Benedict XVI. on the Shepherd's Responsibilities of the Successors of the Apostles -- by Armin Schwibach/ Rome
Rome[kath.net/as] The Bishop is not a pure manager, he is not a bureaucrat or a simple moderator and organizer of the life of the diocese. Much more, he must be a "father, brother and friend" and be on the "Christian and human path", who knows he has to create, "an atmosphere of trust, acceptance, sympathy, but also uprightness and justice".
With these words Pope Benedict XVI. addressed a second group of newly ordained Bishops this morning, who participated in a course organized by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
In his speak the Pope adumbrated a proper life program, that has validity for every Bishop. For that he went to some "enlightening" words of St. Thomas Aquinas. "Authority" and "Love" as "caritas" are says Thomas the fundamental requirements for a Bishop, which is also defined in the Dogmatic Constitution of the Second Vatican Council, "Lumen Gentium". The Council explains: "A bishop, since he is sent by the Father to govern his family, must keep before his eyes the example of the Good Shepherd, who came not to be ministered unto but to minister,(comp. Mt 20,28; Mk 10,45) and to lay down his life for his sheep (comp. Joh 10,11).
Taken from among men and compassed with weakness, he can have compassion for them, who are in ignorance and error (comp. Hebr 5,1-2). He should not refuse to hear his subordinates, who he cares for like true sons and be exhorted work eagerly with them. For he will give an account for your souls before God (comp. Hebr 13,17), should you observe through prayer, preaching and cared for him with any kind of charitable work, the same for any, who are still not of the same flock and are yet really commended by the Lord.
That he is as the Apostle Paul the most sinful, he is ready, to preach the Gospel to all (comp. Röm 1,14-15) and encourage his faithful to missionary zeal. (Lumen Gentium, 27)
The assignment of Bishops, according to the admonitions of Benedict VI., may never be understood within a mentality, in which efficiency an effectiveness are understood as the the center points. The attention of the Bishops may not valid in the first line to consider "what is to be done"; it is much more necessary, "to always keep the ontological dimension, which stands on the basis of the functional dimension."
So the office of the Bishop is located "within a deep perspective of faith and not simply in a human, administrative or sociologically certain perspective".
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Monday, September 13, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Burka-Ban: German Archbishop Schick Sees Good Grounds For It
"Focus" -- poll shows that there are 61 percent of Germans for Burka-Ban
Munich [kath.net/KAP] The Archbishop of Bamberg, Ludwig Schick, sees good grounds for a burka ban in Germany. The reason for this interview on "Focus" was related to the news magazine's recent published polls, which shows that 61 percent of Germans are for a burka ban. If it were legally punishable to wear a burka, this must be put in the balance "between the basic rights of religious freedom and other basic rights, like for example the equality of man and woman, the right for education or the right of public assembly", said ++Schick to the news magazine.
The news magazine had made the poll at the pollster TNS Emnid in contract, to select a sample of one thousand and one representative sample of adults. Consequently, sixty one percent were for a ban against full body covering in Germany. 36 Percent were against such a ruling, as the news magazine "Focus" reported. Party members of the CDU/CSU were 75 percent in favor and the FDP members were 73 percent for. The SPD-affiliated voters were 61 percent for, the Greens were 53 percent and the Left-voters were 45 percent for the measure.
Link to original...
Munich [kath.net/KAP] The Archbishop of Bamberg, Ludwig Schick, sees good grounds for a burka ban in Germany. The reason for this interview on "Focus" was related to the news magazine's recent published polls, which shows that 61 percent of Germans are for a burka ban. If it were legally punishable to wear a burka, this must be put in the balance "between the basic rights of religious freedom and other basic rights, like for example the equality of man and woman, the right for education or the right of public assembly", said ++Schick to the news magazine.
The news magazine had made the poll at the pollster TNS Emnid in contract, to select a sample of one thousand and one representative sample of adults. Consequently, sixty one percent were for a ban against full body covering in Germany. 36 Percent were against such a ruling, as the news magazine "Focus" reported. Party members of the CDU/CSU were 75 percent in favor and the FDP members were 73 percent for. The SPD-affiliated voters were 61 percent for, the Greens were 53 percent and the Left-voters were 45 percent for the measure.
Link to original...
Saint Paul Archdiocese's New CEO Gets Co-CEO
Sept. 11--The new CEO of Catholic Charities in the Twin Cities has an aggressive cancer that will limit his ability to lead the organization, the agency announced Friday.
Paul Martodam, 60, who began work Jan. 1, will be joined by Robert Spinner as co-CEO while the social service agency begins a national search for a replacement. Spinner is former president of Allina Health Systems and was interim CEO before Martodam was hired.
Martodam told the board and staff early last week that he has stage IV esophageal cancer that has spread to other parts of his body. The cancer was detected in mid-August, and he has begun radiation treatment, with chemotherapy to start soon, his family said in a CaringBridge website set up Aug. 27.
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Paul Martodam, 60, who began work Jan. 1, will be joined by Robert Spinner as co-CEO while the social service agency begins a national search for a replacement. Spinner is former president of Allina Health Systems and was interim CEO before Martodam was hired.
Martodam told the board and staff early last week that he has stage IV esophageal cancer that has spread to other parts of his body. The cancer was detected in mid-August, and he has begun radiation treatment, with chemotherapy to start soon, his family said in a CaringBridge website set up Aug. 27.
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Italian Priest Encourages Having Babies to Fight Islam
[NYDaily News] A prominent Catholic priest wants European Christians to fight off Islam with a unique weapon: babies.
Father Piero Gheddo, an Italian missionary priest, said Wednesday he believes a declining birth rate among Europeans combined with a rising tide of Muslim immigrants could mean that Islam will soon dominate Europe.
"Certainly from a demographic point of view, as it is clear to everyone that Italians are decreasing by 120,000 or 130,000 persons a year because of abortion and broken families; while among the more than 200,000 legal immigrants a year in Italy, more than half are Muslims and Muslim families, which have a much higher level of growth," he said, according to Rome's Catholic news service Zenit News Agency.
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Father Piero Gheddo, an Italian missionary priest, said Wednesday he believes a declining birth rate among Europeans combined with a rising tide of Muslim immigrants could mean that Islam will soon dominate Europe.
"Certainly from a demographic point of view, as it is clear to everyone that Italians are decreasing by 120,000 or 130,000 persons a year because of abortion and broken families; while among the more than 200,000 legal immigrants a year in Italy, more than half are Muslims and Muslim families, which have a much higher level of growth," he said, according to Rome's Catholic news service Zenit News Agency.
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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...
Anglican priests tell parishes they are taking path to Rome | CatholicHerald.co.uk
[Catholic Herald] Two traditionalist Anglican clerics have announced they are to be received into the Catholic Church.
Giles Pinnock, the vicar of St Mary-the-Virgin in Kenton, north London, told parishioners on Saturday that he was leaving the Church of England for the Catholic Church, while Robin Farrow told parishioners at St Peter’s in West Blatchington, East Sussex, in his Sunday homily that he was converting to Catholicism.
Fr Pinnock said: “The particular decision to leave this parish has been harder than the joyful decision to be received into the Catholic Church – although the two are of necessity connected, and as the Lord tells us in today’s Gospel, we must be willing to change fundamentally the context and the detail of our lives if we are truly to be His disciples.
Anglican priests tell parishes they are taking path to Rome | CatholicHerald.co.uk
Giles Pinnock, the vicar of St Mary-the-Virgin in Kenton, north London, told parishioners on Saturday that he was leaving the Church of England for the Catholic Church, while Robin Farrow told parishioners at St Peter’s in West Blatchington, East Sussex, in his Sunday homily that he was converting to Catholicism.
Fr Pinnock said: “The particular decision to leave this parish has been harder than the joyful decision to be received into the Catholic Church – although the two are of necessity connected, and as the Lord tells us in today’s Gospel, we must be willing to change fundamentally the context and the detail of our lives if we are truly to be His disciples.
Anglican priests tell parishes they are taking path to Rome | CatholicHerald.co.uk
Saturday, September 11, 2010
A Mother of Four Must Go to Jail For Non-Participation at School Event
The comments beneath this article point out that the treatment of non-Christians, such as Muslims, is unequal when it comes to similar objections from parents. Muslims who object to their daughters participating in school events like swimming and sex education are not held to the same rule of law as Christians.
Original kath.net, here...
Salzkotten [kath.net/idea] A Russian-German Christian must go to to jail, because she kept one of her children from a School event and had not paid the outstanding fee for it.
The mother of four children was brought from Salzkotten by Paderborn to the Bielfield Correctional Facility. They will remain five days in incarceration. One of her children did not participate in a theater even of the Catholic Liborius Grade School.This was, in any case, compulsory.
The parents founded their negative attitude toward the performance because of their beliefs. [The play apparently deals with sexual "enlightenment" or education] The participation is not compatible with her religious convictions. Already in a previous performance the parents had written the District Attorney's Office to explain their stance: The payment of a fee expected by you would challenge our personal convictions.
"For this reason our incarceration will not move us to pay a fee, of which we are, in so far as it applies to German law, not guilty." Most recently the cases where parents from the region have for reasons of avoiding school and non-payment of fees have been incarcerated have increased.
The effected children all go to the same school. First at the beginning of August a Father of twelve children was arrested for a total of forty days.
Original kath.net, here...
Friday, September 10, 2010
Public movement asks to crown the Kremlin Spasskaya Tower with double-headed eagle
Moscow, September 10, Interfax - Participants of the Vozvrascheniye (Return) public movement turned to the Russian President with the request to take away a five-point star from the Kremlin Spasskaya Tower and to set up a double-headed eagle there.
"We're convinced that now after returning an icon of the Savior, it is necessary to erect a double-headed eagle - state emblem of new Russia - to the Spasskaya Tower," activists said in their address conveyed to Interfax-Religion on Friday.
They remind that on October 24 it will be exactly 75 years since the day when a double-headed eagle was thrown down from the Spasskaya Tower where it had been located from mid 17th century.
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"We're convinced that now after returning an icon of the Savior, it is necessary to erect a double-headed eagle - state emblem of new Russia - to the Spasskaya Tower," activists said in their address conveyed to Interfax-Religion on Friday.
They remind that on October 24 it will be exactly 75 years since the day when a double-headed eagle was thrown down from the Spasskaya Tower where it had been located from mid 17th century.
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Thursday, September 9, 2010
Cardinal Nichols Has a Place You Can Go
Still more reason to suspect the motivation behind allowing the "Gay Mass". To be sure, after listening to these candid interviews of the "gays" attending this Liturgy, Arcibishop Nichols would probably be just as defensive of it. It looks a lot more like tacit approval and hypocrisy than it does, Christian Charity.
Active homosexuals in the video would be welcome in the Church of England or the Old Catholics. It's not clear why they don't find a home there, but as long as prelates like Cardinal Pell in Australia, indeed, prelates all over the world, accomondate this stuff, they're not doing much for their credibility.
Surely, no one is surprised that Cardinal Nichols has a "gay Mass".
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Active homosexuals in the video would be welcome in the Church of England or the Old Catholics. It's not clear why they don't find a home there, but as long as prelates like Cardinal Pell in Australia, indeed, prelates all over the world, accomondate this stuff, they're not doing much for their credibility.
Surely, no one is surprised that Cardinal Nichols has a "gay Mass".
[BBC]As Britain prepares for a visit from the Pope, there is opposition from some gay people who believe the Roman Catholic church is intolerant of their sexuality. But in one London church homosexuals are attending a "gay Mass" with the blessing of senior clergy
Paul Brown had not been to church since his mother's funeral in 2002. Now he is back in the pews, courtesy of a Mass for lesbian and gay Catholics which is the only one of its kind in the UK.
