Hollande Refuses Speech at Art Museum Because of Christian Art Background

[Tempi] The location from which he was to have given his speech was in front of a large painting with Christian themes. When the museum officials wouldn't move or cover the "offensive" painting, Hollande then canceled his visit.

The Right and Left, the unemployed and protesters of gay marriage, all opponents of Francois Hollande had gathered April 28 in front of the Museum of Fine Arts in Rouen to protest against the policies of the socialist government. Here the French president was to inaugurate an exhibition on Impressionism accompanied by three government ministers two days ago, however, Hollande has canceled the visit.

AVOID THE DISPUTE. The French newspapers have advanced two hypotheses for the cancellation of the visit. The first is political. To avoid disputes, Hollande preferred to postpone, given that among the demonstrators there were many unemployed people ready to accuse the socialist president that unemployment in France has hit a new record: 3,000,000 and 224,000 French people are looking for work, according to data released yesterday by the national employment poll.

RELIGIOUS BACKGROUND. The second hypothesis is of very different character. In view of the president's visit, a government delegation made a visit to the museum to check where Hollande would have to give his speech. Since the "pulpit" was placed right in front of a huge canvas with a religious background, Christian to be precise, the delegation asked the organizers to move it. Impossible task, given the size of the painting. He was then asked it to be covered with a giant blue canvas.

Hollande AND CHRISTIANS. According to some newspapers, Hollande would have canceled the tour in order not to talk behind a Christian painting. Assumptions are unconfirmed but that would not be a unexpected, given that the socialist president is less than happy in his relationship with the Christian religion.

@LeoneGrotti

Source...

H/t: TA

Socialist France Rushes to Sign Own Death Warrant

Edit: Socialist Prime Minister Hollande who has breathlessly rushed the passing of pernicious and immoral legislation amid growing popular dissent,  will probably signed the execrable legislation into “law”, if such can be done.  We also think it will be done.



St. George, pray for us!

French Traditionalists Accused of Anti-Semitism

Edit: no good deed goes unpunished and even acts of charity are chastised and scrutinized by totalitarians in France as one report has it, at least one judge has some native common sense. Some people just don't have any concern for social justice:

Paris (Reuters) The mayor of Paris condemned the ruling and urged the police to appeal the ruling.

"Faced by this initiative which stinks of xenophobia, I want once again to express city hall's desire to fight all forms of discrimination, racism and anti-Semitism," mayor Bertrand Delanoe said in a statement.

The food handouts are organized by a nationalist group called Solidarity of the French (SDF). It says its "pig soup," which uses pork fat for stock, is country fare much loved by French traditionalists.

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSL0226439620070103?irpc=932

Adult Baptisms Grow 20% in France

French Catholics Demonstrate Against Gay Marriage on
April 6, 2013, Saturday

In France baptisms have grown in the last five years by 20 percent. There were about 5,000 adults baptized on Eastern Vigil in France.

This is from a press report of the French Bishops Conference on March, 25 2013.

The photo above was taken at a stations of the cross in France, protesting against gay marriage. This quote was from a commenter on the Facebook site of a defense of marriage site in France:

“Peace will return to the world when the White Flower against sits on the throne of France…” 

 XII century, Prophesy of St. Hildegarde. 

 Note: In many professes, the Grand Monarch will be called “Flower of the Lilly” or “white flower”. The florentine lilly is a symbol of the monarchy of France.

Source, Katholisches….

A Million Frenchmen Protest Against Gomorrah Again

Michel Euler/Associated Press

Edit: not much publicity this time either. This time the protest is getting a bit on the violent side with the police using tear gas.  In January, millions of Frenchmen took to the streets to oppose the destruction of their society.   Reported by the New York Times, CBS, the Guardian.  They all assume that there is a “shrinking majority” of people opposed to this legislation, but other polls suggest differently. They also complain that the march turned violent, but failed to report that the police threw gas irrespective of the children in the way.  Hopefully this reverberates in other places.

Galliawatch is calling this the French Spring.

Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in central Paris on Sunday protesting against a draft law that allows same-sex couples to marry and adopt children, BBC reported. 

The lower house of the French parliament, dominated by President Francois Hollande’s Socialist Party and its allies, adopted the bill last month and the Senate is set to debate on the draft law in April. 

