text:
"Do Women Have Souls?"
Have you heard about the sixth-century Church council where bishops took a vote on whether women have souls? No, that didn't actually happen, but it has been a popular anecdote for decades -- handy for anyone who wants to paint the Catholic Church (or religion in general) as anti-women and isn't too picky about their facts.The September 11 "Laity Issue" of Commonweal has a feature article by Kathleen Sprows Cummings on how the myth of the Council of Mcon figured prominently in American discourse in the early twentieth century, and what that reveals of the historical roots of the divide between Catholics and feminists that persists to this day. (The article -- "Do Women Have Souls? Catholicism, Feminism & the Council of Mcon" -- is available online only to subscribers, which may be the excuse you've been looking for to subscribe now.)Looking at how easily bad information spread one hundred years ago makes me wish I could say we've come a long way. The Internet makes fact-checking easier than ever -- but it takes skill to use it to find the truth, and far less skill to use it to spread or validate bad information. Here's hoping this post will stop someone, somewhere, from telling the story of the Council of Mcon as if it were true. For more background on how the Mcon story got started in the first place, check out "The Myth of Soulless Women", an article by Michael Nolan from the April 1997 First Things. And if it's the American history angle that interests you, check out Professor Cummings's recently published book, New Women of the Old Faith.In related news: in July, Notre Dame's Web site featured a response from Professor Cummings to the news of the "visitation" of American women religious. It seems quite careful and rather mild to my eyes, but it drew the ire of the Cardinal Newman Society, who called it "a radical feminist commentary that is disrespectful of the Vatican." You'll have to decide for yourself.
About the Author
Mollie Wilson O'Reilly is an editor at large and columnist at Commonweal.
49 comments
- All
- Editor Featured
Nice article by Kathleen Cummings but I don't believe her conclusion for a moment. But I'll let Peggy Steinfels relate to that which she may pass on since she knows the intractability of it. As far as the word myth is concerned it is a word which changes its meaning adding to confusion. Saying that Genesis or or other bible stories are myth is different than saying that the Council of Macon stating women had no souls is false. Talking about false impressions Mollie's post conjures up a lot of notions. The Newman Society was started by the Paulists to foster ecumenism and were roundly condemned for Americanism. As with other groups like the Franciscans the church took them over and destroyed them. Thomas clearly states that women are inferior right from conception doesn't he? And talking about myth how did the mother of Constantine ever become a saint? Because she found the true cross? You know what Mark Twain wrote about the true cross.....Of course women did exact their revenge in ages past by becoming nuns in a society in which wives were pretty much property. Now that sex is considered desirable and women are moving strongly upward the refuge to relgious life is not that attractive. At any rate I do find it troubling that at Notre Dame Professor Cummings encounters rebuke when she trumpets women's causes. There are a lot myths or falsities to overcome depending on how you want to view those terms.
"American clergy and hierarchy are less successful in selling religious life today because most Catholic women today are less willing to dedicate their entire lives to subsidizing the Churchs infrastructure."Selling? Subsidizing? God forbid we use the dirty s-words, "service" or "sacrifice." Does Cummings even realize she is insulting the nuns by implying they are stupid enough to have bought the bill of goods the clergy was "selling" them?If this is what passes for a careful and mild statement, I can only imagine what a contentious and partisan statement would look like!
Mark, you miss the essential words: "subsidizing the Churchs infrastructure. You quote it but do not seem to get it. Although the nuns managed to rise above the slave structure, the hierarchy reveled in the cheap labor. Sadly, the religious and clergy life was always a big sell which was shattered once the candidate actually entered. At which time the obedience thing took over, along with obfuscation and denial.
Bill: what is it that you "don't believe"? Mark: I certainly wouldn't describe your interpretation as careful or mild.
Mollie, This statement of Cummings: "Both Catholics and feminists will have to let go of their preconceived antipathies-if the gap is ever to be bridged."I understand that there are some unreasonable feminists. But I believe that Cummings is being too politic in giving the "Catholics" equal standing. As I see it there is not a level playing field with the patriarchs still recalcitrant.
Mark, why not interpret the statement as saying 1) they do want to serve, and sacrifice; but 2) not within the framework of the institutional church.
A more interesting question that is perhaps not yet settled is encapsulated in the title of the first chapter of John Rist's book What Is Truth? He poses it this way: "The human race, or how could women be created in the image and likeness of God?"
"1) they do want to serve, and sacrifice; but 2) not within the framework of the institutional church."But don't their sacred vows or promises situate them within the framework of the institutional church? (I'm not being argumentative - I'd really like to know).
Being within the framework of the instituional Church is a very broad area and one in which the role of women will continue (as it has down the centuries) to evolve. Emphasizing "sacred vows" gets us back to the long arguments we had about meaning of obedience and also the question of male dominace and clericalism.I think the article was disappointing (as I'v esaid) because it jumps from the 6th century to the present without toiching on much antifeminism in between (e.g. Innocent VIII.)Gradually, women were officailly accepted as somewhat equal, but it took a long time.But not that equal -no role for women's orders and now the "visitation."I think the views of religious women to this discussion would add a lot, but obviously the Romanists don't want to hear that!
I think that discomfort with the current structures of the institutional church is one reason many people don't take those vows in the first place. So people will find other ways to serve that don't require a tight connection. They remain baptized Catholics in good standing, but find ways to serve that don't require, say, obedience to a superior.
You seem to have two threads here - do women have souls? and the opinion piece from Notre Dame's professor.You may question the objectivity, etc. but you would gain a huge historical insight to the issue of catholic nuns/sisters in the United States and their relationship to the church's authority via:Double Crossed: Uncovering the Catholic Church's Betrayal of American Nuns by Kenneth Briggs (Author) From Publishers WeeklyBriggs, a former New York Times religion editor, spent eight years researching and writing this report on the disappearance of Catholic nuns from the American church scene. During that time, some 25,000 sisters died and the number of American nuns fell to under 70,000, compared with 185,000 in 1965. In setting out to learn what happened to cause this marked decline, Briggs interviewed legions of nuns who lived through the cataclysmic Second Vatican Council of 19621965, which brought major reforms to the church and religious life. Although nuns were largely excluded from the council, Briggs suggests that it gave sisters a mandate to renew their communities and the freedom to determine how. But when bishops, priests and eventually the Vatican stood in their way, the sisters were "double-crossed." Briggs believes that had the sisters been allowed to interpret Vatican II as they understood it, their decline might not have been so sharp. However, he also points to cultural shifts and church politics as factors that affected the sisterhood's vitality. Moreover, he observes that the sisters may have contributed to their own demise by remaining loyal to church authority. Readers sympathetic to the cause of sisters who sought greater reform than was achieved will most appreciate Briggs's work on this important topic. OR - Sisters: Catholic Nuns and the Making of America by John Fialka Opening Chapter: http://www.amazon.com/Sisters-Catholic-Nuns-Making-America/dp/0312325967... "Nuns were the Catholic serfs" by Jay P Dolan in his book, The American Catholic Experience. "Obviously, not all bishops acted this way; but those that did were so numerous that this aspect of American Catholic history would constitute a book in itself."
You're right, Bill D., and I didn't really mean to start a discussion about the issues that the "visitation" raises. (We'll have more opportunities for that soon, I think.) But the fact that the CNS reacted that way to Cummings's remarks seems pertinent to the point of her article -- that Catholics and feminists still regard each other with mutual (and often unfounded) suspicion. I'd say, if the Cardinal Newman Society folks really think that's a "radical feminist commentary," they're not getting out enough.
"Mark, why not interpret the statement as saying 1) they do want to serve, and sacrifice; but 2) not within the framework of the institutional church."Cathleen, Simple. That's not how the statement was written, and that's not how the statement was meant."Mark: I certainly wouldnt describe your interpretation as careful or mild."Molly, I must say that I'm quite disappointed you have not yet recognized my post as the comment of the day. What's the hold up? Obviously, you are not as on the ball as Grant Gallicho.
Ok, thx, Cathleen, I misunderstood your previous comment - I thought you were referring to women who had already made promises of religious life, and were now seeking to live out those promises outside the institutional church.Yes, I agree that the prospect of serving the institutional church can be off-putting, particularly the prospect of lifelong celibacy and lifelong attachment to a community. What we have today, istm, is a large cadre of baptized women who are serving the church - the institutional church - in a professional capacity, but without the promises, order and trappings of religious life. Teachers, pastoral ministers, nurses etc. - in fact, the roles that at one time in the US were largely filled by religious sisters. But they're missing the organizing principle - the "ordering" - of the religious communities.
