October 2005 Archives

"Individuals concealing their identities through clever disguise, and under cover of night, may attempt to use the unspecified threat of 'tricks' to extort 'treats' from unsuspecting victims," Chertoff said. "Such scare tactics may have been tolerated in the past, but they will not be allowed to continue this Halloween."

We Cub fans do tend to think of the White Sox as sort of the basebal equivalent of NASCAR--an inexplicable blue collar phenomenon that will surely pass as soon as our education system improves.

He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

ROMA, October 20, 2005 – Benedict XVI’s first book as pope, which collects his speeches in Cologne and will soon be sold all over the world, bears an audacious title: “God’s Revolution.�”

But the real audacity is found where he writes that the big bang of the divine revolution – “the ultimate end of which is the transformation of the world�” – is in the fragile, white, consecrated host, the sacrament of the real presence of Jesus, who is God and man.

The image of Benedict XVI kneeling silently before the Eucharist has become the key image of this pontificate.

New Jersey plans to create a storage bank for umbilical cord blood to aid stem cell research, a program that state officials said will be the first of its kind in the nation.

Two nonprofit community blood banks will accept donations from healthy newborns made with parents' permission. Under the one-year pilot program, the blood will be used for treatment of illnesses, such as leukemia, or to conduct research.

An estimated $300,000 each will be given to the Elie Katz Umbilical Cord Blood Program at Community Blood Services in Paramus and the Coriell Institute for Medical Research in Camden, said Cynthia Kirchner, senior policy adviser to the state's public health commissioner.

The next topic is one that I bring up only with great reluctance for I do not want to give any appearance whatsoever of being soft on my desire to assure the complete safety and protection of children. The Charter for the Protection of Children has been interpreted to include mandatory “safe-environment training�” for all children of or connected with the Church. In the diocese, we have indicated that such training must be made available to all children under our supervision in our Catholic schools but have not taken on the nearly impossible task of assuming responsibility for every child in the diocese.

As a result of this discrepancy between a new interpretation of the charter and our diocesan policy, the annual charter audit will undoubtedly find the Diocese of Baker, and me as bishop, “Not in Compliance�” and will issue a “Required Action,�” which I am prepared, at this point, to ignore. I say this not because I resist efforts to protect children, but rather precisely the opposite. There are a series of questions that I believe need to be answered before I could mandate such a diocesan-wide program of “safe-environment training.�”

A few such questions follow: Are such programs effective? Do such programs impose an unduly burdensome responsibility on very young children to protect themselves rather than insisting that parents take such training and take on the primary responsibility for protecting their children? Where do these programs come from? Is it true that Planned Parenthood has a hand or at least huge influence on many of them? Is it true that other groups, actively promoting early sexual activity for children, promote these programs in association with their own perverse agendas? Do such programs involve, even tangentially, the sexualization of children, which is precisely a part of the societal evil we are striving to combat? Does such a program invade the Church-guaranteed-right of parents over the education of their children in sexual matters? Do I have the right to mandate such programs and demand that parents sign a document proving that they choose to exercise their right not to have their child involved? Do such programs introduce children to sex-related issues at age-inappropriate times? Would such programs generate a fruitful spiritual harvest? Would unsatisfactory answers to any of the questions above give sufficient reason to resist such programs?

There are many concerned parents who have indicated to me that the answers to all of these questions are unsatisfactory. If this is true, do these multiple problematic answers provide sufficient reason to resist the charter interpretation? At very least, even the possible unsatisfactory answers to any of the questions above leaves me unwilling and possibly even unable to expose the children of the diocese to harm under the guise of trying to protect them from harm. I pray that, in this, I am neither wrong-headed nor wrong.

For holding to this conviction I and the diocese may be declared negligent, weighed and found wanting.

The creation and near-universal adoption of the remote control arguably marks the beginning of the era of the personalization of technology. The remote control shifted power to the individual, and the technologies that have embraced this principle in its wake—the Walkman, the Video Cassette Recorder, Digital Video Recorders such as TiVo, and portable music devices like the iPod—have created a world where the individual's control over the content, style, and timing of what he consumes is nearly absolute.

