Notes: Tuesday, April 18, 2017-Monday, April 23, 2018 (part 3 of 3)

8. In the evening of Saturday, February 17, 2018, The Governor of New South Wales "attended the performance of Trevor Ashley’s Mardi Gala, part of the Sydney Mardi Gras 40th Anniversary celebrations, at the Sydney Opera House."

The quotation in that headline comes from the "Vice Regal Program" notice "Saturday, 17 February 2018", downloaded from the official Governor of New South Wales website:

https://www.governor.nsw.gov.au/governor/vice-regal-program/saturday-17-february-2018/

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

9. Federal Labor proposes to give taxpayer funding of "$1 million to Tasmania to build a Reproductive Health Hub" which "will provide surgical terminations as part of the public hospital system, and federal and state Labor will contribute to its ongoing costs under the usual Commonwealth-state arrangements." It would have complemented Tasmanian Labor's pre-State-election "commitment to make terminations available in Tasmania’s public hospitals."

The quotations in that headline come for the media release "LABOR WILL RESTORE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SERVICES IN TASMANIA", dated Tuesday, February 20, 2018, issued jointly by The Hon. Bill Shorten M.P. (Leader of H.M.A. Opposition), The Hon. Tanya Plibersek M.P. (Deputy Leader of H.M.A. Opposition and shadow minister for education and training and for women), The Hon. Catherine King M.P. (shadow minister for health and Medicare), and Ms Rebecca White M.P. (Leader of H.M. Tasmanian Opposition and its shadow minister for health and wellbeing and for economic growth and regional development), downloaded from Ms King's website:

http://www.catherineking.com.au/2018/02/20/labor-will-restore-reproductive-health-services-in-tasmania/

See also the "TRANSCRIPT: DOORSTOP HOBART TUESDAY, 20 FEBRUARY 2018", featuring Ms Plibersek, Ms King, and Ms White, downloaded from Ms Plibersek's website:

http://www.tanyaplibersek.com/transcript_doorstop_hobart_tuesday_20_february_2018

Labels: abortion, A.L.

10. "just a century and a half ago, we had Papal States, and a much more politically-oriented Christianity in places. But we developed away from that, getting back to the roots of the faith, before Constantine, and embracing again Christ's words "My kingdom is not of this world.""

The longer quotation, including the shorter one, in that headline comes from the transcript of a speech given by His Grace The Most Rev. The Lord Archbishop of Erbil (a Chaldean archdiocese in Iraq) on February 15, 2018 at Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, downloaded from that centre's website:

https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/events/the-future-of-christianity-and-pluralism-in-iraq

Or go straight hither:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/berkley-center/180215WardaFutureChristianityPluralismIraqSpeechTranscript.pdf

(That speech came to my attention via a Catholic News Service (C.N.S.) report printed in the Sydney Catholic Weekly and available behind a paywall at C.N.S.'s website under the headline "Chaldean archbishop: Time to be 'honest' in dialogue with Muslims", by Mark Pattison, dated February 16, 2018:

http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2018/chaldean-archbishop-time-to-be-honest-in-dialogue-with-muslims.cfm)

Labels: Church and State, Constantine the Great, secularism

11. "More than 600 people attended the [St. Patrick's Day 2018 ]Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral, celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Terry Brady." Its "congregation … were [sic ]treated to a celebration of Irish dancers and traditional hymns sung by the Sydney Irish Community Choir."

The quotations, excluding my ellipsis symbol (which merely replaces the mention of two high-profile members of that congregation) and bracketed interpolations, in that headline come from the report "A sea of green as Sydney celebrates St Patrick’s day", by Debbie Cramsie, on p. 15 in the "NEWS" pages of the Sydney Catholic Weekly, March 25, 2018, published by The Archdiocese of Sydney, Sydney. (Note that the words "celebrated", "celebration", and "Community" each spanned two lines in the printed article, and so contained the following dashes: "celebrat-ed"; "celebra-tion"; "Com-munity".)

Labels: liturgical dance, N.O.M., Sydney

Reginaldvs Cantvar
St. George's Day, A.D. 2018

Notes: Tuesday, February 3-Monday, May 25, 2015 (part 2 of 2)

6.2 Prof. Ahdar and Prof. Leigh on the question of whether religious establishment is compatible with religious freedom

See the article "Is Establishment Consistent with Religious Freedom?", by Prof. Rex Ahdar and Prof. Ian Leigh, on pp. 635-681 of the McGill Law Journal, Vol. 49, A.D. 2004, downloaded from that journal's website here:

http://lawjournal.mcgill.ca/en/issue/2347

or go straight hither:

http://lawjournal.mcgill.ca/userfiles/other/4692476-Ahdar_and_Leigh.pdf

Labels: Church and State, Confessional State, law, morals, religious liberty

6.3 Some information on religious establishment in the pre-U.S. colonies is available in The Catholic Encyclopedia's "Penal Laws" article:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11611c.htm

Labels: Confessional State, law, U.S.A.