"I searched for a Mass with a positive message about things you should do, not someone telling me all the things I shouldn't do," he says.
Paul, who sports a black leather biker's jacket, is one of a number who have transformed the church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory in London's West End.
They sing hymns at the top of their voices. Many are aged under 30. Some have dyed hair. Suddenly, Catholicism seems be all the rage in this part of central London.
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Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
New Tradition-Friendly Bishop Reopens A Seminary Closed for 10 Years
[Paris] Msgr Marc Aillet, the current General Vicar of the traditional friendly French Diocese of Toulon, was made by Pope Benedict the Bishop of the Diocese of Bayonne. He is a member of St. Martins-Community founded by Cardinal Siri, in which the Holy Mass of Paul VI is celebrated in latin, versus Deum. The Bishop wrote an article about the use and meaning of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum and endeavored to promote the Tridentine Mass also the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite in his Diocese.
Even after the first two years in office, it was possible for him to re-open his Seminary which had been previously closed due to a lack of candidates which now has five candidates. The first seminarians of the re-opened seminary will begin their studies in the next few days. Other candidates will begin simultaneously the preparatory year of spiritual direction for priests, which was the tradition in seminaries.
On the official Internet site of the Diocese it says, that the education and instruction in a Seminary "the door is open to the great tradition of the Church through the discovery of the Second Vatican Council in conformity with a "hermeneutic of renewal in the continuity of the individual subject-Church", especially through a foundation of theological instruction and a real exploration of the treasures of the Roman Liturgy".
When the seminary was closed 10 years ago thanks to a shortage of candidates, the then rector spoke of a "chance", to force the Church, "to break new ground". "That would be precisely like, if a Company had regarded it as a chance, if upon inspecting his ledger discovered that he had to file bankruptcy," said Internet site Messa in Latino.
And still more: "With the change of Bishops the admission is renewed: "The progressives empty the seminaries, the Traditionalists are filling them. Both in relatively short time. All is not lost, when we are given good Bishops."
Translated original, here...
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Lenin's monument presented to Ukrainian Greek-Catholics
Novosibirsk, September 1, Interfax - Uzhgorod City Council conveyed a monument to the October Revolution leader to a Greek-Catholic parish free of charge.
It will be recast and turned into a monument to Greek-Catholic bishop of the 18th century Andrey Bachinsky, who transferred diocesan residence and seminary to Uzhgorod and set up a big library there. His monument will be installed at Uzhgorod Cathedral Square, the Sibirskaya Katolicheskaya Gazeta (Siberian Catholic Paper) reported.
Earlier, the same incident took place in the town of Sambor, the Lvov Region. Statue of Mother Ukraine was made of Lenin's bronze figure. The new monument was set on the same base at the town ...
Link to original...Interfax
It will be recast and turned into a monument to Greek-Catholic bishop of the 18th century Andrey Bachinsky, who transferred diocesan residence and seminary to Uzhgorod and set up a big library there. His monument will be installed at Uzhgorod Cathedral Square, the Sibirskaya Katolicheskaya Gazeta (Siberian Catholic Paper) reported.
Earlier, the same incident took place in the town of Sambor, the Lvov Region. Statue of Mother Ukraine was made of Lenin's bronze figure. The new monument was set on the same base at the town ...
Link to original...Interfax
International Congress And Exposition of the Holy Shroud, Lima, Peru
(Lima, Peru) In the Capital of Lima there will be a Sindonological Congress on the Shroud of Turin, one of the most important relics in Christendom. The scholar participants are to present a series of new studies, with which they will prove the authenticity of the Relic as the burial shroud of Christ. The Congress was organized by the Study Center for Sindonology (Study of the Shroud of Turin) at Turin.
Bruno Barberis, director of the Turin Study Center explained, that researchers from the entire world are finding more and more evidence to support the authenticity of the burial cloth. There is probably about 1:1000, that it is a human body wounded inside the burial cloth, and that we're not dealing with Jesus of Nazareth.
The Congress worked in collaboration with the Centre of Catholic Studies in Lima and the Acción Universitaria of the University of Lima.
The Itlian researchers explained, that the Radiocarbon C-14 test of 1988 through was from damage, which the burial cloth had suffered in fire in 1534, which falsified and led to a "rejuvenation". The finding gave a period of existence between 1260 and 1390. With that, the Shroud was considered to be a medieval forgery. Up to this point, a forgery by a human agency has not been demonstrated.
"The fabric samples for the procedure of C14-analysis were culled both from dust and pollen infected places. In addition this sector is not representative of the entire shroud. There must be more tests of pieces taken from other sectors," said Barberis.
The Burial Shroud shows the full standing impression of a body about 1,75 Meters tall, bearded man with clear traces of torture. the wounding on his head, on hands and feet as well as the puncture wound near the heart describe the account of the Gospel about the Crucifixion and Death of Jesus of Nazareth. Meanwhile it remains generally recognized, that the illustration of the body can not have been painted by a human hand. The evidence of the man would point to the use of negative photography which hadn't been discovered till 1898.
The discovery of coin stampings from the 1st Century, aD antique coins put over the eyes of the man according to burial customs leaves scientists convinced, that the burial shroud is probably older, than what was indicated by the radio carbon analysis. The impressions formed of the coins on the impression have been identified as coins, which were minted under Pontius Pilate, at the time of the Roman Occupation of Judea and would fall at the time of Jesus' execution.
Israeli Researchers have discovered in 1999 by experiments on the burial shroud, 58 types of pollen and have also identified around 30 plant impressions, that are exclusively found in the Near East.
At the University of Lima a copy of the Shroud in its original size can be observed, which as part of an exhibit over the Shroud of Turin and the actual state of research. The original will be held in its original shrine in the Cathedral of Turin.
More information is available at www.sabanasanta.info.
The Original story is here....katolisches.net
John Paul II Earns Mention In Jewish Museum
By Hugh J. McNichol
BALTIMORE, Maryland, SEPT. 3, 2010 (Zenit.org).- An exhibit that opened this week at the Jewish Museum of Maryland explores the development of Pope John Paul II's personal, spiritual and pastoral link with the Jewish people, from his earliest boyhood experiences in Wadowice, Poland, until his final days as Pope.
The exhibition, titled “A Blessing to One Another,” invites visitors to experience the people, events and social influences that formed Karol Wojtyła's ideas and beliefs, which he ultimately shared with the world as John Paul II. The exhibit opened Thursday and continues through Dec. 26.
Cardinal William Keeler, retired archbishop of Baltimore, who has been involved with the project from its earliest days, emphasized to ZENIT that the exhibition is "a marvelous experience of the faith of both the Jewish and Catholic peoples. In the exhibit, one can truly experience John Paul’s closeness to the Jewish people as both brothers in our monotheistic faith and the first respondents to the Word of God."
Link to original...
BALTIMORE, Maryland, SEPT. 3, 2010 (Zenit.org).- An exhibit that opened this week at the Jewish Museum of Maryland explores the development of Pope John Paul II's personal, spiritual and pastoral link with the Jewish people, from his earliest boyhood experiences in Wadowice, Poland, until his final days as Pope.
The exhibition, titled “A Blessing to One Another,” invites visitors to experience the people, events and social influences that formed Karol Wojtyła's ideas and beliefs, which he ultimately shared with the world as John Paul II. The exhibit opened Thursday and continues through Dec. 26.
Cardinal William Keeler, retired archbishop of Baltimore, who has been involved with the project from its earliest days, emphasized to ZENIT that the exhibition is "a marvelous experience of the faith of both the Jewish and Catholic peoples. In the exhibit, one can truly experience John Paul’s closeness to the Jewish people as both brothers in our monotheistic faith and the first respondents to the Word of God."
Link to original...
GalliaWatch: "Allah Akbar" on the Lyons Cathedral!
A "conservative" Priest creates an interesting display.
GalliaWatch: "Allah Akbar" on the Lyons Cathedral!
GalliaWatch: "Allah Akbar" on the Lyons Cathedral!
Friday, September 3, 2010
Motu Proprio Coming? The News Is Not Official but Deserves Confirmation
Editor: This just in from Mr. Bruno Volpe, a very credible source indeed with some background. Obviously, considering the recent talks from Cardinal Koch, this may have difficulties, but this is the feast of St. Pius X and an opportune time for a leak of this kind of cautious good news.
Link to Bruno Volpe's site...
[Translation by Google Translate] Motu Proprio coming? The news is not official and deserves confirmation. The news is not official and deserves confirmation. In traditional talk of a motu proprio by Pope Benedict XVI would think to unlock the stalemate in talks with the doctrinal Society of Saint Pius X. In traditional talk of a motu proprio by Pope Benedict XVI Would think to unlock the stalemate in talks with the Society of Saint Pius X. doctrinal The solution could be the promulgation of a papal motu proprio that relieves the fraternity from an explicit acceptance of Vatican II and acceptance of new entry, with full restoration in communion with Rome. The Solution Could Be the promulgation of a papal motu proprio That Relieves the fraternity from an explicit acceptance of Vatican II and acceptance of new entry, with full restoration to communion with Rome. In return, the traditionalists should explicitly accept the Catechism of John Paul II in 1992 and this would be the greatest obstacle. In return, the traditionalists Should Explicitly accept the Catechism of John Paul II in 1992 and this Would be the greatest obstacle. Broad sectors within traditional feel with reason, this thoroughly modern catechism and contrary to orthodox Catholic values and therefore the negotiations could get stuck on that. Broad Sectors Within traditional feel, with reason, this Catechism and Thoroughly Modern Contrary to orthodox Catholic values and the Negotiations Therefore Could get stuck on that. We'll see, but by papal there will be decided, quite wisely, to unblock the situation of the traditionalists of the fraternity who have given so far shown great devotion to the Pope and the Catholic Church. We'll see, But There Will Be Decided by papal, quite wisely, to unblock the situation of the traditionalists of the fraternity Who Have Given So Far shown great devotion to the Pope and the Catholic Church.
Link to Bruno Volpe's site...
The Vatican Council and the 'Ratzinger Schülerkreis': Archbishop Koch Says Vatican II Magna Carta
Editor: The Magna Carta wasn't a positive thing. It was actually condemned by the Church, but before embarking on his attempts to explain the continuity of the past with the hope of the future in a more precise and definitive explanation of the Vatican Council 40 years later, it seems that the vision of this Pope will be upon reigning in the excesses of the Revolution and Reforming the Reform. The last two points of his second lecture were the most disturbing, referring to a liturgy of the religion of man (hints of Augustus Comte) and the last which implies Teilhardianism and all of that Cosmic Christ stuff.
Despite the current discussions between the Society of Pius X and Rome, it looks like for the foreseeable future, that Pope Benedict will stick to his Hermeneutic of Continuity. Does this mean that it is possible that the SSPX will be allowed to critique this point of view and still be fully reconciled?
It is encouraging that Archbishop Koch didn't stray from the course set for him by Pope Benedict. Unlike his predecessor, he doesn't appear to have an agenda all of his own making, he's Pope Benedict's man.
Accordingly, just now, we've discovered that Bruno Volpe has confirmed the Motu Proprio.
Link to original...
Despite the current discussions between the Society of Pius X and Rome, it looks like for the foreseeable future, that Pope Benedict will stick to his Hermeneutic of Continuity. Does this mean that it is possible that the SSPX will be allowed to critique this point of view and still be fully reconciled?
It is encouraging that Archbishop Koch didn't stray from the course set for him by Pope Benedict. Unlike his predecessor, he doesn't appear to have an agenda all of his own making, he's Pope Benedict's man.
