Bishop Andrew Writes:
In this, the third of a series of Pastoral Letters, I promised to address the issue of the English Ordinariate. In August I looked at what had happened at the General Synod in York and in September I looked at the business of electing a new General Synod. Those who join the new Ordinariate, offered by the Pope in Anglicanorum Cœtibus in the autumn of 2009, will do so for one of two reasons. One reason would be that, looking hard at the General Synod, past and future, there seems little prospect of adequate provision for Anglo-catholics in the Church of England. We don't need a glasshouse with a special climate, or an Indian Reserve where we can do strange dances round a totem pole, follow strange customs, and wear strange clothes. Still less do we need some kind of nursing home where we can live out our days in peace and quiet. In our view, the Anglican orders of bishop, priest, and deacon, and Anglican sacraments, are either the ancient orders and sacraments of the Church, as they have been handed down to us from the time of the apostles, or they are not. You can't muck about with orders and sacraments! If Anglo-catholic orders and sacraments are not the same as those of other Anglicans, we are not proper Anglicans, and if Anglican orders and sacraments generally are not the same as those of other Catholic Christians, East and West, then our orders and sacraments are not Catholic. Our main problem is not with our own orders and sacraments at this present moment in Anglo-catholic parishes, but what has been happening with other Anglicans. This has already begun to affect our orders and sacraments and what they will be in the future.There are stories of people no longer being baptised 'in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit'. There are stories of people - even a dog! - being admitted to Holy Communion without being baptised. There are stories of people no longer using wheat flour and grape for the Eucharist or making up the order of service as they go along. There are stories about lay people presiding at the Eucharist. There are marriages of two people of the same sex. These are mostly stories from overseas but, leaving aside what is happening in the Anglican Communion, we are now challenged in England by the prospect of women bishops, an unscriptural development. In short, the first reason for joining the Ordinariate might be that Anglo-catholics are no longer confident that they belong to the Catholic Church whose Faith and Order has been handed down from the apostles. If we finally came to that conclusion, that would be a good reason to seek to join one of the ancient branches of the Church, East or West. If we made the decision to explore the ancient branches of the Church, that, in turn, might be a reason to choose to join the Ordinariate, part of the ancient Church of the West. The second reason for joining the new Ordinariate is, I think, a better one. It is not about leaving anything behind but about joining something new. It is not about leaving a body which has gone astray and belonging to a more reliable body. The second reason works something like this. Anglo-catholics have always thought of themselves as separated from Rome - from the Pope - by circumstances of history. Henry VIII's divorce from his first wife was made possible by divorcing the whole English Church from the Holy See. The King was to be in charge of the Church and not the Pope. It is for this reason that we have been brought up on a diet of 'No popery!', the propaganda of the Tudor state and of Stuarts imperilled by the gunpowder plot. It is for this reason that the heir to the British crown cannot be a Catholic. Anglo-catholics have generally regretted this and seen it as necessary to do all they could to bring about a reconciliation with Rome. No one has been more enthusiastic about the work of ARCIC, the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, this last forty years, than Anglo-catholics. And yet as the work of ARCIC goes into its third phase, Anglicans and Roman Catholics have grown further apart. It is for this reason that the Holy See has responded to the plight of Anglo-catholics with the offer of an Ordinariate. In short, the second reason to join the new Ordinariate is because it is the way - and for the foreseeable future the only way - that groups of Anglicans can become reconciled with Rome, and embrace the ministry of Peter. It is the only way of pursuing together our ecumenical agenda, the urgency of which becomes more obvious, the more Christianity is under attack by secularism. Joining the Ordinariate is not a matter to be considered lightly. Clergy who do so put their stipends and pensions, their homes and their security at risk. In some cases the response of laity will be so enthusiastic that whole congregations might be able to move together, with their parish priest. In most cases, the Ordinariate groups will be church-planting new congregations, congregations of perhaps only thirty or so people to start with, but thirty enthusiasts nonetheless. Such congregations of activists will probably grow rapidly, but there, of course, lies another risk. There are many clergy and laity who would love to possess the courage for this pioneering venture but they simply do not. Not everyone is at heart a risk-all pioneer. Not everyone can be: we all have real responsibilities to families to balance against the radical demand of the Gospel. And where do Ebbsfleet congregations, their clergy and people, stand in relation to all this? I want people to make decisions about the future carefully and prayerfully. I set out a prospectus for some of this a few years ago. There are, I think, three different responses to the present emergency. None is right for everyone. One is what I called the 'non-jurors', those who soldier on, know that they are a dying breed, but are content to be witnesses of what they have always believed and practised. Some mainly elderly clergy and congregations are of that view. The second group are the 'solo swimmers', individuals who go off on their own and join the local Catholic congregation. The third group is the 'caravan'. By this I don't mean a holiday home. The 'caravan' in biblical times was something like the trek of the Children of Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land, via Mount Sinaï. The caravan is large and ramshackle, camels and people trudging along, children running around and playing . There are new-borns in the caravan and people dying. People join and people leave. The beginning of the caravan is somewhere ahead of us, over the horizon. The back of the horizon is way behind us, further than eye can see. This, I think, is, for many, the Ebbsfleet journey. This was the theme, the Exodus theme - Marching towards the Promised Land: a Land of Milk and Honey - at our joyful Festivals of Faith. May God bless you as you faithfully seek to serve him in his holy Church.
+Andrew.
Link to source at Ancient Richborough...
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Say a Prayer for Joe Sobran
Editor: It's hoped that he's keeping in good humor through it all. He's not only a great writer and journalist, but truly one of the funniest men around; A man of great levity and humor, but also a very ardent man as well.
From CFN News...
Please pray for Joe Sobran, Very Ill
A note to CFN from Dr. David Allen White
Sept. 21, 2010
My friend Patrick and I got word that Joe Sobran is in extremis and in a local hospital -- days left maybe, God knows. The good Fr. Ringrose will go there Thursday morning to give him extreme unction, etc., but we visited him today. I had not met him before, obviously because "literary differences" divided us.
Those vanished in the light of the immensity of death approaching and the bond of the Mystical Body of Christ. He is not at all in good shape. We thanked him for his good work over the years, especially for being a truth-teller about you-know-whom and for having suffered for it. We then prayed the rosary together. Patrick put a brown scapular on him (Pat gave up his own -- he can get another). I then read and recited Shakespeare to him to his delight and to his tears. "So beautiful!" he exclaimed at one point, eyes spilling over with the depth of the emotion.
Please send the word out. Tell all good Catholics to pray for him. He is in good spiritual condition and ready to die; Father Ringrose will bring him additional comfort. How odd the world should be so focused on the dying Christopher Hitchens (may God grant him His Grace to save his soul) but no one knows of this man, dying alone in an obscure hospital room in northern Virginia. We know which one is better off.
May God grant us all a good death.
In Christ (and meditating on the Four last Things),
The Humbled Doctor
(David Allen White, Ph.D.)
From CFN News...
Bishop Bernard Genoud, RIP, Lausanne, Switzerland
(video) Neuchatel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Monsignor Bernard Genoud, 68, Roman Catholic bishop for Lausanne, Geneva, Fribourg and Neuchatel, has died from lung cancer.
Genoud died 21 September at a hospice in Fribourg. The bishop was born in Châtel-St-Denis in 1942 and was ordained as a priest in 1968.
He made headllines in 2008 when he publicly asked forgiveness for the actions of pedophile priests.
The diocese has announced that the body can be viewed starting Thursday 23 September at 11:00, to 24 September at 18:45.
His funeral will take place 25 September at the St Nicolas cathedral in Fribourg at 10:00.
A simultaneous memorial mass will be held Friday 24 September at 19:00 at:
* the Saint-Nichola’s Cathedral in Fribourg
Link to Geneva Lunch, there's a video there.
Genoud died 21 September at a hospice in Fribourg. The bishop was born in Châtel-St-Denis in 1942 and was ordained as a priest in 1968.
He made headllines in 2008 when he publicly asked forgiveness for the actions of pedophile priests.
The diocese has announced that the body can be viewed starting Thursday 23 September at 11:00, to 24 September at 18:45.
His funeral will take place 25 September at the St Nicolas cathedral in Fribourg at 10:00.
A simultaneous memorial mass will be held Friday 24 September at 19:00 at:
* the Saint-Nichola’s Cathedral in Fribourg
Link to Geneva Lunch, there's a video there.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Tornielli Interviews Vatican Bank President Ettore Gotti Tedeschi
Editor: here's a quick google-translation with some correction. It looks like this is one of those attacks that Tornielli was talking about, being launched against the Pope.
From the original... here at Il Giornale.
"Since I assumed the presidency of the IOR I am busy with my all, according to information received by the Pope and the Secretary of State to make every transaction more transparent and in line with international anti-money laundering norms ...
I feel really humbled today. There is anger in words but also discouragement by Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, 65, Piacenza, a professor of "Ethical finance" at Catholic University, president of Santander Consumer Finance, a full year at the Institute for Works of Religion The Vatican Bank, and now it's under investigation for violation of money laundering. The man to whom Benedict XVI has given the renewal of the finances of the Holy See and admires the spirituality of Opus Dei, who when asked how many hours of his day are devoted to God and how much to money, replied: "One hundred per cent one and hundred percent the next. God is always present in everything I do.
"The newspaper has interviewed you.
What was your reaction to the news investigation on IOR and about her?
"Bitterness and humiliation. I do not know what else to say. Together with the Director of the Institute, Paul Cipriani, I am committed to tackling the problems which are now being investigated. We are working to enter the so-called White List, i.e. the list of countries that comply with international anti-money laundering and we hope to make it for December. I have an excellent relationship with the Bank of Italy and there is a continuous exchange of information ...».
Can you explain what happened with the Credito Artigiano and those 20 million directed to JP Morgan in Frankfurt?
"Meanwhile, we clarify that this is a remittance on IOR IOR: we simply transferred the money to invest in German bonds. Why were we not in compliance with the rules against money laundering?"
"We are implementing the rules, but possibly the survey was an error in the procedures implemented by the Credito Artigiano. But the operation is clear, there is nothing hidden or to hide: only a transfer of funds of the same IOR.
The State Secretariat has renewed total confidence ...
"I met Cardinal Bertone, and I found him very concerned about what happened. I was invited to stay at in my position, because I'm doing exactly what I was asked to do, that is more transparent operation of each IOR. This is the clear desire of my superiors and we consider what is happening ... almost unnatural! A procedural error is used as an excuse to attack the Institute, its president and, more generally, the Vatican. "
Why do you think someone wants to attack you or the Holy See?
"I think that the statement of the Secretary of State bodes well with this sense of astonishment. We had an end in sight just when we were working as hard as possible to enforce rules against money laundering. Cardinal Bertone has appointed Nicholas Attilio president of the supervisory board inside the Vatican that will monitor the implementation of all provisions for the White List. We are available to provide information, it would have been enough to call instead of banging on the front door. "
From the original... here at Il Giornale.
Vatican Approves New Bishop of Yuncheng
The eighth bishop ordained this year with the approval of the Holy See and recognition of Beijing. All ordaining bishops are in communion with the Holy See. The priorities of the newly-ordained: formation of priests and laity to evangelize. In October, a planned retreat with all the priests of the diocese. The first evangelization of Yuncheng dates to late Ming Dynasty, by the Italian Jesuits Alenia and Vagnone.
Yuncheng (AsiaNews) – Mgr. Peter Wu Junwei, 47, has become the new Bishop of Yuncheng (Shanxi). Bishop Wu was the eighth Chinese bishop ordained this year, with the approval of the Holy See and the recognition of the Beijing government.
The ordination ceremony was held today, the feast of St. Matthew, in the Cathedral. It was attended by over 2000 faithful, 144 priests and 95 nuns from Shanxi, Beijing, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Hubei.
The presiding bishop was Mgr. Huo Cheng of Fenyang, also concelebrating: Mgr. Joseph Li Shan of Beijing, the coadjutor bishop of Taiyuan, Mgr. Paul Meng Ningyou (ordained 5 days ago) Mgr. John Baptist Yang Xiaoting of Yanan (ordained in July). All bishops in communion with the Holy See.
Link to rest of article, Asia News...
The frank appraisal by the Bishop Emeritus of Hong Kong, here.
Yuncheng (AsiaNews) – Mgr. Peter Wu Junwei, 47, has become the new Bishop of Yuncheng (Shanxi). Bishop Wu was the eighth Chinese bishop ordained this year, with the approval of the Holy See and the recognition of the Beijing government.
The ordination ceremony was held today, the feast of St. Matthew, in the Cathedral. It was attended by over 2000 faithful, 144 priests and 95 nuns from Shanxi, Beijing, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Hubei.
The presiding bishop was Mgr. Huo Cheng of Fenyang, also concelebrating: Mgr. Joseph Li Shan of Beijing, the coadjutor bishop of Taiyuan, Mgr. Paul Meng Ningyou (ordained 5 days ago) Mgr. John Baptist Yang Xiaoting of Yanan (ordained in July). All bishops in communion with the Holy See.
