Notes: Wednesday, September 11-Tuesday, December 3, 2013

1. The N.S.W. Department of Family and Community Services funded ACON-delivered "workshops that explore[d] lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) sensitivity in service provision for people with disabilities."

See the "LGBTI Sensitivity and Disability Training" page at ACON's website:

http://www.acon.org.au/ageing/training/lgbti-sensitivity-and-disability-training

Labels: G.L.B.T., N.S.W.

2. "Rates of unintended pregnancies and abortion are relatively high in Australia (19.7 per 1,000 women aged 15-44) compared to northern Europe (17 per 1,000)", and "reports from the US found that almost half of all unintended pregnancies come about because, basically, women forgot to take the pill."

The quotations in that headline come from the article "OOPS. I'M PREGNANT.", by Gabrielle Jackson, dated September 10, 2013, downloaded from The Hoopla website:

http://thehoopla.com.au/oops-pregnant/

(Those figures came to my attention via the article "Preventing abortions", no byline, p. 11, the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Tuesday, September 3, 2013, ISSN 1038-8745, published by Nationwide News Pty. Ltd. (note that the Tele no longer gives volume and issue numbers), but "Preventing abortions" was very short so I have quoted from "OOPS. I'M PREGNANT." in order to avoid violating copyright. The Medical Journal of Australia paper to which both articles refer is presumably "Australian women need increased access to long-acting reversible contraception" by Dr. Kirsten I. Black et al., and is available online here:

https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2013/199/5/australian-women-need-increased-access-long-acting-reversible-contraception)

Labels: abortion, contraception

3. Three reasons why new mothers need at least six months off work: To recover from giving birth, to cope with sleep deprivation, and to breastfeed.

Those reasons were given by Prof. Hannah Dahlen (a Professor of Midwifery), as reported in the article "MEDICOS BACK LONGER LEAVE", no byline, p. 07, the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Tuesday, September 3, 2013, ISSN 1038-8745, published by Nationwide News Pty. Ltd., apparently not available online.

Labels: breastfeeding, economics, pregnancy

4. Mr. McDonald on "esoteric art"

See "Occult figures" (a review of the Windows to the Sacred: An Exploration of the Esoteric art exhibition at the S. H. Ervin Gallery), by Mr. John McDonald, dated September 14, 2013, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

Warning: Some readers might find the following material disturbing:

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/occult-figures-20130912-2tla9.html?skin=text-only

(That review came to my attention via the version printed under the same headline, with the same byline, on pp. 14-15 of the "SPECTRUM" supplement of The Sydney Morning Herald, September 14-15, 2013, No. 54892, ISSN 0312-6315.)

Labels: Freemasonry

5. Cardinal Pell on, among other things, paid paternity leave

See the opinion piece "The importance of good fathers", by His Eminence The Most Rev. The Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney A.C., dated September 4, 2013, downloaded from the Sydney Catholic Weekly's website:

http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/article.php?classID=3&subclassID=7&articleID=12740&class=Copyright&subclass=Cardinal's Comment

(That opinion piece came to my attention via the version printed under the same headline, by the same author (it was that week's installment of His Eminence's "CARDINAL'S COMMENT" column), on p. 6 of The Catholic Weekly, Vol. 72, No. 4689, September 8, 2013, published by The Catholic Press Newspaper Company Pty. Ltd.)

Labels: George Pell, P.P.L.

6. Some recent items regarding socio-economic trends

6.1 "Today, of all male employees, just 9 per cent are the sole earner in a couple with children. (Four per cent are women.)"

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "More people are choosing to opt out of working full-time", by Clay Lucas, dated September 12, 2013, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/national/more-people-are-choosing-to-opt-out-of-working-fulltime-20130911-2tkrn.html?skin=text-only

Labels: economics, families, social trends, work

6.2 "women are now out-earning men in a quarter of double-income households"

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "Family finances shifting as women become the main breadwinners", by Mark Schliebs, dated October 23, 2013, downloaded from The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/family-finances-shifting-as-women-become-the-main-breadwinners/story-e6frg8zx-1226744873052

The AMP-National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling research (AMP.NATSEM Income and Wealth Report Issue 34 - Modern Family: The Changing Shape of Australian Families, by Ms Rebecca Cassells et al., published October 2013) to which that article refers is available here:

http://www.natsem.canberra.edu.au/publications/?publication=modern-family-the-changing-shape-of-australian-families

The media release there gives a lot of useful summary information relevant to the subject labels of this item.

Labels: economics, families, G.L.B.T., marriage, social trends, work

6.3 The latest Australian births figures

See the following "3301.0 - Births, Australia, 2012" pages at the Australian Bureau of Statistics's (A.B.S.'s) website:

"Births, Summary statistics for Australia"

"Number of teenage mothers lowest in a decade"

"BIRTHS"

"FERTILITY RATES"

See also the article "Baby boom for over-forties", no byline, p. 03, the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Friday, October 25, 2013, ISSN 1038-8745, published by Nationwide News Pty. Ltd., in which (article) Mr. Bjorn Jarvis, the A.B.S.'s Director of Demography, is reported as saying that the factors contributing to the number of births to women over forty now exceeding the number of births to women in their teens include "education, legislation, employment opportunities", and "economic conditions".

Labels: birth rates, social trends

6.4 "Women's incomes suffer more than men's after divorce, regardless of who decides to end the marriage, a study has found."

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "Wives' first move in divorce is costliest", by Daniella Miletic, dated September 27, 2013, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/national/wives-first-move-in-divorce-is-costliest-20130926-2uh2h.html?skin=text-only

Labels: divorce, economics, families, marriage

6.5 Mrs. Phillips on distributive injustice towards Australian families

See the letter "Home mums lose out", by Mrs. Roslyn Phillips, dated October 9, 2013, downloaded from The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/letters/home-mums-lose-out/story-fn558imw-1226735032305

Labels: economics, families, tax

6.6 "MORE than a third of mothers with children under 15 are not working, most saying they prefer to look after their children."

