Notes: Tuesday, July 23, 2019-Monday, November 30, 2020 (part 1 of 2)

1. That Atheist straw man again: "Faith can require a conviction that defies evidence"

That quotation comes from the opinion piece "It's all a question of faith", by Dr. Andy Marks (at the time, "assistant vice-chancellor at Western Sydney University"), p. 21, The Daily Telegraph, Tuesday, September 17, 2019, published by Nationwide News, Surry Hills, N.S.W. (The article seems to be unavailable at that newspaper's website.) See also that article's last paragraph:

Conviction of belief might tell them otherwise, but the evidence can't be ignored.

["them" refers to those whom Dr. Marks perceives to be "The political defenders of re-ligion" (the last word spanned two lines in print, hence the dash)]

Labels: atheism

2. Some recent pronouncements by The Pope

2.1 Another of The Pope's near-annual calls for breastfeeding in church during Mass

See the text of "the impromptu homily the Holy Father pronounced after the reading of the Holy Gospel" during a New-Order Mass on the New-Order Feast of The Baptism of The Lord, Sunday, January 12, 2020, available in its original Italian here:

http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/homilies/2020/documents/papa-francesco_20200112_omelia-battesimo.html

and in The Holy See Press Office Daily Bulletin item "Santa Messa nella Cappella Sistina con il rito del Battesimo dei Bambini, 12.01.2020" here:

https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2020/01/12/0022/00040.html

and in English translation here:

http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2020/documents/papa-francesco_20200112_omelia-battesimo.html

and in The Holy See Press Office Daily Bulletin item "Holy Mass in the Sistine Chapel with rite of Baptism of babies, 12.01.2020" here:

https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2020/01/12/200112a.html

(For independent confirmation, see the Crux news report "Baptizing babies, Pope Francis defends practice of infant baptism", by Elise Harris, dated January 12, 2020; according to the reporter, during that homily His Holiness was "telling parents not to be anxious if their child cries or whines, but to make them feel comfortable and to nurse them if needed":

https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2020/01/baptizing-babies-pope-francis-defends-practice-of-infant-baptism/)

Labels: breastfeeding, Francis Bergoglio, morals

2.2 The Pope against life imprisonment and the death penalty

See the last paragraph of the text of H.H. The Pope's Address, on Saturday, September 14, 2019, to the Penitentiary Police and staff of the Prison and Juvenile and Community Justice Administration, available in its original Italian here:

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/speeches/2019/september/documents/papa-francesco_20190914_polizia-penitenziaria.html

and in The Holy See Pres Office Daily Bulletin item "Udienza alla Polizia Penitenziaria, al Personale dell’Amministrazione Penitenziaria e della Giustizia minorile e di comunità, 14.09.2019" here:

http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2019/09/14/0698/01435.html

and in English translation here:

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2019/september/documents/papa-francesco_20190914_polizia-penitenziaria.html

and in The Holy See Press Office Daily Bulletin item "Audience with the Penitentiary Police and staff of the Prison and Juvenile and Community Justice Administration, 14.09.2019" here:

http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2019/09/14/190914d.html

But that translation seems to downplay how emphatically His Holiness denounced life imprisonment; presumably "Life imprisonment is not the solution to problems - I repeat: life imprisonment is not the solution to problems, but a problem to be solved" translates "L’ergastolo non è la soluzione dei problemi - lo ripeto: l’ergastolo non è la soluzione dei problemi -, ma un problema da risolvere" more accurately than "Life imprisonment is not the solution to problems, but a problem to be solved" does. (The first translation is given in the Catholic News Agency news report "Pope Francis: Life imprisonment forgoes the ‘right to start over’", by Courtney Mares, dated September 16, 2019:

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-life-imprisonment-forgoes-the-right-to-start-over-69915)

See also paragraphs 263-270 of The Pope's latest Encyclical Letter, Fratelli tutti, dated October 3, 2020:

http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20201003_enciclica-fratelli-tutti.html

Labels: death penalty, Francis Bergoglio, morals

3. "… Brian Tierney has shown that the idea of powers originating from God but coming through a body of people goes back at least to the thirteenth century and figures prominently in the conciliarism of Nicholas of Cusa, among others. See Tierney, Religion, Law, and the Growth of Constitutional Thought, 1150–1650 (Cambridge: CUP, 1982)."

That quotation, including its italics but with my ellipsis symbol, comes from note eighteen of "Resistance and Romans 13 in Samuel Rutherford's Lex, Rex", by Ryan McAnnally-Linz, in The Scottish Journal of Theology, Vol. 66, Issue 2, May 2013, pp. 140-158, available online (but with the body of the article behind a paywall) here:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/scottish-journal-of-theology/article/resistance-and-romans-13-in-samuel-rutherfords-lex-rex/E91ECA30D294829A6CFFDC478B5B69B3

Labels: Democratism, morals, politics

Reginaldvs Cantvar

St. Andrew's Day, A.D. 2020

Notes: Tuesday, April 18, 2017-Monday, April 23, 2018 (part 2 of 3)

4.3 H.H. The Pope on the death penalty

4.3.1 "Faith is a journey guided by the Holy Spirit, who helps the church grow in understanding the sinful nature of once-accepted practices like slavery and the death penalty, Pope Francis said."

The quotation in that headline comes from the news report "Pope: Spirit helps church see wrongs in slavery, death penalty", by Junno Arocho Esteves, dated May 11, 2017, downloaded from the Catholic News Service's website:

http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2017/pope-spirit-helps-church-see-mortal-sin-in-slavery-death-penalty.cfm

See also another news report, "On a journey", no byline, dated May 11, 2017, downloaded from L’Osservatore Romano's website:

http://www.osservatoreromano.va/en/news/journey

The latter report is not available in English at the Vatican's website, but this Italian-language version, perhaps the source for the English version, is:

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/cotidie/2017/documents/papa-francesco-cotidie_20170511_in-cammino.html

Labels: death penalty, Francis Bergoglio, morals

4.3.2 "The death penalty, no matter how it is carried out, "is, in itself, contrary to the Gospel," Pope Francis said."

