After 50 Years of Liberal Church Management: 36 of 110 Churches of Brussels Will be Closed

36 of 110 Churches of Brussels shall soon be closed: The fate of
St. Nicholas (left) and Our Lady of Zavel are not certain.

(Brussels) In Brussels, capital of Belgium, 36 out of 110 Catholic churches will soon be closed and sold. The change in Archbishop also brought a change of direction back to "structural reforms" instead of spiritual renewal. It is the sad result of a homemade, progressive decline.

Brussels is also the headquarters of the European Union. The leftist city government majority in the municipal council consists of one third Muslims. These are two aspects that provide explanations for this unprecedented decline. Another key aspect is the decades-long line of liberal archbishops in the Archdiocese.

Cardinal Danneel's restructuring plans

Yet in 2010 there was a turning point: Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard tried as archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, certainly with recognizable success, to revive by the establishment and promotion of a small but faithful group in some churches that had been devastated for decades by his predecessor, Cardinal Godfried Danneels (Archbishop 1980-2010, Cardinal since 1983) which were already threatened of being put up for sale. Léonard's term of only five years, however, was too short. In addition, this churchman who fought in Europe's front line, received neither the necessary encouragement nor the necessary support.

Although Brussels has traditionally been linked to the dignity of cardinal, he was not granted it by Benedict XVI. not out of a false consideration for Danneels who was not yet 80 years old. Pope Francis did not even think to dream of it, to give a "Ratzingerian" like Léonard, the declared object of hatred of Francis-friend Danneels, the purple dignity. So Léonard's days were numbered.

On November 6, 2015, he was retired by Francis. With Jozef De Kesel, a Danneels man was named as the new archbishop, who quicly moved away from Léonard's restoration efforts and returned to the closure and sale policy of Danneels. Houses of worship would be sold off for little money. According to the plans of Archbishop De Kesel, newly established in his post on December 12, 2015 soon, there would be 36 of 110 churches closed in the "capital" of Europe. There has been no comparable action by the Church in all of its History in a European capital.

Archbishop De Kesel made his plans known in 2005

The daily newspaper La Libre published the plans with two articles. This did not only disturb the peace of Belgian Catholics. The question touches on other places of European catholicity in addition to Belgium, which are in the post-conciliar decline.

The third Christian millennium began with Cardinal Danneel's "restructuring plans". The conveyance and merging of parishes were central keywords that were given concrete shape from 2005 onwards. Jozef De Kesel was then Episcopal Vicar for the Vicariate Brussels, one of the three vicariates of the Archdiocese. It was De Kesel who announced the plans for the "future" of parishes in 2005. They were based on two considerations: as the number of Catholics decline, the number of parishes was greater than the demand, and especially greater than the funds; in addition, the high number of parishes of our Church does not fit the "multireligious and multicultural" dimension "of our modern society." It's a common choice of words to disguise Islamization. In Brussels there are more practicing Muslims than Catholics. The first name Mohammed has lead for several years on the list of newborn boys. Yet the theme of Islamization is politically undesirable among the dominant forces and must therefore must not be addressed. The same applies to the disintegration of the Catholic community through immigration into many small, independent, ethnic communities. Even immigration coming from Catholic sources has brought fragmentation rather than unity.

Current situation

 The Kingdom of Belgium is a historical artifact in a linguistic-cultural space in transition. Since Germany, the Netherlands and France have territorial claims on the region, the great powers created it in 1830 from the former Austrian-Netherlands into a separate state in order not to disturb the balance of power. The inner layer is linguistically therefore, somewhat more complex than in other European countries, and this includes Church organization.

In the area of Brussels, there are 107 parishes which employ 250 priests. 11 pastoral units are Dutch-speaking (Flemish), 25 pastoral units are French (Walloons). Plus, there are 42 different foreign-language communities. All of these parishes, units and communities are summarized in four deaneries. According to information of the weekly magazine Tempi  36 pastoral parish units will be dissolved and at least one church be closed.

This does not mean that all churches are to be profaned immediately. But it is to say that all church activities such as baptisms, first communions, confirmations, catecheses are discontinued. The profanation and the sale are the next step. The first article of Le Libre last March 22 was like a shock to the faithful.

Churches as an object of speculation?

Some parishes are hard to keep. There is a lack of faithful and the funds are scarce among Brussels Catholics. The radical deforestation leaves the faithful in fear that even vibrant parishes could fall under the bureaucrat's wheels when their churches located in "interesting" parts of the city are set aside for real estate speculation. Among the seven criteria for the conveyance of parishes is the term "urban projects."

Above all, the faithful do not understand why parishes are to be dissolved, although there are enough priests to look after them.

The pastor of a small parish that is to be abandoned, asked not to close the church, but to leave it to the Polish community which still lacks their own church. The proposal was rejected.

