarchy, Nigeria

2.3 "[U.S.] Senate blocks El Salvador ambassador over homosexual-rights advocacy"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40099

Labels: G.L.B.T., U.S.A.

3. On two recent court cases involving polyamory:

Two court cases, one in Canada last month and one in Australia earlier in the year, show that while British-based law remains resolute against multiple partner marriage, it accepts that a common law threesome is not illegal or even necessarily family-unfriendly.

In the Canadian case, British Columbia Chief Justice Robert Bauman upheld Canada's anti-polygamy law, but left polyamorous families free from sanction if they do not commit an overt act of multiple marriage.

The Australian case involved a man whose wife had left him for another man and a woman, and taken the children. When the trio set up house together, mingled their respective offspring, and shared the same bedroom, the jilted husband applied to the court seeking an urgent order that the children be removed from the "immoral" household.

But magistrate Philip Burchardt rejected the application, saying the threesome seemed to be "thoroughly decent and honest people" and "I do not regard the relationship . . . as being damaging to the children."
[ellipsis in the original,
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/three-in-marriage-bed-more-of-a-good-thing/story-e6frg6z6-1226218569577]

(See here for Mr. Muehlenberg's reaction to that Weekend Australian article.)

Labels: families, marriage, polyamory

4. "Under a new policy approved by Pope Benedict XVI, the heads of other Roman dicasteries who wish to apply to the Pontiff for "special faculties" to handle problems outside the normal processes of canon law must apply through the Secretary of State, rather than appealing directly to the Pope"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40051

You can read the relevant Rescript, in its original Italian, on pp. 127-128 (pp. 41-42 of your browser) of the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, here.

Labels: Roman Curia

5. "[Catholic] School forced to take same-sex couple's daughter"

http://www.smh.com.au/national/school-forced-to-take-samesex-daughter-20111214-1ou92.html?skin=text-only

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/senior-bishop-orders-school-to-reverse-ban/story-e6frg6so-1226221684482

Related coverage:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/school-rejects-daughter-of-same-sex-couple/story-e6frg6nf-1226221339567

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40072

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=29441

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=29456

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=29483

http://coo-eesfromthecloister.blogspot.com/2011/12/bishop-lesbians-and-poor-little-child.html

http://australiaincognita.blogspot.com/2011/12/holy-father-please-terminate-mandate-of.html

http://australiaincognita.blogspot.com/2011/12/campaign-to-abolish-religious.html

Labels: Catholic schools, G.L.B.T.

6. Dr. Arndt on the inadequacies of research findings which purport to show that children in the custody of same-sex couples do at least as well as those of opposite-sex ones:

It has never made sense that gay parents complain of prejudice and exclusion and in the same breath propose their children are suffering no adverse consequences. In fact, in recent years the research allegedly supporting these rosy claims has come under scrutiny and found to be sorely lacking.

"The methods are so flawed that these studies prove nothing," say Robert Lerner and Althea Nagai, experts in qualitative analysis.

"Not a single one of these studies was conducted according to generally accepted standards of scientific research," concludes sociology professor Steven Nock.

Most of the scholarship on gay parenting is conducted by researchers sympathetic to gay concerns and fails to include proper controls, relies on very small samples and uses unreliable or invalid measures.

The reality is that while resilient children may do well despite the prejudice many encounter, others have a hard time.
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/prejudice-can-make-life-miserable-for-children-with-same-sex-parents/story-e6frgd0x-1226223351222]

I include the first and last sentences of that quotation in order not to seem to suggest that Dr. Arndt questions the findings because she thinks that same-sex 'parenting' is innately inferior to opposite-sex parenting; apparently, Dr. Arndt would attribute disadvantage experienced by children in the custody of same-sex couples relative to those of opposite-sex ones to 'discrimination', 'prejudice', 'homophobia', 'exclusion', the usual buzzwords.

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

7. "JAY Weatherill[, the South Australian Premier,] has backed a push by a gay MP on his frontbench to allow same-sex couples to access IVF in South Australia"

And a "new law will at last give de facto lesbian couples in South Australia the same rights as others to be formally recognised as co-parents and ensure their child has two legal parents":

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/weatherill-backs-ivf-for-gays/story-e6frgczx-1226223400827

Labels: birth certificates, G.L.B.T., I.V.F., S.A.

8. "The Irish Government is now issuing the certificates to applicants who can prove their Irish ancestry"

http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/article.php?classID=1&subclassID=3&articleID=9314&class=News&subclass=CW World

This is the website of that initiative:

http://www.heritagecertificate.ie/

Labels: Ireland

9. The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference's (A.C.B.C.'s) Media Blog has, apparently, been officially launched

Here is its U.R.L.:

http://www.catholic.org.au/mediablog/

I say "apparently", judging by a recent article in the Sydney Catholic Weekly which provided a round-up of the acts of the recent A.C.B.C. plenary but which does not seem to be available on-line; the Media Blog has been on-line for some time now, so I presume that what occured at the plenary was its official launch.

Labels: A.C.B.C., blogs

10. Mr. DeLano has a blog:

http://magisterialfundies.blogspot.com/

(That came to my attention via this comment at Fr. Zuhlsdorf's blog.)

Labels: blogs

Reginaldvs Cantvar
20.XII.2011

Notes: Wednesday, November 30-Tuesday, December 6, 2011 (part 2 of 2)

2011-12-06T17:23:00.002+11:00

2. Msgr. Williamson on the State's duties regarding Christ the King

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39882

Labels: Church and State, Confessional State, morality, political science, Social Reign of Christ

3. H.H. The Pope on the death penalty

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=29060

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1104679.htm

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20111130_en.html

"ENCOURAGING INITIATIVES TO ELIMINATE THE DEATH PENALTY"
VIS 20111130 (290)

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, death penalty

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Nicholas, Bishop, Confessor, A.D. 2011

Notes: Wednesday, November 30-Tuesday, December 6, 2011 (part 1 of 2)

2011-12-06T17:09:00.004+11:00

1. Several recent articles on or relating to so-called Gay marriage

1.1 Dr. Walter on conscience votes and religion in politics

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/conscience-votes-corrupt-our-political-system-20111129-1o4tr.html?skin=text-only

I would like to write a rebuttal of that article but I don't have time, so I just want to consider one point here: Dr. Walter concludes by writing that "to judge legislation according to the requirements of religious belief is to avoid the discipline of public life, and we should loudly and clearly call this abuse of office". Now, how does Dr. Walter propose to remedy that "abuse" if the politician is, say, a Catholic who takes seriously the teaching of St. Pius X. in §24 of Pascendi?

Labels: Church and State, morality, secularism

1.2 Prof. Gaita on so-called Gay marriage

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/to-reject-gay-marriage-is-to-be-blind-to-our-common-humanity-20111130-1o6v7.html?skin=text-only

I log that as an example of the befuddlement which afflicts even the more learned advocates of so-called Gay marriage.

Labels: G.L.B.T., marriage, morality

1.3 "the Queensland parliament last [week] passed a bill that legalised civil unions for same-sex couples"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/alp-conference-set-to-endorse-same-sex-marriage/story-fnba0rxe-1226210968062

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/queensland-has-passed-a-bill-allowing-civil-unions-but-some-labor-mps-are-calling-for-gay-marriage/story-e6frgczx-1226210962614

Labels: civil partnerships, G.L.B.T., Queensland

1.4 Msgr. Nichols on "civil partnerships"

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/11/the-archbisop-of-westminster-on-civil-unions/

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39895

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=29311

Labels: civil partnerships, G.L.B.T., marriage, morality, Vincent Nichols

1.5 "Labor voted overwhelmingly [last Saturday] to adopt marriage equality as its official policy - but granted a conscience vote to its MPs to avoid a damaging split"

http://www.smh.com.au/national/i-do-labor-to-gay-marriage-20111203-1ocpc.html?skin=text-only

Labels: Australian Labor, G.L.B.T., marriage

1.6 Mr. Wallace on the Gay lifestyle:

In demanding more money be spent on health for their community, Canadian gay activists have claimed that the system was homophobic in not taking into account: "lower life expectancy than the average Canadian, suicide, higher rates of substance abuse, depression, inadequate access to care and HIV-AIDS ... all kinds of health issues that are endemic to our community". No amount of sharp video promotion by GetUp! can make this lifestyle normal in light of its own facts.

The activists, of course, attributed all the negatives of the lifestyle to bullying or homophobia, including that a homosexual man has a life expectancy some 20 years less than the average male.

However the fact that he has 25-26 times the chance of contracting HIV compared with a heterosexual man must surely have more to do with it, as would the acknowledged higher incidence of drug abuse.

If our schools are concerned about discouraging smoking for its 7-10 year shortening of life, how can we in all honesty encourage a lifestyle for men that shortens it on average by double that? But promotion of the lifestyle this has become.
[ellipsis in the original,
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/its-wrong-to-promote-a-dangerous-lifestyle/story-e6frgd0x-1226212590213]

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

1.7 "Same sex adoption is not a game"

http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/same_sex_adoption_is_not_a_game

(That came to my attention via this Cath Pews post.)

Labels: families, G.L.B.T., morality

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Nicholas, Bishop, Confessor, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday, November 15-Tuesday, November 29, 2011

2011-11-29T01:10:00.005+11:00

1. The November 2011 issue of the Regina Coeli Report (from the United States District of the S.S.P.X.)

http://sspx.org/rcr_pdfs/2011_rcrs/november_2011_rcr.pdf

(I log that for its information on the 2011 Angelus Press Conference on the Kingship of Christ. It came to my attention via a recent edition of the S.S.P.X. U.S. District's e-mail update, to which you can subscribe at that District's website (see this blog's links section).)

Labels: Social Reign of Christ

2. "HUNDREDS of doctors have formed a coalition to support voluntary euthanasia and lobby state governments to decriminalise the practice"

http://www.westernadvocate.com.au/news/national/national/general/doctors-form-lobby-for-right-to-die-with-dignity/2356069.aspx

(That came to my attention via this CathNews page.)

Labels: euthanasia

3. The latest on Australian popular support for so-called Gay marriage

http://www.smh.com.au/national/voter-opinion-adds-weight-to-shift-in-marriage-policy-20111114-1nfkj.html?skin=text-only

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/australia-is-not-ready-to-say-we-do-to-gay-marriage-20111124-1nwy2.html?skin=text-only

In The Australian's editorial on some of those findings, that newspaper reminds us that it "believes that consenting adults should be free to make their own lifestyle choices". So why does it put the word "marriages", when writing of "unregistered polygamous … Sharia "marriages" among Muslims", in inverted commas when, in line with its aforementioned belief, it does not do likewise for so-called Gay/same-sex marriage?

Labels: Australian, G.L.B.T., Islam, marriage

4. "Purgatory in Scripture: New Developments"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39762

Labels: Purgatory, Scripture, theology

5. Some recent findings on Australian demography

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/one-million-kids-wont-move-out-of-home/story-e6frg6nf-1226205401109

The findings which are of most interest to me are, in the order in which they appear in that article, that "[o]ver 6.3 million families were couples with children and 14 per cent were one-parent families", that "[o]ne million children or one in five of those aged 0-17 had a natural parent living outside the household", that "[i]n the 12 years since 1998 the percentage of couples with children in which both parents were employed increased from 56 per cent to 61 per cent", that "31.5 [is] now the median marrying age for men and 29.2 the median age for women", and that "[t]he median age of Australians is 37.6".

Labels: demography, families, marriage, work

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Saturninus, Martyr, A.D. 2011

Notes: Wednesday, November 9-Monday, November 14, 2011

2011-11-14T20:57:00.008+11:00

1. "Franco resisted bid by Paul VI to end role in naming bishops"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39637

According to the web-page to which that AQ thread-starter links,

In his letter, Paul VI recalled the Council’s appeal to governments to renounce their privilege in nominating bishops.
[http://www.osservatoreromano.va/portal/dt?JSPTabContainer.setSelected=JSPTabContainer%2FDetail&last=false=&path=/news/cultura/2011/258q11-A-Dio-quello-che---di-Dio.html&title=To%20God%20that%20which%20is%20God]

Would anyone care to let me know the Act of Vatican II in which the Council made that appeal? (I don't recall it being in Dignitatis humanæ, and I checked Lumen gentium, Gaudium et spes, and the Address of Paul VI., on behalf of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council, to "all those who hold temporal power" but couldn't find it in any of them.)

Labels: Church and State, Francisco Franco, Hierarchy, John Charles I. Borbón, Paul VI. Montini, Spain

2. "The proportion of IVF cycles resulting in a live baby remained at 17 per cent in 2009, the same as in 2005, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare"

http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/big-breakthrough-for-saving-tiny-lives-but-its-an-overseas-exclusive-20111110-1n9kj.html?skin=text-only

Labels: I.V.F.

3. Fr. Zuhlsdorf and Messrs. Magister and Keener on H.H. The Pope's apparent call, in Caritas in veritate, for a World State

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/11/more-on-the-one-world-government-white-paper-from-pont-council-for-justice-and-peace/#comment-305633

I do not find Mr. Magister's defence of the Holy Father's vision for the governance of globalisation convincing. The word "moderamen" is used once in Caritas in veritate, in §57:

Ne periculosa quaedam constituatur universalis potestas monocratici generis, globalizationis moderamen formam induere debet subsidiarietatis, diversis in gradibus ordinibusque dispositum, qui mutuo cooperentur.
[italics in the original,
AAS 101 [2009: 8], p. 693 (53 in Adobe),
http://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/2009/agosto%202009.pdf]

The Vatican website's English section has the following translation:

In order not to produce a dangerous universal power of a tyrannical nature, the governance of globalization must be marked by subsidiarity, articulated into several layers and involving different levels that can work together.
[italics in the original,
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20090629_caritas-in-veritate_en.html]

But the same logic would apply to ordinary, non-worldwide States; so for instance, in the case of several small States uniting into a Federation, one might say that 'in order not to produce a dangerous Federal power of a tyrannical nature, the governance of interaction between member States must be marked by subsidiarity, articulated into several layers and involving different levels that can work together'; subsidiarity is, after all, a requirement of any society which is made up of other, smaller societies.

Furthermore, keep in mind the rest of §67; the proposed "true world political authority" ("vera Auctoritas politica mundialis"—italics in the original) would "need to be universally recognized and to be vested with the effective power to ensure security for all, regard for justice, and respect for rights" ("Auctoritas sane haec ab omnibus est agnoscenda, quae reali potestate pollere debet, ut unicuique securitas, iustitiae observantia, iurium item tuitio praestentur") and would "have to have the authority to ensure compliance with its decisions from all parties, and also with the coordinated measures adopted in various international forums" ("facultate ipsa pollere debet suarum deliberationum observantiam sodalibus itemque simul disposita in internationalibus tribunalibus praecepta imperandi"). How is that anything other than a World State in all but name?

(Caritas in veritate in Latin is also available here.)

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, Caritas in veritate, political science

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Josaphat, Bishop, Martyr, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday, November 1-Tuesday, November 8, 2011 (part 2 of 2)

2011-11-08T00:20:00.004+11:00

6. "Kyrgyzstan returns to Kremlin fold"

IT is the only country that hosts both Russian and American military airbases.

But the first act of the new President of the highly strategic central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan, within hours of his election victory, has been to serve notice that Washington must leave its big supply and transit hub close to Bishkek, the capital.

[...] But there's another alarming element in Atambayev's decision - the extent to which Russia, skilfully using Putin's plans for a Eurasian Union, is again asserting itself in Central Asia, exerting influence over highly strategic recent converts to democracy such as Kyrgyzstan, enticing them back into the Kremlin's fold.
[bold type in the original
"Kyrgyzstan returns to Kremlin fold" by Bruce Loudon
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/kyrgyzstan-returns-to-kremlin-fold/story-e6frg6ux-1226187004545]

Labels: Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Vladimir Putin

7. "ADL Releases New Book On Pope John Paul II and His Historic Accomplishments in Catholic-Jewish Relations"

http://www.adl.org/PresRele/VaticanJewish_96/6150_96.htm

(That came to my attention via this AQ comment.)

Labels: A.D.L., Assisi III, inter-religious dialogue, Jews, John Paul II. Wojtyla

8. Mr. Baker on usury

http://www.superflumina.org/usury_1.html

Labels: economics, morality, usury

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of the Four Crowned Martyrs, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday, November 1-Tuesday, November 8, 2011 (part 1 of 2)

2011-11-08T00:04:00.004+11:00

1. "The [Jewish] organizations represented [at Assisi III] are: ... the Anti-Defamation League (Rabbi Eric Greenberg), B’nai B’rith International (David Michaels), ..."

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=422380#422380

(That quotation apparently comes from a report published before Assisi III got underway, strictly speaking, though I'm not aware of any cancellations other than the unrelated cancellation, on his own initiative, of A. C. Grayling.)

Labels: A.D.L., Assisi III, B'nai B'rith, Jews

2. "Pepsi Shareholders Demand It Stop Using Aborted Fetal Cells"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39467

Labels: abortion, Pepsi, Senomyx

3. H.H. The Pope on "healthy secularism", "freedom of worship", and religious education

His Holiness's speech of October 31, 2011 to the new Ambassador of Brazil to the Holy See is not yet available in English at the relevant Vatican web-page so I took the following quotation from VIS 20111031 (530), "BRAZIL: FRUITFUL COOPERATION BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE", an item in a recent edition of the Vatican Information Service's daily e-mail bulletin:

One important chapter of this "shared fertile history" was the agreement the Holy See and the Brazilian government signed in 2008, which "officially and juridically sealed the independence and collaboration of the two parties". In this context, the Pope also expressed the hope that the State would recognise that "healthy secularism must not consider religion as a mere individual sentiment, relegated to the private sphere, but as a reality which, being organised into visible structures, requires public recognition of its presence".

"It is therefore up to the State to ensure that all religious confessions enjoy freedom of worship, and the right to practice their cultural, educational and charitable activities, when these do not contrast with morality or public order", he said. ...

