3-20-07
Greetings!
The topic of contraception always causes a reaction. As a follow-up to last week's article on more protestant couples discovering the moral and physical danger of contraception, a professor friend of mine passed this along. It's a very good point, historically accurate, and from one who lived during the change:
"You may or may not know this, but apropos the piece on birth control, NO Protestants condoned birth control until after the 1930 Lambeth conference (Anglican) where it was approved. Using birth control was not considered to be something that nice people did, at the very least. (My husband) found that out in some of his researches a few years ago. I was born in 1958, just 28 years after the Lambeth conference, and by that time, it seemed that all ideas about the use of birth control as a sin had evaporated from the Protestant consciousness. Certainly, as you know, I grew up in an ultra-right wing fundamentalist Wesleyan sect, and it was just a given that couples would use birth control. My mother objected to the pill, but that was on health grounds, not moral grounds. I don't understand to this day why that particular moral lapse happened the way it did, especially when the prohibitions on premarital sex stayed in place, as well as a lot of others. "
Here are some more resources for your consideration:
The Bible and Birth Control by Charles D. Provan, 1989. This is an excellent book on the Biblical argument against contraception.
"Contraception, Why Not?" by Dr. Janet Smith http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/sexuality/se0002.html
(Dr. Smith also has an excellent CD presentation on this topic…in fact it's probably the best I've ever heard. It can be ordered for free at the following site: http://www.omsoul.com/
Catholic Answers website has a nice piece on birth control: http://www.catholic.com/library/Birth_Control.asp
Phil's Tidbits
Pope Benedict in his recent post-synodal exhortation calls for more Eucharistic Adoration:
VATICAN CITY, MARCH 13, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI released his second major document, an apostolic exhortation that reflects the conclusions of the 2005 synod on the Eucharist.
Eucharistic adoration
"The act of adoration outside Mass prolongs and intensifies all that takes place during the liturgical celebration itself," the Pope says to encourage Eucharistic adoration.
"Wherever possible, it would be appropriate, especially in densely populated areas, to set aside specific churches or oratories for perpetual adoration," he adds. "I also recommend that, in their catechetical training, and especially in their preparation for First Holy Communion, children be taught the meaning and the beauty of spending time with Jesus, and helped to cultivate a sense of awe before his presence in the Eucharist."
ZE07031302
Here's the latest on the German homeschooler forcibly removed from her home.
German Homeschooler Parents Ordered to Undergo Psychiatric Evaluation
Local German news services have instigated news blackout on situation By Hilary White
NUREMBERG, March 13, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Hubert and Gundrun Busekros, the parents of Melissa Busekros, the fifteen year-old homeschooled girl removed from her home by government authorities, have been ordered by the courts to undergo psychiatric testing, World Net Daily (WND) reports.
Melissa was removed by court order in early February and placed in a mental institution by German youth authorities who claimed that she suffered from "school phobia" the treatment for which was complete isolation from her family and home. She is now being kept in a foster home in a location unknown to her family who are allowed to visit her for an hour a week.
Joel Thornton, president of the International Human Rights Group (IRHG) told the WND that he fears the state will use any test results to remove the other five Busekros children from their parents and permanently break up the family.
"The trouble is this emboldens the state again, only now it's at a higher level, and the courts still are agreeing with them. This could put Melissa back into the psychiatric system where she could disappear from sight entirely,"
Thornton said.
"It's easy to see … if they want to, the government could take more of the children away from this family using the same process. And there is an increased fear among homeschoolers about whether their children are next," he told WND.
The IRHG is considering options to defend the rights of the Busekros family, including a possible complaint to the European Court of Human Rights.
Melissa's father Hubert Busekros told the Catholic news service,
kreuz.net that local news services have instigated a news blackout on the situation, claiming it is "a personal affair that is not of public interest."
Thornton said that his organization, founded to defend religious liberties, also fears Melissa will "disappear" irretrievably into the psychiatric system and that test results could be used as a pretext by the courts to remove from the parents the other five children in the family.
Homeschooling is illegal in Germany since it was outlawed for ideological reasons by Adolph Hitler's Nazi regime. In more recent times, the German government has a strong interest in instilling through the public school system the new statist ideology promoted from
Brussels in the European Union.
Wolfgang Drautz, consul general of the Federal Republic of Germany, defended the authorities' actions saying that the government "has a legitimate interest in countering the rise of parallel societies that are based on religion or motivated by different world views and in integrating minorities into the population as a whole."
The US-based Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) organization in North America is maintaining an urgent call to contact the German embassies in Canada and the United States to protest the actions with the German Government.
Another organization has called for an international boycott of German products to pressure the government to release Melissa back to her family.
The late John Paul "the Great" passes the next hurdle on the road to possible canonization!
VATICAN CITY, MAR 10, 2007 (VIS) - In the basilica of St. John Lateran, on Monday April 2, the second anniversary of the death of John Paul II, the closing session will be held of the diocesan investigation into the life, virtues and fame of sanctity of the late pontiff.
Having received notification from the postulator of John Paul II's cause of beatification and canonization, Fr. Slawomir Oder, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Holy Father's vicar general for the diocese of Rome, announced the news in a letter addressed to the priests, deacons, male and female religious and laity of the city.