Accordingly, just now, we've discovered that Bruno Volpe has confirmed the Motu Proprio.
The priority of the Hermeneutic of Continuity -- Archbishop Koch and his reflections in Castel Gandolfo -- by Dr. Armin Schibach/ Rome
Rome (kath.net/as) The current year's meeting of the "Ratzinger Schülerkreis'
" in Castel Gandolfo was a reflection over the Second Vatican Council and devoted to its interpretation. "True to Tradition, open to the future": with these words the main speaker, Archbishop Kurt Koch, began the meeting, that the "most correct interpretation of the Council as a whole, that even in the third century it remains "the Magna Carta of the Church".
According to the Vatican times "L'Osservatore Romano" (edition from the 1st of September 2010) the President of the Papal Council Promoting the Unity of Christian his impressions together with his summation. The Congress of the Schülerkreis with Pope Benedict XVI. he descried as a "concrete, lively and positive experience".
In his first speech Koch presented in a reflection on the manner of reading and interpretation of the Second Vatican council and relegated that to a priority for a "hermeneutic of continuity". This problematic is taken up then in a second lecture and developed further. Then Koch had above all enlarged upon the Constitution on Liturgy "Sacrosanctum Concilium", in order to show in a concrete way, how the Hermeneutic of Reform can be realized.
The Papal Advisor for the Promotion of Christian Unity worked at the order of the Pope.
Both lectures were then followed by an hour of discussion. Therefor, it became clear, for Archbishop Koch to further encompass the spiritual dimension of the Christan life in all of its aspects. The concrete character of the discussions were very useful for the work of each of the participants, which were affirmed by the warm words of the Pope, as Koch began on the 30th of August with a private audience: "We have spoken about my new ecumenical efforts, that the Papal Adviser for the Promotion of Christian Unity is no reality unto itself, rather a mission of the Pope's, in order to see, how dialogue can be developed for the future".
The meaning of the "Hermeneutic of the Reform"
In the center of the first lectures "stand the Second Vatican Council between Tradition and Renewal", so Koch proceeded. He put the themes in seven points: 1. A history of the reception and the erroneous reception; 2. Hermeneutic of the Reform in a fundamental continuity; 3. Break with Tradition of the Council; return to sources and "Aggiornamento"; [There's a debate between the ressourcement and more liberal exponents, neither of which are satisfactory from a Traditionalist POV] 4. Criteria of a Hermeneutic of the Reform (complete interpretation of the Council texts, unity of Dogmatic and Pastoral; no separation between "spirit and letter"); 5. Catholic breadth and fullness; 6. The heritage of the Council in relevant challenges; 7. Ecclesiastical Reform of the spiritual mission.
The Liturgy -- Center point of the Hermeneutic of the Council
The second lecture concentrated itself on the theme of the "post-Conciliar liturgical reform between continuity and discontinuity". As Archbishop Koch made clear, he explained them withal in eight individual themes. Flowing from the declaration, that the liturgy is the center of the Conciliar Hermeneutic, these are discussed in the following eight points: 1. Phenomenology and Theology of the Liturgy; 2. The Liturgy in its organic development (with the principle of "participatio actuosa" of all believers in the liturgy and with the principle of an easier comprehension and simplicity of the rites); 3. Light and shadows in the post-Conciliar liturgy; 4. The protection of the great heritage of the liturgy; 5 The necessary Reform of the Reform, which must be based on the primacy of Christology; 6 The unity of the New Testament culture and the New Testament liturgy; 7 The Christian liturgy and the religion of man [Religionen der Menschheit] 8. The Cosmic Dimension of the Liturgy.
The renewal of the Paschal Mystery is then the last topic, which was discussed before the final remarks on the object for consideration.
Link to original...
China-Holy See: the mirage and religious freedom for the official and underground church
Rome (AsiaNews) - In recent months, since April until today, the Church in China has celebrated the ordination of six new bishops, as well as the official installation of a previously ordained bishop who had not been recognised by the government. What has been surprising is that all candidates were approved by the Holy See and recognized by Beijing. But even more surprising is that this wave of new Episcopal ordinations comes in the wake of two lean years, i.e. during which there were no consecrations despite the fact that there were about 40 dioceses of the official Church with octogenarian pastors, who needed replacement, or indeed vacant sees.
The newly ordained (as well as the officially installed bishop) - of which AsiaNews gave immediate news - are the pastors of Bameng (Inner Mongolia), Hohhot (Inner Mongolia), Haimen (Jiangsu) Xiamen (Fujian); Sanyuan (Shaanxi), Taizhou ( Zhejiang), Yulin (Yanan, Shaanxi).
Bishops in communion with the Holy See attended all of the ordinations, with the exception of that of Bameng. Instead in Bameng, the patriotic bishop Ma Yinglin, illegally ordained in 2006, attended the celebration. He is considered the heir to Anthony Liu Bainian, vice chairman of the Patriotic Association, nicknamed the "Pope" of the official Church because of his power over the finance and bishops of the Church.
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The newly ordained (as well as the officially installed bishop) - of which AsiaNews gave immediate news - are the pastors of Bameng (Inner Mongolia), Hohhot (Inner Mongolia), Haimen (Jiangsu) Xiamen (Fujian); Sanyuan (Shaanxi), Taizhou ( Zhejiang), Yulin (Yanan, Shaanxi).
Bishops in communion with the Holy See attended all of the ordinations, with the exception of that of Bameng. Instead in Bameng, the patriotic bishop Ma Yinglin, illegally ordained in 2006, attended the celebration. He is considered the heir to Anthony Liu Bainian, vice chairman of the Patriotic Association, nicknamed the "Pope" of the official Church because of his power over the finance and bishops of the Church.
Read further...
Chiesa Reviews New Books Describing Papal Attacks
ROME, September 3, 2010 – Two books have been released this summer, in the United States and in Italy, that reconstruct and analyze the merciless attacks on Benedict XVI from various sides, since the beginning of his pontificate, with a crescendo that reached its peak this year.
The book by Gregory Erlandson and Matthew Bunson, editors of Catholic publications very widely read in the United States, focuses on the scandal of sexual abuse by the clergy.
The book by the Italian vaticanistas Paolo Rodari and Andrea Tornielli instead extends the analysis to a dozen attacks against as many actions and speeches of Benedict XVI: from the lecture in Regensburg to the liberalization of the ancient rite of the Mass, from the lifting of the excommunication from the Lefebvrist bishops to the condemnation of using condoms to prevent AIDS, from welcoming Anglicans into the Catholic Church to the scandal of pedophilia.
Read further...
The book by Gregory Erlandson and Matthew Bunson, editors of Catholic publications very widely read in the United States, focuses on the scandal of sexual abuse by the clergy.
The book by the Italian vaticanistas Paolo Rodari and Andrea Tornielli instead extends the analysis to a dozen attacks against as many actions and speeches of Benedict XVI: from the lecture in Regensburg to the liberalization of the ancient rite of the Mass, from the lifting of the excommunication from the Lefebvrist bishops to the condemnation of using condoms to prevent AIDS, from welcoming Anglicans into the Catholic Church to the scandal of pedophilia.
Read further...
Sedevacantist Dimond Brothers up on Racketeering Charges
You'd have to be a daft one indeed not to know what the Diamond Brothers were about, or a liar. It's not like they're very open about being at odds with the Holy See is it? The plaintiff has given them substantial monies even before becoming a member of "Most Holy Family Monastery", so it's very difficult to see how he wouldn't know that they weren't affiliated with the Benedictine Congregation. Not only that, he was contractually obligated to $750,000 dollars if he decided he wanted to quit. Looks like all he's entitled to is the $750,000.
The judge is not going to rule against the Dimonds on this one.
Link to article...
The judge is not going to rule against the Dimonds on this one.
Link to article...
God's Condemnation of the Whole World?
"Sodom and Gomorrha are biblical ciphers, clear warnings to do penance -- for us all, for the whole of society, those who are autonomous and without forming a relationship to God in their lives. That will end in chaos either today or tomorrow."
From a selection of Bishop Heinz Algermissen of Fulda for the next Sunday's Episcopal paper 'Bonifatiusbote'
Read further...
From a selection of Bishop Heinz Algermissen of Fulda for the next Sunday's Episcopal paper 'Bonifatiusbote'
Read further...
‘Philosophy undermined my atheism’ - Catholic Herald
Editor: As a Catholic who doesn't believe in objectivity, you're just as ripe for having the rug put back under you. Indeed, why do people spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to go to Oxford when its best graduates spout drivel like this?
‘Philosophy undermined my atheism’ - Catholic Herald
Objectivity, on the contrary, is the romance of Wisdom as Brother Andre-Marie writes:
www.catholicism.org, here.
And yet: “As university went on I got deeply into philosophy, and the philosophy totally undermined my atheism, by making me realise that there is no overarching objectivity, no Dawkinsian bedrock of common sense if you strip everything away.
“I realised that atheism was just as culturally conditioned as being a Catholic. The Oxford way of teaching it was the western analytical tradition of deconstructing arguments, so for a naïvely dogmatic young atheist I was ripe to have the rug pulled from under me.
‘Philosophy undermined my atheism’ - Catholic Herald
Objectivity, on the contrary, is the romance of Wisdom as Brother Andre-Marie writes:
“Romance” is commonly associated with erotic love and its pursuit. As a literary genre, it has been reduced to the smutty novel mass-consumed in cheap pulp editions by idle housewives. But that is not what a romance is at all. Coming from the Latin word for “the Romans,” romance first of all is a group of languages whose common origin is a low Latin that was diversely Germanized, Celtified, Vandalized, Gothified, and otherwise Barbarized by the foreigners who divided the carcass of the Western Roman Empire among themselves. From low Latin emerged the antecedents of today’s “Romance Languages”: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Romanian, etc. These languages developed their own songs, epic ballads, and verse that related important events of history and passed on the culture of the emerging European nations. By the High Middle Ages, these forms had evolved into a rich and diverse literature that became more cultivated as European civilization moved from the chaotic feudalism of the “Dark Ages” to the more orderly era of organized kingdoms. An important part of the developed literature of the day was the verse or prose narrative called “the romance.” 1
www.catholicism.org, here.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
The Connection Between Liturgical Abuse and Child Abuse
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The Clerical Sex Abuse Capital of the World is Also the Liturgical Abuse Capital. It all started here with one of the greatest liturgical abusers, Father Virgil Michel and his notorious companion, the Faustian, crypto-Marxist Eric Gill.
In discussing the connection between clerical sexual and liturgical abuse, a connection we've been making for a while, it would be encouraging if these people would also begin making the fateful connection of sexual abuse with all forms of pedagogical abuse, including Modernism. In his blog yesterday, Father Z cites MommyWrites, discussing a causal connection between Child Abuse and bad liturgy. Bad liturgy is a component of modernism and to confirm this in a very direct way is to talk about the home of bad Liturgy, which is Collegeville, Minnesota and its flagship quarterly, Worship which was originally Orate Fratres. The Magazine involved a collaboration between the Liturgical Revolutionary (and abuser), Father Virgil Michel and the notorious Eric Gill.
Eric Gill envisioned bad liturgy before most people had experienced it. People in Minnesota were being experimented upon in the 1930s as this blog proves, notably under the tutelage and pernicious influence of Collegeville.
Some who are familiar with Gill's work, will notice early wreckovations, which were fairly common already in the 1930s when Gill was at large:
Of course, you might say, what has interior design got to do with Liturgy? Quite a lot actually, these designs are meant to, if they don't in fact accomplish this, accompany what was in the Pre-conciliar time, the liturgical abuse of saying Mass facing the people.
