Josh Guimond, Disappeared Eight Years and the Tragedy of "Catholic" Education and Gay Teenager Newspaper Editor at Catholic Highschool

Missing for Eight Long Years

It's obvious that the corruption of the young continues to this day in allegedly Catholic schools, obvious that is to many, but not the boards, the Religious Orders once entrusted to educate the young, the Chanceries, the parents who unwisely send their children to these schools and thereby participate in the corruption, and ultimately a surrounding debased society which has no culture, no sense of shame, no fear of God.  We know this tragic story is almost a decade long, but how long must these ecclesiastical charlatans receive the approbation and trust to educate the young with their imposture of Catholicism?

 Benilde-St. Margaret's with the hyphenated name of a prosperous divorcee, is a combined, and unfortunately, co-ed school founded by the Christian Brothers and Sisters of St. Joseph Carondolet with strong "Benedictine" influences while it receives spiritual and intellectual support from the Modernist Monastery which was recently so rude and disobedient to Archbishop Nienstedt in their "Rainbow Sashes", but now, the student newspaper has decided to publish its views on the Archbishop's DVD and deny that he has any right to teach.  To the credit of the posh but culturally debased, suburban school, the offending and poorly written editorial was removed.  Unlike the editor of this blog, we don't feel that the piece was particularly well-written, but it is cause for concern about what kind of job is being done to educate the young and who might be encouraging this young man to express himself in this way.

Do these leftist termites have any business educating children?  It's been eight years since Josh Guimond disappeared, and the deception at St. John's Abbey continues.

One of the suspects and a homosexual predator himself, Father Bruce Wollmering, dies a traumatic and violent death on Abbey grounds.

Editor:  We erred.  Benilde St. Margret's is a school which is an insalubrious combination of a boy's academy run by the "Christan Brothers" known as Benilde and St. Margret's, its counterpart, which was an all-girls school run by the now almost completely extinct and heretical Sisters of St. Joseph Crandolet.  We thank you for your kind solicitation and patience.

Ugly Architecture and Faux Catholicism Combine to Deform Minds in St. Louis Park

The Pope Plans to Allow Women to the Office of Lector

Editor: It's just a matter of time?


Assignments since 1972 already no longer required ordination.

Vatican City (kath.net/KAP) Benedict XVI is evidently planning to allow women to act as lectors at services. This was confirmed by the new prefect of the Vatican Bishops Congregation, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, this Thursday afternoon.  Ouellet outlined this in the context of the post-synodal document "Verbum Domini" by Pope Benedict XVI., which dealt with "The word of God in life and in the mission of the Church".

In the 220 page document on the structure of the recommendations of the Bishops Synod 2008 dealt with the necessity of a "rediscovery" of the Bible for the life of the Church, for the engagement in society and for inter-religious dialogue.

The Pope recalled among other things the liturgical rules of the Mass in the document: "As is well known, the Gospel is announced by the Priest or Deacon, the first and second reading in the Latin tradition, however, can be assigned to a man or a woman."

Lectoresses will now no longer be the exception.

Till now it has only been men who've been assigned to read the first and second reading, even though in many parishes in the German-speaking world it has turned out otherwise.  That either men or women could be assigned in the lector role was actually foreseen as an exception.

 From the outset on, lectors -- consistently men -- were authorized by the local bishop in the majority of cases.  Besides these lectors assigned as needed by the Bishop, baptised women and men were assigned the  role of reader in the Mass out of necessity.

Till 1972 the lector and acolyte (Altarservers) were assignments reserved for "lower ordinands".  Since 1972 both assignments are no longer tied to one who is ordained.

By the presentation on Thursday afternoon Cardinal Ouellet pointed out that the Pope  seized upon this indirectly from "Proposal 17" of the Bishops Synod on the Bible of  2008: "The Synod Fathers desired that the office of lector should be open also to women -- that therefore ought to take place. And the Holy Father studied this matter intently."

