for every child and every midwife on your list.
Angel in the Water
alicia: August 2004 Archives
addendum: Go here and here for some basics about what started the conversation.
Faith, the Final Frontier
first, go read the above. then come back and read my reply. I emailed this to her - I know that she had a 100 word limit and if she decides to post this it will be edited. That isn't the issue. I just wanted to weigh in on this. Dawn had earlier talked about how uncomfortable she had been on a GK Chesterton trip where she was the only non-Catholic, and I wonder how much of that experience has contributed to her current post. Anyhow, Dawn is a good person, an excellent blogger, and if you haven't read her yet you are missing a great read.
Dawn, I can only share a bit about what caused me to become Roman Catholic. It had to do with the historicity of the church and my reading of the early church fathers. I have no doubt that you, or anyone who believes that Jesus is Lord and who is trying to live a Godly life, has the means of salvation. I think that your commenter David Walker has the clearest description of the conundrum. Outside the church there is no salvation, yet it is possible for one who does not see himself to be a member of that church to be saved. Is this a paradox?
I think that there are some terms in use here that have not been clearly defined. For one, what it the church? It is pretty clear to me from my studies that Jesus the Christ set up an organization to carry on His ministry of salvation. The church predates the New Testament. The church determined which of the various letters and gospels floating around where actually inspired by the Holy Spirit, and which were good reading but not inspired (The letters of Clement, the Didache) and which were outright heretical (The Gospel of Thomas).
1 Timothy 3:15 (NIV)
(if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.) is often quoted to assert that the pillar and foundation of faith is the church, not scripture.
2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV)
(All Scripture is Godbreathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,)
shows that scripture is useful, but not complete.
So I think that we can assert that Scripture alone is not supported by Scripture - it isn't just "me and Jesus" (no matter how important that relationship is - and it is!) but Jesus wants us to be in a relationship with other believers, and that is the Church. Salvation begins with Baptism, but continues in relationship to other human beings.
Matthew 7:21 (NIV)
("Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.)See also Matt 25 31-46 about how 'works' enter into salvation.
So then one is left with the question - Is there a church (or churches) among the many contenders for the title, that is can show continuity from the days of the Apostles to the present time?
I spent the years between the ages of 13 and 16 studying this subject, because I did not particularly want to become Catholic. There were teachings of the Catholic church with which I had serious problems, and I recognized that if I 'swam the Tiber' it would mean that I could not pick and choose dogma and doctrine. But eventually I realized that for me, the only choices that made sense were either to be Orthodox Jewish or Catholic Christian - and since I had come to a profound belief that Jesus is the Messiah promised in the Old Testament scriptures, I had no choice. When I was reconciled with the Catholic church on my 18th birthday, my infant baptism (Anglican) was recognized as valid, but my Anglican Confirmation was not (no Apostolic succession).
Cardinal John Henry Newman said it more eloquently that I possibly could, about being deep in history is to cease to be Protestant. There is salvation outside the organized structure of the RCC - but once I recognized that this structure was truly the successor in an unbroken chain to what Christ intended for us, then I had to unite myself to her, or I put my personal salvation in danger. Once I learned and truly understood and believed that this was Christ's desire for me (indeed, for all) obedience delayed became obedience denied. Even at that, I was required to wait 2 full years after making the committment to be recieved into the fullness - another lesson in obedience.
I don't know if this even begins to answer your questions, but I felt compelled to give you the most honest answer and comments that I could.
Sincerely, in the love of Christ,
Thanks, RC!
The Macfarlanes: An Open Letter to Fellow Catholics
I have been a supporter of the concept of the E5 (Ephesians 5) ministry, which encourages men to fast on behalf of women (especially but not limited to husbands fasting on behalf of their wives. I was concerned at the personal connection between the founder of E5 and Mr. MacFarlane, but I have not wanted to question the ministry which, I believe, has hit upon a need in our society for us to sacrifice for each other. There have been other movements in the church that have fallen into scandal but have been ultimately redeemed. We are called neither to idolize nor demonize the founders of movements, but to attempt to discern whether the impetus is the Holy Spirit or otherwise. This I will continue to do. Please continue to pray for all concerned.
from JS Online
Posted: Aug. 27, 2004
1. Most students entering college this fall were born in 1986.
2. Desi Arnaz, Orson Welles, Roy Orbison, Ted Bundy, Ayatollah Khomeini and Cary Grant have always been dead.
3. "Heeeere's Johnny!" is a scary greeting from Jack Nicholson in the movie "The Shining," not a warm welcome from Ed McMahon on "The Tonight Show."
