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

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

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

1.1 An amusing definition of ecumenism

by The Lord Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle (though His Lordship disagrees with it):

Our ecumenical people meet with your ecumenical people and we have a lovely time together!

Labels: ecumenism

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

This is the last paragraph of that article:

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

Labels: Bill Wright

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

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

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

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

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

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

Labels: C.E.C., Vatican II

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

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

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

I log that quotation in relation to the observation by the Australian Gay activist Prof. Dennis Altman that

The greatest single victory of the gay movement over the past decade has been to shift the debate from behavior to identity, thus forcing opponents into a position where they can be seen as attacking the civil rights of homosexual citizens rather than attacking specific and (as they see it) antisocial behavior.
[http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2008/05/01/on-relationship-recognition/]

Labels: Dennis Altman, G.L.B.T.

4. On some recent developments regarding 'family planning'

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

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

See also "Abortion aid 'won't help save lives of mothers in childbirth'", by Damir Govorcin, p. 7, the Sydney Catholic Weekly, Vol. 71, No. 4631, July 22, 2012, apparently available on-line, but behind a paywall, here; the following is my transcription:

Mr[ Paul] Hanrahan[, executive director of Family Life International, "Australia's largest Catholic pro-life org-anisation"] said the Rio +20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development held in Brazil recently failed to deliver what the population controllers wanted - a univer-sal 'right' to abortion.
"Obviously, the 'major fam-ily planning summit' in Lon-don which Mr Carr will at-tend, is a pathetic attempt to carry out the Rio + 20 agenda by a circuitous route, via friendly diplomats and gov-ernments, mainly in the West-ern world," he said.

Labels: contraception

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

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

Labels: contraception

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

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

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

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

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

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

Labels: Augustine Di Noia

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Labels: S.S.P.X.

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

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

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

Labels: languages

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

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

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

Presuambly the source for the quotation in that headline is ultimately the "Engagement in work (employment related and unpaid)" page at the website of The Australian Bureau of Statistics (A.B.S.), where it says that

While in 2006 males spent nearly twice as long as females on employment related activities, females on average spent nearly double the time spent by males on primary activities associated with unpaid work.

and proximately the A.B.S.'s media release "Men fare worse than women in education, health and crime", July 27, 2012, which has a link to the "Gender Indicators" page, which in turn has a link to a "Time use" page (in the context of "Work and Family Balance"), where there is a link to the ultimate source.

Labels: work

11. Mr. Creighton on the intentions of the Federal Government's childcare policies:

JUDGED by its intentions, the Australian government's childcare policies are superb.

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

[… ]According to the federal government, that money aims to ensure "nurturing, culturally appropriate, safe and socially inclusive" care for children in "approved childcare services", whose parents in turn enjoy "workforce participation choices".
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/broken-puzzle-of-childcare/story-fn59niix-1226431226541]

(That article came to my attention via its publication under the same headline ("Broken puzzle of childcare"), by the same author (Adam Creighton), on p. 15 in the "Inquirer" section of The Weekend Australian, Second Edition, No. 14866, ISSN 1038-8761, July 21-22, 2012, published by Nationwide News Pty. Limited.)

Labels: childcare

12. Mr. Unwin on historical Masonic influence in Manitoba, Canada:

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

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

Manitoba's legislators (all Freemasons, it turns out) believed they were reconstructing nothing less than Solomon's Temple amid the prairies. It's gripping stuff. But what really catches my eye are the two magnificent stone bison either side of the great marble steps to the upper chamber - a Manitoban take on the totemic wild boars of classical temples.
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/travel/holiday-at-the-heart/story-e6frg8rf-1226430230929]

(That article came to my attention via the version published under the same headline ("Holiday at the heart"), by the same author (Mike Unwin), on p. 8 of the "Travel & Indulgence" supplement of The Weekend Australian, Second Edition, No. 14866, ISSN 1038-8761, July 21-22, 2012, published by Nationwide News Pty. Limited.)

Labels: Freemasons

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

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

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

Labels: families, health

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

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

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

Labels: Greens, polyamory

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

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

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: Tuesday, March 22-Wednesday, March 30, 2011 (part 1 of 2)

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: Friday-Monday, January 7-10, 2011

1. Some figures on attitudes of Jews living in the State of Israel towards non-Jews

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35446

Labels: Jews, State of Israel

2. Ms Keneally is pro-abortion?

I was surprised to read the following in the on-line version of an article from last Sunday's Sydney Sunday Telegraph:

[The Hon. Kristina Keneally M.P., N.S.W. Premier] said she disagreed with the Catholic church on some points and with some of its social teachings, including the church's views on abortion.
[http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/premiers-unholy-row-with-cardinal/story-fn6bm90q-1225984274530]

My understanding was that Catholic teaching on abortion was one of the teachings to which she assented. Was this understanding incorrect?

Labels: abortion, Kristina Keneally, Magisterium, morality

3. More from Mr. Pearson on euthanasia

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/right-of-reply-on-right-to-die/story-e6frg6zo-1225983866944

Excerpts:

Ina Borger of Marion, SA, suggests the editor tell me "the inquisition happened a long time ago" and says she doesn't need me "or the pope to make my mind up". This is a gambit known in contemporary politics as "playing the secularist card". It invites disdain towards a policy position because of the advocate's religious affiliation, without entering into debate about the merits of the (in this case, rational rather than faith-based) argument.

[...] Last May the Canadian Medical Association published two important articles on recent experience in the Flemish region of Belgium. The first surveyed doctors involved in euthanasia and found that 66 cases out of a total of 208, or 32 per cent, were without explicit request or consent of the patient.