The longest quotation (including the shortest quotation) in that headline is the first paragraph of the news report "Death penalty is 'contrary to the Gospel,' pope says", by Cindy Wooden, dated October 11, 2017, downloaded from the Catholic News Service's website:

http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2017/death-penalty-is-contrary-to-the-gospel-pope-says.cfm

A translation (from Italian) of the speech in question, namely, His Holiness's Address, on Wednesday, October 11, 2017, to participants in a meeting promoted by the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation, is available at the Vatican's website:

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2017/october/documents/papa-francesco_20171011_convegno-nuova-evangelizzazione.html

and this, also at the Vatican's website, is presumably the original Italian:

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/speeches/2017/october/documents/papa-francesco_20171011_convegno-nuova-evangelizzazione.html

Labels: death penalty, Francis Bergoglio, morals

4.4 Msgr. Gallagher (The Holy See's Secretary for Relations with States) on, among other things, the rule of law

4.4.1 Msgr. Gallagher on, among other things, the rule of law, equality before the law, religious plurality in a State, and religion and politics

See The Holy See Press Office Daily Bulletin item "Intervention of the Secretary for Relations with States at the United Nations on the protection of religious minorities in conflicts, 23.09.2017", which contains the text of "the intervention that the Secretary for Relations with States, H.E. Msgr. Paul R. Gallagher, pronounced yesterday at the United Nations Building in New York, during the 72nd Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, on the protection of religious minorities in conflicts":

http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2017/09/23/170923c.html

Labels: Church and State, Confessional State, Democratism, liberalism, morals, Roman Curia

4.4.2 Msgr. Gallagher on, among other things, the rule of law and a World State

See The Holy See Press Office Daily Bulletin item "Intervention of the Secretary for Relations with States at the Fordham University of New York, 26.09.2017", which contains the text of "the intervention that the H.E. Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for Relations with States, pronounced on 25 September at the Fordham University of New York on The Holy See Perspective on Contemporary International Issues":

http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2017/09/26/170926c.html

Labels: Democratism, liberalism, morals, Roman Curia, U.N.O.

4.5 An apparent Papal endorsement of the delegation theory of the conferral of political authority

See the Vatican Radio report "Pope at Mass: ‘Pray for leaders despite their mistakes’", presumably to be credited to Devin Watkins, dated September 18, 2017, downloaded from Vatican Radio's website but apparently no longer available online; this was its (here hyperlinked) U.R.L.:

http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2017/09/18/pope_at_mass_‘pray_for_leaders_despite_their_mistakes’/1337475

Another account of that homily/daily meditation seems to be available in Italian, but not in English, at the Vatican's website:

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/cotidie/2017/documents/papa-francesco-cotidie_20170918_pregare-per-i-governanti.html

and at L’Osservatore Romano's website:

http://www.osservatoreromano.va/it/news/pregare-i-governanti

In that Vatican Radio report, the two paragraphs of interest to me here are this one:

“If leaders do not pray, they close themselves off in a self-referential circle or in that of their party, a circle from which they cannot escape”, said Pope Francis. It is important to be aware that we are all subordinate to someone more powerful. And those who are more powerful than political leaders, he suggested, are both the people who gave those leaders their power, “and God from whom their power comes through the people”. Political leaders pray, said the Pope, when they are aware of being a subordinate.
[my emphasis]

and this one:

“I ask you this favor: every one of you take five minutes, no more. If you are a leader, ask yourself: ‘Do I pray to the One who gave me power through the people?’ If you are not a leader, ‘Do I pray for my leaders? Yes, for this one and that one, yes, because I like them; but for that one, no.’ They need it so much more for this reason! ‘Do I pray for all leaders?’ And if you find in your examination of conscience before Confession that you have not prayed for your leaders, bring it to Confession. Because not to pray for leaders is a sin.”
[my emphasis]

The Italian counterparts of my two emphasised portions of those paragraphs are presumably at least roughly "«il popolo, che gli ha dato il potere, e Dio, dal quale viene il potere tramite il popolo»" and "«… Se è governante, si domandi: “Io prego a quello che mi ha dato il potere tramite il popolo?”. …»" (my ellipses), respectively.

For a summary of the basic differences between the delegation theory, which H.H. The Pope apparently espouses, and the designation theory, see item 2 of this issue of my "Notes":

http://cardinalpole.blogspot.com/2016/03/notes-friday-january-1-monday-march-28.html

Labels: Democratism, Francis Bergoglio, morals, St. Robert Bellarmine

4.6 "Religious differences need not be a source of division and distrust, but rather a force for unity, forgiveness, tolerance and wise nation building."

The quotation in that headline comes from a translation, from Italian, of H.H. The Pope's Address at a meeting with the Burmese "authorities, civil society and members of the diplomatic corps" on November 28, 2017, during His Holiness's Apostolic Journey to Myanmar and Bangladesh (November 26-December 2, 2017); see The Holy See Press Office Daily Bulletin item "Apostolic Trip of the Holy Father Francis to Myanmar and Bangladesh (26 November – 2 December 2017) – Meeting with the Authorities, Civil Society and the Diplomatic Corps, 28.11.2017":

http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2017/11/28/171128c.html

or this other Vatican website page:

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2017/november/documents/papa-francesco_20171128_viaggioapostolico-myanmar-autorita.html

The original Italian is available here:

http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2017/11/28/0838/01791.html

and here:

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/speeches/2017/november/documents/papa-francesco_20171128_viaggioapostolico-myanmar-autorita.html

This seems to be the untranslated version of my quotation:

Le differenze religiose non devono essere fonte di divisione e di diffidenza, ma piuttosto una forza per l’unità, per il perdono, per la tolleranza e la saggia costruzione del Paese.

Labels: Francis Bergoglio

5. "Middle-income families will be subject to an income taper test, losing 30 cents of their family tax benefit for every dollar they earn over $94,316 from July 2018."

