The Fate of the Abbey Remains Uncertain: More German Cloisters Closing

The cloister was founded in order to inform the soul of the way to life.   Will their walls receive the dark consecration to serve the cult of the body?

(kreuz.net) It is unclear if the Abbey Michealsberg can continue as the spiritual center of the city of Siegburg. The Bonn paper, the 'General-Anzeiger' said on January 26th.

Only one thing is sure:  the monks must leave the cloister after 946years.  The one or the other of them apparently had the interest to align themselves with the Steyler Missionaries.

According to the paper investors for hotels or wellness-spas have been contacted.

A speaker for the Archdiocese of Cologne explained, however, that an ecclesiastical use of the people "will have the highest priority".

 An important date is 5. April.

Then  a summit meeting will take place about the future of the Abbey.

The participants:  members of the Archdiocese, the Abbey and of the Benedictine Order as well as the city Dean Peter Weiffen, the business office of the Abbey and the Siegburger Mayor.

Included, the Abbey swept the fate of the Redemptorist-Cloister in Hennef-Geistingen.

There the condominums are in place.  The landmark cloister church will become a convocation hall for corporate events and similar affairs.

A similar fate awaits the once famous Dominican Friary of Walberg in Bornheim.

It was purchased two years ago by the company 'Summit Partners' from Cologne for five million Euros.

Now there is a restaurant, a Catholic kindergarten and homes for the employees of the amusement park.

The 'General-Anzeiger' cited the Cologne Realestate-Firm 'Pro Secur', that specializes in the purchasing of ecclesiastical properties.

The firm has been buying cloisters for about twenty years.

"Presently the company has had a series of closing cloisters in offer" -- says the 'General-Anzeiger'":

The friary of the Dominicans of Neusatzeck with  89 rooms in northern Black Forest was sold for 2,5 Million Euro.

Currently for sale is also the idyllic Cloister of Maria Engelportder Hünfelder Oblates nearby the associated municipalities of Treis-Karden-Rheinland-Pfalz for 2.25 Million Euros or the Cloister "St. Joseph House" in Sunder in Sauerland for 800.000 Euro.

These properties are highly prized by hotels and culinary establishments.

Kreuznet...

Kohat bombing kills 5

By Adnan Adil
2011-01-29

KOHAT – Five people, including two women, died and 14 others were injured when militants attacked a tunnel in Kohat January 28 late night, media reported.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attacks, BBC Urdu reported, quoting a TTP spokesman.

Two trucks exploded in and near the tunnel on the Indus Highway, a Dara Adamkhel official told media. One truck packed with at least 500kg of explosives entered the tunnel and exploded, damaging another truck behind it.

Security forces cordoned off the tunnel immediately and closed it to traffic.

Read More: http://centralasiaonline.com/cocoon/caii/xhtml/en_GB/newsbriefs/caii/newsbriefs/2011/01/29/newsbrief-02

Catholic schools add 20 days in LA

JANUARY 29, 2011 BY JOANNE

Catholic K-8 schools in Los Angeles will add 20 days to the school year for a total of 200 days of instruction. Los Angeles’ public school year has been cut to 175 days to save money, notes the LA Times.

With 210 elementary schools spread across Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, the archdiocese runs one of the largest school systems in California, larger than the public school districts in San Francisco or Sacramento. It has earned accolades for operating well-run, academically rigorous schools that serve many low-income students.

Parents will pay an extra month’s tuition. Charges range from $200 a month in low-income areas to $800 a month in affluent areas. The archdiocese will try to offer aid to parents who can’t afford the extra cost.

Teachers will receive a 10 percent raise for the extra month of work.

Catholic high schools set their own schedules.

Link: http://www.joannejacobs.com/2011/01/catholic-schools-add-20-days-in-la/

Louisville couple claims retaliation from former church

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Read More :http://www.fox41.com/story/13933329/gary-weiter

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB Fox 41) -- A Louisville couple says they've been the victims of retaliation just days after filing a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Louisville.

Gary and Margie Weiter say they've been banned from helping their church after they complained the parish was hiding a priest accused of sexual abuse.

"It was horrible. It was horrible. He cried all night. Some people don't understand it but we've devoted our life to the church, to those people," said Gary and Margie Weiter, plaintiffs.

Gary and Margie Weiter claim they were fired from volunteering at St. Therese Church where Gary has run bingo for years.