Retailers and purveyors of entertainment increasingly know our buying history and the vagaries of our unique tastes. As consumers, we expect our television, our music, our movies, and our books "on demand." We have created and embraced technologies that enable us to make a fetish of our preferences.

The long-term effect of this thoroughly individualized, highly technologized culture on literacy, engaged political debate, the appreciation of art, thoughtful criticism, and taste-formation is difficult to discern. But it is worth exploring how the most powerful of these technologies have already succeeded in changing our habits and our pursuits. By giving us the illusion of perfect control, these technologies risk making us incapable of ever being surprised. They encourage not the cultivation of taste, but the numbing repetition of fetish. And they contribute to what might be called "egocasting," the thoroughly personalized and extremely narrow pursuit of one's personal taste. In thrall to our own little technologically constructed worlds, we are, ironically, finding it increasingly difficult to appreciate genuine individuality.

Well, I thought, say what you like about the UN, but any organisation that wants to bomb the Smurfs can't be all bad. Instead of those wimps at Dudley council banning Piglet like a bunch of nancy boys, why couldn't they make some blockbuster video nuking the Hundred-Acre Wood and leaving Pooh to die in a radioactive Heffalump pit?

Welcome to Thomistica.NET, a website devoted to the academic study of St. Thomas Aquinas (a.d. 1225-1274), the medieval Italian, Dominican saint. This site is designed to provide ready access to up-to-date information about resources for scholars of Aquinas, via a constantly-updated news page, which in turn is the source for an RSS newsfeed. In addition, about once every quarter, the site will also sport a downloadable newsletter detailing research ideas, suggestions, and other items of note. The site is owned and operated by Mark Johnson, of the Department of Theology at Marquette University (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA).

Schaumburg, IL (October 2005) La Leche League International (LLLI) is concerned about the October 10, 2005 policy statement on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Task Force on SIDS. The recommendations about pacifiers and cosleeping in the statement reflect a lack of basic understanding about breastfeeding management.

Pacifiers, which are recommended in this policy statement, are artificial substitutes for what the breast does naturally. Breastfed babies often nurse to sleep for naps and bedtime. The recommended pacifier usage could cause a reduction in milk supply due to reduced stimulation of the breasts and may affect breastfeeding duration.

LLLI recognizes that safe cosleeping facilitates breastfeeding. One important way cosleeping can help a mother’s milk supply is by encouraging regular and frequent feeding. Well-known research on safe cosleeping practices by Dr. James McKenna, Director of the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame was disregarded by the task force.

Also, the obvious omission of input by the AAP’s Section on Breastfeeding may account for the fact that breastfeeding management issues were not taken into consideration. Dr. Nancy Wight, President of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, comments that this statement “represents a truly astounding triumph of ethnocentric assumptions over common sense and medical research.�” Dr. Wight also states, “There are many physician members of the AAP who do not agree with these recommendations.�”

Although the authors do state that breastfeeding is beneficial and should be promoted, their recommendations about pacifier use and cosleeping could have a negative impact on a mother’s efforts to breastfeed. The statement causes confusion for parents and falls seriously short of being a useful and comprehensive policy.

LLLI, a non-profit organization that helps mothers learn about breastfeeding, has an international Professional Advisory Board. The LLLI Center for Breastfeeding Information is one of the world’s largest libraries of information on breastfeeding, human lactation, and related topics. Monthly meetings are offered to pregnant women and nursing mothers and babies to learn about breastfeeding management. To find local groups call 800 LA LECHE or visit www.lalecheleague.org

The canticle we just heard and enjoyed as a prayer is one of the most beautiful and moving of the "songs of ascent." It is Psalm 121(122), a lively and participatory celebration in Jerusalem, the Holy City toward which the pilgrims ascend.

In fact, immediately in the opening, two moments come together lived by the faithful one: that of the day in which he accepted the invitation to "go to the house of the Lord" (verse 1), and that of the joyful arrival at the "gates" of Jerusalem (see verse 2); now his feet finally tread on that holy and beloved land. Precisely then, lips part to intone a festive song in honor of Zion, understood in its profound spiritual meaning.