The German edition of Radio Vatican speculated that with the preparedness of the Pope to allow women as lectors, this could also open the way for discussing allowance of women in the office of the diaconate. The possible renewal, of which Cardinal Ouellet speaks, does not mean altogether a step toward the direction of lay preachers, says the broadcaster.

The French Catholic newspaper "La Croix" also took a look on Friday at the expressions of the new papal document with regard to Judaism.  As the paper recalled, it happened two years ago for the first time that there was a Jew who was invited -- a head rabbi from Haifa, Shear-Yashuv Cohen -- to be a lecturer at the Bishops Synod.  And Benedict XVI had explained in his writing, how valuable the dialog with Judaism is for the Church. "We are close together as we share the same spiritual roots.  We encounger one another as brothers -- brothers, who in certain moments of their history have had a tense relationship, but who've now decided to take pains, to build bridges of understanding and friendship", it was said among other things.


Link to original at kath.net...

Mr. Taylor's photo, from here .

Wymyn Priestess photos, here.

Related Articles:

Stealth Deaconess, already in play, here.

Lay Investiture, here.

Linz Bishop, "concelebrates", here.

Stephen Kiechle SJ,will applaud too, here.

In the Protestant Church: Catholic Diocese Praises Womens' Ordination in Children's Story

Editor: Reminds us of the old saying, "we'll get to you through your children", or the Jesuit adage, "give us a boy till seven, and I'll show you the man" The following was translated from the website, "The Catholic Church in Germany" put out by the German Bishops, thank you very little. It's a children's book which features a visit by two friends of different confessional backgrounds to each others churches.


Lena is protestant. She and Laura are good friends. Last Sunday Lena asked: "Would you like to go with me to Protestant Service?" And Laura said yes.

There was a lady pastor here

Laura and Lena sit in the first bench. The organ began and a woman in a long black robe entered the church. "Is that a nun?", whispered Laura. "No, that is our Pastoress", answered Lena. Laura was astonished and wanted to know: "May women be Pastoresses with you?" "Yes", said Lena, "and they may also mary and have children."

No Sign of the Cross

The Pastoress announced what was new in the church community. Then the organ began to play the entrance hymn: "Where two or three gather in my name, then I am among them." "I know that!", exclaimed Laura. And she sang enthusiastically along. Laura wondered to herself. For the differences of the Services in the Protestant church didn't differ much with the Catholic Church. Actually, she liked some of the differences.

The Profession of Faith [sic]

The community stood up and prayed the Profession of Faith. Laura prayed with. Except for one single word, everything was the same. Catholics pray: "I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church..." in the Protestant church it goes "...the holy christian church..."


The Lord's Supper

.Laura learned that the Protestant Christians like those in the Catholic Church go to the altar and receive a Host. Lena exlained:"For us it isn't called Communion, rather The Lord's Supper. And we don't only receive the bread, rather we drink the win or juice from the chalice." Laura was careful to notice, as the Pastoress said the words of institution that Jesus had spoken at the last supper: "This is my body..." - "This is my blood...". "Just like us", thought Laura. Actually, at the consecration the Pastoress didn't raise the chalice and bread up. And there was no bell.

The Differences

After the Service the Pastoress stood at the church door. She gave everyone leaving a warm shake of the hand and wished them a beautiful Sunday. Laura smiled to her. The Pastoress spoke to her: "I don't think I know you." "I am really Catholic," answered Laura. "But today I'm with Lena here. She is actually my friend." Then Laura asked the Pastoress about the differences between Communion and the Lord's Supper. The Pastoress explained: "Bread and Wine are for us really the body and blood of Christ. But first then, only when someone has eaten the bread and drunk the wine or grape juice. And also only then, when he believes in it." Finally the bread is really ordinary bread. And the chalice has also normal wine or grapjuice. In the Catholic Church bread and wine are really the body and blood of Christ. And when consecrated Hosts are remaining, they are placed in a tabernacle." "I knew that", said Laura. "It is completely gold and looks like a treasure chest." "You may gladly return, if you still have questions", said the Pastoress. "Great", said Laura and departed. But on the next Sunday Lena will come for the first time to the Catholic Church. And then she can meet the Catholic Pastor, Locher, and pester him with questions. That pleased Laura and Lena very much. "