Tangentially related to the women and souls topic:I seem to recall from the dear dim days of grad school that St. Augustine of Canterbury wrote a somewhat whiny letter to Pope Gregory asking whether it was OK for menstruating women to receive communion.Apparently this had been hammered out well before St. A's day, and Pope G wrote back somewhat testily to remind him that the story of the woman cured of the hemorrhage had long ago been used to overthrow of the notion that menstruating women were somehow unclean or unfit to receive the Lord.The notion that women were at times unclean, which I think crept in from Judaism, persisted, however. Vestiges of it can be seen as late as the nineteenth century in the Anglican Communion, when it was the custom for women to be "churched," i.e., return to church, only after a certain number of days were passed after childbirth, 30 days for a boy and 45 for a girl.Given that there have been these ideas floating around about women, it's sort of hard for me not to see the proscription against the ordination of women deacons and priests as as a holdover of that notion of women's uncleanliness rather than something God intended us to view as sacred tradition forever and ever, amen.
JeanI have heard that churching was also a practice, though not required, of RC women right back there in the mid-20th century. It is all too easy to confuse folkish superstitions with the Word of the Lord.
"if the Cardinal Newman Society folks really think thats a radical feminist commentary, theyre not getting out enough."Not getting out enough. Not reading. Dogmatic. On the other hand there are plenty of moderates who have never heard of Mary Daly.
For some further insight on the supposed feminist/church antagonism check out this site http://jezebel.com/5287146/original-sin-feminist-nun-promoted-for-sainthood. Or just Google Mary Ward (nun).
Bill: Who's Mary Daly?
http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/marydaly.htmlYou might also want to read this latest article by Sandra Schnieders: http://www.elephantsinthelivingroom.com/Women_Religious_and_the_Apostoli... (keeping in mind that Mollie did not intend this thread to focus on this topic)
Jean Every blog should have a good medievalist aboard. Well done.I guess St. Philip Neri parish in the Bronx was behind the times, as churching was certainly practiced there in the late forties, when I was growing up. The 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia has a description of the rite that seemed a bit more colorful than the rather furtive side-altar affair I recall asking my mother about. As she explained it, reluctantly, and with distaste, it certainly sounded like some weird purification ceremony with a strong eeeuw factor. The Catholic Encyclopedia ceremony involved the mothers having to kneel at first in the vestibule of the church, holding a candle. and be led in holding one end of the priests stole, and then be subject to many blessings and sprinklings and prayers, but finally being allowed to kneel inside the church. Of course, if the child happened to be illegitimate, the ceremony was denied. Not the churchs greatest idea, the whole thing. And no matter how they tried to revise it into a mild blessing/thanksgiving rite, the dramatic form of the ceremony continued to convey all too well what was really being projected: some strange dread, or fear, or horror of the woman who had given birth and itherby incurred some sort of impurity. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03761a.htm
Joe and Susan are right - I clearlty remember in the 50's "churchings" being announced as happenin gafter Sunday Mass -must have been common.For awhile I was afraid that this thread might degenerate in some quarters into women knowing their placef or the sake of"good order,"Today's NCR has still another reflection on the wonderful compassionate and independent religious women.I'd extend that to many who are not vowed religious women.My question remains how much does Holy Mother appreciate the gifts of women; and, do we beleive the traidtion that since Christ and the twelve were male, women should be exluded from orders, nearness to the altar? positions of any authority?
Also from the old, online Catholic Encyclopedia:
For the studious woman as for others who earn a livelihood the academic calling is only a temporary position. The sexes can never be on an equality as regards studies pursued at a university. . . .In Christianized society also man was to act as the lawful representative of authority, and the lawful defender of rights, in the family, just as in the civil, national, and religious community. Therefore, the social position of woman remains in Christianity that of subordination to man, wherever the two sexes by necessity find themselves obliged to supplement each other in common activity. The woman develops her authority, founded in human dignity, in connection with, and subordinate to, the man in domestic society as the mistress of the home. . . .Therefore the political activity of man is and remains different from that of woman, as has been shown above. It is difficult to unite the direct participation of woman in the political and parliamentary life of the present time with her predominate duty as a mother. If it should be desired to exclude married women or to grant women only the actual vote, the equality sought for would not be attained. On the other hand, the indirect influence of women, which in a well-ordered state makes for the stability of the moral order, would suffer severe injury by political equality. . . .
Mollie - to your point about the CNS reaction as a symbol of catholic vs. feminist - is this still germane?Here is an interesting article about church leadership highlighting the need for dialogue, forgiveness, and the centrality on relationships: http://www.westernprovince.org/docs/HD%20winter06_Markham_CreatingConnec... Connection in Chaotic Times - wonder if sister's points do not apply to this thread and to the continuing divide between some catholics and some feminists.Points: "Maintaining the status quo in the exercise of leadership leads inexorably to disastrous failure""Leadership today is all about having the conviction to connect across differences (male/female?); division, discord, fear (misogynistic rules - remember my German grandmother complaining about the need for purification; she had 8 children and was a staunch, active catholic woman).Wonder if it is not time for the church to seek forgiveness for some of its historical practices in terms of women.
David N, it's good to see you contributing again!
If we are going to criticize the practice of "churching", what do people think of the modern practice of "working"? I know a lot of places where women are not allowed to work until ninety days after they give birth. I do not know much about ritual ceremonies to commemorate the return to work, but I am sure that they could be quite ghastly.
My favorite is from the NEW Catholic Encyclopedia (1967) sv Doctors of the Church. The author addresses the possibility of a woman be named as a Doctor, and concludes that it would never happen since teaching is associated with ordination.Two years later, in 1969, Paul VI named Ss Catherine of Siena and Teresa of Avila as Doctors of the Church. JP2 recognized St Therese of Lisieux as one of the Church's greatest teachers some years late.
Bob, here is just one url on her.http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404701642.htmlShe also taught at Boston College. She was really a special person.
Jim McK said: If we are going to criticize the practice of churching, what do people think of the modern practice of working? I know a lot of places where women are not allowed to work until ninety days after they give birth. I do not know much about ritual ceremonies to commemorate the return to work, but I am sure that they could be quite ghastly.Jean asks: Comparing a church service that seems designed to "purify" a woman who's given birth with a work policy that requires women to take 90 days for maternity leave for a whole different reason--to ensure she has adequate time to recover and get to know her baby--strikes me as kind of odd.In any case, perhaps churching has taken on different connotations in the last 50 years or so. I've never seen it done, either as an Anglican or a Catholic. Not criticizing it; just saying it seems to have its roots in the notion that women are unclean after delivery. Am I wrong? Please correct me.And 90 days?? Most employers want you back in your seat in six weeks (eight weeks for a C-section). In many places, it's expected women will work at home during maternity leave. In any case, if anybody knows of an employer who actually BARS women from coming in for 90 days after a birth, please let me know, because I want to work there.
I believe the prayer for the mother that's part of the current baptismal rite ("God the Father, through his Son, the Virgin Marys child, has brought joy to all Christian mothers...") is the vestigial remains of the rite for "the churching of women." If that's right, the old custom has evolved into something quite lovely (and there's a matching prayer for the dad). Nevertheless, I think you're right, Jean, that the custom grew out of the old-law notions of purity and ritual impurity. I found when I was researching the altar-girl stuff that the old notion that women shouldn't be allowed into the sanctuary of the Church also lingered longer than you might expect, in official as well as unofficial ways.
