Showing posts with label Chur. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chur. Show all posts

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

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....

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 23, 2011

Liberals in Chur Switzerland are Screaming like the Possessed

The Archbishop of Chur, Switzerland is being attacked by his Deans. The tax church has been screaming for his dismissal. This looks like a contest of wills with the tax-administrators trying to run the traditional Bishop out of town. They don't like that he's going to be serious about having the Immemorial Mass of All Ages said. They don't like his attitude, but that's about all they can do, because there appears to be no move to get rid of him and no interest in Rome for replacing him either. Actually, when the Cardinal of Vienna does terrible things and his laity cry out to Rome, they don't do anything there either.

There's a petition you can sign, here. There are also two other stories on this blog, here and here.

All Deans are Against the Church Bishop

Swizterland: All fourteen Deans int the Diocese of Church have attacked Bishop Vitus Huonder in a press release yesterday. This is according to 'Radio Vatican'. The Deans have complained that the Bishop -- in sight of unrest in the Diocese -- has canceled the next Meeting of the Priest Council and of the Council of Lay Theologians. The Deacons insist that Msgr Huonder, revoke his order "as soon as possible" and hold these senseless Advisory Boards.

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

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.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Old Mass: New Swiss Archbishop Helps Out in Germany


The new generation of priests and young Catholics become independent of the decaying Old Liberal ideology.


[kreuz.net, Herzogenrath] Beginning this December in the City of Herzogenrath -- by Aachen in west Germany -- a Conference on the Liturgy will take place. This has been organized by the website Liturgische-Tagung.de. They give detailed information about the program and the background of the Conference.

The Congress will be carried by several Traditional Societies.

Among them are the 'Initiativekreise' of Cologne and Hamburg as well as the Lay Society, 'Una Voce'.

Other attendees are the 'Netzwerk katholiscer Priestr' [Network of Catholic Priests] and the youth movement 'Generation Benedikt'.

A highpoint of the Conference is a Pontifical Mass in the Old Rite with [newly appointed and beleaguered] Bishop Vitus Huonder of Chur in Switzerland. It will take place on December 2nd at four o'clock.

A further Pontifical Mass in the Old Rite will be celebrated by Cologne will be celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus, Klaus Dick, on the 4th of December at ten o'clock.

Top Participants

The lecturers in appearance are all highly esteemed professors.

Subregent Tomas Stübinger von Eichstätt will speak about the duties and responsibilities of the pastor in the clerical profession.

The Freiburg Liturgist, Deacon Helmut Hoping, will lecture about "the restoration of the understanding of the Eucharistic Celebration as Sacrifice of the Mass."

A special guest will be the famous Norwegian convert Erik Mørstad.

He will have an essay on the them of "High priest Melchizedech and the High Priest Jesus Christ -- the Mystery of the Victim in the common writings of the Old and New Testaments."

The Conservative Anglican Bishop of Fulham in Great Britain, John C. Broadhurst, speaks about the Apostolic Constitution 'Anglicanorum Coetibus' as "Way to Rome".

Also there will be a discussion round table with the Bishops of various Christian Confessions.

Further lecturers are also the German Philosopher Robert Spaemann, Father Sven Leo Conrad of the Society of St. Peter and the Dutch Canon Lawyer, Father Gero P. Weishaupt.

Link to original...