Illustration: Susanne Mix

Von Margret Nußbaum

H/t: summorumpontificum.de Where the above was given as an example of Protestantic relativism in connection with Father Finnegan of the Hermeutic of Continuity sojourn to Rome where he writes the following in his report on October 29th :

Yesterday I was given the altar of St Michael the Archangel for Mass at St Peters, and this morning I was pleased to be able to use the altar of St Pius X. Things have changed a lot since Summorum Pontificum there are now plenty of young priests around the Basilica first thing in the morning celebrating according to the usus antiquior. I like to go around a little before saying Mass and attend the consecration of various other Masses before saying my own.

So, the protestant relativism hiding out in German children's lit wasn't a lost cause after all.

Archdiocese cracks whip: Impropriety in Property Sales

Archdiocese cracks whip

More on illegal sale of Church property, here...

Priest defends himself, here...

Collegeville: NON SERVIAM

One of the Monks at this venerable institution once said, quoting Milton, "Better to rule in Hell than to serve in heaven." In another professor's mouth, it might have been a case of dramatic posing to capture the attention of the class, but you always got the sense he was rooting for the bad guys, and as subsequent events would have it, he was.




Father Ruff, OSB wrote,

Humility and complete dependence upon God are very good things. Jesus spoke often of them. The problem is that kneeling for Communion suggests, rather, complete dependence upon a clergyman who feeds you like a child. There is nothing in the teachings of Jesus to even hint that Christians should have this childish attitude toward ordained authorities in their community.

Link to Kneeling Catholic, here.

More News From Modernist Abbey & Friends

Home of the World's Ugliest and Most Expensive Bible

Following a rebuke from Archbishop Nienstedt, a Pro-Homosexual monk held a Mass for those school and abbey sponsored miscreants and publicity seekers. Insightful comments about priest who held Mass at Modernist Abbey "on a cold day in Hell" and his friends "down in da cities at other allegedly Catholic locales", here and here.

Photo: Abbey-Roads

Notre Dame Administrator Gets Deposed in Trial Busted!

[World Net Daily] A judge in Indiana has approved a request to depose a key school administrator by lawyers representing the "Notre Dame 88," pro-life activists who were arrested on orders from the Catholic university while they protested the school's speaking invitation to the devoutly pro-abortion President Barack Obama.

The move is key to the Notre Dame 88's defense, because when the famed university cracked down on the Obama critics, Notre Dame President John Jenkins issued a statement that all protesters were treated equally on campus.

However, William Kirk, former Notre Dame associate vice president for residential life who recently was dismissed, may have first-hand knowledge that the university previously allowed "gay" rights and anti-ROTC protesters to operate on campus without a permit and without any charges being filed, according to the Thomas More Society, which is working on the pro-life activists' defense.

Read further...

New Jesuit-Provincial Stefan Kiechle Bets Against Rome

Editor: He had previously this week offered to pay out settlements to compensate victims. He had also, as Novice Master, spoken of the pernicious homosexual culture in seminaries.



And he maintains: Appointments in the Church Hierarchy are reminiscent almost of "corruption" -- Almost half of Catholics are today continuously closed off from the Sacraments.


The new Provincial of the German Jesuits, P. Stefan Kiechle SJ, spoke this week for the abolition of celibacy. Kiechle spoke this Wednesday in the auspices of the "Cardinal-Höffner-Circle" Catholic CDU-member for the release of married men for the priesthood and for the consideration also of the ordination of women. Along these lines, Kiechle criticized the practice of appointments in the hierarchy of the Church. They are arranged by connections and are almost reminiscent of "corruption".