According to La Libre there is no definite decision which parishes are to be closed. In the near future a meeting between a group of concerned Catholics and the reigning Episcopal Vicar for Brussels, Jean Kockerols, is to take place.

New Archbishop De Kesel has Introduced His Closure Plan Again

The big "remodeling" of the Catholic Church in Brussels, which had been put in the drawer by Archbishop Léonard, had once again been put on the table as soon as De Kesel took over the office as Archbishop. De Kesel announced the "reconstruction" in his pastoral letter of 2005. Cardinal Danneels wanted De Kesel to be installed as his successor in 2010. That was rejected by Benedict XVI. who gave the assignment to Léonard, the then Bishop of Namur, with the attempt to at revival. With the election of Pope Francis, however, in which Cardinal Danneels as a member of Team Bergoglio and the secret circle Sankt Gallen is again operational, the chapter of Léonard and Benedict XVI. for the Belgian church came to an end faster than expected.

Soon numerous Brussels churches are being offered on the real estate market for sale. It's a sad highlight in the decline of the self-adulating conciliar Church which says there is "no alternative." .

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
 Image: Wikicommons (assembly)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG

Cardinal Ravasi Twitters His Dismay Over Death of Pop Star, Again

I'm The deeply religious musician was at times the member of the "Jehovah Witnesses"  And expressed a great affinity for the Pope. 

Vatican City-Washington (kath.net/ KAP)
After the death of the U.S. musician Prince there was shock overall in the Vatican.  The President of the Pontifical  Council for Culture,Cardinal  Gianfranco Ravasi, twittered on Friday morning a citation from the "artist": "Sometimes, sometimes I wish that life was never ending/All good things, they say, never last." These words come from the song   "Sometimes It Snows in April" of 1986. [Doesnt he have more important things to do?]

On Thursday evening Prince's speaker announced his death at his residence in Paisley Park in the US-State of Minnesota. An official report about the cause of his death is not available yet. In March, Prince announced his desire to write his memoirs.

Besides Ravasi  US-President Barack Obama issued a statement. "Today we have lost a creative icon." He said in a statement from Washington. Niagara Falls was lit with lilac in remembrance of probably his most famous song, "Purple Rain". He was 57.
Prince did not enter into any cliches and formed a complex figure; little was it known that the deceased rebel artist with the image of a sex idol was a deeply religious man.  He was the member of the "Jehovah's Witnesses", but often expressed his appreciation for the pope and  for every racy sing, like  "Darling Nikki", he wrote a religious one like "The Cross.". He created artistic borderlines, in which he mixed prudery with fantasies of sexually starved people. He also viewed the energy between the sexes in a religious context.

Up until his death at the age of 57, Prince remained eccentric, in fathomable, and yet very close to his fans, whom he yet provoked --for example as   "Mister Purple Rain" spoke against "gay marriage." "God came to earth and saw people sticking it wherever and doing it to whatever and he just cleaned up," explained the star in an interview.  "He said, enough is enough." It was a sensation that recently the star offered a free concert in Baltimore to honor the young black, Freddie Gray, who died in police custody that unleashed unrest in the city in April 2015.

http://kath.net/news/54924

Potato Sack Bishops Form Potato Sack Priests

For the rebellious 68er old progressivists, who have the say in today's
modern Church, the potato sack bishop is no danger. On the contrary he serves
as welcome cover.

(Berlin / Vienna / Bern) It is now nearly twelve years since Don Reto Nay, priest of the diocese of Chur in Switzerland, the spiritual father of Kath.net (1999) and Gloria.tv (2006), wrote the essay "St. Pölten is Lays Between Linz and Vienna ". In it he dealt in a section with priestly vocations, seminarians and bishops. His thoughts were related in a special way to the situation of the Catholic Church in the German language. They have lost none of their relevance. The title for the section  was chosen by the editors.

Potato sack bishops produce potato sack-priest

by Don Reto Nay

A bishop who wants to serve real peace, must take care of  order first. How will  notice whether or not he has put his diocesan house in order? It is in Matthew: if the fruits are fine.

And the first and best fruits of a diocese are their seminarians. Therefore, one needs to see when a bishop is good, not to listen to his sermons - paper is patient. You have to take a look into the seminary and consider the seminarians. A tree is recognized by its fruits, so you recognize the Bishop in the seminarians that he has or has not.

Earlier, this may still have been different: But today a young person will only see the diocesan bishop probably twice before choosing a diocese: Election Day is payday here. Of  the old Catholic parties there was a saying that they have a potato sack they can nominate and that this would have been elected without any problems. It remains to be seen whether this would be different today, not only in the Catholic parties. But one thing is certain. In the church, the potato sack policy no longer works. No sensible young person nowadays promises his life to a potato sack in his hands. If a seminarian does anyway, you will need to ask yourself, are there unhealthy motives.

