Showing posts with label Bishop Huonder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bishop Huonder. Show all posts

Friday, August 17, 2012

Kirchensteuer: The Diocese of Chur Breaks Away!

Edit: Bishop Huonder strikes a tremendous blow against the Liberals in his Diocese as he effectively cuts their means of support.  The official Swiss Church is dominated in its administration by Leftists, and they created many problems for Bishop Huonder's predecessor.

Bishop Huonder is very traditional friendly, often says the Mass of All Ages and is often identified as being a harsh reactionary and is attacked even by his own priests.

He has remained in his position however, and continues to close in on the Old Liberal apparachiks on his Diocese, showing as much magnanimity, intelligence and liberality, by cutting the rotten state church off at its knees.

(kreuz.net)  The Swiss national court stated on July 9th:

A person can belong to the body of the Catholic Church without belonging to the state church body of the canton.

This decision was commented on by the press speaker of the Diocese of Church on the 14th of August.

His statement bore the title:  "The real Church does not demand steuer (tax) for membership".

Free Contributions instead of a Forced Tax

The judgement confirmed for Bishop Vitus Huonder the "Chur Model" introduced in 2009 -- explained Gracia.

It offers the possibility to offer free contributions instead of Church-tax as an endowment of solidarity to the Diocese.

If a person decides to leave the State Church, it is not expected of him that he is distancing himself either from his Catholic Faith or the Church:

"Also in these circumstances he will not be threatened with refusal of the Sacraments."

Communion with Christ Instead of Church-steuer

The Diocese complained about the lack of transparency:

"Still many don't know that the Catholic Church as such demands no Kirchensteuer (tax) and that in almost all the other countries are unfamiliar with a system comparable to that of Switzerland."

Worldwide, 95% of all Catholics are free regarding donations and other obligations to support-- without a comparable steuersystem:

"In order to respect this freedom, there may also be no forced imposition between the steuersystem -- on the side of the "national church" or the Church community -- and complete communion with the Catholic Church."

This community isn't bound by a financial system, but on being bound with Jesus Christ.

Canon law actually speaks of material solidarity:  "The manner and means, how this is effected, remains however up to the discretion of the faithful."








Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Switzerland: Pontifical High Mass by Embattled Bishop of Chur

Edit: He's been frequently attacked in the press and by his own clergy and those laity in the Diocese who primarily subsist on the tax subsidies offered to them as part of a nationally recognized ecclesiastical body.  Despite this, he perseveres and thrives.

(Birnau)  On Thursday, the 17th of May, on the Feast of the Ascension the Diocesan Bishop of Church, Msgr Vitus Huonder celebrated a Pontifical High Mass in the pilgrimage church Birnau in Bodensee (Baden-Württemberg).   The liturgical service was organized by seminarians of the Society ofo St. Peter from their seminary at Wigratzbad.  The musical program was in the hands of the Collegium Musicum.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Photo:  Priesterruderschaft St. Petrus
Trans: Tancred


Link and more photos, here....

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Switzerland: Priest Implies Bishop is Child Abuser

A Backhand for the Bishop


The unbridled anger of the former General Vicar of Chur, Canon Andreas Rellstab,  against his Bishop is  still not extinguished.

(kreuz.net)  With much protest Canon Andreas Rellstab (46) submitted his resignation as regional General Vicar of the Diocese of Chur.

He joined his dismissal with substantial attacks against Bishop Vitus Huonder of Church and let the anti-Church media complained bitterly.

Since July 2011 the Canon has been the administrator in the 3200 population village of Zizers -- 10 km from Chur.

Additionally he writing his Doctorate in the Old Liberal faculty in the in Swiss Freiburg on the subject of nattering Pastoral Theology.

Confirmation as Pretense

One year after his resignation, Canon Rellstab still can't take the slump in his career.

At the beginning of March he wrote an underhanded piece against his Bishop to the Diocesan Priest's Council.

As a pretense he used Confirmation, in which Bishop Hunder participated on the 19th of February in the Parish he entrusted to Canon Rellstab's tender mercies.

The Pretense 

At Confirmation, it has "recently become known to him, how far the mixing of the different forms of the Roman Rite by the Bishop" has supposedly "already progressed".

As a pretense for his contentions the Canon used the symbolic slap to the cheek which the Bishop uses at confirmation.

The legendary gesture is a symbol of fortification --- similar to the dubbing of a knight. (Knights received a slap to remember their oaths also)

A Liturgical Mosquito


An angry Canon has made a whale out of this Liturgical mosquito.

Since 1973 the slap has neither been prescribed nor is it "still necessary" --- he complained.

He neglected to mention that this use is also not forbidden.