The quotation in that headline comes from the news report "Federal budget 2017: Family welcomes lift on medicare rebate freeze and continued childcare support", by Clare Sibthorpe, dated May 10, 2017, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/business/federal-budget/federal-budget-2017-family-welcomes-lift-on-medicare-rebate-freeze-and-continued-childcare-support-20170508-gw08fq.html

Note that, according to Australian Labor's Women's Budget Statement 2017 (p. 14), the families in question are those "with three or more children, or two children in high school":

http://www.alp.org.au/labors_womens_budget_statement_2017

Labels: family, tax

6. Some sources of information regarding then-Dom Gerle's April 12, 1790 motion in France's so-called National Constituent Assembly proposing that that body, as such, declare "that the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman religion is and will for ever remain the religion of the nation, and that its worship is the only one legally authorised"

(The quotation in that headline comes from p. 48 of the third of the following sources and is presumably a translation of the quotation "que la religion catholique, apostolique et romaine est et demeurera pour toujours la religion de la nation, et que son culte sera le seul public et autorisé" on p. 702 of the first of those sources.) See

• the French Revolution Digital Archive's version of the Archives parlementaires, Vol. XII, pp. 702 f.:
  
  https://frda.stanford.edu/en/catalog/nz125bh9048_00_0706
  
  https://frda.stanford.edu/en/catalog/nz125bh9048_00_0707
  
  (note that the French National Assembly's website says that Gerle proposed that the Constituent decree that "la religion catholique serait toujours la religion de la nation, et que son culte serait le seul autorisé" (perhaps that's a simplified paraphrase of the relevant part of the version given at the first of the two links above here):
  
  http://www2.assemblee-nationale.fr/sycomore/fiche/%28num_dept%29/12656
  
  (click on the "Biographies" tab there)) and 714-719:
  
  https://frda.stanford.edu/en/catalog/nz125bh9048_00_0718
  
  https://frda.stanford.edu/en/catalog/nz125bh9048_00_0719
  
  https://frda.stanford.edu/en/catalog/nz125bh9048_00_0720
  
  https://frda.stanford.edu/en/catalog/nz125bh9048_00_0721
  
  https://frda.stanford.edu/en/catalog/nz125bh9048_00_0722
  
  https://frda.stanford.edu/en/catalog/nz125bh9048_00_0723
  
  (Some of that collection's other references to Gerle are listed on p. 774 in his entry in the index for Vol. XII:
  
  https://frda.stanford.edu/en/catalog/nz125bh9048_00_0778
  
  and more are to be found in his and La Bastide's respective entries, collectively, on pp. 394 and 436, respectively, of the index for Vol. XXXIII:
  
  https://frda.stanford.edu/en/catalog/zk023fy2787_00_0398
  
  https://frda.stanford.edu/en/catalog/zk023fy2787_00_0440
  
  As best as I can discern from those indexes, Gerle was, at the time of the proposal in question, a Constituent deputy for the clergy of the seneschalry of Riom (Archives parlementaires, Vol. X, p. 501:
  
  https://frda.stanford.edu/en/catalog/tq270ry8164_00_0505)
  
  and—though none of those indexes mentions it—a member of the Constituent's Ecclesiastical Committee (Archives parlementaires, Vol. XXXII, p. 552:
  
  https://frda.stanford.edu/en/catalog/yk966sx2246_00_0556
  
  and see also the webpage "Archives du comité Ecclésiastique (1789-1791)" at the website of the French Archives Nationales:
  
  https://www.siv.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr/siv/rechercheconsultation/consultation/ir/consultationIR.action?irId=FRAN_IR_002410))

• The U.S. Government's Founders Online website's digitised version of a letter from William Short to John Jay dated April 23, 1790:
  
  https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-16-02-0210
  
  (William Short was appointed U.S. Minister Plenipotentiary to France on April 20, 1790, presented his credentials on June 14, 1790, and served till May 15, 1792:
  
  https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/short-william
  
  John Jay was appointed Secretary of Foreign Affairs under the (pre-U.S.) Continental Congress on May 7, 1784; his appointment was terminated on March 4, 1789, but he seems to have been the practical, if not nominal, U.S. foreign minister from the beginnings of the newly-formed U.S.A.'s foreign relations until Thomas Jefferson began to serve as Secretary of State on March 22, 1790:
  
  https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/jay-john
  
  Jefferson's appointment was not terminated until December 31, 1793:
  
  https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/jefferson-thomas
  
  At the time of the aforementioned letter to Jay, Short was presumably unaware of Jefferson's succession.)

• The University of Toronto Libraries' website's digitised version of The Gallican Church and the Revolution, by W. Henley Jervis, published by Kegan Paul, Trench, and Co., London, 1882, chapter II, pp. 48-54:
  
  http://scans.library.utoronto.ca/print.php?catkey=2661907
  
  or go straight hither:
  
  http://scans.library.utoronto.ca/pdf/2/14/gallicanchurch00jervuoft/gallicanchurch00jervuoft.pdf

Labels: Church and State, Confessional State, France, history, religious liberty

7. "Se hanno fame, allattateli, senza paura, date loro da mangiare, perché anche questo è un linguaggio di amore."

The quotation in that headline is the last sentence of H.H. The Pope's extemporaneous Homily given after the Gospel lesson of the combined celebration of a New-Order Mass and administration of the Sacrament of Baptism to newborn babies in the Sistine Chapel on Sunday, January 7, 2018 (the New-Order liturgical calendar's Feast of the Baptism of the Lord); that Homily is available at the Vatican's website here:

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/homilies/2018/documents/papa-francesco_20180107_omelia-battesimo.html

and here:

http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2018/01/07/0011/00026.html

That website offers two slightly different English translations of that sentence:

If they are hungry, nurse them, without worry; feed them, because this too is a language of love.
[http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2018/documents/papa-francesco_20180107_omelia-battesimo.html]

and

If they are hungry, nurse them, do not be afraid to, feed them, because this too is a language of love.
[http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2018/01/07/180107a.html]

Labels: breastfeeding, Francis Bergoglio, morals

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

Notes: Thursday, December 1, 2016-Monday, April 17, 2017 (part 1 of 3)

1. Some changes to this blog's sidebar

Immediately before posting this part of this issue of "Notes", I added links to the Encyclopædia Britannica's website and to The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Online to my "Reference links", to Campbelltown City Council's Libraries webpage and to The Catholic Institute of Sydney's homepage to my "Miscellaneous links", and to Dr. Gerard Henderson's Media Watch Dog webpage at The Sydney Institute's website to my "News and opinion links", and I removed from my "Blog links" the respective links to Magisterial Fundies (because it has not been updated in over two years) and to The Sensible Bond (because it's no longer available).

