Interesting statistics, Fr. Scott!  Thanks for the posting.  I was not
aware that 50 percent of Canadians are Catholic and so few are
"Evangelical."  Of course, the Puritans did land at Plymouth Rock, and the
Revolutionary War sent many Tories scurrying north.  (A National Geographic
article recently pictured them raising their glasses in CONDEMNATION of
Washington!)  Then, too,  mothers in Quebec have provided a fabulous example
of ethnic pride in their reproduction of francophones.  A French-Canadian
friend of mine, Maurice Tessier, had 22 siblings!  As I read social history,
France--and aristocratic Catholic Europe--stereotypically have been more
tolerant of "sexual deviance" from the bourgeois--pardon my French--idea of
a nuclear family, no matter what may be memorized and repeated in catechism
class.   My father fought in France in World War I, and I well remember mild
versions of his war songs:  "Mademoiselle from Armentieres, parlez vous?"
"How're you gonna keep 'em down on the farm, after they've seen Par-ee?"
French post cards are legendary.  I've seen a few.  Gertrude Stein,
well-known author and lesbian, found haven in Paris in the 1920s, her salon
hosting expatriate American literary lights of the Lost Generation.
    Many if not most Roman Catholics in America today have caught some of
the Puritan ethic.  Inducing generalizations from too few  instances is poor
logic; still,  enough little grains of sand and little drops of water can
arouse suspicion that one has stumbled onto a beach. Not long ago, speaking
with a Catholic physician who has practiced world-wide, most recently in
Mexico City,  I described lunch I had with a couple of RC priests, both
originally from Ireland, now with cures in San Antonio.  Some time later, I
mentioned the lunch to a parishioner of the priest, and she exuberantly told
me that he had been transferred by the archbishop at the demand of the
congregation.  The main charges were that he had verbally abused an hispanic
acolyte for "laziness," even pushed him a little--let's blame Irish temper
for that--my mother's name was Murphy.  AND, most importantly, the priest
had been seen attending a play downtown in company of a WOMAN.  The
physician commented:  "In a Catholic country, no priest would be sacked on
those charges," the physician said, adding that on his bookshelf was
research that mostly Protestant girls complain of date rape at college:
Catholic girls are more "flirtacious and seductive, not as uptight about
sexuality."   (Don't know, but I seem to recall a book review on that
subject a while back.  Reminder: it was a CATHOLIC physician who made the
observation.)
    Lately, I have been rereading the book, "Paper Money," by "Adam Smith,"
a best seller 20 years ago, detailing OPEC's role in  bringing about the oil
crises of that generation.  Describing American economics, "Smith" from time
to times credits the "Protestant Work Ethic."  (Read that "Puritan," or
"Calvinist" !)  Our practice of religion--I have come to believe-- really
does encapsulate our deepest culture, to paraphrase the magazine, "First
Things."  Herewith supporting lines from the Oxford Dictionary of the
Christian Church:  "Accepted with varying degrees of modification by most
non-Lutheran reformed churches, [Calvinism] holds certain doctrines peculiar
to itself...among them...its more radical use of  Scripture as a criterion
of ecclesiastical doctrine and practice...  Where Luther drew a sharp
distinction between Law and Gospel, Calvin stressed the continuity between
the OT and the NT, allowing the Law a continued role as a moral guide for
believers.  WHEREAS THE ORIGINS OF LUTHERANISM WERE RURAL AND TERRITORIAL,
CALVINISM TRACES ITS ORIGIN TO HIGHLY DEVELOPED URBAN COMMUNITIES, A FACTOR
REFLECTED IN THE LATTER'S  ADVANCED POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, AND SOCIAL
OUTLOOKS.  ...The doctrine of predestination, however, is not central to
Calvin's theological system, being treated rather as an intrinsically
mysterious aspect of the doctrine of salvation.  (See St. Augustine.)  In
England, slight Calvinist influence may be discerned in the 39 Articles
although its greatest impact was upon Puritanism, especially the Westminster
Confession (1648).  It had the strongest effect in Scotland (esp. through J.
Knox)  and colonial N. America, where its chief representative was J.
Edwards.  It suffered severe setbacks through the rationalization of the
18th and 19th centuries, but in the 20th Century re-emerged as a major
theological and religious force, especially through the writings of K. Barth
and A. Kuyper.  ITS ATTRACTION FOR THE MODERN MIND PROBABLY LIES PARTLY IN
ITS INTELLECTUAL COHERENCE, AND PARTLY IN ITS EMPHASIS UPON THE SOVEREIGNTY
OF GOD AS A REACTION AGAINST THE EASY HUMANITARIANISM OF MODERN LIBERAL
PROTESTANTISM.