Benedict XVI identified a number of fields of mutual cooperation, including that of education in which the Church has "many institutions which enjoy prestigious recognition in society. The role of education cannot, in fact, be reduced to the mere transmission of knowledge and abilities for professional formation", he explained. "Rather it must comprehend all facets of the individual, from social factors to the longing for transcendence. We must, therefore, reiterate that the teaching of a particular religion in State schools, ... far from indicating that the State assumes or imposes a certain religious belief, is recognition of the fact that religion is an important value in the formation of the individual. ... Not only does this not prejudice the secularism of the State, it guarantees parents' rights to chose the education of their children, thus helping to promote the common good".
[all ellipses, except the one at the end of the second paragraph, in the original]

The State imposing Catholicism on those who were never Catholic is one thing, but what's wrong with the State assuming Catholicism?

(That speech was also reported at CathNews and AQ:

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=28834

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39563)

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, education, religious liberty, secularism

4. An interesting discussion on H.M. The Queen's authority in Australia

http://scecclesia.com/?p=5898#comments

Labels: Constitution

5. St. Ambrose on how the civil ruler is a minister of God:

St Ambrose affirmed in his Commentary on Luke’s Gospel: “The institution of civil power derives so clearly from God that whoever exercises it is also a minister of God” (Expositio evangelii secundum Lucam 4:29). ...
[http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2011/october/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20111014_prefetti-italia_en.html]

Labels: political science, St. Ambrose, theology

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of the Four Crowned Martyrs, A.D. 2011

Notes: Wednesday, October 19-Monday, October 31, 2011

2011-10-31T02:28:00.009+11:00

1. On recent Australian Government treatment of de facto marriages compared to (recent Australian Government treatment of) de ivre ones

Can anyone provide an answer to this recent comment of mine at Mr. Schütz's blog?

Labels: marriage, taxation

2. Some information regarding Catholic schools in England and Wales

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=28664

Labels: Catholic schools

3. According to Cardinal Tauran, "[r]eligious freedom necessarily includes immunity from coercion by any individual, group, community or institution"

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/interelg/documents/rc_pc_interelg_doc_20111020_diwali_en.html

(That message came to my attention via VIS 20111020 (300), "CHRISTIANS AND HINDUS: PROMOTING RELIGIOUS FREEDOM", an item in a recent edition of the Vatican Information Service's daily e-mail bulletin.)

Labels: Jean-Louis Tauran, religious liberty, Roman Curia

4. Pius XII. on the death penalty

http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/P12PSYCH.htm
(section 33)

(That came to my attention via this comment in the combox of this recent blog post by Prof. Feser.)

Labels: death penalty, morality, Pius XII. Pacelli

5. Some recent information:

5.1 On Australian demography:

http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mediareleasesbyCatalogue/8668A9A0D4B0156CCA25792F0016186A?Opendocument

Labels: demography, marriage, social trends

5.2 On world demography:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/shift-of-young-population-to-cities-may-leave-elderly-without-support-they-need-un-report/story-e6frg6so-1226177302868

Labels: demography

6. "That [I.C.E.L.] translation [of John Paul II.'s 1990 revision of Paul VI.'s ordinal for priestly ordination] was so bad that in 1997 the Congregation for Divine Worship issued in response a letter of a harshness that [Fr. Zuhlsdorf] had never seen before from any dicastery of the Holy See"

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/10/quaeritur-the-novus-ordo-ordinal-for-ordaining-bishops-priests-deacons/

Labels: I.C.E.L., Priesthood, Roman Curia, Sacraments

Reginaldvs Cantvar
All Hallows' Eve, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday, October 11-Tuesday, October 18, 2011 (part 2 of 2)

2011-10-18T02:10:00.003+11:00

8. "Patriarch Kirill lauds Putin for ‘enhancing Russia’s international authority’"

http://www.angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39294

(See also the first comment after the thread-starter for information about recent developments in the Russian Orthodox Church.)

Labels: Cyril of Moscow, R.O.C., Russia, Vladimir Putin

9. "Princess wants stunning before slaughter"

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/princess-wants-stunning-before-slaughter-20111017-1lt1g.html?skin=text-only

I was surprised to learn, from Australia's Agriculture Department's acting deputy secretary for the live animal export taskforce, quoted in that article, that in Australia,

For cattle we do allow for ritual slaughter purposes, for stunning to occur after the cut has been done, so it's a post-cut stunning.

Labels: Islam, Jews

10. "Last Wednesday [two Lesbians] organised a forum for gay and lesbian parents with school-age children to address what they see as a stereotypical and heterosexual representation of family at their schools"

[...] The forum included representatives from the Board of Education and the Board of Studies, as well as 70 gay, lesbian and heterosexual parents.

[...] A group calling themselves Rainbow Schoolies have set up a work party to produce a program for principals and teachers on how they should include a child from a gay family in the school environment.

Although the program will initially be aimed at [one] primary school, the group hopes to extend the program to other schools in in Australia, and is planning a national conference next year.

[...] [One panellist at that forum, who is "an associate professor in the school of education at the University of Western Sydney" and "specialises in issues of gender and sexuality within education"] said the changes to the curriculum next year would be a chance to address issues of diversity and inclusion within the school environment, with a platform for members of the public to voice their concerns.
[http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life/happy-fathers-day-mum--gender-restriction-a-challenge-for-gay-families-20111016-1lrfi.html?skin=text-only]

See also item 3 of this edition of Notes.

Labels: education, families, G.L.B.T., N.S.W., Rainbow Schoolies

11. "Growth [in the world's population] has been so rapid that the US Population Reference Bureau estimates that about 5 per cent of all the people who have ever lived are living now"

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/coming-soon-7-billion-reasons-to-rethink-how-we-use-the-planet-20111016-1lrdu.html?skin=text-only

Labels: demography

12. "Toowoomba GP and pro-family activist David van Gend found himself in conciliation before the Anti-Discrimination Commission Queensland over a complaint that an article he wrote for Brisbane's The Courier-Mail, as part of a debate about same-sex marriage, vilified the homosexual community"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/discrimination-police-indulging-in-gay-abandon/story-e6frg6zo-1226167016741

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/10/17/truth-the-telling-is-now-hate-speech/

Labels: David van Gend, discrimination, families, G.L.B.T., marriage

13. A blast from Australia's 'sectarian' past

I was intrigued when I read a very short biography of one "Sister Liguori", of whom I didn't recall previously hearing, on the Sydney Daily Telegraph's history page yesterday, and planned to see if I could find out, on the Internet, more about her and the episode of Australian 'sectarian' history in which she featured so prominently. I've found that the Australian Dictionary of Biography's article "Partridge, Bridget (1890–1966)" is available here.

Labels: Bridget Partridge

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Luke, Evangelist, Martyr, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday, October 11-Tuesday, October 18, 2011 (part 1 of 2)

2011-10-18T01:58:00.002+11:00

1. H.H. The Pope on Catholicism as the object of 'religious freedom'

This is a quotation from the Holy Father's Address of Friday, October 7, 2011 to the Bishops of Indonesia during their "ad Limina" visit:

... Appropriately, Indonesia’s constitution guarantees the fundamental human right of freedom to practice one’s religion. The freedom to live and preach the Gospel can never be taken for granted and must always be justly and patiently upheld. Nor is religious freedom merely a right to be free from outside constraints. It is also a right to be authentically and fully Catholic, to practice the faith, to build up the Church and to contribute to the common good, proclaiming the Gospel as Good News for all, and inviting everyone to intimacy with the God of mercy and compassion made manifest in Jesus Christ.
[http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2011/october/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20111007_bishops-indonesia_en.html
That Address came to my attention via an item headed "TO INDONESIAN BISHOPS: PATIENTLY UPHOLD RELIGIOUS FREEDOM" (VIS 20111007 (500)) in a recent edition of the Vatican Information Service's daily e-mail bulletin.]

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, religious liberty

2. "Only a third of marriages take place in church"

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=28573

Labels: marriage, social trends

3. "Ireland bows to UN recommendations on contraception, same-sex unions, religious hiring [but resists on abortion]"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39282

Labels: Alan Shatter, Ireland

4. "The headline figure [in 2008], drawn from the 2006 census, was 105,000 homeless. Of those, 16,000 were actual homeless (those sleeping rough) and 89,000 were potential homeless. The revised amounts are now 63,000 homeless: 8000 actual homeless and 55,000 potential homeless"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/inflating-homeless-to-fund-lobbyists/story-e6frgd0x-1226165274504

(As I've asked in the two other instances in which I've logged information about homelessness, please don't jump to conclusions about why I'm doing so.)

Labels: homelessness

5. A "a day-by-day report" on the recent Angelus Press Conference on the Kingship of Christ

http://sspx.org/district_news/angelus_press_conference_2011/angelus_press_conference_2011.htm

I read that report--which came to my attention via the latest edition of the weekly e-mail from the U.S. District of the S.S.P.X. (and for which I encourage you to subscribe--you should be able to do so at that District's homepage, a link to which is available in the "Endorsed links" section of this blog's sidebar)--and thought how good it would be to have a transcript of the proceedings; at that stage, I knew only that audio recordings were to become available for purchase. Now I'm very pleased to see that Angelus Press has added to its catalogue Reflections on the Kingship of Christ:

... Along with biographical information about the speakers at the 2011 Angelus Press Conference, this book presents the relevant encyclicals from Popes Leo XIII, St. Pius X, Pius XI, and Pius XII in their entirety, plus articles from the late Cardinal Pie, Fr. Juan Carlos Iscara, FSSPX, and Dr. John Rao. ...
[http://www.angeluspress.org/oscatalog/item/8534/reflections-on-the-kingship-of-christ]

(Reflections on the Kingship of Christ, which costs a mere US$10, came to my attention via the latest e-mail from Angelus Press.)

Labels: Social Reign of Christ

6. "Historian Peter Frankopan is challenging a millennium of scholarship in his view of the First Crusade"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/historian-peter-frankopan-is-challenging-a-millennium-of-scholarship-in-his-view-of-the-first-crusade/story-e6frg8nf-1226166509828

Labels: Crusades, history

7. On the the first known recorded observation that 'a country gets the government which it deserves'

Joesph [sic] de Maistre in Lettres et Opuscules (1853):

EVERY country has the government it deserves.
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/the-practices-of-democracy-do-not-sit-comfortably-with-greens-or-labor-eggheads/story-fn72xczz-1226166203784]

Labels: Joseph de Maistre, political science

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Luke, Evangelist, Martyr, A.D. 2011

Notes: Wednesday, October 5-Monday, October 10, 2011

2011-10-10T20:08:00.010+11:00

1. A key for understanding one of the most contentious parts of Dignitatis humanæ?

One of the most objectionable parts of Dignitatis humanæ is where one reads that, in dealing with matters which do not belong to the component of the common good which (component) that Declaration calls "public order", "the usages of society are to be the usages of freedom in their full range: that is, the freedom of man is to be respected as far as possible and is not to be curtailed except when and insofar as necessary". But Pius XII. spoke for Tradition when he said, in the Allocution Ci riesce, that “religious and moral error must always be impeded, when it is possible”, so when it comes to man's (psychological and physical, but not moral) freedom to disseminate error, it should be curtailed, not 'respected', as far as possible, and only 'respected' when and insofar as necessary. Now in the text of a recent lecture by The Rev. Fr. Frank Brennan S.J. A.O. (brought to my attention by a comment by Fr. Brennan at the CathNews post on that lecture), I was interested to read this quotation from The Rev. Fr. Robert Drinan S.J., writing in Theological Studies in 1970:

This author has no easy solutions or ready options for the Catholic legislator, jurist, or spokesman on the question of abortion and the law. Perhaps the central issue was described in the reasoning of John Courtney Murray SJ, who, while not addressing himself to the question of abortion, wrote as follows about the criminal law: 'The moral aspirations of law are minimal. Law seeks to establish and maintain only that minimum of actualized morality that is necessary for the healthy functioning of the social order ... It enforces only what is minimally acceptable, and in this sense socially necessary ... Therefore the law, mindful of its nature, is required to be tolerant of many evils that morality condemns.'
[ellipses in the original]

Labels: Dignitatis Humanæ, John Courtenay Murray, political science, religious liberty

2. "Putin eyes new economic Soviet Union"

http://www.smh.com.au/world/putin-eyes-new-economic-soviet-union-20111005-1l9jc.html?skin=text-only

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/vladimir-putin-plans-new-superpower-from-old-soviet-republics/story-e6frg6so-1226159572404

Labels: Russia, Vladimir Putin

3. Msgr. Pozzo on, among other things, a future "reunification of the two forms[, i.e., the Traditional Latin Mass and the Novus Ordo Missæ], with elements that come together and complement one another"

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/10/video-interview-with-the-secretary-of-the-pont-comm-ecclesia-dei/

http://www.angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39160

Labels: Guido Pozzo, liturgy, N.O.M., T.L.M.

4. Dr. Farrell on how "[t]he demographics of women giving birth in Australia have changed dramatically in the past 50 years":

... The total number of babies a woman has in her lifetime has declined from a peak of 3.5 in 1961 to 1.9 in 2009. There has also been a tendency for women to have their babies at older ages. The median age of women giving birth in Australia reached a low of 25.4 in 1971 and rose to a peak of 30.8 in 2006. The proportion of older women giving birth has also risen, with mothers aged over 35 rising from 11 per cent in 1991 to 23 per cent in 2008.
[http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/life-choices-for-women-20111006-1lbkv.html?skin=text-only]

Labels: demography

5. "Ireland Justice Minister fails to defend nation’s pro-life laws at UN hearing"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39210

Labels: Alan Shatter

6. "A clause [of the Sovereign Grant Bill] allows for an heir to the throne who is not the Duke of Cornwall to receive revenues from the Duchy of Cornwall"

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life/new-law-gives-equal-rights-to-female-royals-20111010-1lgay.html?skin=text-only

Labels: Sovereign Grant Bill

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Francis Borgia, Confessor, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday, September 27-Tuesday, October 4, 2011 (part 2 of 2)

2011-10-04T02:34:00.010+11:00

7. On the death penalty

7.1 "Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, in his famous speech on the “Consistent Ethic of Life” at Fordham in 1983, stated his concurrence with the “classical position” that the State has the right to inflict capital punishment"; "[a]lthough Cardinal Bernardin advocated what he called a “consistent ethic of life,” he made it clear that capital punishment should not be equated with the crimes of abortion, euthanasia, and suicide."

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

(That came to my attention via this post by Fr. Zuhlsdorf.)

Labels: death penalty, Joseph Bernardin

7.2 Prof. Feser on the death penalty

http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2011/09/4033

That article, which came to my attention via this blog post by Prof. Feser, is well worth reading in full (and it isn't too long), but I want to highlight these parts, at least:

Most critics of capital punishment pay little attention to the question of “punishment,” focusing almost exclusively on their argument with “capital.” This is a fatal mistake, for as it happens, anyone who agrees that punishment as such is legitimate cannot fail also to agree, if he thinks carefully about the matter, that capital punishment can be legitimate, at least in principle. ...

[...] If wrongdoers do deserve punishment, and if punishment ought to be scaled to the gravity of the crime (harsher punishments for graver crimes), then it would be absurd to deny that there is a level of criminality for which capital punishment is appropriate, at least in principle. ...

[... Against the argument that the death penalty is offensive to 'human dignity':] ... On the contrary, to regard a person as deserving of punishment is implicitly to affirm his dignity as a human being, for it is to acknowledge that he has free will and moral responsibility, unlike a robot or a mere animal. If inflicting lesser punishments is not incompatible with human dignity and even implicitly affirms it, then given the principle of proportionality, capital punishment also can be compatible with (and indeed an affirmation of) human dignity.
[italics in the original, my ellipses and square-bracketed interpolations]

Labels: death penalty, human dignity, justice, morality

7.3 Two blog comments by Prof. Feser on New Natural Law theory and the death penalty

http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2011/09/in-defense-of-capital-punishment.html?showComment=1317504347621#c79084043059913225

http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2011/09/in-defense-of-capital-punishment.html?showComment=1317504714308#c3938891609449872006

Labels: death penalty, justice, morality, New Natural Law

7.4 Prof. Long on the death penalty

http://thomistica.net/news/2011/9/18/goods-without-normative-order-to-the-good-life-happiness-or.html

That's quite a technical article, but I recommend that you read at least the paragraph (beginning with the words "Still, Tollefsen is consistent") on the Church's teaching on the death penalty. (Most usefully for me, it mentions a pronouncement by Pius XII. on the matter; in item 4 of this edition of Notes I linked to this web-page of the (Italian) text of that pronouncement, and now I see that it is also available, again in Italian, on pages seventy-two to eighty-five of AAS 47 (1955) here.)

Labels: death penalty, justice, Magisterium, morality, Pius XII. Pacelli

8. "No to legal marriages if Church forced to marry gays: archbishop"

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=28476

Labels: Barry Hickey, funerals, G.L.B.T., marriage

9. The Catholica Forum welcomes a new participant

http://www.catholica.com.au/forum/index.php?mode=thread&id=84919

Labels: Aragon, Catholica Australia

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, Confessor, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday, September 27-Tuesday, October 4, 2011 (part 1 of 2)

2011-10-04T02:18:00.005+11:00

1. "British Muslims reviving polygamy"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/british-muslim-reviving-polygamy/story-e6frg6so-1226147865652

Labels: Islam, polyamory

2. "E[very] child should take a citizenship pledge at school, and all Australians should know the pledge by heart, the Social Inclusion Minister, Tanya Plibersek, said last night"

http://www.smh.com.au/national/my-oath-citizens-should-know-it-says-minister-20110927-1kvib.html?skin=text-only

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/love-of-australia-is-about-more-than-lifestyle-20110928-1kwfd.html?skin=text-only

Labels: liberalism, secularism

3. H.H. The Pope implicitly criticises the arrangements of union between Church and State which existed in history's Catholic Confessional States?