He Implies that His Bishop is a Pedophile

The canon used the pretext to lets his balled fist fly against the Bishop:

"It seems to me that it is very unpleasant, when a strange man holds his hand to a face, while he speaks to me."

He continued dishonestly:  "Additionally I think that the in connection with discussions about assault, it  is a problematic sign when the Bishop touches young men and women on their face."

He finds it "more than just painful".

Still a Hair in the Soup

Without specific information Canon Rellstab additionally accused the Bishop, "of deviating from the Sacramentary which contains the approved rituals" during the "words of institution".

He drew the following conclusions:  "For that reason, everyone can't rely on the Bishop, who himself isn't using the appropriate Sacramentary and using the correct rituals".

So then the Bishop is promoting disunity in the Diocese "and presumably brings a conflict of conscience even in me" --  joked the Canon.

The Bishop Must Conform


Canon Rellstab now hopes that the Priest's Council will get on the war wagon of his recenge campaign.

He leaves no doubt on that whom his pretended conflict of conscience:

"Can I allow the Bishop in my Parish to give confirmation in the future in good conscience?" -- he threatend.

In the Diocese of Church the particular pastor can decide if the Bishop in a community may confirm or not.

Link to kreuz.net...

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

One Third of Seminarians in France are Connected toTradition

Bishop Dominique Rey of Toulon-Frejus
Edit: there was a take by the kreuz.net which fleshed out some of the report on Germany a bit more with a bit more of a positive outlook, considering that Econe is the largest seminary in the German speaking Zone.  Another thing is Messa in Latino's observation that the more the Bishops, even the Liberal ones, use the Traditional priests, the more vocations they get.

At least in France, even the Liberal Bishops have a use for Traditionalists.  In Germany at present, it appears that only the beleaguered Bishop Vitus Huonder is putting his Traditional priests to work.

Here's the translation:


(Paris)  In the academic year 2011/12 710 seminarians are preparing themselves for the priesthood in France.  That is down from the previous year's 732 candidates at about a decline of three percent, since the 2009/10 year already had 756 candidates.

In comparison the number of seminarians since the end of World War II till the end of the Council, were as much as six times as high.  In 1966, the year in which the Pastoral Council ended, France had 4536 seminarians. After the outbreak of the 68 Revolution it was not more than 1297.  In 2005, the year of the election of Pope Benedict XVI., it was 785.  "The decline has stopped , yet so long as there is a spirit in the parish communities unfavorable to vocations with little benevolence for the priesthood, it prevents discovery", says Liturgique Pax.

Lowest Number of Seminarians Since the French Revolution

Of the 710 Diocesan seminarians, there are number 65 foreign students, who are studying in France, the majority of these are studying for their home Diocese.   In the representation, the 60 seminarians from the Community of St. Martin aren't counted, who are all preparing for the ministry in French Diocese. In sum, the number of 710 seminarians is a snap shot of the current situation and corresponds to the lowest number since the French Revolution.  Just to stopping there though only shows half of the truth.  Within the French seminary, a fundamental upheaval taking place.

Development of the Priestly Ordination in the Diocese


96 priests were ordained in 2010 (excepting religious orders).  Initially the Commission report of the Bishops' Conference also allowed for the traditional Ecclesia Dei communities.  A further sign for the normalization and gradual recognition of the communities of Tradition as a secure part of the Church.  The next step will be a more explicit naming and not only a silent submissiveness.

In 2011 there were in France 111 Diocesan priests ordained (2010 was 96, 2009 was 89) .  This is careful to include the Society of St. Martin's  increase of 15 ordinations over the previous year, or an increase of 15.6 percent.  In any case, it can't be read as a general trend.  In 2011 there were merely 77 Deacons ordained,   who are to be ordained priests in the year 2012.

 The Soil from Which Vocations Flower is Damaged -- Yet Improvement is in View

Comparing the newly ordained to the retired clergy,  will put the scale of a "damaged landscape" (Paix Liturgie) in stark view.  There are about 100 newly ordained for the loss of 800 priests in death.  The Community of St. Martin is placed under "new communities" of Tradition next.  The Community celebrates the Liturgy in the ordinary form of the Roman Rite but in Latin, it uses the Gregorian choral,   Thomism and promotes among its seminarians a healthy disposition to the Extraordinary Form of the Mass [Immemorial Rite].  They have experienced an extraordinary blooming.  The Society numbers today  60 seminarians in comparison to the 43 of last year and are receiving ever more pastoral assignments from the Bishops.  There are often requests for priests from the Diocese, even the "progressive" Diocese.  The times of caution, as with the Bishop of Bayeux with a categorical "St. Martin in my Diocese, never!", is past for this Society.