Kiechle speaks for another contact of the Church with the theme of mercy. He references the praxis of the Eastern Church, which has a conservative doctrine and in which it never the less has married priests. "That works", he insists. Surely, the abolition of celibacy will not solve all problems. Kiechle took over the administration of the Jesuit Province on the first of September.

The provincial speaks of a massive crisis in the Church, which is partly the result of a quantitative and qualitative shortage of priests. This crisis will not be solved first through the awareness of abuse cases. Firstly, the priest shortage hits "throughout". The Jesuit was concerned about the "selection, education and formation" of priests. Many clerics today are hardly in a position to take a leading role.

With a view on the ordering of officeholders throughout the Church there is "much about connections" said Kiechle. Some in Germany are interested in knowing someone in Rome, who has influence, or is eager to have dinner in Rome for personal favors. Such were the normal course of appointments, which pass for objectivity, "often evasive". The Provincial says this is dangerous: "In other contexts, one would speak of corruption."

The Superior continued, saying, the Catholic Church should establish centers. In the first place, there is a "reduction to core business", belonging to the "orderly and qualitative" Liturgy and Catechesis; these may also may influence good moods. Further accents must be "with quality" in the formation of schools and religious instruction. What the Church sows with the children, will remain.

Further accents must be mercifulness toward and usefulness of the disenfranchised and people on the edge. "That is the core business of the Church", he said. Almost half of the Catholics today are forbidden from approaching the Sacraments, intoned Kiechele, referring to the existence of cohabiting couples or remarried and divorced people. [More people in Germany seem to be aware of the Church's teaching in these matters.]

The Jesuit Provincial's remarks concerned the 40 participants in the conference for a controversial discussion. Before Kiechle, the leader of the Circle, Family Secretatry Herman Kues (CDU), called those concerns to mind. Cardinal Höffner stood for the opening of the Catholic Church to the modern world," said Kues. Those were the fundamental concerns for Höffner (1906-87), who was for many years the Archbishop of Cologne and the President of the German Bishops Conference, as well as the gathering of the Höffner Circle.

Original article...kath.net...here.

Modernist Benedictines Continue to Die Without Replacements

ST. JOSEPH, Minn. — Sister Mary David Olheiser and Sister Helenette Baltes professed their vows together in 1936 as two of the 21 new sisters to join the Sisters of the Order of St. Benedict that year. At the time, their central Minnesota Roman Catholic monastery was overflowing with youth and energy.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sister Mary David Olheiser, 92, and Sister Helenette Baltes, 94, were reunited after 62 years. Sixty-two years later, the classmates and old friends are together again. St. Benedict is taking St. Bede back into its fold. The smaller group is facing demographic realities by closing its Wisconsin monastery and moving 29 remaining sisters back to Minnesota.

"It's just a blessing," said Baltes, 94, of her reunion with the 92-year-old Olheiser.

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Bishop Trautman Endorses the Primacy of Personal Sentiment and Continues to Attack Legitimate Reform

Bishop Trautman reminesces about how wonderful it was to be at the Vatican Council and how much it embodied his vision for the Church. Considering the many things Bishop Trautman believes, contrary to Catholic teaching and practice, perhaps this isn't exactly a ringing endsorsement for Vatican II, but rather a condemnation.

The people who are fighting to go back to Latin, for example, had a wonderful experience when Mass was in that language. They're saying they met the Lord that way, and they're trying to keep that form, not understanding that the form and language of the liturgy is never an absolute. Only God is absolute, and there are different ways we express our love and our prayer.

Link to original...

Jesuit Theology Professor and "Friend of Darwin" says Science and Religion Are Compaitable

In 2008, Haught received a "Friend of Darwin Award" from the National Center for Science Education. Additionally, in 2009, in recognition of his work on theology and science, Haught was awarded the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Louvain. Here.

