I came across a very brief article on Yahoo! stating that pro-life ("anti-abortion") forces are not pleased with Obama's actions in regards to abortion.  (Yes, I know I am noting the obvious)

I posted a comment (although a little disjointed), I thought I'd post it here:

It's sad that someone (Obama) who is a beneficiary of civil rights for those that are treated less than human, would himself negate the rights of the unique human life of the baby in the womb of his or her mother.

In a Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote on April 16, 1963, “One may well ask: ‘How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?’ The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust, I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that ‘an unjust law is no law at all.’” 

Dr. Alveda King, the niece of legendary human rights campaigner, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., said that “the killing of a quarter of the black population of the US has not been from the lynch mobs of her childhood days, but from abortionists, “who plant their killing centers in minority neighborhoods and prey upon women who think they have no hope." 

Even the foundress of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, wrote in a letter dated Dec. 19, 1939, "We should hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We don't want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population. and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members." 

It truly is time to wake-up; it is time for change, but not toward death and greater enslavement of humanity, but towards the support of all life, including the most innocent and vulnerable which leads to true freedom.

Good advice for out-laws who want to be good in-laws and for adult children who want to know if their expectations are out of whack.

Getting married is a pivotal moment of life, like the first time you had sex or assumed a mortgage. So-called ‘reality’ TV shows would have us believe it’s all about throwing a really fabulous party and wearing a really fabulous dress. Back on Planet Earth we know getting married means stepping into a profound adventure, part joyful, part terrifying, all hopeful. Add to that voluntarily taking on a new identity; spouse, partner, wife, husband – how we describe ourselves to the world and to ourselves changes.

How easily we grow into our new role can be helped along or hindered by our in-laws.

When you get married, like it or not, you marry into each others’ families. Most of us have no idea what that means until we’ve been married a while. We assume that because our intended is the epitome of wonderfulness, their parents are great as well.

If you are lucky, and I hope you are, your new or future in-laws already know that Good In-Laws….  MORE

TBy John M. Grohol, Psy.D.
March 28, 2009

The conventional wisdom is that a child or teen with attention deficit disorder should be started on ADHD medications (such as Ritalin or Adderall) right away. Sometimes some type of psychotherapy may be recommended, with a therapist trained in treating ADHD. A new debate outlined in Thursday’s Washington Post explains why drugs alone are not a good treatment option, in a followup study that looked at whether children diagnosed with ADHD do better when treated with drugs, with drugs and psychotherapy, with psychotherapy alone or with routine medical care alone:

In August 2007, the [...] researchers reported the first follow-up data, which by then no longer showed differences in behavior between children who were medicated and those who were not. But the data did show that children who took the drugs for 36 months were about an inch shorter and six pounds lighter than those who did not.

In other words, the drugs appear to wear off over time. One of the original researchers in the study, psychologist William Pelham, is leading the charge for behavioral treatments over medication treatments — especially for long-term behavioral change in children. In a recent presentation, he outlined the following ADHD treatment recommendations for children:

• Behavioral Parent Training — Use always
  
• Behavioral School Intervention — Use always
  
• Intensive Behavioral Child Intervention — Use when needed
  
• Medication — Use when needed

In the same presentation, Pelham persuasively argues that dose and sequencing of treatments for ADHD are very important considerations, too often overlooked. When behavior modification techniques are used, they reduce the need for high doses of stimulant medications. What order treatments are provided — called sequencing — is also important. Providing behavioral treatment first reduces need for medication; providing medication first reduces parental desire to pursue behavioral treatments. According to Pelham, “Parents strongly prefer psychosocial or combined treatment approaches. Parental preference is important because it affects long term adherence.”

If behavioral treatments are started first and continued, Pelham suggests that 50 to 75 percent of children with attention deficit disorder will not need medication (fewer at school and more at home). For children who do need medication, doses will generally be lower. So Pelham argues that most children diagnosed with ADHD should very nearly always start with behavioral treatment first, and only add medication when impairment is not minimized and parents prefer medication or resources limit more intensive behavioral treatments.

When a combination treatment approach is used — behavioral modification and stimulant medications — it produces better outcomes in the short-term. A child with ADHD in a combination approach may also be on a lower dose of medication and, because of that, have fewer side effects. The combination approach also importantly produces last behavioral effects if the medication is withdrawn in the future. And the combination approach tends to be strongly preferred by parents and teachers to medication alone, and thus more likely to be utilized in the long run.

