Go Figure: 99% of Child Sexual Abuse Occurs Outside of the Catholic Church

This is all pretty significant in the light of recent allegations against Jimmy Saville who was covered up for by the BBC and society in general as he worked and is now found guilty by the police.

The author of the blog jobo72, Joseph Bordat, wrote a guest post at kath.net, and was predictably criticized for the statement: "99 Percent of Catholic clergy had or rather have nothing to do with sexual abuse.  99 percent of the cases of abuse do not take place in the area of the Church."

He proceeded to elaborate on it and here's a quick translation:

To start out with the suggestion "99 percent" is not here meant arithmetically, but rhetorically.  So as one says: "That I have done that 1000 times!" and so one means that one has had the experience because one -- in any event-- has already had done this often.

Should the expression "99 percent" be understood arithmetically, we would have to look precisely.  We'll do that.

If we assume that the perpetrator on average has multiple victims ( a scientific study of 2012 puts the relationship at close to about 1:10), and in the last 60 years in Germany there have been 1,200 sexual abuses by priests (that is the number of those, who have been paid damages from funds established by the Church; that is not an exact figure, but it is a plausible magnitude), then we're talking about 120 Catholic priests, who have been offenders in the past.  Double the number of "precautionary",  to take into account individual cases, then the number lays at about 240 Catholic clergy.

In the last 60years there have been at least 40,000 priests active in Germany.  At the present there are approximately 15,000 times two (from which we could gather about two generations of priests in 60 years) , which gives 30,000.  Actually, earlier, there were significantly more priests:  1990 there were still 20,000, in 1950 there were about 30,000.  To reckon how many priests in total were active in Germany, is almost impossible.  As a reference point we could also serves as "the more than 100,000 personal acts", which the KFN (Kriminelle Forschungs Institut) study plays a role, but actually it includes not only the acts of priests, but the crimes of those in pastoral services (Deacons, Parish Employees) as also in other areas of Church activity.  We're arriving at this, therefore, from 40,000 priests.

Then we'd have had about 240 perpetrators from 40,000 clergy, which is a portion of 0.6 percent of "criminal priests" among all clergy.

Let's look at the part of "the Church" with the total number of abuse cases in the last 60 years.  Here we leave out the established cases and refrain from accepting every "dark figure"- estimation. (because it doesn't just happen in society, but also in the Church*)

For German society there are about 18,000 established cases per year.  Statistics of the last years show a small reduction in the occurrence of about 15,000 per year, but also years with about 20,000 occurrences.  From the past, there is (following the trend) it is figured to be higher.  In the last 60 years, there have been about 1,080,000 established abuse cases.  Putting the aforementioned 1,200 estimated, ** we would have a number "in the Church" of a total number of abuses of 0.1 percent.

In so far as I may make my statement concrete: "99.4 percent of Catholic priests had respectively have had nothing to do with sexual child abuse.  99.9 percent of the cases of abuse don't take place within the confines of the Church."

I don't really want this.  It seems to me that with these percentages of magnitude, to be a symbolic effect, that the horrible theme of child abuse is finally to be addressed as a social problem, and not only then, if perpetrators appear outside of the ranks of the Church.

Child abuse is "every day" in Germany.  And we talk about celibacy.  Now, that's the actual scandal!

Observations:

*  At this point it is merely to open the floodgates of speculation:  one merely needs to include a higher factor x of higher dark figures for the Church than for society (there the number is from 15 to 20 times higher than the number of recognized cases),  in order to include every arbitrary part "of the Church". With the discussion of "systematic concealment",  the figures of such calculations are discursively prepared.  On the other hand, to defend against this, there can only be the most open revelation possible of all relevant incidents.

** It would be indeed correct, not to compare the number of accusations, but the number of criminally convicted perpetrators, actually there is an "distorted view", because many cases within the Church at the time of their discovery were already out of date, which runs counter to a legal prosecution by the perpetrator. It has to  fall back on "weak data",  in order generally could employ a comparison.