Labels: blogs

2. Two (translations of) recent utterances by H.H. The Pope

2.1 "Vatican Council II tells us about the autonomy of things, of processes and institutions. There is a healthy secularism, for instance, the secularism of the State. In general, a secular State is a good thing; it is better than a confessional State, because confessional States finish badly."

The quotation in that headline is a translation of one attributed to H.H. The Pope in the transcript of an interview for the Dutch-language Belgian nominally Catholic weekly called Tertio, apparently contained in issue no. 878, December 7, 2016; the translation from which I quote is that which is contained in the Holy See Press Office's Daily Bulletin item "Interview with the Holy Father Francis for the Belgian Catholic weekly, “Tertio”", also dated December 7, 2016, downloaded from the Vatican's website:

Warning: Elsewhere in that interview, His Holiness used obscene language:

http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2016/12/07/161207a.html

According to Inés San Martín's report "Pope Francis: media should avoid indulging popular love of smut" (December 7, 2016) at Crux's website, the interview was conducted in Spanish, The Pope's native language:

https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2016/12/07/pope-francis-media-avoid-indulging-popular-love-smut/

The Italian-language webpage for the aforementioned Bulletin item also indicates that the interview was in Spanish, and provides, under the headline "Intervista del Santo Padre Francesco al settimanale cattolico belga “Tertio”", what is presumably the text of the original transcript:

http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2016/12/07/0882/01951.html

(The Spanish transcript is also available at the Spanish-language webpage for that Bulletin item, headlined "Entrevista del Santo Padre Francisco al semanario católico belga “Tertio" (sic—the headline lacks the second pair of inverted commas):

http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/es/bollettino/pubblico/2016/12/07/tertio.html)

This is presumably the original Spanish of my quotation:

El Vaticano II nos habla de la autonomía de las cosas o de los procesos o de las instituciones. Hay una sana laicidad, por ejemplo, la laicidad del estado. En general, el estado laico es bueno. Es mejor que un estado confesional, porque los estados confesionales terminan mal.

The transcript does not seem to be freely available at Tertio's website.

Earlier in the translated transcript, His Holiness says that The Pope has "spoken about this with the French". I blogged about the interview to which His Holiness refers there in item 7.1.1 of this issue of "Notes", and since then I have learnt that an English translation of the text of that interview, apparently in full, is available at La Croix international's website under the headline "Interview with Pope Francis by La Croix", sub-heading "Christianity not a colonial enterprise", by Guillaume Goubet and Sébastien Maillard, dated December 26, 2016, here:

https://international.la-croix.com/news/interview-with-pope-francis-by-la-croix/3184

Labels: Church and State, Confessional State, Francis Bergoglio, liberalism, morals, religious liberty, secularism, Social Reign of Christ, Vatican II

2.2 "And then, since the ceremony is a bit long, some cry out of hunger. If that is the case, mothers, feel free to nurse your babies, without fear, as usual. Just as Our Lady nursed Jesus"

The quotation in that headline was attributed to H.H. The Pope in the Holy See Press Office's Daily Bulletin item "Francis baptises 28 children in the Sistine Chapel", dated January 8, 2017, downloaded from the Vatican's website:

http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2017/01/08/170108a.html

That English-language Bulletin item was presumably a translation from the original Italian one, headlined "Santa Messa nella Cappella Sistina con il rito del Battesimo dei bambini":

http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2017/01/08/0013/00029.html

An English translation of the full text of that homily is available here:

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2017/documents/papa-francesco_20170108_omelia-battesimo.html

and what I presume is the Italian original is available here:

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/homilies/2017/documents/papa-francesco_20170108_omelia-battesimo.html

Labels: breastfeeding, Francis Bergoglio, morals

3. "The lost history of the Freemasons"

The quotation in that headline is the headline of a story by Amanda Ruggeri, dated December 13, 2016, in B.B.C. Travel's BBC Britain series, downloaded from the B.B.C.'s website:

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20161209-secret-history-of-the-freemasons-in-scotland

Labels: Freemasons

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Easter Monday, A.D. 2017

Notes: Friday, January 1-Monday, March 28, 2016

1. Some changes to this blog's sidebar

Just before posting this issue of "Notes", I added

• a "Search services" section, containing links to Google and to Trove, between my "Discussion links" and "Reference links" sections

• a link to Theological Studies' website to my "Miscellaneous links" section (whence I moved my Trove link)

• a link to the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy's website to my "Reference links"

Labels: blogs

2. Mr. Alexander on two theories of how political authority is transferred from God to the sovereign:

… Ever since Suarez and Bellarmine, this theory[, that is, "the theory of the social contract and the transfer of power by the people as a whole",] had been the subject of violent dispute between the partisans of the formal and conservative interpretation of the doctrine of Thomas Aquinas which found the origin and the bearer of state power to be in the state community, and the partisans of a realistic interpretation and its further development in the tradition of Suarez and the others. According to the first concept, the people in a state are only indirectly the bearers of political power and all they can do is to designate (designatio) or elect the immediate bearer of political power to whom this power is then transferred “by the grace of God.” According to the second concept the people in a state are themselves the bearers of state power which they transfer directly (delegatio) to the organs of the state in the name of the natural rights of the people, whereby they do not by any means dispose of these rights permanently by the contractual act of delegation, but on the contrary remain the perpetual and original possessors of political power. This difference between the so-called “designation theory” and the “translation theory” has significant consequences for the doctrine of the social contract and the active, i.e., revolutionary, right of resistance. Those who hold fast to the designation theory necessarily reject the democratic theory of the social contract and people’s sovereignty and, by the same token, deny the existence of a direct right to resist and to make revolutionary constitutional changes. Those who believe in the translation theory, on the contrary, not only defend the Suarist concept of people’s sovereignty but also deduce from it the right of active resistance. …
[my ellipsis symbols and square-bracketed interpolation,
pp. 506 f., sub-section 2. "The Doctrine of the State", section 2. "The Political Doctrines", Chapter VI "Political Doctrines and Social Theories", in "Church and Society in Germany. Social and Political Movements and Ideas in German and Austrian Catholicism 1789-1950" by Edgar Alexander, translated by Dr. Toni Stolper; "Church and Society in Germany" is Part IV of Church and Society: Catholic Social and Political Thought and Movements 1789-1950, edited by Prof. Joseph N. Moody in collaboration with twelve others, published by Arts, Inc., New York, 1953]