4. The Energizer bunny has always been going, and going, and going.
5. Large fine-print ads for prescription drugs have always appeared in magazines.
6. Photographs have always been processed in an hour or less.
7. They never got a chance to drink 7-Up Gold, Crystal Pepsi or Apple Slice.
8. Baby Jessica McClure, the Texas toddler rescued from a well in 1987, could be a classmate.
9. Parents may have been reading "The Bourne Supremacy" or "It" as they rocked them in their cradles.
10. Alan Greenspan has always been setting the nation's financial direction.
Continue reading The Beloit College Mindset List, Class Of 2008.
Which flock do you follow?
this quiz was made by alanna
Dressing with Dignity
is a blog I found through comments over at Apologia (see post below). Thoughtful commentary on women's clothing that cuts through the hype.
In which the ever lucid Mr. Luse holds forth on scandal, sin, the risks of being a college professor, and his love for his family. Eminently readable, as usual. The comments are also meaty and thoughtful.
Who is the parent of a child of ARTs?
(assisted reproductive techniques)
Midwifery is like the ED - hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror. I've had a busy day on call, but the babies are all out and their moms and dads are holding them, and I have a (probably misplaced) sense of accomplishment. In reality, the moms do all the work. I'm just there as their trail guide, their lifeguard, their consultant. And they trust me enough to share those precious moments of birth.
I am immensely privileged in the work I have been called to do. Days like this, as stressful as they can be, are still my reward for the years of schooling and the hours of practice. To be able to say to a mom, "Reach down and lift your baby out of your body" is such an incredible high. To help a baby find the way to mom and food is such an incredible joy. Even in times where there are problems or complications, it means a lot to be able to help the family process their grief at the loss of their dream birth or dream baby.
Yes, I love being a midwife. And I also love it when the babies are born in time for me to get a reasonable night's sleep!
Good night all.
Being on call does weird things to my brain, even when I am not busy. Being on a labor and delivery floor is a lot like being in the Emergency department - spells of boredom puncutated by moments of sheer panic. Even when I am just hanging around and don't have a patient of my own to watch, I am sure my adrenalin level is on the high side.
The up side is that I can get some really creative thoughts going in the hours when I should be asleep but am not. Wednesday night, I was in the excuse for a bed that the hospital furnishes to those of us who take call in-house, in the room that is not-so-jokingly called a 'pit'. No windows, of course. JCAHO requires patient rooms to have windows (with some exceptions) so we are in an area without them. My habit while on call is to sleep with EWTN on the TV in the room (mostly so that I can tune out the phones ringing in the rooms around me - I can still hear my own). So when I wake up to turn over, to answer the phone, to answer a page, I have that comforting drone in the background.
Sometime that night, I woke up midway through some program or another that I eventually realized was about St. Thomas More. It must have been near the end, because there was a bit about how his family tried to persuade him to sign the papers and live, but he refused. His famous words, "I am the King's good servant, but God's first" were ringing in my brain for the rest of the morning. (I'm not the only one with More on the mind)
When I was a kid, I was even more of a bibliophile than I am now. I would read anything, including ( to quote Heinlein in Have Space Suit, Will Travel), a newspaper that had been used to wrap fish. I used to get up at 2 in the morning and go into the bathroom to read. My mom didn't ground me, she took away my library card.
I had this habit in elementary school of going on reading jags. I would find something I liked, and I would then read my way through that section of the local public library. In the 3rd or 4th grade, I discovered the section of Image Books Lives of the Saints. (I think that TAN is currently republishing them). Now you have to remember that I was not Catholic, I was baptised Anglican and was in an Episcopal day school at that time. Anyhow, I loved the first one I read (I think it was St. Dominic and around that time the Singing Nun had a hit with the song Dominique) and therefore read my way through the entire section, more than once.
It was in the story of Dominic that I first encountered the word 'heretic'. It also enlarged the fascination I had begun with the rosary. I didn't quite get what a heretic was, but I sort of realized that they were people who had been misled somehow and who were in danger of Hell if they didn't get back on track. Made sense to me in my child's mind.
