Notes: Wednesday, May 3-Monday, May 9, 2011 (part 1 of 2)

1. Mr. Muehlenberg with some of Prof. Singer's statements

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/04/28/greens-the-party-of-death/

Labels: Peter Singer

2. The anti-sodomite measures of St. Pius V.

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/04/a-pope-as-tough-on-himself-as-he-was-on-others/#comment-269640

Labels: death penalty, G.L.B.T., law, morality, St. Pius V. Ghisleri

3. Two recent Russian developments

3.1 "Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that measures must be taken in the Russian Federation to boost the birth rate"

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/04/29/when-churches-go-bad-2/

Labels: Russia, Vladimir Putin

3.2 "[A] plan by the Russian Orthodox Church to construct 200 churches in the Russian capital"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37193

Labels: R.O.C.

4. Mr. Muehlenberg and others on, among other things, how to react to the death of an evildoer

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/05/09/when-the-bible-goes-missing/

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37192

and the comment of 5.5.11 / 6am by Dr. Sarfati here:

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/05/02/osama%e2%80%99s-death-and-fuzzy-christian-thinking/#comments

Labels: death penalty, morality, Scripture, theology

5. Some of the actions of the late Mme. Nhu

... after winning a seat in the National Assembly in 1956, [she] pushed through measures that increased women's rights. She also orchestrated government moves to ban contraceptives and abortion, outlaw adultery, forbid divorce and close opium dens and brothels.
[http://www.smh.com.au/national/obituaries/dragon-lady-not-afraid-to-speak-her-mind-20110508-1ee2i.html?skin=text-only]

Labels: Tran Le Xuan

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Gregory Nazianzen, Bishop, Confessor, Doctor of the Church, A.D. 2011

Notes: Saturday, February 12-Monday, February 14, 2011

1. More from Ms Horin on so-called gay marriage

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/next-step-down-the-aisle-is-plain-20110211-1aqil.html?skin=text-only

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

2. Dr. Cook on Prof. Singer's views on incest

http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/peter-singer-the-jerry-springer-of-philosophy/

Labels: morality, Peter Singer

3. Two recent blog posts by Mr. Muehlenberg:

3.1 On Ms Hartland's views on the death penalty and abortion

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/02/11/another-green-brain-drain/

With a good comment there by Dr. Kok:

If execution is state sanctioned murder, then imprisonment is state sanctioned kidnapping; fines are state sanctioned theft; impoundment of an illegally parked vehicle is state sanctioned grand theft auto!

Labels: abortion, Colleen Hartland, death penalty, morality

3.2 On Dr. Savulescu's views on eugenics

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/02/13/let%e2%80%99s-create-a-master-race-%e2%80%93-again/

Labels: eugenics, Julian Savulescu, morality

4. Mr. Marr on moves against discrimination by religious organisations against certain classes of sinner

http://www.smh.com.au/national/faiths-rule-on-sex-from-staffroom-to-bedroom-20110214-1asj0.html?skin=text-only

Labels: David Marr, discrimination, G.L.B.T., morality

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Valentine, Priest, Martyr, A.D. 2011

Notes: Saturday-Monday, November 6-8, 2010

1. Interesting review of The Grand Design

The review in question was published in The Sydney Morning Herald's Spectrum supplement at the weekend, and is available on-line here. The following excerpt was remarkable:

Even if M-theory is the best candidate for a Theory of Everything, it will not, as Hawking concedes, result in anything more than a collection of unproved and unprovable hypotheses.

2. Exactly (precisely?) what I was thinking!

Here's a letter which was published on page twenty-five of today's edition of the Sydney Daily Telegraph and which points out an all-too-common grammatical error which vexes me too:

For years the signs at railway stations have warned us that steps "may be" (that is are permitted to be) slippery when wet. Finally, this ungrammatical phrase is now correct. To avoid slips on the newly refurbished Macarthur station, carpets are being laid as a safety measure. Perhaps State Rail should have warned the wet areas "might be" (this expresses possibility, not permission) slippery.
M. Chaldecott Lindfield

The four effects of law are to command ('You shall ...'), to forbid ('You shall not ...'), to permit ('You may ...'), and to punish (to trangress any of the preceding three is to incur the obligation to suffer the just penalty); see St. Thomas, Summa Theologica, Ia IIæ, Q. 92, a. 2.

3. The Stockholm Bloodbath: An episode in Scandinavian history of which I had not heard

I was interested to learn the following in the "on this day" section of the history page of today's Sydney Daily Telegraph (p. 39):

1520

The execution of more than 80 Swedish nobles and clergy, who opposed their country's invasion by Christian II of Denmark, begins in Stockholm. The dissidents are accused of heresy.

Apparently that episode is known as the Stockholm Bloodbath, about which you can read more at Wikipedia's page on it.

4. The latest development/s in Australia regarding so-called gay marriage

4.1 "Mark Arbib wants Labor to back gay marriage"
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/arbib-wants-labor-to-back-gay-marriage/story-fn59niix-1225948555751

4.2 "Powerbrokers call for gay marriage debate"
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/national/powerbrokers-call-for-gay-marriage-debate/story-e6frea8c-1225948877549

(See also the responses in The Australian's editorial and letters sections.)