Both said they received a hand-delivered letter Friday from Father Tony Olges.

"He said you are no longer allowed to volunteer or run the bingo at St. Therese," said Gary Weiter.

"I just want to know why? Why me? What did I do to deserve this? To hurt the people of the parish I just don't know why?" asked Margie Weiter.

"I've never seen retaliation like this, as long as I've been practicing law and that's been over 30 years," said Mikell Grafton, attorney.

Attorney Grafton represents the couple.

The notice came just one day after the couple sued the Archdiocese of Louisville and Father Olges, accusing them of hiding Father James Schook, a priest accused of sexual abuse, who had been removed from his previous parish.

The lawsuit claims Margie was fired from her bookkeeping job at the church after complaining that Schook was allowed to live in St. Therese's rectory, and was often left unsupervised.

The Weiters became uncomfortable with Schook's presence because Gary had been a victim of priest abuse in 1960s.

"Why was our church chosen to harbor out a sex abuser? I don't understand and no one has given me an answer," said Gary Weiter.

Eight dead after suicide bombing in northwest Pakistan

PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN: A car bomb exploded in a tunnel in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing eight people and wounding 14 others, The Nation newspaper reported.

The newspaper said a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden truck in Kohat tunnel, which connects the northwestern cities of Peshawar and Kohat, forcing authorities to close it to traffic. The attack happened just after midnight local time.

Read More:http://news.oneindia.in/2011/01/30/eightdead-after-suicide-bombing-in-northwestpakistan-aid0127.html

Turkish President Gul Criticizes the Discrimination of Christians

"Every Turkish Citizen should have the same chances for employment and advancement regardless of their religion" -- The reporter's question:  Why has Turkey hindered the hiring of a Turk of Armenian descent?

Strassburg (kath.net/KAP) The Turkish President Abdullah Gul publicly denounced the discrimination of Christians by government authorities. That is a "shame", said Gul for visiting journalists during his visit in Strassburg, reported the paper "Milliyet" on Thursday.  Gul reacted following a suggestion by Reporters that the Turkish administrative courts had prevented the hiring of an Armenian of Turkish descent  from working for the authorities at the EU-Mission to Turkey.

Already upon the visit of Bundespresident Christian Wulff last October Gul has made it publicly known that he is also the president of non-Muslim Turks.  Now it's been reported that he's told journalists that, soon every Turkish citizen independently of his religious background will have the same chances for employment and advancement.  He didn't mention any particulars, however.

Members of non-Muslim minorities have long complained that the employment in government are closed to them.  In Turkey there are no high-ranking politicians, military or in the judiciary who don't belong to Muslim groups.  First on Wednesday minorities were encouraged to apply for posts at the Turkish foreign ministry .

Read further...original at kath.net...

Of course, some will remember the blistering attack leveled by the Austrian, Ewald Stadler in December last year:

St. Petersburg bishop refuses to meet parents with complaints about priest - St. Petersburg Times

Editor: More fallout from the sex abuse hoax. It's acceptable for a priest to ask questions about various sins in the confessional to help the penitent with an examination of conscience. The people who are demanding this audience with the Bishop are presumptuous, stupid and probably evil.

Either they need to be brought up to speed about the Sacrament of Penance, or sent speeding out the door to the nearest protestant/universalist/muslim sect where objectivity and clarity aren't held in as much esteem.

ST. PETERSBURG — The head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg has rejected a request by parochial school parents for a meeting to discuss questions they say their children were asked during confession.

The Cathedral School of St. Jude parents accuse Father Joseph L. Waters, 49, of asking at least eight children questions they consider inappropriate regarding what the children looked up on the internet and whether they masturbated.

They say Waters, head priest at the Cathedral of St. Jude the Apostle in St. Petersburg, asked the questions during confessions a few weeks before Christmas.

St. Petersburg bishop refuses to meet parents with complaints about priest - St. Petersburg Times

Maltese causes commotion at Vatican

Maltese causes commotion at Vatican

Pope Receives Vestments for Old Mass from Institute of Christ the King at General Audience

 Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI invited yesterday the superior of the traditional 'Institute of Christ the King and Sovereign Priest' to the general audience.   They gave an album with photographs of priestly ordinations taken in their taken in their mother house in Grigigliano in Florence,  a CD produced by the Gregorian Choir and complete set --- WITH MANIPLE -- of newly fashioned vestments for saying the Mass from Bavarian.