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

IT IS TIME FOR THE CHURCH TO SET ASIDE HER WORLDLINESS

VATICAN CITY, 25 SEP 2011 (VIS) - At 5 p.m. today at the concert hall of Freiburg im Breisgau, the Holy Father met with representatives of Catholic associations active in the life of the Church and of society.

[...] "In the concrete history of the Church, however, a contrary tendency is also manifested, namely that the Church becomes settled in this world, she becomes self-sufficient and adapts herself to the standards of the world. She gives greater weight to organisation and institutionalisation than to her vocation to openness", the Pope said.

And he went on: "In order to accomplish her true task adequately, the Church must constantly renew the effort to detach herself from the 'worldliness' of the world. ... One could almost say that history comes to the aid of the Church here through the various periods of secularisation, which have contributed significantly to her purification and inner reform".

"Secularising trends", he added, "whether by expropriation of Church goods, or elimination of privileges or the like, have always meant a profound liberation of the Church from forms of worldliness, for in the process she has set aside her worldly wealth and has once again completely embraced her worldly poverty". In freeing herself of material ties, "her missionary activity regained credibility".

Benedict XVI recalled that history shows how a Church detached from the world can bear more effective missionary witness. "Once liberated from her material and political burdens, the Church can reach out more effectively and in a truly Christian way to the whole world, she can be truly open to the world", he said.
[...]PV-GERMANY/ VIS 20110926 (750)

It's mainly the last of those paragraphs in which I'm interested here (I provide the others mainly for context, and the full text of His Holiness's speech is available here). Does it contain an implicit criticism of the arrangements of union between Church and State which existed in history's Catholic Confessional States? (I don't ask that rhetorically. What do you make of that speech and particularly that paragraph of it?)

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, Church and State, Confessional State, secularism

4. On Quærit semper

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

MOTU PROPRIO "QUAERIT SEMPER"

VATICAN CITY, 29 SEP 2011 (VIS) - The Holy Father yesterday promulgated "Quaerit Semper", an Apostolic Letter "Motu Proprio data" which modifies the Apostolic Constitution "Pastor Bonus", transferring certain functions of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments to a new office established in the Tribunal of the Roman Rota. The office will deal with the procedures for dispensation from unconsummated marriage and causes for the nullity of priestly ordination.

Extracts from the document are given below.

[...] "In the current circumstances it seemed fitting that the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments should dedicate itself chiefly to giving fresh impetus to promoting sacred liturgy in the Church, in keeping with the renewal promoted by Vatican Council II through the Constitution 'Sacrosanctum Concilium'.

[...] The new norms will come into effect as of 1 October.
MP/ VIS 20110929 (460)

See also the following web-pages:

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39116

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=28449

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/09/motu-proprio-quaerit-semper-rearranges-the-cong-for-worship-and-roman-rota/

Labels: liturgy, Quærit semper, Roman Curia, Vatican II

5. Prof. Hamilton on differences between men and women:

With women to take on military combat roles, it is time to sound the Last Post over the rotting corpse of feminism. It's what has to be done to their minds. When the Defence Minister says the individual has to have "the right physical, psychological and mental attributes", he's thinking of male mental attributes - those needed to kill.

Putting women in the front line is a victory only for the campaign to obliterate difference, as if everything women were before the advent of feminism was the creation of patriarchy. But didn't women's life experiences and history provide distinctive qualities more needed today than ever? We should celebrate the uniquely female rather than bury it under the demand for equality.

Women's morality differs from men's. Feminist philosopher Carol Gilligan argues women are motivated more by care than duty, and inclined more to emphasise responsibilities than rights. They seek reconciliation through the exercise of compassion and negotiation rather than demanding "justice", through force if necessary.

War best represents the continued hegemony of male thinking, with the grunt culture of hyper-masculinity inescapable because survival depends on it. And no institution more purely reflects the male understanding of power than the armed forces, built on the idea that the world is a place of conflict where disputes can be resolved by lethal force, and the more lethal the better.
[http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/women-at-war-is-the-final-surrender-20110929-1kz77.html?skin=text-only]

Labels: gender differences

6. Br. André Marie on "The Freedom and Exaltation of Holy Mother Church"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39121

Labels: Church and State, Confessional State, Leo XIII. Pecci, T.L.M.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, Confessor, A.D. 2011

Notes: Thursday, September 15-Monday, September 26, 2011

2011-09-26T20:12:00.010+10:00

1. Some figures on abortion in South Australia

According to the latest figures released by the South Australian government, abortion rates dipped slightly in 2009.

The number of abortions fell to 15.3 per 100,000 women of childbearing age from 16 a year earlier.

The highest abortion rates were among women aged 20 to 24 (30 per cent) followed by those aged 25-29 (22 per cent) and under 19s (18 per cent).
[http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/abortions-unlikely-to-rise-due-to-ru486-20110922-1kmuz.html?skin=text-only]

Labels: abortion, S.A.

2. In 2010, "a joint commission was set up, with experts of the commission “Ecclesia Dei” and of the congregation for divine worship, for the “updating” of the commemorations of the saints and the “possible insertion of new prefaces” into the preconciliar Roman missal of 1962", according to The activity of the Holy See for 2010, printed by Libreria Editrice Vaticana

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/09/revising-and-updating-the-1962-missale-romanum/

Labels: liturgy, Roman Curia, T.L.M.

3. "Despite reports, Ireland not backing down on forcing priests to break seal of confession"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38947

Labels: Ireland

4. On the latest development in Vatican-S.S.P.X. relations

"COMMUNIQUE CONCERNING THE SOCIETY OF ST. PIUS X"
OP/ VIS 20110914 (450)

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/09/sspx-bp-fellay-interviewed-after-cdf-meeting-today/

Also, AQ has had several threads on the matter.

Labels: Roman Curia, S.S.P.X., T.L.M., theology, Vatican II

5. "ADL Urges Vatican To Ensure Anti-Jewish Sect Accepts Teachings Of Vatican II Before They Are Welcomed Back"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38957

Keep in mind the relationship between the A.D.L. and B'nai B'rith, and the relationship between B'nai B'rith and the Vatican (see here and item 3.2 here); there might also be a direct relationship between the A.D.L. and the Vatican.

Labels: A.D.L., B'nai B'rith, Freemasons, Jews, S.S.P.X., Vatican II

6. H.H. The Pope on religion as a basis for social coexistence

From a recent edition of the Vatican Information Service's daily e-mail bulletin:

POPE HIGHLIGHTS IMPORTANCE OF FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY [...]

... "We are witnessing a growing indifference to religion in society, which considers the issue of truth as something of an obstacle in its decision-making, and instead gives priority to utilitarian considerations.

"All the same", he added, "a binding basis for our coexistence is needed; otherwise people live in a purely individualistic way. Religion is one of these foundations for a successful social life. 'Just as religion has need of freedom, so also freedom has need of religion'. These words of the great bishop and social reformer Wilhelm von Ketteler, the second centenary of whose birth is being celebrated this year, remain timely.
[...] PV-GERMANY/ VIS 20110922 (630)

I agree with the comment by Mr. Keener in the combox at Fr. Zuhlsdorf's blog post on that Papal address.

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, Confessional State

7. An interesting "CathBlog" and combox comments on metaphysics (or, perhaps more precisely, Natural, and Dogmatic, Theology)

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=28012

Labels: philosophy, theology

8. The latest, and presumably most controversial, installment in Catholica's serialisation of Fr. Dresser's God is Big. Real Big!

http://www.catholica.com.au/gc0/pd/008_pd_240911.php

That's the chapter in which one reads, among other things, that "[n]o human being can ever be God. And Jesus was a human being. It is as simple as that!"

Labels: Peter Dresser, theology

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of Sts. Cyprian and Justina, Martyrs, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday, September 6-Wednesday, September 14, 2011 (part 2 of 2)

2011-09-14T05:02:00.007+10:00

9. Dr. Tighe on what makes a Council Ecumenical

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/09/a-pessimitic-article-about-sspx-and-talks-with-rome/#comment-294303

Labels: Church Councils, Eastern Schism, Hierarchy, Papacy, theology

10. More from Dr. Brown on the notion of "the Eucharist [as] a memorial of the Last Supper"

Point 3 of this blog comment, in which there is a link to the text of one of Paul VI.'s General Audiences:

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/09/when-diocesan-priests-choose-to-use-exclusively-the-extraordinary-form-fr-z-rants-a-lot/#comment-294513

Labels: liturgy, Paul VI. Montini, Sacraments, theology

11. "it has now become a constitutional convention that [the British] Parliament does not interfere in the internal affairs of the Established Church"

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/09/uk-mp-pushes-to-force-church-to-have-contrary-to-nature-marriages-or-no-marriages-at-all/#comment-294030

Labels: Anglicans, U.K.

12. A very short, but very interesting, biography of St. Robert Bellarmine

http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx?id=1141

(I first read that biography in the Sydney Catholic Weekly last Sunday.) These are the parts which were of most interest to me and for which I log that biography here:

His most famous work is his three-volume Disputations on the Controversies of the Christian Faith. Particularly noteworthy are the sections on the temporal power of the pope and the role of the laity. He incurred the anger of monarchists in England and France by showing the divine-right-of-kings theory untenable. He developed the theory of the indirect power of the pope in temporal affairs; although he was defending the pope against the Scottish philosopher Barclay, he also incurred the ire of Pope Sixtus V.

[...] ... The process for his canonization was begun in 1627 but was delayed until 1930 for political reasons, stemming from his writings. In 1930, Pope Pius XI canonized him and the next year declared him a doctor of the Church.

Labels: Papacy, political science, St. Robert Bellarmine, theology, William Barclay

13. Two recent opinions pieces from Mr. Steyn

13.1 "Using rights to gag free speech"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/using-rights-to-gag-free-speech/story-e6frg6zo-1226136138035

(Needless to say, I reject that 'freedom of speech' is a true moral freedom; I mainly log that web-page for its information on examples of anti-'hate-speech' action.)

Labels: hate speech

13.2 "FOURTH TRIMESTER ABORTION"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38913

Labels: abortion

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday, September 6-Wednesday, September 14, 2011 (part 1 of 2)

2011-09-14T02:01:00.011+10:00

1. A couple of recent posts from Mr. Muehlenberg:

1.1 On the latest initiative for propagating multiculturalism

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/09/05/force-fed-multiculturalism/

Labels: education, multiculturalism

1.2 On his new book, on the challenge of homosexuality

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/09/04/strained-relations/

Labels: G.L.B.T.

2. The latest evidence for a link between abortion and mental health problems

http://www.angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38771

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/study-links-abortion-to-mental-health-problems/story-e6freuy9-1226127657384

Originally I wasn't going to bother logging that AQ post, since anyone who opposes abortion--myself and, presumably, my readers among them--would regard the findings as unsurprising, but then I saw the print-edition version of the article to whose on-line version I link above here taking up about a quarter of page twenty-five of the Sydney Daily Telegraph of Friday, September 2, 2011, and so I thought that I'd better log it, since it's so rare for one of the mainstream media to highlight the adverse consequences of abortion (needless to say, the mainstream media tend not to regard the death of an unborn baby as a necessarily adverse consequence) that the findings must be important. Here are the key excerpts from that Tele article:

The research by American academic Priscilla Coleman, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, said abortion was linked with a 34 per cent greater chance of anxiety disorders and a 37 per cent higher possibility of depression.

This was more than double the risk of alcohol abuse, three times greater risk of cannabis use at 220 per cent and 155 per cent greater risk of attempted suicide.

[...] "Overall, the results revealed that women who had undergone an abortion experienced an 81 per cent increased risk of mental health problems, and nearly 10 per cent of the incidence of mental health problems were shown to be directly attributable to abortion."

The study was based on an analysis of 22 separate projects, which together analysed the experiences of 877,000 women, of whom 163,831 had had an abortion.

Labels: abortion, mental health

3. Dr. Sammut on, among other things, "the disturbing significance of the controversial [recent] NSW birth certificate decision"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/womens-rights-push-dads-aside/story-e6frgd0x-1226128389989

Worth reading in full, but the final paragraph is what I want to log here:

This is the disturbing significance of the controversial NSW birth certificate decision. That no gay spokesperson has expressed concern for the father and child stolen from each other speaks volumes about their priorities. Traditionalists have long argued in defence of marriage that the institution is fundamentally about the rights of children and that advocates of gay marriage just don't get this. Based on the "sperm donor dad" case, they appear to have a point.

Labels: birth certificates, child-rearing, families, G.L.B.T., marriage, parenthood, youngsters

4. "THE well-being of Australia's children and young adults has declined sharply in the past decade - and sliding marriage rates are partly to blame"; "marriage makes a difference, not just the characteristics of a child's parents, because of the commitment involved"

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life/falling-marriage-rates-hurting-children-report-20110905-1jubf.html?skin=text-only

Labels: child-rearing, families, marriage, parenthood, youngsters

5. "A member of U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron’s government is calling for a ban on marriages at Christian churches if they refuse to also perform same-sex unions"

http://members7.boardhost.com/CathPews/thread/1315540178.html

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38865

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/09/uk-mp-pushes-to-force-church-to-have-contrary-to-nature-marriages-or-no-marriages-at-all/

Apparently, such a ban would involve adopting the system, which is used in some Continental countries, in which prospective spouses who intend to wed in a religious ceremony have to get a 'civil marriage' as well.

Labels: G.L.B.T., marriage, U.K.

6. "Irish government backs down on confessional bill"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38855

Labels: Alan Shatter, Ireland, sexual abuse

7. "Lesbian foster couple put six year old boy in girl's clothes and post photos on Facebook"

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/lesbian-foster-couple-put-six-year-old-boy-in-girls-clothes-and-post-photos-on-facebook/story-e6freuzr-1226134422557

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/09/12/more-outrages-from-the-rainbow-warriors/

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/same-sex-parents-should-foster-not-play-politics/story-fn6b3v4f-1226135313446

I wonder whether there has been any scholarly research into the phenomenon of one of the members of a same-sex couple undergoing a 'sex change'?

Labels: child-rearing, families, G.L.B.T., parenthood

8. "MEN'S bodies hardwire them to become caring fathers by dropping their testosterone levels after a child is born, a landmark investigation has found"

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/fathers-give-up-mojo-after-children/story-fn6b3v4f-1226135425389

Labels: families, medicine, parenthood

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, A.D. 2011

Notes: Wednesday, August 24-Monday, September 5, 2011 (part 2 of 2)

2011-09-05T23:30:00.008+10:00

8. Dr. Soutphommasane on Federal funding of State school chaplains

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/religion-is-not-a-state-obligation/story-e6frg6zo-1226117970883

I'm logging that opinion piece because of this excerpt:

What is really at issue is the state's neutrality. As American legal philosopher Ronald Dworkin wrote, liberalism says "political decisions must be, so far as possible, independent of any particular conception of the good life".

This isn't an argument about whether religion is good or bad; it is about the proper limits of government power. The liberal state should generally aim to be neutral on matters of the good life.

The problem is that Dr. Soutphommasane describes himself as "one who believes in a value of national solidarity based on the common good" (source), and the importance to him of the common good has been evident in his previous "Ask the Philosopher" columns, such as when he wrote that a "politics of a common good, conducted by enlightened representatives and citizens, is unimpeachable in theory" (source). The common good is indeed the end, or purpose, of the State, but how can a State form the right understanding of the common good of its populace when the common good of a society is to that society none other than what the proper good of an individual--his corporal and spiritual well-being--is to that individual, yet we are, so liberals would have us believe, supposed to refrain from taking "any particular conception of the good life" as normative?

Labels: liberalism, morality, political science

9. Earliest Papal reference to 'healthy secularity'?

As you know, I'm no fan of talk of 'healthy secularity/secularism'; leave secularity and secularism to the secularists, I say. So it dismays me whenever I see that diction coming from the Holy Father, whose fullest treatment of the notion/s of secularity and secularism can be found, to the best of my knowledge, in his "Address to the participants in the 56th National Study Congress organized by the Union of Italian Catholic Jurists (December 9, 2006)", available in English here and in what I presume is its original Italian (since it was given to an Italian audience, though I can't find it in the A.A.S.; if any of you can find it there please let me know) here. (That Address came to my attention via this AQ post.) Now I had thought that Papal use of the term 'healthy secularity' only began with the present Pope, or perhaps with one of His Holiness's Conciliar/post-Conciliar predecessors, but reading Msgr. Lefebvre's They Have Uncrowned Him the other week I was surprised to learn that Pius XII. had spoken of 'the legitimate and healthy secularity of the State' in His late Holiness's Allocution to the inhabitants of the Marches, March 23, 1958. The text of that Allocution is available in AAS 50 [1958], p. 216, here and also here, and in both those sources we see, in the fourth-last paragraph, the words "la legittima sana laicità dello Stato"; perhaps it was with that very expression of Pius XII. in mind that the present Pope put the words "sana laicità" in quotation marks in that December 9, 2006 Address. But while the teaching of Benedict XVI. on the distinction between Church and State seems to be the same as that of Pius XII., distinction does not mean, and should not imply, separation, and whereas Pius XII. spoke approvingly, on at least two occasions before that Allocution, of the kind of union which existed between the Church and history's Catholic Confessional States, Benedict XVI. has, to the best of my knowledge, never done so, and indeed seems to favour the kind of 'union' in which Church and State co-operate but without any priviliging of the Catholic Church over non-Catholic sects; see item 6.2 here, for instance.

Anyhow, is the Allocution to the inhabitants of the Marches the earliest Papal use of the term 'healthy secularity' (or any equivalent expression), or are there earlier ones? If the latter, then what and when were they, and which is the earliest?