Participants in dialogue between religion and science must work to dispel the notion that the two disciplines stand in total opposition to each other, said a theologian with the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University in Washington.

"Just like I have been trying to do my entire life, the dialogue should attempt to remove the false obstacles in the way of discussion, namely that religion and science are incompatible opposites," John Haught told Catholic News Service June 18.

The interview was prompted by a panel discussion hosted two days earlier by the Dialogue on Science, Ethics and Religion, which is part of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Moderated by Jennifer Wiseman, the new director of the dialogue, the panel had four speakers who discussed the theme "Re-Envisioning the Science and Religion Dialogue." They reached an agreement on three basic principles: no name-calling, civility and a need to help develop an interest in science among the public.

One crucial viewpoint was missing on the panel: the Catholic perspective.

Haught has written 18 books on the subject, including "The Cosmic Adventure: Science, Religion and the Quest for Purpose," "God After Darwin: A Theology of Evolution" and "Responses to 101 Questions on God and Evolution." He has been involved with religion and science dialogue for many years, teaching a course on the dialogue at Georgetown University.

"Many people still do not have a very deep understanding of the relationship between science and faith," he said, adding that many don't even have much interest in this relationship.

"Look at the numbers: 50 to 60 percent of Christians consider evolution and Christian faith incompatible," he said.

To Haught, most who believe in the conflict model of religion-science dialogue cannot explain why they think the two are irreconcilable.

Catholics who hold this view need "to get over it," he said. "There isn't any controversy about the reality of the evolution in the scientific community, so why in the church?"

As Pope John Paul II said in a message to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on Oct. 22, 1996, Catholics need to construct a theology that shows how divine knowledge, providence and wisdom can be affirmed because of evolution.

Pope Benedict XVI said in 2007 that evolution and the existence of God the creator should not be seen as two ideas in strict opposition to each other.

"Evolution exists, but it is not enough to answer the great questions," such as how human beings came to exist and why human beings have an inherent dignity, he said.

That is why the religion-science dialogue is so important, said Haught.

"If the Catholic Church wishes to remain with an appropriate understanding of God, then it must accept evolution," Haught said.

He suggested that the dialogue should reach out to the seminaries and schools of theology and show the importance of science education.

Even more than that, he said they should reach out to the people sitting in the pews. "It will be important to hold more available conferences and other opportunities for people to meet and discuss the topic."

The dialogue should focus on bringing people into contact with the whole body of theology and science, said Haught.

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Bishop Fellay says, aggrement not possible "humanly" speaking

There is much talk about standing up to the modernist juggernaut, let's pray that these talks produce divine results. Rorate Caeli, here, reports on the recent statement of Bishop Fellay regarding the talks, They are sobering, also comments on ars orandi.

There is more at DICI (English), here.

For us, we must really see this opportunity for the discussions with Rome as truly a disposition of Divine Providence, as truly an amazing grace to be able to present to the highest authorities in the Church what that Church has always said and which, thanks be to God, we have kept; thus, to make it resound at the very top of the Church. To bear witness to the Faith is a great grace. And even at Rome, a certain number [of prelates] are expecting from these discussions—and it’s a direct quote— “very much good for the Church"...

...We cannot say that the pope has only to do this or that. It is every member of the Church who must, once again, at his place, according to his powers, according to the grace of the good Lord, do everything he can for the Church’s restoration. Everybody must contribute his efforts—everybody. So let us make this effort precisely by our prayers, by our sacrifices, by all the means that truly give life to the Church. The means that the good Lord commonly uses to restore and uplift the Church is called holiness.