7. A couple of recent pronouncements by H.H. The Pope

7.1 More from H.H. The Pope on the death penalty

See the March 20, 2015 Letter of His Holiness to the President of the International Commission against the Death Penalty:

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/letters/2015/index.html

(That Letter came to my attention via the item "Pope Francis: the death penalty is inadmissible" in the Holy See Press Office's Vatican Information Service daily e-mail bulletin of March 20, 2015, Year XXII, No. 56; that item is available here:

http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-the-death-penalty-is-inadmissible)

Labels: death penalty, Francis Bergoglio, morals

7.2 H.H. The Pope on, among other things, 'the emancipation of women' and 'equal pay for equal work'

See the text of His Holiness's General Audience of April 29, 2015:

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/audiences/2015/index.html

or see the ample extracts from that speech in the item "General audience: the dignity of marriage" in the Holy See Press Office's Vatican Information Service daily e-mail bulletin of April 29, 2015, Year XXII, No. 80; that item is also available here:

http://www.news.va/en/news/general-audience-the-dignity-of-marriage

Labels: economics, feminism, Francis Bergoglio, morals, work

8. The New Mass's Offertory prayers "are based on Jewish blessings taken not from the Old Testament, but rather from the 5th century Babylonian version of Talmud (T.B.), a central Jewish text which codified oral law and teaching."

The quotation, including the italics, in that headline come from the blog post "ASK FATHER: Using the traditional offertory prayers in the Novus Ordo. Wherein Fr. Z rants." by The Rev. Fr. John Zuhlsdorf, dated April 20, 2015, downloaded from Fr. Z's Blog:

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2015/04/ask-father-using-the-traditional-offertory-prayers-in-the-novus-ordo-wherein-fr-z-rants/

Labels: N.O.M.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Whitmonday, A.D. 2015

Notes: Tuesday, February 3-Monday, May 25, 2015 (part 1 of 2)

1. A court judgement which might prove useful for countering the diversion of public discourse about Gaiety away from behaviour towards 'identity'

See the article "'Polyamorous' woman loses fight with Catholic Church", by Marianna Papadakis, dated February 17, 2015, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

Warning: This article contains references which might scandalise some readers:

http://www.smh.com.au/national/polyamorous-woman-loses-fight-with-catholic-church-20150217-13gtv9.html?skin=text-only

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

2. Dr. Himmelfarb on a couple of the principles of Liberalism

2.1 "Inevitably the elevation of the idea of liberty has led to the debasement of the idea of authority. As particular authorities have become suspect, so also has the very idea of authority. Deprived of legitimacy, of any presumption of right, authority is reduced to nothing more than the exercise of power or force."

The quotation in that headline comes from p. 8 of the introduction to John Stuart Mill's On Liberty, edited with an introduction by Dr. Gertrude Himmelfarb, published, in Pelican Books, by Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England, 1974. Cf. error no. 60 of the Syllabus of Errors:

Auctoritas nihil aliud est nisi numeri et materialium virium summa.
[p. 174, Acta Sanctæ Sedis Vol. III (A.D. MDCCCLXVII):
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ass/documents/ASS-03-1867-ocr.pdf
Dr. Deferrari translated that as
Authority is nothing more than numbers and the sum of material strengths (26).
(the "(26)" is a reference to the Allocution Maxima quidem, whence the error was proximately derived)
Dz. 1760, p. 440, The Sources of Catholic Dogma, translated by Roy J. Deferrari from the Thirtieth Edition of Henry Denzinger's Enchiridion Symbolorum, definitionum et declarationum de rebus fidei et morum, published by Loreto Publications, Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, U.S.A., third Loreto printing 2007]

That quotation from Dr. Himmelfarb led me to see that error in a slightly different light to that in which I had previously viewed it. Previously, I had seen it as a condemnation of an error about the nature of authority, but that quotation makes me think that, although the condemnation does of course apply to such an error, it can also be seen as a condemnation of a denial of the very existence of authority, so that the condemned error could also by expressed as something like 'There is no such thing as authority; when people talk about authority, they really only mean the possession of physical force'.

Labels: liberalism, morals

2.2 "Against the [Wolfenden ]Commission’s claim that private morality and immorality were ‘not the law’s business’, [Lord ]Devlin argued that ‘the suppression of vice is as much the law’s business as the suppression of subversive activities; it is no more possible to define a sphere of private morality than it is to define one of private subversive activity’."