It's important also to mention the connection, because while Virgil Michel was editor of Orate Fratres with Eric Gill's contribution of the cover art for the first edition; they are both Liturgists and designers in their own right and had passed their legacy to men like Frank Kazmarcek OSB(who is not an abuser of children, but of buildings), Jerome Tupa OSB (who stands accused as a homosexual pederast and is a "painter") and Dunstan Moorse OSB, who is the current Editor of what is now "Worship" produced at Collegeville.
Morse is himself a liturgical abuser and an abuser of children. He was credibly accused by a large number of boys and yet retained his position at St. John's Abbey and despite being on "restriction" travels quite freely throughout the world.
the more recent Editor, Father Dunstan Morse is a credibly accused child abuser.
Pope Benedict to Asian Catholics: Be Witnesses to the Beauty of Christ's Being!
Pope Benedict published a message for the Catholics of Asia.
Rome (kath.net/as) this coming Sunday, the 5th of September, there will be a congress of Catholic Laity in Asia. For this event the Pope has composed a message to the Catholics of Asia, in which he exhorts them, to give ever more of a witness to the beauty of Christian existence and announce Jesus Christ as the only savior of the world. Similarly the Pope accentuated the indispensable role of the Lay Faithful for the mission of the Church. The message was read yesterday morning by the Apostolic Nuncio from South Korea, Archbishop Osvaldo Padilla.
The Asiatic continent, which contains two thirds of the world population, is for Benedict XVI, the cradle of great religions and spiritual traditions; simultaneously it is with a growing economy combined confrontations with unparalleled social transformations. in the midst of this context the Catholic is bound to ask, "a sign and a promise of unity, which only a Christian makes possible."
The people of Asia need Christ and his Gospel, as the Pope cited and called to memory the post-synodal writing "Ecclesia in Asia" (1999) of his predecessor John Paul II.. Therefore they must be encouraged by a healthy spiritual formation for that, not only to be active in the building up of local communities, rather also to forge a new way for the Gospel in all parts of the society.
Of Especial importance for Benedict XVI. is the witness to the truth of the Gospel in the Life of Marriage and the Family, in the defense of life from birth until natural death, in the care of the poor and marginal, by the reconciliation and in the practice of justice in solidarity in the workplace.
The growing number of engaged laity is a "sign of great hope for the future of the Church in Asia" according to Pope Benedict XVI. The fundamental roll of the lay faithful in the mission of the Church to accentuate warned the Pope every Catholic, to follow the example of St. Paul, "in order to bring to other men the truth, the joy and the beauty of Jesus", without losing courage in the face of difficulties.
Link to original...
Rome (kath.net/as) this coming Sunday, the 5th of September, there will be a congress of Catholic Laity in Asia. For this event the Pope has composed a message to the Catholics of Asia, in which he exhorts them, to give ever more of a witness to the beauty of Christian existence and announce Jesus Christ as the only savior of the world. Similarly the Pope accentuated the indispensable role of the Lay Faithful for the mission of the Church. The message was read yesterday morning by the Apostolic Nuncio from South Korea, Archbishop Osvaldo Padilla.
The Asiatic continent, which contains two thirds of the world population, is for Benedict XVI, the cradle of great religions and spiritual traditions; simultaneously it is with a growing economy combined confrontations with unparalleled social transformations. in the midst of this context the Catholic is bound to ask, "a sign and a promise of unity, which only a Christian makes possible."
The people of Asia need Christ and his Gospel, as the Pope cited and called to memory the post-synodal writing "Ecclesia in Asia" (1999) of his predecessor John Paul II.. Therefore they must be encouraged by a healthy spiritual formation for that, not only to be active in the building up of local communities, rather also to forge a new way for the Gospel in all parts of the society.
Of Especial importance for Benedict XVI. is the witness to the truth of the Gospel in the Life of Marriage and the Family, in the defense of life from birth until natural death, in the care of the poor and marginal, by the reconciliation and in the practice of justice in solidarity in the workplace.
The growing number of engaged laity is a "sign of great hope for the future of the Church in Asia" according to Pope Benedict XVI. The fundamental roll of the lay faithful in the mission of the Church to accentuate warned the Pope every Catholic, to follow the example of St. Paul, "in order to bring to other men the truth, the joy and the beauty of Jesus", without losing courage in the face of difficulties.
Link to original...
Liberal Jesuits Open Cardinal Newman Institute in Uppsala Sweden
Editor: The Cardinal Newman Insitute, run by Jesuits, is seeking donors and hope for financial support from conservatives who believe they're running a conservative locale. You might think this is a cause for rejoicing, but we'd encourage you to be cautious. Don't be fooled.
Link to original...
This weekend, after hundreds of years, a Catholic University will open its doors in Sweden. The "Newman Institute" in Uppsala.
Stockholm [kath.net/KAP] This weekend after centuries a Catholic University will open its doors in Sweden. The "Newman Institute" in Uppsala will, according to the school authorities, be the first Catholic educational establishment since the Protestant Revolt in the 16th Century, which has the authority, to issue academic degrees. In 1477 Pope Sixtus IV. had founded the last university in Uppsala, till now. The Jesuit directed University celebrates its opening on Sunday afternoon with three lectures, which will each explore Christendom of the past.
The English Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890), who gives his name to the new institute, is among the most amazing figures in the Church History of the 19th Century. When he turned 44, the Anglican theological became a Catholic. In 1847 he was ordained a priest, and was named Cardinal by Leo XIII in 1879. The beatification of Newman on the 19th of September in Birmingham is a highpoint and completion of the Holy Father's trip to the United Kingdom.
Link to original...
Gregorian: new Rector takes His Office
Editor: The first commenter on the kath.net portal, "palmzweig" complains that none of the Jesuits wear their habits. It's understandable that this should provoke suspicion and distrust. It's amazing that such a superficial thing reveals so much. All in all this is not an encouraging appointment. That this man's specialty is Hannah Arendt is hardly consoling. It may take more time before the people in charge realize that men whose worldly studies may impress secular mentalities, do not serve the Church well.
The original, here...
Yesterday on Wednesday the French philosopher and Jesuit Francoi-Xavier Durmortier (61) begins his job as Rector of the Papal Gregorian University.
Rome [kath.net/as] Yesterday on Wednesday, September 1, the French philosopher and Jesuit Francois-Xavier Dumortier (61) began his new work as Rector of the Papal Gregorian University. P. Dumortier worked previously as a professor of philosophy with the specialization in philosophic ethics at the Centre Sèvres and taught at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge Massachusetts. Dumortier researches the German philosopher Hannah Arendt (d. 1976), who as a young researcher was forced by the National Socialists to exile in the United States. IN 1982 Dumortier was ordained a priest. In 1990 he took solemn vows in the Society of Jesus.
In 2003 Dumortier was selected as the Superior of the Jesuit French Province. Pope Benedict XVI. had named him on April 26th as the new rector to the Gregorian University.
In his first writings to the Professors and Personnel of his new work appointment on the end of April of this year, P. Dumortier had made the the point, how important the presence and work of the Papal Gregorian university is in and for the Church.
Next to the three big state Universities of Rome ("La Sapienza", "Tor Vergata", "Terza Universita") the Papal domain is of some note in the eternal city. Together with six Universities: the Papal Gregorian University (founded 1551; Society of Jesus), Lateran (founded 1773; Vatican, Diocese of Rome), Urbaniara (founded 1933; Propaganda Fidei), Tommaso d'Aquino (founded 1580; Dominicans), Salesiana (founded 1940: Salesians) and Santa Croce (founded 1985: Opus Dei), are of the number of over 20 theologico-philosophical Athanaeums, Institutes, Faculties and Seminaries. These take up a certain area of study or from a special spiritual-scholarly horizon of the organizing bodies and those responsible over the last centuries.
Not from long ago these domains served exclusively for the formation of seminarians, priests and religious or for academic specialists and particular scientific specialties. Initially in the last 25 to 30 years have seen a growing number of lay students. The large part of these are Italians, but there are also many young people who come above all from eastern Europe, the United States and Latin America to study there.
The center of the Papal Universities and Athanaeums are concerned with the study of philosophy, theology and canon law. This necessitates a large bandwidt of special educational directions: Missiology, Spirituality, Patristics, Liturgy, Study of Religion, Church History, Psychology, Education, Art and Music, Sociology and Church social teaching, Bioethics, Old Philology -- just to name a few of the special areas of study.
The Papal Gregorian University owes its name to Pope Gregory XIII. who opened the new location of the Collegio Romano in 1584, which had been established by Jesuit founder, St. Ignatius Loyola in 1551.
Today the Gregorian has six faculties (Philosophy, Theology, Canon Law, History and Cultural treasures of the Church, Missiology, Social Science), three Insitutes (Spirituality, Psychology, Interdisciplinary Studies of Religons and Cultures) and for Centers (Interdisciplinary Center for Social Communication, for the Education of Teachers of Priests, Center "Cardinal Bea" for Jewish Studies, Interdisciplinary Center "Laikos").
The Papal Gregorian Univerisity numbers around 3,000 students from more than 130 lands, 821 Diocese and 84 Religious Institutes. The faculty has professors who come from 40 different countries.
The original, here...
How to Avoid Witchcraft or X-rated Films for Your Kids
[California Catholic Daily] The following was prepared by the California Catholic Conference [of bishops] education committee (July 2010) and posted on the bishops’ site this summer.
Most of California's Catholic families with school-age children choose to enroll them in the state's public schools-rather than in Catholic or other private schools. However, many families are unfamiliar with the laws that govern what their child will be allowed to do-or asked to do-and unaware of certain ideas and information their child will be taught while at school.
WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES: As Catholics, we strongly believe that parents are the first and foremost educators of their children. The Catholic Catechism states that families are the "privileged community" where children are meant to grow in wisdom, stature, and grace (# 2206-2209). The Church counsels us to work with public authorities to ensure and protect the rights of parents.
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Britain’s Leading Gay Activist Calls for Lowering of Age of Consent to 14
LONDON, September 1, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – One of Britain’s leading homosexualist activists has called again for the lowering of the age of sexual consent from 16 to 14, saying that this will reduce incidents of sexual abuse of young people. Peter Tatchell, founder of the group OutRage!, wrote on the website Big Think, “Whether we like it or not, many teenagers have their first sexual experience around the ages of 14 or 15.”
“If we want to protect young people, and I do, the best way to do this is not by threatening them with arrest, but by giving them frank, high quality sex and relationship education from an early age.
“This includes empowering them with the skills, knowledge and confidence to say no to unwanted sexual advances and to report sex abusers. Compared to the blanket criminalization of sexually-active under-age youth, this empowerment strategy is a more effective way to protect young people from peer pressure and pedophiles.”
A higher age of consent actually puts young teens at greater risk of abuse by “reinforcing the idea that young people under 16 have no sexual rights," Tatchell said. “They signal that a young person is not capable of making a rational, moral choice about when to have sex.”
Read further at Lifesite...
More Calls to Abrogate England's Law Forbidding Catholics from Throne
The Law being referred to is the Act of Settlement which has undergone a lot of changes over the years. This law was originally established to protect the throne from getting a Catholic Monarch and to further restrict the Catholic nobility. It might be a safe bet that there will be still more changes to this law, especially considering the fact that, unfortunately, England is becoming less and less a Confessional State. So it may be that the abrogation of this law will be accomplished for the wrong reasons, arguably, in much the same way Catholic Emancipation happened.
The Scotsman, here...read more.