Protesters at first gathered along a major street leading to the Arc de Triomphe, but later hundreds of demonstrators spilled over onto the Champs Elysees prompting police to use tear gas and batons.

Link to source... 

One Million Protest Marriage Equality in Paris: Rousing Success for French Bishops

Update 1.14.13 GMT 0423: originally, we said 650,000 protesters according to Austrian Catholic News Service, but now it's even higher than that.  Although Andrew Cusack doesn't give the Bishops any credit for this, he indicates reports that there are more than one million and maybe more.  The throngs even closed down traffic and a major sporting event.  The title is getting changed too, because a lot of people who are involved in this protest against marriage equality are not only not Catholic, but many of them are simply secularists who for various reasons find themselves opposed to this legislation. Cusack writes:

The protest today was organised by the eccentric comedian Frigide Barjot, founder of the Collectif pour l’humanité durable, joined by gay atheist Xavier Bongibault of the association Plus gay sans mariage (“More Gay Without Marriage”), and Laurence Tcheng of La gauche pour le mariage républicaine(“The Left for Republican Marriage”).

Edit: predictably, the English-speaking press is largely silent or unintersted.  The aberrosexual Huffington Post sets the number of participants at "thousands".  The BBC has been more accurate.  The Washington Post is predictable as well.  The Daily Mail , as usual, is better, points out that this is another real failure for the Socialist President Hollande and has an excellent photographic collage. Even the New York Times was more balanced than usual. This also comes on the heels of Hollande's increasing attacks against the Catholic Church.

Credit: Daily Mail

Here's a translation from the Austrian Catholic News Service:

Paris, 1-13-2013 (KAP) With a demonstration this Sunday in Parish, more than 650,000 Frenchmen, as  organizers have reported, are demonstrating against the introduction of same-sex marriage.  The planners revealed that media reports are amazed at the size of the participants.  Even Church representatives with Cardinal Philippe Barbarin chief among them estimated far fewer.

Already in November France there were hundreds of thousands protesting against so-called homosexual marriage.  The organizer of the demonstration was the independent association "Manifpourtous".  A counter demonstration of those promoting same-sex marriage is planned for the 27th of January.

According to online media in consequence, there were at least a dozen prominent representatives of the conservative opposition party, UMP taking part in the demonstration.  Among them was the party president, Jean-Francois Cope and Ex-Minister of the Interior Brice Ortefeux as well as Euro Minister Laruent Wauqiez.  He wants to hold a plebiscite over the controversial proposal.

In the mean time according to media reports, 115 representatives of the National Assembly have written a petition to President Francois Hollande.  In view of the social divisiveness in this question a referendum is unallowable.

In the preparation with "Manifpourtous" -- Catholic Church representatives have been outspoken against the marriage of or adoption by aberrosexual pairs.  The President of the French Bishops' Conference, Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, came to the close of the demonstration at the Place Denfert-Rochereau (at the Eifel Tower) in order to express his thanks to the organizers. Even members of the world religions have been engaged against the broadening of the concept of marriage.

The Ministry Council had adopted a proposed law for the introduction of same-sex marriages and the right of adoption for aberrosexual pairs.  The National Assembly confirmed it at the end of January.  According to the Hollande's desire the new regulation should come into effect in the first half of the year.

In the meantime, the opinion research institute Ifop published a poll, according to which 62 percent of Frenchmen are of the opinion, that there is too much talk about "homosexual-marriage".  The theme takes up too large a space in the social debate, say the majority of those polled.

Link to kathweb...

Note: there are also forces in this march which is readily evident from the photos that are also Revolutinoary, including Brigitte Bardot and her associates with their own opposition to the policies of the Socialist which overlap with the interests of the Church.

Hundreds of Thousands March in Paris to Defend Society

Edit: We'd reported earlier about France's people resisting an attempt to further destroy the family.  This was met mostly by silence in the press and this time is little different.  While the French Bishops are showing a remarkable willingness to fight against the decadent Socialist government of France as hundreds of thousands process against Gomorra, the French people are showing a willingness to respond to the Church's call.

[France24] Several hundred thousand people are expected to march through Paris on Sunday against the planned legalisation of same-sex marriage in the first mass protest against the unpopular President Francois Hollande. 

Strongly backed by the Catholic hierarchy, lay activists have mobilised a hybrid coalition of church-going families, political conservatives, Muslims, evangelicals and even homosexuals opposed to gay marriage for the show of force. 