This is a tangent to what you are addressing but it comes from the National Conference of Bishops of India - very interesting in terms of addressing the role and rights of women in the church (Gender Equality): http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090920/jsp/nation/story_11518250.jspIt appears to be the type of document that the USCCB was unable to finalize in the late 1980's because of both Rome and internal differences.Highlights:"Sources in the Catholic Church, one of the most rigid patriarchal structures around, said the equal representation policy was historic. It would be the first time in the history of the Catholic Church across the world that such an attempt is being made, said a source.Women, no matter whether they are nuns or ordinary laity, have never got their due. Ours is an attempt to redeem this century-long injustice, said Sister Lilly Francis, executive secretary of the CBCI Commission on gender policy.The crack at the Church glass ceiling followed an all-India survey initiated by Sister Lillys team. Some of the bodies where women stand to get equal representation are CBCI commissions, which take decisions regarding all aspects of Catholic life; seminaries; parish and diocesan pastoral councils, which take administrative decisions; finance committees that decide diocese budgets; marriage tribunals and social service societies.Women can also become pastoral assistants in all parishes and take part in a common decision-making process, says the policy, which includes a plan to ensure violence-free homes and workplaces.The gender policy would be a landmark, Sister Lilly said. It is the first time in the history of the Catholic Church that this kind of an initiative is being taken. Even fellow sisters from the so-called liberated western countries could not believe that the Catholic Church in India is going to have an egalitarian system this soon.The CBCI Commission, however, steered clear of the controversial topic of considering women for priesthood, which would allow them to conduct Mass.The Catholic Church has been consistently opposing priesthood for women, though the Anglican Church has allowed women to be ordained since the 80s.As part of its plan to bridge the divide, the CBCI Commission has suggested gender sensitivity courses and feminist theology as main subjects in seminaries, where priests and nuns train, and also called for Biblical interpretations from womens perspective.According to the policy, each parish should have a womens cell and a vigilance cell against violence. It has recommended gender sensitisation workshops for bishops, priests and other office-bearers. The CBCI has been told to condemn domestic violence and sexual abuse through church documents and homilies.The Commission has asked the CBCI to stress on education of girls in Catholic schools and organise programmes at villages, parishes and dioceses to boost self-confidence among women.Another suggestion is emphasis on equal partnership while conducting marriage preparation courses. Educate men on the art of sharing power, the Commission says.The policy also includes suggestions to ensure equal pay for equal work for women employed in Church-run institutions, and land and property rights for women."
"I believe the prayer for the mother thats part of the current baptismal rite (God the Father, through his Son, the Virgin Marys child, has brought joy to all Christian mothers) is the vestigial remains of the rite for the churching of women. If thats right, the old custom has evolved into something quite lovely (and theres a matching prayer for the dad)."Mollie, do you have a source for that? I suspect it's a nice idea but not correct. Bugnini's account of the reform doesn't mention it, for instance; I've read a lot about the reform of baptism and don't remember ever seeing this. ISTM, the root of the blessing at the end of baptism is more likely found in the general practice of formal blessings, such as the nuptial blessing at weddings, and what is really new is that the new infant baptism rite pays attention to the parents at all. I have three reasons for not seeing churching in that blessing: one is that the practice of churching is credited with being the origin of the prohibition against parents attending the baptism of their infants. Infants had to be baptized sooner than the mother were allowed to go to church. Second, the ritual of churching began at the door. Whatever the words say, the ritual was one of admittance. Third, I can't imagine if the origin was the churching of women how in the world they ever persuaded anyone to do it for men. But I could be wrong.
No source, just hearsay! So you're much more reliable. Was there a blessing of the mother in the earlier baptismal rite?
The origin of "churching" is probably Luke 2, which looks back to both the ritual purity code in Leviticus and the consecration of Samuel by his mother in 1 Sam. So its origin is in the NT fulfillment of the law, rather than in the perpetuation of it, no matter how much the rite seems to reflect the impurity of women.So it is probably better to see this as a consecration rather than a purification, an elevation to heaven rather than an elevation from the dirt. It is a woman's rite, as the story of Hannah and Samuel shows: she is the moving force behind the consecration of Samuel, not the temple or the prophet.Is "churching" really that different from "working"? In pre-modern cultures, absence from church probably meant absence from other public venues like markets, so a mandated absence probably meant some relief from at least some everyday burdens. While misogyny may be responsible for the text of the rite, it would have survived only as a woman's rite, something that women found valuable enough to participate in during the busy time after the birth of a child.
The LORD said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites: When a woman has conceived and gives birth to a boy, she shall be unclean for seven days, with the same uncleanness as at her menstrual period. On the eighth day, the flesh of the boy's foreskin shall be circumcised, and then she shall spend thirty-three days more in becoming purified of her blood; she shall not touch anything sacred nor enter the sanctuary till the days of her purification are fulfilled."
Are we to believe that things like this -- rules and commandments uttered in the voice of God himself in Leviticus and elsewhere -- were actually communicated in some way to human beings, and it was God's will that people (at least at that time) should obey ritual cleanliness laws? Or are we to believe that the cleanliness code has naturalistic origins? Did God really want his people, up until the time of St. Paul, to be circumcised? (Surely St. Paul thought so.) And if we don't today believe things like the cleanliness code came from God, how do we figure out what else God says in quotation marks in Leviticus didn't come from him either?This is an old question in a somewhat different form, but I would still like to know the answer. If we are insulted by the idea that menstruating women are unclean, surely we don't believe that uncleanliness was something God revealed to the Jews. But what else do we toss out?
I don't know how to go about answering any of David's questions (and hey, come to think of it, I don't know how we ended up on the topic of "churching" anyway). But I would like to add that my feelings about this whole topic are complicated further by the knowledge that lots of observant Jews still abide by the restrictions and guidelines for menstruating women (and for everyone else). I'm not inclined to criticize that. I think what rankles me is how, in Christian cultures, attitudes about women's purity/impurity tend to outlast the rest of the code -- and removed from the context in which they originally made sense, they look more like sexism for its own sake.
I've never heard of "churching" before. I wonder if it was cultural as much as religious, i.e. associated with certain peoples or ethnic groups. David N. suggests that the Law on this topic may reflect a wider practice and belief amoung ancient peoples. Perhaps "churching" represents the same phenomenon.
A few years ago, HBO presented a documentary entitled "Purity". To quote from a promo: "Israeli filmmaker Anat Zuria examines the Tharat Hamishpaha (family purity), the ancient laws and rituals shaping womens lives and sexuality within Jewish Orthodoxy. Giving new insight into a guarded religious community, Zuria presents her own experiences adhering to Orthodox practices, as well as those of her friends Natalie, Katie and Shira. At the heart of their stories is the "nidda - a ten to twelve day period restricting women from touching or engaging in sexual intimacy with their husbands, which culminates with a trip to the mikve (cleansing baths)." See http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/pages/c612.shtml for more details.What the connection is between this, Professor Cummings and the Cardinal Newman Society, I'm not sure, but I remember being fascinated by the film (not available on Netflix, by the way)
JimDon't forget that the church itself is, among other things, a human organization and no human organization is without its connections with particular cultural beliefs and practices. Consider. Why are bread and wine our symbols of food and drink? Why do we make use of olive oil and beeswax candles? These are not universals. As for churching, it surely has its roots in human ideas about ritual impurity, but the church at one time made these ideas and practices associated with them its own and now it has abandoned them. This should be insructive.Just now I remember that my mother once told me--I was very young and very curious-- that she was not present at my baptism because mothers did not take part in that ceremony. I remember thinking it very odd.
Sorry for prolonging the "churching" discussion. I no longer have easy access to an extensive library of liturgical books, for instance the 1954 US Latin/English Roman Ritual. (This interestingly was the first sanctioning of some use of the vernacular in the Church's rites. It was part of Pius XII's very important pre-Vatican II liturgical reforms.) I would like to be able to see the wording of the "churching" prayers. The practice was not uncommon at least up until the late 1950s. I don't think it was in any sense mandatory. It was a "laudable" practice for those who wished to present themselves for the rite. I recall that now and then as an altar server in a suburban Washington parish I would be asked by the priest to go with him after Mass to the altar rail (certainly not the Church door) because a new mother had requested the prayers. It was very low-key. The origins of the rite were no doubt regrettable, but I think in time that many women saw the practice as a blessing on their new motherhood.I am the second of eleven, and I don't recall my very observant Mother presenting herself for the rite. Perhaps a priest friend of the family did it in our house. (The family's closest priest friend, a friend now of sixty years, is still actively serving in a parish at ninety. He is for my siblings and me the last link to the previous generation.)What was strange was going off to the baptisms of my brothers (my two sisters, the tenth and eleventh, weren't born till after I left home and was not permitted in the grim rules of those days to go home for a mere baptism) while our Mother stayed at home as though some kind of invalid. And what was she doing? Preparing for the family party when we all returned from church! She, of course, got to see the photos when they were "developed" a week later.Again, excuse the loquacity, and on a tangential point.