The quotation—including its bold type (it was an article's first paragraph)—in that headline comes from the article "Third of mums prefer minding kids to work", by Patricia Karvelas, dated November 20, 2013, downloaded from The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/third-of-mums-prefer-minding-kids-to-work/story-e6frg6nf-1226763803286

The research report—Australian mothers' participation in employment: Analyses of social, demographic and family characteristics using the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey (the Australian Institute of Family Studies Research Paper No. 52), by Dr. Jennifer Baxter, published September 2013 by the Australian Institute of Family Studies—to which that article refers is available here:

http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/pubs/rp52/index.htmland its accompanying media release ("A third of Australian mothers not working", no author credited, dated November 20, 2013) is available here:

http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/media/media131120.html

Labels: economics, families, social trends, work

6.7 Mrs. Shanahan on recent Australian social and economic trends

See the opinion piece "Case of wishful thinking as reality of family life is lost", by Mrs. Angela Shanahan, dated November 16, 2013, downloaded from The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/case-of-wishful-thinking-as-reality-of-family-life-is-lost/story-fn562txd-1226761292101

(That opinion piece came to my attention via the version printed under the headline "Case of wishful thinking as reality of family life is lost amid political and economic imagery", by the same author, on p. 19 in the "INQUIRER" section of The Weekend Australian, November 16-17, 2013, First Edition, No. 15268, ISSN 1038-8761, published by Nationwide News Pty. Limited.)

Labels: economics, families, G.L.B.T., marriage, social trends, work

7. The latest figures regarding attendance at nominally Catholic churches

See the article "A thinning flock of Catholics at all-time low", by Mr. Barney Zwartz, dated September 23, 2013, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/victoria/a-thinning-flock-of-catholics-at-alltime-low-20130922-2u81i.html?skin=text-only

Labels: Mass-going

8. "According to the latest Australian estimates, about 4.1 per cent of women who gave birth here in 2010 received some form of ART[, i.e., Assisted Reproductive Technology,] treatment"

The quotation in that headline comes from the feature article "Miracle or medical negligence?", by Sarah Elks and Sean Parnell, dated October 12, 2013, downloaded from The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/miracle-or-medical-negligence/story-e6frg6z6-1226738601481

The National Perinatal Epidemiology and Statistics Unit report to which that article refers is available here:

http://www.npesu.unsw.edu.au/surveillance/assisted-reproductive-technology-australia-new-zealand-2011

("Miracle or medical negligence?" came to my attention via the version printed under the same headline, with the same authors, on p. 13 in the "INQUIRER" section of The Weekend Australian, October 12-13, 2013, First Edition, No. 15238, ISSN 1038-8761, published by Nationwide News Pty. Limited.)

Labels: A.R.T.

9. "public hospitals in NSW carried out 119 medical abortions for women who had passed the 20th week of pregnancy"

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "Law on foetal rights 'will put many women at risk'", by Kirsty Needham, dated October 27, 2013, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/law-on-foetal-rights-will-put-many-women-at-risk-20131026-2w8i8.html?skin=text-only

Labels: abortion, N.S.W.

10. "In 2006-7, 25 per cent of Australians aged 18-34 had experienced the divorce or permanent separation of their parents before they were 18."

The quotation in that headline comes from the opinion piece "A family that prays together . . ." (ellipsis symbol in the original), by His Eminence The Most Rev. The Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney A.C., dated November 6, 2013, downloaded from the Sydney Catholic Weekly's website:

http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/article.php?classID=3&subclassID=7&articleID=12972&class=Copyright&subclass=Cardinal's Comment

(That opinion piece came to my attention via the version printed under the same headline, by the same author, as an installment in His Eminence's weekly "CARDINAL'S COMMENT" column, p. 6, The Catholic Weekly, November 10, 2013, Vol. 72, No. 4698, published by The Catholic Press Newspaper Company Pty. Ltd.)

Labels: divorce, families

11. The latest figures on divorce in Australia

See the media release "How long can we wait before tying the knot?", no author credited, dated November 27, 2013, downloaded from the A.B.S.'s website:

http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mediareleasesbyCatalogue/118F4A846EEB21F8CA2576200025DF55?Opendocument

(Those figures came to my attention via last Thursday's Sydney Daily Telegraph.)

Labels: divorce, marriage

12. "For the first time in the history of the world, a national sporting league will include a gay sporting trophy in its national trophy cupboard. Yes'm, the Australian Rugby Union has made the historic decision to include the Bingham Cup, the World Cup of gay rugby, in the same cupboard that has held other international trophies, including the World Cup of rugby. … The trophy itself will be handed over to the ARU by the Sydney Convicts, the holders of the Bingham Cup, on Wednesday, December 4," 2013.

The quotation—excluding the ellipsis symbol—in that headline comes from the article "Witty banter is OK, but threats just not cricket", by Mr. Peter FitzSimons A.M., dated November 30, 2013, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/the-fitz-files/witty-banter-is-ok-but-threats-just-not-cricket-20131129-2ygs0.html?skin=text-only

(That article came to my attention via the version printed under the headline "Witty banter is OK, threats not so", by the same author (it was the latest installment of his "The Fitz Files" column), on p. 20 of the "Weekend Sport" supplement of The Sydney Morning Herald, Weekend Edition, November 30-December 1, 2013, No. 54958, ISSN 0312-6315.)

