German Caritas Association is Directed by an Abortion-Prelate

The Tie-Priest Fr. Neher, Caritas, endorsed the use of the abortifacient pill --
when will Cardinal Meisner remove him from ecclesiastical functions?
[Screen shot ARD, Broadcast cited in article]

In the ARD- broadcast "In the name of God -- how merciless is the official Church?" with Guenther Jauch endorsing Fr. Peter Neher as President of the German Caritas Association in a scurrilous erroneous interpretation of Cardinal Meisner's statements on "the morning after abortion pill".

Caritas President for Abortion

As to the question of anti-Church moderator Gunther Jauch, what the clarification of Cardinal Meisner on the "morning after abortion pill" now means to Catholic hospitals,  Suit-and-Tie-Prelate Peter Neher (Broadcast of 3 February 2013, 11:45,  section from 15 minutes and 15 seconds):

Fr. Neher:  "I think it's now relatively difficult to state the Cardinal's relatively clear statements again: did he intend this, didn't he intend it.  He has said quite clearly,  and as I understand Cardinal Meisner, he would never have made this public, if he did not have exact information. ... for me it clearly means, he had plainly decided between a preventative pill and a pill which effects an abortion.  He clearly differentiated that.  And what I find extremely important: he once again made it very clear, that Catholic hospitals also support a woman in her decision and, if the woman then decides to take this pill and that it has an abortifacient effect,  then it also has to respect the Catholic hospital.  And I think that's an enormous statement, because once again clearly establishes the value of personal conscience and the personal decision.  This is not a frivolous concession to the Zeitgeist, but I believe very well that the Cardinal has also made clear that there can be situations which actually lie between life and death and can affect even the woman."

There is no "pill afterwards" without possible death

Previously, the gynecologist Bernhard von Tongelen explained that there would be no "after pill",  which has a preventative effect.  As the fertilization of the egg takes place, these pill work as preventing implantation, and therefore have an abortifacient effect, thus killing a newly created life.

Link to kreuz.net...

More Media Manipulation of Pope's Media Image by the Press

(Marktl am Inn / Rome) It's time again: When pictures lie. Or rather, if people alter a picture in a very different way than it was actually photographed in the content displayed and so that it manipulates its message. The Soviet Union was a master forger and the Nazi era is apparently excellent for manipulation, as not only since the controversial Wehrmacht Exhibition of the Hamburg Institute for Social Research of Hannes Heer and Jan Philipp Reemtsma and the major touring exhibition, images that lie in the Foundation Museum of Contemporary History Federal Republic of Germany are well known.

The prefect of the CDF, Archbishop Curia Gerhard Ludwig Müller said in an on 1 February published an interview with the daily newspaper Die Welt: “The campaigns which are specifically aimed at discrediting the Catholic Church in North America and Europe have led to clerics in some sectors being publicly insulted in a vulgar way. Here is fostered an artificially generated anger that recalls at times a pogrom atmosphere. Germany's Justice Minister Leutheusser-Schnarrenberg described the claims as manipulative in connection to the Holocaust, which was never mentioned by Mueller, described the statement as "tasteless."

What was truly tastily, and not for the first time, Pope Benedict XVI. has been targeted by the manipulators. Just a small example of what Archbishop Müller would have meant. The Pope is often assumed to have been a Nazi in his youth. Hence the accusation is derived, that the Catholic Church is headed by a Nazi, which is of course unacceptable. But first things first.

Manipulation 1 Ratzinger with Hitler at the Sports Palace

Anti-clerical circles have posted a picture on Facebook which is supposedly a young Joseph Ratzinger at a NS demonstrated standing directly in front of the "Führer". A moralizing accusation is offered on the photograph: "Look who we have as a Pope as he was 14 years old then shame on you pray spreading this [photo] before deleting it." The text contains a number of original spelling errors in Italian. "ignorance is a characteristic of  militant anti-clericalism" commented UCCR.The attribution of the photo is clearly manipulation. The photo was not taken in 1941/1942, as Joseph Ratzinger was 14 years old, but on the 3rd of September 1932 at an event of the NSDAP in the Berlin Sports Palace. Appearing next to Adolf Hitler is  Prinz August Wilhelm of Prussia, the fourth son of the last German Kaiser, Wilhelm II, who joined Hitler's Party in 1930. Joseph Ratzinger had been born in 1927, where the future Pope was five years old at the time the photo was snapped in Berlin. The one there could not be five years old, would have only a faint resemblance between the unknown SA-Man and today's Pope. Truly, hate is generally known to cause blindness. A fact, for the anti-Church hate for centuries now fills exhibition halls.