Well, it's an interesting topic! Here's a little more info from the past, which jibes with John Page's recollections. I have a prayer book -- A Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Catholic Laity -- that belonged to my grandmother, and I remembered that "churching" is in it, so I've just looked it up. Now, the book itself dates to 1888, but this edition is copyright 1930. It has a section headed "Blessing of Women After Childbirth commonly called The Churching of Women." Beneath that, it says:
If, according to a pious and praiseworthy custom, a woman, after childbirth, wishes to come to the church to give thanks to God for her safe delivery, and to ask the Priest's blessing, he, vested in surplice and white stole, and attended by an acolyte carrying the holy-water sprinkler, will proceed to the door of the church. While the woman kneels there, holding a lighted candle in her hand, the priest sprinkles her with holy water...
There follows a brief service of antiphons and psalms.
Then, reaching the left end of the stole into the woman's hand, the Priest introduces her into the church, saying: "Enter thou into the temple of God, adore the Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who hath given thee fruitfulness of offspring."
The woman kneels before the altar, and there are more prayers and responses. The final blessing does seem to be the source of the blessing in the modern rite, as I'd heard:
Almighty, everlasting God, who, through the Delivery of the Blessed Virgin Mary, hast turned the pains of the faithful at childbirth into joy: look mercifully on this Thy handmaid, who cometh in gladness to Thy temple to offer up her thanks: and grant that after this life, through the intercession of the same Blessed Mary, she may be found worthy to attain, together with her offspring, unto the joys of everlasting happiness. Through Christ our Lord.
Here's the modern blessing:
God the Father, through his Son, the Virgin Mary's child, has brought joy to all Christian mothers, as they see the hope of eternal life shine on their children. May he bless the mother of this child. She now thanks God for the gift of her child. May she be one with her son/daughter in thanking God for ever in heaven, in Christ Jesus our lord.
Churchng was still common when I was first ordained (class of 1964), and I may myself have performed the rite. If I can find my old ritual book among my boxes of books, I'll look it up.The question of ritual purity is a complicated one, and by no means a phenomenon confined to Judaism or Christianity. I visited a sacred spring in Bali where a sign asked menstruating women not to approach the sacred spot. I don't think that the issue is sex-specific. I would like to learn more about it. Has anyone read Mary Douglas's books on Numbers and Leviticus? She must discuss them there. It's not clear that the reason why the loss of bodily fluids, whether blood or semen, was considered to disqualify one from sacred actions. I have seen one explanation that it is not because sexual activity or menstruation are "dirty," but because they involve the sacred that the rules were evolved--no mixings of the sacred, as it were. If one notices the language, some unexpected things appear. Thus when the priest moved from his service in the Temple in ancient Judaism, he had to "purify" himself before he could return to ordinary life. And the vessels that have held the Body and Blood of Christ, we say, need to be "purified" at the end of Mass. So "purification" seems to have something to with passage from one realm to the other.Anyway, it's a fascinating anthropological phenomenon.
Isn't "churching" a ritual affirmation that women have souls? If the rite goes back to the time of Christ, it would be a reason why the Council of Macon could never have happened.I was looking at prayers from an Eastern church yesterday, and saw that one long one had two endings, one for a mother and child and the other, shorter one for a mother whose child did not survive. What do we do now to acknowledge the stillborn or miscarriages? To express our acceptance of and concern for these mothers?
Mollie, I guess I'm the guilty party for bringing up churching, but the discussion has been the highlight of a bad week for me, so thanks for allowing it to continue.Many thanks to Jim McK for this: The origin of churching is probably Luke 2, which looks back to both the ritual purity code in Leviticus and the consecration of Samuel by his mother in 1 Sam. So its origin is in the NT fulfillment of the law, rather than in the perpetuation of it, no matter how much the rite seems to reflect the impurity of women.Also thanks to Mollie for providing bits of the prayers. All the historic and personal anecdotes seem to point to a ritual that has evolved over time--and probably reflects changing attitudes about women. All of the Catholic mothes in our neighborhood attended the baptism of their babies as far as I can remember (early sixties on). As for what the church does to express acceptance and concern for mothers after miscarriage, that question has been hashed over a lot here. I find All Soul's Day observances personally meaningful as a day of remembrance, and I suspect many women who have miscarried do, too.Still births seem to be treated somewhat differently; I've attended two or three funerals for stillborn babies in Catholic churches.
Our parish just finished and blessed a garden in the alcove around the bell tower and in front of the church entrance that is for memories and recognition of lost babies via miscarriage, sickness, disease, etc.
In The Order of Christian Funerals (1988), there is a section entitled "Rite of Final Commendation For An Infant." The first sentence of the introductory rubric or directive says that the "the rite may be used in the case of a stillbirth or a newborn infant who dies shortly after birth, or may be adapted for use with parents who have suffered a miscarriage." (A prayer to be used after a miscarriage is provided.)The Latin text, the Ordo Exsequiarum (1969), did not provide for instances such as these as well as many other frequently recurring pastoral situations. For this reason, the International Commission on English the Liturgy (ICEL), as part of its process, begun in 1980, of revising the first generation of English liturgical books (issued in the late 1960s/early 1970s), provided new rites and newly-composed prayers to meet the pastoral situations not addressed in the Latin book for the funeral rite.In 2001 the Holy See issued new regulations for the translation of the liturgical books into the vernacular languages. All of the existing books must be revised in light of these very restrictive directives. While originally-composed texts are still allowed, it is a very grudging concession. As a consequence, in the coming Missal, now expected in late 2011, there will be very few, if any, texts composed in English (as there are in the 1973 Missal now in use and in the revision of the Missal completed by the former ICEL in 1998 but denied by the Holy See in 2002). Eventually the Order of Christian Funerals will also be revised in light of the 2001 Instruction Liturgiam Authenticam, and the texts mentioned above will very likely be dropped from the funeral rite. And so we go forward?!
Strange to me is how the discussion on whether women have sould deveolved into a discussion of how the Church treats a new mother or one who miscarried.In the meantime, I note 9for Mollie's intest) that Bishop Morlino, up in Wisconsin (who banned a parish leader woman who supports woman's ordination) has imported Spanish priests wh owill not allow altar girls and have lots of Latin Masses.(NCR had a wonderful article on those VII priests.) I can see the furture running more from the JPII style like Morlino who want strict "orthodoxy" and women to know their place. Be good moms and submissive to your husbands....?
Bill D. - what a wonderful idea for your parish!John Page - as it happens, I'm involved in a ministry that provides burial for infants who are abandoned (usually, left unclaimed with the medical examiner; or, on occasion, a victim of crime). We use those prayers from the Order of Christian Funerals all the time. They are very beautiful. It would be a TRAVESTY if they were omitted from future editions of the rite.
Dr. Page - it is truly a sad and tragic affair that your efforts (& ICEL - e.g. Denis Hurley) will probably be undone, deleted, and ignored. In the single focus to re-latinize, the curial minority obviously show that they have overlooked valuable encultaration and true evolution of the need for national conferences to translate and add rites and prayers to meet the pastoral needs of their people.I apologize for the hurt and pain caused by unthinking and self-righteous clerics without even the thanks and acknowledgement that you so deserved.I saw and used some of your proposed last translations and they were very poetic, scriptural, addressed needs such as stillbirth, miscarriages, suicide deaths, etc.


text: I'm sure that others have done a tut on this guy but I decided on doing one as well. ^^ This is my favorite character named Jack Frost from Rise of the Guardians. He is actually 300 years old but "trapped" as eighteen as his appearance. He is the Spirit of Winter and able to control wind, snow, and ice. I hope you guys enjoy my "how to draw Jack Frost" tut!!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
FILE - In this Feb. 16, 2012 file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un walks past his uncle Jang Song Thaek, left, after reviewing a parade of thousands of soldiers and commemorating the 70th birthday of the late Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korean state media say Kim Jong Un's uncle has been executed, calling the leader's former mentor "worse than a dog." The announcement on Thursday evening, Dec. 12, 2013, comes days after Pyongyang announced that Jang Song Thaek had been removed from all his posts because of allegations of corruption, drug use, gambling, womanizing and generally leading a "dissolute and depraved life." (AP Photo/Kyodo News, File) JAPAN OUT, CREDIT MANDATORY
BEIJING (AP) -- The stunning execution of Kim Jong Un's powerful uncle strips China of its most important link to North Korea's leadership. It also deepens concerns over how the unruly neighbor will proceed on Beijing's key issues of nuclear disarmament and economic reform.