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, Church and State, morality, Pius XII. Pacelli, political science, secularism

10. Leo XIII. on, among other things, the formal cause, analogically speaking, of the State

This is a quotation from Libertas, praestantissimum as found in the on-line version of ASS 20 [1887], p. 604 (the text of that Encyclical begins on p. 593) (there is at least one, quite obvious, typographical error in the quotation, as in the proximate source from which I quoted it):

... Etenim dubitari non potest quin sit Dei voluntate inter homines coniuncta societas, sive partes, sive forma eius spectetur quae est auctoritas, sive caussa, sive earum, quas homini parit, magnarum utilitati! m copia. ...
[http://www.vatican.va/archive/ass/documents/ASS%2020%20[1887]%20-%20ocr.pdf]

The Vatican website's English version of that sentence is as follows:

21. ... For it cannot be doubted but that, by the will of God, men are united in civil society; whether its component parts be considered; or its form, which implies authority; or the object of its existence; or the abundance of the vast services which it renders to man. ...
[http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_20061888_libertas_en.html]

But in the translation in Msgr. Lefebvre's They Have Uncrowned Him, the section corresponding to "which implies authority" is give as "which is authority" (my emphasis in both quotations). I don't speak Latin, but judging by a critical use of Google Translate, the latter translation would seem to be the more accurate one. Would any Latinists reading this be so kind as to suggest their own translation?

Labels: Leo XIII. Pecci, morality, political science

11. Yet more evidence of the Sodomites' League's success in diverting public discourse on homosexuality away from a focus on behaviour and towards a focus on 'identity'

These are excerpts from a letter by Josie (no surname given) of Andrews Farm which was published under the heading "Live and love" on page thirty of the Sydney Daily Telegraph of Thursday, August 25, 2011:

To deny humans the right of identity and companionship is inhuman. ...
... We cannot stop biology/chemistry, we can only control behaviour and mutual consent.
[...] Marriage is for people who seek to share family identity in the formal bounds that marriage gives.
[I include the second paragraph excerpt there solely in order to avoid being accused of implying that the letter contained no reference at all to behaviour; clearly Josie does mention behaviour, but she fails to show any understanding of its significance to marriage.]

But marriage is not just about sharing 'identity'; it is about sharing a certain kind of behaviour; it is not merely some kind of Platonic relationship, but a conjugal relationship. Hence any discrimination on the basis of sex or sexual disorientation involved in upholding the natural law's design for marriage is only indirect, since the direct discrimination is only against those who cannot consummate their respective putative marriages, and this discrimination applies equally to opposite-sex couples in which one (or both) prospective spouse(s) is (are) absolutely or relatively impotent and to same-sex couples.

Labels: G.L.B.T., marriage, morality

12. "Almost 20,000 of South Australia's 48,783 Catholic school students are not members of the church"

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=27937

Labels: Catholic schools

13. Some recent AQ posts regarding the Russian Orthodox Church

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38781

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38811

Labels: R.O.C.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Lawrence Justinian, Bishop, Confessor, A.D. 2011

Notes: Wednesday, August 24-Monday, September 5, 2011 (part 1 of 2)

2011-09-05T20:10:00.013+10:00

1. On the Department of Defence's Understanding Transitioning Gender in the Workplace document

One of The Weekend Australian's recent columns (warning: The column's name is blasphemous, and there is a picture of a bra at the top of its web-page) featured an amusing excerpt from a recent publication by Australia's Department of Defence. Here are some other points of interest from that document:

In the course of their duties, commanders and managers may not encounter any Defence people who wish to transition gender. It is important however that commanders and managers are aware of their obligations and responsibilities with regard to the support and management of people who are transitioning gender.
[p. 3]

It is also important to use the correct pronouns such as ‘she’ or ‘her’ in the case of a male transitioning to a female or ‘he’ or ‘him’ in the case of a female transitioning to a male. ... The continued deliberate use of pronouns and names relating to the previous gender identity will be construed as sexual harassment.
[p. 7]

Should the situation arise where open communal same sex showers are the only showers available (i.e. field exercises/deployments), the transitioning person and their commander or manager should discuss and agree upon an appropriate arrangement to ensure the needs of all people are met. This situation would only apply prior to the transitioning person undergoing gender realignment surgery.
[p. 7]

Note that the use of the term ‘sex change’ may be perceived as derogatory.
[p. 12]

The precise definition for transgender remains in constant flux.
[p. 13]

Approximately one in 11,000 males and one in 30,000 females have the condition. Note that the prevalence of the condition is often understated as most statistics only look at those people who have completed surgery.
[p. 16]

Note those figures on the rate of incidence of Gender Identity Disorder ("the condition" to which that last quotation refers): So in a randomly-selected sample of 60000 people, with a male:female ratio of presumably roughly 50:50, there will be roughly three "transgender women" and roughly one "transgender man" (see p. 13 for the terminology). Even if you want to double that in order to take into account the fact that the prevalence is supposedly understated, that's still only six men who feel that they're women and two women who feel that they're men. Now according to the Defence Annual Report 2009-10,

At 30 June 2010, Defence had 73,490 permanent employees (headcount) comprising 57,799 permanent ADF members and 15,691 APS staff.
[http://www.defence.gov.au/Budget/09-10/dar/dar_0910_v1_s4.pdf#nameddest=a7]

and the Defence Materiel Organisation will employ, in 2011-2012, "over 7,000 people" (source), so that one would expect that the entire Defence workforce will contain, at most, a mere ten "transgender people". Why, then, would the Department even bother putting together a whole booklet on Defence employees' 'gender affirmation' (destroying the gender in order to affirm it?) and tell its commanders and managers that it "is important" that they "are aware of their obligations and responsibilities with regard to the support and management of people who are transitioning gender"? Could it be that there is an ideological motive involved here? I see that one of the websites listed under the heading "Additional Resources" on p. 17 is that of "Pride in Diversity"; I've blogged on "Pride in Diversity" in item 6 of this edition of Notes, and you'll see at its website that it "was established as a collaboration between" Stonewall, "a London-based LGBT advocacy group", and two other organisations.

Labels: A.D.F., Defence Department, G.L.B.T., Pride in Diversity

2. On The Australian's attitude towards so-called gay marriage

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/same-sex-marriage-debate-must-not-be-shut-down/story-e6frg71x-1226122387432

That link leads to what is, to date, the fullest statement of The Australian's official editorial attitude towards so-called gay marriage. Its author writes that

The Australian leans towards libertarianism on social issues, believing the state should tread as lightly as possible around personal issues. It is not our role to pronounce one way or another on same-sex marriage ...

Yet in that editorial and this earlier one The Australian puts inverted commas around the word "marriage" when speaking of polygamous ones without ever, as far as I can recall, doing so for same-sex unions.

And that editorial, after noting some of the problems involved with gay 'marriage', says that "[n]one of [those] difficulties are insurmountable" (which indicates that The Australian has no in-principle opposition to the notion). But how does The Australian propose to 'surmount' a same-sex marriage's constitutional incapacity for consummation? And how does it propose to 'surmount' the deprivation of a mother for those children procured by Gay 'husbands' and their respective 'wives' and of a father for children procured by Lesbian 'husbands' and their respective 'wives'?

Labels: Australian, families, G.L.B.T., marriage, parenthood

3. "approximately 24 percent of [American] children are born to co-habiting couples"

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=27879

Labels: families, parenthood, U.S.A.

4. "the Holy Father does not allow Girl Altar Boys within his own Diocese of Rome"

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/08/should-the-infamous-altar-girl-decision-be-reversed-wm-oddie-opines-wdtprs-polls-included/

Labels: Diocese of Rome, liturgy

5. "Why mothers matter"

http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/why_mothers_matter/

(That came to my attention via the LMF News e-mail of August 2011 from The Archdiocese of Sydney's Life, Marriage & Family Centre.)

Labels: families, parenthood

6. "The statistics on women in Victoria having terminations from 24 weeks into pregnancy are incomplete, badly presented and out of date - but they still allow us to estimate the number at slightly fewer than 138 women a year"

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/talk-choice-no-time-to-waste-20110828-1jgft.html?skin=text-only

Labels: abortion

7. Mr. Magister on, among other things, then-Fr. Ratzinger's involvement with the Neo-catechumenal Way in its early days

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38675

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, Neo-catechumenal Way

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Lawrence Justinian, Bishop, Confessor, A.D. 2011

Notes: Wednesday, August 17-Tuesday, August 23, 2011

2011-08-23T02:03:00.002+10:00

1. "53 per cent of Australian Christians support same-sex marriage"

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/a-year-older-but-no-wiser-as-mps-sign-on-again-20110816-1iwao.html?skin=text-only

http://www.australianmarriageequality.com/wp/a-majority-of-christians-support-marriage-equality/

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/08/18/rebellion-deception-and-the-hallmarks-of-our-condition/

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

2. "A man who donated sperm to a lesbian couple will have his name stripped from their child's birth certificate after a successful legal bid by the birth mother's ex-partner"

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/fathers-name-stripped-from-birth-certificate-20110817-1ix2m.html?skin=text-only

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/sperm-donors-who-helped-lesbian-couple-has-name-stripped-from-birth-certificate/story-e6frg6nf-1226116649813

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/08/17/on-learning-how-to-think-perhaps-for-the-very-first-time/

http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/jacobs-lesson-act-now-to-fix-our-hospitals-20110818-1j0b9.html?skin=text-only
(under the heading "Birth certificates must include biological detail")

http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/socialise-dogs-thats-the-key-to-living-together-20110819-1j2n9.html?skin=text-only
(under the heading "Birth certificates")

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/editorial/the-best-interests-of-no-one-at-all-20110818-1j00s.html?skin=text-only

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/birth-certificates-fail-to-tell-us-the-whole-story-20110818-1izjr.html?skin=text-only

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/a-birth-certificate-is-a-factual-document-not-a-rewrite-of-history-20110818-1izq4.html?skin=text-only

Labels: birth certificates, G.L.B.T.

3. "Why the Gender [pay] Gap Won’t Go Away. Ever."

http://city-journal.org/2011/21_3_gender-gap.html

Labels: economics, gender differences, work

4. "in 2004 the Howard government amended the 1961 Marriage Act to ensure legally married same-sex couples overseas would not receive legal recognition here in Australia"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/gays-denied-human-rights/story-e6frg6zo-1226118404188

Labels: G.L.B.T., law, marriage

5. "General Superior of the SSPX Called to Rome"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38614

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38619
(note: In the third-last paragraph (counting "Kyrie eleison" as a paragraph) of Msgr. Williamson's column, the words "on the SSPX's own" were underlined in the e-mailed version (or at least, they were in the one which I received) but have not been in the version to which I link above this parenthesis.)

Labels: Roman Curia, S.S.P.X.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Philip Benizi, Confessor, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday, August 9-Tuesday, August 16, 2011 (part 2 of 2)

2011-08-16T17:16:00.006+10:00

7. A scandalous opinion piece, by an Australian Conciliar Bishop, on marriage

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/marriage-worth-preserving-as-it-stands/story-e6frg6zo-1226113612074

(CathNews also linked to that article here.)

Labels: G.L.B.T., James Foley, law, marriage, morality, theology

8. A little more on the 1824 upgrading of New South Wales's colonial status

In this issue of Notes from about this time last year I quoted an interesting item from the "on this day" section of the Sydney Daily Telegraph's history page. This year's version of that item gave a little bit more information:

1824 London upgrades NSW from a penal colony to a "crown colony" with its own legislative council and supreme court - a milestone on the roadway to democracy and nationhood.
[p. 76, Thursday, August 11, 2011]

It's still not clear from that whether a legislative council and a supreme court are of the essence of a British crown, as distinct from penal, colony or whether those were additional, non-essential features.

(The day of that upgrading was itself the anniversary of another event in British colonial history, as the second item before the 1824 one reported:

1784 The British government introduces a Bill to the House of Commons allowing it to resume transportation of criminals, with the destination unstated after the revolt of the American colonies but NSW in mind.
[ibid.])

Labels: colonialism

9. "I struggle to think of a stronger attack by a western European leader on the church than Enda Kenny's"

http://www.smh.com.au/world/irish-pm-lashes-vatican-on-childabuse-reparation-20110815-1iunt.html?skin=text-only

Labels: Ireland

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Joachim, Confessor, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday, August 9-Tuesday, August 16, 2011 (part 1 of 2)

2011-08-16T15:47:00.011+10:00

1. Dr. Sudlow on an essay which, according to him, "reframes the problem [of whether Dignitatis humanæ is in continuity with pre-Conciliar teaching] completely"

http://thesensiblebond.blogspot.com/2011/08/coercion-and-liberty-reframing-debate.html

The core of this 'reframing' seems to be, in Dr. Sudlow's reading, as follows:

the Church has only dogmatically asserted its power of coercion over the baptised, and any State which acts as the civil arm to help the Church in this matter does so by delegation of the Church and NOT by its own power.

The problem with that, and the reason for which I disagree that it is "game-changing", is that although the State does indeed exercise coercive power over the Baptised in matters of religion by delegation of the Church, nevertheless, the State is competent to act by its own power when it seeks to repress offences against the Catholic religion; trying to make someone do what he does not want to do (coercion) is quite different to preventing him from doing what he wants to do.

Labels: Church and State, Dignitatis Humanæ, morality, religious liberty, theology, Thomas Pink

2. A Herald letter which corrects misconceptions about religious exemptions from taxation

Under the heading "Churches do pay" here:

http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/show-some-humanity-and-let-them-remain-20110808-1ijd4.html?skin=text-only

Labels: taxation

3. "Report finds boys exhibit behavioural problems earlier than girls"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/report-finds-boys-exhibit-behavioural-problems-earlier-than-girls/story-fn59niix-1226111957815

Labels: gender differences

4. A couple of recent comments from Dr. Brown

4.1 On the Eucharist as memorial

Mainly his third point here:

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/08/on-the-matter-of-ad-orientem-worship/#comment-288650

Labels: liturgy

4.2 A joke

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/08/waiting-for-zagano/#comment-288765

Labels: liturgy, N.O.M., T.L.M.

5. Mr. Brent on voting turnout

http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/mumble/index.php/theaustralian/comments/turnout_schmurnout/

Labels: voting

6. An attempted defence of sodomite-catamite 'parenting' which (defence) backfires

From a letter to the Herald last week:

Maurie Stack and Martin Bell (Letters, August 11) should not assume that two lesbians raising children are depriving those children of a relationship with their biological father.

[...] [The Lesbian letter-writer's children] also know who their donor father is and we have always fostered contact and a relationship with him. We are not alone in this family model.
[http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/love-not-biology-determines-good-parenting-20110811-1iorr.html?skin=text-only]

The problem with this line of argument is that once they acknowledge that contact and a relationship with the biological father is a good thing, one has to ask them Why do you deprive the children of the best form of contact and relationship, which is that in which the biological father lives with his children? I suppose that defenders of depriving children of this good would try to deflect the argument by pointing out that it is not just Lesbian households in which the biological father does not live with the children. This attempted evasion is answered by pointing out that fathers who legitimately live away from their respective families do so for some greater good, e.g. in the case of overseas military service, whereas Lesbian couples do so for an evil, namely, the indulgence of their disordered preferences. (And as for fathers who illegitmately live away from their respective families, one need only point out that two wrongs don't make a right.)

(And of course, the same goes, mutatis mutandis, for Gay 'co-parents' whose children have only intermittent contact with their respective biological mothers.)

Labels: families, G.L.B.T., morality, parenthood

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Joachim, Confessor, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday, July 26-Monday, August 8, 2011 (part 2 of 2)

2011-08-08T23:40:00.011+10:00

1. Dr. Feser on a review by Sir Anthony (Kenny) of the former's The Last Superstition

http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2011/07/kenny-on-tls-in-tls.html

Labels: atheism, philosophy, theology

2. Yet more evidence of the Sodomites' League's success in diverting public discourse on homosexuality away from a focus on behaviour to a focus on 'identity'

From a Herald letter from one David Harris of Manly:

Fred Nile ... entered the NSW Upper House in 1980 with a single issue - to stop members of the gay community from celebrating their own identity.
[http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/dilemma-solved--abolish-the-upper-houses-20110801-1i8df.html?skin=text-only]

That seems inaccurate in at least two points: Mr. Nile was never a one-issue politician, and in 1980 New South Wales law did not, as far as I know, prohibit anyone "celebrating their own identity" (though it did, of course, prohibit buggery until, if I'm not mistaken, 1984, but that prohibition applied irrespective of whether the sodomite was homosexual or heterosexual and irrespective of whether the catamite was male or female, so clearly it involved discrimination neither on the basis of sex nor of sexual disorientation).

Labels: Fred Nile, G.L.B.T.

3. Fortunately, it seems that the background of one of the main participants in Ireland's planning for an attack on the Sacrament of Penance has not gone completely unnoticed there

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=414425#414425

Labels: Alan Shatter

4. Point-counterpoint in the Herald letters page:

4.1 In discussion on N.S.W. State school "ethics" classes

One Philip Cooney of Wentworth Falls wrote that

Surely it can't threaten our children to ask why there was not open access to the curriculum material prior to its introduction ...
[http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/little-virtue-in-labors-games-with-education-20110802-1i9si.html?skin=text-only]

I too had the impression that there was a lack of open access to the 'ethics class' material before its introduction, but then the next day a letter was published which said that

[t]he ethics course syllabus was reviewed and approved by the NSW Education Department.
[http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/dont-play-russian-roulette-with-our-aquifers-20110803-1ibl2.html?skin=text-only]

Did the "ethics" folks give access only to the Department, then? (I don't ask that rhetorically; does anyone know the answer?)

The day after that, Mr. Nile had a column published on the matter, in which he wrote that there are some who

wrongly believe that when Sir Henry Parkes introduced free and ''secular'' state education, he meant ''non-Christian'' or ''non-religious''. That was never his intention. In the 1880s, ''secular'' was used to prohibit denominational teaching in NSW classrooms, not scripture classes, which Parkes decreed should fill one hour per day.