Eventually, I reached the story of St. Thomas More. I was fascinated. I had a hard time understanding what the issues were, being at that time an essentially apolitical child. Somewhere along the line, I came to the realization that the church in which I had been raised, that I had been told had an unbroken line reaching back to the apostles, was nothing like that. My beloved grandmother was and is a firm believer in the Branch theory propounded by the members of the Oxford movement and by C.S. Lewis, and I so wanted to believe her. But eventually I found that I had to seek the truth.
I have been Catholic for nearly 32 years now. I don't have the cultural background of a cradle Catholic, despite 30+ years of marriage to one. I probably missed out on some things both good and bad from spending the first 12 years of my life Anglican, the next 4 searching for truth, and from my 18th birthday on as an often rebellious and dissenting member of the one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. But where else could I go? As Peter said after Jesus gave His hardest teaching, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You alone have words of eternal life." This is why I am Catholic. Big and little signposts along the way pointed me in this direction. I reached a point where nothing else made sense. I am a long way from sainthood. If I make it to purgatory, I will (in the words of Mother Angelica) shout "Hallelujah! I made it". I'm aiming for heaven, but I stumble and fall daily, sometimes hourly, sometimes minute by minute. But what else can I do?
A friend of mine has a scripture on her front door that I am frequently reminded of. "As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord." That is what it is all about.
I've had a few of my regular readers suggest that I ban a particular commenter, and so I thought that I would post the basics of my particular policy. It is more a guideline - it is after all my blog and I can choose to be arbitrary at any time.
I do not intend to ban any commenter who is a real person, who has a valid email address, and who does not use profanity of language as I define it. I would prefer that commenters be polite whether they agree or disagree with me, but you have to be pretty over the line before I will delete your comment or ban your IP address.
I have had to deal with some pretty wacko people in my life, and I am not easily rattled. My intent in replying to negative commentary is to clarify my position and ideas. I am not responsible for how others interpret me, but I will make a concerted effort to restate any unclear ideas or ambiguous concepts in English as clear as I possibly can.
If it becomes obvious that I am not communicating, I will continue to pray for the person with whom the miscommunication has occurred. The fact that a dialogue, however imperfect, has continued, tells me that there is a need of some kind that is being met.
I reserve the right to ignore any comments that I choose to ignore.
Private email will not be blogged without permission. I consider links included in any private email to be bloggable at my discretion, given that the internet is an extremely public forum.
I appreciate the concern that my regular readers have expressed. It is good to know that I am not totally unable to communicate my ideas. Growing up as the perennial outsider who was chronically misundersood by my peers has left me a little insecure in that arena.
on a final note: the difference between a clique and a support network consists of two things - whether one in on the inside or the outside, and whether the insiders invite you in or utterly reject you. Thank you (and you know who you are) for inviting me in.
Good News
a possible resource for my unhappy commenter.
The year we got married.
Estimated Prophet
I get some pretty neat links from my commenters! Thanks, Varenius!
Erik's Rants and Recipes: On this date...
Having met Miss Amalia, I can say that Erik's pride in his daughter is not misplaced.
Wheat, Blogs, and Journalism
Thanks to Katharine in the comments box for the link info.
Diary of a Suburban Priest
a neighbor(loosely speaking)
Ultrasounds: Profiting Off Pregnancies
There is good evidence that US can help pregnant women bond to their babies, and many CPCs are trying to get a machine so that they can counsel moms who might otherwise seek an abortion. I guess the hope its that is would be harder to kill a baby that you've seen.
I wish it were that simple. I have seen many women who have had an abortion even after that US.
This
is a great take-off on drug ads.
Go read the CRM about celiac for a theological perspective. I can give you the medical stuff but I am not a theologian, nor do I play on on the internet.
Congrats to Dale Price on having comment #1100. In response to a challenge in a prior comment, I offer this opportunity to all my readers, especially those who see themselves as disenfranchised.
If there is something " uplifting or joyous or kind or compassionate or enlightening" that you would like to contribute to the blogosphere, send it to me and I will gladly post it in your name, unedited. (except for profanity, which will be deleted).