Since children who take ADHD medications long-term (e.g., 36 months) were about an inch shorter and six pounds lighter than those who did not, treatment providers and parents should reconsider what they think about ADHD treatments — especially the virtually automatic prescription of ADHD stimulant medications by primary care physicians and pediatricians.

The first treatment for attention deficit disorder in children that appears to be best is a behavioral modification treatment, with medication only added if needed later on.

Read the full article: Debate Over Drugs For ADHD Reignites.

Maggie Mahar’s 2007 post about the MTA study (worth a read)

Tuesday, Apr 14 (Psych Central) --

What Lamaze International and other childbirth organizations have been saying for years (and what women left to labor in the positions most comfortable to them have known for thousands of years!)...now "validated" by research. 

Sound the alarms!  Spread the news! Be shocked and surprised!

Lying down during the early stages of childbirth may slow progress, according to a new systematic review. Cochrane Researchers found that the first stage of labour was significantly shorter for women who kneel, stand up, walk around, or sit upright as opposed to lying down.

Using data from 21 studies carried out in developed countries since the 1960s, involving 3,706 women, the researchers found that the first stage of labour was around an hour shorter in those who adopted upright positions compared to those who lay down.

"In most developing countries, women stand up or walk around as they wish during the early stages of birth with no ill effects," says Annemarie Lawrence, who works at the Institute of Women's and Children's Health at the Townsville Hospital in Queensland, Australia. "This review demonstrates that there is some benefit and no risk to being upright and or mobile during first stage labour."

"Based on these results, we would recommend that women are encouraged to use whichever positions they find most comfortable, but are specifically advised to avoid lying flat," says Lawrence.

More...

Unbelievable argument.

Today's gospel is the Emmaus walk.  The beginning reads:

Luke 24:13-35
That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.

What we have is two disciples who have apparently jumped ship after the Passion and are leaving Jerusalem.  They weren't willing to stay even when they heard Jesus had risen from the dead?  When did they leave?  What fears and disappointments were they facing?

Jesus comes to them - but as w/ Mary - they couldn't see Him.  As you continue to read the story, they are surprised to discover their traveling companion doesn't know what happened and they find themselves telling the amazing story.  In the breaking of the bread they see Jesus for who is and, we are told:

So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the Eleven and those with them who were saying, "The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!" Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

An amazing story but how does it relate to us?  First, what fears do we have that keep us from staying?  What are we so concerned about that knowing Jesus has risen from the dead isn't enough to keep us with Him?  Are we walking away from Jerusalem?

If you are, go to where Jesus is - go to Mass, ask to see Him in bread.  And remember - talk to Jesus, let Him know all that concerns you.  There is nothing you are enduring that He cannot provide you solace, peace and explanation.  Take a walk with Him, admit your concerns and let Him help you through your uncertainity.

Unbelievable.  I had thought that the petition would level off at about 250,000 and over Easter, it appeared to be losing momentum, but when I checked yesterday there were 263,000 sigs and as of this morning there are 295,000!  Over 30,000 new signatories in a day.  Amazing.

Also, there is a new website being rolled out today, www.ReplaceJenkins.com  it is a website advocating for the replacement of Fr. Jenkins as president of UND. Their strategy is to collect a list of much money alumni are witholding because of Jenkins admin.  Check it out and keep up the pressure.

My reflections on the Scripture readings for Lent and the Paschal Triduum this year (as also my reflections on the readings for this past Advent) have considered, from various perspective, the theme of God's grace. What fundamentally, again, is grace? First, grace is God himself in his self-gift to us. We therefore speak especially of the Holy Spirit, the Divine Person sent into our hearts, as grace - as "Uncreated Grace." Second, grace is the transformation of our created nature that results from this presence and activity of the Holy Spirit, and also the further effects of this transformation - that is, "created grace." The reality of created grace is certainly important, and perhaps sometimes neglected in recent theology (as the reality of Uncreated Grace was perhaps sometimes neglected for some centuries until recently). But as we conclude the Easter Octave, the beginning of the most joyful and glorious season of Easter, the season that takes us to Pentecost, it is good to consider how the Spirit of the Risen Christ is Grace in person - as well as the wonderful works that he accomplishes in us. Our readings for this Sunday refer to this gift, and suggest two of his works.