Facing heightened uncertainty, Beijing will likely avoid for now any response that might boost panic or paranoia in Pyongyang, where China is both valued and resented as a key backer of Kim's regime.
According to Jingdong Yuan, an expert on northeast Asian security at the University of Sydney, China is likely dusting off contingency plans for instability or even a regime collapse that could see thousands of refugees swarming across its borders, put the North's nuclear facilities at risk and prompt action by the U.S. and South Korean militaries.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Venezuelan explosive experts are inspecting a grounded Air France flight after being tipped off by French authorities that a terrorist group may be planning to detonate an explosive device in midair.
Venezuelan Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres told state TV that bomb experts are performing an exhaustive search of the aircraft that will take several hours.
Rodriguez said that flight (hash)385 to Paris was scheduled to depart at 7:25 p.m. local time Saturday but was cancelled after French authorities received information from a credible source that a terrorist group is seeking to place a bomb aboard a future flight between the two cities.
He said information is still being processed and it is unclear whether the targeted flight would depart from Caracas or Paris.
QUNU, South Africa (AP) -- Nelson Mandela is back home. A hearse carrying the body of the former South African president has arrived in the rural village of Qunu (KOO'-noo), where he'll be buried after his funeral tomorrow.
An enormous convoy of police, military and other vehicles escorted the vehicle carrying Mandela's casket to his family compound. As it passed by, people lining the route sang, applauded and wept.
On arrival at the family compound, the national flag covering Mandela's casket was replaced with a leopard skin, a tribal tradition honoring a leader.
Mandela's journey started with pomp and ceremony at an air base in the capital before being flown aboard a military plane to his hometown in eastern South Africa.
JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- The spokesman for retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu says the Nobel prize-winning cleric has changed his plans and will attend the funeral of anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela.
Roger Friedman said late Saturday that Tutu will take a flight early Sunday morning in order to attend Mandela's funeral service in Qunu. He did not say what brought about the change in Tutu's plans.
Earlier Saturday Tutu had said he would not attend because he had not been invited and did not want to "gatecrash" Mandela's burial services. The South African government said that Tutu had been invited.
LIMASSOL, Cyprus (AP) -- A Danish chemical expert says Danish and Norwegian ships can safely ferry up to 500 tons of Syria's most dangerous chemical weapons out of the strife-torn country.
Bjoern Schmidt says sealed containers full of chemical compounds, which when mixed can create lethal Sarin and VX gases, will be loaded at opposite ends of the two cargo ships.
Schmidt said Saturday the exact quantity of chemicals to be taken out of Syria is unknown.
Cmdr. Henrik Holck Rasmussen, of Danish frigate HDMS Esbern Snare, said two cargo ships will go to Syria as many times as needed to pick up all chemical weapons.
The Danish warship and a Norwegian frigate will act as escorts. Both are docked in Cyprus along with a cargo ship. The second cargo ship hasn't arrived yet.
BAGHDAD (AP) -- At least 12 people have been killed today in attacks in and around the Iraqi capital.
Police officials say six were killed and 15 wounded when a car bomb went off in western Baghdad near a tent serving Shiite pilgrims heading to the holy Shiite city of Karbala.
Earlier in the day, three people were killed and 11 others were wounded when a bomb exploded at an outdoor market in a southeastern suburb of Baghdad.
Police say two people were killed and seven others were wounded in a bomb blast inside a restaurant in a northeastern suburb of the capital.
And gunmen killed the owner of a grocery store as he was walking near his Baghdad home.
At least 196 people have died in attacks across the country so far this month, according to an Associated Press count.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- An official says Gaza's rescue service has evacuated more than 4,000 people from homes flooded after four days of heavy rain across the territory.
The downpour continued Saturday. It's part of a storm that covered Jerusalem and some of the West Bank with thick snow.
In Gaza, some of those trapped by rising waters were evacuated by fishing boats. A local TV station showed a rescuer standing on the shoulders of another man in a boat as they tried to reach people in a third-floor apartment.
Mohammed al-Madaina of the Gaza rescue service says efforts were hampered by lack of fuel and power, a result of a tightened Egyptian border closure. Israel and Egypt have restricted access to Gaza since the Islamic militant Hamas seized the territory in 2007.
CAIRO (AP) -- Egypt's interim President Adly Mansour says a key referendum on the country's amended constitution is set for Jan. 14-15, and is calling on citizens to vote "yes" to move ahead with what he terms the country's transition to democracy.
Mansour said Saturday that the draft constitution "should make every Egyptian proud" because it sets up a modern democratic state. He said the vote on the amended charter will pave the way for elections.
The charter replaces the constitution drafted by an Islamist-led panel and suspended after President Mohammed Morsi was ousted by the military in July.
The new draft constitution is a first step in implementing the political transition laid down by the military after it removed Morsi from power.
NEW DELHI (AP) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he hopes the United States will reconsider its stand on a security agreement it wants him to sign in the interests of bringing a lasting peace to his war-torn country.
Karzai said Saturday that the Afghan people can't endorse a deal without the U.S. agreeing to end airstrikes and raids on Afghan homes and help broker a peace process with the Taliban.
Karzai told reporters in the Indian capital of New Delhi that the Afghan people understand the consequences of defying the U.S. and that it could cost them billions of dollars.
The United States is pressing Karzai to sign the deal, which would permit a small force of American military trainers to remain in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 2014.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran has canceled a planned $500 million loan to Pakistan to build part of a pipeline to bring natural gas from the Islamic Republic.
Deputy Oil Minister Ali Majedi said Iran has no obligation to finance the Pakistani side of the project and also doesn't have the money.
Iran has already invested over $2 billion to construct the Iranian side of the pipeline. But there are serious doubts about how Pakistan could finance the $2 billion needed to construct the pipeline on its territory. Iran's former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had pledged the loan.
Pakistan has welcomed an Iranian offer to approach third parties, including European companies, to finance the project.
"Pakistani officials were told in recent talks that, given the sanctions, Iran is not able to finance construction of the pipeline (in Pakistan) and has no obligation to do so," he said. His comments were posted on the oil ministry's website, shana.ir, Saturday.
Majedi complained that Pakistan has done little to construct its own section of the project. Under a valid contract, Pakistan is required to finish construction of the pipeline on its territory by the end of 2014.
"If a contractor is chosen today and pipeline construction begins today, it will take four years to complete it. Should Pakistan fail to take gas by the end of next year, Iran will demand compensation under the terms of the contract," he said.
The Iran-Pakistan pipeline is designed to help Pakistan overcome its mushrooming energy needs. Pakistanis experience frequent blackouts.
The U.S. has opposed the project but leaders of both Iran and Pakistan have vowed to implement what they refer to as the "peace pipeline."
BEIJING (AP) -- An official says a gas explosion at a coal mine in western China has killed 21 workers.
The workers were earlier reported trapped by the blast in Xinjiang region's Changji prefecture. Twelve others escaped the explosion early Friday.
An official at the Xinjiang's work safety bureau said Saturday that 21 miners were confirmed dead and one was injured. The official, surnamed Wang, refused to give further details and said the incident was under investigation.
Such accidents are usually caused by a failure to ventilate methane gas from the shaft. China's mines are the deadliest in the world and suffer frequent explosions, floods and cave-ins.
Safety improvements have reduced the number of deaths in recent years, but regulations are still often ignored.
MADRID (AP) -- Around 6,000 people dressed as Santa Claus and his elves have run a "mini-marathon" through the streets of Madrid to promote festive cheer as the country tries to emerge from a two-year recession.
While grown-ups dressed in red costumes with wispy white beards, children donned green elf outfits to run the 5.5 kilometer (3.4 miles) course through the city center.
The race was organized Saturday by one of Spain's leading department stores and it contributed 1 euro ($1.34) for each entrant to a charity that buys Christmas presents for deprived children around the world.
Javier Menendez, one of the runners, said he was surprised at the number of people who have donned the robes for the run.


text:
Another essential exercise for posterior chain and hamstring development, Partner Glute Hams are important because of their emphasis on eccentric strength, the hamstring action that occurs during a landing from a jump or off of a cliff or natural feature. This is important to help prevent ACL injuries in skiers.
- 22 Resorts
- Consistent Snow
- Diverse destinations
- Resorts open before those of many other states
- Home to Vail, Beaver Creek, Copper Mountain


text:
Can anyone recommend a good set of drink coasters?