I should probably not get drawn into responding to some one who is probably a troll, but I found one of the comments to my post below to be very distressing. I guess I am upset because the reader seemed to totally miss the point of what I was trying to say. which is that we are ALL sinners, we all need the graces of the Sacrament of Penance, and in our culture we all too infrequently avail ourselves of that sacrament. I don't need to sit in the pew with a clicker to know that the majority of those going to Communion were not at Confession the day before. Where your typical parish has only 1/2 hour of scheduled Penance weekly, and that is often not well-attended, yet there are at least 3 Masses meeting the Sunday obligation (and most of those attending those Masses go to communion), well it seems obvious to me that there is an imbalance. But what upset me the most was the final paragraph of the comment:
Sometimes I think people are way more eager to jump on the "brotherly admonishment" bandwagon than they are to actually do something proactive to feed the hungry or house the homeless. It's so much easier to post a blog entry in which you calculate the ratio of Communicants to Confessed and then speculate who among them is a sinner and what those sins might entail than to give away all your wordly goods and live among and attend to the poor, isn't it?
First off, all the works of mercy are important, both the physical and the spiritual. I have never said otherwise. I work in a Community Health Center where I make considerably less than I might in other settings, and I drive 1 hour each way to do this. I attend the poor, and I help them to meet their medical needs. But I have noticed that many of them also have a spiritual poverty, in that they are unhappy and do not even realize that part of their unhappiness comes from choosing to live in a sinful lifestyle. I work to meet their physical needs, I also challenge them to consider their spiritual needs and I have to do this in a way that is not proselytizing. I am not speculating on who is a sinner, I KNOW that I am a sinner, you are a sinner, we are all sinners. You spoke particularly of sexual sins. Alas, this is something that I know more than I would like to, given that I am a primary provider of women's health care. I diagnose and treat STDs on a daily basis, I care for pregnant women the majority of whom are not married, I hear the stories of these women and I hold the details deep within myself under the rule of confidentiality. I KNOW that those who call themselves Catholic contracept, abort, fornicate, divorce, commit adultery at the same rate as the rest of the USA. The data is out there. It is not hard to find. I would imagine that other sins and crimes are practiced at about the same rate, too. I just don't have data on these, and I am not generally confronted daily by a person who calls herself Catholic who is embezzling wealth or lying about her resume or so many other sins. But I do see daily women who are wearing a scapular and who go to church weekly - and have been sterilized. I see women who list their religion as Catholic who are asking for birth control pills. I see women wearing rosaries who are 'living in sin'. I pray for my patients, several times a day. I also provide their medical care. Where I can, I challenge them to consider the harm they are doing themselves through their lifestyle.
Dear commenter, please go back and re-read the whole post. Go back and read some of my other entries. Feel free to continue to challenge us all to live our faith, but please exercise the same charity that you seemed to find lacking in your first reading.
Use of the contraceptive Depo Provera appears to triple women's risk of infection with chlamydia and gonorrhea, a study reports Monday.
Continue reading 100 Science Fiction Books You Just Have to Read.
I was sitting listening to a really great homily today at Mass. Father chose to address the scriptures more peripherally than centrally, but he preached on a central tenet of our faith - the Eucharist. He spoke about the recurrent issue of those with celiac disease and the Church's uncompromising insistance that the host must be made of wheat. He turned it into a really great lesson on Transubstantiation, reading from (among other things) the documents of the Council of Trent that after Consecration, the full substance of Jesus, body, blood, soul, and divinity, are truly present in what was once simply bread and wine, and that a full communion is made by partaking of either of the species.
Other bloggers have pointed out the existence of the low-gluten hosts, and the wine-only option (which Father also mentioned) and that is not where I am going here.
Continue reading Celiac disease, Deal Hudson, and John Kerry.
I am getting ready to try to trim the blogroll down to a reasonable size again. With rare exceptions, I will delete anyone who hasn't posted in the last 60 days. You have been warned!
Hurricane Report
from Mr. Luse
You may have to scroll, hot link is AFU.
Selkie: Smoking, No. Nursing, Yes.
my midwife friend nancy sent me this - another cool crunchy homeschooling mom blog.
over at the sleepy mommies
A birth announcement.
Just got an email from William Luse, he is ok and is working on a brief update to post. also, last heard that Mama Owl aka Davey's mommy, broke her water and should be birthing soon (if she hasn't already). Me, I'm taking a brief break from labor-sitting a couple of moms. I expect to be very busy later tonight.
In January I posted this, an abstract of an interesting article, and bemoaned that I couldn't post the full text. Here it is.
Health Consequences of induced Abortion
Thanks to reader Bob
The Choice We Face
and he speaks powerfully. Please read it and bookmark it.
Nathan, you know that I have been praying for you since I first read you, many blogs ago. I pray that your conversion will continue to deepen, and that through your pain you will be able to be a powerfull witness to the goodness of God. May the patron saint we share, St. Mary Magdalene, keep you in her prayers as well.