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

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Confessor, A.D. 2013

Notes: Wednesday, April 25-Monday, May 21, 2012

1. The transcript for the Monday, April 9, 2012 episode of Q&A, in which Cardinal Pell appeared, is available here:

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s3469101.htm

Labels: George Pell

2. How Hansard can change:

Early last month, on a tediously slow Wednes-day afternoon, [Senator The Hon. Bob ]Carr slips into the chamber 15 min-utes ahead of schedule to deliver his first speech to the Senate. …

[… ]Carr's memory microchip spits out an error as he recalls passing Henry Kissinger at the end of the Olym-pics in "September 2001"; too much terror, not enough five-ringed circus (later, for posterity, Hansard will record Carr said "October 2000", even though he didn't). …
[bold type and dashes (from where a word spanned two lines) in the original, my square-bracketed interpolations]

I transcribed that from p. 14 of "Second coming", by Tom Dusevic, The Weekend Australian Magazine, April 21-22, 2012, inserted in The Weekend Australian, April 21-22, 2012, Second Edition, No. 14789, ISSN 1038-8761, available on-line, but behind a paywall, here:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/the-second-coming-of-bob-carr/story-e6frg8h6-1226331179611

The text of Senator Carr's maiden speech is available here:

http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22chamber%2Fhansards%2F34dcc858-84ef-4fe3-9144-f6f97af26110%2F0180%22

(I write this item well aware that Hansard is not just a transcript, but an edited transcript.

Furthermore, I neither write nor publish this item in connection with today's speech in Parliament by Mr. Craig Thomson M.P.)

Labels: Hansard

3. Ms Legge on "genetic sexual attraction"

"Intimate relations", by Kate Legge, pp. 18-22, The Weekend Australian Magazine, April 21-22, 2012, inserted in The Weekend Australian, April 21-22, 2012, Second Edition, No. 14789, ISSN 1038-8761, available on-line, but behind a paywall, here:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/intimate-relations/story-e6frg8h6-1226331192545

Labels: G.S.A.

4. "if you are a young woman who needs to have an abortion, you will need to go to a private provider and pay upfront for at least half of the $600 cost"

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/high-cost-of-abortion-hurts-young-women-20120508-1yalr.html?skin=text-only

Ms Price also writes that "occasionally charity groups such as the Salvation Army have been able to offer assistance", apparently in the form of "funds for women who had nowhere else to go". According to The Salvation Army Australian Territories' Positional Statement on abortion, "The Salvation Army … accepts that termination of a pregnancy may be justified on certain limited grounds" (and as you'll see if you read that Statement, the foetus reaching the point of viability is not one of those grounds).

Labels: abortion, Salvation Army

5. Mr. Brent on Mr. Slipper's Parliamentary record:

In 1994 [The Hon. Peter ]Slipper [M.P.] was one of twelve Coalition MPs who abstained from voting on the so-called “gay sex bill"— the Keating government’s Human Rights (Sexual Conduct) Bill 1994 that was largely aimed at over-riding Tasmania’s anti-sodomy laws.

(The federal Coalition under Alexander Downer had decided to support the bill; Slipper was with the conservative “rebels”.)
[http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/mumble/index.php/theaustralian/comments/quick_history_of_slipper_and_fisher/]

Labels: Peter Slipper

6. "Pastors, both bishops and priests, should make every effort to consolidate the lay faithful in their knowledge of the teachings of Vatican Council II"

That headline is a quotation from the text of the communiqué which was released in English and Chinese at the end of the fifth meeting in the Vatican, from April 23-25, 2012, of the Commission for the Catholic Church in China contained in this Vatican Information Service news item:

"MAY THE FACE OF CHURCH SHINE FORTH WITH CLARITY IN THE MIDST OF THE NOBLE CHINESE PEOPLE"
http://www.news.va/en/news/may-the-face-of-church-shine-forth-with-clarity-in

Here is another quotation from the text of that communiqué:

In the first place, ["the Catholic lay faithful in China"] must enter ever more deeply into the life of the Church, nourished by doctrine, conscious of their being part of the Catholic Church, and consistent with the requirements of life in Christ, which necessitates hearing the word of God with faith. From this perspective, a profound knowledge of the Catechism of the Catholic Church will be a particularly important aid for them.

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

7. "[The late Mr. David Scott] was made an officer of the Order of Australia ''for outstanding achievement and service'' twice. After receiving the award in 1975, he resigned a year later together with ''Nugget'' Coombs, Patrick White and Jean Blackburn, in protest against the creation of knights and dames in the Australian order."

http://www.smh.com.au/national/obituaries/welfare-advocate-lobbied-for-timor-20120507-1y8rk.html?skin=text-only

According to the Order of Australia page at the It's an Honour website,

From 1976 to 1986 there was provision for the appointment of Knights and Dames in the Order of Australia. Removal of this provision does not affect pre-existing appointments.

Labels: Order of Australia

8. Mrs. Shanahan on the 2012 Federal Budget

"'Heartland' pitch swamped by sleaze", p. 14, "Inquirer" section, The Weekend Australian, May 12-13, 2012, First Edition, No. 14807, ISSN 1038-8761, available on-line, but behind a paywall, here:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/heartland-pitch-swamped-by-sleaze/story-e6frgd0x-1226353353947

Labels: economics, families, taxation

9. On Australians' approval or disapproval for "various aspects of IVF treatment"

"The Australian community overwhelmingly approves IVF to treat subfertility, with increasing support over three decades", by Gabor T. Kovacs, Gary Morgan, Michele Levine, and Julian McCrann, in The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, DOI: 10.1111/j.1479-828X.2012.01444.x; that article's abstract is available here:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1479-828X.2012.01444.x/abstract

That article came to my attention via the first item in Adam Taor's "Pulse" column on p. 9 of the "Health" section of the "Weekend Professional" supplement of The Weekend Australian, May 12-13, 2012, First Edition, No. 14807, ISSN 1038-8761, available on-line, but in a different form, and behind a paywall, here:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/most-people-approve-of-ivf/story-e6frg8y6-1226352215703

Labels: I.V.F.