Link to rest of article, Asia News...
The frank appraisal by the Bishop Emeritus of Hong Kong, here.
Opus Dei Bishop Celebrates the Immemorial Mass of Ages
Chile [Kreuz.net] Bishop Juan Ignacio González (54) of San Bernardo in Chile has celebrated of late the Mass in the Old Rite. This was according to 'fortes-fide.blogspot.com'. The reason for the Mass was the three year Jubilee of the Motu Proprio 'Summorum Pontificum'.
Click here for photos of the beautiful Mass.
Click here for photos of the beautiful Mass.
Swiss Bishop of Lausanne is Close to Death
The state of health of the Diocesan Bishop of Lausanne, Genf and Freiburg has gotten worse.
Genf-Freiburg (kath.net) The state of health of the Diocesan Bishop of Lausann, Genf and Freibur has become worse. The diocese made a statement on Monday. it read: "I would like to all understand that the health of the Bishop Monseigneur Bernard Genoud, Diocesean Bishop of Lausanne, Genf and Freiburg, has gotten much worse in the last hours. It has not been decided whether he will go to meet his maker and Savior. In the mean time, we must accompany him with our prayers and thoughts. Pray at this time for all the sick, so that they may be saved by their faith in God and love for their fellows, supporting them in their suffering."
Link to original, kath.net...
The Viennese Cardinal Capitulated to the Comrades
Editor: a beautiful chapel at an elder home where Holy Mass is said every day for the last fifty years, with murals by artist, Sepp Zöchling, is being threatened with destruction by the Community of Vienna.
The desire of the Vienna Blood-Burgermeister is the Head Shepherd's Command. He doesn't want to spoil it with his powerful comrades, not at any price.
[kreuz.net] The Archdiocese of Vienna will withdraw its complain against the threatened demolition of the Chapel in the Vienna Resthome Baumgarten, according to 'gloria.tv'.
Officially the responsibility for the scandalous decision goes to the low-profile Vienese Auxiliary Bishop Franz Scharl.
For certain there is no doubt that Christoph Cardinal Schönborn of Vienna has made -- which the Vienna media and Politicians themselves have been occupied for weeks -- by himself.
First, shortly before, the Archdiocese gave a Vienese attorney the mandate to bring a complaint and save the chapel.
For the church sits in the foreground of the Concordat of the Austrian Republic with the Vatican, securing rights of the chapel. Daily Masses have been celebrated there for over fifty years.
The Comrades had never presented their church-destroying plans before the court.
In any case, Cardinal Schönborn will relinquish these rights without a song or a cry.
Clearly, the Comrades have pulled the reigning Cardinal over the table in a no-fuss discussion in private.
Is the Archdiocese of Vienna Extort-able
According to information from 'gloria.tv' the Auxiliary Bishop Sharl met last week with the Director of the 'Vienna Hospital Network", Comrade Roland Paukner.
A speaker of the civil initiative to save the chapel declared in the meantime, that the initiative will be praying for "saintly shepherds".
There is still a petition running which you can sign o the website of the initiative, 'kapellen-retten.at'.
On Democracy and Kings
by John Medaille of the Republic of Texas
(www.RemnantNewspaper.com) The announcement that one is a monarchist is greeted with the same regard as the announcement that one has joined the Flat-Earth Society, or espouses geo-centrism, or has expressed a belief in a world only 6,000 years old.
Politically, monarchism has a prestige just a tiny bit better than fascism, but not nearly as respectable as being Amish. Therefore, it behooves me to cut directly to the chase, and state very clearly why I am a monarchist: I am a monarchist because I am a democrat. That is, I believe that the will of the people, their traditions and customs, their concern for their families, their communities, and for the future should determine the shape of any political order. And monarchy is the highest form of this democracy.
Now, the first response to that is likely to be, “That is what our democracy does, and what a tyranny doesn’t do; democracy enthrones the will of the people, while monarchy enthrones the will of the tyrant.” But it is clear to me, especially in this late date of our democracy, that it enthrones the will of determined and well-financed minorities, that it dissolves the customs and traditions of the people, and that it has no concern for the future. And a king may indeed be a tyrant, but such is the exception rather than the rule.
Tyranny is a degeneration of proper monarchy and generally happens only in degenerate times, and even then, the king has to be speaking for some other and greater force, such as a strong army or a commercial oligarchy. A king, no less than a president, must consider the forces and interests in his kingdom. But a king is free to judge the justice of the arguments; a president is free only to count the votes. And while the president might attempt to engage in persuasion, in the end he himself can only be persuaded by power, that is, by whoever controls the votes, which is very likely to be the one who controls the money. A king may also be persuaded by power and money, but he is always free to be persuaded by justice. And even when a king is a tyrant, he is an identifiable tyrant; much worse is when a people live in a tyranny they may not name, a system where the forms of democracy serve as cover for the reality of tyranny. And that, I believe, is our situation today.
Read further at the link to Remnant, here.
Link to a responding article over at Royal World, here.
(www.RemnantNewspaper.com) The announcement that one is a monarchist is greeted with the same regard as the announcement that one has joined the Flat-Earth Society, or espouses geo-centrism, or has expressed a belief in a world only 6,000 years old.
Politically, monarchism has a prestige just a tiny bit better than fascism, but not nearly as respectable as being Amish. Therefore, it behooves me to cut directly to the chase, and state very clearly why I am a monarchist: I am a monarchist because I am a democrat. That is, I believe that the will of the people, their traditions and customs, their concern for their families, their communities, and for the future should determine the shape of any political order. And monarchy is the highest form of this democracy.
Now, the first response to that is likely to be, “That is what our democracy does, and what a tyranny doesn’t do; democracy enthrones the will of the people, while monarchy enthrones the will of the tyrant.” But it is clear to me, especially in this late date of our democracy, that it enthrones the will of determined and well-financed minorities, that it dissolves the customs and traditions of the people, and that it has no concern for the future. And a king may indeed be a tyrant, but such is the exception rather than the rule.
Tyranny is a degeneration of proper monarchy and generally happens only in degenerate times, and even then, the king has to be speaking for some other and greater force, such as a strong army or a commercial oligarchy. A king, no less than a president, must consider the forces and interests in his kingdom. But a king is free to judge the justice of the arguments; a president is free only to count the votes. And while the president might attempt to engage in persuasion, in the end he himself can only be persuaded by power, that is, by whoever controls the votes, which is very likely to be the one who controls the money. A king may also be persuaded by power and money, but he is always free to be persuaded by justice. And even when a king is a tyrant, he is an identifiable tyrant; much worse is when a people live in a tyranny they may not name, a system where the forms of democracy serve as cover for the reality of tyranny. And that, I believe, is our situation today.
Read further at the link to Remnant, here.
Link to a responding article over at Royal World, here.
The Assyrian speech in the International Conference of Genocides in 1914-1918
This was the speech of the Assyrian researcher and activist, Ashur Giwargis. In the international conference about the genocides in the Ottoman Empire against Assyrians, Greeks, and Armenians during WW1 - English Translation: Mary Challita
Greek Parliament
19/Sep/2010
Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Conference Organizing Committee and participants.
Before presenting my speech, I would like to comment on some statements made my some of the distinguished speakers.
First point, we are simply Assyrians, not Chaldeans neither Syriacs nor Syrians, because Chaldeans are Catholic Assyrians, and Syrians or so-called Syriacs, are Orthodox Assyrians, so, It would be better to say “Assyrians” because it’s our ethnic national identity, and in this case we would be talking about all the Assyrian sects. We can’t say “Arabs and Sunna” because there are Sunni and Shiite Arabs.
Second point, I’ve heard many times mentioning of kurds as a persecuted people, we understand this, but also we should not forget that kurds we re part of the Genocide perpetrators. This is how we should deal with this matter when we talk history, but if you want to politicize the genocide, this would be another case.
Third point, I ask the Assyrian Union in Greece to not be a part of any occasion or joint statement mentioning the term “Kurdistan” because this term is an insult to the Assyrian nation, and I ask our Armenian and Greek brothers to be aware of this, for Assyrians it’s a matter of principles and dignity, it can’t be politically compromised. When we say we are Assyrians this means we are from Assyria, and if the Assyrian highlands and the north of today’s Iraq are “kurdstan”, then where is Assyria ? Did we come from the moon ?
Fourth point, I’ve heard many times “Ethnic Cleansing against Christians”, this is a contradiction, Ethnic cleansing is against ethnicities, but Christianity is a religion, we must chose 1 of 2: “Ethnic cleansing against Assyrian, Arminians, Greeks” or “Religious cleansing against Christians”, but I say we can use the both because the Genocides were religious and ethnic at the same time, and this why I want to talk about the background of the genocides.
Thank you.
We are gathering in this conference as a minimal duty towards our ancestors who sacrificed themselves for our religious and national existence during the darkest of circumstances where human values were lost, thus exposing the political, social, religious, and moral degeneration surrounding the Christians of the East in general and the Greeks, Arminians and Assyrians in particular. I, as an Assyrian participant in this conference, feel comfortable because I am able to express some of my nation’s concerns and torment throughout history before people who very well understand the meaning of humanity because they are the descendants of one of the greatest civilizations which built the foundations of science, politics, and philosophy.
And my speech will be about: The background of the Genocide, Its consequences and the world’s conscience
The Assyrian genocide will be taken as an example in my speech. And I will present first a brief historical narration because I’m more than sure that many of the attendees have no much idea about the historical facts of the Assyrian genocide.
The human history looks like a chain of interrelated episodes, and these episodes are man-made since people decide their fate through victories and defeats which contain abuses against humanity in order to build a collective structure whether be it economic, social, political or cultural, some based on civilized foundation supported by historical and logical rights while others are based on massacres and supported by the power of degeneration and zeal to shed blood for the sake of ideologies created to fight against humanity, and whomever wants to continue in this historic chain in its ugliness and beauty, has to realize the chain of the past so as to learn from it in building the chain of the present, and based on this, he can build the chain of the future … This is very briefly, the rule of nations continuity.
Thus, we can say that the WW1 was based on economical interests, Europe wanted to expand its market after its industrial revolution and Russia wanted to open a new gate through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelle strait.
The massacres of World War I against the Greeks Armenians and Assyrians, did not come from void, but rather it was an ugly link in the chain of human history which must be known to the world and always remembered, because it had cultural and religious backgrounds based on ideology contradictions within a society which was dominated by the Ottomans for hundreds of years.
Since the days of Sultan Osman the 1st in the 14th century, his son Orkhan Ghazi, and Murad the 3rd, Assyrians, Arminians and Greeks were pursued as the Ottomans occupied Constantinople and the Byzantine culture was destroyed and forcibly replaced by Islam, and over centuries the Christians who are the indigenous people of what is today known as Turkey were subjected to oppression, killing and Islamization according to a “legislation by God” as the occupiers believed and still believe.
We used to hear the weak and useless Turkish argument about our collaboration with Russia before the WW1. But history tells us that the Turks themselves were the ones who first allowed foreigners in, through the Treaty of the Capitulations in 1535 between the French King Francis the 1st and Sultan Suleiman the 1st (Suleiman the magnificent); according to this treaty the French enjoyed the right to protect Christians living in the Ottoman territories, this is how a part of the Armenians became Roman Catholics, and a part of the Assyrians became Roman Catholics under the Ottoman starvation policy and the Vatican exploitation, the Catholic Assyrians have been called “Chaldeans” by the Vatican in 1552. Hence, based on this historical fact, the Ottoman Empire is the one who collaborated with the foreigners and consented to their presence in that territory.
After allowing the Roman Catholic missions to enter Assyria and Armenia, the British Anglican missions were also allowed in, then these missions contributed to inciting the Kurds to slaughter the Assyrian people between 1843 – 1847 in order to shatter the independence of the Assyrian mountainous tribes in the south-east of what is today known as “Turkey”, to allow the penetration of these missionaries within the Assyrian society when previously they were incapable of doing that since the five large Assyrian tribes were not subjects of the Ottoman Sultan and these were: Tiari tribe, Tkhouma, Baz, Jeelo and Dez.
Despite all this, the Christians within the Ottoman occupation (Greeks, Armenians and Assyrians) were always considered as the last citizens and when Sultan Selim the 1st brought in the 16th century the Kurdish tribes from Isfahan and settled them in the Assyrian highlands on the Iranian borders to fight the Shiite Safavids, the Ottoman Empire began using these tribes over the centuries in the killing of Assyrians and Armenians because of their religion which forced them to ask for help from their neighbouring Christian countries especially the strongest, Russia, to save them from the Islamic persecution in the region after the Ottomans neglected their pleas repeatedly.
Frederick Engels gave an example of that in one of his letters to Karl Marx when he said: "As long as the Christians continue to be persecuted by the Ottomans, it's certain that they will look up to the Orthodox Church and its leader of 60 million Orthodox whoever he is, as their liberator and protector ".