So many are expected to converge on Paris from around France that police had organisers split it into three separate columns starting from different points around the city and meeting in the Champ de Mars park at the Eiffel Tower.

Record Number of New Entrants in the Seminary of the Old Rite Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest

(Gricigliano)  The Institute of Christ the King and Sovereign Priest has shown a record number of new entrants to the institute's own seminary.  The new year shows 20 candidates, who will begin their academic year 2012/2013.  Msgr Micheal Schmitz offered this in the November Letter of the Institute.

The Institute of Christ the King and Sovereign Priest, canonically instituted in 1990 is a society of Apostolic and Papal right.  The founder is the Champagne, France born priest Gilles Wach.  He was responsible for clerical professions of the priestly society Opus Sacerdotal founded in Lourdes in 1964, who during the confused post-Conciliar period seeked to strengthen an unabbreviated continuation of the faith under the motto Doctrina, Fortitudo, Pietas.

The Way of Traditional Priestly Formation -- Once to Africa and Back

In the 80s of the previous century Msgr Gilles Wach found himself incardinated in the Archdiocese of then Archbishop of Genoa, Giuseppe Cardinal Siri in Italy, as the situation in French seminaries was no longer satisfactory to ensure a priestly formation with the significance of Catholic Tradition.  After a call for help to the former Prefect of the Congregation of Faith, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, and the then emeritus Prefect of the Congregation of Clergy, Silvio Cardinal Oddi, it came to the founding of a new society which was obligated to offer the Tridentine Mass in 1988.

The canonical recognition of the Society of Apostolic Life followed in 1990 through the then Bishop of Moil in Gabun, because of the difficulties then for communities connected to Tradition.  Msgr Cyraique-Simeon Obama had been a student of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in Libreville.  Since then, Msgr Wach became General Prior of the Institute.

Establishment of the General House of the Priestly Seminary in Gricigliano

With the help of Augustinus Cardinal Mayer OSB structures were found in Tuscany which were lent by the Benedictine Abbey of Fontgambault.  In 1991 the then Archbishop of Florence, Silvano Cardinal Piovanelli published the necessary decree for the foundation of a General House and a priestly seminary for the Institute.  Thus the new society could come from Africa to Europe and settle in the small town of Pontassieve in the Archdiocese of Florence.  In Gricigliano, a part of the city is located the Gernal House and the Seminary of St. Philipp Neri of the Institute.  Since then the Institute has experienced enormous growth.

The Institute numbers 61 priests, six deacons and more than 80 seminarians.  Msgr Wach found important support in the building of a community which brings the Institute to the German speaking areas.  The settlement of the German District of the Institute is located in Bavarian, Gmain.  The Institute follows the form of Choirmasters and Monastic Scholars.

The 2008 Recognition of the Soceity of Apostolic and Papal Right

In 2006 the Institute established the Heart of Jesus Society as a lay association of the faithful for the spiritual support of the Institute.  In 2008 the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest was recognized by the Papal Commission Ecclesia Dei as a Society of Apostolic Life and Papal Right.  The Institute celebrated the Holy Mass and cared for the Liturgy of the Hours completely in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.  A female branch of contemplative sisters also belongs to the community.

The Mission of the Institute of Christ the King and Sovereign Priest  " is the honor of God and the sanctification of priests in the service of the Church and souls. Its specific aim is missionary: to spread the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ in all spheres of human life. Our work is carried out under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception, to Whom the Institute is consecrated."

Link to Katholisches...

Up to 500,000 Demonstrate in France Against Gomorrah

 Edit:  Although the media are saying thousands, there may be as many as half a million protesting this.   Here is a report from La Parisienne, courtesy of Gallia Watch, apparently not everyone in France is as "enlightened" as those in the United States, which overwhelmingly gave its approval for such things amid massive voter fraud:

Le Parisien reports that between 6,000 and 8,000 persons demonstrated in Marseille, proving that there are more than just drug dealers in the beleaguered city. However, counter-demonstrators unfurled a banner that read:



"Your model of society is dead, welcome to Sodom and Gomorrha".