The quotation, excluding my square-bracketed interpolations, in that headline comes from p. 41 of the introduction to John Stuart Mill's On Liberty, edited with an introduction by Dr. Gertrude Himmelfarb, published, in Pelican Books, by Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England, 1974. Cf. the following:

With his customary intuition, Marcel Lefebvre immediately got to the heart of the CDF theologian’s argument[ in the C.D.F.'s March 9, 1987 reply to Msgr. Lefebvre's Dubia concerning Dignitatis humanæ which were submitted in October 1985]: it was the so-called “social space of autonomous activity” where because of his dignity the person can act publicly in religious matters without the State intervening."
[p. 546, Marcel Lefebvre, by Msgr. Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, translated from the French by Brian Sudlow, with additional material from Rev. Sebastian Wall of The Society of St. Pius X., published by Angelus Press, Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.A., first printing—April 2004]

For more discussion of Lord Devlin's thesis, see the article "The Limits of Law" (especially §2), by Dr. John Stanton-Ife, downloaded from The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's website:

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/law-limits/

Labels: law, liberalism, morals

3. "Women dance in St Mary's Cathedral last Sunday, 8 February, as members of Sydney's Sudanese Catholic community celebrate the feast of St Josephine Bakhita[. … ] The Mass, presided over by the Archbishop of Sydney, Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP, and attended by more than 1000 worshippers, was both a colourful and proud occasion in typical African style, full of singing and dancing as the community came together in celebration."

The quotation, excluding my square-bracketed interpolation replacing some of the original text, in that headline is part of the three-line caption of a half-page photograph, in the centre of its page, headlined "Sudanese sing, dance on their saint's day", no byline (though the photo was credited to "GIOVANNI PORTELLI", i.e., Giovanni Portelli Photography), p. 3 (though really the front cover, because the first, second, second-last, and last pages (the latter two were pp. 27 and 28, respectively) of that week's issue of The Catholic Weekly were an advertising wrap-around), The Catholic Weekly, February 15, 2015, Vol. 73, No. 4762, published by The Catholic Press Newspaper Company Pty. Ltd.

See also

• The Catholic Weekly's webpage, dated February 11, 2015, of the text of His Grace's homily for the occasion, with an accompanying photo of a religious sister dancing in the Cathedral (that picture appeared in the relevant issue of The Catholic Weekly, though the photo to whose caption I refer in this item's headline does not seem to be available at The Catholic Weekly's website):
  http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/article.php?classID=2&subclassID=106&articleID=14074&class=Comment&subclass=Archbishop%27s%20Homily

• the Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese, report "Sydney's Sudanese Community to Celebrate Their Feast Day With Archbishop at St Mary's Cathedral", dated February 5, 2015, downloaded from The Archdiocese of Sydney's official website, which (report) mentions that "the Mass will feature more than 50 Sudanese dancers" who "have been in rehearsals for more than eight weeks" (the latter quotation is part of one attributed to "Sudanese-born Anna Dimo, the Archdiocese of Sydney's full-time Pastoral Worker for the Sudanese Catholic Community"; see also the accompanying photo of the dancers rehearsing in a church):
  http://www.sydneycatholic.org/news/latest_news/2015/201525_1572.shtml

• the Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese, report "Sudanese Catholic Community give Thanks to Archbishop Anthony", dated February 9, 2015, downloaded from The Archdiocese of Sydney's official website, in which (report) Ms Dimo is quoted as saying that "[w]e thought there'd be 50 Sudanese dancers but on the day we had 66 dancers" and that the "choir, dancers and musicians have been rehearsing since last November":
  http://www.sydneycatholic.org/news/latest_news/2015/201529_1659.shtml

• the Giovanni Portelli Photography page on Facebook (I'm not on Facebook, so I haven't seen that page myself, but it came up on Google)

Labels: Anthony Fisher, liturgical dancing, liturgy, N.O.M.

