Does a teacher's sex matter to children?

Dom blogs about a new study that says children learn better from teachers of the same sex. I was thinking of my own experience both as a teacher and a student, and trying to remember if I noticed any any difference. I certainly had a lot of trouble with my 8th grade boys the first half of my first year teaching, but I attribute that mostly to the inexperience of a new teacher. Things got much better in the second half of the year. Of course, I attended and taught at a school with very small classes, which could make a difference.

So,I'm wondering what eveyone else's experience is as teachers? Do you find that your female students learn better? Or if you're a male, do you think that your male students learn better?

Best wishes to the Bride-to-be

Today, she and her groom have become man and wife. May they have a long, happy life together.





Father, when you created mankind
you willed that man and wife should be one.
Bind this couple in the loving union of marriage; and make their love fruitful so that they may be living witnesses to your divine love in the world. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Distributism distributed

Interesting discussion taking place over at Fumare about distributism.

Holy Confession

Our Savior gave the sacrament of penance and confession to his Church so that we may be cleansed from all our iniquities no matter how often and how greatly we have been defiled by them. Never let your soul remain long infected by sin, Philothea, since you have remedy so near at hand and so easy to apply. A lioness that has been with a leopard hastens to wash herself and get rid of the stench the meeting has left with her lest her mate be offended and angered. So too a soul that has consented to sin must have horror for itself and be washed clean as soon as possible out of the respect it must have for the eyes of God's Divine Majesty who sees it. Why should we die a spritual death when we have this sovereign remedy at hand? - Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis De Sales

A couple of weeks ago, we had the pleasure of leading an awesome group of young and not so young people in retreat at a Benedictine Monastery in Valyermo, California. We (Fatima and I) were able to share some of what we learned in our studies from Christendom. The highlight, according to one of the retreatants, was going to confession on Saturday night. This retreatant,a dad whose three teenage children were also retreatants, related to one of our team members that the last time he went to confession was way back in 1986. The buzz in the quiet hills of the high desert that Saturday night began with several anxious deep breaths, pacing, nervous bantoring of previous confession experiences near and not so near. If only you were able to see and hear the rejoicing that echoed through out the monastery that night. Retreatants (50+ in number) each were washed clean that night. God is so very good! The night ended with Benediction and Glory and Praise music. The retreatants were comprised of choirs from two different parishes. God is so so good!

In Honor of Our Lady

I meant to post part of my research paper for New Testament for the Feast of Our Lady's Assumption, but just didn't get to it in time. In honor of Our Lady's Queenship 22nd of August the following is an excerpt from my New Testament paper.

Part I
...It is written that the glory days of Israel were surely to end shortly after the reign of Solomon the son of David (1Kings 11:11-13). In Jesus, the true Son of David, all of Israel is restored (Gentiles included). Can parallels be drawn relating Mary “the woman” in Revelation to Mary as the Mother of Christ who is the true Son of David? Michael Barber offers some insight by pointing out that in scripture the a son of David was the King of Israel.24 He further relates that Solomon was a son of David, and he was a King of Israel. Barber’s question of the day was: If Solomon was King, who was the Queen?Barber points out the complications of selecting a queen from among Solomon’s 700 wives. The answer, to the question of the day, is none other than his mother. According to Barber:

…[T]he queen was always the mother of the king.And her role was very important.She symbolized the unity of the Davidic line.In fact, when the Chronicler mentions each new Davidic king, he almost always identifies the Queen Mother.25