The public is being urged to back a campaign to scrap a 300-year-old law which prohibits Catholics ascending the throne, ahead of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Britain next month.
The Coalition Government is currently asking voters to nominate laws which they think restrict civil liberties and should be abolished or amended.
The suggestions will form the basis of the so-called Freedom Bill, announced with much fanfare by Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, earlier this year.
At the same time, however, ministers have said that they have no plans to change the Act of Settlement, which also bars members of the Royal family marrying Catholics.
Angus MacNeil, the SNP MP for the Western Isles, has called for a mass online vote for a change in the law, which he denounced as “state sectarianism”, ahead of the Pope’s visit.
Introduced in 1701, the Act of Settlement states that no sovereign “shall profess the Popish religion or shall marry a Papist”.
The exclusion of Catholics was designed to ensure a stable monarchy, after decades of rows over the state religion.
More than three centuries since its inception, it continues to affect the Royal family.
In 1978, Prince Michael of Kent, the Queen’s cousin, lost his place in the line of succession after marrying a Catholic.
Just two years ago, Autumn Kelly, a Canadian and the new wife of Peter Phillips, the Queen’s grandson, renounced her Catholic faith to allow her husband to remain in succession.
Before he became Prime Minister, David Cameron indicated that he would like to see the Act changed.
But within weeks of the coalition taking charge in May, it was announced that there were “no current plans” to amend it.
The Scotsman, here...read more.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
When One Sees How the Holy Father Celebrates Mass Today, One can Barely Notice Any Difference Between That and His Ordination Mass
The Meal Table Is Frequently Little More than a Night Table in Front of a Magnificent Altar
A German Bishop has sharply criticized the post-conciliar liturgical reform. One wanted to tear out the altar --- and horribly degraded it.
[kreuz.net] The Liturgy must be recovered as the "holy life's blood" of the Church.
Bishop Emeritus Klaus Dick (82) of Cologne explained most recently in a lecture in Cologne. On Friday the Cologne 'Domradio' (Cathedral Radio) recording of the presentation. It consists most substantially from citations -- predominantly from Pope Benedict XVI.
A Break with Tradition
The effect of the post-conciliar Liturgical reform called for-- said Msgr Dick -- "the virtual self-destruction of the Liturgy".
More precisely he criticized so-called "creativity" in the Ligurgy.
He warned about that attitude, "that even the new form of the Liturgy is an obligation".
In the post-conciliar period Msgr Dick perceived with a citation from Cardinal Joseph Höffner (+1987) of Cologne that there was a cataclysmic "break with Tradition".
Porous Texts with an arbitrary Interpretation
In his lecture Msgr Dick criticized the Mass in the vernacular as well as the Eucharistic Celebration on the "Supper Table"
After the pastoral council it was known, that the Latin was suppressed (disestablished). The prelate corrected this, "The opposite is the case."
More accurately the Council deleted the value of the altar.
Indeed after that the Altar "had been so horribly degraded as never before."
In many churches there is placed before a high altar a "post-conciliar thing" -- lamented the Auxiliary Bishop the Furniture Industry.
In the concept "People's Altar" the Auxiliary Bishop said, that every altar must serve as a celebration with the people.
Even the term "celebrations-altar" Msgr Dick indicated was false: "Are there any altars where we don't celebrate?"
Already in these examples Msgr Dick sees, that the Liturgical Reform "is crooked".
Considerable Shortcomings only in the New Mass
In his lecture the Auxiliary Bishop tore the cheap polemics against the Mass of All Ages to pieces: "The Old Liturgy had considerable shortcomings."
He could not find any evidence of these.
In the entire lecture he mentioned only -- at another point --. that in the Old Mass on Sunday that [only] the preface of the Trinity was used.
Against that he found the New Missal used numerous prefaces for Sunday.
The Auxiliary Bishop found these to be "a great honor" for the Old Mass.
He desires practical changes in the Old Mass. So that the Rite would be, which is directed by Peter, supposedly "improved".
For that, he argued for the Pope's wish, that both Masses should enrich one another side by side.
Eucharistic Celebration Without Holiness
Bishop Dick submits, that in the New Eucharistic Celebration it loses sacrality.
Indeed this is a natural part of that Liturgy.
One gets the false intonation of the character of a meal applied to the liturgy: "It must be a successful meal."
Finally, Msgr Dick indirectly points out, that he doesn't understand the difference between the Old and the New Mass:
"When one sees how the Holy Father celebrates, one can barely notice any difference between that and his ordination Mass."
Link to original..
Islam Is the Future Religion of Europe
Deutsche Bundesbank boardmember Thilo Sarrazin makes some pointed complaints about Germans of Muslim extraction and says that Jews have a common gene. This should get interesting.
Read full article...
[The Jerusalem Post] Regarding Islam, Sarrazin said, “No other religion in Europe makes so many demands. No immigrant group other than Muslims is so strongly connected with claims on the welfare state and crime. No group emphasizes their differences so strongly in public, especially through women’s clothing. In no other religion is the transition to violence, dictatorship and terrorism so fluid.”
While Sarrazin has tapped into a raw nerve among the politically and socially correct elites of Germany, which roundly slammed him for his language, his critique of Muslims and his right to articulate his views enjoy widespread support within mainstream German society. Polls have revealed extraordinary levels of approval for Sarrazin, ranging from 85 percent to 95% of those questioned.
The first edition of his 460- page book (25,000 copies) promptly sold out, and a second edition of 15,000 was quickly purchased, prompting a third edition (70,000) and a fourth (80,000) to be commissioned.
Read full article...
A French Genocide: The Vendee by Reynald Secher
Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil will cast some of you into prison that you may be tried: and you shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful until death: and I will give thee the crown of life.
(The Apocalypse of Saint John ii. 10)
The history of Holy Mother Church is filled with the bones of her martyrs. She is a holy society built on the blood and sacrifice of her redeemer and also on those faithful who came later and offered their lives rather than soil their heavenly garments with earthly apostasy. Some are well known to us: great saints, like St. Stephen or St. Polycarp, whom we annually recall on their respective feast days. The vast majority, however, are now anonymous to all save God. There is a poignancy in their anonymity: we may not know them by name or story, but we know thousands upon thousands in history believed what we believe, loved as we love, and, ultimately, were provided the graces necessary to pass through the gauntlet of martyrdom and take their places in the Heavenly Jerusalem. Might I suggest the next time you find yourself transfixed by a clear and dark night sky (which happens to me all too often), imagine that each one of those dots of light so far off represents one such anonymous martyr. I have been told that on a clear night, the naked eye can see perhaps five thousand such stars; well then remember, that these anonymous martyrs number many times over such an amount.
Read further...
Eighty Hosts Stolen From Tabernacle: Austria
The stealing of the host is supposedly comparable with the willful destruction of a Tora-roll or the desecration of a graveyard.
[kreuz.net Graz] Unknown persons have damaged more churches in the Austrian Diocese of Graz-Seckau.
This was according to the Press Office of the Diocese today. The media has regarded this crime with indifference.
The press text in the main speaks of "more disturbances and defacement of Catholic churches."
The highpoint of these "diverse disturbances" was a quick forced entry into the city church of St. Paul:
"The tabernacle was broken into and unknown persons stole 80 hosts."
Episcopal Vicar Heinrich Schnuderl commented on the robbery of the All Holiest, "horrified":
"The desecration of a host is for us Christians an attack against the center of our faith."
It is manifestly not clear any more, that the Host in the tabernacle, "the body of Christ", is the All Holy for Catholics.
The Episcopal Vicar identified the sacrilege, supposedly, with "a Toraroll in the Jewish Synagogue or an Islamic Koran, and also comparable to the desecration of a grave for example, in a Jewish graveyard."
Bishop Against Anti-Islam-Online Game
In the same press relase Bishop Egon Kapellari of Graz-Seckau criticized an on-line game for the right-people's party, 'FPO'.
On the page "moschoo-baba.at" the the user must shoot stop signs at newly appearing mosques.
Msgr Kapellari views this as a threat against religious peace in Steyria:
"That puts up a barrier to inter religious respect and should be strictly avoided."
Original...kreuz.net
[kreuz.net Graz] Unknown persons have damaged more churches in the Austrian Diocese of Graz-Seckau.
This was according to the Press Office of the Diocese today. The media has regarded this crime with indifference.
The press text in the main speaks of "more disturbances and defacement of Catholic churches."
The highpoint of these "diverse disturbances" was a quick forced entry into the city church of St. Paul:
"The tabernacle was broken into and unknown persons stole 80 hosts."
Episcopal Vicar Heinrich Schnuderl commented on the robbery of the All Holiest, "horrified":
"The desecration of a host is for us Christians an attack against the center of our faith."
It is manifestly not clear any more, that the Host in the tabernacle, "the body of Christ", is the All Holy for Catholics.
The Episcopal Vicar identified the sacrilege, supposedly, with "a Toraroll in the Jewish Synagogue or an Islamic Koran, and also comparable to the desecration of a grave for example, in a Jewish graveyard."
Bishop Against Anti-Islam-Online Game
In the same press relase Bishop Egon Kapellari of Graz-Seckau criticized an on-line game for the right-people's party, 'FPO'.
On the page "moschoo-baba.at" the the user must shoot stop signs at newly appearing mosques.
Msgr Kapellari views this as a threat against religious peace in Steyria:
"That puts up a barrier to inter religious respect and should be strictly avoided."
Original...kreuz.net
UK Archbishop backpedals on aide's statement
Archbishop's aide calls Britain a 'hedonistic wasteland'
Edmund Adamus under fire from equality and secularists groups for criticising the UK's 'gay agenda'
Riazat Butt
religous affairs correspondent
www.guardian.co.uk
Wednesday 1 September 2010
The Roman Catholic archbishop of Westminster has distanced himself from an aide who said gay rights and the commercialisation of sex had turned Britain into a "selfish, hedonistic wasteland" and "the geopolitical epicentre of the culture of death".
The comments from Edmund Adamus, director of pastoral affairs at the diocese of Westminster and an adviser to the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, have angered gay rights and secularists groups and provoked embarrassment among the Catholic hierarchy weeks before the pope visits Britain.
Senior figures, including Lord Patten of Barnes, have been keen to stress that the UK, while secular, is not anti-Catholic and that the pope is not flying into hostile territory.
Adamus told the Catholic news agency Zenit there was an "aggressive anti-Catholic bias towards the church and the pontiff" in this country that exceeded even countries that violently persecuted Christians.
"Historically, and continuing right now, Britain, and in particular, London, has been and is the geopolitical epicentre of the culture of death.
"Our laws and lawmakers for over 50 years or more have been the most permissively anti-life and progressively anti-family and marriage, in essence one of the most anti-Catholic landscapes, culturally speaking, than even those places where Catholics suffer open persecution."
He also talked about marriage and the role of men and women, urging Catholics to "exhibit counter-cultural signals against the selfish, hedonistic wasteland that is the objectification of women for sexual gratification."
"Britain in particular, with its ever-increasing commercialisation of sex, not to mention its permissive laws advancing the 'gay' agenda, is such a wasteland."
A spokesman for Nichols said the views expressed by Adamus "did not reflect the archbishop's opinions".
Ben Summerskill, from the gay rights group Stonewall, said the comments were "gratuitously offensive".
He told the Independent: "The gratuitously offensive comments being made by the archbishop's adviser are hardly likely to promote sensitive debate about respect for religion in the 21st century. You would think that, given its present status, the Roman Catholic church in Britain would be slightly more sensitive about wagging its finger at other people".
Read further...