What affirms Engels's statement is a letter from the Patriarch Mar Rouil Shimon on May 14th, 1868 to the Russian king Michael. In this letter the Patriarch states:"... We are a poor nation, my people have no enough grain to provide themselves with bread ... The Kurds have forcibly taken many of our Churches and convents, they constantly abduct our virgins, brides , and women, forcing them to turn Moslems ... The Turks are worse, they do not protect us, demand military taxes, poll tax, also the Kurds take our money for they consider us as "Zirr Kurr" (slaves - being Christians .. .)... Now, such being our condition, we beseech your mightiness, for the sake of Jesus, His Baptism, and cross. Either to free us from such a state or to procure us a remedy ... May God preserve you, Amin"
This was the religious background of the hatred against Assyrians, but the greatest scandal took place as the Turkish nationalism was introduced to the Ottoman Sultanate in 1908 - 1909, when loud calls from Turkish officials demanded the ethnic cleansing of all nationalities, in order to preserve the Turkish nationality, one of those was Dr. Nazim Manzar, one of Young Turks Movement leaders who had said: “If it wasn’t for foreign diplomatic intervention, we would have unified all nationalities within the Turkish one creating one culture because we want the Turkish component to live on this land without any other”. Indeed, this opportunity presented itself in 1914 when chaos took over and WWI began.
At the beginning of WWI in the summer of 1914, the Kurdish tribes which were settled in Assyria and Armenia and which formed a cavalry force in the Ottoman army known as the “Hamidian Cavalry” named after Sultan Abdulhamid the 2nd, backed by other Turkish battalions they headed to the Assyrian plain villages in the east of what’s today known as “Turkey” as well as the Assyrian villages in Tur Abdin in the south-east and the Salamas plain in western Iran, where they killed thousands, burned cities, towns, villages, ancient monasteries and churches and kidnapped women and girls under the banner of “Jihad”.
On March 05th 1915, the Baku Newspaper reported that 20 Assyrian villages were completely destroyed while the bodies of women and children laid in the streets with marks of daggers and cleavers on them, and on March 15th 1915, the Tbilisi Newspaper described the Kurdish tribes’ attacks lead by Turkish officers as being barbaric, that was a little of what the newspapers had mentioned then, All this was taking place while the Assyrians had not joined the war. But as the massacres continued against them, adding all this religious, national and social degeneration surrounding the indigenous peoples of the Middle East, Assyrians were obliged to seek help from those who shared their religious beliefs as they did not have any other recourse since their killers and looters were either the ruling authorities or their gangs.
The Assyrian Patriarch Mar Binyamin Shimon (who was later martyred) declared that the Assyrians joined the war to Russia’s side in self-defense and for liberation from the Ottoman occupation and oppression. This decision was made during a meeting between the Patriarch and tribal leaders in the Diz area on June 10th 1915.
These facts are an answer to those who claim that Assyrians collaborated with Russians before the massacres, in addition, hundreds of thousands of Orthodox Assyrians were massacred also in Tur Abdin area and its surroundings, knowing that they did not have any contact with any foreign state in the first place.
Even after the Assyrian tribesmen were armed, Turkey and its Kurdish recruits did not differentiate between a civilian and a military; genocides were repeated against the Assyrians in the Assyrian highlands known as the Hakkari Mountains, as well as in the vicinity of Urmia. One of the Assyrian death marches is described by the Russian thinker Victor Chklovski who lived through the massacres of 1918, mentioning in his memoirs that after Russia withdrew from the war following the Bolshevik revolution, a convoy of 230.000 Assyrians fled on foot in the summer of 1918 from the city of Urmia for a distance of 800 km towards the Iranian mountains and plains heading to Hamadan in the south where the British were settled, during that journey 85.000 Assyrian women and children were killed due to Turkish and Kurdish and Iranian attacks while 15.000 also on foot were killed as their convoy headed to the north, towards Russia and Georgia.
Thus, after fleeing Urmia and Hakkari, Assyrians were caught in the British trap, as Britain began inciting the Arabs in Iraq against the Assyrians causing the 1933 massacre in occupied Assyria, which claimed the lives of thousands of women, men and children.
The official records such as the Russian, British and even Turkish correspondence, confirm that between 1914 and 1922, Turkey had led its armies which invaded the unarmed Assyrian, Armenian and Greeks’ villages and towns and committed ethnic cleansing whereby about 600.000 Assyrians, the equivalent of two thirds of the Assyrian nation at the time were massacred.
This falls within the definition of "genocide" as adopted by the United Nations in 1948, since it covers ethnic cleansing in accordance with the following specifications of the United Nations:
1-Unjustified Mass murder.
2-Physical and spiritual damage to a group.
3-Mass starvation with the intent of social destruction.
4-Transferring children forcibly to other cultures and societies.
The human and political results of the Genocide against the Assyrian Nation were as follows:
1-Eradication of two-thirds of the Assyrian nation between the years 1915 – 1922.
2-Diseases and epidemics that killed 33.000 Assyrians in British detention centers in Iraq, which the British called "refugee camps".
3-Abduction of thousands of women and children who were taken to the homes of Muslims (Turks, Arabs, Kurds, Iranians).
4-Considering the Assyrians in Iraq as British collaborators when Iraq itself was made in England, noting that King Faisal was a Saudi who was brought by Britain to rule Iraq.
5-Lack of understanding on the part of the Iraqi state regarding the Assyrians’ rights due to its Ottoman culture, which resulted in the massacre of 1933 against the Assyrian people in 6-villages in Occupied Assyria.
7-The exile of a large number of Assyrians to Syria after being accused of creating chaos despite the massacres against them.
8-The demise of the Assyrian language and culture in the Diaspora day after day due to mixing of the Assyrians with foreign cultures.
In addition to other negative effects which contributed significantly to the weakening of the Assyrian presence.
Hence, all the legal pretexts to hinder the recognition of Genocide are void, and the yielding of the international community to a law which was drafted by it, is a moral duty, and since the international community recognized the Genocide against the Jews, as well as in Sudan and Yugoslavia, it can also recognize the Genocide against the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks because the crimes against these peoples are not less than those committed against others whom we have mentioned.
The reality though seems to be different, because so far we have not faced any difficulties in considering the Turkish killings as “Genocide” except through illegal political hindrances, since parliaments which are the legislative power are recognizing the Genocide while governments or the executive authorities of a state are always the ones denying it. For example:
In Sweden and following the recognition of the Swedish Parliament that the Turkish organized killings against the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks were Genocides, the Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt expressed his regret at the Parliament’s decision and voiced his concern regarding Turkey’s position.
In the United States, the Genocide against our Armenian brothers were used as a campaigning card for Barack Obama, whereby after the U.S. Congress adopted the decision to recognize the Genocide, Obama expressed his rejection and at the same time said that he did not regret using the term “Genocide” during his campaign, as was reported by Agence France Presse on April 25, 2009.
We find much worse situation in Greece as the Greek Parliament has refused recognizing the systematic crimes against Greeks, Armineans and Assyrians, as a Genocide, and I’m really shocked that until now the proposal have been presented 4 times to the Greek parliament and was rejected.
How can we ask others to recognize our genocides, when our own countries are still denying ? what was the feeling of Greece when Sweden recognized it’s people’s genocide before it.
It’s really a shame that this country who gave the basis of democracy is still putting the political interest above the national interest. If denying the Genocides by Turkey is for a political interest, than the dignity of the Greek martyrs is a national interest, and we the second generation of the genocides survivors, should consider Greece as the European key for Genocides recognition. And demonstrations, should take place in Athens in front of the Greek parliament where Assyrian, Greek and Armenians flags will be razed high, because the dignity of the Greek martyrs is our martyrs’ dignity; they all have been martyred for the same reasons, from the same background, and by the same criminals.
Thus, it is clear to us that our journey in the ocean of lies and international plots is long, hence, we have to establish our demands in an unshakable manner, that begins with countries directly concerned with the archived facts of the Genocide beginning with Greece, and other countries such as Russia, France, UK, Germany because these countries’ voice is heard in international forums, and it wouldn't be enough for Turkey to reform its constitution and try to submit to the Copenhagen criteria, to deserve the membership of any international group, be it European Union or any other, because first, Turkey should prove its loyalty to the humanitarian norms, by correcting the mistakes of the past.
The international community's neglect of this issue is like a second Genocide and disrespect for the concepts of humanity, and the most dangerous thing is that this silence is considered as an incitement for more expected Genocides against the weak people in the world, including the Assyrian people whom I present as an example.
And because of the Genocide against the Assyrian nation, also because of the European betrayal in general, and the English betrayal in particular, to the Assyrians, the Assyrian nation is still stateless, and that’s why it’s still facing a new genocide.
The Assyrian people are still living amongst the degenerate factions ruling Iraq, without any protection or international attention whereby more than 500.000 Assyrians migrated from Iraq within seven years since 2003, while only 300.000 had migrated during 35 years of Saddam Hussein’s rule, all this is taking place while the international community is watching and presenting some deadly solutions such as forcing the Assyrian Nation to migrate and flee its historical lands, obliterating its culture and dissolving it within the western societies under the banner of “Saving the Christians of Iraq”.
The same policy which was followed before and during the massacres of WWI, is practiced today against the Assyrians throughout Iraq and particularly under the Kurdish Occupation of Assyria, where the Kurdish tribes use the policy of polite persecution by giving fictitious religious rights while obliterating the national existence of the land and people through the culture of kurdification in the schools of the Kurdish Occupation zone, whereby the Assyrian generations and others are growing up according to the curriculum of Kurdification, in addition to the occupation of Assyrian lands and inventing impossible laws when legitimate owners ask for their lands, also throughout Iraq Islamization and forced displacement have reached an insolent state which confirms that there is a religious and ethnic cleansing against the Assyrians and all this is legislated within the Iraqi constitution which instigates the Islamization of Iraq and the Kurdification of its north while it is void of the equality principle in federalism, even though and according to international laws protecting the indigenous people, the right of equality is the least of what the Assyrians should get, being the indigenous people of Iraq and in danger of extinction.
Our presence here is not just to give long speeches because they have been given already by many scholars worldwide, and our intention is not the revenge, rather than guaranteeing a better future for the current generation of the survivors of the genocides.
Based on the narrative of events and their consequences, and based on the world moral obligation towards humanity, the Assyrian Nation is very interested in historically holding accountable those who committed crimes against humanity during World War I, according to the international legislation that’s why the organizers of this occasion must continue to strongly bind all parties concerned in order to raise our voice together to avoid the repetition of what happened, and in order to intercept the degenerate currents and societies so they would realize that there is no room for committing such crimes against humanity anywhere in the world again.
Thank You Very much for listening …
Link to Assyrian Voice, forum, here.
Greek Parliament
19/Sep/2010
Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Conference Organizing Committee and participants.
Before presenting my speech, I would like to comment on some statements made my some of the distinguished speakers.
First point, we are simply Assyrians, not Chaldeans neither Syriacs nor Syrians, because Chaldeans are Catholic Assyrians, and Syrians or so-called Syriacs, are Orthodox Assyrians, so, It would be better to say “Assyrians” because it’s our ethnic national identity, and in this case we would be talking about all the Assyrian sects. We can’t say “Arabs and Sunna” because there are Sunni and Shiite Arabs.
Second point, I’ve heard many times mentioning of kurds as a persecuted people, we understand this, but also we should not forget that kurds we re part of the Genocide perpetrators. This is how we should deal with this matter when we talk history, but if you want to politicize the genocide, this would be another case.
Third point, I ask the Assyrian Union in Greece to not be a part of any occasion or joint statement mentioning the term “Kurdistan” because this term is an insult to the Assyrian nation, and I ask our Armenian and Greek brothers to be aware of this, for Assyrians it’s a matter of principles and dignity, it can’t be politically compromised. When we say we are Assyrians this means we are from Assyria, and if the Assyrian highlands and the north of today’s Iraq are “kurdstan”, then where is Assyria ? Did we come from the moon ?
Fourth point, I’ve heard many times “Ethnic Cleansing against Christians”, this is a contradiction, Ethnic cleansing is against ethnicities, but Christianity is a religion, we must chose 1 of 2: “Ethnic cleansing against Assyrian, Arminians, Greeks” or “Religious cleansing against Christians”, but I say we can use the both because the Genocides were religious and ethnic at the same time, and this why I want to talk about the background of the genocides.
Thank you.
We are gathering in this conference as a minimal duty towards our ancestors who sacrificed themselves for our religious and national existence during the darkest of circumstances where human values were lost, thus exposing the political, social, religious, and moral degeneration surrounding the Christians of the East in general and the Greeks, Arminians and Assyrians in particular. I, as an Assyrian participant in this conference, feel comfortable because I am able to express some of my nation’s concerns and torment throughout history before people who very well understand the meaning of humanity because they are the descendants of one of the greatest civilizations which built the foundations of science, politics, and philosophy.