 Certainly the French Bishops deserve much credit for this one. Their response has been steady, united and consistent leading up to this event.  It's certainly more than can be said of the US Bishops who singularly failed to make a victorious showing during the US Fall elections. One commenter on Gallia Watch soberly replies:

I think the resistance to this in the US has pretty much collapsed. The Cold War is long over, it's time to recognize that the US is essentially neo-Bolshevist and is the great revolutionary threat in the world today.

Here's a video outlining what's happened:

GalliaWatch: Thousands Demonstrate against Gay Marriage and Adoption

Also, France recently voted to make abortions "free" for all including teenages.

"You Know That We're Not Supermen"

The New General Prior of the Carthusians

"I sensed a powerful desire, to be useful to the Church and fellow man.  I was also very drawn to the Apostolate."

(kreuz.net)  Dom François-Marie Velut O. Carm has been the General Prior of the Carthusians since the 21st of September.

The cleric was born on the 30th of December 1948 as Michel Velut in Champagne in north east France.

He spent his childhood in this area as well -- in the small seminary of the 61,000 population city of Troyes.

Master's Degree in Paris

Then he studied in the Sorbonne and in the Paris 'Catholic Institute'.

There he earned a Master's Degree in Philosophy.

The subject of his work:  "The Concept of Person in Christological Conflict of the 4th and 5th Centuries."

Entrance to the Carthusians

As Brother Micheal, he finished his 19th year with the Brothers of Charles Foucauld.

In 1989 he entered the Novitiate of the Grand Chartreuse at the age of 40.

There he made his solemn profession in 1996 as Dom François-Marie.

Relocation to Portes

On June 4th, 2001, Do François-Marie was relocated to the Charterhouse of Portes -- between Genf and Lyon.

On the 28th of September 2001, the monks there elected him Prior.

He then become a successor to Dom Étienne Descamps, who had held this office for 28 years.

After his election to Prior of Portes, he gave an interview to 'Voix de l' Ain':

How did you take your election to be Prior of Portes?

with a lot of fear -- but in the end there were enough signs to recognize the will of God.  I only have to accept it.

As Procurator [General Secretary]  of the Order, I already knew the house a bit.  The canonical visitations which take place every two years, gave me a passing understanding about the expectations which exist in every Carthusian house.

In the Church there is a serious priest shortage.  Isn't there some other way you would hae been more useful?

I sensed a powerful desire, to be useful to the Church and fellow man.  I was also very drawn to the Apostolate.

In order to understand, it has to be taken at the level of faith, otherwise I'm only conscious that what I say, can only scandalize in view of the priest shortage.

We are all conscious of this:  what was more awakening, is the radical step of total self-donation to God.  This decision makes no sense unless it is looked at with the light of faith, if one believes in the value of prayer and a life given by God.

We feel as members of a family, who are conscious of our place int he Church, that Christ operates through others, through those who have abandoned themselves to the apostolate or in contact with His suffering.  Everyone in his role.

You Carthusians, who have turned your entire lives to Christ and consider his work:  How can you not be troubled by the evil, suffering, wars, which tear the world apart and the terror attacks?

This question disturbs teh whole world.   We Christians ascribe them to human freedom.

It is not God, who will all of this.  That is a part of our great plan of love, which human freedom is considered almost in a scandalous way.

Did He not allow his Son to be crucified?  This concern for human freedom is the secret of the crazy love of God for men, a mystery, which excels us all.

We believe, that the eternal life of every person has more meaning for God than the earthly life and that the suffering, if it is the way of salvation, has a reason.

A great good can come from all the evil.

From a human perspective, what I'm saying here can excite indignation.

The evil and the suffering is also an opportunity for overcoming, love, generosity, devotion and universal brotherhood.

This answer to the evil through the good is a work of God's grace.

These acts are the purview of every human nature in his own frailty, his own responsibility.

You are preparing for the nine hundred year anniversary of the death of St. Bruno, your founder:  What value do you see in this day?

We celebrate October 6th as the day of Bruno's birth into heaven, his entrance into eternal life.

That is an opportunity for us to find new strength and to deepen it, for which we are grateful to him -- for the charism of our vocation in the arms of today's Church, this way of life, which he founded and has continued to live in the course of the centuries.

He is our father, our founder, our model, our teacher.  He has given us an example of total resignation:  to long for fruitfulness, he decided to give up the illusory joys and the passsing riches of this fleeting world,  in order to take up the search for God alone.

That is at the time that he refused to become Archbishop of Reims and instead became a hermit.