Squelching dissent no way to aid the local Catholic Church
local Catholic church strikes me as an oxymoron, anyhow.
Good news so far. CAT scan shows no apparant brain damage, though they are keeping her in the medical coma a little longer. She does have a mild pneumonia, which is not surprising considering the broken ribs and collapsed lung. But they are cautiously optimistic. Her youth and general good health are on her side. Thanks for all the prayers.
The Rome Depot - The Vatican of Catholic Superstores
you have to shop here!
Cockaleekie soup, bread, and beverages.
It is rainy and grey, and even though hot soup seems bizarre in the middle of August, it is what fits the weather.
We may also serve some brie with fruit and crackers for dessert.
My garden has been generous with tomatoes, and later this week I will probably make gazpacho. Yum, gazpacho. I will probably also try Erik's recipe for tomato grappatini, now that I have both good fresh tomatoes and decent grappa.
The best thing about this weather is that it makes it easier to go back to work after vacation.
TSO has a nice alternative version of his resignation speech. I have been thinking about this event, and wishing that the Governor would have had the courage to speak the truth in a way that would have glorified God, rather than pandering to our culture or his own disordered attractions.
I had this fantasy of him saying something like the following. (shades of the prodigal son)
Good Afternoon. I have come before you to confess that I am a grievous sinner, that I have sinned against my wife and against you have entrusted me to govern you. I have violated my marriage vows and have indulged my lust for another man. I am not worthy of the trust that she or you have placed in me. I will take just enough time to try to get the Governor's house in order, and will resign effective that date. In the meanwhile, I am placing myself under the spiritual direction of ******* and will be starting a lengthy penance, and trying to restore some of the trust I so foolishly squandered. Please pray for me and for those I have hurt through my foolish and selfish sin.
not likely, but one can always hope and pray.
Nathan posts What I've Learned
Worth reading. Keep him in prayer.
over at E-pression
congrats to zorak and the o.o.!
somewhatlost
and it opens with a truly hilarious parody of the Silmarillion.
Joshua Claybourn's mother. She was only 3 weeks older than me. May God in His mercy welcome her home, and may her family be comforted in their grief.
With a wonderfully insightful post about the a nation of rapists and the culture of use
One of the fun things about a Catholic music fest (besides the vendor's tent) is reading all the t-shirts walking around with people in them.
Saw a neat one today "Body piercing saved my life" on the front, on the back an image of Christ's pierced hands.
Oh, and pray for Jack. He is a gentleman I spoke to briefly at the book table, where he was buying a copy of Surprised by Truth. He was raised Lutheran, has been evangelical for a while, and is investigating the truth of the Catholic church. I told him I would remember him in prayer and ask that you do also.
Hurricane kills at least 15 in Florida
Mr Riddle made it home safely, and a few others have checked in at Mr Luse's comments box. Haven't heard directly from Mr Luse yet. I hope that his house and garden survived the storm, and especially his family.
Here is news from Tampa.
I am also on an email list for perinatal nurses. We have heard from members in Daytona Beach and Orlando - both were at work in the hospital during the worst of the storm, and had to trust that their families would be OK. Boy, do I know that feeling! After the 1994 Northridge quake, it was several hours before my family and I made contact to know that we were all safe.
At tonight's Mass, one of the petitions was for the safety of those in the path of the storm.
from Proud 2 B Catholic's event in Methuen MA. Something really awesome happened during the Mass. A few minutes before Mass was due to start, the people up on the stage area asked everyone to get quiet in preparation, and the whole crowd went totally silent. It was an intense and reverent silence, and it was outside with typical outdoor concert type seating. Then, as the priests were approaching the makeshift outdoor altar, a fragment of rainbow appeared in the sky, just above the center of the crowd. As the celebrant started the opening prayer, clouds covered the rainbow. The rainbow re-appeared again during the Mass at the Gloria, the great Amen, and most wondrously, at the beginning of Communion and then was covered for the final time at the end of Communion. A marvelous sign of the Covenant, no?
TORONTO - The Ontario government will spend $7 million to hire 55 more midwives, the biggest one-year expansion since the practice became provincially funded in 1994.
Health Minister George Smitherman made the announcement, saying demand for midwives continues to increase while the number of physicians attending births continues to fall. (Full story
I know (via internet) a midwife in Ontario. The demand is high enough for midwifery care that you almost have to book your care before you even get pregnant.