Kreuz.net...

Justice for Abbot Joachim Angerer

Its true, he was an Old Liberal.  But that is only one side of the coin.  German translation of Jurg-Werner Oberlasser.

(kreuz.net) The site 'kreuz.net' reported something hard last November about the Old Lineral Abbot Joachim Angerer (76).

The Prelate was from   1986 till his defacto ouster the leader of the Premonstratensian Cloister Geras.

The Stift is located in the Diocese of St. Polten.

I know from my own experience that Abbot Angerer isn't only just Old Liberal.  He was also Liberal.

So he allowed without any ifs and buts the Latin Mass, Latin prayers and many ancient usages which the young men then wanted.

I am very convinced and can recall a corresponding discussion with him that he allowed the old Mass in his Cloister and in the incorporated parishes by implication. 

Yes, he is Old Liberal, sometimes in a strange manner.  But he is also a good man, who imposed no limitations against his conservative fellow brothers and perhaps also from conviction.

Those who supported him, either left following his resignation -- and that -- or wanted themselves to be abbot.

In order to support the abbot, they used the lever of money.

The odd acolyte service of those priests now condemned for abuse had often criticized Abbot Angerer.

But he remained powerless against his fellow brothers.

One had to hold these dubious priests in the Priory of Fritzlar closed in the meantime.  For in the priory -- why indeed? -- that too many had gone.

About the former Bishop Krenn of St. Polten, who attempted, to outwit him, one can only shake one's head in the face of such hindsight.

The idea that Msgr Krenn had been really conservative, no one could seriously maintain.

Celibacy Originates From the Time of Jesus and the Apostles: Cardinal Brandmuller

Cardinal Brandmuller: "It is a secure fact of science that at the beginning priests and Bishops were orained, but these from the day of consecration on family life continued, but not, however, the bond of marriage."

Photo of Cardinal Walter Brandmuller from the site 'gloria.tv'

(kreuz.net, Vatikan) The Bavarian Church historian and Cardinal, Walter Brandmuller has challenged Anti-Celibacy politicians of the German CDU.

"What makes them legitimate as politicians, to take positions on internal-Church themes, when they have neither the office nor the knowledge?"

This question was put by the Cardinal in an open letter which appeared in the 'Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung'.

Cardinal Brandmuller commented on a writing which was published last friday by eight politicans of the German homosexual and abortion CDU party.

Within there were arguments for the allowance of priestly marriage.

The Faith has failed, Not the Priest

In their writing these politicians made a connection between the priest shortage to the lifting of priestly celibacy worldwide.

Actually Cardinal Brandmuller refuted them.

He pointed to "the increasingly lower number of Mass goers and faithful, who receive the Sacraments."

The Union politicians were made to look like fools because for them "it wasn't only   celibacy, but the first steps back to an 'other Church'".

The German National Church is Shattered

The promotion for the German special way may lead to schism -- warned Cardinal Brandmuller:

"Are you aware that you are only part of a campaign that has been engaged since the beginning of the 19th Century -- and which is failed today.?" -- the Cardinal asks the politicians.

The CDU-functionaries have put a way of life in question, "those who are the overwhelming number of priests who are convinced and are living truthfully of their own free will."

Cardinal Brandmuller also informed these Union politicians that they are insulting Jesus Christ with this campaign:

"Priests who are living unmarried like the young Jesus do nothing else, besides making their manner of life like that of the Master."


The Priests of the Early Church Were Already Living Celibate Lives

Furthermore, the Prince of the Church explained to the anti-Celibacy politicians that the priestly celibacy is an apostolic tradition:

"It is surely scientifically proven that in the beginning married men were certainly ordained as priests and bishops, but from the day of consecration on, probably the family life continued, but not, however, the married bond."

That also goes for the researchers that even  an ecumenical Council itself couldn't ignore:

"It is therefore urgent  to express that this discussion, which we have already exhausted to tedium and  harmed and thoroughly multiplied the confusion of the faithful, be brought to an end."

Kreuz...here...

The Bishop of Nice Visits the Society of Pius X

Bishop without a hard head:  He wanted to strengthen his herd in the Faith.  For that reason he went for some days personally to the homes of the Faithful, unbelievers and traditionalists.