He gave us an example of heroic obedience, as he answered the Pope's call -- despite the danger of his his brother's dispersing.

He gave us the example of a complete obedience to the Spirit,  as he refused to become Archbishop of Reggio.  His words and his example call to us during our daily life:  They might be an encouragement and inspiration, in our way in the moments of trial, hesitation and temptation, in order to continue ever more radically in our  devotion to the Lord.

They know that we're not supermen.  We have shortcomings.  We are only humble Christians.

The isolation and the time of test in the desert brings us closer to men.

 Link to kreuz.net...

Maronite Cardinal Warns Against Abolishing Priestly Celibacy

Philippe Cardinal Barbarin

Of all things the Greek-Catholic Bishops, whose clergy is married,  have warned against abolishing celibacy.

(kreuz.net) On the 27th of Septemer Philippe Cardinal Barbarin of Lyon at the French magazine 'Paris Match' commented on the slow burning media issue of "celibacy".

"Don't squander this treasure"

The Cardinal recalled that Pope Benedict XVI had addressed this already in the first Bishops' Synod.

It was then that the former Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Cardinal Sfeir (92) spoke especially caustically about the abolishing of celibacy.

"Even with us, the Maronites, priests may marry"  -- explained the Cardinal:  "During the war in Lebanon, all of the married priests left with their wives and children."

No one blamed them for that: "Actually, the only ones remaining behind, were those who were married to their communities."

He continued: "Don't squander this gift".

"What do you want me to tell you?"

'Paris Match'  grasped in the air that supposedly twenty percent of the clergy live with a woman.

"A High statistic" -- cried Cardinal Barbarin:  "That is, as we would say, that thirty percent of husbands   betray their wives."

"What do you want me to tell you?" -- was the Cardinal's pugnacious reaction.

It would be natural to desire that people who are married are faithful:  "Even the Republic wants that."

Cardinal Barbarin recalled then that even civil servants officiating civil marriages in the mayor's office use the words "respect" and "faithfulness".

Link to kreuz.net....

In the Big Cities in Europe, the Churches Are Empty

Philippe Cardinal Barbarin

Philippe Kardinal Barbarin
© JaHoVil, Flickr, CC-BY-SA

A French magazine is concerned that a French Cardinal has been ungently awakened from the Conciliar madness.

(kreuz.net) On the 27th of September Philippe Cardinal Barbarin of Lyon was suddenly seized by an attack of Conciliar derangement for the magazine 'Paris Match'.

Inner-Church Civil War

When he was asked for a summation of the Second Vatican Council, the Neoconservative Prelate fell into a delirium:

"This renewal was really necessary:  the Liturgy, the inclusion of the laity, the life and the role of priests  and Bishops, our method of working together -- that has deeply transformed everything."

Or:  "The Council had also asked, for the unity of Chrisians and to work for dialog with other religions -- which demanded progress for this."

Everyone Reads and Follows the Bible

The Catholics are to have finally found a taste for the Word of God -- mythologized the Cardinal.

"The Bible appeared to them not long ago as something not comprehensible:  now it's open for all and has awakened our faith."

The Caning 

A well earned caning is followed by the boot:

"Are you avoiding the  Cardinal Martini's testament, for the Church has fallen behind two hundred years" -- said 'Paris Match' said to the exultant Cardinal, trying to draw him back to the Old Liberal reality.

He then quickly noted that he is to have conferred extensively with Cardinal Martini at the Conclave in 2005:

"He spoke to me for a long time about the Church and the Vatican."

And: "He had wished that the Church would awake."

Carinal Barbarin continued: "In Milan and in our large cities, Europe's churches are empty."

What?  Is that the result of the Second Vatican Council?

Link to kreuz.net...

A Site Dedicated to Abbé Michel in Thieberville and His Apostolic Work

Edit: we found this on the Messa in Latino site and got an approximate google translation. The sites below are in French but boast beautiful photos and show the continuing work of this great priest. Thanks be to God!