Pornographer Monk Assigned to Jacob Wetterling's Home Town

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them." - St. Matthew 7: 15-16

 Edit: while some Bishops are concerned with abuses of the Liturgy and holding hands, other Bishops and Abbots, are seeing to it that their parishes are stocked with unsuitable and evil men, as if they wanted to curse, rather than bless, the Faithful, even putting the women and children in serious moral and even physical danger.

His Work Looks Violent and Evil.

Going back to the very earliest days of the so-called Sexual Revolution to today, there has been what can only be described as a festering malignancy at a Modernist Monastery in Collegeville, Minnesota, where a decadent clergy is bitterly fighting to hide and continue living out its evil crimes. Patrick Marker, who operates the Pine Curtain site, which is devoted to exposing this evil, has released a letter sent on January 7th to 1,100 residents of a the town of St. Joseph, which has been overseen by the Benedictines of Collegeville for more than a century and a half.  It is also the home of the currently missing Jacob Wetterling.

 Its current pastor, a man by the name of Father Jerome Tupa, is very much the kind of decadent pornographer, in fashion during this vulgar age.  He can be easily be compared to another such man whose works were proudly portrayed in Austria at St. Stephen's Cathedral, where Cardinal Schönborn exhibits the depraved works of a Communist named Hrdlicka, whose remains even desecrate the Cathedral cemetery, hang there to this day.  Some of Tupa's ourvre below, where he works in the medium of actual gold to represent the sexual organs in his eroticism:

Father Tupa enjoys a great deal of freedom and esteem today, and operates with impunity. In addition to being an "artist" whose distorted paintings reminiscent of madness and drug addiction has been turned loose on the small parish, in the home of the still missing Jacob Wetterling, despite being accused of being a sexual predator himself. As Pat Marker writes of a monk who suffered at Father Tupa's hands:

How different might Saint John’s had been if monks like Father Jerome Tupa left the monastery to pursue their own selfish pleasures and allowed individuals such as these two men, who were called to monastic life, remain! How many good men did Father Tupa drive from religious life?

The former monk himself writes:

“… my memories of those days are negative ones. There certainly seemed to be a great deal of ‘sexual’ tension and many of the monks seemed to have agendas aside from monastic brotherhood. As a young man and monk I ended up very confused about the whole experience. Upon leaving the monastery all those years ago I have never returned to the Catholic church. Although still a ‘believer’ I’ve just never gone back.”

Image source.

8 Million Process In Manila With "Black Nazarene" Statue

Edit: this is taking place at a time when political forces in the Philippines is trying to unseat the Church's influential role in the country and the Bishops preach against an RH bill.

 Bangkok (kath.net/KNA) The Procession of the "Black Nazarene", a statue of Jesus from the 17th century, has drawn crowds of 7 to 8 million people. About 200 people were injured during the Catholic procession on Wednesday, 500 less than the year before, reports asian press service "Ucanews". The prayer procession through the streets of the Philippine capital took place on the 9th of January. It is among the most important religious feasts of the nation.

 The most injuries were because of the throng, as believers attempted to touch the holy image, reported Ucanews, citing reports from the National Red Cross. Some participants were overcome by exhaustion. In the previous year the procession took 22 hours. At this years celebration 3,000 police and 1,000 other auxiliaries were in service.

Manila's Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle called for "the sacredness of life" in view of violent altercations in the last days. According to reports, a large number of politicians took part in the event. The life sized figure of the crucified Christ was made at the beginning of the 17th century in Mexico. The black color, which is the reason for its title "Nazareno Negro", is supposed to have been caused by a fire on board ship as it journeyed to the Philippines. The Philippines are the only Catholic land of Asia, besides the former Portuguese colony of East Timor.

Arson in Three Churches in Lower Austria as Yet Unsolved

Anti-Clerical incitement of hate in Austria for the last years has brought first "fruits".

On the 23rd of December 2012 three churches in the city of Amstetten were set afire.  The area with over 2,300 inhabitants it situated in western Lower Austria.

The most seriously damaged is the church of the Franciscan School Sisters.  The fire spread from the confessional to five pews.  The church will have to be closed for half a year for the clearing away of the burn damage and the complete renovation.

In the two other churches (city parish church and Herz Jesu Kirche) the damage is less.

A police drawing of the suspects has been published.