In our Gospel account of Jesus' appearance to his Apostles on the evening after his resurrection, we are told that "he breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.'" We see here the connection between the gift of the Spirit and the gift of forgiveness of sins - especially forgiveness in the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. This mention of this Sacrament might bring my Lent and Easter reflections this year full circle, since for Ash Wednesday I wrote about this same Sacrament. Let me offer a reminder now that this Sacrament is important not only during Lent, but also throughout the year, during Advent and Christmas and the first weeks of "Ordinary Time," and during the Easter season and after Pentecost. We should receive this Sacrament fairly frequently, probably at least every month or so. During and after the Easter season, we might profit from being attentive to the fact that the power of forgiveness in this Sacrament is the power of the risen and victorious Son and of his Holy Spirit. This Sacrament is an encounter with the risen Christ and a renewal of his gift of the Spirit. When we are in the confessional - or wherever we might receive this Sacrament, in the body of the church, or in the priest's office, or elsewhere - we might consider ourselves to be in that upper room on Easter evening, receiving the risen Jesus' presence and words and gift. This point about the resurrection, the Spirit, and forgiveness also, of course, has something to do with the appropriateness of our celebration of this Octave Sunday of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday.

Even when we are focusing on the activity of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation, we should recall that the Spirit not only brings forgiveness of the sins that we have committed, but also helps us to avoid future sin, to live in that "newness of life" of which St. Paul writes to the Romans, as we heard at the Easter Vigil. This takes me to my second point. Our readings this Sunday from Acts and from 1 John, as well as the story of "Doubting" Thomas included in the Gospel reading, speak, explicitly or (in the case of the account from Acts) implicitly, of faith and love, works of the Holy Spirit. We know that Jesus speaks of faith to St. Thomas - in fairly close connection with giving the Apostles the gift of the Holy Spirit. St. John writes that the Spirit "testifies" to the Son and Father; the Spirit unites us with the Son, in his relationship with the Father, thus giving us faith and love. And the Spirit of the risen Christ gives us love, not only for God, but also for one another. We should note that the self-giving love of the first Christians for one another, described in Acts, is the result of the outpouring of the Spirit. Immediately before the passage that we hear this Sunday, there is a reference to a renewal of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Church. Our cooperation with the gift of the Spirit, with the gifts of faith in the Triune God and in the Incarnation and the Paschal Mystery, and of love for God and neighbor, makes us holy; this is the opposite of sin.

During this great season and beyond, by our cooperation with the Spirit of the risen Christ, with God's grace, may we be holy, and may our holiness before the world, our manifestation of the power and glory and joy of the resurrection, bring many others also to the risen Christ, to his Church, to heaven.

As a final note, the end of the semester is coming quickly, and soon after that, I will be getting married. This is therefore going to be a very busy time for me. I think that I began my regular Scripture reflections at the start of Lent 2004, and I have been posting them at least weekly since then, except for during very brief vacation breaks. I now need to take a slightly longer break, probably nearly a couple of months, at minimum. I hope that I have not obscured God's Word; I hope that I have even helped magnify it; and I hope that the Word, especially in his Easter brilliance, will continue to form your minds.

A reader emails:

A study of college students found that Facebook users get worse grades than non-Facebook users. Of course, that result did not come as a great shock. Two other things did grab my attention:

1.) "there's many third variables that need to be studied" Is it too much to ask that researchers, or anybody, for that matter, understand subject-verb agreement? There are many third variables that need to be studied.

2.) "Her study found that Facebook user GPAs were in the 3.0 to 3.5 range on average, compared to 3.5 to 4.0 for non-users." The piece doesn't explain how study subjects were chosen, but do C-students not exist anymore?

I don't think that it's too much to ask that people understand subject-verb agreement. In fact, some of my students get grades of C - or worse - partly because they don't write grammatically; their errors include, but aren't limited to, lack of subject-verb agreement. (Another recent pet peeve of mine in the area of grammar: Whither the subjunctive?)

His Easter Vigil homily. - His Easter Sunday morning homily. - His Easter Sunday Urbi et Orbi message.

His Easter Monday Regina Caeli message isn't yet available in English, but it should be posted sometime in the coming days.

His Easter Wednesday general audience address - this is brief and looks like his prepared text; he usually adds a lot to the prepared text when he actually delivers his address, and I'm guessing that the longer address that he actually gave will replace the prepared text online sometime in the coming days.