Okay, so know most of you don't come here to talk about coasters. Most of us have 'em, though; some good, some bad, most in between. Well, I'm tired of crappy coasters that leave moisture on my nice home theater furniture. Can anyone recommend some good coaster brands?
21 Answers answer
These are the best coasters, and the only you will ever need:
Stargate SGU Coaster Set
I have 2 sets, and will never own any others...unless they make a set out of actual naquadah.
"Thirstystone" coasters are nice. they're made of sandstone that absorbs the moisture. Lots of designs available. They're a little on the expensive side (~$15-$25 for set of four) but they work well and look nice.
My sister and Mom have also made some out of unglazed tile stamped with various designs and, I think, sealed with something that still allows the water to be absorbed but protects the stamp design. They're both Stamin' Up demonstrators. You might see if you know anyone involved in that business.
here you go. Single best set of Coasters I've ever come across.
Get the sandstone ones that @gt0163c recommends. I received a set from a friend as a wedding gift, and they're the best thing you can have. They usually have a felt piece on the bottom to further protect furniture, and absorb condensation, drips, and protect against heat and cold as well. I have multiple sets of coasters, but these are the very best.
I also have some nice tile ones with felt covered "feet" which raise them above the furniture they're meant to protect, and they seem to work well. Those were made by a local artist, but I'm sure they're a common idea.
In all seriousness, the sandstone ones are nice, I also have a set of slate ones I got at kohls a few years back that I like.
Also a fan of the sandstone ones -there are lots of designs available - you can find something for any decor. I gift these as well, and often bring them back as souvenirs when we travel.
http://www.thirstycoasters.com/ - sale going on with free shipping over $50 order and $1 off many designs
The best Coasters: http://www.amazon.com/The-Very-Best-Coasters/dp/B0013D8J9C/ref=sr_1_7?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1339299032&sr=1-7&keywords=the+coasters
Now you made me shop for some of these! Check these out at Amazon for $15.99
I have some nice wood coasters with a cork inset, and I also have a set of sandstone coasters. I like them both, and both protect my furniture quite nicely.
Brooklyn Slate has some nice ones, also reinforced with cork backing. $22/4
I got my sister and brother-in-law a cheese board from them and it's really cool.
I use thirstystone at work on my desk. At home I have a 5"x5" wool "saddleblanket" coaster sold at one of the local tourist places. It's very thick hand woven natural wool, so the moisture goes in at the top and doesn't go through to the bottom, keeping the glass drip free and the table dry. It's also attractive and soft, so setting the glass down is silent. It's exactly this one:
I ended up going with the Thirstystone sandstone coasters. They're really great. They absorb a TON of liquid and look much better than the corkboard junk I had before. Thanks for all the help!
We sell custom beverage coaster sets on our website http://www.mycreationsunlimited.com . Our beverage coaster sets come in marble, travertine marble, natural slate and tile. They are unique indeed and definitely won't ruin any furniture. They all have 4 felt protecting pads on the bottoms of the coasters and the base. The cost is $24.99 + shipping.
Take it from me, the Coaster King. My super absorbent, drip-free drink coasters absorb every drop giving you a drip-free drink. They are customizable with ANY artwork or logo you provide or you can choose from dozens of designs on my web site at www.dripbusters.com. Other great uses for my drip-free drink coasters are as an easy to remove sink stopper, also they work great to open those stubborn bottles and jars with. Trim them down with scissors to fit in your autos cupholders. They work great to use for leaning your elbow on at your computer, stop hurting your funny bone. Set one on the hard ground or floor when you have to kneel down on your knee and be in comfort. They are super soft and super absorbent. They are also very affordable. Trust me, those Thirsty Stone coasters will no longer absorb once the surface gets worn down. So forget the rest and buy the best!
I forgot to mention my drip-free drink coasters are also machine washable AND dishwasher safe! Get your sets today!
Take some time to look at our Coaster gift sets of six slate coasters. Many models to choose from plus if you have a need for a custom coaster for weddings , special events such as class reunions, club or organizations such as Lions, masonic, etc. we can customize . We also have done many special orders for Businesses and colleges . Each coaster is a one of a kind as it carries it own grain pattern designed by nature . The coaster has a cork bottom to protect furniture and we have many designs to choose from .Our set of six coasters arrive gift boxed and are very reasonably priced at 11.99 per set, They are great to travel with and with the historical background of slate .... they make a great conversation piece to give to your special friends and loved ones. Best of all they are made right here in the USA in the heart of the historical old slate mining town of Bangor Pennsylvania.
Before you buy your coasters come take a look at www.capozzoloslate.com
I may be a little bias but we are a manufacture of drink coasters here in the USA that are very unique.
We have hundreds of colors and designs, that are washable and last a lifetime. Magic Mug Rugs are our brand name and are super absorbent, holding three times their weight in liquid.
Check out our video http://youtu.be/tXCCj3iI4EU
or shop here https://drinkcoastersusa.com/shop
The best drink coasters on the market are my drip-free drink coasters! They can be found at www.dripbusters.com Here is my commercial too-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiac2caCgnE Please do not contact the toll free number, it is no longer mine. However, you can purchase from my web site anytime you like.
The best drink coasters that absorb are at McCarterCoasters.com
All made by REAL LIVE AMERICANS!
Hello Magic Mug Rugs are a 100% "Made in USA" and are super absorbent Green Product
Check out our video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXCCj3iI4EU
Website http://drinkcoastersusa.com
These douches with full paragraph answers trying to boast their "company". I know I am years late, but I just bought a home and I am thankful to the actual users for their input.


text:
Adidas Copa Spain T-Shirt - White
£29.99 £24.99
Adidas Skateboarding hit the ground running with a history of international recognition just from the name. The performance of Adidas products has been brought into the skateboard industry with a whole range of designs which still feature the iconic three-stripe logo. The Adidas Campus Vulc and Busenitz have been some of the most popular Adidas Skateboarding footwear releases.


text:
Teaching Practices & Technology Platforms
by Francesca Socolick
Jan 19, 2015
Many of the teaching and learning technologies being used or considered by a large number of U.S. colleges are offered at NYU; additionally, several of these services have already been integrated with NYU Classes, the University's central learning management system. The University continues to expand the breadth of academic technologies available to support technology enhanced education, including an enhanced service model for instructional technology support designed to raise awareness about the services available to faculty, while also fostering collaboration across schools and departments.
Read More
Technology, Connect - Information Technology at NYU, Academics | Article


text:
Topeka Police are investigating a shooting at 29th and Michigan Sunday afternoon. 25 year-old David Wakes was driving southbound on Michigan when shots were fired at him.
Topeka Police are asking for your help in solving this crime. They say it appears Wakes was fired at from another vehicle.
One witness who refused to give his name said he was doing laundry when he heard four gunshots. Topeka Police have not confirmed how many shots were fired.
Officers were called to the scene about 3:00 Sunday afternoon. Upon arrival police say they found the Wakes still in his vehicle. One witness who refused to give her name said she walked up to the car to try to help the bleeding man but the doors were locked.
American Medical Response arrived at the scene and tried to resuscitate the man but they were not successful. Several people gathered around the scene. Some of them were friends and family. Police say two chaplains came to the scene to help comfort those who knew the man.
The Coronor's office arrived and white sheets were set up as the body was removed from the scene. Police say they have no suspects at this time. If anyone has information they are asked to call CrimeStoppers at (785) 234-0007. Remember you can remain anonymous.
This is the third homicide in Topeka this year.


text:
June 12, 2012
Critics of the U.S. Supreme Court's "Citizens United" decision have pointed to the ruling as a force that has unleashed undue corporate influence on elections and governance. But, in What's Good for Business: Business and American Politics since World War II (Oxford University Press), editors Kim Phillips-Fein and Julian Zelizer show how business has mobilized to shape public policy and government institutions, as well as electoral outcomes, for decades.
Phillips-Fein, the author of Invisible Hands: The Making of the Conservative Movement from the New Deal to Reagan, is an associate professor at NYU's Gallatin School of Individualized Study; Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University.
The volume's essays explore the complex evolution of the business-government relationship in several arenas--from attempts to create a corporate-friendly tax policy and regulations that would work in the interests of particular industries, to local boosterism as a weapon against New Deal liberalism, to the nexus between evangelical Christianity and the oil industry, to the frustrations that business people felt in struggles with public interest groups.