(kreuz.net, Nizza)Bishop Louis Albert Sankalé (64) of Nice visited the priory of St. Pius X in his Diocese.  This was at the website of the Diocese of Nice on 17th of January with photos.

The 350.0000 population city Nice is on the Sea in south east France.

The meeting was part of an evangelization and pastoral visit, which Msgr Sankalé undertook from 11. to15. in the parish of the apparently Bl. John XXIII (+) in the old town of Nice.

At this opportunity the Bishop was missioning together with the Vicar General, Fr. Jean-Louis Balsa and the administrator of the old town parish, the black secular priest, Léon Pape Gnacadja.

Msgr  Sankalé visited with both priests, various cloisters, chapels and centers of so-called renewal movments left over from the 80s.

The three went to businessmen, barmen, market stands, artists and craftsmen.

They spoke otherwise to passersby on the street.

On the program there was a cemetary, a barracks of the Foreign Legion as well as a Priory of the Society of Pius X, that is located in the vicinity of the old city parish.

The current prior -- Fr. Charles Moulin -- opened the door to his guests and greeted them with hospitality.

The Bishop -- in suit, collar and pectoral cross -- visited the chapel of the Society, which is consecrated to St. Clare of Assisi, for the first time.

Original, kreuznet...

Moscow jihadist shouted "I will kill you all" before setting off his bomb

World leaders issue their usual expressions of sorrow and outrage (not reproduced below; why bother?) -- but what will they end up doing to try to prevent another attack like this? Not much in the way of actual focus on the real perpetrators. "'I will kill you all': at least 35 die in Moscow airport bombing," by Maria Antonova and Stuart Williams for AFP, January 25:

H/t: Jihad Watch

GalliaWatch: Marine Le Pen Opposed to Gay Marriage

GalliaWatch: Marine Le Pen Opposed to Gay Marriage

The Last Papist Standing: The Unstoppable Cleanup...Holy Father Sends Shockwaves to Northern California With Seismic Diocesan Shift

The Last Papist Standing: The Unstoppable Cleanup...Holy Father Sends Shockwaves to Northern California With Seismic Diocesan Shift

Medjugorje: The Pope Desires a Final Decision

There are a thousand contradictions that point to the fact that in Medjugorje there hasn't been an appearance of the Mother of God.  For that reason there should be a "much longer" investigation process to postpone it.

False Apparition Site Medjugorje

(kreuz.net, Vatikan)The Vatican investigation of the false apparition site of Medjugorje in Bosnia Herzegowina has just begun.

This is according to Marian Priest Salvatore Perella of the news service of the US-Bishops Conference, 'Catholic News Service'.

Father Perrella teaches at the Old Liberal theological faculty of the Marianum in Rome.  He is a member of the Vatican Investigative Commission, which is occupied with Medjugorje.

The Church has only made a few judgments on the appearances -- explained the priest.  It is supposedly not always possible to ascertain if an appearance is true or false:  "For the phenomena are greater than us."

In truth God works exactly according to the criteria of truth and falsity. Everything else comes -- according to the criteria of the discernment of spirits -- from the Devil.


Judgment on Saint Till the Cows Come Home?

Father Perrella explained that the Pope wants to make a final judgment on Medjugorje.

The spiritual  is validated  -- despite the easily verifiable facts, which speak against reality -- with a "very long process".

The case is "very complex",  but not impossible to solve.

The duration of the daily appearances create mistrust--  took the Mariologist into consideration.

He compared these phenomena with the  -- not daily unlike Medjugorje -- appearances of our Lady in Laus in south east France.

The Bishop of Gap recognized the sporadic appearances of the shepherdess Bnoite Rencurel († 1718) during fifty four years in 2008.

 The Church proceeds in any case with "maximum prudence"  -- continued Father Perrella further.

The Mother of God Appears as Black, Mexican or French

Finally the Mariologist allowed a pious fauxpas.

He said that the Mother of God could physically appear to men on earth because she is the only one brought body and soul into heaven.

Other departed Saints could appear incorporealy.

In reality there have been various appearances of Saints in the past.  In the Irish apparition site of Knock St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist appeared next to the Mother of God.

The Mother of God appears at various locations even in different forms.

Read further...German at Kreuz.net...