Manipulation 2: Ratzinger with Hitler Salute

Already for a few years there is a ripe manipulation appearing on the internet. A photo which shows then Father Joseph Ratzinger as a new priest with his brother Georg, as the faithful receive a blessing at a priest's first Mass and only shows the future Pope with his arms extended in blessing. Then it was alleged that the photo shows the young Ratzinger giving the Hitler salute. This time as the manipulators were anonymous users on Facebook, it was a Spanish Professor of Journalism at the University of Madrid, who published the photo in his first book in all seriousness. Hatred of the Church and manipulation do not even know educational or class boundaries.

It was the Facebook fan site of the Italian Postal Police, who have discovered the new anti-Church attack. Only Just a reminder: Joseph Ratzinger was born in 1927, in a Catholic home to a world that never adhered to Nazism. The future Pope was never a member of the NSDAP and SA, as the circled man in the photo (above) clearly was. At the age of 14, he was automatically drafted to Nazi service which service was compulsory by law in the Hitler Youth, like all German youths. At least on paper, the same was true for the young Ratzinger, however, he was never active in the Hitler Youth. By the War's end he was a 17-year-old conscripted to operate as an Anti-Aircraft Artilleryman.

Mark Twain wrote that the lie succeeds halfway around the world, before the truth has put on the shoes.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
 Image: UCCR

Return of the Communion Rail -- Experiences of a Priest

(Madrid)  Don Jorge Gonzalez Guadalix, priest of the Archdiocese of Madrid, has reported on his blog De profon cura about his positive, recent experience with the reception of Communion.  The starting point was a question from  commenters on his blog, who wanted to know and how things were ordered in his parish, and if  there was a possibility receive Holy Communion kneeling also.

The priest saw on the one side, Pope Benedict XVI's example, who has only given Communion kneeling since 2008, at the same time however he has had practical difficulties and a "fear",  that he would be "foisting" something on the faithful.   Only "a few" of the faithful knelt down to receive Communion.  The priest did not refuse them Communion on the tongue but they had to kneel on the floor.  "For older people it's not something that's possible", as he himself writes.

After long hesitation, he could bring himself both i the chapel, where Holy Mass is said on weekdays, and in the parish church, he placed a kneeler to allow the faithful to receive Communion kneeling.  On weekdays in his parish, two Masses are celebrated on Sundays and on Holidays, four.

The pastor gave neither advertisement nor solicitation to use this form of receiving Communion.  After a month, he summed up his first experience:  "virtually all believers" kneel themselves down during weekday Mass at 7:30.  At the later weekday Masses, fairly half.  On Sunday, however, there are less.  "I think this is largely because many of the people who attend Sunday Mass are more agile."

In his report the priest gave the following conclusions:

The installation of a kneeler, which enabled the faithful to communicate kneeling, didn't "complicate" in any way the reception of Communion in either form.

The "freedom" is sufficient to give the faithful room, with the concrete case of the reintroduction of the kneeler,  and the faithful return to the practice of receiving Communion kneeling.  The "faithful are growing" and they will know what they have to do.  The priest did not wish to rise above the norms of the Church, nor could he force the hand or Communion on the tongue.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Bild: Info Catolica

The "Confession Mobile" Is Coming to its Next Location

Munich (kath.net/KIN)  The "Confession Mobile" of the worldwide Catholic help organization "Kirche in Not" [Church in Need] is traveling from the 20th to the 24th of February as a guest in Munich also offering free-time Masses "f.re.e".  This one of a kind "traveling confessional" has been set up for talks and pastoral counsel with Father Hermann-Josef Hubka.  Catholics could also take confession in addition.  Father Hubka is otherwise an expert on caravans and camping -- for a year the priest worked as a pastor in the Australian Bush.

The "Confession Mobile" has is a converted VW Bus, which has been under way as a traveling confessional for seven years in Germany.  The vehicle has received the blessing of John Paul II as well.  This blessing is valid also for all the faithful, who seek encouragement and absolution in the "confession mobile".

The "Confession Mobile" can be visited on the 20th of February in Halle B5 of Munich Messe on Platform 463.

With the traveling confessional, "Kirche in Not" recalls the tradition of "Chapel Wagons".  With these traveling converted trailers, the founder of the charity, Father Werenfried van Straaten, helped after the war to secure pastoral care among the homeless Catholics.  Later "Kirche in Not" also has provided floating churches in the Amazon as on the Volga and Don, that the Church can come to people in difficult to reach areas.

Link kath.net...

www.kirche-in-not.de

Kirche in Not
Lorenzonistr. 62
81545 München
Deutschland
Telefon: +49 / 89 / 64 24 888 – 0
E-Mail: kontakt@kirche-in-not.de

Kirche in Not: Spenden online

Foto: Das Beichtmobil im Einsatz in der Erfurter Fußgängerzone (c) KIRCHE IN NOT

No Consequences for Helmut Schüller in Vienna?