Of course some of the patients were babies with profound disabilities, as well as other categories, including dementia sufferers. In 77.9 per cent of cases of death without consent or explicit request, the decision was not discussed with the patient. The second study, involving nurses in the same region participating in euthanasia, found that 120 of 248 cases, or 45 per cent, were without explicit request or consent.

Labels: euthanasia, morality, secularism

4. Mrs. Livingstone on, among other things, Sunday Mass attendance by Australian Catholics and Australian Sees to get new Ordinaries as early as this year

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/church-calls-the-unfaithful-home/story-e6frg6zo-1225983253582

Excerpt:

... The most recent Australian survey of mass attendance, in 2006, found the number of Catholics attending weekly had fallen to 13.8 per cent.

The episcopal chess board is set for big changes this year with three senior archbishops - John Bathersby in Brisbane, Adrian Doyle in Hobart and Barry Hickey in Perth - turning 75, the retirement age for bishops. A replacement will also be appointed for Sandhurst bishop Joseph Grech, 62, who died in December.

Labels: liturgy

5. Mrs. Shanahan on, among other things, The Greens' policy on relationship recognition

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/greens-are-the-biggest-catastrophe/story-e6frg6zo-1225983252139

Excerpt:

So, for example, with gay marriage - which will obviously take up a fair bit of parliamentary time and effort and popular anxiety, and is meant to cement the Greens' credentials as the party of forward-looking tolerance - there is actually a different agenda. Again, according to the official website, the policy encompasses a bizarre demand that all sexual permutations be given legal relationship status.

In fact, so many sexual permutations are mentioned in this policy - intersex, intrasex and transsexual, up down and round about - that this average heterosexual mum finds it difficult to follow, or to take seriously.

Does the policy include polygamy, I wonder?

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

6. "Shock: 41% of New York City Pregnancies End in [surgical] Abortion"

http://www.angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=393796&sid=473c6f23a2aaeeba69db224013743e02

Labels: abortion, morality, N.Y.C.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Hyginus, Pope, Martyr, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday-Wednesday, November 16-17, 2010

1. H.R.H. Prince William of Wales and Miss Middleton have become engaged

http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/newsandgallery/news/his_royal_highness_prince_william_of_wales_and_miss_catherin_77816924.html

See also
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/people/finally-a-wedding-date-for-kate-20101116-17w23.html?skin=text-only
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/prince-william-and-kate-middleton-to-marry-next-year/story-e6frg6so-1225954680963
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/prince-william-to-marry-kate-middleton/story-e6frg6so-1225954659190

2. Federal Labor to support Greens motion calling for M.P.s to consult their respective constituents on so-called gay marriage

http://www.smh.com.au/national/labor-mulls-change-in-policy-20101116-17vzo.html?skin=text-only
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/labor-to-back-greens-on-on-same-sex-motion/story-e6frg6nf-1225954628356

3. Cardinal Tauran on religious liberty and related things

Full text of an item from the Vatican Information Service daily e-mail bulletin:

CONCLUSIONS OF INTER-RELIGIOUS MEETING IN TEHRAN

VATICAN CITY, 16 NOV 2010 (VIS) - The Centre for Inter-Religious Dialogue of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organisation (Tehran, Iran) and the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue held their seventh colloquium in Tehran from 9 to 11 November under the joint presidency of Mohammad Baqer Khorramshad, president of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organisation, and of Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue.

At the end of the meeting the participants (seven in the delegation led by Mohammad Baqer Khorramshad and six in the delegation led by Cardinal Tauran), agreed upon the following:

(1) Believers and religious communities, based on their faith in God, have a specific role to play in society, on an equal footing with other citizens.

(2) Religion has an inherent social dimension that the State has the obligation to respect; therefore, also in the interest of society, it cannot be confined to private sphere.

(3) Believers are called to co-operate in the search for common good, on the basis of a sound relation between faith and reason.

(4) It is necessary for Christians and Muslims as well as all believers and persons of good will, to co-operate in answering modern challenges, promoting moral values, justice and peace and protecting the family, environment and natural resources.

(5) Faith, by its very nature, requires freedom. Therefore, religious freedom, as a right inherent to human dignity, must always be respected by individuals, social actors and the State. The cultural and historical background of each society which is not in contradiction with human dignity should be taken into consideration in applying this fundamental principle.

(6) Education of the young generation should be based on the search for truth, spiritual values and promotion of knowledge.

The participants also emphasised the necessity of continuing on the path of a genuine and fruitful dialogue. The next colloquium will take place in Rome in 2012.
OP/ VIS 20101116 (330)

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Gregory the Wonder Worker, Bishop, Confessor, A.D. 2010

Notes: Thursday, November 11, 2010

1. Mr. Andrews on the philosophy of The Greens

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/new-third-force-are-ecological-marxists/story-fn59niix-1225951490061

Key excerpt:

[The Hon. Kevin] Andrews [M.P.] says the roots of the Greens lie in the self-declared "ecological Marxism" of former BLF boss Jack Mundey and the Green Ban movement of the early 1970s that saw well-heeled Sydney NIMBYs and hard-left unionists join forces to block development, rather than the broader environmental movement.

Greens leader Bob Brown has cited the Green Ban movement as a key inspiration.