Therefore, even before Israel became a kingdom, “the office of queen mother was well established among the gentiles.”26 This was a common practice in the ancient times. So the King’s queen was not his wife, but his mother. Jesus is the last Davidic King; therefore, as tradition details, Mary – his mother – must be queen. However, to further understand Mary’s queen ship “as the woman” one would have to –once again – turn to her son. In Queen Mother, Edward Sri points out, the messianic theme in Psalm 2 is comparable to the child described in Revelation; the child being “the one who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron, caught up to God and his throne…” (12:5).27 He further notes, that the appearance of “the woman” in such splendor bearing a crown signifies royalty, and that “in the Book of Revelation, the symbol of the crown is never a superfluous decoration, but connotes a real reign.”28 Sri also comments on the woman “with the moon under her feet”(12:1), and how this “may point to her royal authority.”29 Moreover, “under-the-feet imagery often was used to denote royal dominion and subjugation of enemies, especially within a Davidic kingdom context.” 30 Furthermore, the Old Testament provides an example of the importance of the role of queen mother. The account notes Bathsheba, interceding to her son on behalf of Adonijah, Solomon’s brother. The text records, that as Bathsheba approached King Solomon, the king “rose to meet her, and bowed down to her; then he sat on his throne, and had a seat brought for the king’s mother; and she sat at his right”(1Kings 2: 19). Likewise, a parallel can be drawn regarding the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary as Queen Mother of our Lord who constantly intercedes on behalf of her other children. At the very beginning of his Gospel, John presents Mary as intercessor at the wedding feast in Cana. More so, he also records the last words spoken by Mary in scripture when she says to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn. 2: 1-5).

Do whatever he tells you. Pretty good advice. Remember our Lady's advice today and especially remember to beckon upon her help most on the day that honors her Queenship.

Natural Law Resources

Especially for Homer - a couple suggestions for studying Natural Law:

J. Budziszewski - Written on the Heart: The Case for Natural Law

Charles Rice - 50 Questions on the Natural Law: What It Is and Why We Need It

The Universal Church: A Response

Regarding Wimsey's beautiful post of August 5: "The Universal Church"

"The Catholic Church has walls as wide as the world and a dome that covers the cosmos." Homer

The praise for Wimsey's description of her view, her vision, from the balcony of the church -- "Christ the King" -- in the small, remant outpost of Christendom, is indeed sincere. Hers was a beautiful vision. I shared six weeks as a grad student in theology with Wimsey and my other co-bloggers, and we had the privilege and pleasure of getting to know an array of nuns of varied habits and backrounds and personalities. To a woman, the ones I met were bright and engaging and attractive and fun. They were a true highlight of my stay at Christendom College. Many, perhaps most of them, were young, in their twenties and thirties; the ones who were older were still young.

They are not flawless, not without blemish -- to overromanticize them would be to lessen their allure and their loveliness. They need our prayers, and they have mine. I would consider myself truly blessed to have their prayers, and even hope to have their friendship. They gave me increased hope for the Catholic Church, these brides of Jesus, each of them in a marriage with him that is exquisitely unique; in the eyes of this Bridegroom, no other bride exists but that individual nun, that irreplaceable and irresistable woman, in an intimacy that is both profound and informal, both impassioned and innocent. And this Bridegroom -- in the mutual joys and sorrows with his beloved spouse, in the sharing of intense struggles and inspiring successes -- is ever-faithful, ever-vigilant, ever-tender, ever-considerate. Not a bad life, for those gifted with this call, the sweet beckoning of the Bridegroom.

There is something else that I would like to say. I love the Catholic Church! -- with its walls as wide as the world, its dome that covers the cosmos; its spaciousness and its closeness; its formality and its familiarity. Within this Church, there is a wonderful diversity, a remarkable mosaic of souls, indescribably beautiful. This Church is all-inclusive: Everyone is invited within its shelter, one and all, if only that soul is searching for goodness and beauty and truth, which are the components of love; and if only that soul has an openness to the God who is love, who is goodness and beauty and truth.

One gets sentimental when talking about one's family, however defective its members, however deformed by sin. In the Catholic Church, we are brothers and sisters in Jesus, with bonds stronger than blood, and we are family. I pray that we Catholics will always stay together, will always comfort and encourage each other, will always cling to our big brother, Jesus, in the Church that he founded as our haven and our home.

Justus quidem tu es, Domine, si disputem tecum: verumtamen justa loquar ad te: Quare via impiorum prosperatur? &c.