Vienna (kath.net) The Irish priest Tony Flannery has been called by the Congregation of Doctrine and the Faith to recant his statements on women's ordination, homosexuality and contraception. Kath.net has reported . The Redemptorist Flannery is also founder and chairman of the "Association of Catholic Priests" (ACP), a group of priests critical of Rome that works closely with the Rev. Helmut Schueller, founded by Austrian Pfarrer's Initiative. The CDF asked of him,  that he should distance himself from the ACP.

The similarities with the Pfarrer's Initiative can also applicable the consequences for the staff, priests, especially to its founder Helmut Schüller.

The demands of Pastor's Initiative also includes the ordination of women. On request of the Apostolic Nunciature, kath.net was told that just the Archdiocese of Vienna has jurisdiction over Helmut Schüller. The Archdiocese of Vienna itself announced last week that it had "no specific information" about the case of the founder of the ACP. "Therefore, we do not want to make any parallels to Pastor Helmut Schüller and speculate," it says in their written reply.

The confrontation of the CDF with Tony Flannery goes back longer and affects not only his commitment to the ACP. In an article for the Irish magazine "Reality" Flannery had called the ordained priesthood into question. He was not sure that "the priesthood as we presently know it in the Church today, goes back to Jesus," he cited as saying. He thinks it is likely that a certain privileged group within the community would have usurped the power and authority to themselves and the Last Supper would have been interpreted in a way that was consistent with their wishes. This point was criticized by the CDF in particular, Flannery said in an interview with The New York Times.

Link to kath.net...

Pope Benedict Names Traditional Bishop to Troubled Portland Diocese

Edit:  a correspondent sends us this citation from Archbishop Sample:

"What sparked my interest in it was Pope Benedict’s 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum [granting greater freedom to priests to celebrate the older form of the liturgy]. I thought, “I’m a bishop of the Catholic Church, and it’s my responsibility to know how to celebrate Mass according to both the new and old rites.” I’ve learned the Tridentine liturgy, and have since celebrated three Pontifical High Masses and Masses for the Fraternity of St. Peter and the Institute of Christ the King (in Florence, Italy)."

There's also another take covering the problematic OCP on Chant Cafe.


(Vatican/Washington)  Pope Benedict XVI named the Bishop of Marquette in Michigan, Msgr Alexander Sample, to be the new Archbishop of Portland, Oregon.  The 52 year old Msgr. Sample is then the youngest Archbishop in the USA, and was also at 45, the youngest Bishop in North America.

The new Archbishop was ordained as a priest in 1990.  He subsequently earned his doctorate in Canon Law in Rome.  He was on the marriage tribunal of his home diocese of Marquette and active as spiritual assistant of the Knights of Columbus.  In January 2006 Pope Benedict named him as the Bishop of his home diocese.

Archbishop Sample is a member of the new  Bishops Congregation in the USA, who speaks with a clear and powerful voice in the teaching of the Faith.  He gave seminarians in the Seminary of the Society of St. Peter in Nebraska, the diaconal ordination and on July 3rd, 2012 in Florence even ordained Italian seminarians in Florence also of the traditional Institute of Christ the King and Sovereign Priest for the subdiaconate and diaconate.

Link to original....

Bishop Fellay Vests 16 Seminarians in Flavigny

In addition to Bishop Fellay's recent talk at a priestly ordination (at DICI) on the 27th of January, there's more cause for hope.  This report just in from Society website in Germany:

On February 2nd, Bishop Bernard Fellay vests and tonsures 16 seminarians in the French Society of St. Pius X.

They have received the spiritual robes of clerics.

Here are some pictures (Thanks to the Priestly Seminary of the Cure de Ars in Flavigny)

The SSPX operates six seminaries world wide.

Bulgarian Metropolitan Commemorates Clergy Martyred by the Communists

[Pravmir.com] Bulgaria’s Christian Orthodox Church commemorated for the first time the victims of communist repression on Friday, 23 years after the toppling of the regime.

A special memorial service was held at Sofia’s Alexander Nevski cathedral by Varna metropolitan and interim patriarch Kiril, joined by a number of other Church dignitaries.

“This is the first time that the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church has held nationwide commemoration services for the victims of the repressions,” Kiril told AFP.

Addressing the congregation after the mass, he said the Church had identified 152 priests who were persecuted after the communist regime seized power in 1944: 13 were sentenced to death and another 13 were jailed for life.

The Holy Synod, the Church’s top body, is now considering whether to canonise some of them, he said.

“This stance is a crack in the wall of indifference of the Orthodox Church,” former political prisoner Fredy Foscolo said after the service.

In 2011, parliament designated February 1 as a permanent special day of remembrance for the over 7,000 people who were executed or jailed as “fascists” by the communists during their 45-year rule between 1944 and 1989.