The tragedy is that the potato sack bishop in the Church today is for a long time not a discontinued model, but is considered by those in charge as really a Godsend. It is popular because he stays put in one  and then is no longer to be stirred. It is breathed  that be brings no "unrest" in his immobility - sin of sins transgressing that which is owed to the times - in the diocese. One reason is that he has the press on his side. These praise the potato sack as the father of peace. The fact that Christ came to earth in order to be a sign of contradiction, to bring the peace of God - not of this world -  remains an exegetical detail. In everyday pastoral, one follows another, slightly different Bible verse:  I came to cast tire extinguishers on  the earth.

Why are potato sacks popular with the press? Because they do not go to war. When the wolf breaks into the herd, they will not sound the alarm to produce any unnecessary anxiety. The main thing, the wolf does depend on  his business not being declared from the rooftops. What I do not know will not hurt me. For the rebellious 68er old progressives who have a say in the Church  today, the potato sack Bishop is no danger. On the contrary, he serves as a welcome cover. For a potato sack suppresses only those who have the misfortune to be under him: the obedient.

Only one thing a potato sack bishop lacks: seminarians.

No one will sell his birthright for a dish of potatos. The price to become a priest is high, much higher than for any other profession. A pious, generous and intelligent young man will gladly pay the price for the pearl of the priesthood. But will he be smart enough to distinguish a sham from the original. Here the problem starts. The potato sack-Bishop is a sham, and he represents a fake packaged priestly formation and fake packaged priesthood.

What is to be thought  of a young man, who is resigned to five years of  priestly formation at kindergarten level, five years without complaint to being occupied with theological chat rooms, for whose examination it is sufficient that spend the night before studying in advance, and then voluntarily into a disappearing and wind addicted pastoral  where every smallest renewal attempt is a serious crime, through which one gets into the deadly reputation of being a "conservative"?

Nobody would have ever known the names of St. Dominic, St. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer or Saint Teresa of Avila today, had these saints then embarked on such a puppet show. St. John Vianney  struggled in his priestly formation even with the Latin language. What hurdles await the modern seminarist, except that it is more difficult from year to year, to get up in the morning? Potato sack bishops produce potato sack priests. But that seems to escape everyone's notice: the main thingis that the sacrosanct peace is not disturbed. This has the disadvantage that no young person who has his mind still halfway together, may reasonably bring himself to take something like this up. A generous intelligent young man rightly expects an intelligent and challenging training and a job that is more than a sandbox game. Of reputable deals in the private sector there are enough!  Would the latter nowadays  operate in the style of our dioceses and parishes, we would have long ago become the grass skirt wearing residents of third world countries.

Don Reto Nay: St. Pölten is Between Linz and Wien, Theologisches, Vol 34, No. 8, August 2004, Sp 463f.

Image: Sant'Alessandro (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Shot Across the Bow for Cardinal Pell -- Non-Bergoglians Have a Difficult Situation in the Roman Curia

Cardinal George Pell and Cardinal Raymond Burke Have a Difficult
Situation in Rome

(Rome) Some heads of dicasteries of the Roman Curia have been removed by Pope Francis after his election to office. Others were left in office, but in fact isolated.  Cardinal Pell is also under constant pressure.

The Dismissal of "Ratzingerians"

With the dismissals, it was not to questions of competence, but a directional decision. It touches on each convinced "Ratzingerianer", a cipher, which is shorthand encapsulating  a faithful understanding of the Church.

First, the Italian Cardinal Mauro Piacenza was replaced as Prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, and at only 70 year of age shoved off for the honorary management of the universal Church but completely insignificant post of Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary. In 2010 Cardinal Piacenza had assisted Pope Benedict XVI.  to raise the Curé of Ars, St. John Mary Vianney as a model and patron of priests.  It was an attempt that failed however, owing to violent resistance among the high clergy who rejected a 'pre-conciliar'  priestly style as "backward-looking."  Even the reigning Pope would not warm up to this priest model, replacing Cardinal Piacenza by a man of his choice.

The Catalan Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments , was considered a "little Ratzinger". His rejection of the "new Mercy" by Cardinal Walter Kasper, he had already announced at the cardinal consistory in February, 2014. As a head of a Dicastry, Cardinal Cañizares would have been an ex officio member of the Bishops' Synod on marriage and the family. However, Pope Francis appointed him shortly before the start of Synod 2014 as Archbishop of Valencia. His inauguration in Spain took place before the Synod opening day.