New Evangelization Necessary 

Diocesan Bishop Klaus Kung stressed in his sermon for the year's end of 2012 the necessity of "a renewed (new) effort for the spreading of the Gospel."

Thus is "everyone, who is close to the mysteries of our Faith know, what they require and correspondingly prepare", what is obviously no longer the case.

The superficiality of the knowledge of the Catholic Faith in the wake of the Second Vatican Council (or better: the abuses in the name of the Council) is no longer concealable by the Bishops any longer.

Also its "disquieting phenomenona" like the disturbing of the peace in St. Pöltener Cathedral by the ORF  recently about "Pussy Riot" -- as a copy or the people's eagerness against the alleged ecclesiastical privileges are a sign of a "certain change of mood" in the land.

Link to source...

"Islam Wants to Take Away Our Porno Videos"

Debate over Values

Martin Mosebach deals in his book "Der Ultramontane - Alle Wege führen nach Rom" [The Ultramonane -- All Paths Lead to Rome] with the question, among others, where the much prized Western values truly lay.

[kreuz.net] That Frankfurt's writer Martin Mosebach "participates in the claims of the Catholic Faith" and publishes "pointed messages to the Church, State and Society" is well known up till now.

That he has discovered the "Old Mass" and learned to treasure it and also otherwise is not inclined to the modernist inclinations of progressive secular theologians,  has distanced him from the progressive political side,  from the progressive "Catholic" side however it has brought him hate.

Nowhere has a conservative encountered  so clearly, open mistrust from Left Catholics, as he has noticed.

Mosebach has experienced the concept "Ultramontane",  which came from the "lapsed Prussian-Catholic conflict" again: "The Ultramontane lives in the conviction that the society of the homeland that he should have the last word in questions of law and morality."  and "The appearances of Catholics conceal the Ultramontane."  He recognizes therefore the Pope in Rome -- the city ultra montes (beyond the mountain) -- as the final authority.  "Ultramontanism is the refusal of anti-totalitarianism".


The Secularistic "Lehman-Church"

The current Catholic Church in Germany is no longer "ultramontanist", loyally bound to the Pope, it "is  not in a decided manner", it seeks "the Sonderweg (special way), which does not shy from being opposed to Rome."

What does "threat to Western Values" mean?

With the concept "Lehmann-Church" ( named after the Mainz Liberal-Cardinal)  the "degeneration of the Church is  bound to the open world consensus".  One is more transfixed by Islam, not to defend Catholicism, but because of the "threat to Western values".

And:  "The evidence is even now now presented, that 'threats to Western values' are described much more in terms of: "Islam will take away our porno videos".

Japanese Translator: Thomas Aquinas as Bach

Edit: this is probably one of the most genius comments written this year.

Bangkok (kath.net/KNA) Ryosuke Inagaki (84) emeritus Philosophy professor of the University of Kyushu, has completed his translation of St. Thomas Aquinas' "Summa Theologica" into Japanese.  "Thomas' writing is like a piece by Bach, with a rhythm, which lightens the way.  For that reason, once I was into the translation,  it went seemingly fast,"  said Inagaki to the press service of Ucanews on Monday.  He did not find the work as an obligation.

The professor had completed the translation of  20 of the 45 volumes himself and accompanied the project till its completion at the end of September.  The "Summa" of the Dominican friar and Doctor of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas (from 1225-1274) is counted of the most important theologico-philosophical works of the Middle Ages.

Inagaki, who was himself baptized as a student, learned of the work of Thomas Aquinas, among other things, from a US Officer stationed in Japan after the Second World War.  Later he studied the concept of Thomas' natural law.  As a translation project he pushed through the eleventh volume.

His favorite edition of the "Summa theological" remained according to Ucanews, a 1952 soft cover exemplar for the general US market with the title "My Way of Life".  The title made correct statement that Thomas wanted to make an instruction manual for people "who really wanted to be truly and actually happy", said Inagaki.

There were 15 researchers participating in  the Japanese translation by the agency.  Half of them did not survive to finish the last volume.  The founder of the publishing house, in which the Japanese "Summa" appeared, died two days after the completion of the galley proof of the last volume.  A Latin-German, was begun to 34 volumes of the extant edition in 1933.  It is still not finished.