"Mundey's 'ecological Marxism' is an apt description of the Greens," Mr Andrews argues. "It sums up their two core beliefs. First, the environment is to be placed before all else. Secondly, the Greens are Marxist in their philosophy, and display the same totalitarian tendencies of all previous forms of Marxism when a political movement. By totalitarian, I mean the subordination of the individual in the impulse to forcibly rid society of all elements that, in the eyes of the adherent, mar its perfection."

Mr Andrews believes that while the Greens see themselves as humanists, their policies disregard humanity. "According to the Greens ideology, human dignity is neither inherent, nor absolute," he says, citing the 1996 manifesto by Senator Brown.

I would be interested to read all of Mr. Andrews's critique. It does not seem to be available on-line in its entirety, however.

Reginaldvs Cantvar

Feast of St. Martin of Tours, Bishop, Confessor, and of St. Mennas, Martyr, A.D. 2010

Notes: Tuesday-Wednesday, November 2-3, 2010

1. Mr. MacIntyre on the history of Franco-British co-operation

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/britain-france-to-bury-the-hatchet-at-last/story-e6frg6ux-1225946879102

I was surprised to learn the following from that article:

David Cameron is not the first Tory leader to embrace closer military and political union with Britain's best enemy across the Channel. One of his predecessors once proposed an "indissoluble union" of Britain and France, suggesting that "the two governments declare that France and Great Britain shall no longer be two nations, but one Franco-British Union. Every citizen of France will enjoy immediately citizenship of Great Britain; every British subject will become a citizen of France."

The author of this proposal was none other than Winston Churchill. In 1940, with Nazi forces pouring into France, Churchill, backed by the war cabinet, proposed that the two countries become one, combining armies, parliaments and currencies. It was rejected by French collaborationists led by Marshal Petain, who insisted that Britain would soon "have her neck wrung like a chicken".

I think that I had heard of the following earlier, though:

French documents discovered two years ago reveal that, in 1956, French prime minister Guy Mollet proposed to Anthony Eden that France merge with Britain, with the Queen head of the amalgamated state. Eden turned down the idea, but was more enthusiastic about a suggestion that France join the Commonwealth.

2. Dr. Peters on the canonical obligation of clerical continence

http://www.canonlaw.info/a_deacons.htm
(Brought to my attention by this comment at AQ, to which I have responded with this comment.)

3. Blog comments by me

Just these two, both of which are quite short and hence not worth copying-and-pasting, so I'll just give their respective links:

http://scecclesia.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/thats-sooooo-20th-century/#comment-17950
http://scecclesia.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/thats-sooooo-20th-century/#comment-17968

Reginaldvs Cantvar

Feast of St. Martin de Porres, Confessor, A.D. 2010

Notes: Thursday, September 30, 2010

An interesting fact about the application of the Statute of Westminster to Australia

Second paragraph of this letter in today's Herald:

It took a while …

Lewis Hewertson (Letters, September 29) fails to see how Australians could be compelled to fight ''for England'', since Australia received self-governance in 1901. This overlooks the fact that Australia's foreign policy (and that of Canada, New Zealand and South Africa) was controlled and directed by London by law.

The Statute of Westminster of 1931 awarded full independence to the British dominions, including in foreign policy, but the Australian government of the day did not ratify it.

Robert Menzies, declaring war on Germany in 1939, stated that Australia was at war because Britain was, ipso facto. The statute was only ratified by the Curtin government in 1942, marking the point where British and Australian interests diverged.

Hugh Sturgess Balmain
[http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/we-dont-need-an-englishman-lording-it-over-us-20100929-15x9q.html?skin=text-only]

Some figures on the prospects for children from broken homes

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/broken-homes-can-disadvantage-kids-for-life-study-finds/story-e6frg6nf-1225932001780

The latest developments regarding so-called gay marriage ...

1. "Bandt attacks [The Australian]'s coverage of [The Greens' "legislative timetable"]
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/bandt-attacks-newspapers-coverage/story-fn59niix-1225931993399

See also the editorial and the "Cut & Paste" section of today's edition of The Australian.

2. From the first link in item 1:

Yesterday, on the first full day of the new parliament, the Greens reintroduced a bill into the Senate legalising gay marriage.

3. "Gillard says no conscience vote on gay marriage"
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/29/3024870.htm

4. "Tasmania to recognise same-sex marriage"
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/29/3025417.htm?section=justin

Second paragraph of that news item:

An amendment to Tasmania's Relationship Act was passed unopposed in the state's Upper House, meaning marriages performed in countries where it's legal will now be recognised in Tasmania.

(Thanks to Terra for highlighting those last two news stories, which I didn't see covered at http://www.smh.com.au/text or http://www.theaustralian.com.au/ today.)

... and euthanasia

"Church responds to renewed euthanasia efforts"
http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=23507

First paragraph of the body of the CathNews item:

Catholic Health Australia is co-ordinating a national response to the renewed nationwide promotion of euthanasia, while the country's bishops have re-issued a submission previously made on the rights of the terminally ill.

Mr. Brent on the history, merits, and demerits of compulsory voting and compulsory voting enrolment

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

"Joshua" on "The Legend of the Leonine Prayers"

http://psallitesapienter.blogspot.com/2010/09/legend-of-leonine-prayers.html

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Jerome, Priest, Confessor, Doctor of the Church, A.D. 2010

Notes: Saturday-Monday, September 25-27, 2010

A letter in The Australian on contraception

When I read His Eminence The Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney's opinion piece in last Saturday's edition of The Weekend Australian I feared that there would be a flood of anti-Pell, pro-Pill letters, but The Australian has so far published only one letter on the topic, and I was pleased that it was supportive of His Eminence:

THERE will be any number of reasons submitted as to why Cardinal Pell is wrong to reject the pill ("The relationships market after 50 years of the pill", Commentary, 25-26/9) but they could be boiled down to one: argue as you will but don't deprive us of the pleasure of easy sex.

