Notes: Wednesday, November 30-Tuesday, December 6, 2011 (part 1 of 2)

1. Several recent articles on or relating to so-called Gay marriage

1.1 Dr. Walter on conscience votes and religion in politics

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/conscience-votes-corrupt-our-political-system-20111129-1o4tr.html?skin=text-only

I would like to write a rebuttal of that article but I don't have time, so I just want to consider one point here: Dr. Walter concludes by writing that "to judge legislation according to the requirements of religious belief is to avoid the discipline of public life, and we should loudly and clearly call this abuse of office". Now, how does Dr. Walter propose to remedy that "abuse" if the politician is, say, a Catholic who takes seriously the teaching of St. Pius X. in §24 of Pascendi?

Labels: Church and State, morality, secularism

1.2 Prof. Gaita on so-called Gay marriage

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/to-reject-gay-marriage-is-to-be-blind-to-our-common-humanity-20111130-1o6v7.html?skin=text-only

I log that as an example of the befuddlement which afflicts even the more learned advocates of so-called Gay marriage.

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

1.3 "the Queensland parliament last [week] passed a bill that legalised civil unions for same-sex couples"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/alp-conference-set-to-endorse-same-sex-marriage/story-fnba0rxe-1226210968062

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/queensland-has-passed-a-bill-allowing-civil-unions-but-some-labor-mps-are-calling-for-gay-marriage/story-e6frgczx-1226210962614

Labels: civil partnerships, G.L.B.T., Queensland

1.4 Msgr. Nichols on "civil partnerships"

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/11/the-archbisop-of-westminster-on-civil-unions/

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39895

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=29311

Labels: civil partnerships, G.L.B.T., marriage, morality, Vincent Nichols

1.5 "Labor voted overwhelmingly [last Saturday] to adopt marriage equality as its official policy - but granted a conscience vote to its MPs to avoid a damaging split"

http://www.smh.com.au/national/i-do-labor-to-gay-marriage-20111203-1ocpc.html?skin=text-only

Labels: Australian Labor, G.L.B.T., marriage

1.6 Mr. Wallace on the Gay lifestyle:

In demanding more money be spent on health for their community, Canadian gay activists have claimed that the system was homophobic in not taking into account: "lower life expectancy than the average Canadian, suicide, higher rates of substance abuse, depression, inadequate access to care and HIV-AIDS ... all kinds of health issues that are endemic to our community". No amount of sharp video promotion by GetUp! can make this lifestyle normal in light of its own facts.

The activists, of course, attributed all the negatives of the lifestyle to bullying or homophobia, including that a homosexual man has a life expectancy some 20 years less than the average male.

However the fact that he has 25-26 times the chance of contracting HIV compared with a heterosexual man must surely have more to do with it, as would the acknowledged higher incidence of drug abuse.

If our schools are concerned about discouraging smoking for its 7-10 year shortening of life, how can we in all honesty encourage a lifestyle for men that shortens it on average by double that? But promotion of the lifestyle this has become.
[ellipsis in the original,
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/its-wrong-to-promote-a-dangerous-lifestyle/story-e6frgd0x-1226212590213]

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

1.7 "Same sex adoption is not a game"

http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/same_sex_adoption_is_not_a_game

(That came to my attention via this Cath Pews post.)

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

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

Notes: Friday, November 19, 2010

1. Latest on so-called gay marriage in Australia

There's so much that I'll mainly just post links:

Articles:
http://www.smh.com.au/national/early-conference-to-end-forced-consensus-20101118-17zf2.html?skin=text-only
('Gay-marriage'-related motion passed the Federal Lower House 73-72--quite an achievement, given how difficult it tends to be for catamites to pass motions.)
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/conscience-vote-pms-best-option-20101118-17z7m.html?skin=text-only
("According to an Essential Research poll out this week, ... 53 per cent said people of the same sex should be allowed to marry. This included 57 per cent of Labor voters. Coalition supporters were equally divided (45 per cent each way); Greens overwhelmingly in favour (80 per cent).")
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/same-sex-unions-not-a-vote-changer/story-e6frg6nf-1225955971708
("Labor strategists dismissed suggestions the issue would damage the party's support among blue-collar workers, saying it was not a vote-changer. Citing the lack of reaction to recent NSW legislation allowing gay couples to adopt, a senior Labor source said: "People may not support it, but it will not be a vote-changer. And a lot of people in the front bar would say fair enough to gay marriage."")
http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/its-the-vibe-is-not-a-valid-argument-against-gay-rights/
("Around 25% of lesbian couples in Australia are currently raising children and many more are now planning families together." No source is provided for that figure, however.