Labels: morals, St. Robert Bellarmine, St. Thomas Aquinas

3. Mr. Smith on Mr. Nile's involvement in the New South Wales Parliament's extension, to all shops, of permission to trade on Boxing Day 2015 and ’16:

… You[, that is, Shop, Distributive, and Allied Employees' Association, New South Wales Branch (S.D.A.N.S.W.) "members, Delegates and supporters",] sent in thousands of emails and made hundreds of phone calls to the Rev Nile. Every major Christian religious group wrote letters of support calling on Parliament to leave the day for families. Despite all of this, the Rev Nile broke his election promise to you and he voted with the Baird Government to allow all shops to trade on Boxing Day.
[my ellipsis symbol and bracketed interpolation,
"A Challenging Year Draws to an End", by Mr. Bernie Smith (S.D.A.N.S.W. Secretary), p. 3, SDA NEWS (the "OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE SHOP, DISTRIBUTIVE AND ALLIED EMPLOYEES’ ASSOCIATION, NEW SOUTH WALES BRANCH"), Summer 2015, available at the S.D.A.N.S.W.'s website here:

https://www.sdansw.org.au/news/sda-news-summer-2015-edition

Or go straight hither:

http://issuu.com/sdansw/docs/sda_news_summer_2015_so?e=9746493/31899528]

But see also the Media Release "Boxing Day Trading – Let’s Keep with the Facts", dated November 12, 2015, downloaded from the Christian Democratic Party's website here:

http://www.christiandemocraticparty.com.au/media-releases/boxing-day-trading-lets-keep-with-the-facts/

In particular, in connection with Mr. Smith's statement that "[e]very major Christian religious group wrote letters of support calling on Parliament to leave the day for families", see the message from the leader of the Sydney branch of the Anglican sect, available for download at that Media Release's webpage, or go straight hither:

http://www.christiandemocraticparty.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/151110-Archbishops-letter-to-FN-and-PG.pdf

Labels: Fred Nile, work

4. In the conclusion to H.H. The Pope's brief homily during a New-Order Mass (the Solemnity of the Baptism of Our Lord, January 10, 2016), His Holiness "invited mothers to feel free to feed their babies in the Sistine Chapel if necessary."

The quotation in that headline comes from the item "Baptisms in the Sistine Chapel: offer your children the legacy of faith", dated January 10, 2016, in the Holy See Press Office's Vatican Information Service daily e-mail bulletin of January 11, 2016, Year XXVI, No. 5; that item is available online under the same headline and with the same date at News.va:

http://www.news.va/en/news/baptisms-in-the-sistine-chapel-offer-your-children

An English version of the text of the homily in question is available here:

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2016/documents/papa-francesco_20160110_omelia-battesimo-signore.html

and in what was presumably its original Italian here:

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/homilies/2016/documents/papa-francesco_20160110_omelia-battesimo-signore.html

Labels: breastfeeding, Francis Bergoglio, morals

5. Five points of interest in connection with the Safe Schools Coalition's All of Us "teaching resource"

The text immediately after each of the following bullet points is a quotation from the article "Sexual politics in the classroom", by Natasha Bita, on p. 17 in the "INQUIRER" section of The Weekend Australian, February 13-14, 2016, First Edition, No. 15961, ISSN 1038-8761, published by Nationwide News Pty. Limited. I transcribed the quotations myself (though the article is also available online (behind a paywall, which you might be able to circumvent if you Google part of one of the following quotations and click the resulting link), at The Australian's website, under the headline "Safe Schools Coalition: sexual politics in the classroom", with the same author, dated February 13, 2016, here); each dash is the result of a word spanning two lines, and any bracketed interpolations are mine.

• Victoria has ordered all govern-ment schools to sign on[ to the "Safe Schools Coalition program"] by 2019[ sic—twenty nineteen].

• Taxpayers are funding the pro-gram, which the Safe Schools Co-alition devised based on advice from a “curriculum consultant” and a group of Melbourne teach-ers

• Safe Schools Coalition national pro-gram director Sally Richardson tells Inquirer the Federal Edu-cation Department approved the All of Us teaching manual

• The de-cision to target the teaching to the youngest high school students, she[, namely Sally Richardson,] says, was made by education con-sultant Janice Atkin, a former Aus-tralian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority project officer who managed the develop-ment of the national health and physical education curriculum.

• “We worked closely with the federal Department of Education and Training to ensure all the les-son plans and videos were appro-priate for years 7 and 8,” Richardson says. “All of our re-sources are being fully funded by the Australian government.”

You can download the All of Us unit guide from the Safe Schools Coalition's website here:

http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/all-of-us

or go straight hither:

http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/app/theme/default/design/assets/all-of-us/documents/unit-guide.pdf

On seeing Mr. Marco Fink credited (under his assumed named "Margot Fink") on p. 2 under "DIRECTOR", "EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS", "SPECIAL THANKS", "PHOTOGRAPHY", and "CAST MEMBERS", I couldn't help but think of Little Britain's parody of Dennis Waterman refusing to accept work on a T.V. show unless he could "star in it, write the feem toon, sing the feem toon".

Regarding H.M. Victorian Government's putative plan to make all State-run Victorian schools take part in the Safe Schools programme: Two possible sources for that piece of information are the Media Release "All Victorian Government Schools to Be Prouder, Safer", dated February 2, 2015, downloaded from the Premier of Victoria's official website here:

http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/all-victorian-government-schools-to-be-prouder-safer/

and "Victoria’s 10-year mental health plan", authorised and published by H.M. Victorian Government, Melbourne, November 2015, available here:

http://mentalhealthplan.vic.gov.au/

According to the "SNAPSHOT OF ACTION" on p. 4 (p. 3 in your reader) of the latter,

We have increased support for the resilience and wellbeing of young people through:
• expanding the Safe Schools program to all secondary schools across the state

and according to the former,

a successful program that creates safe and supportive classrooms for same-sex attracted and gender diverse students will be implemented at every Victorian Government secondary school.