These included three former prime ministers, dozens of ministers and lawmakers, royal regents and advisors, teachers, priests, civil servants, prominent writers and journalists.

The regime did not go as far as to close churches but imposed atheism, did not tolerate churchgoing and controlled the priests’ rise in Church hierarchy.

The opening of the former communist police archives revealed that 11 of the 15 Holy Synod members were former secret police agents who collaborated with the communist regime.

Bulgaria’s late patriarch Maxim, who died on November 6, was not on the list, but Kiril was.

A Church Council is due to choose Bulgaria’s next patriarch on February 24.

New SSPX Chapel in Paris

[Piusbruder.de] The Society is going to attend another church in Paris.

It is relates to the church "Our Beloved Lady of Comfort" in the 8th District.

The building came into existence shortly before the turn of the century as a memorial church, which was built in memory of the the fire of 1897.  In this place the Duchess of Alencon, the sister of Elisabeth of Austria, lost her life.

The historically protected church has a large crypt, so that it can also hold large numbers of the faithful.

The 8th District of Paris is northwest of the Cathedral of Notre Dam on the right bank of the Seine, and is the political and economic center of Paris.  Here stands also the Élysée Palace.

Würzburg Vicar Hw. Thomas Eschenbacher and Protestant functionary Kirsten Oldenburg Jointly Organize an Ecumenical Sideshow

New liturgical element: "ecumenical" dialogue
 sermon in rhyme; Picture: Press Office Diocese of Würzburg / Mohr

Once there had been a happy hour in the land, as on the 17th of January 2013 of the first Carnival Society of Elferrat Würzburg publicly held this years church conference in Neumuensterkirche.

"In the thick of things" is the Würzburg Cathedral Vicar with the Protestant official, who -- as explained in preparation -- had decided on the somewhat looser form of Liturgy of the Word,  probably in order not to completely ignore the liturgical progress of the Church.

"Vanishing Justice" of the Preaching Dialog

A modern, zeigeisty innovation, perhaps even according to the invocation of the "sprit of Vatican II" Fr. Eschenbacher put the liturgical elements of the preaching dialog in rhyme:  "... that only talking's not enough, where justice takes a puff" was clearly the dialogs choice piece.

It had been a balancing act, said the Cathedral Vicar.  "I can also understand, that not everyone found it enjoyable."  But: "everything took place with dignity."

Joy of the Instructor of Pastoral Theology

A Pastoral Theologian was also completely overjoyed (a kind of miracle in the Post-Conciliar Church): "Carnival belongs to the life of the people just as to the Church.  I think the connection between them both is very exciting."

In the Diocese of Wurzburg the main goal of the Pastoral Theologian, "the consequent search for the outline of our vocation in the transform of the structures in the Diocese and with thus connected pastoral tasks and focal points.

Exit of the Fool

At the end the fool was applauded to the church door -- and in the midst of it all the Cathedral Rector.

Link to kreuz.net...

CDF Challenges German Bishops and SSPX

Rom (kath.net) The Prefect of the Vatican Congregation of the Doctrine and the Faith, Archbishop Mueller, sees a pogrom continuing against the Catholic Church, in and interview with the newspaper "Die Welt", that a "deliberate campaign to discredit" against the Catholic Church in North America and in North America and with us in Europe has accomplished, that priests in some areas are now become completely public pariahs. The Prefect speaks of artificially manufactured anger which already today recalls a pogrom. In blogs and also in television Müller continued, "were attacks aimed against the Catholic Church, whose armaments go back to the assault of totalitarian ideologies against Christendom. "

Archbishop Mueller has directed criticisms also on the dialog process of the German Bishops' Conference and said: "dialog process is good. But the substance must be discussed and not the same old problems on the table as like new." As an example of always new problems on the table, Mueller named "the promotion to sacramental orders for women. It is not possible. Not because women are of less value, but because it is in the nature of the sacrament, that Christ is represented as the groom in relation to his bride." Also, an acceptance of same sex partnerships are not possible for the Catholic Church. These partnerships are not to be compared in any way to marriage " The Prefect also defended celibacy: "Celibacy of the priest corresponds to the example and word of Jesus and has a special spiritual significance in the spiritual experience of the Latin Rite.

There is "no indication that those presiding in the Church would be shaken, from certain false statements, as if it were a necessity, to practice sexuality, within or outside of the Church. The un married state "has been established in the kingdom of heaven in the Gospel." Mueller gave that in so far as there is a "lack of reform" in the Catholic Church, that "substantial themes" are not being tackled.