The National Catholic Register
SACRAMENTO, Calif. Catholic teaching has called in-vitro fertilization techniques immoral for decades. But most Catholics still haven't heard the news.
California attorneys Anthony and Stephanie Epolite found out the hard way that in-vitro fertilization wasn't all it's cracked up to be. After years of marriage, and facing her 39th birthday still without a baby, Stephanie turned to a fertility clinic
A Selection: Storia della Scienza - History of Science
Scroll down for ways to join email discussion groups on this topic.
Caduceus-L is my favorite.
at Santificarnos
follow the links in the blog to get to the articles.
what you don't want to see when you walk out of our house
pray for O.O. and Zorak.
My daughter is taking AP Modern European History this year (she is a junior). She will have two textbooks, one of which we are required to buy (in a public school, no less!). It is Palmer, R. R.; Colton, Joel; Kramer, Lloyd, A History of the Modern World . The other was not a required purchase, but the teacher included an excerpt from it and I was so excited that I decided to purchase it as well. It is Barr, Stringfellow The Pilgrimage of Western Man. 1st edition 1947, revised 1962 - it seems to be a very Catholic history of Europe. Have any of you homeschoolers read these books or used them? The Barr seems like an excellent find, especially since I could get it at abebooks for under $10.
BTW, abebooks is my favorite on-line used book store. Their prices are reasonable, their search engine is very usable, and they have always been reasonable to work with.
about saving marriage
I think that he has some promising insights, but I also think that he should go back another several decades or so on the contraception issue. I have been amazed at the prescience of GK Chesterton, for one, on this issue. Still, it is an interesting set of comments and I will be curious as to where he ultimately takes it.
I have a horrible migraine headache and should probably get off the computer and go to bed. I have 2 more days left of vacation and I am starting to experience guilt and regret that I haven't accomplished any major tasks around the house. I am not looking forward to having to get up early in the morning and drive to work and deal with that set of headaches either.
I really should have gotten out of the house today and gone somewhere - daily mass, adoration, or even just weeding in the garden. I need to kick myself out of this laziness but I am too lazy right now.
The garden, BTW, is behaving rather strangely. The squash plants are all dying. I have harvested one half grown acorn squash as its parent was dead, and ditto for one spaghetti squash. The zuchinni kept trying to set fruit that died on the vine, and now it too is dead. The tomatoes, however, are thriving and we are starting to harvest them.
I didn't know that it was even possible to kill zuchinni!
missed opportunities in embryonic stem cell research
an early release article from the NEJM.
read it and weep.
discussions on public breastfeeding and the theology of underwear
I am not even going to get involved - I guess it is a good thing they don't have comments.
Although I am trying not to be political on this blog, there are some issues that raise my ire to the point that I have to vent somehow and somewhere. One such issue is human embryonic stem cell research. The recent ballot initiative in my home state of California was covered favorably and in detail by NPR yesterday, and this morning I awoke to the sound of candidate Kerry stating that he saw no ethical conflict between a belief that life begins at conception and a wholehearted support for human embryonic stem cell research. Now I have a gut ache and a headache and I worry so much for my country.
I am not sure just why the whole human embryonic stem cell research hits me so hard. I can see that there may indeed be medical advances to be found from basic research into stem cells, which after all are basic biological building blocks. We are already doing a form of stem cell therapy in what is called bone marrow transplants - actually what is infused into the recipients of these 'transplants' are blood forming stem cells. There is a lot of basic research that needs to be done on umbilical stem cells, and many moms and dads are more than willing to donate their baby's cord blood for this research, yet there is no agency that I know of to collect this resource at no cost to the parents or to do the needed basic research.
Nor has there been a strong foundation of animal embryonic stem cell research to indicate if any of the hypothetical benefits of the highly undifferentiated embryonic cells have any basis in reality.
The hooplah reminds me a bit of the hooplah surrounding what was called 'gene therapy' from a couple of decades ago, where the idea was to insert tailored genes into persons suffering from various diseases, hopefully to replace the aberrant genes. It hasn't panned out too well, from what I have been able to find.