Immediately after the Synod was the American Cardinal Raymond Burke, who had, since 2008 been Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura and President of the Supreme Court of the Vatican State, had been literally chased from office.. Under Pope Benedict XVI. Cardinal Burke had a decisive influence on the appointment of bishops in the United States. Appointments, which created a healthy episcopate, in their orientation but found the reluctance of Pope Francis. In December 2013 he removed Cardinal Burke from the Congregation for Bishops and from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. 

The real clash of opposing positions, however, would  only be to follow. Cardinal Burke, a brilliant canon lawyer, was the spokesman for the defense of Catholic marriage and morality against the Kasper theses at the Synod of Bishops, 2014.  He hinted at tampering on a grand scale with which the Synod of Bishops was canted in a progressive direction. He was so outraged that there could be such a thing in the Church, he hinted that the manipulation was carried out by papal support. Shortly before the start of the Synod, an anthology to defend the marriage sacrament and the natural family appeared at the initiative of Cardinal Burke  with contributions by five well-known cardinals. The annoyance was so great that loud rumors began to circulate, Pope Francis cherished the intention to remove the cardinal from Rome in the papal environs. The threat would be a shot across the bow of Cardinal Burke to hold back at the Synod of Bishops. However, the US cardinal would not to be intimidated. Less than three weeks after the end of the Synod, Pope Francis acted on his threat and removed Cardinal Burke from the Roman Curia. As Cardinal Patronus of the Sovereign Military Order, the  Cardinal has no more influence on the leadership of the Church. Above all, he was therefore excluded from participating in the Synod of Bishops, 2015. The deposition can also be seen in connection with the provisional administration of the traditional Order of Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. In a regular trial would be the case ended up as a last instance on the table by Cardinal Burke. It was a probability that they obviously did not want to risk in the papal circle.

The interventions involved the central areas clergy, liturgy and sacraments and the Supreme Court. With the appointment of Cardinal Robert Sarah, succeeding Cardinal Cañizares, Pope Francis barely reached what he had intended. Cardinal Sarah developed the new office to become one of the most famous and outstanding cardinal figures. The integration of Africa into the "Latin American Agenda" has so far failed miserably. The African Synod was valuable during the Synod of Bishops in 2015 with an energetic resistance against the "liberal Kasperians" ( Messa in Latino ).

The Marginalization of the Remaining "Ratzingerian"

The depositions of leading Church representatives will have disciplined others who do not want to suffer the same fate. Pope Francis is considered an expert strategist. Too many personal interventions have made a reconstruction of the Church obvious. The "right" dosage protects an open flank. The dicastry  heads, with an unspoilt understanding of the church have little in common with Pope Francis, are ignored and marginalized by it. This concerns two more of the nine Curial Congregations: the Congregation of Faith and the Congregation for Bishops. Faith Prefect Cardinal Gerhard Müller and Bishop Prefect Cardinal Marc Ouellet were indeed left by Francis in office and dignity, but isolated. See:

At Cardinal Müller:  Pope Francis and the marginalization of the CDF
to Cardinal Ouellet: Pope Francis and the appointment of bishops: "He is looking for the most progressive candidate"

This has the optical advantage that the Roman Curia seems "balanced" from the outside and more parts of the Church in Rome could feel somehow represented. It does not match the actual internal power relations. Pope Francis rules autocratically.

Cardinal George Pell: Dismissal from Australia

Another cardinal not trusted by Pope Francis. The Australian Cardinal George Pell is for  the pope's progressive entourage, "the other side."  When Pope Francis announced a month after his election, the establishment of a Cardinal Council  that should assist in the reform of the Roman Curia and the guidance of the universal Church, he adopted a geographical key.  Each continent should be represented by one Cardinal in the new body. Cardinal Pell was at this time the only Cardinal of Oceania and slipped inevitably into the so-called C8 Council of cardinal advisers (today C9 council of cardinal advisers). It was an unintentional "glitch" like the successor of Cardinal Cañizares. 

Cardinal Pell was appointed in February 2014 even to the Roman Curia and appointed Prefect of the newly established Economic Secretariat. Actually an appreciation. First, the new dicastery existed only on paper, while Pope Francis had received the opportunity to restructure the Australian episcopate. Cardinal Pell was the dominant figure on the fifth continent because of his personality and his rank. Francis rejected all three proposed candidates for the successor of the Archbishop of Sydney, which had been suggested to him by the competent Cardinal Ouellet and Congregation of Bishops in consultation with Cardinal Pell. The Pope appointed a candidate of his choice. How this came about, was, as in other cases, completely opaque. According to the Canadian religious experts Alain Pronkin  Pope Francis seeks the most "progressive candidates".  He does not rely on the competent institutions, but to the recommendations of personal confidants.