One other thing about that last article: Dr. Phelps writes that

Over 60% of Australians support marriage equality. Not some watered-down euphemism like “civil union”, but marriage equality.

I've been thinking that isn't the fact that a marriage involves an husband and a wife, whereas a 'gay marriage' obviously can't, a good enough reason for dismissing the pro-'gay-marriage' insistence on marriage rather than a mere 'civil union' (not that I support 'civil unions', however--I can't see how a 'union' founded on sodomy can be regarded as 'civil')? They don't insist on calling one 'spouse' an husband and the other a wife, so why do they insist on calling their relationship a marriage?)

Editorials:
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/editorial/allow-a-free-vote-on-gay-marriage-20101118-17z7d.html?skin=text-only
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/dont-get-hung-up-on-the-politics-of-same-sex-union/story-e6frg71x-1225955924810

Letters:
http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/lineage-has-no-relevance-other-than-to-snobs-20101118-17z7b.html?skin=text-only
(The first letter at the following web-page has apparently had its first sentence cut off; that sentence, judging by the main Letters page, is "WHAT a gutless position the Prime Minister has taken on same-sex marriage.")
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/gillard-fails-test-of-leadership-on-gay-marriage/story-fn558imw-1225955928584

2. "White Britons a minority by '66"

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3234028/Oxford-professor-issues-shock-population-warning-for-Great-Britain-by-2066.html#ixzz15bAcxfjK
(Brought to my attention by this AQ thread.)

3. "Terra" on, among other things, the activities, or lack thereof, of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference

http://australiaincognita.blogspot.com/2010/11/bishops-jump-to-right-and-blogosphere.html

4. "Maurice Pinay" on, among other things, the 'Noahide' movement

The following web-page contains many useful links:

http://mauricepinay.blogspot.com/2010/11/remnants-conspicuous-blind-spot.html

Reginaldvs Cantvar

Feast of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Widow, and of St. Pontianus, Pope, Martyr, A.D. 2010

Notes: Tuesday-Wednesday, November 9-10, 2010

1. Word for the day: Heterophobic

A STRAIGHT heterosexual couple are so in love they plan to tie the knot, but insist they don't want to get married.

Londonders Tom Freeman and Katherine Doyle are instead seeking to have a civil partnership, a form of legal union available in Britain only to same-sex couples.

Gay rights activists are backing the couple's bid in an attempt to legalise gay marriage.

Activist Peter Tatchell said "denying heterosexual couples the right to have a civil partnership is heterophobic".
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/straight-uk-couple-seek-gay-union/story-fn3dxity-1225950432056]

2. On State funding of the Church in Spain

I was interested to learn that

the Spanish government spends E6 billion ($8.2bn) each year on financial support for the Catholic Church and recently shelved a law that would have given equal rights to other religions. ...
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/pope-benedict-agitates-memories-of-spains-bloody-purge/story-e6frg6so-1225949637985]

That funding is a little suprising to me, given that, if I'm not mistaken, Catholicism is no longer Spain's State religion, from which I would infer that neither is the Church 'established by law' in Spain.

3. Some discussion board posts on, among other things, salvation by 'implicit Faith'

http://members7.boardhost.com/CathPews/msg/1289304555.html
http://members7.boardhost.com/CathPews/msg/1289306226.html
http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=386575#386575

4. "Pope summons all cardinals for discussion" on, among other things, religious liberty (its present situation in the world rather than the doctrine on it)

Full text of an item in today's edition of the Vatican Information Service daily e-mail bulletin:

COLLEGE OF CARDINALS MEETS FOR A DAY OF REFLECTION

VATICAN CITY, 9 NOV 2010 (VIS) - Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, has sent a letter to the members of the college, and to the cardinals-elect, announcing that the Pope has invited them all to participate in a day of "reflection and prayer" due to be held in the Vatican's New Synod Hall on Friday 19 November.