As to the argument that celibate priests know nothing about sexual relationships, it can fairly be stated that a Catholic priest learns more via the confessional in one year than the average person learns in a lifetime.

Bob Denahy, Holbrook, NSW
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/pell-and-the-pill/story-fn558imw-1225929688887]

Leo XIII. on Christendom, social unity in the Faith, and union of Church and State

In an AQ thread on the Eastern Schism, someone posted Leo XIII.'s Apostolic Letter Praeclara Gratulationis Publicae, some of whose excerpts are also worth highlighting for their reiteration of some points of Traditional socio-political doctrine:

Nothing is more foreign to her disposition than to encroach on the rights of civil power; but the civil power in its turn must respect the rights of the Church, and beware of arrogating them in any degree to itself. Now, what is the ruling spirit of the times when actual events and circumstances are taken into account? No other than this: it has been the fashion to regard the Church with suspicion, to despise and hate and spitefully calumniate her; and, more intolerable still, men strive with might and main to bring her under the sway of civil governments. Hence it is that her property has been plundered and her liberty curtailed: hence again, that the training of her Priesthood has been beset with difficulties; that laws of exceptional rigor have been passed against her Clergy; that Religious Orders, those excellent safeguards of Christianity, have been suppressed and placed under a ban; in a word, the principles and practice of the regalists have been renewed with increased virulence.

Such a policy is a violation of the most Sacred Rights of the Church, and it breeds enormous evils to States, for the very reason that it is in open conflict with the Purposes of God. When God, in His most Wise Providence, placed over human society both temporal and Spiritual Authority, He intended them to remain distinct indeed, but by no means disconnected and at war with each other. On the contrary, both the Will of God and the common weal of human society imperatively require that the civil power should be in accord with the Ecclesiastical in its Rule and Administration.

Hence the State has its own peculiar rights and duties, the Church likewise has hers; but it is necessary that each should be united with the other in the bonds of concord. Thus will it come about that the close mutual relations of Church and State will be freed from the present turmoil, which for manifold reasons is ill-advised and most distressing to all well-disposed persons; furthermore, it will be brought to pass that, without confusion or separation of the peculiar interests of each, the people will render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.

[...] As regards the political question, which aims at reconciling liberty with Authority--two things which many confound in theory, and separate too widely in practice--most efficient aid may be derived from the Christian Philosophy. For, when this point has been settled and recognized by common agreement, that, whatsoever the form of government, the Authority is from God, reason at once perceives that in some there is a Legitimate right to command, in others the corresponding duty to obey, and that without prejudice to their dignity, since obedience is rendered to God rather than to man; and God has denounced the most rigorous judgment against those in Authority, if they fail to represent Him with uprightness and justice. Then the liberty of the individual can afford ground of suspicion or envy to no one; since, without injury to any, his conduct will be guided by Truth and rectitude and whatever is allied to public order. Lastly, if it be considered what influence is possessed by the Church, the mother of and peacemaker between rulers and peoples, whose mission it is to help them both with her Authority and Counsel, then it will be most manifest how much it concerns the commonweal that all nations should resolve to unite in the same belief and the same profession of the Christian Faith.
[http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=381274#381274]

With that in mind I was dismayed to read this comment by a confused individual at Fr. Zuhlsdorf's blog.

Mr. Farr on Sen. Brown's (changing) priorities

I was interested to read the following in Mr. Malcolm Farr's column in the Sydney Daily Telegraph last Friday:

Expectations of loopy legislative rants by the Greens, and of instability caused by them, will be disappointed.

Personally [Sen. Bob Brown] strongly opposes what he calls discrimination against same-sex marriage but as leader of the third-biggest voting bloc in Parliament he won’t attempt to end it by legislation.
[http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/malcolmfarr/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/no_loopy_reform_rants_in_a_green_balancing_act/]

So let me get this straight: Dr. Brown went into the election with, if I'm not mistaken, so-called gay marriage, but not euthanasia, among his stated priorities, but now he's given up on the former but is pursuing, in effect, the latter?

More from Mr. Muehlenberg on euthanasia

A couple of excerpts:

And the argument for a right to suicide is a very strange argument indeed. A person seeks to use his autonomy to end his autonomy! Suicide thus means the end of personal autonomy. It seems to be the ultimate oxymoron to speak about the choice to rob oneself of choice. As Leon Kass points out, “In the name of choice, people claim the right to choose to cease to be choosing beings.”

Or as Arthur Dyck asks, “how can suicide be considered a right, when the freedom to undertake it puts an end to all possibilities to act, to freedom and life, and hence is an act that abolishes these basic rights?” So much for choice and autonomy.