So I find this call for expensive public funding of research on human embryos to be a bit disingenuous. It isn't even particularly good science. Now, I have family members with some of the diseases for which this technology is dangling promises - type 1 diabetes being a big one. I just don't get how and why so many otherwise intelligent public figures can endorse this particularly gruesome form of cannibalism when there is not even any good evidence that it might even work! And don't tell me that the research that they are promoting is what is needed to produce that evidence. The research that needs to be done is far more basic, and no human embryos need to be harmed to do the very basics. Of course, if we were to try to do animal embryonic stem cell research, say on primates or house pet animals, PETA would be up in arms.......
A few days ago, I posted a link to an article about divorce among Catholics. In The Pursuit of Happiness, our own Mr. Luse says a mouthful or two.
Go read it. I had a lot I wanted to say, but didn't get around to it.
I admit to being a bit of a slug right now. I am still on vacation for a few more days (albeit at home) and I have been doing only what I must or what I desire. In other words, necessary housework and cooking gets done, likewise recreational reading and games. Other stuff is as I please or don't.
Health providers make stand against birth control
This article has the usual error of equating all NFP with rhythm, and the obligatory quotes from PP, but also does a good job of presenting the anti-contraceptive POV.
AKMA's Random Thoughts
was one of many blogs mentioned on this mornings Weekend Edition. I usually stay in bed Sundays until after the puzzle, but the word 'blog' has an almost Pavlovian response in my brain - "must get up, must turn on computer" which, thankfully, I was able to restrain. (Although it did get me up in time for 10 AM Mass, for which I am thankful!)
anyhow, go read. tell me what you think.
over at Vociferous Yawpings Shaker Catholicism.
Music and meaning.
One of the nicer things about sending a child to summer music school is the chance to listen in on some awesome music. This has been the 4th summer that our youngest has attended the Summer Youth Music School (SYMS) at the University of New Hampshire, and this year she was 4th chair in the cellos, and hence was also in a string quartet. So, Thursday morning about 9 hours after we gott off the plane home from Los Angeles, we trekked down to Durham NH to listen to a couple of hours of student recitals.
I tell you, they get really interesting. Imagine, if you will, 7 bassoons playing Gounod's "March of the Marionettes" (aka the theme from Alfred Hitchcock). Or 7 flutists playing the theme from Final Fantasy (yes, the video game). And then there was the beginning viol class - 5 players and the teacher playing these 6 or 7 stringed instruments in a variety of sizes and pitch, holding the bows in a way that looked rather uncomfortable, to say nothing of the fact that I was afraid that some of the instruments might fall from between the knees where they were being held. They played a lovely renaissance piece - I think the composer was something like Brossano? (Erik would know).
How about 6 french horns playing Hayden? It was a lovely hymn and I recognized the tune from having sung it as an Anglican child. Now I have to dig out my 1940 hymnal and see if I can find it.
The string quartet, our reason for showing up, was of course the last on the program. They played two lovely bits, but I can't remember what they were! I know there was one in E flat (because I remember thinking that E flat is a terrible key for string instruments). Will have to ask my daughter.
Today was the final concert. These kids work hard and play well and it was sheer delight. Thankfully we will be getting the CD so we can listen to it again. The string orchestra did all 3 movements of a Mozart divertimento as well as a suite from Bizet's Carmen. One of the violins suffered from a broken string between the first and second movement of the Mozart and there was a longer than usual pause......
The very last bit of performance was a small group from the orchestra accompanying the chorus in a medley from Les Miserables. It packed the rafters.
and publicly apologizes to boot. Spiritus et Sponsa: Okay, Here's the Deal
The Faded Sun by Steve Skellmeyer
about how and why abortions happen, and what we might be able to do that we aren't already. And a lot of other stuff, too.
I thoroughly disagree with the midset of this article, but I found it interesting reading.
Many nature-worshippers tend to forget that medical intervention has made it possible for us to experience sexual intimacy without the attendant dangers by offering us STD protection and birth control. Had our sex lives never been "medicalized," we would not have gained the freedom to express our sexual desires.
Few Mothers Meet Breastfeeding Goals, Study Shows
New state-by-state statistics show that Oregon has the highest rate of mothers meeting the minimum standards
(all 6 of you!)30-Second Bunnies Troupe on vacation!
I actually met Jen, the talented creator of the bunnies, at a barbeque last night. Turns out she is dating one of my son's roommates....
It truly is a small world.
On a somewhat related note, dear daughter was in Paris at CDG airport, waiting for her plane home when she heard her name called. Turned around to see a schoolmate of hers - who was getting on the same plane with her.
It's a Girl!