There was puzzlement in Rome about the appointment of Cardinal Pell to the Curia. The most credible explanation seems that Pope Francis thus, made the same attempt as that made by the Pope John Paul II with Walter Kasper:  Push back his influence in the home country by transportation and involve him in the papal agenda. But the Australian cardinal moved to Rome not of his convictions and proved in the Synod of Bishops as very staunch defender of Catholic marriage and morality.  At the Synod in 2014, he continued his defense against the Kasper theses, although his microphone  had been turned off by the Synod  against the rules of procedure.  About his situation it was said: "Some get dirty." Cardinal Burke called out the "dirty game" publicly and was promptly punished.

Again and again, therefore, there was of papal displeasure against Cardinal Pell's speech, or of "maneuvers" to remove him from Rome. There is also concern is also on the side of the Cardinal himself and reflects a general uncertainty in the Roman Curia. Whoever does not belong to the progressively aligned, narrow court of the Pope, spends his time in Rome  with some trepidation.

The PricecaterhouseCoopers action

Yesterday it was announced that the contract for the audit of the Holy See by the company PricecaterhouseCoopers was to be "suspend." The accounting firm founded in 1865, headquartered in Frankfurt had taken over the external Audit of the Holy See and of Vatican City, as well as its tax advice. The relevant negotiations  were handled by Pope Francis' Economic Council, headed by Cardinal Reinhard Marx as project coordinator. The commissioning of the Frankfurt-based company was announced last December 5, 2015. The duration of the contract relates to a period of three years. The order volume amounts to three million euros. The contract with PricecaterhouseCoopers was signed by Cardinal Pell as the competent prefect.

On the 20th and 23rd of February, the Cardinal had informed all Vatican offices that are subjected to investigation. Therein, the chief officers were informed that PricecaterhouseCoopers itself will be put in touch with them and that they would issue a permit that the auditors can talk to all competent managers of offices and which includes cooperating with them.

In recent days, the State Department suddenly issued a contrary order. All Vatican offices received a letter from Cardinal Secretary of State Parolin and his substitutes curia Archbishop Becciu that the Audit is "suspended." "A decision that can not be done without the consent of the pope," said Vatican Insider .

This involves neither  PricewaterhouseCoopers nor  their work. It isn't related to the "resistance" of some offices, wishing to avoid supervision. It involves "only" formal legal aspects.

Since last year, after a start-up time, the statutes were adopted for the Secretariat of the Economy and the Economic Council, the formal conclusion of the award of the contract does not comply with the intended procedure. This gap must be closed in accordance with the statutes and newly awarded the contract. He promulgated again PricewaterhouseCoopers. The measure would be to "rehabilitate" only formal errors   that might otherwise give rise to legal complaints.

"Message to Cardinal Pell, who has the last word"

The details of this "strange" operation remain opaque. The C9 Council of cardinal advisers (to which Pell belongs) had been expressly discussed concerning orders to external firms  just as Cardinal Secretary of State Parolin and Cardinal Coordinator of the Economic Council Marx.  All the more astonishing is the intervention of the State Secretariat.

The situation this causes is embarrassing  only for Cardinal Pell. He has signed the contract with the consent and on behalf of other, at least this suggests it. Worse  there is the impression he is not capable of leading his office and -- even worse -- not contractible.  Now there is the impression that he was unable to perform his duties.

Therefore Pell let it be known by a spokesman for the Economic Secretariat, "to be somewhat surprised" by the letter of the State Secretariat. But he was convinced that the "work of PricewaterhouseCoopers will continue soon."

The Vatican expert Edward Pentin ( National Catholic Register ) sees in the whole operation a "message" to Cardinal Pell.  Apparently they wanted to give him to understand who's boss. He certainly did not.

Yesterday, Cardinal Pell was received by Pope Francis. It is to be assumed that the audience is in direct connection with these events. The moral of the story: Curia staff, the highest ranking that do not belong to Pope Francis' alignment [Chaotic Evil?], have a tough time at the Roman Curia.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi 
Image: hawaiicatholicherald (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

French Bishops Helpless Against the Onslaught of Cultural Marxism and Its Islamic Allies in Their Own Schools

Edit: interesting article from tiberge at Gallia Watch and largely missing from the English media. He is also covering the enormous Nuit demonstrations happening in France lately, advocating immigration in the spirit of 1968:

A reader sent this article from Riposte-Catholique by Guy Rouvrais about the Islamization of Catholic Schools in France. 

The bishops of France, meeting in Lourdes the other week, examined the presence of Islam in France. "This question of Islam no longer involves only a few persons engaged in the dialogue, but targets all communities," explained a spokesman. Until recently, Islam was only a topic of dialogue between Catholic specialists and compliant Muslim interlocutors, more intellectual than mystical. This was all in strict accordance with Vatican II's notion of dialogue, that was expressed in these glowing terms: "…Muslims, who adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all-powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God."