Link to kath.net...

Gregorian Chorale Makes the Vocations Grow

(Washington) The regular Choir Brothers of the Premonstratensian Abbey of St. Micheal in California have published a new CD with Gregorian Music from the liturgical hours of their community. The Abbey of Silverado in Orange County is biritual and preserves the "Old Mass" as awell as the Novus Ordo according to the prescriptions of the Second Vatican Council for Liturgy. The Canons Regular make a special consideration for the special value. Additionally they seek to presever the living content of their own order's special forms. Gregorian and Liturgy has offered a growth of vocations thorugh the years for the abbey. In an ineterview with the Catholic News Agency (CNS) the Premonstratensians have explained why the brothers have taken this particular manner for the spreading of Gregorian Chorale.

It is not so much a musical point of view, which they are seeking after, rather a conscious apostolate for the New Evangelization and the promotion of vocations.

The Abbey has led to numerous voations in its fostering of Gregorian Change and Liturgy.

"The beauty is made through the lifting up of the faithful, in order to build them, so that the Father can be praised in Mass" said Father Ambrose Criste, Noice Master of the Abbbey.

The 13 tracks of “Gregorian Chant: Together on the Way,” includes liturgical texts, hymns, and a litany. The songs were recorded in the St. Michael Abbey chapel, located in Silverado.

Father Chrysostom Baer, the abbey's cantor, said he chose the selected pieces as “the most Catholic things I could get my hands on.”

The selections were originally sung by the Norbertine canons to introduce and complement three performances by the Pacific Symphony Orchestra in Costa Mesa, Calif.

“We were going to give them some Catholic prayers,” said Fr. Baer, “and hopefully through the beauty of the moment, they would join their hearts to ours.”

The selections sang by the Norbertines at the concert hall in February of last year were then recorded so as to bring the music to a wider audience.

“It's a really excellent vehicle for evangelization,” said Fr. Baer. “I ran into someone just two weeks ago who recognized our habits from one of those concerts, who had more questions and wanted to come visit.”

Fr. Criste noted that their music is so beautiful because chant plays a major role in the Norbertine life. “It's something we do throughout the day, every day,” he said.

The abbey's public mass is chanted four days a week, and every day the Liturgy of the Hours is chanted. The seminarians of the order have choir practice five days a week, “which consists almost entirely of Gregorian chant.”

Fr. Criste said that chant is not just for religious communities. In the parish, “ideally, I would think it should play a daily role,” he reported.

“The (Second) Vatican Council was clear that pride of place goes to Gregorian chant, and that's just following in the tradition of the 20th century, all the way back to Pope St. Pius X.”

While acknowledging that not all parishes can have as wide or difficult a repertoire as can abbeys, he said, “everybody could sing some chant.”

Fr. Baer said the community hopes that its dignified, traditional liturgy “gives people an experience of what we know the Council was asking for in the public celebration of the liturgy.”

St. Michael's Abbey was founded by a group of refugees from a Norbertine abbey in Hungary in the 1950s which was threatened by Soviet control. The community currently numbers 76, including both priests and seminarians.

“God has blessed us immensely with constant vocations,” Fr. Criste said. “Every year we get a handful of young men who want to join our way of life, and given today's culture where they can do anything else that would be more 'exciting', that really says something about the grace of God.”

Norbertines are an order of canons regular also known as Premonstratensians. Though they are based in an abbey, they have pastoral ministry as well.

The primary apostolate of St. Michael's Abbey is its prep school for boys, though it also teaches and ministers at schools and parishes in the Orange and Los Angeles dioceses. Nearly all the public celebrations of Mass in the extraordinary form are celebrated by canons of St. Michael's Abbey.

“Together on the Way” will be St. Michael's fourth CD release. All are part of an effort to get the word out about the community, as they aim to build a new monastery and school to accommodate their vocations boom.
H/t Katholisces Source:Catholic News Agency Buy the LP here: none.