And my speech will be about: The background of the Genocide, Its consequences and the world’s conscience
The Assyrian genocide will be taken as an example in my speech. And I will present first a brief historical narration because I’m more than sure that many of the attendees have no much idea about the historical facts of the Assyrian genocide.
The human history looks like a chain of interrelated episodes, and these episodes are man-made since people decide their fate through victories and defeats which contain abuses against humanity in order to build a collective structure whether be it economic, social, political or cultural, some based on civilized foundation supported by historical and logical rights while others are based on massacres and supported by the power of degeneration and zeal to shed blood for the sake of ideologies created to fight against humanity, and whomever wants to continue in this historic chain in its ugliness and beauty, has to realize the chain of the past so as to learn from it in building the chain of the present, and based on this, he can build the chain of the future … This is very briefly, the rule of nations continuity.
Thus, we can say that the WW1 was based on economical interests, Europe wanted to expand its market after its industrial revolution and Russia wanted to open a new gate through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelle strait.
The massacres of World War I against the Greeks Armenians and Assyrians, did not come from void, but rather it was an ugly link in the chain of human history which must be known to the world and always remembered, because it had cultural and religious backgrounds based on ideology contradictions within a society which was dominated by the Ottomans for hundreds of years.
Since the days of Sultan Osman the 1st in the 14th century, his son Orkhan Ghazi, and Murad the 3rd, Assyrians, Arminians and Greeks were pursued as the Ottomans occupied Constantinople and the Byzantine culture was destroyed and forcibly replaced by Islam, and over centuries the Christians who are the indigenous people of what is today known as Turkey were subjected to oppression, killing and Islamization according to a “legislation by God” as the occupiers believed and still believe.
We used to hear the weak and useless Turkish argument about our collaboration with Russia before the WW1. But history tells us that the Turks themselves were the ones who first allowed foreigners in, through the Treaty of the Capitulations in 1535 between the French King Francis the 1st and Sultan Suleiman the 1st (Suleiman the magnificent); according to this treaty the French enjoyed the right to protect Christians living in the Ottoman territories, this is how a part of the Armenians became Roman Catholics, and a part of the Assyrians became Roman Catholics under the Ottoman starvation policy and the Vatican exploitation, the Catholic Assyrians have been called “Chaldeans” by the Vatican in 1552. Hence, based on this historical fact, the Ottoman Empire is the one who collaborated with the foreigners and consented to their presence in that territory.
After allowing the Roman Catholic missions to enter Assyria and Armenia, the British Anglican missions were also allowed in, then these missions contributed to inciting the Kurds to slaughter the Assyrian people between 1843 – 1847 in order to shatter the independence of the Assyrian mountainous tribes in the south-east of what is today known as “Turkey”, to allow the penetration of these missionaries within the Assyrian society when previously they were incapable of doing that since the five large Assyrian tribes were not subjects of the Ottoman Sultan and these were: Tiari tribe, Tkhouma, Baz, Jeelo and Dez.
Despite all this, the Christians within the Ottoman occupation (Greeks, Armenians and Assyrians) were always considered as the last citizens and when Sultan Selim the 1st brought in the 16th century the Kurdish tribes from Isfahan and settled them in the Assyrian highlands on the Iranian borders to fight the Shiite Safavids, the Ottoman Empire began using these tribes over the centuries in the killing of Assyrians and Armenians because of their religion which forced them to ask for help from their neighbouring Christian countries especially the strongest, Russia, to save them from the Islamic persecution in the region after the Ottomans neglected their pleas repeatedly.
Frederick Engels gave an example of that in one of his letters to Karl Marx when he said: "As long as the Christians continue to be persecuted by the Ottomans, it's certain that they will look up to the Orthodox Church and its leader of 60 million Orthodox whoever he is, as their liberator and protector ".
What affirms Engels's statement is a letter from the Patriarch Mar Rouil Shimon on May 14th, 1868 to the Russian king Michael. In this letter the Patriarch states:"... We are a poor nation, my people have no enough grain to provide themselves with bread ... The Kurds have forcibly taken many of our Churches and convents, they constantly abduct our virgins, brides , and women, forcing them to turn Moslems ... The Turks are worse, they do not protect us, demand military taxes, poll tax, also the Kurds take our money for they consider us as "Zirr Kurr" (slaves - being Christians .. .)... Now, such being our condition, we beseech your mightiness, for the sake of Jesus, His Baptism, and cross. Either to free us from such a state or to procure us a remedy ... May God preserve you, Amin"
This was the religious background of the hatred against Assyrians, but the greatest scandal took place as the Turkish nationalism was introduced to the Ottoman Sultanate in 1908 - 1909, when loud calls from Turkish officials demanded the ethnic cleansing of all nationalities, in order to preserve the Turkish nationality, one of those was Dr. Nazim Manzar, one of Young Turks Movement leaders who had said: “If it wasn’t for foreign diplomatic intervention, we would have unified all nationalities within the Turkish one creating one culture because we want the Turkish component to live on this land without any other”. Indeed, this opportunity presented itself in 1914 when chaos took over and WWI began.
At the beginning of WWI in the summer of 1914, the Kurdish tribes which were settled in Assyria and Armenia and which formed a cavalry force in the Ottoman army known as the “Hamidian Cavalry” named after Sultan Abdulhamid the 2nd, backed by other Turkish battalions they headed to the Assyrian plain villages in the east of what’s today known as “Turkey” as well as the Assyrian villages in Tur Abdin in the south-east and the Salamas plain in western Iran, where they killed thousands, burned cities, towns, villages, ancient monasteries and churches and kidnapped women and girls under the banner of “Jihad”.
On March 05th 1915, the Baku Newspaper reported that 20 Assyrian villages were completely destroyed while the bodies of women and children laid in the streets with marks of daggers and cleavers on them, and on March 15th 1915, the Tbilisi Newspaper described the Kurdish tribes’ attacks lead by Turkish officers as being barbaric, that was a little of what the newspapers had mentioned then, All this was taking place while the Assyrians had not joined the war. But as the massacres continued against them, adding all this religious, national and social degeneration surrounding the indigenous peoples of the Middle East, Assyrians were obliged to seek help from those who shared their religious beliefs as they did not have any other recourse since their killers and looters were either the ruling authorities or their gangs.
The Assyrian Patriarch Mar Binyamin Shimon (who was later martyred) declared that the Assyrians joined the war to Russia’s side in self-defense and for liberation from the Ottoman occupation and oppression. This decision was made during a meeting between the Patriarch and tribal leaders in the Diz area on June 10th 1915.
These facts are an answer to those who claim that Assyrians collaborated with Russians before the massacres, in addition, hundreds of thousands of Orthodox Assyrians were massacred also in Tur Abdin area and its surroundings, knowing that they did not have any contact with any foreign state in the first place.
Even after the Assyrian tribesmen were armed, Turkey and its Kurdish recruits did not differentiate between a civilian and a military; genocides were repeated against the Assyrians in the Assyrian highlands known as the Hakkari Mountains, as well as in the vicinity of Urmia. One of the Assyrian death marches is described by the Russian thinker Victor Chklovski who lived through the massacres of 1918, mentioning in his memoirs that after Russia withdrew from the war following the Bolshevik revolution, a convoy of 230.000 Assyrians fled on foot in the summer of 1918 from the city of Urmia for a distance of 800 km towards the Iranian mountains and plains heading to Hamadan in the south where the British were settled, during that journey 85.000 Assyrian women and children were killed due to Turkish and Kurdish and Iranian attacks while 15.000 also on foot were killed as their convoy headed to the north, towards Russia and Georgia.
Thus, after fleeing Urmia and Hakkari, Assyrians were caught in the British trap, as Britain began inciting the Arabs in Iraq against the Assyrians causing the 1933 massacre in occupied Assyria, which claimed the lives of thousands of women, men and children.
The official records such as the Russian, British and even Turkish correspondence, confirm that between 1914 and 1922, Turkey had led its armies which invaded the unarmed Assyrian, Armenian and Greeks’ villages and towns and committed ethnic cleansing whereby about 600.000 Assyrians, the equivalent of two thirds of the Assyrian nation at the time were massacred.
This falls within the definition of "genocide" as adopted by the United Nations in 1948, since it covers ethnic cleansing in accordance with the following specifications of the United Nations:
1-Unjustified Mass murder.
2-Physical and spiritual damage to a group.
3-Mass starvation with the intent of social destruction.
4-Transferring children forcibly to other cultures and societies.
The human and political results of the Genocide against the Assyrian Nation were as follows:
1-Eradication of two-thirds of the Assyrian nation between the years 1915 – 1922.
2-Diseases and epidemics that killed 33.000 Assyrians in British detention centers in Iraq, which the British called "refugee camps".
3-Abduction of thousands of women and children who were taken to the homes of Muslims (Turks, Arabs, Kurds, Iranians).
4-Considering the Assyrians in Iraq as British collaborators when Iraq itself was made in England, noting that King Faisal was a Saudi who was brought by Britain to rule Iraq.
5-Lack of understanding on the part of the Iraqi state regarding the Assyrians’ rights due to its Ottoman culture, which resulted in the massacre of 1933 against the Assyrian people in 6-villages in Occupied Assyria.
7-The exile of a large number of Assyrians to Syria after being accused of creating chaos despite the massacres against them.
8-The demise of the Assyrian language and culture in the Diaspora day after day due to mixing of the Assyrians with foreign cultures.
In addition to other negative effects which contributed significantly to the weakening of the Assyrian presence.
Hence, all the legal pretexts to hinder the recognition of Genocide are void, and the yielding of the international community to a law which was drafted by it, is a moral duty, and since the international community recognized the Genocide against the Jews, as well as in Sudan and Yugoslavia, it can also recognize the Genocide against the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks because the crimes against these peoples are not less than those committed against others whom we have mentioned.
The reality though seems to be different, because so far we have not faced any difficulties in considering the Turkish killings as “Genocide” except through illegal political hindrances, since parliaments which are the legislative power are recognizing the Genocide while governments or the executive authorities of a state are always the ones denying it. For example:
In Sweden and following the recognition of the Swedish Parliament that the Turkish organized killings against the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks were Genocides, the Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt expressed his regret at the Parliament’s decision and voiced his concern regarding Turkey’s position.
In the United States, the Genocide against our Armenian brothers were used as a campaigning card for Barack Obama, whereby after the U.S. Congress adopted the decision to recognize the Genocide, Obama expressed his rejection and at the same time said that he did not regret using the term “Genocide” during his campaign, as was reported by Agence France Presse on April 25, 2009.
We find much worse situation in Greece as the Greek Parliament has refused recognizing the systematic crimes against Greeks, Armineans and Assyrians, as a Genocide, and I’m really shocked that until now the proposal have been presented 4 times to the Greek parliament and was rejected.
How can we ask others to recognize our genocides, when our own countries are still denying ? what was the feeling of Greece when Sweden recognized it’s people’s genocide before it.
It’s really a shame that this country who gave the basis of democracy is still putting the political interest above the national interest. If denying the Genocides by Turkey is for a political interest, than the dignity of the Greek martyrs is a national interest, and we the second generation of the genocides survivors, should consider Greece as the European key for Genocides recognition. And demonstrations, should take place in Athens in front of the Greek parliament where Assyrian, Greek and Armenians flags will be razed high, because the dignity of the Greek martyrs is our martyrs’ dignity; they all have been martyred for the same reasons, from the same background, and by the same criminals.
Thus, it is clear to us that our journey in the ocean of lies and international plots is long, hence, we have to establish our demands in an unshakable manner, that begins with countries directly concerned with the archived facts of the Genocide beginning with Greece, and other countries such as Russia, France, UK, Germany because these countries’ voice is heard in international forums, and it wouldn't be enough for Turkey to reform its constitution and try to submit to the Copenhagen criteria, to deserve the membership of any international group, be it European Union or any other, because first, Turkey should prove its loyalty to the humanitarian norms, by correcting the mistakes of the past.
The international community's neglect of this issue is like a second Genocide and disrespect for the concepts of humanity, and the most dangerous thing is that this silence is considered as an incitement for more expected Genocides against the weak people in the world, including the Assyrian people whom I present as an example.
And because of the Genocide against the Assyrian nation, also because of the European betrayal in general, and the English betrayal in particular, to the Assyrians, the Assyrian nation is still stateless, and that’s why it’s still facing a new genocide.
The Assyrian people are still living amongst the degenerate factions ruling Iraq, without any protection or international attention whereby more than 500.000 Assyrians migrated from Iraq within seven years since 2003, while only 300.000 had migrated during 35 years of Saddam Hussein’s rule, all this is taking place while the international community is watching and presenting some deadly solutions such as forcing the Assyrian Nation to migrate and flee its historical lands, obliterating its culture and dissolving it within the western societies under the banner of “Saving the Christians of Iraq”.