THOU art indeed just, Lord, if I contend
With thee; but, sir, so what I plead is just.
Why do sinners' ways prosper? and why must
Disappointment all I endeavour end?

Wert thou my enemy, O thou my friend,
How wouldst thou worse, I wonder, than thou dost
Defeat, thwart me? Oh, the sots and thralls of lust
Do in spare hours more thrive than I that spend,
Sir, life upon thy cause. See, banks and brakes
Now leavèd how thick! lacèd they are again
With fretty chervil, look, and fresh wind shakes
Them; birds build -- but not I build; no, but strain,
Time's eunuch, and not breed one work that wakes.
Mine, O thou lord of life, send my roots rain.

Gerard Manely Hopkins, written 1889

I'm finally done!

New Testament Paper

Ecclesiology 101

Kathy Sullivan Vandenberg participated in an unauthorized "ordination" ceremony last weekend. Now she's surprised that she's being threatened with excommunication.

Vandenberg, 64, said Monday that she was "startled" by the letter and surprised that Dolan had "spent so much time and energy" on it when "other important things" might demand his attention.

I wonder what "other important things" she has in mind? I wonder what she thinks the Church's business is? She certainly doesn't think it's protecting the integrity of the faith handed on from Christ for the last 2,000 years.

Vandenberg called her meeting with Dolan "very cordial . . . very respectful. . . . I told him about my call to ordination . . . and he was trying to give me some reasons to stay" in the church.

So, she realized that her actions would put her out of the Church.

But, then there's this:

Vandenberg said: "Excommunication is simply a punishment. That doesn't mean I'm excluded from the church. Only I can exclude myself."

Yep, and that's just what she did.

Hat tip to Diogenes

Invalid Ritual

Thanks to the 8 women who were "ordained" on a riverboat in Pittsburgh this week. All the discussion in the blogosphere about the sacrament of Holy Orders should make the research for my liturgy paper really easy: "Why does the Sacrament of Holy Orders require a male recipient and how does this relate to the 'baptismal priesthood'?"

Patricia Fresen, a bishop in Roman Catholic Womenpriests, compared their movement to the anti-apartheid movement.
"I am utterly convinced that our ordinations are totally valid," she said. "Although they break [canon] law, we believe we are breaking an unjust law. I come from South Africa. We learned from Nelson Mandela and others that if a law is unjust, it must be changed. ... If you cannot change it, you must break it."

The problem of course is that the law they find so unjust is God's law. The Church declares that she has no authority to ordain women to Holy Orders. The reason, simply stated, is that God's plan for his Church does not include women in the ministerial priesthood. The Church does not exclude women from the ministerial priesthood out of hatred for women or some misguided effort to "keep women in their place". She does so because that it is part of the deposit of faith which she has been charged to protect. It is not hers to change.

Pope Paul VI in 1977 wrote:
“(The Catholic Church) holds that it is not admissible to ordain women to the priesthood for very fundamental reasons. These reasons include: the example recorded in Sacred Scripture of Christ choosing his Apostles only from among men; the constant practice of the Church, which imitated Christ in choosing only men; and her living teaching authority which has consistently held that the exclusion of women from the priesthood is in accordance with God’s plan for his Church”

This means that, in the end, accepting that the ministerial priesthood is reserved to men is a matter of faith, a matter of trusting in God's plan. All the reasoning in the world won't convince someone who views the Church as a man-made entity.

The Diocese of Pittsburgh has posted the consistent teaching of the Church clearly and with charity on their website.

The Universal Church

One of the most memorable moments from my six weeks in Front Royal was standing in the choir loft of Chapel looking down at all the religious of the Vita Consecrata Institute praying together. There were Dominicans, Norbertines, Franciscans, Lovers of the Holy Cross, Carmelites and many more. They wore white, brown, black, grey, blue, and jean habits. They were American, Canadian, Italian, Vietnamese, Mexican. And, all prayed together the age old prayers of the Catholic Church ending with the poignant Salve Regina. It was a beautiful snapshot of the Universal Church.