The Little Diocese of Frejus-Toulon and the large Archdiocese of Paris Lead in the Number of Seminarians

Among all French Diocesan Seminaries, two Diocese and a inter-Diocesan seminary stand in the front rank.  If one were to give them a rank, then you'd have to give three first places.   It involves the seminary of the Diocese of Toulon-Frejus and the Archdiocese of Paris.  In both there are more than 70 seminarians preparing themselves.  When one considers that Frejus-Toulon, it is one of the smallest Diocese in France and that the Archdiocese of Paris is so many times larger, makes the extraordinary flowering of the Diocese from the south of France clear.  It is noticeable that the "sensibility" of the Bishops of both Diocese is very different from most seminarians.  The Bishop of Frejus-Toulon is explicitly close to tradition. The number of Parsian seminarians sank under Archbishop Francois Cardinal Marty (1968-1981) to a minimum of 50, experienced under Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger (1981-2005) a spike with almost a doubling, which under the reigning Archbishop André Armand Kardinal Vingt-Trois in 2007 back down to 54 and then rose to over 70 seminarians.  In the meantime the priest shortage has become appreciable in Paris, while in the surrounding areas it is positively dramatic.

The Communities of Tradition and Their Development

How does the situation look for Traditional communities?  It will only consider those societies whose status is comparable to that of Diocesan priests.  As with the Diocesan seminaries the Propaedeuticum doesn't get any consideration and only the French are counted in the statistical survey, but not foreign seminarians, who study in France.  Initially it is to be established that these two groups will be classified:  on the one side the official Ecclesia Dei Communities, which are known to be in union with Rome, on the other side is the Society of St. Pius X, whose present status in the Catholic Church is still not clarified.

The Ecclesia Dei Communities have 91 seminarians in France as of 2011, preparing for the priesthood.  Their number is largely stable.  It is a considerable number if one considers how slowly the number of parishes and pastoral assignments entrusted to them by the Bishops  were offered and  thus hindered their development.

The Society numbers 49 French seminarians in 2011.  Their portion has held consistently for years at aabout a third of all the seminarians (15) who are in the Society founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

280 of 710 Seminarians are Connected to Tradition


All together, the communities of Tradition have 140 French seminarians, who are preparing for the priesthood.  That includes exactly the number of seminarians, who are connected to Tradition in the Diocesan seminaries preparing to be priests.

In 2011 the traditional societies had ordained 18 priests all together, seven for the Ecclesia Dei Communities and eleven for the Society of St. Pius X.  In 2010 there were 16 new priests in total, of which 8 were for the Ecclesia Dei Communities and 8 for the Society of St. Pius.

The communities of Tradition in the strict sense consist of a sixth of all French seminarians.  Then if one counts the communities of Tradition with the seminarians connected to tradition, then every third seminarian in France is connected to Tradition.

The total number of Traditionally connected seminarians demonstrate a double positive trend.  They show indeed a slow but steady rate of growth up (2005: 120, 2007:130, 2009: 140, 2010 yet 144)   The tempo corresponds to their increasingly unrestricted use in the Diocese.  What the Community of St. Martin has already itself experienced ,  have the other societies yet to experience.  They will be ignored by the Diocesan Bishops and they are refused entrance in Parishes.  Although in these Communities of young ordained and educated priests are ready for pastoral care, they don't get into action. This continuous ostracism in turn brakes their own growth.  The more the Tradition connected priests are assigned to parishes, the more priestly vocations they are going to get, said Paix Liturgique about the publication of the statistics.

France -- Germany:  Same Repurcussions, Same Reasons

In comparison to facts, that a third of the Seminarians in the westerly neighbors who are bound to tradition know, and who also prepare for the celebration of the Old Rite of the Catholic Church,  the situation is almost like a wasteland.  The reason, which impedes the development of Tradition in France, is just as valid, only much stronger in the German Lands.  The Society of St. Peter, an Ecclesia Dei Community and thus a officially traditional within the Church,  is followed by young, faithful and well educated priests, who are not accepted by the Bishops either in Germany, Austria or Switzerland for pastoral service in parishes.  The entrusting of Father Peter Ramm of the Society of St. Peter by the Bishop of Chur, Msgr Vitus Huonder, with the responsibility for one of the two personal parishes erected by the Bishop of Chur for the purpose of the Old Rite, is a first step to tear down this wall of ostracism.