Edmund Adamus under fire from equality and secularists groups for criticising the UK's 'gay agenda'
Riazat Butt
religous affairs correspondent
www.guardian.co.uk
Wednesday 1 September 2010
The Roman Catholic archbishop of Westminster has distanced himself from an aide who said gay rights and the commercialisation of sex had turned Britain into a "selfish, hedonistic wasteland" and "the geopolitical epicentre of the culture of death".
The comments from Edmund Adamus, director of pastoral affairs at the diocese of Westminster and an adviser to the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, have angered gay rights and secularists groups and provoked embarrassment among the Catholic hierarchy weeks before the pope visits Britain.
Senior figures, including Lord Patten of Barnes, have been keen to stress that the UK, while secular, is not anti-Catholic and that the pope is not flying into hostile territory.
Adamus told the Catholic news agency Zenit there was an "aggressive anti-Catholic bias towards the church and the pontiff" in this country that exceeded even countries that violently persecuted Christians.
"Historically, and continuing right now, Britain, and in particular, London, has been and is the geopolitical epicentre of the culture of death.
"Our laws and lawmakers for over 50 years or more have been the most permissively anti-life and progressively anti-family and marriage, in essence one of the most anti-Catholic landscapes, culturally speaking, than even those places where Catholics suffer open persecution."
He also talked about marriage and the role of men and women, urging Catholics to "exhibit counter-cultural signals against the selfish, hedonistic wasteland that is the objectification of women for sexual gratification."
"Britain in particular, with its ever-increasing commercialisation of sex, not to mention its permissive laws advancing the 'gay' agenda, is such a wasteland."
A spokesman for Nichols said the views expressed by Adamus "did not reflect the archbishop's opinions".
Ben Summerskill, from the gay rights group Stonewall, said the comments were "gratuitously offensive".
He told the Independent: "The gratuitously offensive comments being made by the archbishop's adviser are hardly likely to promote sensitive debate about respect for religion in the 21st century. You would think that, given its present status, the Roman Catholic church in Britain would be slightly more sensitive about wagging its finger at other people".
Read further...
Anglican Priestess Says Christians Can Learn a Lot From Heavy Metal
The Duke says, in response to the idea that this effort will inspire debate: What kind of intelligent debate is there going to be at a Metalhead concert? O.O If there is one, it will have to be conducted using megaphones...
Read further...
The Rev Rachel Mann claims that the much-maligned form of music demonstrates the “liberative theology of darkness”, allowing its tattooed and pierced fans to be more “relaxed and fun” by acknowledging the worst in human nature.
She says that by contrast, churchgoers can appear too sincere and take themselves too seriously.
The priest admits that many will be “concerned” about metal lyrics praising Satan and mocking Christianity, but insists it is just a form of “play-acting”.
Read further...
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Missouri Diocese: Axe All Community Organizing Groups from CCHD
By Kathleen Gilbert KANSAS CITY, Missouri, August 31, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - As the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) prepares to receive a report on the controversial funding practices of their anti-poverty arm, one diocese has proposed a plan to cut off the group's shadier associations.
The diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph also suggested in a Monday post on its Catholic Key blog that its plan to reform the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), which it has implemented on a local level, could be used as a template for revamping national CCHD operations. Jude Huntz, director of the diocesan Human Rights Office, pinpointed "[CCHD's] relationships with community organizing groups across the country" as "the fundamental problem with many CCHD grants."
The CCHD offers both community organizing grants and economic development grants. However, wrote Huntz, the diocese concluded following investigations last year that community organizing groups at large, despite their laudable goal of helping the underprivileged, "began to develop a partisan edge to their work."
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/aug/10083107.html
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
The diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph also suggested in a Monday post on its Catholic Key blog that its plan to reform the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), which it has implemented on a local level, could be used as a template for revamping national CCHD operations. Jude Huntz, director of the diocesan Human Rights Office, pinpointed "[CCHD's] relationships with community organizing groups across the country" as "the fundamental problem with many CCHD grants."
The CCHD offers both community organizing grants and economic development grants. However, wrote Huntz, the diocese concluded following investigations last year that community organizing groups at large, despite their laudable goal of helping the underprivileged, "began to develop a partisan edge to their work."
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/aug/10083107.html
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Monday, August 30, 2010
A Christian Kidnapped and Murdered in Northern Iraq After Ransom Paid
A glazier (by profession?) Christian was kidnapped and killed in northern Iraq, despite the payment of a ransom of 15,000 dollars per family, police said Friday.
The badly decomposed body of Louaï Barham al-Malik, an Assyrian glazier 35, was found in a vacant lot at Nimrud, 330 km north of Baghdad, said police Lt. Col. Mohammad al-Omar Joubouri.
He had recently been working in Hamdaniya, a predominantly Christian village, following threats and killings against this community in Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province.
Link to French article... at Le Point Fr...
Two Churches Reopened in Southeastern Turkey
Ankara (AsiaNews / Agencies) - After 30 years, the Syrian Orthodox Church of Mor Eşayo and Mor Kuryakuş were reopened yesterday in the village of Midyat's Yemişli in the region of Mardin, south-eastern Turkey.
Mor Eşayo and Mor Kuryakuş respectively of the fourth and sixth centuries, had been closed since the 1980s and were restored by 72 Syrian families, who spent 600 thousand Turkish lira (about 300 thousand euros).
Hundreds of people belonging to the Syrian Orthodox communities from around the world attended the inaugural Mass presided by Mor Timetheos Samuel Aktaş, Metropolitan Bishop of Tur Abdin. In Turkey, the Syrian Orthodox church has 5 thousand faithful.
Tuma Çelik vice-president of the European Syriac Association, spoke at the ceremony: "The Syrians who live in countries far from their land - he said - actually live here in mind and spirit. Want to return to rest in this land". "The existence of the Syrians in Turkey - he added - is not recognized by the Constitution, it should be. If the government build infrastructure to improve the social, cultural and economic conditions, that the Syrians who return will grow quickly".
Sources told AsiaNews that "in eastern Turkey, the Syrian Orthodox community is very active and that Ankara is making positive overtures towards them."
Original, at Asianews.com...
Mor Eşayo and Mor Kuryakuş respectively of the fourth and sixth centuries, had been closed since the 1980s and were restored by 72 Syrian families, who spent 600 thousand Turkish lira (about 300 thousand euros).
Hundreds of people belonging to the Syrian Orthodox communities from around the world attended the inaugural Mass presided by Mor Timetheos Samuel Aktaş, Metropolitan Bishop of Tur Abdin. In Turkey, the Syrian Orthodox church has 5 thousand faithful.
Tuma Çelik vice-president of the European Syriac Association, spoke at the ceremony: "The Syrians who live in countries far from their land - he said - actually live here in mind and spirit. Want to return to rest in this land". "The existence of the Syrians in Turkey - he added - is not recognized by the Constitution, it should be. If the government build infrastructure to improve the social, cultural and economic conditions, that the Syrians who return will grow quickly".
Sources told AsiaNews that "in eastern Turkey, the Syrian Orthodox community is very active and that Ankara is making positive overtures towards them."
Original, at Asianews.com...
200 Churches Will Be Built in Moscow
After almost a century of socialism, Russians are going to Mass again and finding hope. Everywhere else, Christianity seems to be in retreat, but Russia is the great contradiction.
Read further...
200 new Orthodox churches will be built in Moscow in the next 30 years, says a project considered by Moscow's Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill.
They discussed changes in Moscow's architecture which also includes building new churches.
According to Kirill, 90 percent of Muscovites are Orthodox and altogether they need some 590 new churches.
Read further...
Maciel's Ghost Still Haunts the Castle
Maciel's Ghost Still Haunts the Castle
In many of the houses of the Legionaries of Christ, the portrait of their disgraced founder is still on display. And his system of power continues to function. The letter of accusation by a priest of the Legion to its leaders. But at the Vatican, they don't have any protectors anymore
by Sandro Magister
ROME, August 30, 2010 – The changing of the guard that is taking place at the top of the Vatican congregation for religious is making the heads of the Legionaries of Christ, the heirs of their disgraced founder Marcial Maciel (in the photo), even more nervous.
The prefect of the congregation, Cardinal Franc Rodé, who was their last major protector, is in fact being replaced for reasons of age. The name of his successor is not yet known. Meanwhile, however, the new secretary of the congregation has already been appointed.
Read further...
h/t: Tom @ AQ.
In many of the houses of the Legionaries of Christ, the portrait of their disgraced founder is still on display. And his system of power continues to function. The letter of accusation by a priest of the Legion to its leaders. But at the Vatican, they don't have any protectors anymore
by Sandro Magister
ROME, August 30, 2010 – The changing of the guard that is taking place at the top of the Vatican congregation for religious is making the heads of the Legionaries of Christ, the heirs of their disgraced founder Marcial Maciel (in the photo), even more nervous.
The prefect of the congregation, Cardinal Franc Rodé, who was their last major protector, is in fact being replaced for reasons of age. The name of his successor is not yet known. Meanwhile, however, the new secretary of the congregation has already been appointed.
Read further...
h/t: Tom @ AQ.
Patriarch Kirill consecrates icon on Kremlin tower
Moscow, August 30, Interfax - Last Saturday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and about thousand believers attended a solemn ceremony of consecrating an icon over the gates of the Moscow Kremlin Spasskaya Tower held by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.
At 03:00 p.m. sharp with chimes striking, the President and the Patriarch walked out of the Kremlin Building No. 1 and proceeded through the Spasskaya Tower gate to the square. After a prayer service, Patriarch Kirill came up to a platform decorated with white flours that was then elevated to the level of the icon. The Primate sprinkled the icon with holy water and blessed the believers.
Ceremony of opening the icon over the gates was timed for the Assumption. Earlier that day the Primate celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Kremlin Assumption Cathedral.
St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation had initiated the reinstallation of icons over the gates of the Moscow Kremlin towers as far back as in 2007. The project received the government support and the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia.
In April 2010, experts of the Interregional Scientific and Restoration Office made probes of the icon-cases of the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya Towers. The research has confirmed the hypothesis that the icons were preserved under the layer of plaster.
Ancient icons were discovered on the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya Towers of the Kremlin. They were walled in during Soviet times and have been deemed lost for a long time now.
According to the existing historical materials, the Spasskaya Tower houses the icon of the Savior depicted with St. Sergius and St. Varlaam falling down at His feet. The icon was painted to commemorate the rescue from the siege of Moscow by the army of Magmet Girey in 1521. The mural on the Nikolskaya Tower dates back to the late 15th - early 16th centuries. During the civil fights in October 1917, the icon of St. Nikolas of Mozhaysk was riddled with shots, but his face escaped unharmed which the Moscow believers considered a miracle.
Link to original...Interfax.
At 03:00 p.m. sharp with chimes striking, the President and the Patriarch walked out of the Kremlin Building No. 1 and proceeded through the Spasskaya Tower gate to the square. After a prayer service, Patriarch Kirill came up to a platform decorated with white flours that was then elevated to the level of the icon. The Primate sprinkled the icon with holy water and blessed the believers.
Ceremony of opening the icon over the gates was timed for the Assumption. Earlier that day the Primate celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Kremlin Assumption Cathedral.
St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation had initiated the reinstallation of icons over the gates of the Moscow Kremlin towers as far back as in 2007. The project received the government support and the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia.
In April 2010, experts of the Interregional Scientific and Restoration Office made probes of the icon-cases of the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya Towers. The research has confirmed the hypothesis that the icons were preserved under the layer of plaster.
Ancient icons were discovered on the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya Towers of the Kremlin. They were walled in during Soviet times and have been deemed lost for a long time now.