The same policy which was followed before and during the massacres of WWI, is practiced today against the Assyrians throughout Iraq and particularly under the Kurdish Occupation of Assyria, where the Kurdish tribes use the policy of polite persecution by giving fictitious religious rights while obliterating the national existence of the land and people through the culture of kurdification in the schools of the Kurdish Occupation zone, whereby the Assyrian generations and others are growing up according to the curriculum of Kurdification, in addition to the occupation of Assyrian lands and inventing impossible laws when legitimate owners ask for their lands, also throughout Iraq Islamization and forced displacement have reached an insolent state which confirms that there is a religious and ethnic cleansing against the Assyrians and all this is legislated within the Iraqi constitution which instigates the Islamization of Iraq and the Kurdification of its north while it is void of the equality principle in federalism, even though and according to international laws protecting the indigenous people, the right of equality is the least of what the Assyrians should get, being the indigenous people of Iraq and in danger of extinction.
Our presence here is not just to give long speeches because they have been given already by many scholars worldwide, and our intention is not the revenge, rather than guaranteeing a better future for the current generation of the survivors of the genocides.
Based on the narrative of events and their consequences, and based on the world moral obligation towards humanity, the Assyrian Nation is very interested in historically holding accountable those who committed crimes against humanity during World War I, according to the international legislation that’s why the organizers of this occasion must continue to strongly bind all parties concerned in order to raise our voice together to avoid the repetition of what happened, and in order to intercept the degenerate currents and societies so they would realize that there is no room for committing such crimes against humanity anywhere in the world again.
Thank You Very much for listening …
Link to Assyrian Voice, forum, here.
New Vatican Bank scandal threatens to erupt | National Catholic Reporter
What's especially interesting, as Paulo Rodari writes, L'Osservatore Romano has a page five book review of Cardinal Bertone and Gotti Tedeschi's book called “Denaro e Paradiso. I cattolici e l’economia globale”. (Money and Paradise. The Catholic and the Global Economy). This book is kind of reminiscent of another book written by a Benedictine Monk and the head of the Puma Company inGermany.
Here's the John Allen article for some of the details:
New Vatican Bank scandal threatens to erupt | National Catholic Reporter
Here's the John Allen article for some of the details:
New Vatican Bank scandal threatens to erupt | National Catholic Reporter
Monday, September 20, 2010
Jewish European Lawyer Warns of Hate Against Christendom
Europe is the most faith deprived region of the world, a cool zone of the gray secularism on the globe, whose own pious fervour has grown damp.
[kreuz.net] The Munster Publicist Felizita Küble published an article in a broadcast in the church-antagonnistic German weekly 'Die Zeit'.
The article was published on 6 August. There she interviewed US Attorney of European Law, Joseph Weiler.
He defended the Cross and warned of hate for Christians.
Weiler is a practicing Jew. he carries the Kippa -- the Jewish head covering.
In his Text he reports that Armenia, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Malta, Russia, San Marino and Cyprus must come before the chambers of the European Court for human rights.
There the questions will be adjudicated, if crucifixes in Italian classrooms may be hung, because these transgress against the religious neutrality of the State.
The named countries are openly concerned about similar attacks on their own Christian Culture. for that reason they have become parties for the defendant, Italy.
Their joint court attorney is Weiler. He has put -- according to a report in 'Die Zeit' -- "his shoulder impressively to the wheel for the School Cross."
Frau Küble maintains that Europe is the most faith deprived region in the world -- "a cool zone of secularization on the globe, which has otherwise damped its pious fervour."
Christendom is increasingly being pushed on the margins of Europe.
As an example Frau Küble pointed out the example of 'British Airways', who fired a stewardess, because she refused to remove the cross from around her neck, to the discussion of the EU-Constitution, where the fight for the mention of God or Christianity didn't have a chance.
Weiler calls this syndrome "Christophobia" -- as the fearful flight of Europeans from their own Christian roots and imprinting.
Link to kreuz.net...
© Bild: Vainsang, CC
Official Announcement: Catholic Coalition for Church Reform (CCCR) (Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis)
It has come to the attention of the Archdiocese that a group calling itself the Catholic Coalition for Church Reform (CCCR) is planning a 2010 ‘synod’ in the Archdiocese entitled, ‘Claiming Our Place at the Table’.
While the agenda for the proposed synod purports to be an exploration of the role of baptized Catholics within the institutional Church of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, it is not being conducted under the auspices of the Archdiocese, the universal Roman Catholic Church, or any entity or organization affiliated with the Archdiocese or the universal Roman Catholic Church.
The Archdiocese wishes it to be known that the Catholic Coalition for Church Reform, the 2010 synod, and individuals endorsing the same, are not agents or entities of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis or the Roman Catholic Church. Moreover, the Archdiocese wishes to lovingly caution those members of the faithful participating in the ‘work/study groups’ and intending to attend the synod of the potential that the issues on which CCCR will seek reform are magisterial teachings of the Church, and are therefore to be believed by divine and catholic faith. The Archdiocese also wishes to remind the faithful of its need to shun any contrary doctrines, and instead to embrace and retain, to safeguard reverently and expound faithfully, the doctrine of faith and morals proposed definitively by the magisterium of the Church.
Official Announcement: Catholic Coalition for Church Reform (CCCR) (Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis)
While the agenda for the proposed synod purports to be an exploration of the role of baptized Catholics within the institutional Church of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, it is not being conducted under the auspices of the Archdiocese, the universal Roman Catholic Church, or any entity or organization affiliated with the Archdiocese or the universal Roman Catholic Church.
The Archdiocese wishes it to be known that the Catholic Coalition for Church Reform, the 2010 synod, and individuals endorsing the same, are not agents or entities of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis or the Roman Catholic Church. Moreover, the Archdiocese wishes to lovingly caution those members of the faithful participating in the ‘work/study groups’ and intending to attend the synod of the potential that the issues on which CCCR will seek reform are magisterial teachings of the Church, and are therefore to be believed by divine and catholic faith. The Archdiocese also wishes to remind the faithful of its need to shun any contrary doctrines, and instead to embrace and retain, to safeguard reverently and expound faithfully, the doctrine of faith and morals proposed definitively by the magisterium of the Church.
Official Announcement: Catholic Coalition for Church Reform (CCCR) (Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis)
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Blessed Cardinal Newman and The Jews
The Unbelieving Jews Were Cast Out by God
Bl. John Henry Newman
"Let us pray for the Jewish People, that they will return to the Lord their God, whom they have crucified". From Bl. John Henry Cardinal Newman (+1890).
[kreuz.net] Our Lord questioned the Pharisees and spoke to them: Who do you think Christ is? Whose son is he?"
They answered him: "The Son of David."
For the Prophet Isaiah had said before: "A branch will sprout from the root of Jesse".
Jesse was the father of David, of the Kings of the Jews. The "branch" or plant was a visual image of the all holy Maiden.
"And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root." (Is. 11.1): The flower, that blooms from the stem, is our Lord -- the Son of the holy virgin, Mary.
"And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him" (Is 11.2). At the baptism at the Jordan the Holy Ghost descended upon Him.
Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will raise up to David a just branch: and a king shall reign, and shall be wise, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Israel shall dwell confidently."
And: "this is the name that they shall call him: the Lord our just one" (Jer. 23, 5-6).
Therefore the Jews said, when they argued whether our Lord and Savior was the Messiah: "Doth not the scripture say: That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem the town where David was? " (John 7: 42)
Homeless Until Today
It was the mission of the Jews, that the revealed Savior, Christ, the Victim and the redeemer of the whole human race, the all-powerful Savior, should be descended from their country and people.
However -- horrible as it is to say -- when He came, they overcame him and condemned Him to death: "He came unto his own, and his own received him not" (John 1:11).
As they disowned Him, so he rejected them.
They led Him to death, and he gave them into the power of their enemies, who destroyed their holy city of Jerusalem. they were driven from their land and remain homeless and unsettled even to this day.
Give to the Jews the True Faith
Let us pray for the people of the Jews, that they return to their Lord and God, Whom they have crucified!
You seed of Abraham and Son of David, Adonai and leader of the house of Israel: You appeared to Moses in the burning bush and have given him the Your law on Sinai.
You key of David and scepter of the House of Israel, You open, and no one closes, You close, and no one opens: do not visit at home, O Lord, the sins of the father to the children, be not angry for ever, rather strengthen the poor people, that once stood so high in your eyes and have sunken so low!
Consider not the old priests and learned, the Pharisees and Sadducees, forget Ananias and Caiaphas, Judas and the senseless rabble which first shouted: "Crucify Him!"
Recall Your pity from Your anger! Forget You their stiff necks and hard heartedness, their blindness for things of yesterday, their love of this world and their luxury!
Touch their hearts and give them the true Faith and the spirit of penance!
Have Mercy, O Jesus, on Your own brothers, the countrymen of your Mother, of St. Joseph, Your Apostles, St. Paul, the righteous of the Old Testament, Abraham, Moses, Samuel and David!
O Lord, hear: O Lord, be appeased: hearken and do: delay not for thy own sake, O my God: because thy name is invocated upon thy city, and upon thy people. (Daniel 9:19) Do not refuse your own desire, O my God, for your name was first established in the city of Jersalem and under Your people.
Another People Took the Place of the Jews
When Our Lord Jesus Christ had been rejected by His own people, the Jews, He denied them, and called another people in their place.
The Evangelist followed with these words " He came unto his own and his own received him not." (Jo 1: 11-13) but to the others: "But as many as received him, he gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in his name. Who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
That is to say: all men, who believe in Him, from whatever race or country they come, He made into his children, He gave to them the grace and the promise of Heaven.
He warned the Jews, since the time of grace had lapsed for them.
"I say to you," he said to them, "the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to another people, and shall be given to a people yielding the fruits thereof." (Matt 21:43)
For that reason St. Paul was agitated, His great Apostle, to rend his shirt, when he saw that the Jews would not obey, that they "contradicted and blasphemed" (Acts 18:6) and said:
"Your blood will come on your heads! I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles."
This Goes for the Protestants As with the Jews
As God had disowned the Jews, His own people, so will He reject every other people, who reject Him.
For so said St. Paul the same: "If some from the branch (Rom 11:17-21) - that means the Jews -- be broken, and thou, being a wild olive, art ingrafted in them, and art made partaker of the root, and of the fatness of the olive tree, Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then: The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.Well: because of unbelief they were broken off. But thou standest by faith: be not highminded, but fear. For if God hath not spared the natural branches, fear lest perhaps he also spare not thee."
This misfortune has come to our own land -- England.
God had blessed it for nearly one thousand years and called it. But it left off, lost the Faith and was expelled from the Church.
Let us pray for the reunion of the peoples with the Faith and the Church of Christ!
From "Meditations and Prayers" of John Henry Newman, third edition, München, Kösel, 1952.
Foreign, verminous, dirty, poor and ignorant
Editor: A Communist's take on the press coverage of the Pope's visit. They must be getting their marching orders from the Central Committee to defend the Catholic Church, because there are quite a few Communist publication airing sympathetic pieces about the Catholic Church.
by Liam Mac Uaid,
Saturday’s issue of The Guardian wasn’t exactly a souvenir edition for the pope’s imminent visit to England but it had several articles on Catholicism.
Under the headline “The Vatican is a nest of devils” Sinead O’Connor was given two pages to share her views on religion. Page 17 had a report on child abuse by clergy in Belgium. Ben Goldacre devoted his Bad Science feature to the recent discovery that the official Catholic position is against the use of condoms and page 11 was given over to a feature headlined “Atheists, activists and apathy await pope”.
There has been a gap in the market for a paper with scarifying stories about the Whore of Babylon since Ian Paisley was obliged to close down the Protestant Telegraph in 1982. It looks like “the world’s leading liberal voice” has decided to fill it. Channel 4 has spotted the niche too. Peter Tatchell is presenting a documentary on the general malignity of Catholicism and by the purest chance there’s a feature on the Belgian abuse cases on its news show tomorrow night.
Here’s my theory.
Read further...
by Liam Mac Uaid,
Saturday’s issue of The Guardian wasn’t exactly a souvenir edition for the pope’s imminent visit to England but it had several articles on Catholicism.
Under the headline “The Vatican is a nest of devils” Sinead O’Connor was given two pages to share her views on religion. Page 17 had a report on child abuse by clergy in Belgium. Ben Goldacre devoted his Bad Science feature to the recent discovery that the official Catholic position is against the use of condoms and page 11 was given over to a feature headlined “Atheists, activists and apathy await pope”.
There has been a gap in the market for a paper with scarifying stories about the Whore of Babylon since Ian Paisley was obliged to close down the Protestant Telegraph in 1982. It looks like “the world’s leading liberal voice” has decided to fill it. Channel 4 has spotted the niche too. Peter Tatchell is presenting a documentary on the general malignity of Catholicism and by the purest chance there’s a feature on the Belgian abuse cases on its news show tomorrow night.