Text: Paix Liturgique/Giuseppe Nardi
Bild: Diocese de Frejus-Toulon

The Atlas of Rebellion -- Bishop Huonder is in the Cross Hairs of Anti-Roman Critics

[Katholisches, Switzerland] A view to the map shows that the anti-Roman Rebelion in the Catholic Church is focused in the German speaking countries.  The interdependence of the successes in Austria, Switzerland and Germany are clear.  Ultimately, it consists, from a span of five hundred years, to the exact same constellation as in the time of the Reformation, which led to the schism of the Church.  It was also a schism of the German people and a weakening of the Holy Roman Empire in Central Europe from which it never recovered.

Opposition Began in 1990 Against Bishop Wolfgang Haas


Thus, the rebellious  Memorandists are found scattered throughout the German speaking countries. The targeting by the insurgents currently  of the Bishop of Chur by rebels is a deja vu . Already in 1990  Bishop Wolfgang Haas had a hard time after he was appointed by John Paul II.  The opposition to him within his diocese was so large that he was carried away in 1997 to the Principality of Liechtenstein, which was removed from the diocese of Chur and even elevated to an Archbishopric.  Monsignor Haas has since resided in Vaduz. The rank increase over Chur signaled the unwillingness of Rome to address the whole transaction. Meanwhile, the old episcopal city   governed by Msgr Huonder on the Upper Rhine is a successor of  Bishop Haas.



Lenten Letter of 2012 Incites an Uproar


The particularity of this largest Diocese of Switzerland, which included the center of the Rebellion against Rome in the 16th century,  consists in that it is directly controlled by the Holy See.  The 19th century concordat concluded between the Confederation and Rome envisioned this privilege, that the selection of the Bishop takes place as an agreement between the Cathedral Chapter and the Holy See.  The Pope has the deciding word.  This was confirmed on the 6th of July in 2007 as Benedict XVI named Msgr Vitus Huonder, against whom now, because of his Lenten Pastoral Letter, stands many of his own priests and pastoral assistants as well as politicized laity and theologians.   Since the secular media in a religiously divided country like Switzerland tend mostly towards confrontation in any case, and the "Catholic" media has succumbed to the zeitgeist, the Bishop has a lot to endure. The leading Swiss media have attacked the Pastoral Letter with uncustomary unanimity as "as much explosive as absurd" and Archbishop Hunder as "archconservative".  These catch words are true to other anti-Church campaigns.

Pastor Refuses Reading in "our" Churches

The Lenten Pastoral Letter went out to all Parishes -- as is usual -- which is supposed to be read at all Liturgies, contained a statement which many could not endure, many parish gentlemen concluded.     Divorced and remarried  are to be refused the Sacraments.  Huonder represents here nothing but Church teaching.    That the Catholic ideal which is exorbitantly and quantiatively contradicted in practice in Switzerland, is what makes Catholic teaching a "scandal" for the world.  Bishop Huonder has hammered the nail onn the head with this, because Christianity must e a scandal to the world and especially in this time.  The Chur Superior Shepherd invoked Jesus, who defined marriage as indissoluble.  The divorced, who through their own free will have decided to engage in a new relationship have put themselves in a situation, which makes it impossible for them to receive the Sacraments.  It is not the Church that refuses them, but they themselves throuogh their own decision.    Divorced and Seperated, who live alone, give a precious witness for the indissolubility of marriage, says Bishop Huonder.

The Media Swell Inner-Church Critics

The media pour oil in the fire and outdo themselves with attacks: "Huonder isolated", "Again with Huonder?"  "Controversial Pastoral Letter".  On 11th March 2012 the Neue Zurcher Zeitung wrote: "The Chur Bishop, Vitus Huonder wants to close the Sacraments to those who are remarried" and demonstrated how little they, in any case, liberal quality newspapers know or want to know about Catholic teaching.   Such a lack of precision would allow them little else.

They drive the protest which has been spreading divisions among the priests and laity.  Church was made into an outpost of anti-Roman rebellion over night, whose manifest center had been Austria and the Bundesrepublic of Germany until recently.  The protest went even further, according to the Press Speaker of the Diocese, Giuseppe Graci who explained the motives for Bishop Hunder's business once again for the press.

For the Pastor of the Winterthur, Catholic Teaching is "Inhuman"

Clearly this is only the initial inflammation for an uproar that had been long formed underground.  The first to protest was a pastor of Chur, who openly declared, that the Pastoral Letter will not be read in "our" churches.  "We are also distancing ourselves from the form and also the content of such Pastoral Letters", wrote the Dean and Pastor of Winterthur, Hugo Gehring and made himself the speaker for "a lot of pastoral assistants" in the region of Winterthur and the lowlands of Zurich.  According to his opinion it is "in the weight of our experience, inhuman and not inferable from the Christian message",  in order to appeal to all the divorced members of the Catholic Church, to remain unmarried.    A Catholic Pastor, who describes Catholic teaching as "inhuman", appears in any case to have missed "Society" and "vocation".