The resulting history shows business actors organizing themselves to affect government in myriad ways--often successfully, but other times with outcomes far different than they hoped for. In the end, the work presents an image of American politics that is more complex and contested than is often perceived.
Essays include: "The Liberal Invention of the Multinational Corporation"; "The Politics of Environmental Regulation"; and "Pharmaceutical Politics and Regulatory Reform in Postwar America."
For review copies, contact Alyssa Bender, Oxford University Press, at
212.743.8268 or firstname.lastname@example.com.
This Press Release is in the following Topics:
Gallatin School of Individualized Study, Research
Type: Press Release
Press Contact: James Devitt | (212) 998-6808


text:
Shaun Stanley/Durango Herald
Mitch Hoke thinks more mountain bike races should be like the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic.
Between the crowds that pushed against the tape and barricades to cheer the riders on, the route that wound through Durango�s main thoroughfare and even through the inside of Steamworks Brewing Co., and strong competition from around the country, Boulder�s Hoke said Sunday�s race �was hands down the best mountain bike race I�ve ever been to.�
It probably didn�t hurt that he won it, either.
Hoke held off Fort Lewis College�s Rotem Ishay, a two-time Israeli and two-time collegiate national champion, on the final stretch of the three-lap course to claim the Iron Horse mountain bike crown.
Howard Grotts of FLC took third, way ahead of the rest of the pack after riding through downtown Durango, up and around the FLC campus and back through downtown for the finish.
�It was really hard,� Ishay said. �It basically covered everything you can cover just outside of town.�
Hoke and Grotts broke out early, while Ishay struggled with a bad start after his pedal slipped on the first slippery climb.
Ishay, who finished 17th in Saturday�s road race to Silverton, caught the duo on the second lap and overtook Grotts before Hoke turned on the burners on the overpass bridge that crossed over Saturday�s criterium track shortly before the finish downtown.
Fresh off a sixth-place finish in the road race, Grotts, a Durango native and Durango High School alumnus, said he just didn�t have it in him to catch the other two once they passed him.
�I just thought if I could limit the damage he did to me on the climbs, I could catch him on the flats and decents,� Hoke said.
Grotts, the defending Iron Horse mountain bike champion who just returned from European mountain bike racing, said the level of competition in this year�s race was much higher than last year � the first year Iron Horse organizers decided to bring back mountain biking after a long hiatus.
�Durango World Championship: That�s what it is in three words,� Ishay said.
And after riding in Europe, Grotts was happy to be back in front of a hometown crowd.
�Those guys over there cheer for all the Frenchmen,� Grotts said. �But they cheer louder for us here.�
And nowhere was the cheering louder than inside Steamworks, where the riders rode through an open restaurant window, through the bar, down a ramp out the back and over a patch of crowd-pleasing obstacles.
�It was awesome going through that bar,� Hoke said. �It�s too bad more races aren�t like this.�
�Steamworks was insane,� said Sarah Zoey Sturm of Durango, who took fifth in the �super-duper suffery� women�s field. �I would do that section over and over again, it was so fun. And sketchy. I�m glad I still have all my teeth.�
Sturm, a former national collegiate mountain bike champion at Fort Lewis, said her first professional race was �the most nerve-wracking thing ever.�
�I thought I was either going to barf or cry at the start,� she said.
Durango native Teal Stetson-Lee didn�t barf or cry and kept all of her teeth, too, as she managed to make her first-place finish look easy.
After taking second in last year�s race, Stetson-Lee said she came out with a �vengeance� and took advantage of months of training on the tight and turny �tape maze� section in FLC�s Factory Trails to build her lead bit by bit.
�My hometown trails � I�m quite fond of,� Stetson-Lee said. �Those seconds, they just add up ... I was like, �I know how to ride this.��
Sturm, who is a former roommate of Stetson-Lee, said she had no doubt her friend would take the top spot Saturday.
�I kind of knew she was going to go for the win, and when Teal gets an idea in her head, she does it,� Sturm said.
The former Fort Lewis rider said it was �a dream� to ride with the �legendary� Shonny Vanlandingham, who took second behind her Luna Chix teammate.
Vanlandingham, the 2010 Xterra offroad triathlon world champion, is recovering from reconstructive knee surgery late last year.
Boulder�s Meredith Miller, who took eighth in the road race as part of her first-ever visit to Durango, finished third.
�It was really awesome,� Stetson-Lee said. �I love winning races in my home town; it�s the best.�


text:
Aden+Anais Hide and Sea Hooded Towel & Washcloth
by Aden + Anais
Set of one hooded terry towel and one 100% cotton muslin washcloth.
Natural, gentle muslin has been used by mothers to care for their children for countless generations. This Aden+Anais towel & washcloth set includes a muslin washcloth, styled in our exclusive prints, and a hooded, plush terry towel that keeps little heads warm and dry.
The large double-layer hooded towel, measuring 32? x 32?, is 100% terry cotton, which is extra absorbent and durable. The four-layer washcloth gets softer after each wash, making it extra gentle on baby?s delicate skin. These sets are soft and luxurious and create a perfect bathing experience, both in the tub and out.
© 2016 My Sweet Muffin illustrations by Mariah DeMarco site by Aeolidia


text:
TOPEKA – The City of Topeka and the Topeka Police Department would like to announce a crime-fighting initiative, and invite members of the public to get involved. The Topeka Police Department has entered into an agreement with Electronic Tracking SystemsSM (ETS) to provide the tools, technology, and training necessary to reduce property crime in Topeka. The City of Topeka is the first in the nation to adopt a proactive program of this size and scope, and can be a blueprint for success.
Property crimes and robberies occur at an unacceptable rate in our community, and present a constant, reoccurring, and expensive threat to our City and its economy. During the past several years, community activism has helped reduce these crimes, and while the statistics have slowly improved, we have more work to do.
In 2012, the City of Topeka saw 6,817 property crimes (auto theft, burglary, copper, pharmaceutical and construction material thefts, etc.). Each crime can cost the community from $7,500 to $21,000 on average. The most conservative estimate, $7,500 per crime, reveals a potential cost to our community of more $51 million, and a significant amount of this crime is preventable.
Working with the Property Crime Reduction Program facilitator, ETS, the Topeka Police Department will strive to achieve the following results, because a reduction in crime equals an increase in property value, retail value, and general wellbeing of the community.
We can:
* Increase gross municipal product.
* Increase housing values.
* Increase commercial development/values.
* Increase tax base and revenues.
* Create a safer place for citizens to work, play, and live.
It will take community involvement to generate the funds to implement and support a program of this scope. Many members of our community have been directly affected by this type of crime and understand the personal nature and expense of property crime. Together we can make a difference.


text:
'It's not our fault' is not enough
Even those who initially were skeptical, as was this newspaper, about the need for construction of the Polk Parkway toll road, are now impressed by the convenience it offers to motorists seeking to avoid traffic congestion, particularly around Lakeland.
The planned eastern extension will provided needed relief from truck congestion that is certain to be the result of the intermodal rail freight terminal between Bartow and Lake Wales.
Although the parkway speed limit is unrealistically low for much of its distance — working to the advantage of numerous speed traps posted along it — the road is a welcome relief from the bumper to bumper traffic that has become a part of our daily lives.
A quarter here, a buck and a quarter there, is money well spent when gasoline prices easily cost motorists 20 to 25 cents per mile.
But an absurd gaffe regarding a toll collection issue — endlessly reported by Tampa's WFLA-TV — disclosed a major problem in governance of the parkway system.
As reported by Channel 8 and The Tampa Tribune, last April, Donna Mercurio got on the Suncoast Expressway in Brooksville, and mistakenly exited through a SunPass lane without having her transponder in the car. She returned to the toll booth to attempt to pay the 25-cent toll.
Finding it unmanned, she picked up an envelope provided for motorists without proper change, and mailed a check for 50 cents to the state, presumably 25 cents for the missed toll and another quarter for the return visit. The state cashed her check.
She and her 79-year-old husband, Tony, left a short time later for Michigan, thinking the matter resolved.
When the couple returned to Brooksville in November, they found bills in their mailbox from the state assessing fines totaling $268 and a notice of suspension of Tony Mercurio's driver's license.
To keep things in perspective, the fine was 1,072 times the amount of the toll that his wife missed, then sent to the state in recompense. That would be like a fine of $10,720 for taking a package of socks that cost $10.