Why the Weak were Corrupted and the Good Were Cast Out

The following article by Matt C. Abbott of "Renew America" highlights a chapter in a book that starkly illustrates a major component in the disintegration of Catholicism in America. In light of what has happened throughout the Catholic Church in the last half-century, almost nothing is so instructive as the unlawful and heretical intrusion of modern psychology, which often helped to encourage the feeble minded, the credulous, vulnerable and the malevolent among religious to abandon Church teachings on sexuality in favor of sexual liberation. The result was catastrophic for the Catholic Church, and the children who'd been put in its care. The prayerful atmosphere of religious houses suddenly turned noxious to those who did not embrace the new modes of self-expression so that most who did not collaborate with this new and vile spirit were thrown out into the street.

It's for this reason why we think that Women Religious are so reluctant to participate sincerely with a spirit of obedience in the visitation now investigating them. In this case, the patient does not want to be cured and is even adverse to holy things. Not only will not sound doctrine be tolerated in many Catholic religious communities in the United States, but Catholic sacramentals as well. Enter any so-called Catholic religious order's church and you will be hard pressed to find any visible Catholic sacramental presence.

By Matt C. Abbott

The following is a lengthy excerpt from the book Sacrilege: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church, authored by Leon J. Podles, Ph.D. Many thanks to Mr. Podles and Charles Eby of the Crossland Foundation for allowing me to reprint this material. (Caution: contains disturbing descriptions.)

Read the entire article...

h/t: Sir Wolfram

Revolt in Thiberville with English Subtitles

"While some priests labor to fill their churches, others labor to empty them."

Part I

If you can't see the subtitles, hit the up arrow in the lower part of your screen for closed captioning.



Part II



h/t: james mary evans

Liverpool Bishop's Ad Limina Visit Might be Interesting

An ad limina visit (Bishops are required to visit the Pope every 5 years) is coming off here pretty soon for UK Bishops and there's some complaining about their performance, something about not doing their jobs. Archbishop Kelly sure has an ugly Cathedral. They paid money for that. Ok, we know that Liverpool has an ugly Cathedral that's really not something you'd expect a church to be. The locals call it the Wigwam. The Clergy is as ugly as the Cathedral and they routinely beat up local priests and laity who ask for the Traditional Latin Mass and Sacraments. If you want the Catholic Faith, forget it, you should pack up your bags and head for Brompton. Damian Thompson's article on the subject is awesome and we hope that someone Romeside reads the despairing testimony from one of Damian's commenters:

That’s an irony, isn’t it? There was a time when traditional Catholic priests were unwelcome in Protestant areas of Liverpool. Now they’re treated like pariahs by their priestly colleagues, who screamed blue murder when there was a proposal to found one – just one – community celebrating the old liturgy. So it didn’t happen.

Fatima Vandalized with Islamic Symbols

It is possible that Muslims didn't do this, but if they did, they should be expelled wholesale from Portugal. Pehraps they don't like the ugly architecture which is more reminscent of vandalism than anything that's been done so far, like the pagan Hindu ritual approved by the rector a while back.


Now, THIS is vandalism:




[Portugal] In a press release Monday, officials from the shrine announced that in the early hours of Sunday morning, four statutes on the sides of the church as well as the church itself were painted with graffiti.

In the John Paul II Plaza, statutes of Popes John Paul II and Paul VI were painted. In the Pius XII Plaza, statues of Pope Pius XII and Bishop José Alves Correia da Silva were painted.

The graffiti includes the words “Islam,” “moon,” “sun,” “Muslim” and “mosque.”

According to the statement from shrine officials, “the difficult work of cleaning” is under way.

The communiqué added: “In reporting what has happened and without knowing who has done this, the shrine [officials] confirm [our] sadness and assure that the issue has been reported to the police.”

h/t james mary evans.

Revolutionary Theologian Edward Schillebeeckx (1914-2009) deceased

Radbound University Nijmegen
Yesterday, on the 23rd of December 2009, the internationally renowned theologian Edward Schillebeeckx died. Dr Schillebeeckx was Professor of Dogmatics and History of Theology at Nijmegen University from 1957 to 1983. Edward Schillebeeckx has been of major importance to twentieth century and contemporary theology. Many recognize him as a pioneer who connected faith, church and theology with modern humanity in a secular society. He has been an iconic figure for Radboud University Nijmegen.