Bishop Haas was replaced  and the Conflict continued underground


No Pastoral Letter had ever before unleashed such opposition, not even in  Bishop Haas's time.  Not because Bishop Huonder's position is so outlandish, his message is the message of the Catholic Church.  The inner process of fermentation against Catholic teaching since the 90s, when Haas was "replaced", has taken on a new dimension.  On the part of the Bishop of Chur it was explained that the aggressiveness of the opposition are with Bishop Huonder's measures to strengthen the orthodoxy and fidelity to Rome in his Diocese, because of the impatience of the protestors awoke at the same time, with which it "distanced" from those parts of the doctrine as they openly declare themselves.

According to Christian reitschmid, Press Officer of the Vicariate, Bishop Huonder took up a hot iron and those provoked more opposition than encouragement.  "The discussion was heavy all week.  The media of the entire region reported on the Pastoral Letter".  Breitschmid heard prevailingly "very critical comments" from the pastors.  According to his estimation, the majority of the Pastors had not read the Pastoral Letter and engage in practices prescribed by Rome and are ready also to provide the sacraments to divorced and remarried persons.

Zurich Pastoral Council "Distanced" itself from the Catholic Teaching on Marriage and Promote the Abuse of the Sacrament


The Pastoral Council of Zurich wrote a breathless document in which it thanked  "all of the spiritual counselors, who helped those divorced and remarried to find their way in the Eucharistic Community of the Church".  It is an open front against the Bishop and against Rome.  The Pastoral Council promoted the spiritual counselor to even allow the remarried to Communion and the Sacraments.  In the writing of the Bishop, the Council overlooked the "law of charity", which is called for by the Gospels.  "Are we not all sinners?", asked the pastoral representative of Zurich.

The pastoral counselors of the Canton Nidwalder  decided in one voice, "that this Pastoral Letter will not be read during the Liturgy.  Instead of announcing the good news, as our mission would be, we would be causing discord, disquiet and protest, and that is even in persons,  who have a particular need for a word of encouragement."  The pastoral counselors of Nidwalden will in any case will continue to allow the sacraments for remarried divorced persons.  "For us it is important, to be open to everyone, and not to exclude anyone", so said the pastoral counselors of the Canton.

"Mercy" Versus Revelation?


In Switzerland Pastor Conrad Burri explained:  "To send everyone away who I know is remarried is absolutely unthinkable for me."  According to his opinion, every question has to coincide with his conscience, if he receives holy Communion or not "We priests can't judge that", says Burri.  He directs a polemical question to Bishop Huonder: "Where is the mercy toward the sinner in this directive?"

Bishops' Conference Feels Itself "Provoked" by Bishop Huonder


The Chief Shepherd of Church appears also to have hardly any support from the Bishops' Conference.  Kath.ch, the media portal of the Catholic Church, representing the Bishops' Conference entitled tellingly: "Vitus Huonder Provokes Bishops"  The Church Bishop "provoked" his colleagues, who also have themselves a dissenting opinion of the Catholic Catechism.  The "Initiative of Liberal Colleagues"  has confirmed rumors that have been circulating for months, that Bishops of the German language areas are pushing for a change in the "praxis" about remarried and divorced persons.

Bishop Huonder:  "Following the teaching of the Church means to be merficul"

In the newspaper Matin Dimanche and Sonntagzeitung, the Bishop of Chur clearly explained himself:  "The concern to direct  remarried and divorced to the teaching of the Church, means precisely to show mercy".  Unpretentiously, but firmly he defended his Pastoral Letter with the words:  "I simply and plainly present the teaching of the Church."

"It is my right and above all my duty,  to call to memory the fundamentals of the Church", says Bishop Huonder.  Rome is silent at present still, whiel the wind of rebellion in the German speaking zone pipes ever more strongly.  The Diocesan Bishops appear not to have found a strategy, as they proceed against anti-Catholic faction in their own ranks, which continues to undermine the "Catholic Church while still claiming the name.

Translated from Katholisches....

Monday, February 27, 2012

Swiss Bishop Creates Two Traditional Parishes

Bishop Vitus Huonder
Both Mass centers have existed since the 70s. They are the only blooms on the Diocese of Chur's withering tree.

(kreuz.net) Since Monday morning it's official. On the 22nd February, Bishop Vitus Huonder of Chur erected two traditional personal parishes.

The Diocese published this information in a broadcast.

The Bishop described the two parishes as "two living centers for pastoral care." The various modern parishes of the Diocese of Church which have been ruined by Old Liberals are without exception, clinically dead.