But today, this irenic vision in no longer current. Our whole society is concerned about the rise of Islam, and it is no longer a matter of dialogue but one of self-defense. Against Islamist terrorists, of course, but also, doctrinally, against the others who, though called "moderate", never stop turning Christians into Muslims. The former being unable to respond to the objections of the latter. Such is the observation of bishop Dubost: "When the Muslims speak to their Christian buddies about their "three gods", referring to the Trinity, many don't know how to respond… What do we propose to the faithful to help them to live and explain the Incarnation, the Resurrection, the Trinity?" We must first admit the failure of the catechism when the teaching of the Catholic doctrine is reduced to the barest minimum because of humanitarian considerations, which is not the case in the Koranic schools. 

 Continue reading here....

China: Wife of an Underground Protestant Pastor Buried Alive During Demolition of Church

  (Beijing) Ding Cumei is the wife of Protestant underground pastor Li Jiangog.  The couple was desperate to prevent the destruction of their official Church in the People's Republic of China. One of the workers had been given instructions: "Bury them. I'll take responsibility."  The pastor's wife died under the rubble of the church demolished by demolition excavators. Her husband was still able to get out of the rubble.

The gruesome murder took place last April 14 in Zhumadian, Henan Province. Local police arrested two construction workers. Details were not disclosed. The authorities seem to want to avoid any "damaged image" by a cover-up of the bloody incident.

Pastor Li Jiangong and his wife Ding saw the excavator roll in, which had been commissioned by the government to tear down their church. An investor had expressed an interest for the land on which the church stood.

The couple stood against the demolition excavators. A worker  ordered his team "to bury" them. .According to eyewitnesses, the backhoe operator had pushed the couple into a pit which was then filled with demolition material and earth. Pastor Li was able to free himself, but could not come to the rescue of his wife. 

Ever since the Communist authorities launched an anti-Christianity campaign in 2013 of "urban cleansing" and "economic improvement", 1,700 Christian symbols and dozens of churches have been destroyed just in Zhejiang Province. Church destruction also occurred in the provinces of Hebei, Hubei and Henan. In spring 2013 Xia Baolong, the Communist Party Secretary of Zhejiang Province, declared that there are "too many crosses."

Christians see a Kulturkampf of the communist regime against Christianity which has  experienced significant growth by conversions in the region.

Text: Asianews / Giuseppe Nardi 
Image: Difesa del Popolo (screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

LInk to Katholisches....

AMDG

New York Archdiocese Commits Sin of Calumny Against Journalist

Edit: they're so incredibly dirty and evil, but they are believed to be good by millions of more or less decent people. 

We've always thought highly of Voris' work, even if he does borrow liberally from us.

TRANSCRIPT

If you have children around, you may want to view this first before them.

As you probably know, the apostolate has been somewhat silent this week publicly.  That’s because a situation has developed that I must fill you in on. It involves the sins of my past life all committed prior to my reversion to the Catholic faith. We have on very good authority from various sources that the New York archdiocese is collecting and preparing to quietly filter out details of my past life with the aim of publicly discrediting me, this apostolate and the work here.

I have never made a secret that my life prior to my reversion was extremely sinful. I have said many times — in public — that I was in a state of mortal sin, and had I died, I would have been damned. I also revealed these sins were of a sexual nature and that they occurred over a prolonged period of time. I did not reveal the specific nature or details of the sins, because when I returned home to the Church, I did not think that a full public confession of details was necessary in order to start proclaiming the great mercy of God.

Perhaps that was a wrong assessment. I don't seriously know. Perhaps along these years I should have been revealing of greater detail. That, I now think so, but more on that in a moment.

http://www.churchmilitant.com/video/episode/limiting-god

Really, No Women's Preaching -- Osservatore Romano Makes (Half) Step Back

The False Prophet Takes a Half-Step Back

(Rome) In the March issue of the women's supplement Donne Chiesa Mondo of the Osservatore Romano the demand for women preaching was levied. If not women priests, then at least women preachers was the slogan.

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In the current edition of the Osservatore Romano, a step was taken back. It does not come from some "conservative" side, but from that progressive milieu that dominated the content of the March women's supplement.

Woman's Supplement to the Osservatore Romano creating confusion

The "Prior" of Bose, Enzo Bianchi, whom Msgr. Antonio Livi has  called a "false prophet," writes on page 4 that which "may possibly have given rise to confusion" in the March Supplement. It "had no intention to contradict the current discipline".

Bianchi himself was one of the main causes of confusion with his contribution to the March supplement. He named the same "three conditions" for the "lay preaching of men and women". The "conditions" are to be understood not as a limitation, but as a justification of lay preaching.

A month late, Bianchi   now offers what ecclesiastical discipline states.

