It's been a quiet weekend for the most part. There are a few odds and ends I wanted to pass along. Claire lost her third tooth late this week. Russell helped her pull it when he visited the other afternoon. She no longer has shark teeth.
Michelle took the girls out to get their hair trimmed yesterday. Afterwards she took them to Blakes for some ice cream. The weather outside kept us inside a lot so we watched Annabelle's Wish and Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer and lit a fire in the fireplace. Last night Michelle and I wrapped a few last minute gifts for the kids.
Today we went to Mass and stayed for breakfast. While the boys napped, the girls and I watched Father Goose while Michelle and I assembled another Hot Wheels three wheel cycle for Daniel. It matches one that we already have. Hopefully now the twins won't have to fight over one cycle.
I came across a very good article this weekend at CERC entitled "What We Have Discovered About Not-So-Free Love". It's a bit long, but not difficult. It's among the most lucid defense of traditional sexual ethics I've seen in quite some time. The author chronicles a few "free love" movements in American history and the consequences.
A culture such as ours, which has been dominated by the notion of free sex for decades, makes at least three shifts to accommodate the demands of that ethic and to avoid the demands of the nuclear family. First, it must eliminate the requirement that some lasting, exclusive commitment (like marriage) be made before sex. Second, it must find a way to prevent or eliminate children conceived in these uncommitted sexual relationships. Third, it must train women to support themselves with no help from men.As I predicted late last week, the resignation of Cardinal Law brings new cries as the focus now shifts to our local bishop:
Within hours of toppling Cardinal Bernard Law on Friday, alleged victims of priest sexual abuse set their sights on a new target – Bishop John B. McCormack. “Bishop McCormack, we’re coming after you,”I'm not saying the scandal is over yet or that it should be, but who says when it is? When do we know that these motives are purely for the safety of the children and not just church bashing? Is there a list that says "once we've accomplished this" then we're done or is it ambiguous and open ended, like the "war on terror"?