The Prefect meant here concretely the participation in the Sacraments and the knowledge of the Faith." Also the The theme of the "Pius Society" which he spelled out clearly. The patience of the Vatican with the separation of Traditionalists is not endless: "The Congregation has presented the Society with the Dogmatic Preamble. There has been no answer to it. We won't wait forever." [But the patience is endless for dissident Bishops and clergy]

Daraufhin ist bis jetzt keine Antwort erfolgt. Wir warten aber nicht endlos."

Is Vienna's Cathedral Pastor a Freemason?

In this broadcast the Viennese Cathedral Pastor Toni Faber was given the opportunity, not just to be defiant of the teaching of Holy Church or to be coquettish with the zeitgeist, but in complete meekness and compliance to Freemasonry.

"That can damage your career!"

Then we learn (rom 6:40), that the Viennese Cathedral Pastor has published a dissertation "Freemason and Church",  which Cardinal Koenig had rejected with the following words: "Know this, young man: let this lay.  This can only damage your future, your career.  Let it lay."

At the latest as to the question, what the Church actually has against Freemasonry, the otherwise  generally  unaccomodating to the teachings of Holy Church Cathedral Pastor: The Church is supposed to have "Thank God, developed further" (Faber) and in Codex Iuris canonici of 1983 no longer threatens excommunication for Freemasonry.

In this anti-Roman/anti-Catholic groove of Faber, continued then the former Grand Master of the Austrian brothers of the apron (Masons wear ceremonial aprons), Micheal Kraus: a Catholic may deplore Freemasonry,  that in a so-called interpretation of the former Cardinal Ratzinger returns a certain ambiguity, if it is now possibly lives in serious sin and put in a unpleasant situation with the Church?  That was never made completely clear, insisted the Freemasonic Diabolos, who would like to load the guilt of Freemasonry on Holy Church.

With great verve, the ever erroneous working Viennese Cathedral Pastor continued in the groove of the Freemason:  "If we follow according to Catholic law, there is [Indicative!] no excommunication there, if we then follow the former Cardinal Prefect of the CDF, then it would [Subjunctive].  A certain ambiguity,  which the Holy Father, Joseph Ratzinger, Benedict XVI., has also not clarified." (at 11:45)

Catholic Minority Among the Freemasons

And Michael Kraus is more precise: "That this conflict is a part of the past, which was exhausting for both sides, and that in today's situation, it's clear that one can live very well with the status quo.  Completely well because the Catholic, who belongs to Freemasonry -- it's not a majority, it's certainly a minority --, they are not completely satisfied with the status quo,  as one could be satisfied,  if one has heard what Herr Cathedral Pastor has just outlined.  Catholics are not completely satisfied with the status quo." [Thank God for that!]

How can Catholics be upright, if they don't subject themselves to the teachings of Holy Church?

The Gist of the Matter: Father  Fabers' Contact with Freemasonry

Faber continues: "I personally know many Freemasons, who are convinced Catholics, who also work in the Catholic Church, but also offer their contribution with the Lodge, to work in it.  And I believe with so many people of good will, who can be found among the Freemasons, we could in the main, work for the common good for Austria."

Link to kreuz.net...

ADMG

Church Renewal in Holland-- Priestly Formation in TLM

(Amsterdam) The Netherlands were in the grip of an inner-Church rebellion during the second half of the 60s and the rapid dissolution of the Catholic Faith. A phenomenon that was all the more astonishing since the Catholic minority in Holland had shown great perseverance since Dutch independence, which defended itself against a militant, confessional Calvinism. After a breathtaking devastation, today the signs of renewal are visible in the Netherlands. Three will be described here.

On 13 December, on the Feast of St Lucia, the Seminaryof St Willibrord of the Diocese of Harlem-Amsterdam celebrated it first Immemorial Mass of All Ages.

At Titennergthere is a Philosophy College next to the seminary, which is connected to the Papal Lateran University, the Theological Institute of St Bonifacious for Deacons, Catechists of the Diocese and a center for Catholic social teaching. In Tiltenberg there was originally a Gymnasium (School preparing boys for higher studies) with dormitory which was transformed by the previous bishop into a seminary in 1997.

The first Holy Mass in the "Old Rite" was celebrated for the seminarians by Chaplain Bunschoten. Two seminarians carries out the service of the altar. As the Rector of the Seminary Gerard Beuggnik with the approval of Bishop of Harlem-Amsterdam, Msr Jos Punt explained, the seminary will form future priests in both forms of the Roman Rite, as foreseen by the Motu Proprio of Pope Benedict XVI. In 2007.

In Nobember 2012 an event took place at the seminary Cale's "Liturgy and Sacrum". The speakers were noteworthy members of the Liturgical Movement which had been begun by Pope Bemedict XVI., among them the famous Liturgist Don Nicola Bux and the German Oratorian Fr. Use Michael Lang.