But I thought that 'secular' as in 'secularist' was precisely what the likes of Parkes intended. One Keith Parsons of Newcastle affirmed my point of view in a letter published, with others, under the heading "Reason v dogma: Fred's no Socrates" here:

The only reason Sir Henry Parkes, almost 130 years ago, supported religious instruction in public schools was to get the churches that dominated school education to support the concept of a universal, free, public, secular education system.

Are any readers here knowledgeable on the motives and intentions of Australia's late-nineteenth-century proponents of 'free, compulsory, and secular' schooling (I won't say education)?

Labels: education, Henry Parkes, secularism, St James Ethics Centre

4.2 In discussion on the birth certificates of donor-conceived children

Last week the Herald gave us a reminder of the insanity of some of New South Wales's laws:

Sperm donors have no legal parental status even if they are on a birth certificate and even if they have court-ordered access visits.

But retrospective laws introduced in 2008 gave lesbian partners of women who conceive through artificial insemination legal parenting status.
[http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/keep-me-named-as-father-donor-begs-court-20110802-1i9yf.html?skin=text-only
Or alternatively:
http://www.smh.com.au/national/sperm-donor-could-lose-his-status-20110802-1i9wq.html?skin=text-only]

The coverage elicited a terse little letter, published under the heading "Donor delisting" here, from one Samantha Chung of Newtown, but the next day one Eva Elbourne of Gordon provided quite a good rejoinder (though I'm not sure that I agree with it completely), published under the heading "Donor parents must remain on record" here.

Labels: families, G.L.B.T., parenthood

5. "Russia is Most Religious Nation In Europe"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38415

Labels: R.O.C., Russia

6. Mr. Verrecchio on homosexuality, narcissism, and their influence on liturgy

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38404

Labels: G.L.B.T., liturgy, narcissism

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. John Mary Vianney, Confessor, and of Sts. Cyriacus, Largus, and Smaragdus, Martyrs, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday, July 26-Monday, August 8, 2011 (part 1 of 2)

2011-08-08T20:23:00.007+10:00

1. Mrs. Shanahan on, among other things, the nexus between multiculturalism and 'gay rights'

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/cheap-emotionalism-stymies-sensible-christian-debate-on-homosexuality/story-fn562txd-1226099272405

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

2. It "is good" that "public opinion endorses the legal recognition of rights which arise from long-term same sex unions"?

This is an excerpt from His Eminence The Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney's weekly column in the Sydney Catholic Weekly (presumably it ran in the previous Sunday's edition of the Sydney Sunday Telegraph, too):

While not many ["Australians who declare themselves homosexual"] would choose to marry if the law was changed, public opinion endorses the legal recognition of rights which arise from long-term same sex unions.

This is good.
[http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/article.php?classID=3&subclassID=7&articleID=8585&class=Features&subclass=Cardinal's Comment]

How so, Your Eminence?

Labels: G.L.B.T., George Pell, marriage

3. Prof. Somerville on euthanasia

Excerpts from an interview in the Sydney Catholic Weekly:

In 1994 the state of Oregon legalised “physician-assisted dying” with restrictions and requirements, including a psychological assessment stating that the patient is competent and is not depressed.

“None of the psychiatrists will do that in Oregon so the ‘Death with Dignity’ people are flying in their own pro-euthanasia psychiatrists.”

[...] Between 500 and 1000 people, some of whom are mentally incompetent, die in the Netherlands each year through euthanasia without consent.

[...] “They’ve just done research in Belgium where they found that 32 per cent of doctors who had undertaken euthanasia admitted that they had done it on occasions without the person’s consent.

“That’s a third of the doctors; that’s appalling.”

In 2010 it was revealed that more than 100 Belgian nurses, mostly men, had ended the lives of patients without consent.

“When they were asked why, they said they thought it was in the patients’ best interests … the most frequent victims were people over the age of 80.”

[...] The Oregon Health Authority, which supervises the application of the Death With Dignity legislation, also decides whether patients will receive state funding for expensive medication to prolong their lives.

“Some of those drugs can cost up to $30,000 a month,” Margo says.

When the authority decides that it’s not going to provide the drug, it won’t pay for it, she said, it distributes a letter which says: “It’s not been approved; however, we would like to remind you that assisted suicide under our system is available at a very reasonable cost.”

Margo is also concerned about the connection between euthanasia and organ donation, with a recent article in a medical journal addressing the case in Belgium.

“In the latest article, four people were euthanased and their lungs were transplanted into another person.

“One of the people was a woman who was mentally ill and not physically ill at all.”

(Belgian legislation now permits euthanasia for the mentally ill.)

[...] “I was asked by a senator in the South Australian Parliament to provide a legal opinion on what they were doing with legislation and to analyse the Second Reading Speech, and I couldn’t believe what was said; it was just wrong – that the Netherlands shows us there is no slippery slope, that there had been no problem in Oregon and Belgium was completely safe!

“It was just unbelievable. This is what’s being said in Parliament.”
[http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/article.php?classID=3&subclassID=9&articleID=8592&class=Features&subclass=A conversation with]

Labels: euthanasia

4. A reminder of some aspects of the content and origin of Victoria's current abortion law

... critics argue that when the abortion bill was introduced in 2008, it did not have to fully adhere to the human rights charter - as is the case with all other bills - due to a clause known as section 48, which states: ''Nothing in this charter affects any law applicable to abortion or child destruction.''
[http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=27356]

Labels: abortion, Victoria

5. Several web-pages on an under-examined aspect of the Norway killings

The Monday after the killings, I was reading the Sydney Daily Telegraph's coverage of them, the first close reading I'd done on the matter, and I was interested to read that the alleged killer's manifesto contained mention of the Knights Templar. This made me wonder whether there might be a Masonic connection involved, and as I was surfing the web that night, visiting the blogs which I usually visit, lo and behold, there at Fr. Roberts's blog was a photo of the alleged killer in the costume of his Lodge (Swedish Rite, I've read). Here's a link to Fr. Roberts's write-up of the matter:

http://kingshipofchrist.blogspot.com/2011/07/freemason-or-crusader.html

And here are some other web-pages on the matter:

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38323

http://revisionistreview.blogspot.com/2011/07/anders-behring-breivik-judeo-masonic.html

Labels: Anders Breivik, Freemasons

6. "Coo-ees from the Cloister up & running again"

http://coo-eesfromthecloister.blogspot.com

(That was brought to my attention by this Cath Pews post.)

Labels: blogs

7. "Malta’s parliament legalizes divorce"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38305

Labels: divorce, Malta, marriage

8. Two quotations (in their original French) from Pius XII. on Church-State relations

(Any Francophone readers are welcome to submit their translations in this post's combox.)

1. From an Allocution to which this web-page refers as "Ai partecipanti al primo Congresso mondiale dell'Apostolato dei Laici (14 ottobre 1951)":

Il ne faudrait pas non plus laisser passer inaperçue, ni sans en reconnaître la bienfaisante influence, l'étroite union qui, jusqu'à la révolution française, mettait en relations mutuelles, dans le monde catholique, les deux autorités établies par Dieu : l'Eglise et l'Etat. L'intimité de leurs rapports sur le terrain commun de la vie publique, créait — en général — comme une atmosphère d'esprit chrétien, qui dispensait en bonne part du travail délicat, auquel doivent, aujourd'hui, s'atteler les prêtres et les laïques pour procurer la sauvegarde et la valeur pratique de la foi.
[AAS 43 (1951), p. 785,
http://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/index_en.htm]

2. From an Allocution which this web-page calls the "Address Vous avez voulu to participants in the 10th International Congress of Historical Sciences (September 7, 1955)":

L'historien ne devrait pas oublier que, si l'Eglise et l'Etat connurent des heures et des années de lutte, il y eut, de Constantin le Grand jusqu'à l'époque contemporaine et même récente, des périodes tranquilles, souvent prolongées, pendant lesquelles ils collaborèrent dans une pleine compréhension à l'éducation des mêmes personnes. L'Eglise ne dissimule pas qu'elle considère en principe cette collaboration comme normale, et qu'elle regarde comme un idéal l'unité du peuple dans la vraie religion et l'unanimité d'action entre elle et l'Etat. ...
[AAS 47 (1955), p. 679,
http://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/index_en.htm]
Also available in Spanish here:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/speeches/1955/documents/hf_p-xii_spe_19550907_vous-avez-voulu_sp.html]

Labels: Church and State, Pius XII. Pacelli

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. John Mary Vianney, Confessor, and of Sts. Cyriacus, Largus, and Smaragdus, Martyrs, A.D. 2011

Notes: Wednesday, July 20-Monday, July 25, 2011

2011-07-25T19:50:00.006+10:00

1. "[In N.S.W. State school 'ethics classes', children] are now critically thinking about ethical concepts and moral issues within a secular framework", writes one of the "volunteer ethics teacher[s]"

http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/even-a-child-could-work-this-one-out-mr-nile-20110719-1hncd.html?skin=text-only

Labels: education, morality, secularism, St James Ethics Centre

2. A couple of recent items regarding polyamory

2.1 Research findings on Muslim polygynous and otherwise irregular marriages

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/sharia-law-at-work-in-australia/story-fn59niix-1226097889992

Labels: Islam, marriage, polyamory

2.2 Fr. Zuhlsdorf's fisking of an article on "[t]he slippery slope: from decriminalization to social acceptance"

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/07/the-slippery-slope-from-decriminalization-to-social-acceptance/
(It's the article itself, rather than the fisking, for which I've logged that web-page.)

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

3. "The [Russian Orthodox] Moscow Patriarchate has undertaken a real campaign of expansion at home and abroad"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38209

Labels: R.O.C.

4. On planned or desired State attacks on the Sacrament of Penance

4.1 More on Ireland's planned attack on the Sacrament of Penance

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/07/ireland-priests-will-refuse-to-break-seal-of-confession-if-proposal-becomes-law/
(In that post's combox, good points are made by the commenters markomalley, PostCatholic, and albizzi here, here, and here, respectively.)

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38221

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=27315

Labels: Ireland, Sacraments, sexual abuse

4.2 On Sen. Xenophon's desire for Australian States to attack the Sacrament of Penance

http://www.smh.com.au/national/call-to-end-confessional-confidentiality-20110721-1hr0d.html?skin=text-only

http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/unforgiveable-sin-confessing-to-child-abuse/

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=27331

Labels: Nick Xenophon, Sacraments, sexual abuse

5. Mr. Skinner on the U.K.'s Office for National Statistics's findings on the size of the homosexual and bisexual proportion of the population

The comment of 20.7.11 / 5pm in the combox here:

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/07/17/pushing-agendas-ignoring-facts/

The interesting thing about those findings is that it seems that even if you count all non-answers and answers other than heterosexual/straight as 'queer' (or whatever catch-all you prefer) then that would still give a mere 5.2%.

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

6. "Obama's [latest] gay rights push"

http://www.smh.com.au/world/obamas-gay-rights-push-20110720-1houe.html?skin=text-only

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38225

Labels: Barack Obama, G.L.B.T., marriage, U.S.A.

Feast of St. James the Greater, Apostle, and of St. Christopher, Martyr, A.D. 2011

Notes: Wednesday, July 13-Tuesday, July 19, 2011 (part 2 of 2)

2011-07-19T16:40:00.005+10:00

6. "Notitiae ["the official journal of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship"] Responses online"

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/07/notitiae-responses-online/

http://notitiae.ipsissima-verba.org/

Labels: liturgy, Roman Curia

7. "The Greens, to be to be launched in Melbourne on July 21, is the first book to provide a practical analysis of the wide-ranging [Australian] Greens policies"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/at-last-a-thorough-probe-into-what-drives-the-greens-machine/story-fn59niix-1226095160826

A revised version of one of that book's chapters, by Dr. Kevin Donnelly, was published at The Punch last week. Of particular interest were its last half-dozen or so paragraphs; this is the last of them:

Given that all Australian schools, under the banner of the ALP’s education revolution, will be made to teach a national curriculum after 2012, it should not surprise if the Greens pressure the Gillard Government to incorporate a positive view of LGBTI lifestyles in the new curriculum.[http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/green-with-class-envy-and-bent-on-change/]

Labels: Australian Labor, education, G.L.B.T., Greens

8. Dr. Feser on "some of the non-serious objections" to the cosmological argument for God's Existence

http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2011/07/so-you-think-you-understand.html

Labels: God's Existence, philosophy, theology

9. "Studies estimate between 20,000 and 40,000 polygamists live in the heavily Mormon state [of Utah]"

http://www.smh.com.au/world/no-big-love-lost-in-polygamists-civil-rights-claim-20110715-1hhp8.html?skin=text-only

Labels: C.J.C.L.D.S., polyamory

10. "Russians launch space super-telescope": "The main point is that Russia is returning to scientific programmes in space after a long break"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/russians-launch-space-telescope/story-e6frg6so-1226097482531

Labels: Russia

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Vincent de Paul, Confessor, A.D. 2011

Notes: Wednesday, July 13-Tuesday, July 19, 2011 (part 1 of 2)

2011-07-19T14:59:00.006+10:00

1. Interesting discussion on Assisi III

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/07/card-levada-opines-about-the-upcoming-assisi-meeting/#comments

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, ecumenism, inter-religious dialogue

2. Mr. Muehlenberg on the A.B.C. and its recent Compass episode on so-called gay marriage

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/07/11/the-abc-should-be-put-out-of-its-misery/

(See also Mr. Clarkson's comment of 13.7.11 / 2pm in that post's combox; his comment deals with the first episode of what was apparently a two-part series.) The remarks by Prof. Altman as recorded in the episode transcript are of particular interest. (See this web-page for a follow-up piece by Mr. Muehlenberg on one of those remarks and gay polyamory.)

Labels: A.B.C., Compass, Dennis Altman, Frank Brennan, G.L.B.T., marriage, morality, polyamory

3. Msgr. de Galarreta with some quotations from then-Cardinal Ratzinger

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38113

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger

4. Fr. Zuhlsdorf on the nine ways in which one might "participate in the sin of another person"

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/07/quaeritur-participation-in-the-sins-of-other-people/

Labels: morality

5. "[Ireland's] Justice Minister Alan Shatter vowed to bring in ... new laws" under which priests "will be jailed for up to five years if they fail to report paedophiles to gardai -- even if they are told of the abuse in the confession box"

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/priests-will-be-jailed-if-they-dont-report-abuse-2821151.html

(That web-page came to my attention via this AQ comment.) Related coverage:

http://www.smh.com.au/world/vatican-ignored-abuse-guidelines-irish-report-finds-20110714-1hfxt.html?skin=text-only

http://www.smh.com.au/world/irish-child-abuse-report-attacks-vatican-and-powerful-bishop-20110714-1hfzy.html?skin=text-only

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=27239

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38149

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38195

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38200

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=27270

Labels: Alan Shatter, Ireland, sexual abuse

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Vincent de Paul, Confessor, A.D. 2011

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

2011-07-12T15:23:00.006+10:00

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

Notes: Wednesday, June 30-Wednesday, July 6, 2011

2011-07-06T17:25:00.005+10:00

1. "[In the U.S., n]o state referendum or initiative to outlaw same-sex marriage has ever been defeated at the ballot box"

http://www.smh.com.au/world/new-york-decision-sparks-hope-for-gay-marriage-movement-20110627-1gnj0.html?skin=text-only

Labels: G.L.B.T., marriage, U.S.A.

2. "... an approximation [of pi] appears in the Bible ..."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/maths-mutineers-say-numbers-up-for-pi/story-e6frg6so-1226083546779

Anyone know the chapter and verse for that approximation?

Labels: Scripture

3. Mr. Timbs on the origin of the Sacraments

Here is an excerpt from a comment by one of CathNews's frequent commenters, one David Timbs:

... in fact, Jesus never ordained anyone to anything nor instituted any sacraments of any kind. That sacramental system developed over time in the Church
[http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=26981]

Labels: David Timbs, Priesthood, Sacraments, theology

4. "Many Successful Gay Marriages Share an Open Secret"

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/us/29sfmetro.html

(Brought to my attention via a comment in the combox of this CathNews post.)

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

5. Talk soon. Talk often--scandalous new "sex education guide"

Available here:

http://www.public.health.wa.gov.au/2/1276/2/parentcaregiver.pm

(Brought to my attention by a short article in one of the editions of the Sydney Daily Telegraph last week, an expanded edition of which article is available here.)

That guide's title reminds of that old joke about how to vote in some kinds of corrupt electoral systems--'vote early and vote often', which is fitting, given that that guide would do to the virtue of chastity in a youngster what electoral corruption does to civic virtue in a citizen.

Labels: education, Jenny Walsh, vice, youngsters

6. A couple of recent items regarding the Russian Orthodox Church

6.1 "The Myth of Orthodox Revival in Russia"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37998

Labels: R.O.C.

6.2 "Russo-Orthodox cleric in Vatican ceremony: closer ties?"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37988

Labels: Diocese of Rome, R.O.C.

7. Death of H.I.&R.H. Archduke Otto of Austria

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38012

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.

Labels: Otto Habsburg-Lorraine

Reginaldvs Cantvar
6.VII.2011

Notes: Wednesday, June 22-Wednesday, June 29, 2011

2011-06-29T15:44:00.006+10:00

1. A couple of items regarding women in the paid workforce

1.1 Mr. Thompson on several points regarding women in the paid workforce

Here is an excerpt from an article entitled "They have babies, pay them less" and which appeared on page three of the print edition of the Sydney Daily Telegraph on Friday, June 24, 2011:

Alasdair Thompson, chief execu-tive of the New Zealand Employers & Manufacturers' Association, also claimed women were less pro-ductive because they took career breaks to have babies.
"Why do they take the most sick leave? Women do in general. Why? Because once a month they have sick problems," Mr Thompson said during a live radio interview to argue against a law aimed at reducing the wage gap between men and women.
"The fact is women have babies, they take time out with their careers," he added, admitting his statements were "contentious".
[...] Mr Thompson later tried to hose down the controversy, apologising for his comments.
[dashes in the original, my square-bracketed ellipsis]

I wonder what the evidence is for whether women take more sick leave than men, whether, if they do indeed take more sick leave, it is because of women's problems, and whether maternity leave hampers women's productivity?

Related web-pages:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/gender-row-exec-has-a-point-expert/story-e6freuyi-1226081435028

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/kiwi-employers-head-castigated-over-claims-women-take-more-sick-days-than-men/story-e6frev00-1226080815733

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/new-zealand-employers-group-chief-says-women-dont-deserve-equal-pay/story-e6frg6so-1226080763729

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/business/kiwi-employers-head-castigated-over-claims-women-take-more-sick-days-than-men/story-e6frez7r-1226080755986

Labels: economics, gender differences, work

1.2 Some facts and figures regarding women in the paid workforce and children in childcare

http://www.smh.com.au/national/childcare-rebate-put-paid-to-staying-home-longer-20110624-1ghsr.html?skin=text-only

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/numbers-add-up-as-mothers-return-to-work-sooner-20110623-1ghjk.html?skin=text-only

Labels: economics, work, youngsters

2. Darwin on something which would invalidate his theory of evolution

This is an extract from a very small article entitled "Insights unveiled as Darwin's scribbles enter the digital era" and which appeared on page twenty-four of last weekend's (June 25-26, 2011) edition of The Sydney Morning Herald:

Darwin wrote alongside this: "If this ["that there were definite limits to the vari-ation of species"] were true adios theory."

Labels: evolution

3. "Russian Orthodox Church to tinker with its liturgy"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37841

Labels: R.O.C.

4. A couple of recent reported facts regarding the death penalty

4.1 "Since 1978, [Californian] voters have consistently opted to widen the capital punishment net so that the state now has the most sweeping laws in the country, with some 39 eligible crimes"

http://www.smh.com.au/world/executions-cost-300m-each-in-california-study-20110621-1gdfu.html?skin=text-only

Labels: death penalty

4.2 "Australia ... annually co-sponsors a resolution of the UN Human Rights Commission that calls for all nations to abolish [capital] punishment"

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/editorial/subtle-shifts-offer-hope-of-abolition-20110626-1glm2.html?skin=text-only

Labels: death penalty

5. "A Bibliography of the Current Crisis in the Catholic Church"

http://truerestoration.blogspot.com/2011/06/bibliography-of-current-crisis-in.html

That came to my attention via this AQ thread:

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37842

Labels: modernism, N.O.M., Vatican II

6. "Liechtenstein archbishop in Mass 'boycott'"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37862

Labels: Church and State

7. "Students get insight into Holocaust horrors"

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=26928

This bit was particularly evocative:

This year three Santa Maria College students ... prepared a liturgical movement in response to ... Walter Rapoport, Chairman of the Council of Christians and Jews Victoria.

(In the Australian Conciliar church, "liturgical movement" means liturgical dance.) It brings to mind pagan dancing girls swirling around an idol of "The Holocaust".

Labels: Jews

8. "Kremlin eliminates Putin challengers"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/kremlin-eliminates-putin-challengers/story-e6frg6so-1226080860884

Labels: Russia, Vladimir Putin

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, A.D. 2011

Notes: Wednesday, June 15-Tuesday, June 21, 2011 (part 2 of 2)

2011-06-21T17:09:00.006+10:00

6.2 A blog comment on sola Scriptura: "[T]he phrase “Sola Scriptura” ... is not found in the Bible"

The comment of 17.6.11 / 1am in the combox here:

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/06/15/politics-religion-and-the-dalai-lama/

Labels: Protestantism, Scripture, theology

7. "[A] growing number of parents are having more than two children" ("[d]espite the nation's fertility rate falling slightly")?

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/bigger-families-are-growing-on-us/story-fn6e0s1g-1226077320962

I would like to copy and paste that whole short article here, but I think that that would involve a copyright infringement; the one part of that article which I will highlight is this one:

Although the vast majority of Australian parents still have two children, Bureau of Statistics [A.B.S.] figures showed 29.3 per cent of women who gave birth in 2009 were having their third or subsequent child, with most mothers aged between 35 and 44.
[my square-bracketed interpolation]

I looked at the A.B.S. website but did not see anything under the "Media Releases" heading which might have occasioned that article, and I don't have time to conduct a thorough search of that website (though I would appreciate it if anyone could point out where, if at all, the relevant figures can be found there).

Labels: Australian fertility rate, demography

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Confessor, A.D. 2011

Notes: Wednesday, June 15-Tuesday, June 21, 2011 (part 1 of 2)

2011-06-21T15:39:00.005+10:00

1. "["[H]omeless people sleeping rough"] represent probably only 3 or 4 per cent of the homeless population"

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/cold-and-so-alone-for-sydneys-homeless/story-fn6b3v4f-1226075926361

(Please do not jump to conclusions as to why I have noted this. I do not mean to downplay the difficulties which those who are homeless but are not sleeping rough undoubtedly experience.)

Labels: homelessness, poverty

2. Prof. Flint on, among other things, the questions of H.M. The Queen's nationality and who is Australia's Head of State

Under the heading "State of the nation" here:

http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/tough-reality-is-ill-health-necessitates-change-20110615-1g3qf.html?skin=text-only

The next day, the Herald published a number of responses to Prof. Flint's letter, under the heading "It's obvious who's the boss, and her nationality", here:

http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/theres-room-to-make-way-for-commuters-20110616-1g673.html?skin=text-only

Labels: David Flint, republicanism

3. "Echo of Soviet era in Putin's bid for votes"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/echo-of-soviet-era-in-putins-bid-for-votes/story-e6frg6so-1226076653930

Labels: Russia, Vladimir Putin

4. "Hungary sponsors bold pro-life campaign with EU money - Eurocrats enraged"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37795

Labels: abortion, E.U., Hungary

5. Mr. Ferrara on the Rosary and the New Rosary

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23422

Labels: John Paul II. Wojtyla, Rosary

6. Two recent opinion pieces from Mr. Muehlenberg

6.1 A blog post on fallacious comparisons of mixed-race marriage and same-sex 'marriage'

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/06/19/same-sex-marriage-playing-the-race-card/

The Girgis-George-Anderson Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy article to which Mr. Muehlenberg presumably refers in that post is available here:

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1722155

Labels: discrimination, G.L.B.T., law, marriage, morality

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Confessor, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday, June 7-Tuesday, June 14, 2011

2011-06-14T14:58:00.009+10:00

1. "Private prestige university on the way"--"reportedly being funded by millions of pounds from private investors secured by the eminent British philosopher A. C. Grayling"; "[f]ourteen leading academics are backing the project and will teach at the university, including evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins"

http://www.smh.com.au/world/private-prestige-university-on-the-way-20110605-1fnb2.html?skin=text-only

Labels: education, N.C.H.

2. Jewish-to-Catholic convert and State-of-Israel citizen named as a Prelate Auditor of the Roman Rota ("the Holy See’s highest appellate court")

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37641

http://mauricepinay.blogspot.com/2011/06/pope-appoints-fanatical-zionist-to.html

http://www.ucanews.com/2011/06/03/jewish-convert-named-to-top-vatican-role/

(The last of those three web-pages came to my attention via this CathNews page.)

Labels: David Jaeger, Roman Curia, State of Israel

3. Fr. Zuhlsdorf on, among other things, the myth of the origin of 'vernacular' Catholic liturgy

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/06/critics-of-the-new-corrected-translation-would-have-back-in-the-day-resisted-also-the-king-james-bible/

Labels: Latin, liturgy, vernacular

4. "Remarks [from a "Deputy Assistant Secretary" of the U.S. Department of State] for LGBT Pride"

http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/rm/2011/165264.htm

(That web-page came to my attention via this comment at AQ.)

Labels: G.L.B.T., pride, U.S.A.

5. "[In The State of Israel,] there are more than 20 individual laws that discriminate between the Jewish and non-Jewish population"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/mandela-factor/story-fn558imw-1226073258456

Labels: discrimination, Jews, State of Israel

6. An article on evolution which (article) contains some interesting points from a Creationist perspective

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/a-grey-matter-of-size-brains-arent-what-they-used-to-be/story-e6frg8y6-1226073980121

Labels: evolution, neuroscience

7. Four viewpoints on whether "people [should] be able to use the sperm or eggs of their dead partner"

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/should-people-be-able-to-use-the-sperm-or-eggs-of-their-dead-partner-20110603-1fkir.html?skin=text-only

Labels: I.V.F., medicine, morality

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Pentecost Tuesday, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday, May 31-Monday, June 6, 2011

2011-06-06T20:37:00.011+10:00

1. "Reverse proof of title, says Paul Keating"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/aboriginal-australia/reverse-proof-of-title-says-paul-keating/story-e6frgd9f-1226066787825

Labels: burden of proof, justice, law

2. "Neocatechumenal Way Invites German Youth to Madrid"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37573

Labels: Jews, Neo-catechumenal Way

3. Fr. Scott on Universæ Ecclesiæ

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37569

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, Kurt Koch, liturgy, N.O.M., Peter Scott, T.L.M., Universæ Ecclesiæ

4. Mr. Muehlenberg on, among other things, how "[t]he exact Islamic requirements for halal slaughter ... may not be fully clear, at least in some quarters"

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/05/31/tortured-cows-and-babies/

Labels: Islam

5. "Gay softball league can limit straight players, [U.S.] Judge rules"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/gay-softball-league-can-limit-straight-players-judge-rules/story-fn3dxity-1226068573943

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

6. Mr. Bellet on the size of the homosexual proportion of the population

The comment of 6.6.11 / 8pm in the combox here:

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/06/02/why-radical-agendas-are-winning/

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

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Norbert, Bishop, Confessor, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday, May 24-Monday, May 30, 2011 (part 2 of 2)

2011-05-30T23:55:00.012+10:00

6. A couple of recent items regarding H.H. The Pope

6.1 Review of Light of the World

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37400

Worth reading as a whole, but I'm keeping it for future reference just for its mention of the apparent reason for the present Pope's non-use of the title "Patriarch of the West".

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, Papacy, Patriarch of the West

6.2 H.H. The Pope on the Church's non-pursuit of "privileges"

POPE ENTRUSTS ITALY TO VIRGIN'S PROTECTION

VATICAN CITY, 27 MAY 2011 (VIS) - Yesterday afternoon in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, Benedict XVI presided over the praying of the Rosary together with the bishops of Italy, entrusting the people of Italy to the Virgin. The Italian bishops were gathered for a General Assembly on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the political unification of Italy.

After praying the Luminous Mysteries, Benedict XVI addressed the Italian bishops, ...

[...] "Faith, in fact", he continued, "is not alienation. The experiences that poison the dignity of humanity and the quality of social life are other [than faith]. ... Italy, celebrating 150 years of political unity, has reason to be proud of the presence and outreach of the Church, which does not pursue privileges nor intend to substitute the responsibilities of political institutions. Respectful of the State's legitimate secularity, the Church is attentive to sustaining the fundamental rights of the human person. Among these are foremost ethical instances and therefore the openness to transcendence, which constitute values prior to any state jurisdiction because they are inscribed in the very nature of the human person".
[...]BXVI-ROSARY/ VIS 20110527 (600)

It occurred to me recently that one of the big differences between the Catholic religion and the Conciliar religion is evident in the Leonine Prayers for recital after Low Mass, in which Catholics pray for "the liberty and exaltation of our holy Mother the Church"--that's liberty and exaltation, not just liberty. Whereas the Catholic Church asks God for her liberty and exaltation, the Conciliar church asks the State merely for its liberty:

... And what does this Church ask of you after close to 2,000 years of experiences of all kinds in her relations with you, the powers of the earth? What does the Church ask of you today? She tells you in one of the major documents of this council. She asks of you only liberty, the liberty to believe and to preach her faith, the freedom to love her God and serve Him, the freedom to live and to bring to men her message of life. ...
[Address of Paul VI., on behalf of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council, to "all those who hold temporal power",
a href="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/speeches/1965/documents/hf_p-vi_spe_19651208_epilogo-concilio-governanti_en.html]

I suppose that members of the Conciliar religion would try to downplay this contrast by saying that they do desire the Church's exaltation, but in an eschatological sense. A Catholic can respond to this by pointing out that Christ the King has social rights not just at the end of time, but right here and right now, and if Christ is King, then surely His Bride is Queen.

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, Church and State

7. Notable appointments to the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation

From a recent edition of the Vatican Information Service's daily e-mail bulletin:

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 19 MAY 2011 (VIS) - Today the Holy Father appointed as consultors of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization: Msgr. Fernando Ocariz, vicar general of Opus Dei; ... Fr. Julian Carron, president of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation and ecclesiastical assistant to the Association "Memores Domini"; ... Dr. Chiara Amirante, founder and president of the New Horizons Association of the diocese of Anagni-Alatri, Italy; Mr. Kiko Arguello, a co-initiator of the Neo-Catechumenal Way; ...
[...]NA/ VIS 20110519 (240)

According to a ucanews post to which there was a link in one of the items in last Friday's edition of CathNews Perspectives, "[f]ive representatives from various Church movements were appointed along with five experts."

Labels: Roman Curia

8. "More older Britons having abortions"

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/wellbeing/more-older-britons-having-abortions-20110529-1fav1.html?skin=text-only

That article's concluding paragraph seemed particularly significant:

The figures reflect large-scale social changes in recent years. The percentage of single women in Britain has more than doubled in the past three decades, with 43 per cent of women under 50 never having married in 2009.

Labels: abortion, demography, marriage, U.K.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Felix, Pope, Martyr, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday, May 24-Monday, May 30, 2011 (part 1 of 2)

2011-05-30T20:54:00.010+10:00

1. A recent AQ post and comment on gay indoctrination of children

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37409

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=407490#407490

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

2. Ethiopia: The world's second Catholic Confessional State

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=26409

So apparently Armenia was the world's first Catholic Confessional State, Ethiopia was the second, and presumably the Roman Empire was the third.

Labels: Confessional State, Ethiopia

3. A few recent items regarding the intersection of the family and the economy

3.1 "WHEN a couple disagrees on whether to have a child or more children, the woman's wishes usually prevail. But a study that tracks thousands of people over six years shows the introduction of the $3000 baby bonus gave more power to the partner who wanted more children - even if that was the man."

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/pregnancy-power-shift-money-does-the-talking-20110522-1ez0r.html?skin=text-only

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/bonus-ups-bargaining-power-20110522-1eyxc.html?skin=text-only

Labels: economics, families, parenthood, taxation

3.2 "[T]he stay-at-home mum is becoming a threatened species, with only a quarter of couples with children living in a single-income household"

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/the-mothers-load-dual-income-families-replacing-stay-at-home-mums/story-e6freuzr-1226059226858

Labels: demography, economics, families, parenthood

3.3 Mrs. Shanahan on, among other things, the abolition of "the dependent spouse rebate for younger, childless couples, which was the only form of income-splitting for these couples"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/budgets/tax-break-or-welfare-either-way-middle-class-families-are-the-losers/story-fn8gf1nz-1226055302947

Labels: economics, families, parenthood, taxation

4. Dr. Médaille on political philosophy and practice

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37448

Labels: political science

5. A fact and a figure regarding sodomite-catamite 'parenting' in New South Wales

Fact: "Sperm donors do not have automatic legal parenting status [in N.S.W.]. In 2008 that right was given to the partners of lesbian mothers who conceived using a sperm donor."
Source: http://www.westernadvocate.com.au/news/national/national/general/questions-over-sperm-donors-legal-rights/2175320.aspx (Initially I'd intended to give the following U.R.L. as my source, but if you click on it then you'll see that, oddly, its page no longer exists: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/questions-over-sperm-donors-legal-rights-20110525-1f4im.html)

(One Emma Brooks Maher had a letter published in the Herald under the title "A child's right", arguing that "Gay parents need to get real: a birth certificate is not a marriage or partnership document. It records a birth ... And every child has a right to know its genetic background - that is, both mother and father.")

Figure: "Of 94,354 birth registrations last year, 117 were for children born to same-sex parents."
Source: http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/mother-of-all-battles-as-sperm-donor-fights-for-child-20110524-1f2h7.html?skin=text-only

Labels: demography, families, G.L.B.T., N.S.W., parenthood

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Felix, Pope, Martyr, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday, May 17-Monday, May 23, 2011 (part 2 of 2)

2011-05-23T23:36:00.013+10:00

4. Text of the C.D.F. response to Msgr. Lefebvre's Dubia about religious liberty/Dignitatis humanæ?

In a recent Sandro Magister article posted at AQ, there was a reference to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's (C.D.F.'s) response to the Dubia which Msgr. Lefebvre submitted to it about Dignitatis humanæ. In that article, the response's title is given as "Liberté religieuse. Réponse aux 'dubia' présentés par S.E. Mgr. Lefebvre" (March 9, 1987). I Googled this, and the search led me to the footnotes of this blog post (in Italian), some of which refer to something called "La Crise intégriste". This in turn led me to the French blog "La crise intégriste", which purports, apparently, to have the text of the C.D.F. response. I face three problems, the last two of which follow from the first:

4.1 The document is in French, and I can't speak French (and the document is not so formatted that I can simply run it through a translator).

4.2 I don't know whether the document is authentic.

4.3 Even if it's authentic, I don't know whether it has been published ethically.

Could any French speakers help me out here?

Labels: Dignitatis Humanæ, Marcel Lefebvre, morality, religious liberty, Roman Curia

5. The S.S.P.X.'s The Problem of the Liturgical Reform is available, for free, on-line

I knew that it was available on-line somewhere, and this comment at Fr. Zuhlsdorf's blog gives its U.R.L. One can also find it via one of the items in the "Articles Index" at the website of the U.S. District of the S.S.P.X.

Labels: liturgy, modernism, N.O.M., S.S.P.X., T.L.M., theology, Vatican II

6. Here we go again: In South Australia, "wide-ranging reforms aimed at providing greater legal protection for children of same-sex parents [were] recommended to Parliament [last week]"

http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Kids-with-two-mums-are-Weet-Bix-kids-too/

Labels: families, G.L.B.T., parenthood, S.A.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
23.V.2011

Notes: Tuesday, May 17-Monday, May 23, 2011 (part 1 of 2)

2011-05-23T20:21:00.009+10:00

1. Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn (according to CathNews): "Legislative overhaul and education needed over prostitution [in the A.C.T.]"

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=26316

Labels: A.C.T., Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn, law, vice

2. Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei Instruction Universæ Ecclesiæ

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_commissions/ecclsdei/index.htm

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_commissions/ecclsdei/documents/rc_com_ecclsdei_doc_20110430_istr-universae-ecclesiae_en.html

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_commissions/ecclsdei/documents/rc_com_ecclsdei_doc_20110430_istr-universae-ecclesiae_lt.html

COM-ED/ VIS 20110513 (2680)

OP/ VIS 20110513 (1260)

See also Msgr. Fellay's reponse.

Labels: Bernard Fellay, Roman Curia, T.L.M., Universæ Ecclesiæ

3. "Dr Rowan Williams [pretender Archbishop of Canterbury] named the Rev Jonathan Baker as the next Bishop of Ebbsfleet despite knowing he was an active and senior mason"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=407089#407089

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/8514169/Archbishop-allows-freemason-to-be-bishop.html

The pseudobishopric of Ebbsfleet was for

one of the “flying bishops” who oversee clergy opposed to women priests. The post had fallen vacant when its previous holder quit to join the Roman Catholic Church.

Labels: Anglicans, Freemasons, Jonathan Baker, Rowan Williams

Reginaldvs Cantvar
23.V.2011

Notes: Tuesday, May 10-Monday, May 16, 2011

2011-05-16T20:10:00.012+10:00

1. "80 per cent of parish pastors in Australia ... belong to the [National Council of Priests]"?

According to a letter from one L. F. Donnelly which was published last week in The Australian, "80 per cent of parish pastors in Australia ... belong to the [National Council of Priests]". Is this a fact, though?

Labels: N.C.P.

2. "Putin signals 2012 bid"

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/editorial/putin-signals-2012-bid-20110510-1eh6f.html?skin=text-only

Labels: Russia, Vladimir Putin

3. A few recent items regarding H.H. The Pope

3.1 Holy Father mentions "eclipse of God" in Allocution on prayer

AG/ VIS 20110511 (610)

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20110511_en.html

"Eclipse of God" is the title of a book by the Jewish pseudophilosopher Martin Buber. His Holiness mentions Buber favourably in Milestones.

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, Jews, Martin Buber, philosophy, theology

3.2 "Pope receives delegation of B'nai B'rith International"

AC/ VIS 20110512 (340)

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37310

Labels: B'nai B'rith, Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, Freemasons, inter-religious dialogue, Jews

3.3 H.H. The Pope on religious liberty

AL/ VIS 20110516 (590)

Excerpt from the Holy Father's Address to Bishops of the Episcopal Conference of India on their "ad Limina" visit:

Moreover, as Indian Christians strive to live in peace and harmony with their neighbours of other beliefs, your prudent leadership will be crucial in the civil and moral task of working to safeguard the fundamental human rights of freedom of religion and freedom of worship. As you know, these rights are based upon the common dignity of all human beings and are recognized throughout the concert of nations. The Catholic Church strives to promote these rights for all religions throughout the world. ...
[http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2011/may/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20110516_ad-limina-india_en.html]

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, morality, religious liberty

4. Mr. Muehlenberg with "Further Reasons To Reject Legalised Euthanasia"

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/05/11/further-reasons-to-reject-legalised-euthanasia/

Labels: euthanasia

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Ubald, Bishop, Confessor, A.D. 2011

Notes: Wednesday, May 3-Monday, May 9, 2011 (part 2 of 2)

2011-05-09T23:10:00.009+10:00

6. A couple of recent items on socio-political doctrine

6.1 Fr. Rhonheimer on socio-political doctrine before and after Vatican II

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37113

I don't have time to write a proper rebuttal of that fascinating piece, so my initial intention was just to mention the main points of interest, each with little or no accompanying commentary from me. But as I started selecting representative quotations, it became clear that Fr. Rhonheimer's article, or at least the extract which Mr. Magister provided, was so thoroughly riddled with error, and grave error at that, that that approach would simply not do it justice, so I'll just give the link.

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, Church and State, Confessional State, Dignitatis Humanæ, Magisterium, Martin Rhonheimer, morality, Quanta Cura, religious liberty, Vatican II

6.2 The latest from H.H. The Pope on religious liberty

MESS/ VIS 20110504 (430)

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37176

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, Dignitatis Humanæ, Magisterium, morality, religious liberty, Vatican II

7. On "Apostolic Canon 34"

If you ever encounter on the Internet an apologist for the Eastern Schism, then you're likely to see "Apostolic Canon 34" cited at some point. I saw this cited by an Eastern-Catholic-turned-Eastern-Orthodox AQer a while ago, and most recently I've seen it cited in comments in the combox of a recent post by Mr. Schütz: See chiefly the comments in this sub-thread and also this comment. The comments of most interest to me were this one, this one, and this one. Some of The Catholic Encyclopedia's articles, such as those on the Apostolic Canons and on the councils in question, are also useful.

Labels: Eastern Schism, law

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Gregory Nazianzen, Bishop, Confessor, Doctor of the Church, A.D. 2011

Notes: Wednesday, May 3-Monday, May 9, 2011 (part 1 of 2)

2011-05-09T20:06:00.015+10:00

1. Mr. Muehlenberg with some of Prof. Singer's statements

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/04/28/greens-the-party-of-death/

Labels: Peter Singer

2. The anti-sodomite measures of St. Pius V.

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/04/a-pope-as-tough-on-himself-as-he-was-on-others/#comment-269640

Labels: death penalty, G.L.B.T., law, morality, St. Pius V. Ghisleri

3. Two recent Russian developments

3.1 "Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that measures must be taken in the Russian Federation to boost the birth rate"

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/04/29/when-churches-go-bad-2/

Labels: Russia, Vladimir Putin

3.2 "[A] plan by the Russian Orthodox Church to construct 200 churches in the Russian capital"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37193

Labels: R.O.C.

4. Mr. Muehlenberg and others on, among other things, how to react to the death of an evildoer

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/05/09/when-the-bible-goes-missing/

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37192

and the comment of 5.5.11 / 6am by Dr. Sarfati here:

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/05/02/osama%e2%80%99s-death-and-fuzzy-christian-thinking/#comments

Labels: death penalty, morality, Scripture, theology

5. Some of the actions of the late Mme. Nhu

... after winning a seat in the National Assembly in 1956, [she] pushed through measures that increased women's rights. She also orchestrated government moves to ban contraceptives and abortion, outlaw adultery, forbid divorce and close opium dens and brothels.
[http://www.smh.com.au/national/obituaries/dragon-lady-not-afraid-to-speak-her-mind-20110508-1ee2i.html?skin=text-only]

Labels: Tran Le Xuan

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Gregory Nazianzen, Bishop, Confessor, Doctor of the Church, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday, April 19-Monday, May 2, 2011

2011-05-02T20:56:00.013+10:00

1. How, according to a blog commenter, Bl. John XXIII. changed the Good Friday prayer for the Jews

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/04/wdtprs-revisited-the-new-good-friday-prayer-for-jews-inserted-into-the-1962mr/#comment-268340

Labels: Jews, John XXIII. Roncalli, liturgy, T.L.M.

2. Two recent acts by H.M. The Queen

2.1 Announcement that Lord Phillips and Lord Boyce will join the Order of the Garter

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13168587

You can read more about the activities of Lord Phillips here, here, the comment here, here, and especially here. Needless to say, however, I do not necessarily agree with the entire content and/or perspective of any of those pieces.

Labels: Islam, Jews, Michael Boyce, Nicholas Phillips, Order of the Garter, State of Israel

2.2 H.R.H. Prince William of Wales and Miss Middleton become T.R.H. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

http://www.royal.gov.uk/LatestNewsandDiary/Pressreleases/2011/Announcementoftitles29April2011.aspx

http://www.officialroyalwedding2011.org/blog/2011/April/29/Titles-announced-for-Prince-William-and-Catherine-Middleton

(See also the last clause of the last sentence of this Herald article.)

Labels: William Wales

3. "Grahame" on the teachings of H.H. The Pope and Teilhard de Chardin regarding the priesthood, the liturgy, and the "Cosmos"

http://members7.boardhost.com/CathPews/msg/1303955083.html

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, liturgy, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, A.D. 2011

Msgr. Fellay announces new Rosary Crusade

2011-04-19T01:11:00.003+10:00

"[F]or the intention that the Church may be delivered from the evils that oppress her or threaten her in the near future, that Russia may be consecrated and that the Triumph of the Immaculata may come soon."

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36920

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36919

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Tuesday in Holy Week, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday, April 12-Monday, April 18, 2011

2011-04-18T19:52:00.013+10:00

1. Latest American figures on sexual abuse by Catholic priests

http://members7.boardhost.com/CathPews/thread/1302558767.html

http://www.catholicleague.org/nytstraighttalk.php

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36834

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=25812

Labels: sexual abuse

2. Dr. Gates on the G.L.B.T. proportion of the population

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/gay-equality-doesnt-add-up-until-we-do-the-numbers-20110412-1dcit.html?skin=text-only

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

3. Cardinal Pell with some facts about events in the post-Conciliar era

Pope Paul VI appointed no bishops who were opposed to the ethos of Vatican II, ...

[...] Incidentally it is a matter of historical record that at the 1971 Synod of Bishops, Pope Paul offered to the bishops the option of ordaining married men to the priesthood and the bishops declined to accept this.

[...] In Pope John Paul’s 27 years of pontificate 24 individuals were disciplined for their theological views, including eight who were silenced or removed, in the worldwide Catholic community of more than one billion believers.
[http://theswag.org.au/2011/04/some-gaudium-and-no-spes/]

His Eminence also asserts in that letter that "the bishops of the Society of St. Pius X ... are still in schism", which is not only false, even from Rome's perspective, but illogical for him given that in the same section of the letter he says that their putative excommunications were lifted.

Labels: celibacy, George Pell, John Paul II. Wojtyla, Paul VI. Montini, S.S.P.X., Vatican II

4. "Ethnic federation calls on PM to bolster multicultural policy"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/ethnic-federation-calls-on-pm-to-bolster-multicultural-policy/story-fn59niix-1226039379342

Labels: multiculturalism

5. Discussion thread on the pre-1955 Holy Week liturgical schedule

Mainly of interest to me for the references to the present and past practice of the S.S.P.X. in that connection:

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36891

Labels: liturgy, S.S.P.X., T.L.M.

6. Figures on the use of contraception by American Catholics

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36893

Labels: contraception

7. Two items regarding John Paul II.

7.1 Review of a biography of John Paul II.

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36884

Labels: John Paul II. Wojtyla

7.2 List of quotations from John Paul II. regarding Islam

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=404020#404020

Labels: Islam, John Paul II. Wojtyla

8. Note regarding possible new admissions to the Order of the Garter

This Saturday, April 23 (which is usually St. George's Day), is Holy Saturday. Apparently,

This year 2011, St Georges Day will be officially celebrated on May 2nd. This is because Easter falls late this year and April 23rd is Holy Saturday, the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Under the rules of the Church of England, if St Georges Day falls within a week of Easter then Easter has precedence and St Georges Day is moved to after Easter. This will the first Monday in May, May Day Bank Holiday, ...
[http://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/StGeorge.htm]

Now there are currently three vacancies in the Order of the Garter (judging by the list at H.M. The Queen's website, one would think that there were only two, but that list has not been updated to take into account the death of His late Grace The Duke of Grafton). If Her Majesty intends to fill some or all of those vacancies this year, I wonder whether the announcement will be made on Holy Saturday, or on May 2? Delaying any announcement till the latter date would be convenient in that The Queen could also announce Miss Middleton's admission to the Order as one of its Royal Ladies.

Labels: Order of the Garter

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Monday in Holy Week, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday, April 5-Monday, April 11, 2011

2011-04-11T19:49:00.009+10:00

1. A few items regarding Russia and/or the Russian Orthodox Church

1.1 Significant recent Russian space mission carried "an icon presented by the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/international-mission-marks-50-years-of-russian-space-flight/story-e6frg6so-1226033950957

Labels: R.O.C., Russia

1.2 "In Russia, the dissolution of the Soviet Union led initially to a more world-oriented curriculum in the 1990s, with an emphasis on ''common human values'', but more recently, in line with Russia's foreign policy, it has been moving back to a more national and patriotic story"

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/new-curriculum-will-ultimately-mould-our-national-identity-20110405-1d2uw.html?skin=text-only

Labels: Russia

1.3 "Russian prelate says 'godless' West doomed to collapse"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36808

Labels: R.O.C., Russia, secularism

2. A few items regarding Ireland

2.1 "Irish Minister says religion in schools is a waste of class time"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36735

Not without disagreement, though:

"Former Irish prime minister defends religious instruction"
http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36807

Labels: catechesis, education, Ireland

2.2 "Irish State to seize religious order’s property to pay victim’s comp"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36734

Labels: Ireland

2.3 "Irish report argues against hasty government takeover of Church-run schools"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36768

Labels: education, Ireland

3. "The Roman Catholic Church is the official state Church in Monaco"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36736

I did not know that that was the case.

Labels: Church and State, Monaco

4. Gay man reflects on the implications which legalising 'gay marriage' has for legalising polygamy

http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/blogs/over-the-rainbow/4407748/Is-polygamy-such-a-bad-thing

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

5. Dr. Brown on the theology of the Blessed Sacrament

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/04/maynooth-seminary-in-ireland-fit-for-mission/#comment-264609

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/04/maynooth-seminary-in-ireland-fit-for-mission/#comment-264910

Labels: Sacraments, theology

6. "With the battle over legalised euthanasia touch and go in South Australia and Tasmania, the president of the Australian Nursing Federation, Coral Levett, has taken the extraordinary step of personally endorsing it"

This article is valuable for other nursing-and-euthanasia-related information in it, too:

http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/nurses-not-neutral-on-lethal-needle/

Labels: euthanasia, nursing

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Leo I., Pope, Confessor, Doctor of the Church, A.D. 2011

Notes: Thursday, March 31-Monday, April 4, 2011

2011-04-04T20:08:00.012+10:00

1. The Conciliar Church and the 'search for truth'

1.1 "[Vatican] MESSAGE TO BUDDHISTS: TRUTH IS NECESSARY TO SEEK PEACE"

Excerpts from one of the Vatican Information Service daily e-mail bulletins of last week:

MESSAGE TO BUDDHISTS: TRUTH IS NECESSARY TO SEEK PEACE

VATICAN CITY, 31 MAR 2011 (VIS) - Made public today was the annual Message to Buddhists for the Feast of Vesakh, issued by the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue. [...]

The message, which is entitled "Seeking Truth in Freedom: Christians and Buddhists live in Peace", Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran and Archbishop Pier Luigi Celata, respectively president and secretary of the pontifical council, note that "in the pursuit of authentic peace, a commitment to seek truth is a necessary condition. ... This human striving for truth offers a fruitful opportunity for the followers of the different religions to encounter one another in depth and to grow in appreciation of the gifts of each".

The English-language text continues: "[...] Wherever religious freedom is effectively acknowledged, the dignity of the human person is respected at its root; by the sincere search for what is true and good, moral conscience and civil institutions are strengthened; and justice and peace are firmly established". CON-DIR/ VIS 20110331 (270)
[my square-bracketed ellipses]

See also the discussion on that Message at AQ:

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36698

Labels: inter-religious dialogue, religious liberty, Roman Curia

1.2 Dr. Casey on how the shared 'search for truth' leads to social Nirvana

A question put to Dr. Michael Casey, who works for the Sydney Archdiocese, in an interview, followed by his answer:

But how can you possibly be tolerant if you believe in truth? Aren’t you thereby committed to discriminating against people who don’t accept “your truth”?

Casey: That view explains why relativism is regarded as the only form of moral philosophy safe for democracy. Given the abundance of conflicting views, values and desires, and the adamant insistence on our own supremacy, truth appears to be not only implausible but tyrannical. When truth prevails, so the standard line goes, it narrows existence, constrains the possibilities of knowledge, and limits freedom and autonomy. Its ideas of “good and evil”, “true and false” cause division and intolerance.

The way forward is to move from a stubborn insistence that there is no such thing as truth, or that truth is dangerous, to conceding that perhaps truth is possible and available to us after all, and that in our own way we are all seeking it.

Conceding the possibility of truth, and that we all share a desire to find the truth and to live in its light, changes the situation completely. Nothing is lost from diversity, disagreement, scepticism and dispute, but they are re-located within a common journey which makes trust, openness and respect for each other in our different moral commitments stronger and easier. This is what real tolerance means.

Truth is not an answer in a box and it is not a cudgel. It is the unfolding of reality in which each of us takes part. Wherever our own search for the truth might lead us, the shared acceptance that it is the truth we are all seeking changes the game. It takes us out of the dead end of intolerant tolerance.
[http://members7.boardhost.com/CathPews/thread/1301520054.html]

In other words (at the risk of over-simplification): In order to bring about a Utopia of 'tolerance', relativism about the existence of truth is forbidden, but relativism (at least at the level of society) about the essence of truth is compulsory. So long as we agree that truth is, we can all live in harmony even though we disagree about what truth is. Yeah, right.

Labels: Michael Casey

2. "Vatican II coming to Orthodox churches?"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36676

Labels: Eastern Schism

3. "Company Uses Fetal Cells From Abortions for [testing of] Artificial Flavors"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36663

See also:

"Companies Stop Using Abortion Cells to Test Artificial Flavors"
http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36699

Labels: abortion, Senomyx

4. Pius XII. on the death penalty

In this comment by a reader at Dr. Feser's blog, I found a link to the text of a speech which Pius XII. gave which dealt with the death penalty and for which I had previously looked unsuccessfully. (Though for lack of time I have not read the post in whose combox I found that comment, I did read Dr. Feser's subsequent post and it's worth reading, though not perfect (but, again for lack of time, I can't write a critique of it).) Here is the link to the text of that speech (in Italian):

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/speeches/1955/documents/hf_p-xii_spe_19550205_unione-giuristi-cattolici_it.html

Labels: death penalty, justice, morality, Pius XII. Pacelli

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Isidore, Bishop, Confessor, Doctor of the Church, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday, March 22-Wednesday, March 30, 2011 (part 2 of 2)

2011-03-30T17:37:00.003+11:00

10. "Apostolic Nuncio to Britain on Russian Orthodoxy"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36583

See also:

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/03/should-you-ever-advise-someone-not-to-become-a-catholic/

http://scecclesia.com/?p=5288

Labels: Antonio Mennini, ecumenism, R.O.C.

11. Figures on annulments in the U.S. in recent decades

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36580

Labels: annulments, marriage, U.S.A.

12. "Cardinal to Launch Groundbreaking Intellectual Journal"

http://members7.boardhost.com/CathPews/thread/1301052217.html

Labels: Solidarity (journal)

13. "REFORM OF ECCLESIASTICAL STUDIES OF PHILOSOPHY"

VIS 20110322 (600)

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36556

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/03/latin-in-the-ordinary-form-seminary-wherein-fr-z-rants/#comment-261488

Labels: education, Fides et ratio, John Paul II. Wojtyla, seminaries

14. Interesting new academic/news website: "The Conversation"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/new-website-the-conversation-gives-access-to-australian-academics/story-fn3dxity-1226027509468

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/academia-nets-2m-to-go-on-the-web/story-e6frgakx-1226027704333

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/andrew-jaspans-new-site-offers-something-to-talk-about/story-e6frg99o-1226029038230

Labels: Conversation (website)

15. "Gender Bender Moonbattery" (in the U.N. and elsewhere)

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/03/29/gender-bender-moonbattery/

Labels: G.L.B.T., U.N.O.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
30.III.2011

Notes: Tuesday, March 22-Wednesday, March 30, 2011 (part 1 of 2)

2011-03-30T17:14:00.007+11:00

1. "A Statement of Reservations Concerning the Impending Beatification of Pope John Paul II" (with an interesting list of signatories)

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36543

Labels: John Paul II. Wojtyla

2. "[A] a regular Green voter" on, among other things, The Greens' defence policy

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/blogs/blunt-instrument/when-pacifist-greens-want-military-action-its-time-to-ask-if-their-policies-really-can-fly-20110321-1c3zk.html

Labels: Greens

3. "US hails world move to end violence against gays"

Not just violence, though, but also criminal sanctions:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/us-hails-world-move-to-end-violence-against-gays/story-fn3dxix6-1226026852281

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

4. Text of Cardinal Burke's recent Australian speech

No mention of 'separation of Church and State' (cf. item 7 of this Notes post of mine):

http://members7.boardhost.com/CathPews/msg/1300844922.html

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=9567

Labels: Church and State, Raymond Burke

5. A couple of recent developments in Ireland

5.1 "Meet Ireland's new Minister for "Justice, Equality, Defence," Immigration and much, much more"

http://mauricepinay.blogspot.com/2011/03/bolshevik-takeover-of-ireland.html

Labels: Alan Shatter, Ireland, Jews, State of Israel

5.2 "Irish govt. to take 50% of schools away from the Church"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36666

Labels: Ireland

6. "The Greens have pledged to introduce private members' bills [in New South Wales] to remove abortion from the NSW Crimes Act, and legalise voluntary euthanasia"

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/state-election-2011/nile-says-coalition-is-best-bet-20110323-1c6rq.html?skin=text-only

Labels: abortion, euthanasia, Greens, N.S.W.

7. 'Sidere mens eadem mutato' in nineteenth-century Australia

I was interested to read the following the other day:

Prince Alfred, who excited colonial Australia with a six-month tour in 1867-8, was greeted as a bearer of civilisation by colonists building new cities and towns in the ''wilderness''. English, Scots, Germans and even Chinese lined up to present their guest with loyal addresses declaring that ''in changing our skies, we have not changed our minds''. Australians used the visit to demonstrate all too eagerly that they were not, in fact, Australian. Aboriginal people were displayed at missions to show the prince how they had adopted the culture of the colonisers.
[my emphasis,
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/the-real-reason-for-royal-visit-20110317-1byxo.html?skin=text-only

The mid-nineteenth-century-founded University of Sydney's motto is "Sidere mens eadam mutato", which means something like 'though the skies change, the mind remains constant'. Perhaps this was a popular theme of the time.

Labels: history, University of Sydney

8. Dr. van Gend on euthanasia

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/commentary/unproductive-burdens-still-have-a-right-to-live/story-e6frgd0x-1226027674393

Labels: euthanasia

9. "A new analysis of abortion data across all 50 U.S. states has found solid evidence that legislation intended to reduce abortion, such as parental involvement laws, is effective"

http://members7.boardhost.com/CathPews/msg/1301459312.html

Labels: abortion, law

Reginaldvs Cantvar
30.III.2011

Notes: Wednesday, March 16-Monday, March 21, 2011 (part 2 of 2)

2011-03-21T23:21:00.005+11:00

8. A couple of recent Australian developments regarding so-called gay marriage

8.1 "Same-sex marriage ban hurts economy"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/same-sex-marriage-ban-hurts-economy/story-fn59niix-1226025059327

Labels: economics, G.L.B.T., marriage

8.2 Ms Gillard on, among other things, her opposition to 'gay marriage'

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/pm-offers-no-hope-to-social-left/story-fn59niix-1226025038933

Labels: G.L.B.T., Julia Gillard, marriage

9. "Recriminalise prostitution in ACT, urges Church"

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=25542

Labels: A.C.T., Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn, vice

10. Mr. Raj, once again, on, among other things, multiculturalism as a justification for the so-called gay culture

http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pray-away-the-gay-app-a-sign-of-deeper-bigotry/

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

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Benedict, Abbot, A.D. 2011

Notes: Wednesday, March 16-Monday, March 21, 2011 (part 1 of 2)

2011-03-21T20:11:00.010+11:00

1. A couple of recent articles regarding the Russian Orthodox Church

1.1 Reasons not to be too optimistic about the prospects for Rome-Moscow relations

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36412

Labels: ecumenism, R.O.C.

1.2 "Russian Orthodox Church hierarch calls for strategic alliance with Catholics, Protestants"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36513

Labels: ecumenism, R.O.C.

2. An AQ thread on, among other things, the requirements imposed on F.S.S.P. priests regarding Vatican II and the Novus Ordo Missæ

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36360

Labels: F.S.S.P.

3. Mr. Assange on the Internet as "the greatest spying machine the world has ever seen"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/internet-is-worlds-greatest-spying-machine-and-obstacle-to-free-speech-assange/story-e6frgakx-1226022439504

Labels: Internet

4. A couple of interesting items from this month's edition (the first for the new year) of the Sydney Archdiocese's Life, Marriage and Family Centre's monthly e-mail

4.1 Dr. van Gend on same-sex 'marriage', same-sex parenting, and Lord Russell's views on marriage

http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/liberation_--_or_deprivation/

Labels: Bertrand Russell, G.L.B.T., marriage, morality, parenthood

4.2 The survival of the pro-life movement as a reason for hope in the face of the argument that opponents of 'gay marriage' are 'on the wrong side of history'

http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2011/01/2439

Labels: abortion, G.L.B.T., marriage

5. Mr. Muehlenberg on the re-definition of marriage

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/03/16/marriage-equality-let%e2%80%99s-go-for-the-whole-hog/

Labels: Katrina Fox, marriage, morality

6. "Philosopher argues against abortion through reason alone"

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=25470

Labels: abortion, Christopher Kaczor, morality

7. "New documents reveal inner workings of papal birth control commission"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36478

Labels: contraception, Magisterium, morality, Paul VI. Montini

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Benedict, Abbot, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday, March 8-Tuesday, March 15, 2011 (part 2 of 2)

2011-03-15T01:13:00.005+11:00

6. "MEDIUM and large businesses will be spot checked, forced to report on the number of women employed and face fines for non-compliance"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/firms-to-report-on-gender-ratios/story-e6frg6nf-1226018663645

Labels: feminism, work

7. Cardinal Burke supports 'separation of Church and State'?

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/against-the-high-tide-of-secularism/story-e6frg6zo-1226019646515

The Weekend Australian reported the following about His Eminence:

European nations that fail to reverse the population collapse, he says, are at risk of becoming Islamic states in the long term, losing the benefits that flow from the separation of church and state in democracies with Christian roots.

He regards that separation as vital, but wants religious leaders to play a vigorous role in the national conversation, as Thomas More, one of his heroes, did in Tudor England.

But I cannot find the full transcript of the speech in which His Eminence reportedly said those things. Does anyone know where to find it?

Labels: Church and State, Raymond Burke

8. A good comment on the 'methodology' of (at least some) detractors of the S.S.P.X.

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/03/sensible-examination-of-sspxrome-talks/#comment-259501

Labels: Magisterium, S.S.P.X.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
15.III.2011

Notes: Tuesday, March 8-Tuesday, March 15, 2011 (part 1 of 2)

2011-03-15T00:58:00.004+11:00

1. A couple of recent developments regarding euthanasia

1.1 "TASMANIA is poised to become the first state to legalise voluntary euthanasia"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/state-to-push-for-mercy-killing/story-e6frg6nf-1226017319925

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=25378

Labels: euthanasia, Tasmania

1.2 "SUPPORT for voluntary euthanasia in NSW is running at 83 per cent, with only 10 per cent of people implacably opposed"

http://www.smh.com.au/national/state-election-2011/support-for-voluntary-euthanasia-at-85-20110310-1bpsm.html?skin=text-only

Labels: euthanasia

2. An amusing example of gay outrage

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/a-channel-ten-newsreader-has-apologised-after-calling-mardi-gras-disgusting-on-air/story-e6freuy9-1226017840089

When I blogged in late 2008 on the revelation that the N.S.W. State government was directly to fund the Sodomites' Parade, a commenter asked jokingly

But, Pole, it's so *colourful* - how could you possibly object?
[http://cardinalpole.blogspot.com/2008/10/taxpayers-to-fund-sodomites-parade.html?showComment=1223032140000#c296515895030110427]

Luckily I didn't say the following, or I might have been reported to some Anti-Discrimination Commissar:

“With respect, there’s a difference between colourful and disgusting in some cases.”

Mr. Tim Dick wrote about the fiasco in a column in Saturday's Herald:

... on Monday, Channel Ten's Ron Wilson suggested elements of the parade crossed the line from ''colourful'' to ''disgusting'' during an interview with the organisation's co-chairman, Pete Urmson. He batted the suggestion away without too much difficulty, and at the end of the discussion, Wilson congratulated him on the success of the festival and parade.

But it prompted a brief bit of predictable ''outrage'' nonetheless. He was homophobic, he was ignorant, he was narrow-minded. His prejudice was the disgusting thing. Something must be done, and someone inevitably threatened an anti-discrimination complaint.

Wilson was duly back the next morning to apologise for any offence caused, and for good measure threw in some support for the gay marriage campaign.

I wish he hadn't. The over-apology was an over-reaction to an over-reaction.

Journalists are supposed to ask difficult questions, and despite Wilson using a clanger of a word, it was one reference in a longer interview generally positive towards Mardi Gras. ...
[http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/whats-there-to-hide-its-a-sin-to-omit-the-emitters-20110311-1br71.html?skin=text-only]

Labels: G.L.B.T., Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, Ron Wilson

3. "Catholica no longer appears on the [Australian Catholic Bishops Conference] list of links"

http://beyondpews.wordpress.com/2011/03/02/quietly-removed/

Labels: A.C.B.C., Catholica Australia

4. Launch of a proposal for a N.S.W. Bill of Rights

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/shes-baaaackkk-20110309-1bnaq.html?skin=text-only

Labels: Bill of Rights, N.S.W.

5. Two "openly gay" N.S.W. Liberal election candidates "support ... removing exemptions to the Anti-Discrimination Act"

http://www.smh.com.au/national/state-election-2011/liberals-challenge-greens-for-the-gay-vote-20110311-1br84.html?skin=text-only

Labels: Adrian Bartels, Bruce Notley-Smith, discrimination, G.L.B.T., Liberal Party, N.S.W.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
15.III.2011

Notes: Tuesday, March 1-Monday, March 7, 2011

2011-03-07T20:59:00.006+11:00

1. Links to information on the Johns case in the U.K.

http://members7.boardhost.com/CathPews/thread/1298974225.html
http://members7.boardhost.com/CathPews/msg/1299452619.html
http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=25360
http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2011/03/liberal-neutrality-update.html#more
http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2011/375.html
http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/03/01/judges-now-ban-christianity/
http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/03/05/even-the-stones-will-speak-out/
http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36258
http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=399456#399456

Labels: G.L.B.T., Johns case, law, U.K.

2. Mr. Raj on, among other things, the 'gay community' as a 'culture':

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/more-to-mardi-gras-than-glitter-and-theatrics-20110303-1bflv.html?skin=text-only

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

3. Mr. Henderson on the Lutheran doctrine of how grace is lost

http://scecclesia.com/?p=5129&cpage=1#comment-18971

Cf. can. 28 and chap. 15 of Session VI of the Acts of the Council of Trent.

Labels: Protestantism, theology

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, Confessor, Doctor of the Church, A.D. 2011

Notes: Saturday, February 26-Monday, February 28, 2011

2011-02-28T20:50:00.009+11:00

1. "Study: Working moms have sicker kids"

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/02/17/2662973/study-working-moms-have-sicker.html

Labels: families, health, work

2. "Russia has unveiled the biggest rearmament program since the fall of the Soviet Union"

http://www.smh.com.au/world/billions-to-be-spent-on-russian-rearmament-20110225-1b8kz.html?skin=text-only

See also:

"China determined to rival US arsenal"
http://www.smh.com.au/world/china-determined-to-rival-us-arsenal-20110227-1ba60.html?skin=text-only

Labels: P.R.C., Russia

3. Those Herald pieces on the findings from a recent survey of Australian Catholic priests

http://www.smh.com.au/national/priests-lose-faith-in-their-church-20110225-1b8r1.html?skin=text-only
http://www.smh.com.au/national/the-essay-holy-disorder-20110225-1b8sk.html?skin=text-only

This is an excerpt from the first comment published in the comments section of a CathNews item on the matter:

We are asked to find out our polititians' views on life issues before voting for them.
It seems that we should also be finding out our parish priests' views on these issues too.
[http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=25213]

Labels: Priesthood

4. "[N.S.W. Liberal-National] Coalition guarantees [Gay] Mardi Gras future"

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/02/26/more-derelict-leadership/

It seems that Mr. O'Farrell has changed his tune from what he had to say at the time when, in October 2008, direct State funding for the Sodomites' Parade was publicly confirmed by Events NSW (direct and indirect Sydney City Council funding had been going on for the previous ten years, in the order of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year as of February 2009):

PREMIER Nathan Rees' decision to help fund Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardis Gras with taxpayer dollars shows he has his priorities wrong, Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell claimed today.

"He's confusing the hell out of people across the state,'' Mr O'Farrell said.

"If Mr Rees wants to prioritise funding, some of the announcements he's made in recent days would be further down the list for most people of this city and this state, behind infrastructure and services.''
[bold type in the original,
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw-floats-the-mardi-gras-with-financial-aid/story-e6frf0a0-1111117641186]

Labels: G.L.B.T., Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, N.S.W.

5. Mr. Sheehan on, among other things, the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/a-states-addiction-to-crime-20110227-1b9w8.html?skin=text-only

Labels: vice

Reginaldvs Cantvar
28.II.2011

Notes: Thursday, February 24-Friday, February 25, 2011

2011-02-25T01:41:00.005+11:00

1. Prof. Putnam's findings on the consequences of increased diversity in society

Here is an excerpt from a comment at The Australian's website:

Geoff of Sydney Posted at 10:55 AM February 23, 2011

When has Malcolm Fraser got anything right? "Multiculturalism is about diversity, not division -- it is about interaction not isolation." Yet Robert Putnam's extensive study on "diversity" policy has shown (against his personal beliefs) that it does foster disharmony and isolation within a society. ...
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/talking-point/comments-fn558imw-1226010350081]

You can read more about those findings at Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Putnam

Labels: multiculturalism, Robert Putnam, social trends

2. Latest developments in Australia and the U.S. regarding so-called gay marriage

2.1 "Marriage law loses Obama support"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/marriage-law-loses-obama-support/story-e6frg6so-1226011578827
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/gay-marriage-move-splits-congress-20110224-1b77k.html?skin=text-only
http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36169
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/02/obama-administration-ceases-defense-of-natural-true-marriage/

Labels: Barack Obama, G.L.B.T., marriage, morality, U.S.A.

2.2 "LABOR must win back voters lost to the Greens by advocating stronger action on climate change and supporting gay marriage, according to a secret internal review of the party's performance"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/politics-news/labor-elders-tell-the-party-to-go-green-to-recover-lost-votes/story-fn59nqld-1226011658891

Labels: Australian Labor, G.L.B.T., marriage, morality

3. "The Alta Vendita [and how it has succeeded just as it had planned]"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36173

Labels: Freemasons, Vatican II

4. ""Womanpriest" renounces supposed ordination"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36165
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/02/wdtprs-highest-kudos-to-norma-jean-coon/

Labels: Norma Jean Coon, womenpriests

Reginaldvs Cantvar
25.II.2011