The Code of Canon Law of 1983 (Canon 767.1), the common instruction of eight dicasteries on some questions regarding the participation of the laity in the ministry of priests in 1997, the instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum of 2004, the Homiletic Directorate of 2014 to name  the recent rules, affirm an unequivocal ban on lay preaching, as it has always been considered. During the Mass, only a priest, and possibly a deacon, may preach.

Only half a step backward

Does this make things right? Hardly likely. Bianchi was apparently called off by someone. There are rumors circulating that Pope Francis, although Bianchi is neither a priest, nor deacon, nor a monk, but a layman, could raise him in the cardinal's state in Rome.

The step back is therefore only of a tactical nature, as Bianchi himself has  hinted in his justification.

"The monthly articles had no intention to contradict  the current discipline but dare to ask with great respect, the question of whether it would be possible that the theological search and the rules of the Church might be represented, to allow lay men and women in future positions of trust for this ministry.

The emphasis in the first part of "current", not perpetual discipline. What applies merely to "present," may tomorrow be changed. This is where Bianchi aims lie. What is his goal, even though he is "currently" subject, he says "with great respect", rather bluntly.

As things will continue  with the women's supplement, and generally, with the Osservatore Romano, seems to be in limbo. The semi-official daily newspaper of the Pope sells few copies and is therefore constantly in the red.

The newly erected Communications Secretariat by Pope Francis  is planning drastic cuts. Currently,  Osservatore Romano appears in print in several languages.  The cost of such expenditure should be reduced. Work is underway to relocate the emphasis of the online edition. The prefect of the Communication Secretariat, Msgr. Dario Viganò never belonged to the Osservatore Romano which might be of some importance in the shift in emphasis in the reorganization of the means of the Vatican's communication.

The issue of thematic focus is so however not answered.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Il Timone
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG

Are There Still Heretics and Heresies in the Church? -- Dissident Group Complains to the CDF

Offices of the CDF

(Rome) A group of Catholic theologians, bishops, priests and nuns, a total of 15 people, has asked the Roman Congregation for  "more transparency," Vatican Radio reported.

The authority should ignore "anonymous denunciations"  in the future, reads the letter released today. Furthermore, all those whose writings are studied, should know exactly of what they are accused and who conducts the investigation. Also, the same persons ought not to be the prosecutor, investigator and judge. The 15 signatories come from Australia, the USA, Ireland or Spain and have been criticized on their own account for their works by the CDF. As justification for their current letter, they say they had written proposals at the end of February  to Rome, but received no reply.

"The  CDF which goes back to the 16th century is the oldest and highest in dogmatic questions, highest Vatican curial authority. Its task is to promote and protect the teaching of the Catholic Church, as in the Apostolic Constitution, 'Pastor Bonus.' The "Department of the Doctrine" observes theological research and checks whether individual content is compatible with the principles of the Catholic faith. The experts of the CDF evaluate works nominated by local church authorities with the same object.. If necessary, the CDF tries to clarify any problems in exchange with the author,", says Vatican Radio .

The problem in the Church, however, is not a lack of transparency by the CDF, but heretics, dissenters and the disobedient. They want to keep neither to the ecclesiastical doctrine nor to ecclesiastical discipline and then complain about it even when they are held accountable to it. It's an attitude which has an anarchic underlying basis. Each party and each club has a statutory objective, a purpose and a system. According to these ideas the Catholic Church should do no less than give free rein.

The problem is rather that there is no real point in the Church, to which Catholics, clergy and laity, can lodge complaints against everyday violations of the Catholic doctrine and order. An authority that reliably handles the input and power of decision.

After letters to the competent bishop remain unanswered, or letters to other places show no effect, many of the faithful give up.

In German-speaking countries,  several hundred priests and deacons have signed a Call to Disobedience. There are no real consequences known. The words "heretic" and "heresy" are avoided. It no longer exists in the current language of the Church, in fact. Therefore the result is the uncertainty in dealing with heretics and heresies, who and complain even if at some point someone puts them in their place.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Wikicommons

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches....

AMDG

Pope Francis and the Appointment of Bishops: "He Looks For the Most Progressive Candidates"

Pope Francis and Cardinal Ouellet shortly before the Conclave
of 2013 on St. Peter's Square

(Rome) Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the Roman faith prefect is not the only cardinal who is marginalized by Pope Francis (see Pope Francis and the Marginalization of the CDF). This also applies to another "Ratzingerian", the French-Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect the Congregation for Bishops. 

In his first interview with the atheist Eugenio Scalfari on the October 1, 2013 for the daily newspaper La Repubblica,  Pope Francis said, looking at some members of the Roman Curia: "the court is the leprosy of the papacy ".