According to the existing historical materials, the Spasskaya Tower houses the icon of the Savior depicted with St. Sergius and St. Varlaam falling down at His feet. The icon was painted to commemorate the rescue from the siege of Moscow by the army of Magmet Girey in 1521. The mural on the Nikolskaya Tower dates back to the late 15th - early 16th centuries. During the civil fights in October 1917, the icon of St. Nikolas of Mozhaysk was riddled with shots, but his face escaped unharmed which the Moscow believers considered a miracle.
Link to original...Interfax.
It's Going to Get Ugly: UK Pope's Visit
Pope to Brave Persecution in UK
Hostility Intensifies With Trip 18 Days Away
By Father John Flynn, LC
ROME, AUG. 29, 2010 (Zenit.org).- As the date for Benedict XVI’s mid-September trip to Scotland and England draws closer, the anti-religious hostility is becoming more intense.
Peter Tatchell, a well-known critic of the Catholic Church, penned an opinion article published Aug. 13 in the Independent newspaper. “Most Catholics oppose many of his teachings,” he claimed in regard to the Pope.
In his role as a spokesperson for the Protest the Pope Campaign, Tatchell then went on with a long laundry-list of Church teachings, which he described as harsh and extreme.
Tatchell has also been chosen by the television station Channel 4 to front a 60-minute program on the Pope, which will be broadcast around the time of the papal visit, the Telegraph newspaper reported on June 4.
It won't be the only television special critical of the Catholic Church. The BBC is working on an hour-long documentary on the clerical abuse scandals, the Guardian newspaper reported Aug. 3.
Along with the unsurprising opposition to the visit from the Orange Order of Ireland and Protestant preacher Ian Paisley, the British government also got caught up in an embarrassing instance of anti-Catholic prejudice.
The Foreign Office had to issue an official apology after a government paper on the visit became public, the Sunday Times reported on April 25. A document that was part of a briefing packet sent to government officials suggested that the Pope should sack “dodgy bishops," apologize for the Spanish Armada, and open an abortion clinic.
Nervous
The attacks have not gone unanswered. Although not official representatives of the Church, a group of Catholic speakers was set up under the name of Catholic Voices. Under the leadership of Jack Valero, who is a director of Opus Dei in the United Kingdom, the team of speakers are offering themselves to defend the Church’s teachings.
Support is also coming from secular sources. Self-declared atheist Padraig Reidy criticized the extreme nature of the anti-Catholic rhetoric in an article published by the Observer newspaper on Aug. 22.
On July 28, Kevin Rooney, also an atheist, writing for the online site Spiked, described the attacks on the Church as “illiberal, censorious and ignorant.”
Rooney, who grew up as a socialist republican in Belfast, said that not only do the critics oppose the teachings of the Church, but they also want to prevent it from speaking out at all. Moreover, he noted, any accusations made against the Church are immediately taken as being true, without any need for proof.
“As with the right to free speech, it seems the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty does not extend to the Catholic Church,” he observed.
The problems faced by the Church are far from being limited to verbal hostility. A raft of laws on so-called hate crimes and anti-discrimination create a continual series of legal challenges for Christians in the United Kingdom.
According to a booklet just published on this topic by Jon Gower Davies, there are more than 35 Acts of Parliament, 52 Statutory Instruments, 13 Codes of Practice, three Codes of Guidance, and 16 European Commission Directives that bear on discrimination.
In "A New Inquisition: religious persecution in Britain today," (Civitas) he outlined a number of recent cases where Christians have suffered from these laws.
Adoption
The latest example of this was the loss by Leeds-based Catholic Care in a High Court appeal on the issue of whether they could continue to deny placing adopted children with same-sex couples.
The origin of the case was a 2007 sexual orientation regulation, which outlawed adoption agencies from such "discrimination."
According to an article published Aug. 19 by the Telegraph newspaper, Catholic Care is the last remaining Catholic adoption agency to resist the regulations. Since the law came into effect in January 2009, the other 11 Catholic adoption agencies have had to either shut down or sever their ties with the Church.
There have been numerous other cases in past months where Christians have faced legal battles.
-- A foster carer won her struggle to continue fostering children, after she had been banned by Gateshead Council. The ban was due to the fact that a girl aged 16 that she was caring for decided to convert from Islam to Christianity. The carer, who remained anonymous in order to protect the identity of the girl, had fostered more than 45 other children. Although the matter was righted in the end, the woman suffered considerable financial losses due to the ban. (The Christian Institute, July 11)
-- A Christian preacher was arrested for publicly saying that homosexuality is a sin. Dale McAlpine was locked up in a cell for seven hours and subsequently charged with "causing harassment, alarm or distress” (The Telegraph, May 2). After widespread protests the charges were dropped. (The Christian Post, May 18)
-- A Christian relationship counselor was denied the opportunity to go to the Court of Appeal regarding his dismissal by Relate Avon after he admitted he could not advise same-sex couples because of his beliefs. Gary McFarlane lost his claim of unfair dismissal at an employment tribunal and at a subsequent tribunal appeals hearing. (Christian Today, April 29)
-- Shirley Chaplin, a Christian nurse, lost a claim for discrimination after she was moved to desk duties following her refusal to remove a crucifix on a necklace. Even though John Hollow, the chairman of the employment tribunal panel, admitted that Chaplin had worn the crucifix for 30 years as a nurse, he said that wearing it was not a requirement of the Christian faith. The archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, mentioned the case in his Easter sermon. He said there was a ''strange mixture of contempt and fear'' toward Christianity. (The Telegraph, April 6)
Earlier this year the situation reached the point where the former archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, together with six other Anglican bishops, wrote a letter to the Sunday Telegraph complaining that Christians in Britain are being persecuted and treated with disrespect.
As an article on the letter in the March 28 edition of the Sunday Telegraph explained, the bishops argued that, while believers of other religions are shown sensitive treatment, Christians are punished.
"There have been numerous dismissals of practicing Christians from employment for reasons that are unacceptable in a civilized country," the letter declaimed.
Right to be heard
The notoriety of restrictions on Christians reached the point where the Pope publicly intervened. During his speech on Feb. 1 to the bishops of England and Wales, present in Rome for their five-yearly visit, he commented on the topic.
Benedict XVI observed that their country was noted for its equality of opportunity to all members of society. He then urged the bishops to stand up when legislation infringed on the freedom of religious communities.
"In some respects it actually violates the natural law upon which the equality of all human beings is grounded and by which it is guaranteed. I urge you as Pastors to ensure that the Church’s moral teaching be always presented in its entirety and convincingly defended," the Pope said.
"Fidelity to the Gospel in no way restricts the freedom of others -- on the contrary, it serves their freedom by offering them the truth," he added.
Given the Pope's concern over this matter, and the continuing cases of Christian persecution, we may well expect him to speak out on it during his visit next month.
http://www.zenit.org/article-30181?l=english
Hostility Intensifies With Trip 18 Days Away
By Father John Flynn, LC
ROME, AUG. 29, 2010 (Zenit.org).- As the date for Benedict XVI’s mid-September trip to Scotland and England draws closer, the anti-religious hostility is becoming more intense.
Peter Tatchell, a well-known critic of the Catholic Church, penned an opinion article published Aug. 13 in the Independent newspaper. “Most Catholics oppose many of his teachings,” he claimed in regard to the Pope.
In his role as a spokesperson for the Protest the Pope Campaign, Tatchell then went on with a long laundry-list of Church teachings, which he described as harsh and extreme.
Tatchell has also been chosen by the television station Channel 4 to front a 60-minute program on the Pope, which will be broadcast around the time of the papal visit, the Telegraph newspaper reported on June 4.
It won't be the only television special critical of the Catholic Church. The BBC is working on an hour-long documentary on the clerical abuse scandals, the Guardian newspaper reported Aug. 3.
Along with the unsurprising opposition to the visit from the Orange Order of Ireland and Protestant preacher Ian Paisley, the British government also got caught up in an embarrassing instance of anti-Catholic prejudice.
The Foreign Office had to issue an official apology after a government paper on the visit became public, the Sunday Times reported on April 25. A document that was part of a briefing packet sent to government officials suggested that the Pope should sack “dodgy bishops," apologize for the Spanish Armada, and open an abortion clinic.
Nervous
The attacks have not gone unanswered. Although not official representatives of the Church, a group of Catholic speakers was set up under the name of Catholic Voices. Under the leadership of Jack Valero, who is a director of Opus Dei in the United Kingdom, the team of speakers are offering themselves to defend the Church’s teachings.
Support is also coming from secular sources. Self-declared atheist Padraig Reidy criticized the extreme nature of the anti-Catholic rhetoric in an article published by the Observer newspaper on Aug. 22.
On July 28, Kevin Rooney, also an atheist, writing for the online site Spiked, described the attacks on the Church as “illiberal, censorious and ignorant.”
Rooney, who grew up as a socialist republican in Belfast, said that not only do the critics oppose the teachings of the Church, but they also want to prevent it from speaking out at all. Moreover, he noted, any accusations made against the Church are immediately taken as being true, without any need for proof.
“As with the right to free speech, it seems the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty does not extend to the Catholic Church,” he observed.
The problems faced by the Church are far from being limited to verbal hostility. A raft of laws on so-called hate crimes and anti-discrimination create a continual series of legal challenges for Christians in the United Kingdom.
According to a booklet just published on this topic by Jon Gower Davies, there are more than 35 Acts of Parliament, 52 Statutory Instruments, 13 Codes of Practice, three Codes of Guidance, and 16 European Commission Directives that bear on discrimination.
In "A New Inquisition: religious persecution in Britain today," (Civitas) he outlined a number of recent cases where Christians have suffered from these laws.
Adoption
The latest example of this was the loss by Leeds-based Catholic Care in a High Court appeal on the issue of whether they could continue to deny placing adopted children with same-sex couples.
The origin of the case was a 2007 sexual orientation regulation, which outlawed adoption agencies from such "discrimination."
According to an article published Aug. 19 by the Telegraph newspaper, Catholic Care is the last remaining Catholic adoption agency to resist the regulations. Since the law came into effect in January 2009, the other 11 Catholic adoption agencies have had to either shut down or sever their ties with the Church.
There have been numerous other cases in past months where Christians have faced legal battles.
-- A foster carer won her struggle to continue fostering children, after she had been banned by Gateshead Council. The ban was due to the fact that a girl aged 16 that she was caring for decided to convert from Islam to Christianity. The carer, who remained anonymous in order to protect the identity of the girl, had fostered more than 45 other children. Although the matter was righted in the end, the woman suffered considerable financial losses due to the ban. (The Christian Institute, July 11)
-- A Christian preacher was arrested for publicly saying that homosexuality is a sin. Dale McAlpine was locked up in a cell for seven hours and subsequently charged with "causing harassment, alarm or distress” (The Telegraph, May 2). After widespread protests the charges were dropped. (The Christian Post, May 18)
-- A Christian relationship counselor was denied the opportunity to go to the Court of Appeal regarding his dismissal by Relate Avon after he admitted he could not advise same-sex couples because of his beliefs. Gary McFarlane lost his claim of unfair dismissal at an employment tribunal and at a subsequent tribunal appeals hearing. (Christian Today, April 29)
-- Shirley Chaplin, a Christian nurse, lost a claim for discrimination after she was moved to desk duties following her refusal to remove a crucifix on a necklace. Even though John Hollow, the chairman of the employment tribunal panel, admitted that Chaplin had worn the crucifix for 30 years as a nurse, he said that wearing it was not a requirement of the Christian faith. The archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, mentioned the case in his Easter sermon. He said there was a ''strange mixture of contempt and fear'' toward Christianity. (The Telegraph, April 6)
Earlier this year the situation reached the point where the former archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, together with six other Anglican bishops, wrote a letter to the Sunday Telegraph complaining that Christians in Britain are being persecuted and treated with disrespect.