I pray essentially the entire Liturgy of the Hours daily using the four-volume set. I pray only one of the three Daytime hours each day. I add the extra "Vigil" canticles and Gospel reading to the Office of Readings for all Solemnities and for Feasts of the Lord and of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In addition to the material in the Roman Breviary, I pray the Offices for Solemnities, Feasts, and Memorials from the Dominican supplement.

According to a post on www.newadvent.org, Il Messagero published (in Italian, sadly) a previously unknown booklet written by then Cardinal Wojtyla to help married couples implement Humanae Vitae (both released in 1968).

If anyone knows Italian enough to get a hold of a copy and let us know what it says would be welcome, as no news is yet out on an English translation.  Somehow, I think that it might have something good to say!

We have a number of friends who are connected to TAC either as once students themselves or parents of current/past students.

The news of the death of President Thomas Dillon is surely painful - especially in light of their upcoming graduation ceremonies.

May his soul rest in peace, his wife achieve healing and his family gain strength.  And may President Dillon intercede that all those current Catholic college presidents gain just a small portion of the vision, courage and clarity he had.

Matt and I will be attending the upcoming Chaplet Homeschooling Convention (www.chaplet.org) April 25th on behalf of Little Flowers and Ecce Homo Press (www.eccehomopress.com). 

Consider coming out for this event - it looks like it will be a good day!

Among the names being bandied about:

Kmiec, a former dean of the Catholic University of America law school and Reagan administration lawyer who broke Republican ranks and endorsed Obama. Kmiec, who has a long record of opposing abortion, was lambasted by conservative Catholics and denied Communion by one priest.

Asked whether the administration had contacted him about the ambassadorship, Kmiec declined to comment.

Another possible candidate is Nicholas Cafardi, a professor at Duquesne University law school and the school's former dean. Cafardi, who once considered the priesthood, is a canon lawyer and speaks Italian.

More...

The Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture have announced the theme for their fall conference in November: "The Summons of Freedom: Virtue, Sacrifice, and the Common Good." The focus seems to be on the importance of virtue in the fulfilmment of our humanity in freedom. Here is a link to their call for papers. 

We welcome the submission of abstracts drawing on a wide range of moral and religious perspectives and academic specialties. Special consideration will be given to submissions of ideas for panel discussions that would bring together several people to discuss a focused theme. Possible issues to be explored are:

• 
  
  the natural law and American democratic government


• 
  
  analogous senses of the common good


• 
  
  special demands on courage in contemporary culture


• 
  
  the multiple threats of individualism


• 
  
  philosophical and theological inquiries into the virtues


• 
  
  the riches of Catholic social teaching


• 
  
  the global economic crisis and the situation of late modern capitalism


• 
  
  the secularization of contemporary culture


• 
  
  imagining the common good: what the arts contribute


• 
  
  the fate of Europe


• 
  
  stewardship over nature: what does it entail?


• 
  
  Catholic approaches to the common good: Maritain, McInerny, and MacIntyre


• 
  
  “Whose common good?”: the unborn, the barely born, the disabled, and the elderly


• 
  
  freedom and its relation to truth


• 
  
  Pope Benedict on charity and hope


• 
  
  the Christian Democratic movement in 20th Century politics


• 
  
  Elizabeth Anscombe and the virtue revolution in ethics


• 
  
  the sacrifices of family life

I think several of our contributors and readers might be interested in presenting.  Let's help something good happen at Notre Dame!

In a Catholic Spotlight interview, William Michael, of the online Classic Liberal Arts Academy, speaks about lay people praying the office.  I want to take an informal poll of our readership.  Please select all the items below that apply to you and respond by clicking on "E-mail Author."

• I, my spouse, and/or my family (specify which), pray the entire divine liturgy almost daily using the four-volume set or an online resource (specify which).
  
• I, my spouse, and/or my family (specify which), pray morning and evening prayer of the divine liturgy almost daily using a one-volume set or an online resource (specify which).
  
• I, my spouse, and/or my family (specify which), pray some part of the office every now and then using a one-volume set or an online resource (specify which).
  
• I, my spouse, and/or my family (specify which), pray an abbreviated form of the office almost daily using Magnificat or some other similar resource. 
  
• My family prays part or all of the office together sometimes.

I'll tabulate and report on the responses next week.