The Old Mass has Been Celebrated Here for 35 Years



The first traditional personal parish is located at the Immaculata-Marienkapelle in the 1600 population vicinity of Oberarth in central Switzerland.

Oberarth belongs to the 11,000 population community of Arth, fifty kilometers southerly of Zurich.

The Bishop of Church had already allowed the celebration of the Old Mass in the eyar 1977. Since 1999 it has been offered daily.

A Living Community



On Sunday in Oberarth there are two Holy Masses celebrated.


Additionally, there are confession times and spiritual counselling, which are in high demand.

For pastoral activity, there is also Catechism for school children, devotions, baptisms, sick calls, burials, pilgrimages and spiritual exercises.

The new parish is called Maria Immmaculata.

The first Pastor is the Chur Canon Martin Burgi. [He has some say in who the Bishop will be]

First Beginnings in 1971
 


The second perosnal parish is located in an area of the city of Zurich.

Since 1971 there was an old Mass in Herz Jesus Parish Church in Zurich-Oerlikon celebrated every Sunday evening.

The organizers of the liturgy was the Lay Organization 'Una Voce'. They requested various priests for pastoral services.

Society of St. Peter Takes Over

In April 1998 a pastoral center was taken over by the traditional Society of St. Peter.

Till 2005, workday Masses have been taking place in an improvised chapel in a nearby store.

This place was given up, when the possibility presented itself, to celebrate two workday Masses in the church of St. Josef in Zurich.

No Certain Church
 


Once in a each month, in the 8,000 population community of Egg -- forty kilometers south of Zurich -- one workday Mass takes place in the old Rite.

Since 2002, the church in the Zurich suburban communities Birmensdorf and Uitikon have been available for the celebration of Holy Week.

The Christmas has been celebrated for several years in the crypt of the Church of St. Gallus in the Zurich-Schwamendingen.

Peter Martin Ramm is the Pastor
 


The personal parish has been consecrated as St. Maximilan Kolbe. The first Pastor is FSSP Priest Martin Ramm.[Asked for by the Bishop himself]

The location of the new personal parish is in the Zurich suburb of Thalwil.

The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter have their branch there.

The "Sects in the Church" are the Old Liberals
 


The Bishop stressed that it is "an act of righteousness", "that the faithful no longer left in a canonically unclear provisorium.

Msgr Huonder confessed, to "understand well" some of the obstacles against the erection of these personal parishes.

This fear has been cultivated above all by the Old Liberals, who have operated within the Church of Christ for years like a sect.


Link to original...


Photo: © Pressebild

Monday, January 16, 2012

Swiss Bishop: We Don't Need Reformers, But Saints


Edit: he's trying to reform his Diocese, but the professional Catholics won't let him. He turns to Christ.

He has discovered the Middle of the Council
The Bishop of Chur brings Old Liberal error to the point: "It is my certain conviction that structural debates will never develop a living Church."




(kreuz.net) In a new year's greeting in the Old Liberal 'Schweizer Kirchenzeitung"  Bishop Vitus Huonder of Chur, cites Erasmus of Rotterdam († 1536)for Basel's humanists.

Just as princes give their sovereign responsibilities to their deputies and these deputies do the same in turn, so the Bishops yield their duties of prayer to the simple people out of modesty.




These duties were spread further -- till they finally, as in the Carthusian lands, "where all piety is as in the grave."

Then comes the Second Vatican Council -- you might ask if he were serious -- which encourages all Catholics to a "renewed and missionary Christianity".

The Bishop cited the Dogmatic Constitution of the Church "Lumen Gentium".

The Old Liberals desire structures instead of life

It is surprising to Msgr Huonder that since the Council there had been much debate over ecclesiastical structure and classes.

This had contributed to "the Church, in its meaning and determination in the minds of many people to be relegated to the background in favor of human or very often at all-too-human aspects."

The bishop is firmly convinced "that structural debates will never produce a living Church."

The ominous fifth chapter

Msgr Huonder gives an exegesis of the Constitution of the Church, which he understands in a double framework:

- The first chapter speaks of the Church, in which the Trinity opens Itself to men. In the eighth chapter this community finds its personal completion in Mary.

-The second chapter speaks of the people of God. This expression mirrors the seventh chapter in the eschatological character of the Church.

Within this framework the Council mentions in the third, fourth and sixth chapters the ecclesiastical classes: clergy, laity and religious.

Only the fifth chapter has no matching part. For that reason the middle of "Lumen Gentium" is in the middle -- indeed "the middle of the entire Second Vatican Council."

This chapter is concerned with a "general appeal to the holiness in the Church".