As an article on the letter in the March 28 edition of the Sunday Telegraph explained, the bishops argued that, while believers of other religions are shown sensitive treatment, Christians are punished.
"There have been numerous dismissals of practicing Christians from employment for reasons that are unacceptable in a civilized country," the letter declaimed.
Right to be heard
The notoriety of restrictions on Christians reached the point where the Pope publicly intervened. During his speech on Feb. 1 to the bishops of England and Wales, present in Rome for their five-yearly visit, he commented on the topic.
Benedict XVI observed that their country was noted for its equality of opportunity to all members of society. He then urged the bishops to stand up when legislation infringed on the freedom of religious communities.
"In some respects it actually violates the natural law upon which the equality of all human beings is grounded and by which it is guaranteed. I urge you as Pastors to ensure that the Church’s moral teaching be always presented in its entirety and convincingly defended," the Pope said.
"Fidelity to the Gospel in no way restricts the freedom of others -- on the contrary, it serves their freedom by offering them the truth," he added.
Given the Pope's concern over this matter, and the continuing cases of Christian persecution, we may well expect him to speak out on it during his visit next month.
http://www.zenit.org/article-30181?l=english
Sunday, August 29, 2010
10 New Novices Invested: Dominican Teaching Sisters and Their Mission
The School of The Dominican Teaching Sisters of Fanjeaux (France) have received 10 Novices on the 4th of August. The congregation of the Dominican Sisters of Fajeaux was founded in 1975 as a group of 19 Sisters in the Mother House in Tolouse which they left, to remain true to the traditional Liturgy and to the fundamental constitutions.
Today, 35 years later. the "School Sisters of the Dominicans of the Holy Name of Jesus at Fanjeaux" are circa 180 sisters. They operate eight schools.
The Mother house is located in the vicinity of Prouille (in Southwest France) where in 1208 Saint Dominic founded the first Cloister for Women.
God has blessed the Community with many vocations. The Congregation is close to the Society of St. Pius X, who safeguards its rule of spiritual care.
Young women, who are interested in religious life, write (even in the German language or English) requests to the:
Dominican Enseigantes de Fanjeaux
St- Dominique du Cammazou
F-11270 Fanjeaux
Here is a video of the School pilgrimage of the sisters to Lourdes
The School Sisters of the Dominicans of Fanjeaux
For the soul, which thirsts after truth, Saint Dominic asked God and the other great lights of the Order to lead them. The truth, loved and taught, directed their uprightness and their power from the Faith, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and Catholic Tradition: within which lay all our efforts: in service to the Church for the great honor of God and the saving of souls. It is not we who work this sanctification, it is Jesus who is present in the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. It is He, Who leads the soul to God and makes it receptive to the truth. The scholarly services to the divine truth leads the Dominicans near to the Altar. The Holy Communion is their great strength: It gives God Himself.
The sisters find light in their contemplation and in their relationship to God, wisdom and inspiration, which necessitates that we use both our intellects and our hearts to reach the children, who are entrusted to our care.
The First Year of Formation
Upon their entrance, the postulates take on a task, to work with the children as closely, so that they can be evaluated, as they become capable in the ways of their teaching activity and education. This time of assessment ends with their investiture and entrance into the Novitiate. As it is prescribed by Canon Law, the Novices undertake their religious formation under the direction of the Novice Mistress in view of the nature of their later vocation. Through the reading of Holy Scripture, the study of the Dogmas of the Faith and studying the best authors, they deepen their spirituality and learn to embody to the Dominican character. An introduction to the Liturgy and to the Gregorian Chant allows her to be ever more unified to the living mysteries, which are celebrated every day. The domestic activities, which must fall to her, prepare her especially with each task, which she will later accomplish as an educator of children.
On the Trail of St. Dominic
In the course of the second year of the Novitiate, the sister undertakes further teaching activities, while her formation progresses. They will then have reached temporary vows, which are repeated every year, till they finally take their solemn vows after five years.
During the first two years in her work, she is supported and directed by the Mother Novice Mistress, she will receive the benefit of a religious and secular formation in the light of the Great principles of Saint Thomas. Once she has recognized its importance, and loved the truth for itself and she understands and accepts her Mission, she will pursue for her entire life the desire to deepen this.
"Let the Children Com unto me, For Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven"
In a time of public spiritual affliction and intellectual poverty - perhaps especially considering, that the affliction is not considered real -- the sisters have been consecrated to the task, to heal the need of our century, in which bring to the souls of the children, "the mercy of the truth". That is our pride and our Christian honor: "To wish nothing else, than a place for love, for true and the sacraments in the lives of our children." (R.P. de Chivre O.P.) Every day the children, if they wish, may attend Mass and pray the Rosary. In every class, from the first to the last, there are three hours set aside weekly for religious instruction. Here the children learn the Catechism and begin the introduction in the life of Holy Scripture, in the observance of the mysteries of the Faith and in the practice of the Sacraments. Before they are received in the chapel, they are especially prepared for the great feasts, whichever falls on the liturgical calender during the course of the school year. For what is the effective sense of the theoretical knowledge of the Faith, if they are not used in daily life?
Observe Culture in the Light of Christ
The mediation of knowledge is not everything; it is especially necessary, in teaching to inform as well as mediate criteria for making judgments. For this reason we pursue a certainly literary education. In fact it serve the classical education of a young girl in our schools to have a very good formation, and prepares her for her future vocation as a Christian mother and woman.
The Education in the Use of Freedom
Considering the danger, that freedom leads to the afflictive path of sin, which is observed often, we require a discipline of life, which has as its object, the situation of each individual soul. Above all however we lay value on the personal relationship of each individual with Our Lord.
,
The Education of the Woman
"A courageous Woman -- who can find her? Her wealth lies far beyond the nethermost coasts."
The education does not end at the door of the classroom. In a familiar atmosphere we encourage the students to accompany us on a daily vocation, in order to instill the traditional womanly abilities. The arrangement of the sleeping quarters and the decoration of the classrooms serve each to form the taste of our students -- in the sense of a tasteful and unpretentious beauty.
Moral perversion proceeds from the corruption of women, we work toward upholding the abiding womanly values and work, faithfully with nature, and are molded by:
- an upright and modest demeanor
- an obedient child
- connected with the formation of healthy common sense.
Above all, however, we try to form our girls according to the model in which the eternal value of woman lays, namely, in the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Translated from the German at the German Website of the Society of St. Pius X
Today, 35 years later. the "School Sisters of the Dominicans of the Holy Name of Jesus at Fanjeaux" are circa 180 sisters. They operate eight schools.
The Mother house is located in the vicinity of Prouille (in Southwest France) where in 1208 Saint Dominic founded the first Cloister for Women.
God has blessed the Community with many vocations. The Congregation is close to the Society of St. Pius X, who safeguards its rule of spiritual care.
Young women, who are interested in religious life, write (even in the German language or English) requests to the:
Dominican Enseigantes de Fanjeaux
St- Dominique du Cammazou
F-11270 Fanjeaux
Here is a video of the School pilgrimage of the sisters to Lourdes
The School Sisters of the Dominicans of Fanjeaux
For the soul, which thirsts after truth, Saint Dominic asked God and the other great lights of the Order to lead them. The truth, loved and taught, directed their uprightness and their power from the Faith, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and Catholic Tradition: within which lay all our efforts: in service to the Church for the great honor of God and the saving of souls. It is not we who work this sanctification, it is Jesus who is present in the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. It is He, Who leads the soul to God and makes it receptive to the truth. The scholarly services to the divine truth leads the Dominicans near to the Altar. The Holy Communion is their great strength: It gives God Himself.
The sisters find light in their contemplation and in their relationship to God, wisdom and inspiration, which necessitates that we use both our intellects and our hearts to reach the children, who are entrusted to our care.
The First Year of Formation
Upon their entrance, the postulates take on a task, to work with the children as closely, so that they can be evaluated, as they become capable in the ways of their teaching activity and education. This time of assessment ends with their investiture and entrance into the Novitiate. As it is prescribed by Canon Law, the Novices undertake their religious formation under the direction of the Novice Mistress in view of the nature of their later vocation. Through the reading of Holy Scripture, the study of the Dogmas of the Faith and studying the best authors, they deepen their spirituality and learn to embody to the Dominican character. An introduction to the Liturgy and to the Gregorian Chant allows her to be ever more unified to the living mysteries, which are celebrated every day. The domestic activities, which must fall to her, prepare her especially with each task, which she will later accomplish as an educator of children.
On the Trail of St. Dominic
In the course of the second year of the Novitiate, the sister undertakes further teaching activities, while her formation progresses. They will then have reached temporary vows, which are repeated every year, till they finally take their solemn vows after five years.
During the first two years in her work, she is supported and directed by the Mother Novice Mistress, she will receive the benefit of a religious and secular formation in the light of the Great principles of Saint Thomas. Once she has recognized its importance, and loved the truth for itself and she understands and accepts her Mission, she will pursue for her entire life the desire to deepen this.
"Let the Children Com unto me, For Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven"
In a time of public spiritual affliction and intellectual poverty - perhaps especially considering, that the affliction is not considered real -- the sisters have been consecrated to the task, to heal the need of our century, in which bring to the souls of the children, "the mercy of the truth". That is our pride and our Christian honor: "To wish nothing else, than a place for love, for true and the sacraments in the lives of our children." (R.P. de Chivre O.P.) Every day the children, if they wish, may attend Mass and pray the Rosary. In every class, from the first to the last, there are three hours set aside weekly for religious instruction. Here the children learn the Catechism and begin the introduction in the life of Holy Scripture, in the observance of the mysteries of the Faith and in the practice of the Sacraments. Before they are received in the chapel, they are especially prepared for the great feasts, whichever falls on the liturgical calender during the course of the school year. For what is the effective sense of the theoretical knowledge of the Faith, if they are not used in daily life?
Observe Culture in the Light of Christ
The mediation of knowledge is not everything; it is especially necessary, in teaching to inform as well as mediate criteria for making judgments. For this reason we pursue a certainly literary education. In fact it serve the classical education of a young girl in our schools to have a very good formation, and prepares her for her future vocation as a Christian mother and woman.
The Education in the Use of Freedom
Considering the danger, that freedom leads to the afflictive path of sin, which is observed often, we require a discipline of life, which has as its object, the situation of each individual soul. Above all however we lay value on the personal relationship of each individual with Our Lord.
,
The Education of the Woman
"A courageous Woman -- who can find her? Her wealth lies far beyond the nethermost coasts."
The education does not end at the door of the classroom. In a familiar atmosphere we encourage the students to accompany us on a daily vocation, in order to instill the traditional womanly abilities. The arrangement of the sleeping quarters and the decoration of the classrooms serve each to form the taste of our students -- in the sense of a tasteful and unpretentious beauty.
Moral perversion proceeds from the corruption of women, we work toward upholding the abiding womanly values and work, faithfully with nature, and are molded by:
- an upright and modest demeanor
- an obedient child
- connected with the formation of healthy common sense.
Above all, however, we try to form our girls according to the model in which the eternal value of woman lays, namely, in the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Translated from the German at the German Website of the Society of St. Pius X
The Starets of Romania
In religious life there are Anchorites who live alone, far from the world, and detached from their bodies, their souls reach heights of contemplation and love, even nearing, it is said, the throne of God.
H/t: Abbey Roads.
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