10. Msgr. Williamson on, among other things, the "Note on the conclusions of the canonical visit to the Institute of the Good Shepherd" in France

The following is the text of Eleison Comments, Number CCLII (252), May 12, 2012:

FAITH KILLERS
But if Rome offers the Society of St Pius X all that it wants, why should the SSPX still refuse ? Apparently there are Catholics still believing that if a practical agreement fulfilled all the SSPX’s practical demands, it should be accepted. So why not ? Because the SSPX was brought into existence by Archbishop Lefebvre not for its own sake, but for the sake of the true Catholic Faith, endangered by Vatican II as it has never been endangered before. But let us see here why the Newchurch authorities will seek any practical agreement as much as the SSPX must refuse it.

The reason is because the Newchurch is subjectivist, and any merely practical agreement implies that subjectivism is true. According to the new Conciliar religion, dogmas of Faith are not objective truths but symbols that serve subjective needs (Pascendi, 11-13, 21). For instance if my psychological insecurity is calmed by the conviction that God became man, then for me the Incarnation is true, in the only sense of the word “true”. So if Traditionalists have their need of the old religion, then that is what is true for them, and one can even admire how they cling to their truth. But in justice they must agree to let us Romans have our Conciliar truth, and if they cannot make that concession, then they are insufferably arrogant and intolerant, and we cannot allow such divisiveness within our Church of luv.

Thus Neo-modernist Rome would be happy with any practical agreement by which the SSPX would even only implicitly renounce its radical claim to the universality and obligation of “its” truths. On the contrary the SSPX cannot be happy with any agreement that in an action speaking louder than words would deny the objectivity of “its” religion of 20 centuries. It is not “its” religion at all. To come to an agreement with subjectivists, I have to stop insisting on objectivity. To insist on objectivity, I cannot accept any terms at all proposed by subjectivists, unless they renounce their subjectivism.

These Romans are doing no such thing. Yet another proof of their crusading insistence upon their new religion came in the form of their recent “Note on the conclusions of the canonical visit to the Institute of the Good Shepherd” in France. Readers will remember that this Institute was one of several founded after the Council to enable Traditional Catholicism to be practised under Roman authority. Rome can wait for a few years before closing in, to make sure that the poor fish is well on the hook, but then -

The “Note” requires that Vatican II and the 1992 Catechism of the Newchurch must be included in Institute studies. The Institute must insist on the “hermeneutic of renewal in continuity”, and it must stop treating the Tridentine rite of Mass as its “exclusive” rite of Mass. The Institute must enter into official diocesan life with a “spirit of communion”. In other words, the Traditional Institute must stop being so Traditional if it wants to belong to the Newchurch. What else did the Institute expect ? To keep to Tradition, it would have to get back out from under the Newchurch’s authority. What chance is there of that ? They wanted to be swallowed by the Conciliar monster. Now it is digesting them.

So why, in Heaven’s name, would it be any different with the SSPX ? Rome’s temptation may be rejected this time round by the SSPX, but let us be under no illusions: the subjectivists will be back and back and back to get rid of that objective truth and objective Faith which constitute a standing
rebuke to their criminal nonsense.

Kyrie eleison.

© 2012 Richard N. Williamson. All Rights Reserved.

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www.dinoscopus.org

I quote the full text of the article in order to fulfill the conditions for posting it licitly to the Internet, but, as the headline of this item suggests, it is the fourth and fifth paragraphs in which I'm interested here (though the whole article is worth reading).

Labels: I.B.P.

11. Some figures regarding the number of repeat abortions and the cost of abortion in the U.K.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2143936/NHS-spends-1m-week-repeat-abortions-Single-women-using-terminations-form-contraceptive.html

(That came to my attention via this blog post by Mr. Muehlenberg.)

Labels: abortion, U.K.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
21.V.2012

Notes: Wednesday, March 28-Tuesday, April 3, 2012

1. The Vatican website's English translation of the text of H.H. The Pope's March 24, 2012 Video Message on the occasion of the national meeting at Lourdes on March 24-25, 2012 of the Church of France for the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council:

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/pont-messages/2012/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20120324_chiesa-francia_en.html

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, Vatican II

2. "HOLY FATHER ASKS CUBAN PRESIDENT TO RE-ESTABLISH GOOD FRIDAY AS A HOLIDAY":

http://www.news.va/en/news/holy-father-asks-cuban-president-to-re-establish-g

And: "CUBA: GOOD FRIDAY WILL BE A HOLIDAY":

http://www.news.va/en/news/cuba-good-friday-will-be-a-holiday

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, Cuba

3. Cardinal Pell on religious liberty:

… people of good will, religious or irreligious, should support the rights of everyone, including minorities, to practise a religion or no religion.