4. Some recent Gay/sport items

4.1 "Mardi Gras 2015: Anti-homophobia sports float will be highlight of parade"

The quotation in that headline is the headline of an article by Mr. Michael Koziol, dated March 4, 2015, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/mardi-gras-2015-antihomophobia-sports-float-will-be-highlight-of-parade-20150306-13upsz.html?skin=text-only

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

4.2 "NAB chief executive Andrew Thorburn said the bank approached the AFL last year about using the NAB Challenge as a platform to raise awareness of the LGBTI community", and now "footy’s first [Gay ]“Pride Cup” match will be played between Sydney and Fremantle during this month’s NAB Challenge" (and such a match might become an annual A.F.L. event)

The quotations (excluding my square-bracketed parenthesis) and other information in that headline come from the article "AFL set to launch gay pride game to tackle homophobia during NAB Challenge", by Mr. Michael Warner, dated March 4, 2015, downloaded from the Herald Sun's website:

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/afl-set-to-launch-gay-pride-game-to-tackle-homophobia-during-nab-challenge/story-fni5f22o-1227248255109

(That article came to my attention via the version printed under the headline "AFL's rainbow warriors", with the same author, on p. 71 in the "SPORT" section of the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Thursday, March 5, 2015, ISSN 1038-8745, published by Nationwide News Pty. Ltd.)

There are some hearty laughs to be had in the comments section there, though some of it is low-brow.

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

4.3 "Getting sportsmen together on a [Gay Mardi Gras ]float was an idea that came from NSW Sports Minis-ter Stuart Ayres"; he "wrote to all the major sports' CEOs late last year to encourage them and their athletes to participate."

The quotations, excluding my square-bracketed parenthesis, in that headline (note that the dash in "Minister" was because the word spanned two lines) come from the article "Sports stars get on board in Mardi Gras show of support", by Mr. Phil Rothfield ("SPORTS EDITOR-AT-LARGE"), on p. 108 in the "NRL" pages of the "SPORT" section of the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Friday, March 6, 2015, ISSN 1038-8745, published by Nationwide News Pty. Ltd., apparently not available at the Tele's website.

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

4.4 "Football Federation Australia is set to unveil an advisory group focusing on anti-homophobia and the organisation's Head of Community and Women's football, Emma Highwood, says the next stage will turn its attention towards the A-League which has the greatest reach to football's widest audience."

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "Football gets onboard with other athletes to support the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras", by Mr. Dominic Bossi, dated March 6, 2015, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/football-gets-onboard-with-other-athletes-to-support-the-gay-and-lesbian-mardi-gras-20150306-13wxdw.html?skin=text-only

(I first read that article in the version printed under the headline "FFA set to lead way in battle against homophobia", with the same author, on pp. 52 f. in the "FOOTBALL" pages of the "SPORT" section of The Sydney Morning Herald, weekend edition, March 7-8, 2015, Issue No. 55351, ISSN 0312-6315, published by Fairfax Media Publications Pty. Ltd.)

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

4.5 "Three weeks ago the game's[, i.e., rugby union's,] governing body internationally, World Rugby, signed a historic memorandum of understanding with International Gay Rugby, to work together to promote equality and eliminate homophobia in rugby."

The quotation, excluding my square-bracketed interpolation, in that headline comes from the article "Stephen Moore, Michael Cheika back David Pocock on homophobia stance", by Georgina Robinson, dated March 24, 2015, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/stephen-moore-michael-cheika-back-david-pocock-on-homophobia-stance-20150324-1m6i6t.html?skin=text-only

See also

• the press release "World Rugby signs historic agreement with International Gay Rugby", dated March 5, 2015, downloaded from World Rugby's official website:
  http://www.worldrugby.org/news/59705

• the news item "2015-03-05: World Rugby signs historic agreement with International Gay Rugby", downloaded from International Gay Rugby's official website:
  http://igrab.net/news-2015-03-05.htm

Labels: G.L.B.T. sport

5. "for the first time, we have ensured that 80 per cent of Australian foreign aid investments must address gender issues"

The quotation in that headline was attributed to The Hon. Sen. Michaelia Cash (Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women) in the opinion piece "Deadline: 2015 the year to end violence against women", by Dr. Anne Summers A.O., dated March 6, 2015, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/deadline-2015-the-year-to-end-violence-against-women-20150305-13wbws.html?skin=text-only

(That article came to my attention via the version printed under the headline "Our top 2015 non-negotiable priority", with the same byline, on p. 36 in the "NEWS REVIEW" section of The Sydney Morning Herald, weekend edition, March 7-8, 2015, Issue No. 55351, ISSN 0312-6315, published by Fairfax Media Publications Pty. Ltd.)

Labels: feminism, foreign affairs

6. Some recent items regarding 'established religion'

6.1 March 9, 1826: "Letters patent issued in London form a Church and School Corporation, giving the Anglican Church the status of an established religion in NSW with the right to Crown land and control of the school system."

The quotation in that headline comes from the item for the year 1826 in the "ON THIS DAY" column, no author credited (though Mr. Troy Lennon is credited as the history editor in the page's main article), of the history page (p. 28 of the relevant issue) of the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Monday, March 9, 2015, ISSN 1038-8745, published by Nationwide News Pty. Ltd.