And Tony Mercurio, who unwittingly had been driving with an expired license for several months, was not even the 25-cent violator. That is a major flaw with Florida laws that impose penalties against the owner — not the driver — of cars that run red lights or miss toll booths: Guilty until proven innocent, whether or not you are aware of the accusation.
When neither the Turnpike Authority nor the Hernando County court clerk's office showed an interest in solving the Mercurios' problem, the couple contacted the 8 On Your Side ombudsman at WFLA, and within two days, the bureaucratic egg was unscrambled.
It seems the SunPass people and the Turnpike Authority folks do not communicate with each other about such matters.
In the finest bureaucratic fashion, their position was, "Whatever went wrong, it's not our fault."
Even if two agencies involved in collecting tolls do not consider it important to communicate with each other before imposing fines that are 1,000 times the amount owed, other questions cry out for answers.
Chief among these: why does the state have the authority to suspend a driver's license without so much as requiring a return receipt for the notice of suspension, which would show if the notice were ever delivered? Bureaucratic answer: "As long as it's not our fault, who cares?" This fiasco occurred in Hernando County; it just as easily could have occurred in Polk.
The turnpike system is a boon to motorists in Polk County and throughout the state.
But it suffers from inadequate management of those occasions on which a confused motorist sends payment to the state to correct a simple toll booth oversight.
"It's not our fault" is not a solution


text:
The Susie and Joy Show
There's all kinds of love. There's heterosexual love. There's homosexual love. There's love of one's parents and love of one's children. There's love of friends. There's love of racket sports. Or golf. There's love of pets. That probably ranks ahead of sports. There's love of nature. Does that include house plants? And then there's the love between comedians Susie Essman and Joy Behar.
I feel comfortable describing it as love, even though I don't think that precise word crossed their lips when they got together recently. But you could feel it in the room, which was a good thing. Because the room—a TV studio, actually, in the extreme West 30s, where Ms. Behar shoots her Current TV show "Joy Behar: Say Anything"—didn't have much else to recommend it.
"This dump has an all-purpose dressing room, make-up room, bathroom," Ms. Behar explained. "A tiny bathroom. Chris Christie wouldn't fit in."
As I was saying, the reason I feel comfortable using that four-letter word, love, is because the two women are doing a Valentine's Day show at Stage 72 on the Upper West Side that evening. It's not a show per se, even though the audience might leave disappointed if Ms. Essman, perhaps best know for her role as Susie Greene, Larry David's foul-mouthed foil on "Curb Your Enthusiasm," doesn't let rip an expletive or two.
In that regard, they might, indeed, be let down. I've now met her twice in the last few months, and I'd go so far as to describe her as genteel, even ladylike. The last time was at a 30th anniversary celebration for the Greater Talent Network, a speaker's bureau where Ms. Essman, 57, told me that she often speaks before Jewish women's groups. I know times have changed, but I still don't believe the ladies of Hadassah want their ears burned by the sort of poison that spews from her character's mouth when Mr. David annoys her.
That Valentine's show is being billed as a no-holds-barred "Conversation with Joy Behar and Susie Essman." It doesn't sound like a lot of pressure: The women, who have known each other for 30 years, are best friends.
"We're like a married couple who has a child in common," Ms. Behar, who also co-hosts ABC's "The View," explained. "That's comedy."
"In the old days," Ms. Essman remembered, "we'd talk five hours a day."
It doesn't sound like much has changed, even though they have husbands now. "We like each other's husbands," Ms. Behar said. "It's very hard to find four people who like each other."
'We like each other's husbands. It's very hard to find four people who like each other.'
"They basically know we're going to do all the talking," Ms. Essman said.
The friends told the story of how Ms. Behar phoned Ms. Essman after a party and told her she had to let her husband talk more. She'd even finished a joke he'd started. "Joy says I have to let you talk," Ms. Essman told her husband with Ms. Behar still on the line. "He said, 'That's OK. You tell it better.'"
Ms. Essman married her husband, Jim Harder, a commercial real-estate broker, in 2008. Ms. Behar married Steve Janowitz, a retired teacher with whom she'd been in a long-term relationship, in 2011.
"They're like the wind beneath our t------," Ms. Behar said.
The couple—that would be Ms. Behar and Ms. Essman—met in the early '80s when they were among the few, brave women playing clubs such as Comedy U, at 13th and University, and Catch a Rising Star.
"We mistakenly thought each other was funny," Ms. Essman said.
"If Susie didn't think you were funny, she had no use for them," Ms. Behar remembered.
"Joy was more tolerant," Ms. Essman admitted.
"I was older," Ms. Behar said.
"And more analyzed," Ms. Essman observed.
"Susie was still in her 20s. I was in my 30s. I also came of age during the feminist movement. I thought women should support each other."
"My mother was competitive with me," Ms. Essman explained. "And I always was competitive with other women. Joy made me see the light. We were stronger together than apart. Joy taught me there's room for everyone. There's not just one slot."
They sound like they made a fierce backstage duo, especially when it came to critiquing the performances of their clubby male colleagues. "The guys were scared of us together," Ms. Essman said. "Chris Rock was always scared of us."
"Chris Rock is a good example," Ms. Behar agreed. "We would tell him, 'You don't need that material against women.'"
According to Ms. Behar, Mr. Rock would stop in the middle of his act at Catch a Rising Star if he spotted her in the wings. "Chris would say, 'I'm not going on with this until Joy Behar leaves the room.'"
"The good comedians were supportive of us," Ms. Essman remembers. "It was the mediocrities that were threatened. Jerry Seinfeld was really supportive. To this day, Jon Stewart said you and I killed like nobody else killed."
Perhaps not surprisingly, both women still suffer insecurities about their act—though their biggest fear these days isn't that they won't have 20 minutes of material, but that they have so much material they'll forget it.
"She'll call me before a gig," or from the gig itself, said Ms. Behar, who isn't doing as much stand-up these days because of her other commitments, of Ms. Essman. "She'll say, 'The opening act is not doing the job.'"
"We both still suffer from stage fright," Ms. Essman confessed.
They described their friendship as rare in the competitive world of show business, or perhaps anywhere.
"In the 30 years we've been friends, we've never had a fight," Ms. Essman went on. "We've never had a falling out."
They attribute that to the fact that they still find each other funny, and to a heroic work ethic. "We both worked very hard because we needed to make money," Ms. Behar said. "And we made each other laugh. And we also had opposite mothers."
Ms. Essman said: "That's a really good point."
Ms. Behar, now 70, described her own mother as a "nice Italian lady who was not competitive with me."
In contrast, Ms. Essman said, "I'd get up on stage and my family was telling me, 'Stop showing off.'"
These days, Ms. Essman lives upstate, Ms. Behar on the Upper West Side. "I don't miss the city the way I thought I'd miss the city," Ms. Essman confided.
A discussion ensued about the city's slow death at the hands of the big pharmacies and the banks, of which there seem to be more popping up on every corner daily. "How many places do you need to buy a tampon?" Ms. Behar asked.
"At this point, none," Ms. Essman said.


text:
和 means 'and', and so does 而. What is the difference between the two. I also know that 而 means 'but', and the second question is what is the difference between 而 and 但. Give me an example sentence, please.
Sign up
- Anybody can ask a question
- Anybody can answer
- The best answers are voted up and rise to the top
When you use 而, you are always expressing some kind of adversative meaning weaker than 但. Most of the time they can substitute each other but not 100% certain.
Example 1: both are fine
Example 2: 而 is better here
Example 3: 但 is better
The differencies are subtle, taste them in more practice.
It's clearer to distinguish 而 from 和. Remember 和 has no adversative meaning, and in most cases it connects objects:
和and 而can substitute occasionally when 而 connect two adjective or verb ,but it is not very natural,I'd think it is similation of words like "and" in Egnlish or other European language ,for examples 她堅強而果斷的態度十分吸引人=》她堅強和果斷的態度十分吸引人。 他們堅持和推進了問題的解決=》他們堅持而(而且)推進了問題的解決
The corresponding is:
when they are used as conjunction. One want to give a comparison when he use 而.


text: Olympic Injury Report: Heidi Kloser By Jeffery D. Harrison, MD February 10, 2014 American moguls hopeful Heidi Kloser suffered a knee injury during a training run at the Olympics in Sochi, Russia earlier this week. Unfortunately that eliminates her from competition, but what does recovery look like for this type of injury? Read More