All have the same duty

It reads in the lines about the Church in the chapter on "Lumen Gentium":

"The Church exists so that all may belong to the hierarchy or led by her, to be called to holiness."

Therefore the Second Vatican Council is an answer to the temptation, to pass by the quest for perfection.

Bishop Huonder's take:

"So I am convinced that the heart of the mission of the Second Vatican Council also in our present situation a medicine for some suffering, within and for the Church, as indeed it is articulated again and again."

He wants the Church -- with a quote from John Paul II -- not of reformers, but of saints.
Link to original...

Saturday, August 27, 2011

The Bishop of Chur Has Capitulated Utterly

Edit: this Swiss Bishop has been struggling with the Modernists who dominate the administrative and financial structures of his Diocese. They haven't managed to run him out like they've done before, but they have managed to render him and his office almost ineffective in the opinion of the following article.

That is the reality: Catholic Bishops sit on their thrones and can't do anything. The Church is under the knout of the secularized Old Liberals, who have have the media bosses to thank for their power.
Bishop Vitus Hounder

(kreuz.net) Bishop Vitus Huonder of Church has beaten a pitiful retreat.
Against an earlier statement, he now says he will not ordain or educate Seminarians in the Old Rite.

The press speaker, Giusseppe Gracia, said this yesterday in a press release.

Msgr Huonder will send Traditional Seminarians on to Traditional Institutes.

The decision has its advantages.

Because then only modern Seminarians will be poisoned in the 'Theologische Hochschule' [An Advanced Theological Program] , which is infested by the Church's enemies, at the behest of the Bishop.


Two Personal Parishes


Msgr Huonder is promising the Traditionalists a consolation prize.

He wants that two Traditional Communities in the Cantons of Schwyz and Zurich -- which have lasted for more than two decades already -- will be made into Personal Parishes.

The press release has to point out, though, that these exist as "de facto" parishes as such.

The Bishop promises to send personnel, "as the demand requires". That will be simple for him to accomplish as well. For in the Old Rite there is no priest shortage.



Msgr Huonder explains that the Traditionalists in the Diocese of Church will have plenty of opportunities in the future, to celebrate the "celebration of the Divine Service" in the Old Rite.

That is admittedly a formulation which hails from the Old Liberal self-promotions Liturgy.

In the Christian Divine Service the Priest is the celebrant of the Divine Service. The faithful take part at it.

Link to original...

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Bishop of Chur Being Lured into a Trap

Editor: its hard to imagine a liberal Diocesan paper surviving long after it attacked its Bishop, but so far so good.

An Old Liberal Church paper in the Diocese of Chur has frontally attacked the Diocesan Bishop. The good man has defended himself.

(kreuz.net) The press speaker of the Diocese of Chur is defending against allegations by the ‘Pfarreiblatts Urschweiz’.

The ‘Pfarreiblatts’ [Pastor's Paper] appears in the central Swiss area of the Diocese Chur in a mini-edition of about 17.000 copies.

It reported in its most recent edition about a privately organized celebration on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the installation of the Pastoral Consultants of the Diocese of Chur.

Despite their high spirits and the kindergarten freshness of their work, the Pastoral Consultants in Church and those associated with it are quickly becoming increasingly antagonistic to the Church.

The article insituated that the Bishop has been "aloof" to the occasion.

Reason: Msgr Huonder is said to have not participated, rather only appeared at the end of a planned "Vespers".

The Slander Takes Flight

The press speaker categorically declined to mention this portrayal in his response.

The event had been planned without the participation of the Bishop.

As he learned of it, he had made expressed his desire to participate in it.

The forty year old -- supposed--- "engagement of the laity" is valuable to him -- explained the press secretary.

Msgr Huonder would have gladly shown that with his wholehearted participation.

Actually the Senior Pastor received a rebuff: the organizers advised the Bishop not to be present for the entire day, because it is after all a, "celebration of laity".

The Bishop exceeded to the wishes of the self-important lay commanders.

Unlucky General Vicar

The General Vicar of the Diocese of Church tried his luck in any case.

He received an invitation and responded.

Actually the organizers recommended that he, with the Bishop to come "toward end of the event".

The General Vicar obeyed.

Link to original, kreuz.net...

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Very Strange Things Happen in the Diocese of Chur, Switzerland

Sign the Petition:

At the moment, Swiss media are grinding an axe against the excellent Bishop Vitus Huonder of Chur.

Some dissenting priests of his diocese – including a former director of the seminary and a former vicar general – together with some state sponsored church-tax administrators cry out for “effective steps” and a “focused campaign” against the bishop.

Their aim is to make the bishop quit his position.