(and the "successful program" is "The Safe Schools Coalition Victoria program".) It was also interesting to see, under the sub-heading "Quotes attributable to Deputy Premier and Minister for Education, James Merlino", 'respectful relationships' popping up again:

this program is about working with teachers to provide a respectful and safe environment where every young person can belong.

Labels: A.C.A.R.A., education, G.L.B.T., sex ed, Victoria

6. Pius XII. on world federal government

See the text of the French-language Allocution of April 6, 1951 to the delegates to the fourth annual congress of the World Movement for World Federal Government in Acta Apostolicæ Sedis 43 (A.D. 1951), pp. 278-280 (to which the index refers on p. 891):

http://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS-43-1951-ocr.pdf

The text of that Allocution is also available in HTML format here:

http://w2.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/fr/speeches/1951/documents/hf_p-xii_spe_19510406_confederaz-mondiale.html

Apparently, an English translation, though with no translator credited, was printed in the "THIS CHANGING WORLD" column (no byline) on p. 4 of the Sydney Catholic Weekly, Vol. X, No. 480, Thursday, May 10, 1951:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/17409103

Labels: morals, Pius XII. Pacelli, U.N.O.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Easter Monday, A.D. 2016

Notes: Tuesday, March 18-Monday, May 5, 2014 (part 1 of 2)

1. More from H.H. The Pope Emeritus (though gloriously reigning at the time of the pronouncement in question) on 'healthy secularity'

See §29 of Ecclesia in Medio Oriente (the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Church in the Middle East), September 14, 2012, pp. 751 ff. (§29 is on p. 764 (p. 18 in your computer's reader)) of Acta Apostolicæ Sedis, Year and Vol. CIV, No. 10, October 5, 2012:

http://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/2012/ottobre2012.pdf

Ecclesia in Medio Oriente is also available in French here:

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_ben-xvi_exh_20120914_ecclesia-in-medio-oriente_fr.html

and in English translation here:

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_ben-xvi_exh_20120914_ecclesia-in-medio-oriente_en.html

(That reference to 'secularity' came to my attention via the item "SUMMARY OF THE POST-SYNODAL APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION "ECCLESIA IN MEDIO ORIENTE"", dated September 15, 2012, in The Holy See Press Office's Vatican Information Service e-mail bulletin of September 15, 2012, Year XXII, No. 163, available online under the same headline, but undated, here:

http://www.news.va/en/news/summary-of-the-post-synodal-apostolic-exhortation)

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, morals, politics, secularism

2. On March 10, 2014, H.M. The Queen gave the Royal Assent to the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill.

See Notice No. 2017122, Notice Type "Parliament & Assemblies", Sub-Type "Scottish Parliament" (Notice Code: 1208), The London Gazette, Issue No. 60808, p. 5424, March 17, 2014:

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/60808/page/5424

One can also find the text of that notice here:

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/L-60808-2017122

(The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill came to my attention most recently via this CathNews post regarding this Catholic News Service article.)

Labels: Elizabeth II. Windsor, G.L.B.T., law, marriage, U.K.

3. Cardinal Turkson on recent African legislation against sodomy (and on Rome's reaction to that legislation)

See the article "Catholicism growing in heart of Muslim world", by Mr. John Allen, apparently undated, downloaded from The Boston Globe's website:

http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2014/03/08/catholicism-growing-heart-muslim-world/LxIiUYwSlro7Zl6ugvVQJM/story.html

See also the article "Cardinal Turkson criticises Uganda’s anti-gay law", no author credited, dated Tuesday, March 4, 2014, downloaded from CatholicHerald.co.uk:

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2014/03/04/cardinal-turkson-criticises-ugandas-anti-gay-law/

Labels: G.L.B.T., law, Peter Turkson, Roman Curia, vice

4. Prof. Baskerville on no-fault divorce

See the article "Five Myths about No-Fault Divorce", by Associate Professor Stephen Baskerville, apparently undated, downloaded from the Catholic News Agency's website:

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/resources/life-and-family/marriage/five-myths-about-no-fault-divorce/

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

Labels: divorce, law, marriage

5. "It takes about 20 hours a week to exclusively breastfeed - feeding a baby is by itself a part-time job."

The quotation in that headline comes from the opinion piece "Baby care needs nurturing", by Dr. Julie Smith, dated March 24, 2014, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/baby-care-needs-nurturing-20140323-35bhp.html?skin=text-only

Labels: breastfeeding, economics

6. More aged care and disability care Gay propaganda

See the web page "LGBTI Aged Care Training", no author credited, undated, downloaded from ACON's website:

http://www.acon.org.au/ageing/training/lgbti-aged-care-training

(Note that that webpage is the same webpage to which the link in item 1 of this "Notes" post leads; the U.R.L. and content of that webpage have, however, clearly changed.)

Labels: aged care, disability, G.L.B.T.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Pius V., Pope, Confessor, A.D. 2014

Notes: Wednesday, January 1-Monday, February 10, 2014 (part 2 of 2)

12. "Pope Francis assured mothers that breast-feeding their babies in public, even during a papal Mass in the Sistine Chapel, is OK."