But Francis seems "to fight the leper and not the leprosy," said Secretum meum mihi . The daily newspaper Le Journal de Montréal headline in yesterday's edition: "Cardinal Ouellet no longer has the ear of the Pope".  Cardinal Ouellet is responsible, as prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, for the appointment of bishops. His dicastery is preparing the appointment of bishops by the pope, is collecting the necessary information and recommends candidates.

Pope Francis "throws Ouellet's recommendations in the trash"

Under Pope Francis, things have fundamentally changed: "Pope Francis has thrown his recommendations for the appointment of new bishops into the trash," said the French-Canadian newspaper.

"It is worrying because it is the task of Cardinal Ouellet in Rome to propose in the Pope's name, but he ignores them and decides on all other candidates," said Quebec Religion specialist Alain Pronkin.

The French daily La Croix reported a few days ago that "it has already happened, that Pope Francis rejected all three names submitted to him by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, [...] and even sought out others for direction. "

According to the weekly magazine L'Espresso that was the case, for example, in the replacement of three important Sees: Chicago, Madrid and Sydney.

The appointments for Francis are not only a question of suitability, but a question of direction. The real revolution of Pope Francis is done by appointment .

Pope Francis looking for "the most progressive candidate"

According to Le Journal de Montréal , it was even "very rare" that the Pope follows the recommendations of the Cardinal, although that is his task and Cardinal Ouellet, through his staff, has the best overview of the situation in a diocese.

However, the Pope uses his own channels, not the official, but informal, and which may also come about by accident. According to Alain Pronkin, Pope Francis is looking for the "progressive candidates". For this he has to rely on recommendations. What he rejects with Cardinal Ouellet are accepted from among the Pope's confidants. In other words, the belief and understanding of the Church by Cardinal Ouellet, a Ratzingerianer, displeases the pope.

"A concrete example: The Pope believes in the fact that the divorced and remarried can receive Communion, while Cardinal Ouellet, however, expressed his rejection of this," said Alain Pronkin.

The same applies to the issue of homosexuality.

For this reason, Francis shuns everything that is presented to him by Cardinal Ouellet and relies instead on labile random recommendations.

Recommendation by a progressive confidant enough to be Bishop

This was not quite by chance. The Pope operates by information obtained from part of the Jesuit Order.  What is decisive for Francis is the progressive attitude of the candidates who must be confirmed to him by a confidant. That is enough. The Pope then needs no dossiers and reports, as they are presented to him by the Congregation for Bishops. A person's recommendation of trust is sufficient to make someone a bishop.

The archdiocesan chair of Chicago is one of the most influential in the US.  and Pope Francis rejected all three candidates that were presented to him by Cardinal Ouellet,  in collaboration with the Apostolic Nuncio and the former Archbishop Cardinal Francis George. Instead, he appointed Bishop Blaise Cupich, who was regarded as one of the biggest outsiders in the episcopate of the United States because of his progressive views. Thus, Francis not only drove a splinter, but a real stake into the heart of the Catholic Church in the United States. Archbishop Cupich has already called for the communion for divorced and remarried and the acceptance of homosexuality.

Shortly before his death, Cardinal George wrote about the Synod of Bishops in Rome:

"The pope has said he wants to see on every question, and so it happened, so he got what he wanted, and now he has to fix it. [...] This raises the question of why he does not clarify these things himself. Why is it necessary that apologists have the burden to find the best interpretation? He has not realized the consequences of some of his statements, or even his actions? Does he not realize the impact? "

As is known,  the post-synodal Letter of Amoris Laetitia did not receive papal clarification, for the "apologists" are busy again on the road, "to find the best interpretation".

Appointments: Here the "revolution" Francis performs most effectively

Pope Francis has been working meticulously on a new personnel network on the decision-making level, which should lead the Church structurally well beyond his death in a particular direction. Maybe his personal policy, which is usually revealed very quietly, revealed even in the most important field of activity in which he transposes his vision of the Church vision. Here his "revolution" is at its most enduring.

According to Pronkin, Cardinal Ouellet could soon be replaced by Pope Francis. The French Canadian, says Pronkin, would not be the first high Curia employee who would deposed because of his criticism of the papal course. However, Francis had found a way to make the appointments himself, although the competent Congregation is in the hands of persons whose convictions he rejects. The informal, semi-clandestine appointments to official bodies in the  past is not only a temporary solution, but probably corresponds to the disposition of the Pope and his aversion to rules and laws. [Or he doesn't want to spend the political capital to get rid of him, when he can do the job himself.]

There have been advantages for the "revolution" of episcopal appointments that a Ratzingerianer still officially stands at the head of the Congregation for Bishops. It maintains the impression in the Church  that there is a balancing counterweight, but one  that does not exist in reality. [There were still very, very bad appointments under Benedict.]

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: MiL (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG