tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-858373931740976631.comments2015-06-27T12:00:13.619-04:00Sardonic Ex CuriaSardonicushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614057543947120116noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-858373931740976631.post-57695963213816321262015-06-27T12:00:13.619-04:002015-06-27T12:00:13.619-04:00This is a good idea and one that has been on my mi...This is a good idea and one that has been on my mind since GoFundMe killed memories pizza. <br /><br />I think it wise to also consider whether the money can be parked overseas, since, in light of the recent decision, federal level power can be brought to bear against dissenters. Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04137271666814486522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-858373931740976631.post-88076123926424512902015-06-15T15:43:12.496-04:002015-06-15T15:43:12.496-04:00Lydia,
Another excellent point!Lydia,<br /><br />Another excellent point!Sardonicushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09614057543947120116noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-858373931740976631.post-83989574495070933012015-06-14T17:44:37.917-04:002015-06-14T17:44:37.917-04:00Thank you for adding my blog.Thank you for adding my blog.Lydia McGrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00423567323116960820noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-858373931740976631.post-73393227297747522252015-06-14T17:41:40.644-04:002015-06-14T17:41:40.644-04:00The couple should also be told that a refusal to b...The couple should also be told that a refusal to be civilly married makes it extremely urgent for them to make out durable powers of attorney for healthcare naming each other. This is a good idea in any event, but in the absence of any civil marriage it's even more important, because there would be no legal presumption at all that the other member of the couple could make healthcare decisions if one were rendered incompetent.Lydia McGrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00423567323116960820noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-858373931740976631.post-55510974739449765512015-06-14T17:39:24.831-04:002015-06-14T17:39:24.831-04:00It occurs to me that someone might argue that the ...It occurs to me that someone might argue that the birth certificate would at least protect the father in the event of the mother's death (from having his custody challenged), but one can imagine situations where, e.g., the mother died in childbirth before naming the father.<br /><br />It's my experience (not as a lawyer, but just anecdotally) that there remains a residual bias against unmarried mothers in American family courts and child protection services. This is actually (if I'm right) a surprisingly healthy thing, because statistically children are in fact safer in a married family. What it means in practice is that a couple that doesn't get civilly married may be more subject to court sympathy for intrusion by some other relative--e.g., a grandparent--into their familial decisions for their children.Lydia McGrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00423567323116960820noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-858373931740976631.post-46486221471643249392015-06-14T17:07:02.045-04:002015-06-14T17:07:02.045-04:00Also, I've now added your blog to my reading l...Also, I've now added your blog to my reading list. I had seen it before, but when I switched readers some time back, i do not think it made it with the switch.Sardonicushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09614057543947120116noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-858373931740976631.post-33683188398693132642015-06-14T17:05:21.037-04:002015-06-14T17:05:21.037-04:00Lydia,
Very much so. The State would tend not to ...Lydia,<br /><br />Very much so. The State would tend not to get involved if someone wants to claim paternity, particularly when the father insists on a DNA test. However, the state will always be looming in the background, ready to assert power.<br /><br />Libertarians suffer from the purely negative concept of liberty in so many ways. I think that was Kirk's point in this article: http://www.mmisi.org/ma/25_04/kirk.pdf<br /><br />One of the best discussions of the incursion of the state into family matters is the following article http://www.theimaginativeconservative.org/2013/06/freedom-and-the-family-the-family-crisis-and-the-future-of-western-civilization.html by Stephen Baskerville.Sardonicushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09614057543947120116noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-858373931740976631.post-12148106983378916532015-06-14T16:39:05.093-04:002015-06-14T16:39:05.093-04:00Your reference to a paternity affidavit seems to m...Your reference to a paternity affidavit seems to me important from the man's perspective as well. Correct me if I'm wrong, but my impression is that, absent documentation, questions of custody and parental rights could arise for an unmarried father (that is, a father without a civil marriage) in the event that the mother dies or is incapacitated. I'm not saying that it is _likely_ that the state would challenge custody of such a father, but my impression is that it is legally _possible_ for the state to do so because no "marital presumption of paternity" exists. The father is, legally, treated as the mother's live-in boyfriend. So the possibility arises that, say, the wife (in the eyes of God) is killed in a car accident and suddenly the state questions the father's prima facie custody of your children.<br /><br />I bring this up because it seems to me that libertarians are sometimes extremely foolish about these issues and need to see civil marriage as keeping the state in its place, forcing the state to recognize the sphere sovereignty of the family, rather than state "interference." Also, this scenario does not involve dysfunction between the husband and wife (as in abandonment, separation, etc.) but only tragedy.Lydia McGrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00423567323116960820noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-858373931740976631.post-11060080369085549002015-06-14T16:25:30.756-04:002015-06-14T16:25:30.756-04:00Lydia,
Thank you! Yes - the latter. If a minister...Lydia,<br /><br />Thank you! Yes - the latter. If a minister IS going to take this approach, these are the things of which s/he should be aware and counsel the couple. I have edited the post to better reflect that. Thank you again.Sardonicushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09614057543947120116noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-858373931740976631.post-46774755149312585582015-06-14T15:40:20.493-04:002015-06-14T15:40:20.493-04:00But perhaps I am misunderstanding this post. Are y...But perhaps I am misunderstanding this post. Are you perhaps saying only that the civil marriage should be contracted first (and hence separately, but first) *if* a given minister refuses to act as an agent of the state and sign the marriage certificate for them? So you are assuming a situation in which a minister (wrongly, given your previous arguments) has a conscientious objection to doing so and are recommending what he should counsel the couple in that case for their legal protection?Lydia McGrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00423567323116960820noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-858373931740976631.post-32260785261186485672015-06-14T15:21:28.340-04:002015-06-14T15:21:28.340-04:00I read your first post on this subject and thought...I read your first post on this subject and thought it was spot-on. I don't quite understand the recommendation in this post to *separate* civil and church marriage. Given all the excellent considerations you have raised, and given your very sensible arguments against the strange position that it is somehow *wrong* for a minister to be an agent of the state in solemnizing a civil marriage, what is wrong with what generations of Americans have already been doing--obtaining a marriage license from a county clerk and then combining the civil and religious marriage ceremony in one, officiated over by a minister acting in both a civil and religious role simultaneously?Lydia McGrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00423567323116960820noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-858373931740976631.post-11805388731743433012015-06-04T13:27:37.167-04:002015-06-04T13:27:37.167-04:00Here's some more stuff.<a href="http://contrapauli.blogspot.com/search/label/Benedict%20Option" rel="nofollow">Here's some more stuff</a>.Paulihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17506171638613025839noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-858373931740976631.post-62363377216799436922015-05-01T17:57:41.868-04:002015-05-01T17:57:41.868-04:00Explaining away 1 Cor 11:27 is easy: Paul was scol...Explaining away 1 Cor 11:27 is easy: Paul was scolding the rich members of the community for neglecting the poorer members and making them feel unwanted. Ergo, you can only be made unworthy of the cup if you are exclusive.<br /><br />This kind of facile interpretation falls apart under closer examination (for starters, v. 19 explicitly says Paul expects healthy division in the church "No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval." Furthermore, the tone indicates that there is a broader class of behaviour that would render one unworthy, not simply the "sin" of exclusion"). However, a person believing "the only thing not tolerated is intolerance" would hardly be moved to think deeper.Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04137271666814486522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-858373931740976631.post-74604317846755582052015-05-01T17:56:44.189-04:002015-05-01T17:56:44.189-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04137271666814486522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-858373931740976631.post-32056140463751261932015-04-28T13:00:03.215-04:002015-04-28T13:00:03.215-04:00California's Water Problem: Walter WilliamsCalifornia's Water Problem: Walter WilliamsMeneMenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06648999876060922370noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-858373931740976631.post-82312057782629253912015-04-26T01:35:50.563-04:002015-04-26T01:35:50.563-04:00Thanks for expressing what many of us feel. I do n...Thanks for expressing what many of us feel. I do not doubt that the Watsons will reap their just desserts, because God is just, and living with that much hate is simply unsustainable. The Kleins are raising money at Samaritans Purse, and they will also be rewarded justly. Still, it is alarming to watch the revolution play out so very rapidly, and to understand that all Christians are fair game for the new Bolsheviks. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06085552643658155227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-858373931740976631.post-31759290124093824452015-04-01T14:01:10.077-04:002015-04-01T14:01:10.077-04:00Well said brother...well said.Well said brother...well said.RChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10272679802964255567noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-858373931740976631.post-7488001148509817222014-11-24T17:05:00.464-05:002014-11-24T17:05:00.464-05:00Thanks. And here's the link, courtesy of that ...Thanks. And here's the link, courtesy of that aforementioned friend, to the document in which Leo the 13th affirms the contractual and sacramental nature of marriage: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_10021880_arcanum_en.htmlWilliam Lusehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15928946919078483848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-858373931740976631.post-50167048606364289192014-11-24T07:47:25.353-05:002014-11-24T07:47:25.353-05:00William,