 [MIL] Do you remember the heroic priest who opposed Thiberville with recourse to Rome (unfortunately lost in both instances) to his bishop Nouricchard that, under the pretext of uniting several parishes, also suppressed in that, with the double Rite (NO and EO) was the most popular and loved by the faithful and pious Catholics? Well, the good priest, who no longer has a parish but is one of the group related to the Parish of Thiberville, it has not been abandoned by his followers. Here you can find links to the site support Abbé Michel packed with news and photos of initiatives, including the Church of Folleville that has been "restored" and brought to the honor of the Catholic Rite by the indefatigable Abbé Michel, who in spite of everything, continues its defense of the rite of the Church, to celebrate coram Deo, and always wears cassock (which is very rare in France!).

 Thanks to a reader for the reporting of the site.

 And thanks to Abbé!

New General Prior of Carthusians

Stat crux dum volvitur orbis

He was a late vocation to the Carthusians.  Previously he was occupied much with Fatima and appearances of the Mother of God.

(kreuz.net) Dom François Marie Velut O. Carth. was selected on this Friday 10:00 as the 73rd General Prior of the Carthusians.

The election was unanimous.

Member of another Order

The newly elected was christened Michel Velut on the 30th of December 1948.

From 1970 to 1989 he was a member of the community of "the Little Brothers of the Heart of Jesus",  which was inspired by St. Charles de Foucauld (+1916).

He was called Brother Michel of the Holy Trinity.

A  Fatima Expert

Brother Michel, according to the blog 'josbrunonis.blogspot.com' has researched Marian apparitions over many years.

In a four year research phase he devoted himself to the Third Secret of Fatima and published several books about it.

On the occasion of a Vatican symposium on Fatima, he gave a lecture on the 24th of November 1985.

At 41 he Became a Carthusian

In December 1989 he left his community and entered the Grande Chatreuse -- the mother cloister of the Carthusians -- in the French Alps by Grenoble.

He postponed his simple vows until the 25th of December in 1991.

Later he took the office of Procurator, which cared for the material affairs of the Carthusians and keeping straight its contacts with the world.

Finally, he became Secretary of the Order.

Exchange in the Charterhouse of Portes

In June 2001 he became Prior and Novice Master in the Charterhouse of Portes (Chartreuse Notre-Dame de Portes).

It is located in the vicinity of the 300 population village of Benonces -- between Lyon and Genf.

He has held this office up until Friday.

Portes is the first foundation of the Grande Chartreuse.  Because of its members, it is also called the "Charterhouse of the Saints".

Dom Velut has led his community to a certain blossoming.

The Whole Life is in Celebration

The Italian blog 'cartusialover.wordpress.com' cited the new General Prior with the following words:

"Despite the great strain, the freedom of the Carthusian life gives the feeling that all of life is a holiday."

Link to kreuz.net...

French Bishop Criticizes Government's Policy Attacking the Family

The plans of French Government for the introduction of gomorrist marriage were an attack on one of the pillars of society. It is wrong to promote a relationship that is sterile by nature in the same way as marriage.

Ajaccio (kath.net / LSN / jg) Olivier de Germay, Bishop of Ajaccio in Corsica, has spoken out against the plans of the French Government on the introduction of gay marriage. This was an attack on one of the pillars of society, he writes in an article on the diocesan website.

With the introduction of same-sex marriage, according to de Germay it is not about equality, but privileges. It makes no sense for any state to grant a partnership that is "sterile by nature" the same benefits as marriage. The permanent connection of a man and a woman with the purpose of having and raising children is not the invention of a particular type of society, but deeply inscribed in human nature. The State has an interest in protecting marriage, because this is the natural shelter for children and contributes in this way to build up society, wrote the bishop. The ideological background for the introduction of gay marriage, which is gender theory, the sex that reduces the identity of the person concerned to the biology. Gender theory contributes to the destruction of the family and would ultimately lead to the dissolution of the person himself, writes Bishop de Germay.

© Photo: Diocese of Ajaccio

French Historian Blames John Paul II for Current Crisis

France.  The Council Blessed John Paul II let important tasks slip and his successor "to pay the price for this incompetence".  French historian Philiippe Levillain (71) said this in an interview with the Catholic news 'La Croix'.  Levillain named as examples, the abuse-hoax, the Legionaries of Christ and the reconciliation of the Society of St. Pius X.

Link ...

Pentecost Chartres-Orleans -- +Fellay: Recognition by Rome? Trust in God's Foresight

Edit: Usually, there's not much to add to what Rorate has done.  This time we have some overlap.