In Leiden, the home of the painter Rembrandt there is in Lodewijkskerk a biritual community. Father Smith celebrates the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass weekly in the Ordinary and Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

Soon an Italian Benedictine Cloister of strict observance will found a new cloister in Holland at the desire of the local bishop.

Trams: Tancred
Text: MiL/Giuseppe Nardi
Bilder: Tiltenberg/Lodewijkskerk


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The Turkish Parliament Discusses Turning Hagia Sophia into a Mosque

(Ankara) The Islamization of Turkey through symbolic interference continues.  In the Turkish Parliament a debate has begun over a proposal regarding Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, of old Constantinople, to turn it into a mosque.  The proposal was proposed by Talip Bozkurt, a citizen of Kahramanmaras in Anatolia. The Hagia Sophia, the largest and most glorious Basilica in the East, was used for 916 years as a church, till the sack of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, when it was transformed into a mosque.  The typical Christian building style of the church is still unalterably visible.  In any event the church was accompanied by four minarets and the cross on the main dome was replaced by a half moon, to indicate Islamic occupation.

Since 1935, since the national Turkish government of Kemal Ataturk, the church was not a mosque, but a museum.  It counts today as the most visited museum in the world.  In its current form the church, erected in the 6th century is a magnet for people interested in art and culture.

The current petition committee of the Turkish Parliaments took the petition and seeks various organizations and institutions for a statement.  Various Islamic organizations, above all from Anatolia, are speaking out for the transformation to a mosque.  An Anatolian-Islamic youth organization is driving a campaign for it.

The application had been submitted, according to a decision of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan about another Christian church, called to transform the Hagia Sophia of Nicea again into a mosque, which had also been converted to a mosque after Ottoman conquest under Islamic rule and made a museum again under Attaturk. The Council of Nicea was held in the 1,700 year old Basilica in 787, where the Christians of East and West were united for the last time.  From 1331 to 1920 the church had been made into a mosque by the Rum Seljuks.  The Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey, Bulent Arinc says that to convert the Nicene Hagia Sophia into a mosque: "In this act we have recovered the recognition of our ancestors.  Hagia Sophia of Iznik was booty of our conquest and as such we have a right to it.  A church can be converted into a mosque".

Bulent Arinc was also Erdogan's henchman, in the summer of 2012 in Trabzon, where another famous church of the same name on the Black Sea was again converted into a mosque, having previously suffered the same fate as the other two basilicas which were transformed into museums. The Hagia Sophia of Trebizond, whose model was the famous Constantinople, was built in its present form in the 13th century.  It served as the last of the three churches under Turkish dominance.  1511 led to its profanation and transformation into a mosque.  From 1916 the Christians of the Black Sea were victims of an anti-Christian genocide, which at the same time was aimed at the Christian Armenians as against the Georgians and the Greeks.

"The Turkish Government is making one step forwards and a step backwards in its dialog with minorities",  commented the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeus I in 2012 on the difficult situation of Christians in Turkey.

Link to katholisches...

A Witch in the Sanctuary

This photo is only  a foreboding of that which will take place in many churches in Germany:  Carnival dance and costumes in the Holy of Holies.

Pius.info had uncovered a scandal last year in Ochsenhausen.  Unfortunately, Ochsenhausen is only the tip of the iceberg, as generally it is the case throughout Germany that the church and community halls will be exchanged.

Even Dean Schanzle didn't show the slightest reflection:  he will renew his use of unworthy costumes in the church.

Pius.info will soon write up some suggestions as to how a traditional Catholic can defend against the profanation of the churches.

Link to piusinfo....http://pius.info/archiv-news/933-bild-der-woche/7623-bild-der-woche-hexen-im-altarraum

Christian in Iran Pardoned -- Departure in Next Few Days Possible

(Tehran)  The American Iranian convert to Christianity, has according to his wife residing in the USA as who has risked the death penalty, has been pardoned by Tehran.  As the Iranian Press Agency reports, the Protestant Pastor Said Abedini has stood before the court this last week on Monday.  His attorney says that his client will be free on bail "in the next days" and may "leave Iran".

Abedini was charged in 2006 in Iran for forming an illegal house church.  The complaint charged "endangering the national security", as his attorney Nasser Sarbazi explained.  His bail client had yet never been charged with spying.

Abedini has been since the end of September, under arrest at his parents' house.  His case has been observed by the US State Department with "great concern".  His wife revealed a few weeks ago in the USA, that her husband was under threat of the death penalty.

Abedini was imprisoned for the first time in May of 2009.  Then he was obliged, to engage in any more religious activities in Iran, then released.  The native Iranian, who has American citizenship, then returned to the USA.  Until his second imprisonment, he has visited Iran nine times.

In September the Protestant Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarhani was released, who had been condemned because of his conversion from Islam to Christianity.

The constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran recognizes the 'monotheistic religions", among them Christianity and Judaism and the "defense of religious freedom". At the same time the majority Shi'ite
Iran doesn't tolerate any conversion of Muslims.  In contrast to other states, there are no anti-conversion laws in Iran.  Yet there can be tensions, as the aforementioned cases show.  The last hanging of an Iranian because of apostasy from Islam and conversion to Christianity happened, according to official sources, in 1990 in Maschad, when the Protestant Pastor Hossein Soodmand was hanged.

The relationship in Iran for Christians which is considered difficult, are in comparison to other states of Sunni imprint,  however, are comparatively better.  Both cases of Protestant Pastors were overshadowed by the tense relationship between the USA and Iran.

Link to Katholisches...

50,000 March for Life in San Francisco

Edit: the new Archbishop was there too, but only a handful arrived to counter protest. Here's a personal account from Zenit.

(San Francisco) My own walk for life started before I had even left the campus of Thomas Aquinas College. For me, it was the sermon that one of our college chaplains gave Friday morning before we left that began this journey. It was the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul that we were celebrating. In his sermon, Fr. Illo compared our drive to San Francisco with St. Paul’s trip to Damascus. He stressed that we should concentrate on our journey as a pilgrimage, and that just as St. Paul was converted, we too should be converted and strive to make this a prayerful event.
Although there was no doubt about our mission—we were going to march for life and stand up for the rights of the unborn—I was glad Fr. Illo clarified what this meant. It is easy to participate in an external way; it’s the internal participation that is a bit more difficult. We were not going merely to enjoy the city, nor to convert abortionists; we were embarking on a journey of prayer and penance to bear witness to the Truth and hopefully to be changed by this experience.
With this in mind, we set off for San Francisco after classes in two buses, with many more students taking their own cars. Our drive went very smoothly. We amused ourselves with sleeping and watching Star Wars movies; to keep a balance in the force, we also prayed a rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet to keep ourselves focused on our mission.

http://www.zenit.org/article-36426?l=english

Ht: Katholisches

The Birthday of Blessed Charlemagne the Great

Edit: the following's a brief translation in honor of the birthday of Blessed Charlemagne the Great by Father Gero Weishaupt.

On January 28th 814, Blessed Charlemagne the Great died in his beloved Aachen Palace.  In 2014, Aachen and Europe will hold his 1,200th birthday.  Charlemagne was, according to Einhard, his biographer, interred in the palace chapel which still is located in today's Cathedral.  Bl. Charles the Great is the founder of the Christian West on the foundations of Greco-Roman antiquity.  He made Aachen his main residence, the "Rome of the North".

Einhard, in his famous Vita Karoli Magni which is stylistically written after the style of Suetonius', reported over the death and burial of Bl. Charlemagne:

"Septimo, postquam decubuit, die, sacra communione percepta decessit anno aetatis suae septuagesimo secundo et ex quo regnare coeperat quadragesimo septimo, V. Kal. Februarii, hora diei tertia. Corpus more sollemni lotum et curatum et maximo totius populi luctu ecclesiae inlatum atque humatum est. Dubitatum est primo, ubi reponi deberet, eo quod ipse vivus de hoc nihil praecepisset. Tandem omnium animis sedit nusquam eum honestius tumulari posse quam in ea basilica, quam ipse propter amorem Dei et domini nostri Iesu Christi et ob honorem sanctae et aeternae virginis, genetricis eius, proprio sumptu in eodem vico construxit. in hac sepultus est eadem die, qua defunctus est, arcusque surpa tumulum deauratus cum imagine et titulo exstructus" (Einhard, Vita Karoli, 30 f).

In the Middle Ages, Aache was the place of coronation of the German kings for centuries.

The Cathedral is, for Father Gero Weishaupt, the place where he experienced as an acolyte, the beauty of the Latin Liturgy and the rich and deep historical connection between his city, the Church and posterity.

In the following selection, you can hear the burial of an Emperor of the Franks and the Romans, sung by the Aachen Cathedral Choir, the oldest German boy's choir, whose founding goes back to Bl. Charles the Great.  In the relief, one sees among others, the throne (of the Holy Roman Empire [German Nation]) as well as the Charlemagne Shrine with the bones of the beatified on the 29th of December, in any case, in Aachen.



ADMG

Cabbalistic-Occult Rituals in a Catholic Retreat House

(Buenos Aires)  In various Argentine retreat houses, Catholic religious communities may offer Magic Seminars, in which occult teachings are introduced.   Here are "alchemistical and cabbalistic rituals" which even yet profane the chapels and altars of the retreat houses.