The day of prayer, which falls on the eve of the ordinary public consistory of 20 November, will focus on two themes. The first of these is the situation of religious freedom in the world and new challenges, with an introductory talk by Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B.

The second theme for reflection will be the liturgy in the life of the Church today, with a preliminary contribution from Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

Three other contributions are scheduled for the afternoon session: "Ten years on from 'Dominus Iesus" by Archbishop Angelo Amato S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints; and "the Church's response to cases of sexual abuse" and "the Constitution 'Anglicanorum coetibus', both to be delivered by Cardinal William Joseph Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
OP/ VIS 20101109 (220)

See also
http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34618
http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=24114
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2010/11/what-the-cardinals-will-discusslisten-to-at-the-consistory/

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Andrew Avellino, Confessor, and of Sts. Tryphon and Respicius, Martyrs, and St. Nympha, Virgin, Martyr, A.D. 2010

Notes: Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Retraction

One of the items in yesterday's edition of Notes was headlined "Pretender Archbishop of Canterbury approves sodomite for Anglican pseudobishopric". But it is not clear whether Dr. John is or has been a sodomite (or catamite; whatever), that is, a practising homosexual, so I have revised that headline to read "Pretender Archbishop of Canterbury approves "openly gay cleric" for Anglican pseudobishopric".

"Mothers worse off in settlements"

http://www.smh.com.au/national/mothers-worse-off-in-settlements-20100706-zz49.html?skin=text-only

Body of the article:

Mothers fare worse than fathers in property settlements after separation compared with the amount of time children spend with them, a study shows.

About two-thirds of the mothers received a smaller percentage of the property than the percentage of time with the children.

Some had the children for 80 per cent of the time but received less than 50 per cent of the settlement. The study by Belinda Fehlberg, professor of law at the University of Melbourne, involved 60 separated parents.

The starting position might be a 50-50 split and women would often get an extra 10-15 per cent if the children lived with them.

The study suggests the connection between settlements and parenting arrangements is no longer clear. ''The mothers were more financially disadvantaged,'' she said.

"Bill Forcing Compliance with Gay Ceremonies Passes Irish Lower House"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32371

Excerpts from the AQ post (originally from LifeSiteNews):

On July 1st, Ireland’s Civil Partnership Bill completed its passage through the Dail (Lower House) without a vote.

Under the bill, civil registrars could face a fine of €2,000 (U.S. $2500) and up to six months in prison for conscientiously refusing to carry out a ceremony for a homosexual couple. Similar penalties are outlined for anyone refusing for reasons of conscience to rent meeting facilities for homosexual partnership ceremonies.

The bill would create a near-equivalent situation to marriage for same-sex partners in terms of property, social welfare, succession, maintenance, pensions and taxes.

In March, the Catholic bishops said in a statement that these provisions are a violation of the Irish constitution’s protections of religious freedom and the family based on marriage. It creates “a new and dangerous expansion of State power. Conscientious Catholics, Protestants, Muslims or Jews are effectively being told by the Irish State that they need not apply for a position as a Civil Registrar,” the bishops’ statement said.

[...] Homosexualist activists complained that the bill does not go far enough, saying it needs a clause allowing same-sex partners with custody of children to be legally recognized as “joint parents.”

Critics have said that the bill is contrary to the intention of the Irish constitution, which specifically protects marriage as the foundation of the family. Article 41 states, “The State pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of marriage, on which the Family is founded.” The constitution also recognizes “the family as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law.”

“The state, therefore, guarantees to protect the family in its constitution and authority, as the necessary basis of social order and as indispensable to the welfare of the nation and the state.”

[...] The homosexualist lobby has made huge strides very quickly in Ireland, where ten years ago “gay rights” were a non-issue in politics. Despite lack of interest in the issue among the general public, since 2001 the Irish media began to give increasingly favorable attention to the movement. By the 2007 general election, all parties had included support for homosexual civil unions, with Sinn Féin and the Green Party supporting full civil “marriage.”

With more sympathetic media exposure, the homosexualist cause has also started receiving greater public support. In 2008 a poll showed that 84% of Irish people supported civil marriage or civil partnerships for homosexuals, with 58% supporting gay “marriage” in registry offices.

See also "wrigleys"'s comment there for more information on the Irish Constitution.

Reginaldvs Cantvar

Feast of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, Bishops, Confessors, A.D. 2010