5. Interesting books reviewed in the weekend papers

A Place for Truth: Leading Thinkers Explore Life's Hardest Questions
Edited by Dallas Willard
IVP Books,321pp, $27.95

[...] Delusions of Gender: The Real Science Behind Sex Differences
By Cordelia Fine
Icon Books, 338pp, $29.99
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/where-faith-and-reason-meet/story-e6frg8nf-1225946773855]

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of the Four Crowned Martyrs, 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: Monday-Wednesday, June 14-16, 2010

Interesting discussion on, among other things, the grounds for sovereignty, with reference to the British Monarchy

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2010/06/prince-charles-the-environmentalist-follow-the-islamic-way-to-save-the-world/#comments

Msgr. Prowse initiates a process of pastoral planning for The Diocese of Sale

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=21871

First paragraph from that web-page:

Bishop Christopher Prowse of the regional Victorian Diocese of Sale has released a pastoral letter aimed at promoting discussion on the future directions of the diocese, according to a diocesan media release.

See also this blog's "Our Journey Ahead (Wollongong Pastoral Plan)" tag for coverage of The Diocese of Wollongong's process of pastoral planning.

Mr. Muehlenberg on abortion and bestiality

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2010/06/15/in-praise-of-baby-killing-and-bestiality/

Excerpt:

The examples of this moral decline are legion, and I often report them on this site. Two more prime examples can be offered here which occurred yesterday. The first has to do with the annual Queen’s Birthday honours in which various Australians are chosen to receive the Order of Australia.

[... Y]ou can expect a steady supply of those who are politically correct and left of centre to pick up these honours each year. Let me mention just one recipient this year: “Dr Joanne Wainer, Shire of Nillumbik, Vic For service to the community as an academic and researcher in the area of women’s reproductive health rights, and through leadership roles promoting women in medicine, particularly in rural and remote areas.”

By this euphemistic description, the unaware reader would not know that what she is being honoured for is baby-killing. Ms Wainer is a long time feminist and pro-abortion activist. Listen to her own words as she celebrates the Victorian abortion law changes in late 2008: [...]

[...] If this is not a descent into barbarism, I don’t know what is. Well, actually I do, and it concerns the second disturbing event that took place yesterday. I refer to the ABC television program, Q&A. ...

[...] But the real concern was when [Prof. Peter] Singer was asked about some of his really bizarre ideas. I have written up this vegetarian, pro-abortion, pro-euthanasia and pro-infanticide activist elsewhere, eg: http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/1996/10/14/peter-singer-and-the-gospel-of-death/

But he has also been known for his outrageous views on bestiality. I have already had many people express their shock at what Singer advocated last night, but I have had to tell them that he has been pushing this position for years. Indeed, he was happy to go public with this a decade ago. ...

Blog comment by me

At Mr. Schütz's blog:

Cardinal Pole
June 15, 2010 at 3:53 am

“Thus is the Sabbath rest slapped in the face”

What did you mean by that, PE?
[http://scecclesia.wordpress.com/2010/06/12/revisiting-the-summit-ii/#comment-15294]

Reginaldvs Cantvar
16.VI.2010

Genuine Freedom

(warning: the following link may not be suitable for tender consciences)
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/tuning-in-to-an-old-beat-renewed/2008/08/15/1218307227894.html

Professor Clive Hamilton offered the following observation in an article on trends in television and society in the Sydney Morning Herod on Saturday:

"But when you walk around and see teenage girls wearing T-shirts that say 'Porn Star' or, even worse, one that says [a slogan too obscene to bear repetition]', then you ask yourself: where else can society go? And you realise the big disappointment of liberalism's failure to deliver genuine freedom."

It is pleasing that Prof. Hamilton, a political and social progressive, recognises a distinction between true freedom and false freedom, or licence. But what does true freedom constitute for this gentleman? He has published a book recently entitled The Freedom Paradox, and at his website it says that

[h]is search takes him to an unexpected conclusion: that we cannot be truly free unless we commit ourselves to a moral life. The implications of this conclusion are profound, and they challenge many deeply held beliefs in modern secular society.

An ‘unexpected conclusion’? For the secular humanist, perhaps. And what is this ‘moral life’ of which he speaks? Is it that of his Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics colleague, Professor Peter Singer, in which it is all about getting oneself onto one’s highest possible indifference curve without putting someone else on a lower one of his own, and with its horrifying scheme of ‘human non-persons’ and ‘non-human persons’? Perhaps I will obtain a copy of this volume and find out.

Catholics know what real freedom is all about, though. For the individual, St. John tells us that it is the truth that makes us free—it is truth and goodness that are the just objects of freedom. And as for society, His late Holiness Leo XIII puts it quite succinctly in Libertas Præstantissimum:

[…] the true liberty of human society does not consist in every man doing what he pleases, for this would simply end in turmoil and confusion, and bring on the overthrow of the State; but rather in this, that through the injunctions of the civil law all may more easily conform to the prescriptions of the eternal law.

Reginaldvs Cantvar