Apart from what the journal called boxing’s violent nature, Civilta Cattolica condemned it because of the way it is run and promoted. "In reality, professional boxing is manipulated by powerful economic groups, which are often ruthless and cruel, and for whom the boxer is not a man but only a machine to make money," the journal said.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines has announced that it has directed every Filipino bishop to create their own blog to expand their reach to the faithful.

Area couple Tom and Becky Witthauser credited the successful resolution of their ongoing marital conflicts to their mutual hatred of their marriage counselor Monday, describing him as the "jag-off whose prissy, ineffectual demeanor brought us closer than we've been in years."

[...]

"We spent hours walking beside the lake, or drinking wine and listening to music, holding hands, and complaining about the way Dr. Roger's mouth hangs open, or how he taps his knees every time he gets up out of his chair," Becky said, adding that the mutual sentiments helped the couple realize how much they still enjoyed each other's company and how indispensable they were to each other.

...I guess my subsidiarity-driven skepticism is twofold. First, even though the AAP policy does not amount to legal coercion, the group's stature and the bright-line confidence with which they paint the issue as a non-negotiable element of baby safety may effectively negate the decision-making authority of many parents. Second, while 2000 SIDS deaths a year are a tragedy, I'm not sure the possibility of harm warrants the absolute condemnation of co-sleeping and nursing at bedtime, both of which function as fundamental building blocks of many parent-child relationships. That said, would my opinion change if 10,000 babies died each year from SIDS and the deaths were directly linked to co-sleeping? 50,000 deaths? At what point does the harm warrant AAP's condemnation? At what point would it warrant state intervention?

I don't have easy answers to these questions, but I do know that when groups like AAP pronounce a one-size-fits-all approach to intimate family practices, it's not just a matter of public health; it's also a question of subsidiarity.

Anonymous because I AM a member of the dreaded AAP. (But rest assured, I also am a parent of massive amounts of children and therefore have developed some common sense.)

There was a dramatic decrease in deaths from SIDS when sleeping on backs was recommended. First in Europe (where patients may be more compliant) then in America when the word got out. I do think the no co-bedding recommendation is based on much weaker evidence. The co bedding deaths did have a number who were suffocated by a very asleep parent. Sometimes that parent may be presumed to have been drunk or on drugs. Please do your own careful study before deciding to follow/ignore the recomendations.

The AAP is not perfect (duh). Their policy statements are made by committees. I do not see an evil conspiracy behind this policy. Of course they are sometimes wrong and often misled by many of the same cultural ideas that mislead many Americans.

Since we don't actually know what causes SIDS, is it safe to say that the causal link (as opposed to a statistical correlation) between bed-sleeping and SIDS is unknown? So in effect, what the AAP is recommending is "don't do X, because in our sample more children whose parents did X died from SIDS than children whose parents did not do X"?

That would be a lot different from saying, "don't do X because it CAUSES SIDS." It basically means that we have to trust that the AAP knows exactly what it's doing in terms of what factors it should be controlling for in its study, and what factors it should even be considering in the first place. In a social atmosphere where the incentives are not generally lined up to maximize the well-being of children, this seems to me to significantly decrease the authoritativeness of such a study.

If Britain is under threat from anybody's "Manichean convictions", it's surely not evangelical Christians'. To recap from seven days ago: last year I made a joke about banning Porky Pig on the grounds that a porcine cartoon was grossly insensitive toward Muslims, only to discover the other week that Dudley council has banned Piglet as part of its pre-Ramadan crackdown on cultural insensitivity.

So last Tuesday, in the course of a column about Piglet, I made a joke that British Muslims ought to complain about having to put up with a grossly offensive head of state who is an uncovered woman. And lo and behold, in that very morning's Daily Telegraph, I find an item that the English flag - the cross of St George - has been banned from prisons because it might be "misinterpreted" as a racist symbol.

So, for the moment, I'm holding off on any gags about the first imam to be made Archbishop of Canterbury or the Queen demonstrating her commitment to multiculturalism by becoming the fourth wife of a Saudi prince. Official Britain seems to have lost all sense of proportion and one doesn't want to give them any more ideas.