See also item 10.2 of this "Notes" post.

Labels: Anglicans, colonialism, N.S.W.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Whitmonday, A.D. 2015

Notes: Friday, August 1-Wednesday, December 31, 2014 (part 2 of 2)

9. H.H. The Pope on, among other things, the death penalty

See the Speech to the delegates of the International Association of Penal Law, October 23, 2014, available at the "October 2014 Speeches" page at the Vatican's website:

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2014/october/index.html

Labels: death penalty, Francis Bergoglio, justice

10. Dr. Brown on the content and structure of the New Order of Mass compared to that of the Traditional Latin Mass

See his comment of 1 November 2014 at 11:01 pm at Fr. Zuhlsdorf's blog post "GERMANY: Where the weird stuff comes from" of November 1, 2014 at Fr. Z's Blog:

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2014/11/why-is-it-that-truly-weird-stuff-comes-into-the-church-from-germany/#comment-483619

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

11. Dr. Summers on, among other things, H.M.A. Government's continuing overseas Feminist propaganda

See the opinion piece "Forget the F-word, action is what counts", by Dr. Anne Summers A.O., dated November 15, 2014, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/forget-the-fword-action-is-what-counts-20141113-11m2g5.html?skin=text-only

(That article came to my attention via the version printed on p. 38 in the "COMMENT" pages of the "NEWS REVIEW" section of The Sydney Morning Herald, weekend edition, November 15-16, 2014, Issue No. 55256, ISSN 0312-6315, published by Fairfax Media Publications Pty. Ltd.)

Labels: feminism

12. Ms Wilkinson on, among other things, "the growing body of “guilty until proven innocent” laws being made" in Australia

See the opinion piece "Politicians should be considered guilty until proven innocent too", by Cassandra Wilkinson, dated November 8, 2014, downloaded from (behind the paywall at) The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/politicians-should-be-considered-guilty-until-proven-innocent-too/story-fnhuliiz-1227116002659

(That article came to my attention via the version printed under the same headline (though all the letters were in capitals), with the same author, on p. 22 in the "INQUIRER" section of The Weekend Australian, November 8-9, 2014, Second Edition, No. 15570, ISSN 1038-8761, published by Nationwide News Pty. Limited.)

Labels: burden of proof, law

13. Some recent articles regarding the State of Israel's proposed 'nation-state of the Jewish people' bill

See

• the article "Israelis fear a gathering intifada: ugly mood stalks neighbourhoods of Jerusalem", by John Lyons, dated November 8, 2014, downloaded from The Australian's website:
  
  http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/israelis-fear-a-gathering-intifada-ugly-mood-stalks-neighbourhoods-of-jerusalem/story-e6frg6so-1227116392046
  
  (That article came to my attention via the version printed under the headline "Israelis fear a gathering intifada", with the same author, on p. 11 in the "WORLD" section of The Weekend Australian, November 8-9, 2014, Second Edition, No. 15570, ISSN 1038-8761, published by Nationwide News Pty. Limited.)

• the article "Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet backs 'Jewish state law' as tensions run high in Israel", by Isabel Kershner, dated November 24, 2014, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:
  
  http://www.smh.com.au/world/benjamin-netanyahus-cabinet-backs-jewish-state-law-as-tensions-run-high-in-israel-20141124-11sdlx.html?skin=text-only

• the article "Two Arab suspects arrested in fresh Jerusalem knife attack", by Jodi Rudoren, dated November 25, 2014, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:
  
  http://www.smh.com.au/world/two-arab-suspects-arrested-in-fresh-jerusalem-knife-attack-20141125-11t2z7.html?skin=text-only

• the article "Benjamin Netanyahu seeks early election, fires top ministers", by Jeffrey Heller, dated November 3, 2014, :
  
  http://www.smh.com.au/world/benjamin-netanyahu-seeks-early-election-fires-top-ministers-20141203-11ytvo.html?skin=text-only

• the article "Israel's nationality bill fuels debate over religious and democratic identity", by Jodi Rudoren, dated December 9, 2014, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website::
  
  http://www.smh.com.au/world/israels-nationality-bill-fuels-debate-over-religious-and-democratic-identity-20141209-12320i.html?skin=text-only

Labels: Confessional State, Jews, State of Israel

14. "Montini was moved out of the Vatican and made Archbishop of Milan in 1954 in an attempt by conservative factions in Rome to reduce his influence. But the next Pope, his friend John XXIII, in 1958 made him the first of his cardinals, and he succeeded John as Pope Paul VI in 1963."