The most recent incident took place last weekend in the Contemplative House of St. Francis of Assisi of the Capuchins in the Diocese by the same name in the Province of Buenos Aires.  From the 24th to the 27th of January was "Maga Hania & Conspiradores" in the retreat house "in accion".  An equivalent of 420 Euro allows those interested to be introduced to the "cabbalistic rosary" and "alchemistical novenas",  in order to become acquainted with the "Alchemy of Love" and the occult secrets of the attractivenss of "Venus Aphrodite".

The seminar program also included a "magian night ritual" in the "clothing of Aphrodite" in the swimming pool of the contemplative house, in order to obtain the "energetic controls" of the "currents of magnetic love".  All of this are naturally for the "enlightenment of the world and of people".

The Argentinian writer and "Maga" Hania Czajokowski explains on her website, that after taking "spiritual journeys" to Brazil, Africa and Polynesia and  she had then been "consecrated in occult secrets",  which she then wants to give back "for the healing of the earth".  The home cooked, business oriented cocktail of esoterica, occultism, a bit of Marian cult and Padre Pio, a dash of Buddhism, a healthy portion of cabbalism is available naturally for a corresponding payment.  For a  payment the Catholic contemplative house is apparently opened for occultists, including their magic rituals at the altar.

Such contemplative events by Maga Hania and her "conspirators", as she calls her adepts herself, and other purveyors of occult practices already have taken place before till 2009 in the Catholic Casa de Retiro San José in the Argentinian Diocese of Lomas de Zamora, till the Bishop there prevented them.  They still found however a new location.  The operators of the seminar are included in the dubious "Universal Parliament of the Religions of Argentinia".  Yet it doesn't operate like a federation of religions, but clearly as a private circle of pompous names of religious "activists" doing their own thing.  Among them there are also by his own description an Argentinian convert to the Orthodox Faith, who calls himself "Bishop Alexandros" the "Autocephalus Catholic Church and of Orthodox Content" and is industriously consecrating more "bishops".

In Assisi House of the Capuchins, seminarians of the order were included, who in the nearby Jesuit led seminary are preparing for the priesthood.  Because of the lack of growth the house was put to other purposes.  It belongs to the order, but is led by the laity, who clearly allow every paying customer to use it.  A reaction from the current Bishop of San Miguel, Msgr. Sergio Fenoy, who has been notified of the occult seminar offer in the retreat house of San Miguel, is not known at present.  "The current Catholic authorities in the Diocese are showing little discernment in its easy commerce with the occult business practices", says Pagina Catolica.

Link to katholisches....

ADMG

New Study: Suicide Among Non-Believers Higher Than Among Believers -- Lower Among Catholics

by Roberto Reggi, translated by Tancred

Suicide is negatively regarded in the religious and moral view.  In addition it is yet a significant and statistically easy scale for well being. Already, since the clasical study of Emile Durkheim (1897), which is generally considered the first scientific sociological study, it is known that among believing people in comparison to non-believing, there is less suicide.  In detail, there are fewer suicides among Catholics than Protestants.

The interpretation for this phenomenon, which the father of Sociology poses, is founded in the concept of anomie. [A sociological term describing the disturbance of in social relations.]   The decline or loss of religious norms and values (a-nomos, without laws) leads to disturbances in the social order and the loss of social integration.  The results of anomie are for people the feeling of a sense of loss, growing dissatisfaction and fear, which could lead to suicide.  Believing people have however ideals to which they can hold and adjust to every situation.  They have the patience and hope.  Catholics are more tied to a community and social relationships than Protestants, which further reduces anomic manifestations.  The Catholic network is more widely and broadly extended than the Protestant, because the Protestant, lacks the this worldly pressure to perform and failure according to human standards is always circumscribed as a possibility in the Catholic.

More than a century after the ground breaking study by Durkheim there was a University study published in the Summer of 2012. In that the number of suicides in Switzerland was researched between 1981 and 2001,  a country therefore, in which the Catholic Church and Protestant belief systems have historically lived side by side.  The Study Suicide and Religion:  New Evidence on the Differences Between Protestantism and Catholicism was written by Benno Torgler (EBS University for Research and Law, Oestrich-Winkel) and Christoph Schaltegger (University of Luzern).

The study offers valuable information between the homogeneity of the researched cases, which all come from the same political and social back grounds, which marks the Swiss national situation.  The study affirms Durkheim's assertions from the last 19th century: Protestants are more frequently inclined to suicide than Catholics.  In practice:  the same social and economic conditions (income, family relationships, etc...)  show a decline in suicide, the higher the Catholic section is.

*Robert Reggi, Jahrgang 1974, Promotion in Philosophie (1998), Diplomstudium der Theologie (2007), Diplomstudium der Bildungswissenschaften (2007), Lizentiat in Biblischer Theologie (2007), Psychologie (2009), Anthropologie (2011), Mitarbeiter von Radio Maria, UCCR, Mitglied im wissenschaftlichen Komitee von Cathopedia.

Link to Katholisches...