The opening session of the diocesan investigation was held in the same basilica on June 28, 2005, less than three months after John Paul II's death, after Benedict XVI waived the normal waiting period of five years after the death of a Servant of God.
The diocesan investigation over, the acts and documents will now pass to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, where all the material will be studied.
.../BEATIFICATION JOHN PAUL II/... VIS 070312 (190)
So what happened to that overpopulation crisis we were facing?
Canadian National Paper Editorial Warns of "Full-Blown Fertility Crisis"
Editorial says, "start making babies"
By Hilary White
TORONTO, March 14, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Canadians are more materialistic, career-oriented and irreligious than Americans, which is why women have no more than one or two children; an article by the Canadian Press explains the reasons for the low Canadian birth rate.
The 2006 census data were released Tuesday by Statistics Canada showing the Canadian birth rate at 1.5 children per woman. 2.1 is necessary to maintain a stable population with no growth.
An editorial in today's National Post proposes a solution that is getting little mention in the mainstream press: "start making babies." The Post points to the example of
France with its generous tax subsidies for couples with children that have "spurred a mini-renaissance in the country's birth rate."
Sally Ritchie, a Toronto career woman told CP reporter Sheryl Ubelacker, that though she was the youngest of a family of eight siblings, she herself only wanted one child. "Nowadays, it's very, very difficult to have more than one child and be sure that you're going to be able to put them through university and provide them with the home you want to provide them with," Ritchie said.
She adds: "And, frankly, you want to do better for your kids than was done for you . . . and I couldn't afford to do that if we continued with growing the family."
"And it's vitally important to me that I have a career."
The CP article cites "better contraception," higher average age at the time of marriage, a 50 per cent divorce rate and "career women who delay marriage and babies as they establish themselves in the workplace."
But the real difference between the
US and Canada, Ubelacker writes, is what demographers are calling "religiosity," defined as the tendency to adhere "to a traditional family structure, with men as the breadwinning head of household and women primarily as nurturers of children."
Amelie Quesnel-Vallee, a social demographer at McGill University in Montreal, was quick to point out that just being willing to give children life is no indication of US superiority. She said, "Definitely [Americans are] having more children, but they're not necessarily giving them the same life conditions that Canadians would."
The Post points out that while Canada has one of the highest growth rates of the G8 nations, about 5.4 per cent, the increase is due exclusively to massive and unprecedented levels of immigration. Shifts in economics and demographics are creating a difficult choice for the future: "limit our intake of immigrants, or lower our immigration criteria to sustain the current high numbers."
In either scenario, says the Post, the population will drop or "our economy will be saddled with waves of poor performers who burden our social- welfare systems and contribute little to the public fiscally."
"Either way, there will be no one to pay the bills when the current crop of middle-aged Canadians retire."
On a lighter note.
I came across this cute piece. It was written by an 8-year-old named Danny Dutton, who lives in Chula Vista, CA
. He wrote it for his third grade homework assignment, to "explain God." I wonder if any of us could have done as well ?
EXPLANATION OF GOD:
"One of God's main jobs is making people. He makes them to replace the ones that die, so there will be enough people to take care of things on earth. He doesn't make grownups, just babies I think because they are smaller and easier to make. That way he doesn't have to take up his valuable time teaching them to talk and walk. He can just leave that to mothers and fathers."
"God's second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of this goes on, since some people, like preachers and things, pray at times beside s bedtime. God doesn't have time to listen to the radio or TV because of this. Because he hears everything, there must be a terrible lot of noise in his ears, unless he has thought of a way to turn it off."
"God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere which keeps Him pretty busy. So you shouldn't go wasting his time by going over your mom and dad's head asking for something they said you couldn't have."
"Atheists are people who don't believe in God. I don't think there are any in Chula Vista . At least there aren't any who come to our church."
"Jesus is God's Son. He used to do all the hard work, like walking on water and performing miracles and trying to teach the people who didn't want to learn about God. They finally got tired of him preaching to them and they crucified him But he was good and kind, like his father, and he told his father that they didn't know what they were doing and to forgive them and God said
O.K."
"His dad (God) appreciated everything that he had done and all his hard work on earth so he told him he didn't have to go out on the road anymore. He could stay in heaven. So he did. And now he helps his dad out by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important for God to take care of and which ones he can take care of himself without having to bother God. Like a secretary, only more important."
"You can pray anytime you want and they are sure to help you because they got it worked out so one of them is on duty all the time."
"You should always go to church on Sunday because it makes God happy, and if there's anybody you want to make happy, it's God!
Don't skip church to do something you think will be more fun like going to the beach. This is wrong. And besides the sun doesn't come out at the beach until noon anyway."
"If you don't believe in God, besides being an atheist, you will be very lonely, because your parents can't go everywhere with you, like to camp, but God can. It is good to know He's around you when you're scared, in the dark or when you can't swim and you get thrown into real deep water by big kids."
"But...you shouldn't just always think of what God can do for you. I figure God put me here and he can take me back anytime he pleases.
And...that's why I believe in God."
God bless you! Phil Lawson For the latest info on St. Peter's, check out the parish website: www.saintpetercatholic.com (You can also find old editions of the Areopagus here)
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