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "Pope to moms: It's OK to breast-feed in public, even in Sistine Chapel", by Carol Glatz, dated January 13, 2014, downloaded from the Catholic News Service's (C.N.S.'s) website:

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1400120.htm

(A version of that article is also available at the Sydney Catholic Weekly's website, under the headline "Pope to mums: It’s OK to breast-feed in public, even in Sistine Chapel", with the same author, dated January 14, 2014:

http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/article.php?classID=1&subclassID=99&articleID=13161&class=Copyright&subclass=Vatican

and it came to my attention via the version printed under the headline "Breastfeeding in Mass is OK, says Pope", with the same author, on p. 13 of The Catholic Weekly, January 19, 2014, Vol. 73, No. 4708, published by The Catholic Press Newspaper Company Pty. Ltd.) For another report on the same event, see the article "Pope tells mothers to breastfeed in church", by Philip Pullella, dated January 13, 2014, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/world/pope-tells-mothers-to-breastfeed-in-church-20140113-hv85w.html?skin=text-only

For translations of the relevant portion of the Papal homily in question (that of January 12, 2014, for the New-calendar Feast of the Baptism of the Lord), see here:

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/homilies/2014/documents/papa-francesco_20140112_omelia-battesimo_en.html

and the Vatican Information Service item "TO BE PART OF THE CHAIN OF FAITH IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL INHERITANCE A CHILD CAN RECEIVE", dated January 12, 2014, downloaded from the NEWS.VA website:

http://www.news.va/en/news/to-be-part-of-the-chain-of-faith-is-the-most-beaut

(The latter came to my attention via the version with same headline and date in the Holy See Press Office's Vatican Information Service e-mail bulletin of January 13, 2014, Year XXII, No. 7.)

Labels: breastfeeding, Francis Bergoglio, morals

13. "Few British Catholics agree with Church on abortion, gay ‘marriage’ and euthanasia: poll"

The quotation in that headline is the headline of an article by Hilary White, dated Wednesday, December 4, 2013, downloaded from LifeSiteNews.com:

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/few-british-catholics-agree-with-church-on-abortion-gay-marriage-and-euthan

(That article came to my attention via this AQ thread.)

Labels: U.K.

14. Some information on the health risks involved in the Gay/Lesbian lifestyle

See the article "HOMOSEXUALITY UNMASKED", dated January 2011, downloaded from Christian Order's website:

http://www.christianorder.com/features/features_2011/features_jan11_bonus.html

(That article came to my attention via the comment by Rory Donnellan on January 29, 2014 at 1:01 pm in the comments section of this blog post/press release by Mr. Gaynor.)

Labels: G.L.B.T., health, medicine

15. "Two to three days a week at work is the best job/home lifestyle balance for career mums"

The quotation in that headline is the headline of an article by Laura Chalmers, dated January 10, 2014, downloaded from couriermail.com.au:

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/two-to-three-days-a-week-at-work-is-the-best-jobhome-lifestyle-balance-for-career-mums/story-fnihsrf2-1226798530510

(That article came to my attention via the similar article "Making family life work", also by Laura Chalmers, p. 03, the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Friday, January 10, 2014, ISSN 1038-8745, published by Nationwide News Pty. Ltd.)

Labels: economics, families, work

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Scholastica, Virgin, A.D. 2014

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Labels: abortion, contraception

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

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

Labels: breastfeeding, economics, pregnancy

4. Mr. McDonald on "esoteric art"

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

Warning: Some readers might find the following material disturbing:

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

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

Labels: Freemasonry

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

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

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

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

Labels: George Pell, P.P.L.

6. Some recent items regarding socio-economic trends

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

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

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

Labels: economics, families, social trends, work

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

6.3 The latest Australian births figures

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

"Births, Summary statistics for Australia"

"Number of teenage mothers lowest in a decade"

"BIRTHS"

"FERTILITY RATES"

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

Labels: birth rates, social trends

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

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

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

Labels: divorce, economics, families, marriage

6.5 Mrs. Phillips on distributive injustice towards Australian families

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

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

Labels: economics, families, tax

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

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

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

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

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

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

Labels: economics, families, social trends, work

6.7 Mrs. Shanahan on recent Australian social and economic trends

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

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

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

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

7. The latest figures regarding attendance at nominally Catholic churches

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

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

Labels: Mass-going

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

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

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

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

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

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

Labels: A.R.T.

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

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

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

Labels: abortion, N.S.W.

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

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

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

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

Labels: divorce, families

11. The latest figures on divorce in Australia

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

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

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

Labels: divorce, marriage

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

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

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

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

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

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

Notes: Thursday, August 30-Monday, October 8, 2012

1. On Wednesday, August 29, 2012, Ms Gillard launched "Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development", which is an initiative—reportedly a personal one of hers—for propagating Feminism throughout the Pacific Islands at a cost of $320 million (over a decade) to Australian taxpayers, part of which sum will be spent on "reproductive health (including family planning) education, awareness and service programs".

My source for saying that Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development is a "personal initiative" by The Hon. Jullia Gillard M.P. is the article "PM gets lift on way to raise status of women", by Daniel Flitton, dated August 30, 2012, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/pm-gets-lift-on-way-to-raise-status-of-women-20120829-2512n.html?skin=text-only

My inference that part of that $320 million will be spent on "reproductive health (including family planning) education, awareness and service programs" follows from the identification, in the "PACIFIC LEADERS GENDER EQUALITY DECLARATION" (Annex 1 to the "43rd Pacific Islands Forum Communique"), of "[e]nsur[ing that] reproductive health (including family planning) education, awareness and service programs receive adequate funding support" as one of the "specific national policy actions to progress gender equality in the areas of gender responsive government programs and policies, decision making, economic empowerment, ending violence against women, and health and education"; one can also infer it from Ms Gillard's media release of Wednesday, August 29, 2012 titled "Addressing gender inequality in the Pacific", which says that

We know that violence against women and poor maternal health outcomes persist in this region.

Promoting gender equality is about addressing these injustices. …

See also this AusAID web-page and the downloadable brochure there:

http://www.ausaid.gov.au/Publications/Pages/brochure-pacific-women-development.aspx

and "‘Shaping Pacific development', speech at the Pacific Islands Forum", given by Ms Gillard, Wednesday, August 29, 2012, downloaded from the "Press Office" section of the Prime Ministerial website:

http://www.pm.gov.au/press-office/%E2%80%98shaping-pacific-development-speech-pacific-islands-forum

Labels: abortion, contraception, Julia Gillard

2. "Greater Exposure to Sexual Content in Popular Movies Predicts Earlier Sexual Debut and Increased Sexual Risk Taking"

The quotation in that headline is the title of an article (doi: 10.1177/0956797611435529) by Ross E. O'Hara et al. in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science; that article's abstract is available here:

http://pss.sagepub.com/content/23/9/984

(That article came to my attention via Adam Taor's "PULSE" column on p. 5 of the "HEALTH" section of the "WEEKEND PROFESSIONAL" supplement in The Weekend Australian, September 1-2, 2012, First Edition, No. 14901, ISSN 1038-8761, published by Nationwide News Pty. Limited, a version of which column is available on-line, but behind a paywall, here.)