    By the way, strictly on the basis of economic exposition in plain
English, I recommend a reading of "Smith's" book. When the Five Sisters--the
big international oil companies--were  running the cartel, a barrel of crude
was about $1.20.  Now, after the advent of OPEC, oil sells for $36.46 a
barrel, and some predict the price will jump to $100...axiomatically
lowering our standard of living.  Saying the trouble in the Middle East
involves oil invites laughter in financial circles!  It's no exaggeration to
say that Socialist Saddam Hussein saw himself as a modern Nebuchadnezzar.
(A TV documentary last night showed his initials engraved all over the
buildings of an ancient city he rebuilt.)  Letting Saddam remain in power
after his grab for Kuwaiti oil was a mistake for which we are paying dearly.
For a generation, countries of OPEC have racked up incredibly large
surpluses of "paper money." They could, literally, blow down our economic
house, Smith emphasizes.  The dollar, though, remains the key world
currency, having long supplanted the venerable British pound.  The Euro
wasn't around in 1981, but it's doing quite well now, hot on the dollar's
trail.
    FOOTNOTE:  The idea for OPEC, "Smith" writes,  originated with two
students at the University of Texas in Austin--a Venezuelan and an Arab--who
copied the way the Texas Railroad Commission began regulating oil production
to maintain prices during the Great Depression.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "charles scott" <crscottblu@...>
To: <faithandlife@...>
Sent: Saturday, April 24, 2004 4:28 PM
Subject: [FaithandLife] THOSE HARMONIOUS CANADIANS


> FROM: The Calgary Herald
>
> Church avoidance tied to gay tolerance
>
> Bob Harvey
> CanWest News Service
>
> Saturday, April 17, 2004
>
> Canadians are more accepting of homosexuality because
> they spend less time in church than Americans, says
> well-known Canadian sociologist Reg Bibby.
>
> In a paper slated for presentation at the Pacific
> Sociological Association conference in San Francisco
> today, the University of Lethbridge sociologist of
> religion said the higher level of acceptance of
> homosexuality in Canada reflects our lower exposure to
> church teachings.
>
> Bibby said same-sex issues will not be easily resolved
> in either country, but polls indicate Canadians have
> been more accepting of homosexuality since the 1970s.
> Recent surveys by Ipsos-Reid in Canada and Gallup in
> the U.S. found 47 per cent of Canadians are in favour
> of same-sex marriage while only 36 per cent of
> Americans accept it.
>
> He said while Canada celebrates the "virtues of
> harmonious diversity" in virtually all aspects of
> life, U.S. President George W. Bush "continues to echo
> early American leaders' conviction their country was
> founded by God to give leadership to the world . . .
> In America, there is an unmistakable emphasis on what
> is 'true' and what is 'best'."
>
> Debates over issues such as abortion rights and
> same-sex marriage focus on individual liberty in the
> U.S., while in Canada, they focus on equality, he
> said. But these cultural and historical differences do
> not explain why, by 2000, only 32 per cent of
> Canadians said same-sex relations were always wrong,
> as compared to 59 per cent of Americans, said Bibby.
>
> He has been surveying Canadian opinions every five
> years since 1975, and said the best explanation is
> Canadians attend different churches and spend less
> time at church.
>
> The Catechism of the Catholic Church says scripture
> presents "homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity"
> and historically, Christian groups have denounced
> homosexuality. So it is no surprise a major source of
> opposition to same-sex marriage in both countries has
> been Christian groups, particularly Catholics and
> evangelicals, said Bibby.
>
> Almost 50 per cent of Canadians and about 25 per cent
> of Americans are Catholic, and just under 10 per cent
> of Canadians and 30 per cent of Americans are
> evangelicals.
>
> But Bibby said that while those Catholics and
> evangelicals who regularly attend church in the U.S.
> and Canada hold similar opinions, the number of
> Canada's highly committed Catholics is shrinking,
> particularly in Quebec, and the U.S. has an
> "evangelical giant" compared to the "petite presence"
> of Canadian evangelicals.
>
> Canadian women have also made a significant
> contribution to the difference between Canadian and
> American attitudes. While 53 per cent of Canadian
> women and 36 per cent of Canadian men agree homosexual
> relations are "not wrong at all," there are no
> significant gender differences in the U.S., where 59
> per cent say same-sex relations are "always wrong."
>
> © The Calgary Herald 2004
>
>
>
>
>
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