But:

• Bishop Vitus Huonder holds a doctorate in Old Testament and a doctorate in liturgy. He has been for many years the vicar general of his present diocese.

• Bishop Vitus Huonder is a Catholic and faithful to the magisterium of the Church and faithful to the Pope.

• Bishop Vitus Huonder is a proponent of the Reform of the Reform, which is so close to the heart of Pope Benedict XVI.

• Bishop Vitus Huonder has faithfully implemented the motu proprio ‘Summorum Pontificum’ in his diocese and has himself celebrated on some occasions the Traditional Latin Mass.

• Bishop Vitus Huonder has defended seminarians who ask for a truly priestly formation in the Seminary.

• Bishop Vitus Huonder has welcomed a studio of Gloria.TV in his diocese. He has written a letter of support for Gloria.TV.

Gloria.TV calls on every Catholic of good will to sign a petition letter and to show support for this faithful bishop who, in this moment, is attacked by the wolves. 


Sign Petition, Here.


H/t: AQ

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Swiss Bishop Fires Seminary Rector over Disagreement on Old Mass. Swiss Bishop Goes to Congregation of Bishops.

Editor: The traditional friendly Bishop of Chur is attempting to defend his position against the counter diocese, the bureaucratic councils that control the Church tax. He's going to Rome to defend the firing of a controversial his seminary rector. According to kreuz.net, one of the flash points between the two Bishops was the Old Mass. +Huonder is a strong advocate for the Mass of All Ages.

Will the Bishop Himself Resign?

The explosion of the Chur resignation has reached the Congregation of Bishops.  There one learns: The slightest problems make Bishops who can't stop the decline.

(kreuz.net) Yesterday morning Bishop Vitus Huonder (68) of Chur directed comments to his fellow bishops, priests, deacons and pastoral assistants in an e-mail.

The letter stands in connection with the most recent resignation of the Rector of the Chur Seminary and General Vicar for the Canton of Graubünden. 

"I sense there is great sense of dismay regarding the events of the last days in the entire Diocese"  -- explained the Bishop:  "I agree with that at this point too".

There have been different levels of "injury" that have taken place in the last months which had at once resulted in dismissal.
 
Msgr Huonder maintains that the Diocesan leadership has not succeeded in giving a "picture of unity" in this situation.

The Bishop did not mince words:  "In the current hour I ask myself, what is to be done."

He has already contacted the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Francesco Canalini (74) and asked for advice.

He has even received an appointment in Rome:

"I will then have the opportunity to come to together with the Prefect of the Bishops Congregation in order to discuss the situation."

Msgr Huonder has pointed out that this is "not for the expediency" of the Chur "Old Liberal" priest council or the not more precisely "Council of Lay Female Theologettes, Lay Theologians and Deacons" to use this as an opportunity to engage in a palaver.

He wants to solicit the Roman Council in this case:

"I wanted to consult antecedently with the Congregation for Clergy about what I have undertaken in the given circumstances and will make known then about any further actions."

In conclusion he cited a word from Pope John Paul II († 2005)from his book, "Memory and Identity":

"What does forgiveness mean, if it does not call on the good which is greater than any evil."

Msgr Huonder invites everyone, "to see the good that is always and manifold and to appreciate the
the interconnectedness."

Link to article, kreuz.net, here...

Monday, February 21, 2011

The Old Mass is the Catholic Standard: Bishop Huonder Defends Old Mass in Switzerland

His Lordship Saying Mass
Editor: As he's trying to get his Diocese in order and free it from the lay apparatus which controls the purse strings, he's just recently accepted the resignation of his Seminary rector, Ernst Fuchs and has been denied a replacement for the next Auxiliary Bishop.  This doesn't "violate any Church law".
 
Huonder described in the interview how much power criticisms of his person cost, where he wants to lead the faithful of his Diocese and how capable he is for his office.  Of course, he was eager to defend the Immemorial Mass as well in his interview with 'Sudostschweiz" on Sunday, here's a partial translation, h/t kreuznet; but he's never been shy about that:

The education of priests who will read the Mass in Latin, is not a sign of a conservative outlook.  "I work integratively in these cases", he said in the interview this Sunday.   After all it will be forbidden the current Mass in the vernacular in return; the old Rite deals almost like a second upgrade of the offering.

"In this case I want to act integratively", he said in his interview with 'Sudostschweiz on Sunday".  He concluded by saying that he wouldn't abolish the Mass in the vernacular.


Huonder is further convinced that the refusal of a second Auxiliary Bishop will lead to calm the situation in the Diocese of Church.  A "large weight"  has fallen from his shoulders now that the solution had been possible, he explained.