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "The renewed relevance of Paul VI", by The Rev. Fr. Bruce Duncan C.SS.R., undated, downloaded from the website of the Redemptorists of Australia and New Zealand:

http://www.cssr.org.au/contact_us/dsp-default.cfm?loadref=619

(That article came to my attention via this CathNews item.)

Labels: Paul VI. Montini

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Day within the Octave of Christmas, and the feast of St. Sylvester I., Pope, Confessor, A.D. 2014

Notes: Wednesday, June 26-Monday, August 5, 2013 (part 2 of 2)

9. "Divorce can add 10 years to the working lives of Australians, as they battle to re-establish the wealth they had in married life, according to new research by Suncorp Superannuation."

The quotation in that headline is the first paragraph of the media release "The hidden super cost of divorce", no author credited, undated, downloaded from the Suncorp Group's website:

http://www.suncorpgroup.com.au/sites/default/files/pdf/news/Media%20Release_The%20Hidden%20Super%20Cost%20of%20Divorce_FINAL.pdf

(That media release came to my attention via the article "Divorce can cost 10 years of retirement", by Andrew Carswell, p. 24 in the "BUSINESS" pages of the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Tuesday, July 9, 2013, Vol. 1, No. 2894, ISSN 1038-8745, published by Nationwide News Pty. Ltd., available in a slightly shorter and differently-edited version under the headline "Nothing super about having to work to a ripe old age", by the same author, with the same date, downloaded from the Townsville Bulletin's website:

http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2013/07/09/385156_news.html)

Labels: divorce, economics, marriage, work

10. "Across the same 10 years[ (beginning in 2002)] however, the percentage of women in professional roles increased while the proportion of women in ''home duties'' dropped from 17 per cent in 2002 to 11.7 per cent in 2012."

The quotation, excluding my square-bracketed interpolation, in that headline comes from the opinion piece "Unearned advantage allows men to dominate", by Mr. Ross Honeywill, dated July 16, 2013, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/unearned-advantage-allows-men-to-dominate-20130715-2q021.html?skin=text-only

Labels: economics, families, marriage

11. "There is no glossing over the ugly facts: single parent families have hard and unstable lives. In the mid-80s, a child's chances of being caught in such disadvantageous circumstances was one in 10; today it is one in five."

The quotation in that headline comes from the opinion piece "The sins of our fathers may be less than our own on Struggle Street", by Mr. Nick Cater, dated July 16, 2013, downloaded from (behind the paywall at) The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/the-sins-of-our-fathers-may-be-less-than-our-own-on-struggle-street/story-fnhulhjj-1226679821579

Labels: families, marriage

12. Some figures regarding H.I.V. in Australia

See Australia's official Country Progress Report submitted, in April 2012, to the UNAIDS Secretariat for the monitoring of progress towards the targets set in the 2011 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS, downloaded from the official UNAIDS (the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS) website:

http://www.unaids.org/en/dataanalysis/knowyourresponse/countryprogressreports/2012countries/ce_AU_Narrative_Report%5B1%5D.pdf

(That report came to my attention via the second comment at this blog post by Mr. Gaynor.)

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

13. "international recidivism rates with treatment[ programmes for sex offenders] were 13.5 per cent - 27.2 per cent without", but "research has indicated predators convicted of assaulting one victim usually had between six and nine other victims nobody knew about"

The quotations, excluding my square-bracketed interpolation, in that headline come from the feature article "Granting the freedom to rape or kill again", by Mr. Rick Morton, dated July 20, 2013, downloaded from (behind the paywall at) The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/granting-the-freedom-to-rape-or-kill-again/story-e6frg6z6-1226682218109

(That article came to my attention via the version printed under the same headline, by the same author, on p. 20 in the "INQUIRER" section of The Weekend Australian, July 20-21, 2013, Second Edition, No. 15171, ISSN 1038-8761, published by Nationwide News Pty. Limited.)

Labels: crime

14. Fr. Donovan, among others, on the Novus Ordo Missæ

In the combox at this post at her Australia Incognita blog, the blogmistress, Miss Kate Edwards, and I were having a discussion about the legitimacy of the Novus Ordo Missæ, in the course of which I said that the New Order Mass replaces the Traditional Latin Mass's "structure of a true propitiatory sacrifice with that of Jewish table blessings". Some readers might have been surprised, even shocked, to read that, and though the S.S.P.X.'s The Problem of the Liturgical Reform—to which I linked in the same comment—deals with this, those readers might be unwilling to take a Traditionalist document as a reliable source. But by a fortunate coincidence (though one which, unfortunately, I didn't notice until I had bowed out of the discussion), The Rev. Fr. Daniel Donovan writes, in an article at Catholica, that, in the context of the N.O.M. (and in particular its Third Eucharistic Prayer),