Editor's Note:  An "Old Liberal" is a term used at kreuznet to describe a certain kind of personality or institutions that is part of the graying and sterile generation of sixty eight, not simply because they are old enough to have been of age in that revolutionary time but chiefly because they share those values, which are typified by multi-Culturalism and the neo-Marxism of the noxious and intellectually cancerous Frankfuhrt School.  Some examples of "Old Liberal" include: Franz Kung, Cardinal Mahoney of Los Angeles, Cardinal Bernardine of Chicago, Archbishop Rembert Weakland and Sister Joan Chiddister OSB to name but a few to include most of the Jesuit Order.

270 Seminarians Huddle in Tents: Haiti

It is like back then in Postwar Germany:  "Those remaining alive, the completely impoverished people of the city, live in this single bunker.  Thousands are huddled here together.  There was a dominating and pestilent stench."

Seminary inn Haiti

(kreuz.net) The Church in Haiti finds itself still in a state of exceptional circumstance after the disastrous  earthquake of January 2010.

This report is from the Latin American correspondent of the international Catholic aid association, "Kirche in Not', Rafael D'Aqui.

After the outbreak of cholera and the escalation of violence after the last election, the future is continually uncertain.

Priestly Seminary Under the Palms

"In the national seminary of Lillavoi there are at present 270 seminarians in tents learning philosophy and theology under the palms."

The earthquake destroyed the seminary of Port-au-Prince.  Many seminarians were then buried beneath the ruins.

"We have helped purchase land for a new seminary" -- explained D'Aqui.

The Nuncio hopes to be able to lay the cornerstone in January.

Till the building is complete, the seminarians must remain in tents.

A car should be dispatched to ease the supplying with sustenance and to bring the upcoming priests to the people.

Poor Sisters Help the Poor

The Little Sisters of St Theresa work in the small suburb Rivere Froid -- not far from the capital of Port au Prince.

They care for the residents in severe poverty in the impassable mountains of Haiti.

Through the earthquake the sisters had lost virtually all of their homes.  150 of their students and four sisters gave up their lives in the collapse of the buildings.

Since then the five surviving sisters are perched all together in a severely earthquake damaged house.

Some of them are old and frail.

Like in Bombed Germany

The report of their national correspondents are said to remind them "of the situation in Postwar Germany" -- said the business directoer of 'Kirche in Not', Karin Maria Fenbert.

Then Father Werenfried van Straatem -- the founder of the aid association -- wrote about the bombed city:

"There is almost nothing left of it, only a giant bunker, like the ones built throughout Germany, to protect the population from bombs.

"Those remaining behind, completely impoverished people of the city, house themselves in a single bunker. Thousands huddle here together.  There was a dominant and pestilent stench."

Then Father continued:  "It is Christmas again and Christ longs to be taken up Himself."

He wanders about our streets unseen.

Don't be like the predatory animals of Bethlehem, like the indifferent innkeepers, like the prosperous burgers in the chambers of their provincial self-satisfaction.

Open your doors and your hearts to everyone in need, which need is also Christ's."

Kreuz.net...here.

Hit-and-Run: Media Slams Vatican With Bogus 'Smoking Gun' Story

Heads up yellow press, Regensburg Diocese Wins Suit Against 'Spiegel'.

Hit-and-Run: Media Slams Vatican With Bogus 'Smoking Gun' Story

H/t:Pewsitter

Colombo cathedral enforces dress code

Colombo cathedral enforces dress code

H/T: Pewsitter

Briefs: Germany won't send drug for executions

DUBLIN --

Germany won't send drug for executions

Germany's health minister is urging the nation's leading drug companies and distributors to ignore requests from the United States for sodium thiopental, used to anesthetize inmates being executed.

Supplies of the drug are growing short in the United States after the sole U.S. manufacturer ceased production.

Pope says marriage not an absolute right

Pope Benedict XVI told priests Saturday to do a better job counseling would-be spouses to ensure their marriages last and said no one has an absolute right to a wedding.

Benedict made the comments in his annual speech to the Roman Rota, the Vatican tribunal that decides marriage annulments. He said the right to a church wedding requires that the bride and groom intend to celebrate and live the marriage truthfully and authentically.

Read More: http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2011/jan/23/TDMAIN04-briefs-germany-wont-send-drug-for-executi-ar-792256/