Thank you! BTW - a Facebook friend sent ...William,<br /><br />Thank you! BTW - a Facebook friend sent this along this morning, which I think is very relevant to your discussion. See here: http://thejosias.com/2014/11/22/can-catholics-accept-the-marriage-pledge/Sardonicushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09614057543947120116noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-858373931740976631.post-14386711299702255062014-11-24T00:23:47.345-05:002014-11-24T00:23:47.345-05:00This seems to me an excellent post, in which you c...This seems to me an excellent post, in which you cover all the salient points, and this one hits particularly hard: <i>for the ministers then take the curious position of referring newlyweds to other agents of their principal to have their marriages “legalized.” This arguably violates a classical tenet of moral reasoning – in refusing to undertake an action for another that is immoral, one may not then commend the other to a new source for the immoral act.</i><br /><br />A friend of mine also claims that deliberately severing the legal contract from the sacrament is a heresy. I will try to find a link to support this.William Lusehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15928946919078483848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-858373931740976631.post-40905635127918384102014-06-07T21:03:14.246-04:002014-06-07T21:03:14.246-04:00My question, though, is thus - where do we draw th...My question, though, is thus - where do we draw the line between unacceptable frivolity and "acceptable" frivolity, namely play? For instance, I engage in tabletop wargaming, a hobby which is very expensive. However, it allows me to engage my creative talents (assembling, posing, and painting models), encourages me to take pride in my work, and encourages me to seek out other, real-life people in order to engage in "battle" with them, an experience which can be very enjoyable and a source of amicable companionship. Does this seem sinful? Certainly it does not seem to be sinful in and of itself, though like any good it could lead to sin through over-indulgence, such as by purchasing more models than you could conceivably want, need, or afford, though it seems very unlikely that someone would be foolish or obsessed enough to put a hobby so high on their list of priorities that they deprive themselves or their families of food.<br /><br />In summation, do you think that it would be right to say that, given that it does not become inordinately important in one's life, that it does not distract one from God and the spiritual things - namely, that it retains its proper place in the individual's life, then any hobby (unless of course it is sinful in and of itself, such as pornography) can be good?Cantushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09423694187264830935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-858373931740976631.post-77479136580119611812013-02-06T16:26:27.599-05:002013-02-06T16:26:27.599-05:00I got yer "promote marriage" right here,...I got yer "promote marriage" right here, Mia Reini. Babies born outside of marriage go straight into sealed-record adoption by stable, heterosexual married parents. No more Make A Baby, Win A Prize social policy. And one high-school girl who returns to class with her pregnancy over and bawling, "They took my bay-bee!" will be an example to 100 more girls that our society no longer considers babies to be the playthings of irresponsible girls. It won't be long before the other girls wise up. <br /><br />Former Congressman and House Speaker Newt Gingrich was right about orphanages. Correct, too. Modern ophanages are another option for the rescue of children born to the irresponsible.<br /><br />Finally, for homes broken by divorce: presumptive father-only custody. 80% of divorces are initiated by females and for light and transient reasons. Father-only custody will discourage those and most of the other 20% too.<br /><br />Yeah, tough love is tough. But it's love and that's better than the slow moral smothering death that is America's maternalistic welfare state. Micha Elyihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13342792492539185940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-858373931740976631.post-72474284830096433072013-02-05T11:26:43.404-05:002013-02-05T11:26:43.404-05:00This is sad. I think one thing fiscal conservative...This is sad. I think one thing fiscal conservatives and social conservatives should be able to agree on is that until we do more to promote marriage our society will continue its sad decline and everyone will pay the price.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18419001008311616264noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-858373931740976631.post-29351167558092412102012-10-21T11:08:52.167-04:002012-10-21T11:08:52.167-04:00Thanks for "Why are Catholics Praising the No...Thanks for "Why are Catholics Praising the Nobel Prize Stem Cell Technology." Informative.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18419001008311616264noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-858373931740976631.post-20251960852168941282012-10-10T19:19:39.628-04:002012-10-10T19:19:39.628-04:00Great response. I do wonder though: if the parish ...Great response. I do wonder though: if the parish priest spent every homily truly explaining the truth and beauty behind the Church's teaching, would we even need to be having this discussion?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18419001008311616264noreply@blogger.com