Pope Appoints Una Voce Chairman to Court of Appeal

(Vatican)  The last appointments by Pope Benedict XVI followed on time on the end of the year of 2012 on the 31st of December, concerned two new judges of the Appelations Court of the Vatican State.  The 1987 legal court is a vocational court of appeal for criminal and civil cases.

The new judges are Msgr. Egidio Tumarturi and RicardinlTurrini-Vita. Msgr Tumarturi was already a judge of the Sacra Rota Romana and member of the Diciplinne commission of the Vatican State.  In his later capacity he was the in charge of internal affairs into the allegations of mismanagement which has been entrusted to the then Secretary of the Govnorate of Vatican City, Ajrchibhosp Carlo Maria Vignano, who had now been raised Apostolic Nuncio to the United States. Allegation and investigations were made public by the documentable the then chamberlain of the Pope, Paolo Gabriele

The second new judge Riccardo Turrini Vita. The 51 year old Italian lawyer was from 1987 worked as a judge for civil matters in a district court first, then at the Supreme Court in Rome. From 1994 he worked in the Justice Department from 2002 to 2010 as head of the penitentiary system. In 2010 he was named general manager of the personnel department of the Justice Ministry. He represented the Italian government to Euro Europe, in charge of criminal and penal matters UN bodies and the High Commissioner for Human Rights. This past 22nd November it was Pope Benedict XVI. received in audience (picture), as in Rome, the Conference of Directors of prison administrations of Europe met.

Turrini Vita is Magistral Knights of Malta, Commander of Gregoriusorden and board member of the tradition associated Association Una Voce (Section Italy), whereupon the Vatikanist Sandro Magister pointed. Una Voce works worldwide for the maintenance and propagation of the Tridentine rite. Turrini Vita was already in an earlier term chairman of the Italian section.

Una Voce Italia was one of the promoters of the 1st International pilgrimage tradition, on the 3rd November 2012 found its conclusion with a Pontifical High Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite in St. Peter's Basilica. The pilgrimage was in gratitude for the grant of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum by Pope Benedict XVI. place five years ago.
Link original...

Homo-Soho Mass is Over in UK

Here's from Damian Thompson it's a big story. Remember when we reported about this, that archbishop Muller as going to fix this? But guess what? It's to be replaced by a TLM. Here it is:

A big story has just broken on the Catholic Herald website:
Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster has announced that Masses in Soho organised for people with same-sex attraction are to end.
He also revealed that the church where the Masses took place will be given to the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.
The fortnightly “Soho Masses” at Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Warwick Street were established by the diocese almost six years ago. They were intended to be “particularly welcoming to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Catholics, their parents, friends and families”.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/author/damianthompson/

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re is (not) dead -- Dishonorable Role in the Case of Bishop Krenn and Msgr. Wagner?

(Rome)   The father of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Bishops, who had reached the age of 104 has died.  Pope Benedict XVI. has extended to the Cardinal and his family his condolences.  Matteo Re was the eldest of the the older members of the College of Cardinals.  He first saw the light of the world in 1908 in the Italian province of Brescia.

Because of his father's great age of the father, it was assumed that the Pope's consolation note was meant for the Cardinal's death, who celebrates his 79th birthday on January 30th of 2013.

From 2000 to 2010, he was part of the important Dicastry for the naming of Bishops in the so-called Old World.  At the Consistorium of 2001 he was raised to Cardinal by John Paul II.  Til then Re was a Curial Bishop from 1989 as a substitute to the Vatican Secretary of State.  His career was introduced in 1987 with his appointment as Secretary of the Bishops' Congregation.

For ten years Cardinal Re had significant influence in episcopal appointments in the "old" Christian nations.  At the age of 76 years on the end of the second five year time of office, he was replaced by the French Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet,  who was much closer to Ratzinger's way of thinking.

In Austria, Catholics who are true to Rome are stubbornly of the opinion that Cardinal Re played a dishonorable role in the resignation of Bishop Kurt Krenn of St. Pölten, as much as he played in the rejection of Auxiliary Bishop Gerhard Maria Wagner in Linz.  In both cases it was after a smear campaign inspired by the media, that progressive parts of the Church exerted massive pressure on the persons concerned, to reduce the exercise of the episcopal offices for the sake of internal ecclesiastical peace.  While part of the clergy campaigned in conjunction, the other Bishops refused solidarity to those attacked.