Labels: films, vice

3. "Israel and Taiwan are the biggest national supporters of trips by Australian politicians, recording 44 and 16 partly or fully funded trips respectively."

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "All the little extras in an MP's grab-bag", by Stuart Washington, Tom Allard, Lawrence Bull, and Frances Mao, dated September 1, 2012, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/national/all-the-little-extras-in-an-mps-grabbag-20120831-255mu.html?skin=text-only

(That article came to my attention via the version of it, with the same headline and by the same authors, which was printed on p. 3 of the "News Review" supplement in The Sydney Morning Herald, Weekend Edition, September 1-2, 2012, No. 54572, ISSN 0312-6315.)

Labels: State of Israel

4. "only 2 per cent of the population is gay"

The quotation in that headline was attributed to "Andrew Grulich, head of HIV epidemiology and prevention programs at the Kirby Institute at the University of NSW," in the article "Suicide a bigger danger to gays: health experts", by Adam Cresswell, dated September 13, 2012, downloaded from The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/suicide-a-bigger-danger-to-gays-health-experts/story-e6frg8y6-1226472976036

For more on the homosexual proportion of the (Australian) population, see the "Sex in Australia" report in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, April 2003, Volume 27, Issue 2, pp. 103–256, available on-line here, the most relevant—in the present context—parts of which are "Sex in Australia: Sexual identity, sexual attraction and sexual experience among a representative sample of adults" and "Sex in Australia: Homosexual experience and recent homosexual encounters", both of which have Prof. Grulich as one of their co-authors.

(Those "Sex in Australia" U.R.L.s came to my attention via the Frequently Asked Questions page at the Australian Marriage Forum website. (And the Australian Marriage Forum came to my attention via the opinion piece "Gay marriage is not the cure", by Dr. David van Gend, dated Sepember 14, 2012, downloaded from The Australian's website.))

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

5. "''When they're younger both men and women tended to aspire to a larger family size. When they were older they tended to revise down their expectations,'' Dr[. Daryl] Higgins[", the deputy director of research at the Australian Institute of Family Studies,"] said."

The quotations in that headline come from the article "Just your average couple: one for mum, one for dad … and none for the country", by Stephanie Gardiner, dated September 14, 2012, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/world/just-your-average-couple-one-for-mum-one-for-dad-8230-and-none-for-the-country-20120913-25v8x.html?skin=text-only

Labels: contraception, demography, families

6. On recent Russo-American relations

See the article "Russia boots US aid out amid accusations of meddling in elections", by Alan Cullison, dated September 21, 2012, and the comment piece "Vladimir Putin doesn't want to be buddies", by Tony Halpin, also dated September 21, 2012, both downloaded from the The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/wall-street-journal/russia-boots-us-aid-out-amid-accusations-of-meddling-in-elections/story-fnay3ubk-1226478359601

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/vladimir-putin-doesnt-want-to-be-buddies/story-fnb64oi6-1226478312416

Labels: Russia, Vladimir Putin

7. "When [equally ]well-educated families were compared, marriage lifted a child's chance of avoiding poverty by 75 per cent."

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "Stability a big factor in poverty", no by-line, p. 15, the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Tuesday, September 18, 2012, Vol. 1, No. 2646, ISSN 1038-8745, published by Nationwide News Pty. Ltd. That article is not available at the Tele's website, but a longer version of it is available at the British Daily Mail's website under the headline "Growing up with married parents is as important as a good education to escaping poverty", by Simon Caldwell, dated September 16/17, 2012:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2204263/Growing-married-parents-important-good-education-escaping-poverty.html

The report on which those articles are based—"Marriage: America’s Greatest Weapon Against Child Poverty", by Mr. Robert Rector for The Heritage Foundation, dated September 5, 2012—is available here:

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/09/marriage-americas-greatest-weapon-against-child-poverty

See also the LifeSiteNews.com article "Marriage is the most effective weapon to fight child poverty, study finds", by Ben Johnson, dated Thursday, September 13, 2012:

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/marriage-is-the-most-effective-weapon-to-fight-child-poverty-study-finds

Labels: marriage, poverty

8. "Bottle-fed infants experienced a 4.6-fold higher risk of PS[, i.e., pyloric stenosis,] compared with infants who were not bottle-fed."

The quotation in that headline comes from the abstract of a Pediatrics article titled "Bottle-feeding and the Risk of Pyloric Stenosis" (doi: 10.1542/peds.2011-2785) by Camilla Krogh et al. That article is available on-line here:

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2012/08/28/peds.2011-2785

(That article came to my attention via the second item in Adam Taor's "PULSE" column on p. 47 of the "HEALTH" section of the "WEEKEND PROFESSIONAL" section in the "SPORT" pages of The Weekend Australian, September 15-16, 2012, First Edition, No. 14913, ISSN 1038-8761, published by Nationwide News Pty. Limited. According to Dr. Taor, pyloric stenosis is "a narrowing of the opening from the stomach to the first part of the small intestine", and it "can cause severe vomiting." (Apparently, that installment of "PULSE" is not available on-line.))

Labels: breastfeeding

9. "Schools in sex education revolution"

The article "Schools in sex education revolution", by Natasha Bita (national social editor for the Sydney Daily Telegraph (among other newspapers?)), dated September 17, 2012 is available at the Tele's website:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sex-educaction-gets-physical/story-e6freuy9-1226475402901

(It came to my attention via the version of it which was published under the heading "Sex ed revolution in schools", by the same author, on p. 03 of the Sydney Daily Telegraph of Monday, September 17, 2012, Vol. 1, No. 2645, ISSN 1038-8745, published by Nationwide News Pty. Ltd.)

See also the article "Puberty lessons to begin in grade five", no by-line, dated September 17, 2012, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/national/puberty-lessons-to-begin-in-grade-five-20120917-261yd.html?skin=text-only

Labels: A.C.A.R.A., education, sex ed, vice

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Bridget, Widow, A.D. 2012