Here’s my theory.
Read further...
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Celibacy is not the Ballast of History
Editor: Archbishop Marx got his head handed to him when he attempted to destroy the career and reputation of the Abbot of the Traditional Monastery of Ettal. Now the embattled Archbishop offers some hopeful words more in line with his the original assessment of the man as a conservative.
Germany. [kreuz.net] the first half year of this year was the worst time of his life. Archbishop Reinhard Marx of Munich confessed this during an interview with the regional newspaper 'Munnich Merkur'. The Archbishop had been advised like a forensic expert "in a bitter decision" during the abuse hysteria. [When he tried to railroad the Abbot and Prior of Ettal on charges of Sex Abuse] At the same time he held it absurd, that it's always promoted: "now the priesthood must introduce women and celibacy must be abolished." That is superficial and will go nowhere. Celibacy is no "superfluous ballast of history" and must be rediscovered like a priceless treasure.
Original, kreuz.net...
Germany. [kreuz.net] the first half year of this year was the worst time of his life. Archbishop Reinhard Marx of Munich confessed this during an interview with the regional newspaper 'Munnich Merkur'. The Archbishop had been advised like a forensic expert "in a bitter decision" during the abuse hysteria. [When he tried to railroad the Abbot and Prior of Ettal on charges of Sex Abuse] At the same time he held it absurd, that it's always promoted: "now the priesthood must introduce women and celibacy must be abolished." That is superficial and will go nowhere. Celibacy is no "superfluous ballast of history" and must be rediscovered like a priceless treasure.
Original, kreuz.net...
Unknown Suspects Steal Baby Jesus in Würzburg
Editor: He who sews abuse scandals reaps irreparable damage to Europe's cultural patrimony.
Wurzburg [merkur-online.de] They came at the light of day and took the Jesus Child with them: From a baroque Church in Sulzfeld unknown thieves took a Jesus-figure and an angel's head with golden wings.
The police in Würzburg on Saturday claim that they had any evidence, at first, of the suspect. Only the time of the crime is clear: both figures were already taken from the open church on Thursday.
From the original, merkur-online.de...
photo:© dpa
Wurzburg [merkur-online.de] They came at the light of day and took the Jesus Child with them: From a baroque Church in Sulzfeld unknown thieves took a Jesus-figure and an angel's head with golden wings.
The police in Würzburg on Saturday claim that they had any evidence, at first, of the suspect. Only the time of the crime is clear: both figures were already taken from the open church on Thursday.
From the original, merkur-online.de...
photo:© dpa
Pope Speaks on Spot St. Thomas More Condemned
Until last night, no Pope had set foot in Westminster Abbey, even though it was doing Roman Catholic coronations for 500 years before Henry VIII had other ideas.
No Pope had set foot in the Palace of Westminster either, let alone addressed its occupants.
So yesterday was a day of profound historic importance here at the very heart of the British state.
And yet, it was the street cleaning department of Westminster City Council which threatened to steal the headlines.
Read further...
No Pope had set foot in the Palace of Westminster either, let alone addressed its occupants.
So yesterday was a day of profound historic importance here at the very heart of the British state.
And yet, it was the street cleaning department of Westminster City Council which threatened to steal the headlines.
Read further...
Anne Muggeridge, RIP
By Patrick B. Craine
TORONTO, Ontario, September 17, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The pro-life movement lost a fearless defender of human life this week as revered Canadian Catholic writer Anne Roche Muggeridge passed away in her 75th year on Tuesday after a decade struggle with an advanced Alzheimer’s-like illness.
Wife of the late John Muggeridge and daughter-in-law of famed journalist and author Malcolm Muggeridge, she is remembered by countless admirers as a fierce and unyielding proponent of the pro-life cause and Catholic orthodoxy.
Muggeridge wrote numerous articles, but is most known for her two books, The Gates of Hell (1975) and The Desolate City (1986, revised 1990).
“She was a wonderful mother to us and she was a valiant defender of the Catholic faith,” said her son, John Muggeridge, Jr. “She brought a lot of people to the Catholic Church and she inspired a lot in their faith.”
Read further...
TORONTO, Ontario, September 17, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The pro-life movement lost a fearless defender of human life this week as revered Canadian Catholic writer Anne Roche Muggeridge passed away in her 75th year on Tuesday after a decade struggle with an advanced Alzheimer’s-like illness.
Wife of the late John Muggeridge and daughter-in-law of famed journalist and author Malcolm Muggeridge, she is remembered by countless admirers as a fierce and unyielding proponent of the pro-life cause and Catholic orthodoxy.
Muggeridge wrote numerous articles, but is most known for her two books, The Gates of Hell (1975) and The Desolate City (1986, revised 1990).
“She was a wonderful mother to us and she was a valiant defender of the Catholic faith,” said her son, John Muggeridge, Jr. “She brought a lot of people to the Catholic Church and she inspired a lot in their faith.”
Read further...
Friday, September 17, 2010
New Jesuit-Provincial Stefan Kiechle Bets Against Rome
Editor: He had previously this week offered to pay out settlements to compensate victims. He had also, as Novice Master, spoken of the pernicious homosexual culture in seminaries.
And he maintains: Appointments in the Church Hierarchy are reminiscent almost of "corruption" -- Almost half of Catholics are today continuously closed off from the Sacraments.
The new Provincial of the German Jesuits, P. Stefan Kiechle SJ, spoke this week for the abolition of celibacy. Kiechle spoke this Wednesday in the auspices of the "Cardinal-Höffner-Circle" Catholic CDU-member for the release of married men for the priesthood and for the consideration also of the ordination of women. Along these lines, Kiechle criticized the practice of appointments in the hierarchy of the Church. They are arranged by connections and are almost reminiscent of "corruption".
Kiechle speaks for another contact of the Church with the theme of mercy. He references the praxis of the Eastern Church, which has a conservative doctrine and in which it never the less has married priests. "That works", he insists. Surely, the abolition of celibacy will not solve all problems. Kiechle took over the administration of the Jesuit Province on the first of September.
The provincial speaks of a massive crisis in the Church, which is partly the result of a quantitative and qualitative shortage of priests. This crisis will not be solved first through the awareness of abuse cases. Firstly, the priest shortage hits "throughout". The Jesuit was concerned about the "selection, education and formation" of priests. Many clerics today are hardly in a position to take a leading role.
With a view on the ordering of officeholders throughout the Church there is "much about connections" said Kiechle. Some in Germany are interested in knowing someone in Rome, who has influence, or is eager to have dinner in Rome for personal favors. Such were the normal course of appointments, which pass for objectivity, "often evasive". The Provincial says this is dangerous: "In other contexts, one would speak of corruption."
The Superior continued, saying, the Catholic Church should establish centers. In the first place, there is a "reduction to core business", belonging to the "orderly and qualitative" Liturgy and Catechesis; these may also may influence good moods. Further accents must be "with quality" in the formation of schools and religious instruction. What the Church sows with the children, will remain.
Further accents must be mercifulness toward and usefulness of the disenfranchised and people on the edge. "That is the core business of the Church", he said. Almost half of the Catholics today are forbidden from approaching the Sacraments, intoned Kiechele, referring to the existence of cohabiting couples or remarried and divorced people. [More people in Germany seem to be aware of the Church's teaching in these matters.]
The Jesuit Provincial's remarks concerned the 40 participants in the conference for a controversial discussion. Before Kiechle, the leader of the Circle, Family Secretatry Herman Kues (CDU), called those concerns to mind. Cardinal Höffner stood for the opening of the Catholic Church to the modern world," said Kues. Those were the fundamental concerns for Höffner (1906-87), who was for many years the Archbishop of Cologne and the President of the German Bishops Conference, as well as the gathering of the Höffner Circle.
Original article...kath.net...here.
And he maintains: Appointments in the Church Hierarchy are reminiscent almost of "corruption" -- Almost half of Catholics are today continuously closed off from the Sacraments.
The new Provincial of the German Jesuits, P. Stefan Kiechle SJ, spoke this week for the abolition of celibacy. Kiechle spoke this Wednesday in the auspices of the "Cardinal-Höffner-Circle" Catholic CDU-member for the release of married men for the priesthood and for the consideration also of the ordination of women. Along these lines, Kiechle criticized the practice of appointments in the hierarchy of the Church. They are arranged by connections and are almost reminiscent of "corruption".
Kiechle speaks for another contact of the Church with the theme of mercy. He references the praxis of the Eastern Church, which has a conservative doctrine and in which it never the less has married priests. "That works", he insists. Surely, the abolition of celibacy will not solve all problems. Kiechle took over the administration of the Jesuit Province on the first of September.
The provincial speaks of a massive crisis in the Church, which is partly the result of a quantitative and qualitative shortage of priests. This crisis will not be solved first through the awareness of abuse cases. Firstly, the priest shortage hits "throughout". The Jesuit was concerned about the "selection, education and formation" of priests. Many clerics today are hardly in a position to take a leading role.
With a view on the ordering of officeholders throughout the Church there is "much about connections" said Kiechle. Some in Germany are interested in knowing someone in Rome, who has influence, or is eager to have dinner in Rome for personal favors. Such were the normal course of appointments, which pass for objectivity, "often evasive". The Provincial says this is dangerous: "In other contexts, one would speak of corruption."
The Superior continued, saying, the Catholic Church should establish centers. In the first place, there is a "reduction to core business", belonging to the "orderly and qualitative" Liturgy and Catechesis; these may also may influence good moods. Further accents must be "with quality" in the formation of schools and religious instruction. What the Church sows with the children, will remain.
Further accents must be mercifulness toward and usefulness of the disenfranchised and people on the edge. "That is the core business of the Church", he said. Almost half of the Catholics today are forbidden from approaching the Sacraments, intoned Kiechele, referring to the existence of cohabiting couples or remarried and divorced people. [More people in Germany seem to be aware of the Church's teaching in these matters.]
The Jesuit Provincial's remarks concerned the 40 participants in the conference for a controversial discussion. Before Kiechle, the leader of the Circle, Family Secretatry Herman Kues (CDU), called those concerns to mind. Cardinal Höffner stood for the opening of the Catholic Church to the modern world," said Kues. Those were the fundamental concerns for Höffner (1906-87), who was for many years the Archbishop of Cologne and the President of the German Bishops Conference, as well as the gathering of the Höffner Circle.
Original article...kath.net...here.
Pope Admits Church Wasn't Vigilant Enough
ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE, SEPT. 16, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The Church was not sufficiently vigilant or sufficiently quick in responding to the problem of sexual abusers among clergy, Benedict XVI says.
The Pope made this affirmation today en route to Scotland for the first leg of his four-day trip to the United Kingdom. As is customary, he gave a press conference to a group of journalists on the flight with him.
Speaking of the sexual abuse scandal, he affirmed: "First of all I must say that these revelations were a shock to me, a great sadness; it is difficult to understand how this perversion of the priestly ministry was possible. At the moment of ordination, the priest, prepared for years for this moment, says 'yes' to Christ to be his voice, his mouth, his hands. [...] How a man who has done and said this can then fall into this perversion is difficult to understand.
Read further...
The Pope made this affirmation today en route to Scotland for the first leg of his four-day trip to the United Kingdom. As is customary, he gave a press conference to a group of journalists on the flight with him.
Speaking of the sexual abuse scandal, he affirmed: "First of all I must say that these revelations were a shock to me, a great sadness; it is difficult to understand how this perversion of the priestly ministry was possible. At the moment of ordination, the priest, prepared for years for this moment, says 'yes' to Christ to be his voice, his mouth, his hands. [...] How a man who has done and said this can then fall into this perversion is difficult to understand.
Read further...
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Bishop Fellay: If Bonifatius Had Followed the Spirit of Vatican II, There Would be No Catholics in Germany
Pius Believers are Unfortunately Not Anglicans
The Superior General of the Society of Pius X made the point: If Saint Bonifatius had followed the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, there wouldn't be any Catholics in Germany.
[kreuz.net, Fulda] On the past Sunday 1500 Traditionalists made a Pilgrimage to the grave of St. Bonifatius (+754) in Fulda.
It is the seventh national pilgrimage of the German District of the Society has undertaken to the tomb of the Saint.
The Pontifical Office was celebrated on Sunday by the General Superior of the Society of Pius X, Bishop Bernard Fellay.
He consecrated the entire German District and the whole Society to the Mother of God.
An article on the website 'Piusbruderschaft.de' complained that the Fulda Cathedral was closed to the Pilgrims.
The courtesy of the Bishops in Germany has failed.
Better Protestant than Catholic
In his sermon Msgr Fellay declared: "We are Catholics, we want to simply remain that way."
Today one makes the Society an object of reproach to show itself as Catholic. Therefore that is the reason why you were refused at the church.
The Old Liberal Bishop of Tarves and Lourdes in Southern France, Msgr Jacques Perrier (73), let Anglicans in the Church, the Society of Pius X, however, not.