The Liturgy of the Eucharist is part of the whole ecclesial action in which Jesus' actions, take, bless, break and give include the table actions of the father and mother in the Jewish meal. At Eucharist, Jesus combines the actions of the father and mother providing a unified structure for the liturgy from the Offertory to Communion.
[bold, italic, and red type in the original,
"Eucharistic Prayer III: Anaphora of God's People", Part 2, by The Rev. Fr. Daniel Donovan, undated (but submitted to Catholica on November 20, 2012, and I read it on, if I recall correctly, Wednesday, July 17, 2013 ), published by Mr. Brian Coyne at his Catholica website:
http://www.catholica.com.au/gc2/dd2/068_dd_170713.php]

Catholica is, of course, a Vatican II Progressive source, but if readers would prefer a Vatican II Conservative source then they can see the Zenit article "The Priest in the Offertory of the Mass", a translation, dated February 19, 2010, of a reflection by The Rev. Prof. Juan José Silvestre Valór, an Opus Dei priest, professor of liturgy at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, and consultor to the Office of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff. And to bookend those two Vatican II sources between Traditionalist sources, see the Maurice Pinay blog post "Opus Judei Glosses on the Talmudic Novus Ordo "Offertory"", dated Sunday, February 21, 2010 (which (blog post) brought that Zenit article to my attention; the Catholica article came to my attention on my weekly visit to the Catholica website).

Labels: N.O.M.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of The Dedication of Our Lady of the Snows', A.D. 2013

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

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

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

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

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

2. "Putin eyes new economic Soviet Union"

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

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

Labels: Russia, Vladimir Putin

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

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

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

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

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

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

Labels: demography

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

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

Labels: Alan Shatter

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

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

Labels: Sovereign Grant Bill

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Under the heading "Churches do pay" here:

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

Labels: taxation

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

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

Labels: gender differences

4. A couple of recent comments from Dr. Brown

4.1 On the Eucharist as memorial

Mainly his third point here:

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

Labels: liturgy

4.2 A joke

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

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

5. Mr. Brent on voting turnout

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

Labels: voting

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

From a letter to the Herald last week:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Notes: Wednesday, June 22-Wednesday, June 29, 2011

1. A couple of items regarding women in the paid workforce

1.1 Mr. Thompson on several points regarding women in the paid workforce

Here is an excerpt from an article entitled "They have babies, pay them less" and which appeared on page three of the print edition of the Sydney Daily Telegraph on Friday, June 24, 2011:

Alasdair Thompson, chief execu-tive of the New Zealand Employers & Manufacturers' Association, also claimed women were less pro-ductive because they took career breaks to have babies.
"Why do they take the most sick leave? Women do in general. Why? Because once a month they have sick problems," Mr Thompson said during a live radio interview to argue against a law aimed at reducing the wage gap between men and women.
"The fact is women have babies, they take time out with their careers," he added, admitting his statements were "contentious".
[...] Mr Thompson later tried to hose down the controversy, apologising for his comments.
[dashes in the original, my square-bracketed ellipsis]

I wonder what the evidence is for whether women take more sick leave than men, whether, if they do indeed take more sick leave, it is because of women's problems, and whether maternity leave hampers women's productivity?

Related web-pages:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/gender-row-exec-has-a-point-expert/story-e6freuyi-1226081435028

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/kiwi-employers-head-castigated-over-claims-women-take-more-sick-days-than-men/story-e6frev00-1226080815733

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/new-zealand-employers-group-chief-says-women-dont-deserve-equal-pay/story-e6frg6so-1226080763729

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/business/kiwi-employers-head-castigated-over-claims-women-take-more-sick-days-than-men/story-e6frez7r-1226080755986

Labels: economics, gender differences, work

1.2 Some facts and figures regarding women in the paid workforce and children in childcare

http://www.smh.com.au/national/childcare-rebate-put-paid-to-staying-home-longer-20110624-1ghsr.html?skin=text-only

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/numbers-add-up-as-mothers-return-to-work-sooner-20110623-1ghjk.html?skin=text-only

Labels: economics, work, youngsters

2. Darwin on something which would invalidate his theory of evolution

This is an extract from a very small article entitled "Insights unveiled as Darwin's scribbles enter the digital era" and which appeared on page twenty-four of last weekend's (June 25-26, 2011) edition of The Sydney Morning Herald:

Darwin wrote alongside this: "If this ["that there were definite limits to the vari-ation of species"] were true adios theory."

Labels: evolution

3. "Russian Orthodox Church to tinker with its liturgy"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37841

Labels: R.O.C.