And as J.P. Moreland says, “Suicide is also a self-refuting act, for it is an act of freedom that destroys future acts of freedom; it is an affirmation of being that negates being; it serves a human good (e.g., a painless state) but, as a means to that end, violates other, more basic human goods (e.g., life itself).”
[http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2010/09/26/euthanasia-choice-and-autonomy/]

Also, it is a very strange kind of compassion which says that the way to relieve suffering is to kill the sufferer. We should be concentrating on removing the suffering, not the sufferer. That is why the many advances in palliative care and the treatment of pain are so important: it really is quite unnecessary to argue for the legalised killing of patients, even if done in the name of compassion.
[http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2010/09/24/euthanasia-and-compassion/]

"Athanasius" on the 'death-bringing' Old Law

http://athanasiuscm.blogspot.com/2010/09/margaritas-ante-porcos.html

Athanasius citing Johannes Baptist Franzelin:

... On the other hand, the doctrine and practice of the Quattordecimans are of a different species altogether, for they contended that Christians were required to keep both the rite and time of Jewish celebration from the Mosaic law, which is the error of the Ebionites. Thus it was no longer a matter of simply apostolic tradition, but of Divine Apostolic tradition, as it stands the rights, laws and types after their fulfillment through Christ the anti-type are dead and, the gospel being sufficiently promulgated, are also death bringing (mortiferos esse). -De Traditione, Thesis I

Athanasius in his own words:

Moreover, Christ revealed exactly Who God is, by the Divine economy He established by which His preaching was entrusted in toto to the Apostles and passed down to us. When the Jews deny the incarnation or the distinctions within God of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, after this revelation has been made they are no longer worshiping the same God. ...

Mr. Hennessy on the withholding of information about the trialled ethics classes

In yesterday's Sydney Catholic Weekly, Mr. Jude Hennessy, director of the Confraternity for Christian Doctrine from The Diocese of Wollongong, was quoted thus:

“Like Mr O’Farrell, we have concerns about the process that first led to the implementation of the ethics classes and subsequently the review. In the first instance, the schools that volunteered their own involvement in the trial, have also written their own report card for Dr Knight.

“Anyone else who wanted to get access to the lessons were unable to do so, and in fact we are still awaiting access to eight of the 10 lessons under Freedom of Information requests.

“Certainly, we regarded it as strange that review process was formulated after the conclusion of the trial, and then not properly communicated to stakeholders.”
[http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/print.php?articleID=7366&class=Latest%20News&subclass=CW%20National]

Reginaldvs Cantvar

Feast of Sts. Cosmas and Damian, Martyrs, A.D. 2010

Notes: Thursday, September 2, 2010

The latest on the N.S.W. same-sex adoption Bill

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/keneally-to-support-samesex-adoption-20100901-14nnf.html?skin=text-only

Also, a story from the other day which I seem to have missed earlier (it came to my attention via yesterday's CathNews):

"Keneally denies Greens deal on adoption"
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/keneally-denies-greens-deal-on-adoption-20100831-14f4n.html

A 'female-to-male transsexual' on the differences between men and women

In an opinion piece in today's Herald: (warning: The article could be an occasion of sin for some readers)

[Dr. Bettina] Arndt told [the opinion piece's author, Mr. Paul Sheehan] her favourite person in [her latest] book is a transsexual, Anita Wolfe Valerio, who became Max Wolf Valerio, and wrote a memoir about the metamorphosis from woman to man. In The Testosterone Files, published in 2006, Valerio confronts, from first-hand experience, the divide caused by differing male and female testosterone levels: ''Now that I am Max, I see this rift, this fundamental chasm between men and women's perceptions and experience of sexuality, is one that may never be bridged. There certainly can be no hope for understanding as long as society pretends that men and women are really the same, that the culture of male sexuality is simply a conflation of misogyny and dysfunction. That the male libido is shaped and driven primarily by socialisation that can be legislated or 'psychobabbled' out of existence.''
[http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/the-secret-desires-of-men-and-why-they-go-unfulfilled-20100901-14nhj.html?skin=text-only]

'Historic' Labor-Greens pact

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/pm-julia-gillards-high-risk-greens-embrace/story-fn59niix-1225913033761

Mr. Muehlenberg on justice: "Biblical justice", retributive justice, and distributive justice

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2010/09/01/%e2%80%98social-justice%e2%80%99-versus-biblical-justice/

I don't have time to do a proper rebuttal, or at least critique, of Mr. Muehlenberg's post, so I'll just offer a few thoughts without weaving them into a properly-structured essay:

Mr. Muehlberg says that his intention in writing that post is to

concentrate on just two [kinds of justice]: retributive justice and distributive justice. The former goes back at least to Aristotle and means simply, “to each man his due”. It has to do with giving people what they deserve. Thus we speak about ‘just deserts’ and so on.

The latter term is a more recent concept, and has to do with equality of outcome, and redistributing certain goods, including wealth, to ostensibly help out the less fortunate. It is what is often meant when the left – both secular and religious – speak about social justice.

Now the first problem is that it is justice in the broadest sense of the word, not justice in the narrower sense of retributive justice, which is said simply to render to each his due. Retributive justice is concerned with rendering to the evil-doer what is his due, namely, a punishment proportionate in severity to the severity of his evil-doing. Before reading Mr. Muehlenberg's post I had never heard of the term 'retributive justice' being used to describe anything other than the justice applying to evildoers.

As for distributive justice: As regards the virtue of justice among humans (obviously neither Mr. Muehlenberg nor I are concerned with justice towards God, which is the virtue of religion), there are two 'sub-virtues', so to speak, under it: Commutative justice and social justice. Commuative justice is individual-to-individual justice, whereas social justice is individual-to-society or society-to-individual justice. Sometimes the term 'social justice' is (or perhaps I should say "before the term 'social justice' was appropriated for describing what would be at best really social charity, and at worst assorted politically-correct causes, the term 'social justice' was ...") used only for individual-to-society justice (otherwise the term 'legal justice' is commonly used, since the individual's duties as a member of society are prescribed for him by law), while distributive justice is society-to-individual justice. All distributive justice means is that the burdens and benefits of being part of a society are distributed to each member of society in proportion to each member's talents and abilities and capacities and so on. So there is nothing sinister or 'un-Biblical' about the term at all; the alternative to distributive justice would be the injustice of burdens and benefits being conferred on everyone without taking into account the burdens and benefits which they have already received from nature or other circumstances.