Edward Schillebeeckx was born in Antwerp, on 12 November 1914. In 1934, he entered the order of the Dominicans and in 1941 he was ordained as a priest. Late in 1957, Schillebeeckx was appointed Professor of Dogmatics and History of Theology at the Catholic University of Nijmegen, now known as Radboud University Nijmegen.

Second Vatican Council
Schillebeeckx accompanied the Dutch bishops as their advisor during the Second Vatican Council (1962 – 1965). In 1960 he wrote a pastoral letter for the bishops informing the faithful about the Council. This letter attracted international attention because of the way in which Schillebeeckx described the relationship between the faithful and the hierarchy of the Church: he believed it is the task of the bishops and the Pope to express the live of the faithful, rather than the other way around.

Faith can change the world
In 1974, Schillebeeckx published Jezus, het verhaal van een levende, (translated in 1979 as Jesus: an experiment in Christology), and in 1977 Gerechtigheid en liefde, genade en bevrijding translated in 1980 as Christ: the Christian experience in the modern world). In these books, Schillebeeckx presented Christian faith as a source of inspiration for those who wish to stand up for the poor and oppressed and change the world for good. These books have broken new ground for twentieth-century theology and are still widely read and studied.

Church authorities
Schillebeeckx continued to be involved in the internal affairs of the church after the Second Vatican Council. In addition to his earlier works on the sacraments of the Church (De sacramentele heilseconomie, 1953), his later publications deal with priesthood and the role of the faithful in the Church (Kerkelijk ambt, 1980 and Pleidooi voor mensen in de kerk, 1985, translated as The Church with a human face: a new and expanded theology of ministry). As a result of the innovative character of his works, Schillebeeckx was asked to justify himself to the Church authorities on three occasions. Shortly before his retirement in 1983, he received the prestigious European Erasmus prize. Schillebeeckx’ work is still widely studied, particularly in the United States and Great Britain.

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The Bauhaus and Tradition: New Criterion

One thing this recent review doesn't tell us is the unmistakeable debt modern ecclesiastical architecture owes to the Bauhaus school. The Bauhaus rejected the traditional and more human historical school of art paedagogy and created an absolutist vision which came to dominate the skylines and living spaces of European and American cities for the last 40 years. Bauhaus' architectural rejection of tradition mirrors the Catholic Church's own struggles with modernity as liberal enemies within the Catholic Church attempted to put their heresy in stone and legitiize their attacks on the traditional doctrine, practices and morality.

One might say that the Bauhaus established a workshop for heresy.

The Bauhaus lasted exactly as long as Germany’s Weimar Republic (1919–1933) and is its principal cultural achievement. But the revolutionary school of art and design is also an achievement of modernism itself, for it answered a most vexing question: Was it possible to make a viable institution out of a movement that had arisen out of conflict with institutional authority, and which drew its focus, vitality, and sense of purpose from that conflict? Merely to demolish one bastion of academic authority, such as the imperious École des Beaux Arts, and to replace it with another would hardly have been worth the struggle.

One forgets that modernism before the Bauhaus was a volatile, many-sided, centrifugal affair and that there was little reason to believe that its various factions and groupings—whether Cubist, Futurist, or Constructivist—could ever make common cause. At times, their insistence on stylistic orthodoxy could rival that of the École (one thinks of El Lissitzky and Malevich purging Chagall from the Vitebsk School of Art). Yet the Bauhaus, by enforcing no aesthetic conformity and by promulgating no official style, proved to all that a modernist institution need not repeat the failings of its academic predecessors. Such an omnivorous and receptive stance was perhaps only possible in Germany, which, historically, had been accustomed to draw on the lessons of France, Italy, and elsewhere and to mix the results freely.

Link to original...