(Orleans)  More than a thousand pilgrims covering the second leg of their yearly international pilgrimage of tradition on foot.  On the occasion of the 600th birthday of St. Joan of Arc, rather than travelling from Chartres to Paris, they went from Chartres to Orleans.

Msgr Bernard Fellay, the General Superior of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X, celebrated a Pontifical High Mass for the Pilgrims at this feast beneath the open sky.  For the German speaking pilgrims he added personally a sermon in German to the content of the Mass.  In that, he drew a comparison between  the relationships which dominated the time of the Maid of Orleans and those of today.  Then as today "Chaos" dominated.

A young girl showed then what it meant to accept God's will and to do.  Also then to accept, when one might not understand in a human sense.  Humanly it is not apprensible, why God allowed that Joan was burned at the stake.  But God had even given up even His only Son for the salvation of man.  There had to be a savior of France, in order to mature the soul.  That's how it always is with the healing of the soul.  God accomplishes this for the salvation of souls.

For this reason, the faithful also now rely on divine providence and not according to human reckoning.  This also applies for the question of the recognition of the Society by the Holy See.  It means to throw yourself into trusting God's guidance and let go.  In this regard the Superior General re-emphasized, contrary to rumors,  that there is no document from Rome before him that must have a yes or a no.

On Pentecost Monday, the Pilgrims will end their last leg in Orleans, where the current international pilgrimage will conclude their 100 kilometer journey on foot with Holy Mass.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Bild: Saint Louis Boulogne
Translation: Tancred

Link to katholisches...

Jewish Parents of Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger Were Baptised

In the Cathedral of Orleans the future Cardinal sensed that that which drew him to consider the Jewish question, found its meaning and completion in the form of the Messias.

(kreuz.net) On April 4th the French publisher Grasset pulished the first biography of the former Archbishop of Paris, Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger (+2007).

The author is Henri Tincq -- former Church correspondent for the anti-Clerical French newspaper 'Le Monde'.

The Chief Rabbi was Called

On Holy Thursday, 1940, the 13 year old Aron Lustiger entered the Cathedral of Orleans.

He later recalled: "There I felt that that which I had considered in the Jewish question, found its meaning and its completion in the form of the Messias."

Already on the 25th of August of the same year Aron and his sister, Arlette were baptized.

The religiously indifferent parents were against it. They even sought the intervention of a Chief Rabbi, to dissuade them from their plan.

Baptism Held in Secret

The biography reported that the parents of the Cardinal were baptized.

"Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger had always kept this a secret" -- wrote Tincq.

He found the corresponding baptismal certificate in the Ordinariat of Orleans.

No Fake Baptism

Charles and Gisele Lustiger --who were both born in Poland -- were baptized on the 31st of October in 1940.

The baptism was celebrated by Bishop Jules-Marie Courcoux (+1951) of Orleans.

Tincq explains that the parents allowed themselves to be baptized, to protect the family against anti-Jewish measures.

Actually, that's not the case.

The Mother was Imprisoned

Because the Germans did not respect -- then as today -- the rights of Catholics.

Mother Gisele was arrested on the 10th of September 1942, because she wasn't wearing a Jewish star.

She was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and lost her life in February of 1943.

The Parisian home of the family in the Rue Delambre was searched and sealed.

Saved by the Church

Father Charles went to south western France in what is today the 6,000 population community of Decaville in the region Midi-Pyrenees, to find a place of refuge for his family.

Jean-Marie came down and reached him in 1943. Actually, they were both discovered and had to flee.

Father Charles found accomodation in the Jesuit directed school École de Purpan in Toulouse.

Jean-Marie was hidden with Father Bezombes -- an important figure in the French Resistence -- til the liberation of France.

Link to kreuz.net...

One of Terrorist's Victims Was a Son of France and the Church

One of the soldiers shot by Islamic terrorist Mohamed Merah (23) indicates a very symbolic victim.

Corporal Abel Chennouf (24) was about to become a father. He is both Algerian Alsatian by birth, but "Catholic by choice" as chaplain Christian Venard said in his sermon at the funeral. "Your family has chosen France (and I repeat the words of your dear father), with all its traditions, including its deepest roots, which are Christian. How could we, my dear Abel, in such an accumulation of symbols, not see the most precious assets of our French fatherland, everyone at her breast pushing her sons to be who they want to be?"

Tranlated from katholikniuewsblad....

H/t: P-Hall

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