Mr. Muehlenberg goes on:

At the risk of oversimplifying matters, it seems that the notion of retributive justice is more closely aligned with biblical notions of justice, while distributive justice is further afield from Scriptural principles. But this can hardly be defended adequately in a brief article, even in a most superficial fashion.

But although Mr. Muehlenberg goes out of his way to stress that he does not intend to offer an exhaustive treatise, he is still signalling that it is his opinion that distributive justice is "further afield from Scriptural principles". That opinion is clearly fallacious given the outline which I have provided of the true meaning of distributive justice, but the basis for this opinion becomes clearer in his next paragraph:

We would need to closely examine biblical terms such as justice, righteousness and the like. We would need to look at contemporary economic options as well. And we would need to study the historical record to see whether wealth redistribution has in fact worked, and really helped the poor. But let me tease things out just a bit more here.
[my emphasis]

So Mr. Muehlenberg's focus is on wealth redistribution--by 'distributive justice' he seems to conceive of something involving redistribution of wealth/income in order to achieve "equality of outcome". But distributive justice does not mean taking some of the wealth and income of the rich and transferring it to the poor so that they have equal wealth and income. It just means that when the government seeks to impose a burden on its subjects it needs to take into account what burdens and benefits they already have, and likewise for distributing the benefits of living in society. So as regards wealth redistribution, there is not necessarily any sin against properly-understood distributive justice involved in allowing inequality of wealth and income to persist, but there would be a sin against distributive justice on the part of the government if the government were to treat poor people the same as rich people, e.g. by taxing them all at a flat rate of taxation. Mr. Muehlenberg should have no problem agreeing that such a thing would be unjust, given that he agrees that "treat[ing] unequals equally ... is neither fair nor just."

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Stephen, King, Confessor, A.D. 2010

Notes: Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Herald letters regarding informal voting:

http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/leave-it-blank-if-you-dont-like-either-candidate-20100817-128c2.html?skin=text-only

Coptic Orthodox Pope escalates (or at least continues/renews) hostilities between his Church and the Egyptian government?

In The Australian today:

Pope Shenuda III [sic--though should be II., I understand] warned Egyptian Copts - who often use the telephone to maintain contact with their local parish priest when they are abroad - that the security services were tapping calls, the independent Al Masri Al Yawm newspaper said.

Shenuda III said: "Beware not to admit your sins over the telephone, because all phone conversations are recorded by the state security services.

"Otherwise, you will have to go seek absolution in prison, from the police, rather than from your local priest."

The cleric reportedly issued the warning to hundreds of worshippers during a sermon in Alexandria on Sunday.

Copts are the Middle East's largest Christian community and make up about 10 percent of Egypt's largely Muslim population of 80 million.
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/egyptian-sinners-who-dial-a-confession-risk-prison-church-leader-warns/story-fn3dxity-1225906568093]

The article fails to make the connection to Egypt's highest court's recent ruling (see this blog's "Coptic Orthodox Church" label) that the Coptic Orthodox Church is required to have divorce and remarriage, a ruling which the C.O. Pope and C.O. Church intend to disregard. I wonder whether the C.O. Pope's warning ties in with this feud (perhaps not the best word, but you get my drift)?

Dr. Hamilton on The Greens as 'the party of moderation' (and apparently of prudence, justice, and fortitude, too)

Amusing to see Dr. Hamilton positioning The Greens as a centrist via media between 'religious extremism' and sexual libertinism (no mention in the article of abortion or euthanasia and The Greens' policies thereon, though):

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/commentary/the-party-of-moderation-steps-lightly-in-the-footsteps-of-plato/story-e6frgd0x-1225906537799

Dr. Collins on the religious and social/political views (in a word, "integralism") of Mr. Abbott and the late Mr. Santamaria

http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/preview.aspx?aeid=22823

A weak article, one whose weaknesses Mr. Gerard Henderson points out here. No mention in either opinion piece, though, of the Social Kingship of Christ, which is the cornerstone of integralism in the sense in which I regard myself as an integralist.

A telling answer to an 'F.A.Q.' at the website for the re-opened programme for a Sydney Archdiocese Permanent Diaconate

(Last Sunday's Sydney Catholic Weekly had a couple of articles which brought Sydney's Office of the Permanent Diaconate and its website to my attention.)

If a married man is ordained a deacon do he and his wife have to refrain from sexual activity?

Married deacons and their wives do not surrender any rights or responsibilities resulting from their married state of life. Marriage and orders are not incompatible sacraments; rather, there is a great mutuality between them.
[http://www.sydneydiaconate.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18&Itemid=20#sexlife]

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Agapitus, Martyr, and of St. Helen, Empress, Widow, A.D. 2010

Notes: Thursday, July 29, 2010

More information on the Greens-Labor preference deal

From today's edition of The Sydney Morning Herald:

LABOR has released the preference agreement it signed with the Greens in a bid to shoot down Coalition claims it involved side deals on policies such as mining and carbon taxes.

The preference deal, signed by the ALP national secretary, Karl Bitar, and the Greens national convenor, Derek Schild, makes no mention of any policy deals, only how preferences will be distributed.

It says Labor will direct its Senate preferences in every state and territory to Greens Senate candidates ''ahead of all other candidates''.

In the House of Representatives, all Greens how-to-vote cards in 54 marginal seats ''shall recommend a preference to the ALP ahead of the Coalition''.