4. A couple of recent reported facts regarding the death penalty

4.1 "Since 1978, [Californian] voters have consistently opted to widen the capital punishment net so that the state now has the most sweeping laws in the country, with some 39 eligible crimes"

http://www.smh.com.au/world/executions-cost-300m-each-in-california-study-20110621-1gdfu.html?skin=text-only

Labels: death penalty

4.2 "Australia ... annually co-sponsors a resolution of the UN Human Rights Commission that calls for all nations to abolish [capital] punishment"

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/editorial/subtle-shifts-offer-hope-of-abolition-20110626-1glm2.html?skin=text-only

Labels: death penalty

5. "A Bibliography of the Current Crisis in the Catholic Church"

http://truerestoration.blogspot.com/2011/06/bibliography-of-current-crisis-in.html

That came to my attention via this AQ thread:

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37842

Labels: modernism, N.O.M., Vatican II

6. "Liechtenstein archbishop in Mass 'boycott'"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37862

Labels: Church and State

7. "Students get insight into Holocaust horrors"

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=26928

This bit was particularly evocative:

This year three Santa Maria College students ... prepared a liturgical movement in response to ... Walter Rapoport, Chairman of the Council of Christians and Jews Victoria.

(In the Australian Conciliar church, "liturgical movement" means liturgical dance.) It brings to mind pagan dancing girls swirling around an idol of "The Holocaust".

Labels: Jews

8. "Kremlin eliminates Putin challengers"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/kremlin-eliminates-putin-challengers/story-e6frg6so-1226080860884

Labels: Russia, Vladimir Putin

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday, May 31-Monday, June 6, 2011

1. "Reverse proof of title, says Paul Keating"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/aboriginal-australia/reverse-proof-of-title-says-paul-keating/story-e6frgd9f-1226066787825

Labels: burden of proof, justice, law

2. "Neocatechumenal Way Invites German Youth to Madrid"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37573

Labels: Jews, Neo-catechumenal Way

3. Fr. Scott on Universæ Ecclesiæ

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37569

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, Kurt Koch, liturgy, N.O.M., Peter Scott, T.L.M., Universæ Ecclesiæ

4. Mr. Muehlenberg on, among other things, how "[t]he exact Islamic requirements for halal slaughter ... may not be fully clear, at least in some quarters"

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/05/31/tortured-cows-and-babies/

Labels: Islam

5. "Gay softball league can limit straight players, [U.S.] Judge rules"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/gay-softball-league-can-limit-straight-players-judge-rules/story-fn3dxity-1226068573943

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

6. Mr. Bellet on the size of the homosexual proportion of the population

The comment of 6.6.11 / 8pm in the combox here:

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/06/02/why-radical-agendas-are-winning/

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

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

Notes: Tuesday, May 17-Monday, May 23, 2011 (part 2 of 2)

4. Text of the C.D.F. response to Msgr. Lefebvre's Dubia about religious liberty/Dignitatis humanæ?

In a recent Sandro Magister article posted at AQ, there was a reference to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's (C.D.F.'s) response to the Dubia which Msgr. Lefebvre submitted to it about Dignitatis humanæ. In that article, the response's title is given as "Liberté religieuse. Réponse aux 'dubia' présentés par S.E. Mgr. Lefebvre" (March 9, 1987). I Googled this, and the search led me to the footnotes of this blog post (in Italian), some of which refer to something called "La Crise intégriste". This in turn led me to the French blog "La crise intégriste", which purports, apparently, to have the text of the C.D.F. response. I face three problems, the last two of which follow from the first:

4.1 The document is in French, and I can't speak French (and the document is not so formatted that I can simply run it through a translator).

4.2 I don't know whether the document is authentic.

4.3 Even if it's authentic, I don't know whether it has been published ethically.

Could any French speakers help me out here?

Labels: Dignitatis Humanæ, Marcel Lefebvre, morality, religious liberty, Roman Curia

5. The S.S.P.X.'s The Problem of the Liturgical Reform is available, for free, on-line

I knew that it was available on-line somewhere, and this comment at Fr. Zuhlsdorf's blog gives its U.R.L. One can also find it via one of the items in the "Articles Index" at the website of the U.S. District of the S.S.P.X.

Labels: liturgy, modernism, N.O.M., S.S.P.X., T.L.M., theology, Vatican II

6. Here we go again: In South Australia, "wide-ranging reforms aimed at providing greater legal protection for children of same-sex parents [were] recommended to Parliament [last week]"

http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Kids-with-two-mums-are-Weet-Bix-kids-too/

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

Reginaldvs Cantvar
23.V.2011