For that reason he declared to the Society of Pius X: "You insist that you're Catholic"
Bishop Fellay concluded upon this, that the Society could celebrate in the Church, if they denied they were Catholic:
"A complete confusion. This contradiction is everywhere, the situation not simple. Confusion on all sides".
Critic of the Spirit of the Pastoral Council
The Society lives in the truth of that which the Church has always done -- says Msgr Fellay.
"If St. Bonifatius had followed the Spirit of the Second Vatican Council, there would be no Catholics in Germany."
Currently, they are abolishing the Church. They are dissolving it:
"She disappears in a religiosity without boarders, where one has now expressed, the modern Catholics are more protestantic than the Protestants."
In German, his talk at Fulda:
The Superior General of the Society of Pius X made the point: If Saint Bonifatius had followed the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, there wouldn't be any Catholics in Germany.
[kreuz.net, Fulda] On the past Sunday 1500 Traditionalists made a Pilgrimage to the grave of St. Bonifatius (+754) in Fulda.
It is the seventh national pilgrimage of the German District of the Society has undertaken to the tomb of the Saint.
The Pontifical Office was celebrated on Sunday by the General Superior of the Society of Pius X, Bishop Bernard Fellay.
He consecrated the entire German District and the whole Society to the Mother of God.
An article on the website 'Piusbruderschaft.de' complained that the Fulda Cathedral was closed to the Pilgrims.
The courtesy of the Bishops in Germany has failed.
Better Protestant than Catholic
In his sermon Msgr Fellay declared: "We are Catholics, we want to simply remain that way."
Today one makes the Society an object of reproach to show itself as Catholic. Therefore that is the reason why you were refused at the church.
The Old Liberal Bishop of Tarves and Lourdes in Southern France, Msgr Jacques Perrier (73), let Anglicans in the Church, the Society of Pius X, however, not.
For that reason he declared to the Society of Pius X: "You insist that you're Catholic"
Bishop Fellay concluded upon this, that the Society could celebrate in the Church, if they denied they were Catholic:
"A complete confusion. This contradiction is everywhere, the situation not simple. Confusion on all sides".
Critic of the Spirit of the Pastoral Council
The Society lives in the truth of that which the Church has always done -- says Msgr Fellay.
"If St. Bonifatius had followed the Spirit of the Second Vatican Council, there would be no Catholics in Germany."
Currently, they are abolishing the Church. They are dissolving it:
"She disappears in a religiosity without boarders, where one has now expressed, the modern Catholics are more protestantic than the Protestants."
In German, his talk at Fulda:
Three Year Odyssey in Bonn: At Most the Old Mass in Cologne is Tolerated
The Neo-Conservative, muzzled, Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne is probably a Pap-idolater but no friend of the old Mass. He doesn't care much for the numerous Traditionalists in his Diocese.
[kreuz.net, Bonn] For more than three years already, a group of Traditionalists in the south of the 320,000 population city of Bonn have been fighting for Old Mass.
This Odyssey has been recounted by Friederike Weigmann on the website 'summuorum-pontificum.de'.
Frau Weigmann speaks of a "blocked wall" against the old Literugy of the Church, which the engaged laity can hardly break through.
Bonn belongs to the Archdiocese of Cologne. The current Cardinal Joachim Meisner appears as an enemy of the Old Mass, although he appears at them and has ordained priests using it.
In Bonn there is only one Old Mass every fourteen days, which happens at 5 O'clock.
Bonn needs no Old Mass
Already on 17th November 2007 eighteen Traditionalists from southern Bonn approached Cardinal Meisner for an Old Mass.
They form today the 'Society for the Promotion of Summorum Pontificum Bonn e.V.'.
Shortly before Christmas in 2007 the request bit the dust. There is in the "Cologne Church" -- what is meant is the giant Archdiocese of Cologne -- already at four locations which have a regular Old Mass -- according to the Archdiocese.
In Bonn the qualifications for one regular Sunday Mass according to the so-called guidelines of the German Bishops Conference are not fulfilled -- decreed the Archdiocese.
In the same time frame the Archdiocese advertised a calendar of events of countless Carnival Masses in local Dialect.
The Cry For Help That Was Run in Circles
On December 29th 2007 'The Association for the Promotion of Summorum Pontificum in Bonn' descried its situation in distant Germany for Traditionalists to 'Pro Sancta Ecclesia'.
There the Traditionalists received further requests, which had likewise requested an Old Mass in Bonn.
Furthermore, the Society sent "the rejected request to Pro Sancta Ecclesia' to the Papal commission 'Ecclesia Dei"
Local Negotiations
On the 19th of December 2008 the Society spoke with a priest in the south of Bonn, Father John Nampiaparambil. He was newly established in his office.
The minister engaged in more discussions in the priests council, than he should have.
In summer 2009 he was surprised with an alleged sabbatical year in India.
After a reorganization came the new Pastor, Fr. Josey Thamarassery.
In this June the Society spoke also with him.
There he was also informed, that the number of those interested in the Old Mass had grown in the last three years.
Actually Fr. Thamarassery wanted to be informed over the applicants.
On the 20th of June he put off an invitation to a unique and privately organized gathering him reference to other obligations.
Another discussion date is not presently forthcoming.
Link to Orginal...kreuz.net...
© Bild: birmingham_lms_rep, CC
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
The BBC thinks the Pope has a ‘Nazi past’ | CatholicHerald.co.uk
BBC's just mad that he wasn't in the Communist Party.
The BBC thinks the Pope has a ‘Nazi past’ | CatholicHerald.co.uk
Benedictine Monk Embraces Capitalism in New Book
Editor: Another weirdo who is a disciple of Karl Rahner SJ.
The Benedictine Monk writes in his newest book that Jesus wanted money for his talks -- a supposition which in any case lacks biblical support.
Munich (kath.net) P. Anselm Grün, the famous Benedictine Monk and spiritual writer, has represented in his latest book "God, Money and Conscience -- Monk and Manager in Discussion" seemingly crazy theses about "Jesus and Money". So he says, without biblical proof, that Jesus is supposed to have had charged money for his talks.
"Jesus had a purse", he said a few days ago at a book signing in Munich. That God and Money, Church and Commerce are not contradictory, is what Grun and Puma-Director Jochen Zeitz want to show in their new book.
From original at kath.net...
Benedict Besieged
Interview With Author of "Attack on Ratzinger"
ROME, SEPT. 14, 2010 (Zenit.org).- From Regensburg to the sexual abuse crisis, the international press has hammered away at Benedict XVI since the beginning of his pontificate.
That is the topic of "Attacco a Ratzinger: accuse scandali, profezie e complotti contro Benedetto XVI" (Attack on Ratzinger: scandalous accusations, prophecies and plots against Benedict XVI), written by noted Vatican watchers Paolo Rodari and Andrea Tornielli (published in Italian by Piemme).
Rodari writes for the Italian newspaper Il Foglio, and Tornielli writes for the Italian newspaper Il Giornale.
Link to Zenit Interview...
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Cardinal: Vatican Names Dogs in Place of Bishops
The Vatican has recognized men who've been the Communist regime's Bishops for years. In public, the supposed warming of relations to fat cats was bought in Peking. The faithful will pay the bill.
[kreuz.net, Hong Kong] The Emeritus Bishop of Hong Kong, Joseph Cardinal Zen, has openly criticized the communist-friendly China-politic of the Vatican's Congregation of Missions on 'AsiaNews'.
The text is a copy of an article by a Father Jeroom Heyndrickx, where the Cardinal draws a question mark about the middleman between the Communists and the Congregation of Missions.
The Vatican in the Service of the Church's Enemies
Cardinal Zen said that he was a sinner at the beginning of his article: "But I would add to my many sins -- if I were like a dog who did not bark when the time was right for it."
The Prince of the Church insists that he will speak out against the aims of the Vatican and the Chinese Communists.
But for all that will awake the impression, that it is not so and their purpose has been discovered.
Then the Cardinal demystified the mythos of the Chinese communists' mutually recognized Bishops.
These proceedings will serve the aims of the Communist party.
A Dog on the Leash
Cardinal Zen says that the Bishops of the official state "Patriotic Union" are "slaves, or, even worse; as dogs on a leash".
The Bishops of the regime named by the Vatican are according to him "modern false prophets". They travel -- says Cardinal Zen -- happily on the imperial caravan of the independent church and call out from time to time, "Long live the Pope".
Then the Communist government supervises the state Bishops. These will only hear and obey.
They must depart from meetings, without knowing, where the journey begins.
They were invited to meetings, without knowing the subject.
They must hold speeches, without having seen the text beforehand.
The methods of persecution have improved.
Today the victims are invited to dinner, city tours and awards.
One is certain, however, to respect their freedom of conscience.
But Cardinal Zen knows, that the promises of Communists mean nothing.
For according to the left, "Lies are a legitimate means, to reach your goal".
Fifty Thousand Catechisms for Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City (AsiaNews) - 80 thousand children and young people this year will study the catechism in about 200 parishes of the archdiocese of former Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City.
In September, with the resumption of the school year, parishes also reopened their courses, with the fundamental contribution of 5 thousand catechists, youth volunteers, enthusiastic and full of experience, who teach the basics of Christianity and human education.
The parish of Quang Dong held an inaugural Mass on the opening day (photo) of catechism classes for 442 children. Also the parishes of Binh An Ha, Binh Thai, Nam Hai, Binh Minh and Binh Xuyen are preparing to begin the first day of instruction.
Read further...
In September, with the resumption of the school year, parishes also reopened their courses, with the fundamental contribution of 5 thousand catechists, youth volunteers, enthusiastic and full of experience, who teach the basics of Christianity and human education.
The parish of Quang Dong held an inaugural Mass on the opening day (photo) of catechism classes for 442 children. Also the parishes of Binh An Ha, Binh Thai, Nam Hai, Binh Minh and Binh Xuyen are preparing to begin the first day of instruction.
Read further...
Fallen to the Russian Schismatics: Former Benedictine Becomes Orthodox
Editor: Somehow, more blame belongs to the Benedictine Hermits of Switzerland than this poor, celebrated intellectual hermit. He's a lot more interesting than Thomas Merton, however, why don't Catholic publishing houses do more to celebrate men of his type, instead of men who are embarrassingly irreligious darlings of the literati class?
First he was a Benedictine. Then he lived twenty years as a hermit in Tessin. Now he has left the barque of Peter.
First he was a Benedictine. Then he lived twenty years as a hermit in Tessin. Now he has left the barque of Peter.
[kreuz.net] The famous Benedictine Hermit and spiritual writer, Peter Gabriel Bunge, has fallen to the Russian Schismatics.
This is according to the weblog 'prevoslavie.ru'
Bugne studied first of all at the Rhenish Fredrich-Wihelms-Unviersitaet in Bonn. He is working ffor a doctorate there with his work on Second Maccabees.
Then he entred the bi-ritual Belgian Benedictine Cloister Chevetogne.
For twenty years he belonged to the byzantine-slavic Rite.
With the permission of his superior he's lived since nineteen eighty as a Hermit in the area of the Community Capriasca in the vicinity of Lugano in the South Swiss Canton of Tessin.
He amed his cell "Hermitage of Santa Croce". There he celebrated the Mass at first in the Ambrosian Rite.
Then, after a few years, he changed to the Byzantine Rite.
As Hermit he was up to his apostasy under the old liberal Benedictine Cloister of Monks in Central Switzerland.
According to reports from Father Antoine Lambrechts from Chevtogne -- in an reader entry for the Blog 'eirenikon.wordpress.com' -- Bunge has been Orthodox in life and belief for the last fifteen years.
Bunge has secured for himself an international reputation as a spiritual writer.
He publishes books and countless articles in scholarly magazines.
His formal renunciation of the Church occurred on 27th August - on the eve of the Orthodox feast of 28 August celebrating the Assumption -- in the vigil of the Moscow Church Icon of the Mother of God, "Joy of All the Bereaved".
The church is located in the Bolschaja Ordynka street.
The presbyters present at his apostacy were Moscow Patriarch, Metroplitan Hilarion Alfayev von Volkolamsk and Metropolitan Kallistos Ware (76) of Diokleia -- a former Anglican.
Bunge belongs now to the Russian Schismatics.
Metropolitan Hilarion said to him: "You were a Catholic, but deep in your heart you were Orthodox. Today, on the vigil you have become orthodox and have closed your long spiritual journey in a natural way."
Hilarion wished Bunge well in his apostasy and gave him an Icon of the Mother of God "Joy of all Bereaved".
German Protestant Church Faces Vocations Crisis
Editor: But wait, the Evangelical "churches" in Germany haven't had clerical celibacy, and have Pastoresses. Surely they can't be having a vocations crisis.... Their preoccupation with "social justice" is certainly part of the problem, but a wry lone comment was made on the page which points to the utterly man-centered orientation of protestantism, which is its downfall:
The Protestant Church has secondary growth concerns: The number of students for Evangelical Theology is in decline since the beginning of the nineties.