Of the 54 marginals, 12 are in NSW. They are Greenway, Page, Eden-Monaro, Macarthur, Macquarie, Hughes, Robertson, Wentworth,Paterson, Calare, Dobell and Bennelong.

The crucial NSW seats not included are Lindsay and Gilmore. Also part of the deal are 15 Queensland seats, nine in Victoria, eight in WA, six in South Australia, three in Tasmania and one, Solomon, in the Northern Territory.
[http://www.smh.com.au/federal-election/its-no-big-deal-labor-hoses-down-accusations-about-greens-20100728-10w36.html?skin=text-only]

On the death penalty in Japan

According to a report in today's Herald, "[a Japanese] cabinet survey carried out in February found more than 85 per cent of the public support the death penalty." Yet

Japan's Justice Minister, a foe of capital punishment, has announced a review of the death penalty after witnessing the first executions since her centre-left government took power in 2009.

"Russian Ministry Denies Lobby Permit to Same-Sex Marriage Group"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32807

H.H. The Pope to discuss the interpretation of Vatican II at his annual reunion with former students

From D.I.C.I. (brought to my attention by a post at AQ):

In keeping with a tradition that he instituted when he was a theology professor in Regensburg (Germany), and as he has done each year since the beginning of his pontificate, Benedict XVI will meet from August 27 to 29, 2010, with a group of former students—the “Ratzinger Schülerkreis”—in his summer residence Castel Gandolfo. By way of exception, this meeting will include the participation of Bishop Kurt Koch, former ordinary of Basel (Switzerland) and newly-appointed president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Among the former students of Professor Ratzinger will be the Archbishop of Vienna (Austria), Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, and the Auxiliary Bishop of Hamburg (Germany), Bishop Hans-Jochen Jaschke.

This year the circle of Joseph Ratzinger’s former students will work on the hermeneutic of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). The theological discussion with Benedict XVI will take place all day on August 28. On the previous day the former students will have debated among themselves. The meeting will conclude with a Mass on the morning of August 29.
[http://www.dici.org/en/news/the-interpretation-of-vatican-ii-on-the-agenda-for-the-%E2%80%9Cratzinger-schulerkreis%E2%80%9D/]

See also the first comment at that AQ post for a good editorial by Fr. Lorans on the matter.

"Neuroscience suggests heterosexual monogamy is best"

Excerpt from the CathNews article:

Mr [Kamal] Weerakoon told the national conference that neuroscientists working in sexology - which studies gender and sexuality - showed that sexual activity had three stages: lust, love and bonding.

"Biologically, we are wired to desire sex, to fall in love with the person we desire sex with, and for that love to develop into deep attachment. Our bodies are wired to operate best with one sexual partner for life," he said.
[http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=22579]

"Athanasius" on Feeneyism again

http://athanasiuscm.blogspot.com/2010/07/lunacy-of-feenyism-part-2.html

(I haven't read the full thing yet but I expect to do so soon.)

Reginaldvs Cantvar

Feast of St. Martha, Virgin, A.D. 2010

Notes: Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Greens-Labor preference deal:

[T]he Greens will receive Labor Senate preferences in every state and territory, and Labor will receive Greens preferences in more than 50 marginal seats.
[http://www.smh.com.au/federal-election/fear-mongering-over-greens-deal-20100720-10jjw.html?skin=text-only]

Mr. Muehlenberg contra Mr. Hinch on so-called gay marriage

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/heterosexual-marriage-is-societys-bedrock/story-e6frg6zo-1225894778178

I seem to recall that Mr. Muehlenberg had a response to Mr. Rodney Croome's recent piece on 'gay marriage' rejected by Fairfax, so I was glad to see this piece published in The Australian today. It is a mostly good summary of the arguments against this curious thing.

Mr. Winders's father was a Freemason

Occasionally one sees letters or comments in the papers or on-line by Mr. Lewis Winders; some of you might be familiar with these. Here is a revealing recent comment by him which I wish to keep for future reference:

Lewis Winders of Tasmania Posted at 3:28 PM July 20, 2010

Glad you mentioned the Freemasons, Henk (a group which, at the last tally, had a record of sexual assaults, infant rapes, violent crusades, tortures and burnings at the stake totalling absolutely zero). My late father was instrumental in introducing women to some of the formerly male-only ceremonies in the Lodge at which he was GM. It certainly rocked a few people's boats at the time but they soon noticed that the world continued to revolve on its axis, so the Great Architect was obviously not too enraged at the idea. Many of the members even grew to appreciate the ladies' company. Just imagine: a group of men enjoying the presence and contribution of women! How misguided is that?
Comment 14 of 14
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/mindless-misogyny/comments-fn558imw-1225894270061]

(Wow, so no Freeemasons in the history of Freemasonry have ever individually or corporately committed sexual assault, or infant rape, or been involved in, to coin a term, compassades (e.g. rebellion leading to the usurpation of sovereignty over the Papal States; readers might be able to furnish other examples), or torture or killing (whatever happened to William Morgan, anyhow?)? Impressive!)

Mind you, I don't want to read too much into the younger Mr. Winders's Masonic connections; our society is so thoroughly liberal, naturalistic, and anti-Catholic that Mr. Winders could just as easily have picked up his tenets from extra-domestic/extra-parental influences.

Blog comments by me

At Mr. Schütz's blog:

Cardinal Pole
July 21, 2010 at 5:18 am

“precisely because Latin doesn’t have articles, if the sense of “one god, but not the one God” was intended, the text would need to include something to point to this.”