...we were looking through the late Dr. Ratner's old files in the Steubenville library this summer and Katie came across an article that basically said that excluding dads from the delivery room was equivalent in some base psychology to their wifes having an affair, since childbirth is the end result of sex. (Obviously not always, but you can't have childbirth without sex, and before the separation of conception and sex that was brought on by artificial contraception, the ontological reality was better represented by reality). So that would back you up 100% with the intimacy concept. Sex begins the process, childbirth is the next step in the process, and childrearing is the conclusion of the process. Strangely enough, two parents are better than one in all three of these, although society has marginalised the father's role in each of them one by one.

The flavor molecules (esters and so on) are small enough to pass into the blood stream, cross the placenta, and be incorporated into the amniotic fluid. Ditto the milk. I am not talking about sweet/salty/bitter etc, but more about the aromatic molecules like the ones that makes garlic garlicky, etc.

Critics, though, said sponsoring a contest around a book as overtly Christian as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was over the line.

"This whole contest is just totally inappropriate because of the themes of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," said Barry Lynn, director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. "It is simply a retelling of the story of Christ."

H.E. Most. Rev. Félix LAZARO MARTINEZ, Sch.P., Bishop of Ponce (PORTO RICO)

Number 74 of the Instrumentum laboris urges the importance of a catechesis that clarifies the bond between the Eucharist and the construction of a just society.

This same number 74 expresses, "The Church has great hope in her young people who are increasingly being drawn to the Eucharist".

My intervention is in the sense that:

1. The importance that the youth have and of what is hoped of them should be emphasized more with a specific calling and a direct invitation to them to participate "in" and live "from"
the Eucharist.

I asked a young person what message he wanted me to transmit at the Synod on behalf of the youth, and the reply was: "to listen to us".

In front of the reality that young people live today, particularly in developed countries, it's becoming necessary and urgent to offer, present, and celebrate the Eucharist with them, in a way that, in the words of John Paul II, they feel “the Eucharist as the vital centre, around which young people gather to nourish their faith and enthusiasm".

2. The Catechism needs to de deepened in more [sic]. Today we hear about the loss of the sense of sin.

Many Catholics are very far away from being able to render or give account for their own faith, such as St. Peter proposes in his first letter: “and always have your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that you have".

On the other hand, it is not possible to love that which is not known. And not having the knowledge of the Church, the Eucharist, or of Christian faith, it is difficult to be able to love the Church, the Eucharist and that same Christian faith.

Catechesis is what is required. It seems to me that we suffer from lack of catechesis. I have the impression that no solid and deep catechesis is in progress. Our people are grateful and hungry for catechesis, that the truths of faith be explained to them.

The absence of catechesis and religious formation can perhaps also explain the facility with and reason for which some of our faithful go to other denominations and religious sects, drawn by the fireworks that a pseudo-religious science offers them, because they were not illuminated in time with the light of the Gospel through an adequate and good catechesis.

Toward the 25th week of gestation, the fetus has developed hearing. Within the uterus the mother's voice comes with much greater intensity than another's voice -- or the father's! -- and the fetus gets used to this voice, so much so that several experiments have shown us that the newborn is able to distinguish the mother's voice from that of a strange voice, just as it is able to distinguish the mother's scents.

This will serve to recognize the maternal milk, which has a taste and smell similar to the amniotic fluid which for nine months has soaked its tongue and lips....

Research was published in Pediatrics in 2001 which showed that at the moment of weaning the child prefers tastes that it perceived in the uterus in a certain period, although these tastes were not given to it during lactation. Therefore the fetus has memory.

The fetus has a world of sensations, but also of actions. The fetus responds in its own way to external stimuli. It is frightened if it hears noise; it responds to patting.

But it exercises itself for life in the open air: It does breathing exercises constantly, even when immersed in the amniotic fluid, and attempts have been registered to emit sounds visualizing the vocal cords.

It has hiccups and makes faces as though smiling or crying. Its movements respond to phases of calm or movement of the mother, and also of the amount of sugar the mother eats...

[T]he fetus is already a new member of the family and company for the mother even before being born.

That the faithful may join to their fundamental duty of prayer the support also of economic contributions to the missionary works.