[Die Zeit: Online] 10-15 years it will still go well, then however, Germany will be threatened by a shortage of ministers, fear the Union of Evangelical Pastors and Pastoresses. The number of young men, who want to be Pastor, has been declining for years: 1992 still had 8500 young people studying for the ministry, at the present there are only 2300, said Union President Klaus Weber. From 2020 on the Pastor-boom will fall into silence.
Not only is the number of candidates sinking, but simultaneously the number of members of the Evangelical church as well. These were estimated by 2030 to be a quarter of what they are today, said Weber. For this reason Pastor's positions are being closed. Already is a Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Pastor responsible for a dozen communities. The all-important personal contact is broken down. The church relies more on volunteers to hold its divine services.
Simultaneously, the requests of the Pastor grow, says Weber. In order to manage the requests, the ministers must be put in center points. These are for him as before the carefully prepared accompaniment of people in the turning points of their lives, like baptism, confirmation and marriage. "There is no other occupation, in which the doors of homes are so open."
Weber criticized also, he missed the engagement, to find a new way to people. It is also hard not to recognize, that in the country churches there is much effort to invest in the construction of financially sustainable structures.
From the 20th to 22nd September more than four hundred Theologians will meet for German Pastoress and Paster-day. The Germany-wide largest theological professional congress stands beneath the motto "The Evangelical Church and the Social Question".
Link to original, Zeit.
"When liberal Protestantism demands religious reverence for the man Jesus, it is disgusting and shocking. They cannot themselves believe that the respect in which Jesus is held by the people and which they have made use of in such an unprotestant manner, can be maintained for any length of time after the nimbus of divinity has been destroyed, and they may reflect on the insufficiency of the momentary subterfuge. The Protestant principle in its last consequences, disposes of all kinds of dogmatic authority in a remorseless manner, and its supporters must, whether they like it or not, dispense with the authority of Christ."
The Protestant Church has secondary growth concerns: The number of students for Evangelical Theology is in decline since the beginning of the nineties.
[Die Zeit: Online] 10-15 years it will still go well, then however, Germany will be threatened by a shortage of ministers, fear the Union of Evangelical Pastors and Pastoresses. The number of young men, who want to be Pastor, has been declining for years: 1992 still had 8500 young people studying for the ministry, at the present there are only 2300, said Union President Klaus Weber. From 2020 on the Pastor-boom will fall into silence.
Not only is the number of candidates sinking, but simultaneously the number of members of the Evangelical church as well. These were estimated by 2030 to be a quarter of what they are today, said Weber. For this reason Pastor's positions are being closed. Already is a Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Pastor responsible for a dozen communities. The all-important personal contact is broken down. The church relies more on volunteers to hold its divine services.
Simultaneously, the requests of the Pastor grow, says Weber. In order to manage the requests, the ministers must be put in center points. These are for him as before the carefully prepared accompaniment of people in the turning points of their lives, like baptism, confirmation and marriage. "There is no other occupation, in which the doors of homes are so open."
Weber criticized also, he missed the engagement, to find a new way to people. It is also hard not to recognize, that in the country churches there is much effort to invest in the construction of financially sustainable structures.
From the 20th to 22nd September more than four hundred Theologians will meet for German Pastoress and Paster-day. The Germany-wide largest theological professional congress stands beneath the motto "The Evangelical Church and the Social Question".
Link to original, Zeit.
Russians Pilgrims Walking from Irkutsk to Jerusalem
14 September 2010, 17:27
Pilgrims going from Irkutsk to Jerusalem on foot covered about 3,000 km
Petropavlovsk, September 14, Interfax – Two residents of Irkutsk, who are carrying out a pilgrimage to Jerusalem on foot, arrived in Petropavlovsk in northern Kazakhstan, an Interfax correspondent reported.
Irkutsk Cossacks captain Vladimir Bragintsev, former policeman, now pensioner, started for a long journey on May 8 in Siberia, novice of St. Michael the Archangel Monastery Alexander Serebrennikov jointed him a little bit later. For more than four months pilgrims walked about 3,000 kilometers, visited Krasnoyarsk, Kemerovo, Novosibirsk, Omsk and other Russian cities and towns.
The pilgrims are going to walk to Jerusalem and worship Christian shrines.
The pilgrims have ordinary tourist set in their rucksacks – a tent, sleeping bags, a pot, matches, food supplies and a medicine box. They buy food on the way taking money from the banking card.
The pilgrims often sleep in the wood in their tent, but sometimes strangers give them a warm reception.
Bragintsev believes his trip to Jerusalem will take him not less that four years, but on his way he dreams of visiting Solovki and Valaam to pray for his relatives killed at World War II.
Link to Interfaxreligion...
Pilgrims going from Irkutsk to Jerusalem on foot covered about 3,000 km
Petropavlovsk, September 14, Interfax – Two residents of Irkutsk, who are carrying out a pilgrimage to Jerusalem on foot, arrived in Petropavlovsk in northern Kazakhstan, an Interfax correspondent reported.
Irkutsk Cossacks captain Vladimir Bragintsev, former policeman, now pensioner, started for a long journey on May 8 in Siberia, novice of St. Michael the Archangel Monastery Alexander Serebrennikov jointed him a little bit later. For more than four months pilgrims walked about 3,000 kilometers, visited Krasnoyarsk, Kemerovo, Novosibirsk, Omsk and other Russian cities and towns.
The pilgrims are going to walk to Jerusalem and worship Christian shrines.
The pilgrims have ordinary tourist set in their rucksacks – a tent, sleeping bags, a pot, matches, food supplies and a medicine box. They buy food on the way taking money from the banking card.
The pilgrims often sleep in the wood in their tent, but sometimes strangers give them a warm reception.
Bragintsev believes his trip to Jerusalem will take him not less that four years, but on his way he dreams of visiting Solovki and Valaam to pray for his relatives killed at World War II.
Link to Interfaxreligion...
Monday, September 13, 2010
Cardinal Kasper Admonishes Germans to Obey Holy Father
[Vatican] Germans must have more respect for "their" Pope, hear [obey] and try to understand him. With these words Walter Cardinal Kasper admonished his countrymen from Bishops to Theologians, from Priests to simple believers. In an interview with the German weekly Focus he noted, that abroad "many shake their heads about the manner and fashion, with which Germans handle the Pope from their own homeland."
A few days before the begin of the State Visit of Pope Benedict XVI in Great Britain and his Pastoral trip to Scotland and England the German Curia Cardinal warned of an "aggressive atheism" in Great Britain. He criticized also that the British Airways employee was "discriminated" against, because she wore a cross. One employee had been forced to remove the cross, which she wore on a chain around her neck.
The Pope will, upon his visit in Scotland and England on an ecumenical level to bring about "heavy dialog" with the Anglicans, says the Cardinal. The Beatification of John Henry Cardinal Newman "will be no setback" for Ecumenism, said the Cardinal with conviction. He reviewed the Church's opposition to women's ordination with the observation: The Protestants 'don't have celibacy, but women pastors. Are you telling me they have it better?"
Link to original at Katholisches...
Parents organizations urge to bar sexual minorities' march in Petersburg
St. Petersburg, September 13, Interfax – Representatives of parent organizations ask authorities to ban gay pride parade planned by sex minorities for September 16-25 in Petersburg.
"They failed to conquer Moscow and hold a gay pride there and like fascists in 1941 they have focused all their effort on the city on the Neva. Today as before a blue division is moving to the "Northern capital", but it is not a "blue-blood" Aryan race," Russia's Council of Parents and Association of Parent Committees and Communities told the country's authorities in their open letter.
Its authors note that in fact "an open, legalized and effective promotion of vice and depravity" will take place in the city for ten days and this time will be enough "to ruin souls of thousands children and teens." They point out that many "international sodomite organizations, notorious gays and lesbians" have already backed up the festival.
"We are not ready to tolerate preachers of filth and perversion in our country as they have always been considered shameful in Russia. People who live with this passion should not bring their spiritual illness out in the streets of our cities and infect our children with it," the
letter reads.
Link to original...
"They failed to conquer Moscow and hold a gay pride there and like fascists in 1941 they have focused all their effort on the city on the Neva. Today as before a blue division is moving to the "Northern capital", but it is not a "blue-blood" Aryan race," Russia's Council of Parents and Association of Parent Committees and Communities told the country's authorities in their open letter.
Its authors note that in fact "an open, legalized and effective promotion of vice and depravity" will take place in the city for ten days and this time will be enough "to ruin souls of thousands children and teens." They point out that many "international sodomite organizations, notorious gays and lesbians" have already backed up the festival.
"We are not ready to tolerate preachers of filth and perversion in our country as they have always been considered shameful in Russia. People who live with this passion should not bring their spiritual illness out in the streets of our cities and infect our children with it," the
letter reads.
Link to original...
Tradition vs. Liberal -- Aliance between Catholic and Orthodox Church, In Order to Give Europe Back Its Soul
[London/Rome] A few days from the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI in Scotland and England, the "Number two" in the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Direcoter of the "Foreign Office" of the Moscow Patriarchate, will make his visit to Great Britain.
On the 9th of September he will meet [has already met] in Lambeth Palace with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, the Primate of the Anglican Communion. In a certain way "he makes straight the way of the Pope", as the Pope's meeting on the 17th of September is described by Vaticanist Sandro Magister in the Weekly L'Espresso.
Full text of the address, here.
The Vatican itself boasts prelates who raise their noses, when they are confronted with terms like "conservative" and "progressive". Not seldom one hears from them that such pigeonholes are "an old thing", which are "outdated". "I think contrarily, that the destinction is legitimate and before and now useful for both Churches to compare their main directions," writes Paolo Rodari, the Vaticanist of the daily Il Foglio and author of the recently released book "Attack Against Ratzinger, Recriminations and Scandals, Prophesies and Conspiracies Against Benedict XVI."
Metropolitan Hilarion correspondingly, gave a speech with the Anglican Primate at the concluding meeting of the Nicea Club in London, where he made an actual appraisal of Christndom in outspoken Ratzingerian mannerisms.
"All of the present forms of Christendom could be put roughly under two principle groups: in Traditional and Liberal. The difference today lies not so much between Orthodox and Catholic or between Catholics and Protestants, rather between Traditionalists and Liberals.
"Some Christian leaders, for example, say to us that the marriage between a man and a woman is no longer the only possibility when it comes to forming a family: there are other models and the Church must become "inclusive" in so far as the standards of alternative forms of relationship are recognized and how these are officially blessed.
Some attempt to overrule that human life is no longer an absolute value and that it may be ended at will in the mother's womb. From the traditional Christians, then, the progressive expects, therefore, beneath such expectations of modernity, that he reassess his own standpoint."
The Metropolitan recalled then, that it is a principle priority for the Russian Orthodox Church, a commitment to order the eternal validity of the spiritual and moral values of Christendom. It is always, says Metropolitan Hilarion, the common will of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Catholic Church, "to form an alliance in Europe, to defend the traditional values of Christendom and give Europe back its soul", against relativism and against secularism.
Article translated from katholisches.net...
Also an account of the Nicea Discussion at Virtue Online...
Pope Set to Beatify Cardinal Newman
VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI will break his own rule this weekend when he beatifies Cardinal John Henry Newman, the renowned 19th Century Anglican convert who greatly influenced the Roman Catholic Church.
Newman remains a complicated figure within the Anglican church he abandoned, and the pope's glorification [um, wrong word] of him during a state visit to Britain could unleash new tensions between churches already divided over issues like the ordination of women and gay bishops.
Benedict will move Newman a step closer to possible sainthood when he presides over his beatification Sept. 19, the main reason for his four-day trip. It's the first time Benedict will celebrate a beatification; under his own rules popes don't beatify, only canonize.
For the German-born, by-the-book professor, such an exception to his own rule is significant. It's a calculated gesture that underscores Benedict's view that Newman is a crucial model for all Christians at a time when Christianity is on the wane in an increasingly secularized Europe.
Read further...
Newman remains a complicated figure within the Anglican church he abandoned, and the pope's glorification [um, wrong word] of him during a state visit to Britain could unleash new tensions between churches already divided over issues like the ordination of women and gay bishops.
Benedict will move Newman a step closer to possible sainthood when he presides over his beatification Sept. 19, the main reason for his four-day trip. It's the first time Benedict will celebrate a beatification; under his own rules popes don't beatify, only canonize.
For the German-born, by-the-book professor, such an exception to his own rule is significant. It's a calculated gesture that underscores Benedict's view that Newman is a crucial model for all Christians at a time when Christianity is on the wane in an increasingly secularized Europe.
Read further...
Church takes action on sexual abuse
You can vote on what you think should be done with Cardinal Daneels. So far, most think he should be excommunicated.
Church takes action on sexual abuse
Church takes action on sexual abuse
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