Which simply tells us that the sense of “one god, but not the one God” was presumably not intended.

” [I]Nobiscum Deum adorant unicum[/I] means that they adore the unique God along with us”

As would all monotheists (at least those who hold that God can and ought to be adored, of course), yet as we agree, the fact that two persons or sets of persons are monotheists does not mean that their respective monotheisms have the same God.

“the preceding sentence, which [I] don’t quote ”

Because I’m interested here in Islam in particular rather than monotheism in general; indeed, that first sentence reinforces my case to the extent that it reminds us that not everyone who holds that one god is the creator adores the same god.

“You can’t have [I]a[/I] unique God”

Why not? Each of us has, for instance, a unique Tax File Number.

“If the author wanted to say that Muslims and Christian each worship a god which they conceive to be unique, he would need to say that.”

Assuming, of course, that that was indeed what he wanted to say! If he just wanted to say that Muslims are monotheists and to list some of the features of their monotheism, which is presumably all the author in fact wanted to do, then he can do that by saying what was indeed said.

“In short, the [I]Deus unicus[/I] adored by Muslims is the [I]Creator[/I].”

As is the unique god adored by any monotheist who adores a god as creator.
[http://scecclesia.wordpress.com/2010/07/17/bill-muehlenberg-takes-issue-with-my-post-on-cadburys-chocolate/#comment-15902]

Cardinal Pole
July 21, 2010 at 6:16 am

Just to clarify the sentence taking up text lines 4-5 of the body of that comment: What I mean there is that the author presumably just wanted to say that Muslims worship one God, while neither affirming nor denying that that one God is the one God, i.e., the same God we Christians worship.
[http://scecclesia.wordpress.com/2010/07/17/bill-muehlenberg-takes-issue-with-my-post-on-[cadburys-chocolate/#comment-15904]

At Terra's blog:

Cardinal Pole said...

"Is it just for the State to compel [you] to vote in elections"

The onus is on whoever says that it is unjust to prove the alleged injustice.

July 21, 2010 5:01 AM
Your comment has been saved and will be visible after blog owner approval.
[http://australiaincognita.blogspot.com/2010/07/and-it-is-on-australia-goes-to-polls-on.html]

Reginaldvs Cantvar

Feast of St. Lawrence of Brindisi, Confessor, Doctor of the Church, A.D. 2010

On an obituary of Ms Jean Hale, the mother of Ms Sylvia Hale M.L.C.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/obituaries/soapbox-skill-went-with-her-to-nursing-home-20090619-cr44.html?page=-1

Two Saturdays ago The Sydney Morning Herald ran an obituary on Ms Jean Hale, in which the reporter recorded that

Jean's father died when she was seven, and her mother [Kathleen] remarried and had another daughter, Zelma. The family moved to Sydney but the collapse of the marriage meant that Kathleen had to work and Jean was sent to Monte Sant' Angelo Mercy College to board - an experience that set in place an enduring loathing of the Catholic Church.
[my emphasis]

The article concluded with the following information:

Jean Hale is survived by Ronald, Sylvia (a Greens member of the NSW Parliament), Lesley, and their families, including six great-grandchildren.
[my emphasis]

Like mother like daughter, then?

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles, A.D. 2009

Luminaries of Australia’s abortocracy

The Australian Greens party seems to me like the closest thing that Australia has to the party of Satan. If the Devil wanted to enter Parliament, he would seek and gain Greens pre-selection. Eventually he would challenge for the leadership, and he would win. Everything that they stand for, Satan stands for: atheism, abortion, euthanasia, preference utilitarianism, socialism, adultery, ‘gay marriage’, sodomy and, if former Greens candidate Professor Peter Singer is to be believed, bestiality.

So it comes as no surprise to hear (from The Age, via Mr. Schütz’s Sentire cum Ecclesia) that Victorian Greens M.P. Colleen Hartland is not only pro-abortion and pro-euthanasia, but has in fact had an abortion herself, or rather, contracted a doctor to perform one on her own unborn baby. This woman was once a Catholic, but :

"I'm completely detached from the church now," she says. "There's no place for someone with my opinions in the church [sic]."

Quite right, Ms. Hartland. The Catholic Church is the Kingdom of Truth, and you, Madam, are, materially, a servant of the father of lies. Her excuse is that “[t]he timing was just completely wrong”. But the timing of the conception and the abortion were both of her own choosing, so I’m not sure what this really means.

Still, what she had to say was not quite as egregious as what Federal Labor M.P. Catherine King, purportedly a Catholic, said during the RU-486 debate:

I find the notion that those supporting it have less faith or belief than those opposing it deeply offensive. It is from my Catholic upbringing I get my deep sense of social justice. I would not have become a member of Parliament without it. I am Catholic.
(http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2006/s1571829.htm)

No, Madam, you are not. How repulsive.

Finally, a few words on the notion of being ‘pro-choice’. Choice is, of course, just a faculty, and therefore oriented towards its operation. Laws are enacted in order to restrict or permit the objects to which the faculty may be applied without penalty. The possible objects of the faculty are, in this case, abortion or non-abortion. ‘Pro-choice’ seems, then, to mean that either object is a legitimate object for the operation of the faculty. Therefore pro-choice means pro-abortion and pro-non-abortion. But non-abortion is not at issue here; both ‘sides’ agree that non-abortion is a legitimate object for the faculty of choice. So why are the pro-choicers so allergic to being called pro-abortion when, on this issue, that is precisely what they are?

Reginaldvs Cantvar