Hans Kung is an Opportunist: Never Waste a Crisis

Not wanting to waste a manufactured crisis, the kinds of people who were respnsible for the "crisis" in the first place are using it as pretext to usher in further "reforms" aimed at destroying the Church.

Like Archbishop Martin of Dublin, he's ever eager to exploit the crisis. Expect more of this in the future.

THE Catholic Church needs another reforming council like the 1960s Vatican II assembly before Rome winds back all the advances it made, one of the world's foremost [sic] Catholic theologians said yesterday.

Hans Kung said the Vatican was an authoritarian system that sometimes used totalitarian methods to enforce its views but the problems of this approach were becoming insurmountable.

He said another global council would not happen because the Vatican was afraid. Instead, it was trying to restore the pre-Vatican II church but was encountering strong resistance, not just from the grassroots but from bishops.

''Already the successor of this Pope will have to face the situation that churches are more and more empty, and parishes are without pastors, and communities are dissolving,'' he said.

Dr Kung, along with Pope Benedict, was involved in the Vatican II council that modernised the church. ''A third council would take up the justified concerns that were not fulfilled in the last council. It was forbidden to speak about celibacy; we did not discuss divorce though dozens of millions of Catholics are in this situation; and we did not discuss women's issues like conception.''

Dr Kung came to the Parliament of the World's Religions to launch his manifesto for a global economic ethic. Yesterday, he said if it was ignored the world would probably sink into another financial crisis worse than the last, because several crises were interlinked: economic, climate change, poverty and wars.

He said Wall Street seemed to have learned nothing and wanted to go back to the status quo, but the housing collapse in the US and the different mood in Europe made this unlikely.

More Accusations Against Modernist Benedictine Monastery

Attorneys for a man claiming he was sexually abused by clergy at St. John's in Collegeville have filed a lawsuit, alleging a massive cover-up that spans more than 25 years.

The Order of St. Benedict, St. John's Abbey, and St. John's Preparatory School are listed as defendants on the lawsuit filed in Stearns County Court on Tuesday. Plaintiff attorney Pat Noaker says the suit identifies 11 accused, abusive Benedictines who were continually allowed to work with children from the early 60s through the mid-eighties.

"This concealment was overt and intentional at St. John's, this was not accidental," Noaker said shortly after filing the lawsuit.

The plaintiff listed on court papers is Jerry McCarthy, who says he was sexually abused by a father at St. John's in 1971; when he was a high school sophomore at St. John's Prep.

McCarthy told reporters he noticed the father who abused him recently passed away, and that sort of spurred him on, to tell his story.

After contacting Noaker, he was surprised by what his lawyer found.

"I had heard some of the stories over the years, but I was surprised to hear about the depth of it," McCarthy said.

Brother Aaron Raverty, with St. John's Abbey, released a statement late Tuesday afternoon.

"Saint John's has learned of a possible lawsuit, which we plan to carefully review. St. John's takes the issue of sexual misconduct very seriously, and over many years, has worked to ensure that policies and procedures on human rights are followed and enforced. Saint John's policies are clear and longstanding: we do not tolerate sexual misconduct in any form."

And yet they don't abide by the rules of the Catholic Church regarding ordination of homosexuals or featuring Catholic speakers that depart from the truths of the Catholic Faith and the priciples of Ex Corde Ecclesiae.

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What could be better? The campus of St Johns surrounded by hardwoods dressed in autumnal red and gold and yellow. The Great Hall and the School of Theology: perhaps an encounter with a professor from my days here a decade and a half ago. A tour led by Northfield friend, Lutheran Pastor Keith Homstad, an oblate of this Benedictine Abbey. Capped off by an evening address by Sister Joan Chittister, entitled What in the Monastic endeavor touches the heart of the gospel?

Sister Joan is a leading Catholic feminist and voice for progressive Catholicism. Among other liberal causes, she is an outspoken advocate for the ordination of women to the priesthood. The press release notes just a tip of the iceberg for her accomplishments:

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