Freedom of religion is a fundamental right of each person, not a government grant, and has to be acknowledged even where we find an official national religion.
[http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/article.php?classID=3&subclassID=7&articleID=9753&class=Features&subclass=Cardinal's Comment]

Labels: Confessional State, George Pell, religious liberty

4. Some points of interest from the March 2012 issue of the Australian Bureau of Statistics's Australian Social Trends:

(http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/701575637CC4BBE3CA2579CE000BB833/$File/41020_astmar2012.pdf)

• … Of the registered marriages in 2010, 31% were religious ceremonies, down from 58% in 1990. In contrast, in 2010, 69% of marriage ceremonies were conducted by civil celebrants, up from 42% in 1990.
  p. 12

• In 2009–10, 11% (1.9 million) of Australians aged 18 years and over were living in a de facto relationship, while 53% were in a registered marriage.
  p. 12

• De facto relationships include those living in a same-sex relationship and in 2009–10 there were around 46,300 people living in a same sex couple. The majority of these couples had no children.
  p. 13

• Cohabitation prior to registered marriage has increased over the last twenty years. In the early 1990s, just over half of all registered marriages were preceded by a period of cohabitation (56% in 1992).[ Endnote 1, p. 16: "Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1994, Focus on Families: Demographics and Family Formation, cat. no. 4420.0, Canberra, [left-pointing circumflex]www.abs.gov.au[right-pointing circumflex]."] By 2010 it was almost eight in ten (79%).
  p. 13

• Australia’s total fertility rate [was] 1.89 babies per woman in 2010
  p. 14

• … The proportion of babies born outside registered marriage also rose [between 1990 and 2010], from just over one fifth (22%) to just over one third (34%) of all births.
  p. 14

• … In 2009–10, of the 5 million children aged 0–17 years, just over 1 million, or one in five (21%), had a natural parent living elsewhere. For four fifths (81%) of these children, the parent living elsewhere was their father.
  
  Of all children who had a natural parent living elsewhere, nearly half (48%) saw this parent at least once per fortnight, while one quarter (24%) saw them less than once per year or never.
  
  Nearly three quarters (73%) of children with a parent living elsewhere were in one parent families, 14% lived in step families, and 11% lived in blended families.
  p. 15

Labels: Australian fertility rate, demography, marriage, social trends, vice

5. Her Excellency The Governor of New South Wales received, while Administrator of the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia, a call at Government House, Sydney, from H.R.H. The Duke of Gloucester on Friday, March 30, 2012

http://www.gg.gov.au/program.php/view/id/2854/title/royal-australian-air-force-91st-anniversary-royal-botanical-gardens-friends-of-the-sydney-international-piano-competition-australia-ceremonial-welcome-samoa-parliament-of-samoa-state-lunch-samoa-senese-school-for-children-with-disabilities-australian-pacific-technical-college-reception-for-senior-samoan-women-reception-for-australian-volunteers-in-samoa

http://www.governor.nsw.gov.au/news/diary-of-engagements/friday-30-march-2012/

The call must have been an unofficial one, since it does not appear in the Court Circular, which reports engagements of His Royal Highness on March 28, 29, and, vicariously, 31, but none for the thirtieth.

His Royal Highness's late father was, of course, once Australia's Governor-General.

Labels: Richard Gloucester

6. The Dominican Sisters of Wanganui, New Zealand, have a blog:

http://dominicansisterswanganui.blogspot.com.au

(That came to my attention via the March (29, )2012 S.S.P.X. Australia District Newsletter.)

Labels: blogs

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Tuesday in Holy Week, A.D. 2012

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

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: Tuesday, April 12-Monday, April 18, 2011

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: Saturday, February 19-Monday, February 21, 2011

1. "Study finds merit in distractions"

http://www.smh.com.au/world/study-finds-merit-in-distractions-20110217-1ay8e.html?skin=text-only

Labels: psychology

2. "BENEDICT XVI RECEIVES PRESIDENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION"

Full text of a Vatican Information Service daily e-mail bulletin item from the other day:

BENEDICT XVI RECEIVES PRESIDENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

VATICAN CITY, 17 FEB 2011 (VIS) - The Holy See Press Office released the following communique at midday today:

"Today, 17 February 2011, the Holy Father Benedict XVI received in audience Dimitry Medvedev, president of the Russian Federation. Subsequently the president, accompanied by Sergei Lavrov, minister for foreign affairs, went on to meet with Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. who was accompanied by Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for Relations with States.

"In the course of the cordial discussions, the parties expressed their pleasure at the good state of bilateral relations and highlighted their desire to strengthen them, also in the wake of the establishment of full diplomatic relations. The broad-ranging collaboration between the Holy See and the Russian Federation was recognised, both in the promotion of specifically human and Christian values, and in the cultural and social field. Subsequently, emphasis was given to the positive contribution inter-religious dialogue can make to society. Finally, attention turned to the international situation, with particular reference to the Middle East".
OP/ VIS 20110217 (180)

Labels: Russia

3. Latest Australian developments regarding so-called gay marriage

3.1 "Labor ministers find backing for same-sex marriage"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/labor-ministers-find-backing-for-same-sex-marriage/story-e6frg6nf-1226009086049

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

3.2 "Tony Abbott won't change gay marriage stance"

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=25124
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/tony-abbott-wont-change-gay-marriage-stance/story-fn59niix-1226008409033

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

3.3 Mr. Hunter on 'gay marriage'

http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/hey-julia-civil-unions-are-no-substitute-for-real-marriage/

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

4. Mr. Furedi on, among other things, past and present explanations for homosexuality

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/is-that-biological-determinism-in-your-genes-or-are-you-gaga-about-free-will/story-e6frg6zo-1226008077137

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

5. Information on Fr. Crothers's curriculum vitæ

Here is my transcription of the third item from the "parish pump" section of the Sydney Catholic Weekly of two Sundays ago on page three:

Parish cheerio this week to Fr John Crothers and Fr Van Vuong Nguyen, parish priest and assistant priest respectively of St Declan's, Penshurst, and Our Lady of Fatima, Peakhurst, and their flock. Fr John has just celebrated his 10th anniversary at the parish, having moved there in late 2000. He has also served as Diocesan Justice and Peace Promoter and parish priest of Enmore/Tempe.

Fr. Crothers is in the news again, as it happens.

Labels: John Crothers

6. Cardinal Pell on, among other things, the Neo-Catechumenal Way

http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/article.php?classID=3&subclassID=7&articleID=7799&class=Features&subclass=Cardinal's Comment

Labels: George Pell, Neo-catechumenal Way

7. Interesting article on the religious situation in The Ukraine

http://www.therecord.com.au/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2341&Itemid=28

Labels: R.O.C., Russia, Ukraine

8. "Scottish Humanist weddings more popular than Catholic ones"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36126

Labels: humanism, marriage, Scotland

Reginaldvs Cantvar
21.II.2011

Notes: Thursday-Monday, January 13-17, 2011

1. Some figures on attitudes of mothers towards paid work

From the on-line version of an article which expands on a shorter article which I read in the Sydney Daily Telegraph last week:

... a British survey has found nearly two-thirds of women would love to find a husband with a bigger pay packet than theirs to allow them to care for their kids full time.

The YouGov survey of 922 women found 55 per cent of respondents would like to be home with their children full time if money were not an issue.

And 60 per cent said they felt pressured by society to go out and work.

[...] "Research evidence consistently shows most mothers would prefer not to have competing demands of family work and paid jobs," Dr [Catherine] Hakim said.

Her report arrives as the biggest Australian survey of parents in decades has found a third of women would like to work less, and two-thirds thought working made them less effective as a parent.

But only about 15 per cent of women could afford to be at home full time because their partner earned enough money to support them.

The Australian Institute of Family Studies' Growing Up in Australia study of 10,000 children and their parents shows two-thirds of mothers with four to eight-year-olds worked 20 to 30 hours a week.

Two thirds of these women enjoyed work and thought it made them a good role model for their kids, but they didn't always find it compatible with family life, and would prefer to work less.

[...] Jenny Baxter, Australian Institute of Family Studies senior research fellow, said women might like the idea of being at home full-time, especially if they had young children.

"But many women are highly educated and like working, and would worry about financial dependency given thehigh rate of relationship breakdown," Ms Baxter said.
[http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/mothers-hanker-for-husbands-of-wealth/story-fn6bmg6l-1225985375979]

Labels: families, parenthood, social trends, work

2. Some observations about Mme. Le Pen

If I'm not mistaken, Msgr. Lefebvre regarded M. Jean-Marie Le Pen as the 'least-worst' altervative among French politicians with realistic chances of electoral success. I'm not sure that he would have the same regard for M. Le Pen's daughter and likely successor as leader of the National Front:

She has campaigned against immigration and Brussels but favours a woman's right to have an abortion. She also advocates the return of the death penalty. In a more sober style than her father she has denounced “fundamentalist Catholics” and “those obsessed by the Holocaust”.

“Marine Le Pen portrays herself as a lawyer, a mother, twice-divorced, very liberal on issues like abortion or homosexuality,” said Sylvain Crepon, a sociologist at West-Nanterre University.

“She can woo the working and middle classes, who are worried about crime and immigration and who used to see the National Front as too conservative.”
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/daughter-to-succeed-french-far-right-leader-jean-marie-le-pen/story-e6frg6so-1225988872315]

Labels: Marine Le Pen

3. An interesting discussion at Fr. Zuhlsdorf's blog

With some suprising contributions, such as the first red-coloured interpolation in this comment, by Fr. Zuhlsdorf:

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/01/sspx-bp-fellay-criticizes-benedict-xvi-about-assisi-meeting/#comments

Labels: John Zuhlsdorf, Papacy, theology

4. Dr. Sudlow is blogging again

http://thesensiblebond.blogspot.com/2010/08/sensible-bond-returns.html

Labels: blogs, Brian Sudlow

5. "Ha'aretz says U.S. officials face 'pro-Israel' background check"

http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/12/04/haaretz_says_us_officials_face_pro_israel_background_check

(brought to my attention by this AQ comment)

Labels: State of Israel

6. Cardinal Pell and the so-called Catholic Charismatic Renewal (C.C.R.)

I was interested to read the following in Msgr. Coleridge's eulogy for the late Lord Bishop of Sandhurst (may he rest in peace):

A sign that things were changing in the Church came when Archbishop Pell chose Joe to be spiritual director of the seminary, an appointment which surprised some who either didn’t know Joe or who underestimated him.
[http://www.dow.org.au/news/death-of-bishop-joe-grech]

I did not know that Cardinal Pell endorsed the C.C.R. so strongly as to appoint one of its major local figures to such a position.

Labels: C.C.R., George Pell

7. Ms Legge on so-called gay marriage

Excerpts (I don't have time to comment on them, unfortunately, so I'm just saving here for future reference the excerpts of most interest to me):

... But when a son or a daughter or a brother or a sister or a niece or a nephew turns out to be gay there’s an inevitable mellowing of suspicion and prejudice. Is there a grandparent on the planet who would spurn a soft, warm bundle of kinship, however tangled the threads?

[...] Days after Liberal frontbencher Malcolm Turnbull spoke against gay marriage, he began to equivocate. He now acknowledges he’s “open” to persuasion. ...

[...] That’s how Tasmanian gay activist Rodney Croome explains the desire for marriage amongst a younger cohort he calls “the Family Law Act generation”. ... The institution of marriage has evolved through no-fault divorce and the rise of de facto relationships. ...

[...] Marriage matters to ["Alex Grimshaw, 30, spokesman for Australian Marriage Equality"]: “It’s important for equality, the symbolism, because it allows us to be more comfortable with who we are.”

[...] Frank Bates, emeritus Professor of Law at Newcastle University, can’t see what’s wrong with another shift to account for the rise of same-sex relationships. Originally seen as a means of securing property rights, marriage became invested with romantic and emotional baggage in the 19th century. “There’s nothing magical about the Marriage Act – it’s just another piece of legislation,” says Bates. ...

[...] Concerns at how these offspring will fare may not be resolved until a generation are well into adulthood. A US study that followed 78 children raised by lesbian mothers for 17 years reported last June that these adolescents demonstrated healthy psychological adjustment. But critics have challenged the veracity of these results. The academic arena is so heavily politicised that one Australian academic who has reviewed the scientific literature for state parliamentary reviews examining same-sex couple adoption now begs anonymity because of the abuse he’s copped for pointing out methodological flaws in the research. He believes work on the children raised in these families is embryonic and suffers from bad science and bias.

Little is known about the impact of donor anonymity on children’s welfare. Much depends on the individual personality of the child and the stability of their adult relationships. There is no rulebook; each couple devises strategies to suit their needs. Australian researcher Dr Ruth McNair shares a three-year-old son, Sam, with her lesbian partner. Sam knows the identity of the man who helped his mothers conceive. The man visits from time to time. Sam calls him by his first name. Eilis Hughes of the Melbourne based Rainbow Families Council says her daughter Drew enjoys frequent contact with the biological father she calls “Dad”. The Mok children can access the identity of their donor father when they turn 17. The Luiciani-Crouts say they have chosen anonymity to limit problems and confusion for their daughter. The Fergusons were concerned to avoid donor intervention down the track.

[...] The couples I interviewed try very hard to bring a mix of genders into their family circle so that male or female family and friends counter the imbalance in their household. Megan and Leanne Ferguson held a “naming ceremony” for baby James where guests were invited to contribute to his lifelong education. ...
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/we-are-family/story-e6frg8h6-1225986408817]

Labels: families, G.L.B.T., marriage, morality, parenthood, social trends

Feast of St. Anthony, Abbot, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday-Thursday, January 4-6, 2011

1. "Cardinal George Pell agrees to meet gay marriage campaigners"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/cardinal-george-pell-agrees-to-meet-gay-marriage-campaigners/story-e6frg6nf-1225981271561

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

2. "S. THOMAE DE AQUINO OPERA OMNIA" (Latin)

http://www.corpusthomisticum.org/iopera.html

Labels: morality, philosophy, St. Thomas Aquinas, theology

3. Mr. Kent on Ms Keneally's behaviour at press conferences

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/kristina-keneallys-painful-lesson-in-how-to-say-nothing/story-e6frezz0-1225981904591

Interesting mainly for its observations on how 'sound bite' culture degrades press conferences:

Over the next 30 minutes, explaining the legal advice in her hand, Keneally repeats the phrase "independent and non-political advice" eight times.

[...] She says it often enough that it begins echoing in the subconscious, the intention all along. She says it even when the question didn't ask for it. Or even require it.

Indeed, she says what she wants, over and over again, because Kristina Keneally realises one of the great truths of the political press conference.

Repeat only your message - ignoring all legitimate answers to all valid and reasonable questions - and reporters are unable to quote anything else.

The wisdom of this is revealed later, when reporters must cut their 90-second news report - and what else can be reported other than her stage-managed message? Her refusal to answer all legitimate questions is lost in the need to report what she did actually say.

Labels: politicians

4. The latest figures on Australians' support for euthanasia

http://www.smh.com.au/national/support-steadfast-for-death-to-ease-pain-20110105-19gau.html?skin=text-only

Labels: euthanasia, morality

5. On Muphry's (sic) Law

From the last item in today's edition of the Herald's "Column 8":

Margaret Ruwoldt, of Leopold, Victoria, adds to the Laws Of Inevitable Error discussion of recent days: '' I'm fairly certain that snortee Alan Lloyd on Thursday meant to refer to Muphry's Law, defined in 1992 by John Bangsund of the Society of Editors (Victoria). Under Muphry's Law, if you write anything criticising editing or proofreading, there will be a fault of some kind in what you have written.'' ...
[http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/column-8/column-8-20110105-19g6s.html?skin=text-only]

Labels: Muphry's Law

6. Mr. Donnelly on Sir Elton John's procurement of his (Sir Elton's) pseudo-son

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/zachary-may-feel-like-eltons-motherless-child/story-e6frg6zo-1225981951351

Of particular interest to me were these sections:

One Australian who has given the issue of artificial reproductive technology careful thought is Margaret Somerville. Somerville teaches at McGill University in Canada. Earlier this year she presented a paper, "Children's Human Rights to Natural Biological Origins and Family Structure", at a symposium in Slovakia. ...

[...] One Australian who has given the issue of artificial reproductive technology careful thought is Margaret Somerville. Somerville teaches at McGill University in Canada. Earlier this year she presented a paper, "Children's Human Rights to Natural Biological Origins and Family Structure", at a symposium in Slovakia.

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

7. On Japanese immigration policy

Could someone please tell me whether it is true that

Japan forbids permanent immigration in order to preserve its homogeneous culture.
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/arbitrary-penalties/comments-fn558imw-1225981977332]

Labels: Japan

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord, A.D. 2011

Notes: December 30, 2010-January 3, 2011

(You'll notice that, as well as the list of labels at the end of this blog post, in this and future editions of "Notes" I'll include a list of labels for each item at the end of each item.)

1. "Chimps play on gender lines"

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/chimps-play-on-gender-lines-20101227-198lu.html?skin=text-only

LABELS: gender differences

2. Fr. Zuhlsdorf on, among other things, the origin of Ordinaries signing their respective names with a cross sign in front of those names

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2010/12/wdtprs-nobis-quoque-peccatoribus%e2%80%9d-and-joe-bagofdoughnuts-bp-of-black-duck/

LABELS: trivia

3. Prof. George et al. against a critique of their natural-law argument against so-called gay marriage

http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2010/12/2277
(brought to my attention by this post at Fr. Zuhlsdorf's blog)

LABELS: G.L.B.T., marriage, morality, natural law, Robert George

4. "[S]exual and reproductive health" (things such as abortion and contraception?) among the priority areas in the Federal Government's National Women's Health Policy 2010:

[The Hon. Nicola] Roxon [M.P., Health Minister] and Status of Women Minister Kate Ellis released the Government's National Women's Health Policy 2010.

[...] Health priority areas identified in the policy include chronic diseases, mental health, sexual and reproductive health and healthy ageing.
[http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/healthier-future-for-gen-y-girls/story-e6freuzr-1225978255293]

LABELS: abortion, contraception, health

5. Cardinal Pell on the incongruity of ostensibly genuine Catholic politicians defying Church teaching

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sunday-telegraph/youre-either-one-of-us-or-youre-not/story-e6frewt0-1225980084014

Predictably, this has generated much discussion in a thread at the Catholica Forum. I wonder whether it was self-satire when, after this quotation (which is itself almost satirically over-the-top):

Where I draw the line is when he tries to impose his own Catholic Sharia Law on the rest of the community. He has the right to criticize Catholic politicians for failing to do this, but the good thing is that they are ignoring him, just like everyone else seems to do. That's the triumph of secularism.

"desi" wrote:

All together now for a great big chorus of:

'And so say all (well, a huge number anyway) of us, and so say.....'!

LABELS: George Pell, morality

6. Mr. Sheehan on Aboriginal over-representation in the criminal justice system:

I don't believe most Australians feel ''shame'' that Aborigines are 15-times over-represented in the criminal justice system. I believe they feel anger, as the victims of crime. Australians are sick of the chasm between rhetoric and reality, and the idea that the only acceptable public narratives for Aboriginal people are that of victim or artist or noble custodian. The percentage of incarcerated Aboriginals would be even higher if so many were not given a free pass by the justice system, which in turn has led to a self-perpetuating culture of violence.
[http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/cast-adrift-from-reality-the-slick-spruikers-of-our-shame-20110102-19cz9.html?skin=text-only]

LABELS: A.T.S.I.

7. As the Cloister closes its doors (not necessarily forever), a Window opens

So Coo-ees from the Cloister "will close in 2011":

http://coo-eesfromthecloister.blogspot.com/p/we-have-had-hoot.html

though not necessarily forever:

http://thewardenswindow.blogspot.com/2011/01/wilson-bypassed-as-same-sex-rights.html?showComment=1294038914531#c6147065956221964640

and there is a successor blog (whose blogger is no 'novice'!):

http://thewardenswindow.blogspot.com/

LABELS: blogs

8. A Holy Roman Emperor asking for respect for religious freedom for Christians subject to the Shah of Persia?

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- For almost 400 years, the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples has sent missionaries around the world. Now, in the new Propaganda Fide Missionary Museum, the public can see many of the items they sent back to Rome. The new museum also documents how certain challenges to faith recur. For example, there's a letter written in the mid-1600s by King Leopold of Germany, the Holy Roman Emperor, to the Shah of Persia asking him kindly, but forcefully, to respect the religious freedom of Christians in Persia. ...
[http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20101209.htm]

I would be interested to read (an English translation of) that letter.

LABELS: Leopold I. Habsburg, Persia, religious liberty

Reginaldvs Cantvar
3.I.2011

Notes: Friday, December 10, 2010

1. "WikiLeaks acts 'illegal': Gillard government"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/wikileaks/wikileaks-acts-illegal-gillard-government/story-fn775xjq-1225968584365

2. Cardinal Pell represented at launch of revised version of B'nai-B'rith-produced and -supported anti-racism/-bigotry handbook for schools

From the Sydney Catholic Weekly of several Sundays ago (bold and italics as in the original):

‘Inspired initiative’ to fight racism, bigotry

By Kerry Myers
21 November, 2010

THERE must be constant vigilance against racism and prejudice, warned the chairman of the Community Relations Commission of NSW, Dr Stepan Kerkyasharian.

[...] Dr Kerkyasharian was speaking at the launch of Without Prejudice – Towards a Harmonious Society in the Strangers Lounge of NSW Parliament House on Tuesday, November 9.

The book is a further initiative to combat prejudice in classrooms and is a revision of an earlier project produced and supported by B’nai B’rith, the world’s oldest and largest Jewish community service organisation.

Guests included parliamentarians and community representatives, including Anthony Cleary, the CEO’s director of religious education and evangelisation, who represented the Archbishop of Sydney, George Cardinal Pell.

“What an inspired initiative by B’nai B’rith . . . to enlighten children at this most influential point in their young lives,” Dr Kerkyasharian said.

“How better to do it than to provide their teachers with such a practical guide which can so easily be implemented in the classroom .... so easily dipped into and out of.

“This handbook is so well designed that just one exercise of 30-40 minutes could have an impact on a child’s life forever. [...]
[http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/article.php?classID=1&subclassID=2&articleID=7543&class=News&subclass=CW]

Without Prejudice is available here. The Archdiocese of Sydney and the Catholic Education Commission of N.S.W. are listed here, along with bodies such as the Education Task Force of B’nai B’rith (N.S.W.) and the Alfred Dreyfus Unit of B'nai Brith (sic), as community groups by which "Moving Forward Together is supported and endorsed".

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Melchiades, Pope, Martyr, A.D. 2010

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

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

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

TOUCHY-FEELY STUFF

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

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

7. Wise comment on how error advances

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

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

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

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

In today's edition of the bulletin:

HOLY SEE CONDEMNS DEATH PENALTY AGAINST TARIQ AZIZ

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

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

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

9. Mr. Coyne's 'historical Jesus'

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

10. Blog comments by me

Three, all of them more or less the same:

10.1

Cardinal Pole said...

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

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

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

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

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

10.2

Cardinal Pole said...

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

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

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

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

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

10.3

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reginaldvs Cantvar

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