The Italian Cardinal Gioanni Battista Re was born in the 30th of January 1934, in Borno like his father.  in 1957, he received his priestly ordination in his home diocese of Brescia.  There is also only one vacant place remaining, which which would be vacant in a conclave.

Link to katholisches...

Bishop Fellay Addresses 2012

Edit: it is primarily the enemies of the Church, the Jews, the Masons the secularists who are opposed to the reconciliation with the SSPX as well as the most ardent advocates of Vatican II.

"The situation is not desperate, no, it's not the same as before. There is some hope." - Bishop Fellay

Graz Professor Demands Death Penalty for Pope

Graz (kath.net) Richard Parncutt, professor of Systematic Musicology at the University of Graz, recently called for the death of Pope Benedict on the official University home page a few days ago.  He  finds the Pope responsible for the deaths of millions of AIDS victims in the future.  After complaints the text was removed.  According to the "Kurier" the Dean of the Psychology Faculty, Helmut Konrad, as responded recently and distanced himself from the text. "Inhuman expressions have been directly removed.  Personal views, which are not in conjunction with scientific work, will not be tolerated on the University website."

Parncutt did not directly explain his inhumane comments and has at present has made a prepared statement to all who feel themselves to be insulted by the text.   His proposal had been completely inappropriate.  After the Christmas break,  Parncutt will be invited to a discussion with the University administration.  Disciplinary steps will follow.  The Professor has also asked for the execution of those who deny global warming.

Link to kath.net...

German Trappists Continue Traditional Restoration of Their Community

In 1963 Eberhard Vollberg was born in Frankfurt.  In December of 1986 he entered the Trappist Monastery of Mariawald.  He received the monastic name of Josef and studied theology and philosophy at the Austrian Cistercian Abbey of Heiligenkreuz near Vienna.  In June of 2006, he was ordained a priest and in November of the same year selected to be Abbot by the abbey's chapter. Under his leadership Mariawald undertook the task, in connection with the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum to use the traditional liturgical books.

Four years after this return to Tradition Paix Liturgique held an interview with Abbot Josef about this decision and its effect on the spiritual life of the Abbey.  The interview was in Brief 31 of the German edition of Pax Liturgique.

1) Could you say a few words about your Cloister, its history, its surroundings and its place in the Catholic world of Germany?

The Trappist Cloister of Mariawald is on the edge of the Eifel National Park, a distance of about 50 km south west of Cologne, a lonely place on the heights, surrounded by meadows and woods.  Its history began about the end of the 15th century with the growing interest in an miraculous painting, a Pieta.  In 1486 the Cistercians came here, in 1511 the Cloister church was consecrated.  The confusion of the French Revolution, just as much as the Kulturkampf and the Nazi-terror led to a gradualy dissolution and destruction, but the Mariawalder Cloister always restored itself like new.

Mariawald is the only Trappist Cloister in Germany.  The Trappists are monks of the renewal movement of the Cistercians in the 17th century, named after the Cloister of La Trappe.  The shortening of the order "OCSO" stands for Ordo Cisterciensium Strictoris Observantiae -- Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance.

In the Catholic wold of Germany Mariawald has lately taken a special place since the reform of 2008/09.  By a priviledge of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI., the Abbey looked to the books of the liturgy in the Rite according to the books which were in use by the Cistercians in 1963.  Mariawald is following the Holy Father's wish when he was Prefect and since then, to protect against the amnesia toward the spiritual roots and the everywhere encroaching self-destruction of the heritage of a more than 1,500 year old tradition.  The way of Mariawald  is so far understood as service to the sanctity of the Church and Christians in the world.

The reaction of the Catholic public corresponds to farflung circles not to the will of the Holy Father;  all too often the reform is dismissed as reactionary and therefore rejected.  On the other side Mariawald is also accompanied by joyful agreement and gratitude, as among others to those faithful who come to the Sunday High Mass and shown by the significant inquiries after guest retreats.  Also mentionable is also the tolerance and respect of certain friendly neighboring relationships of various communities, some of which have honored  and revered the holy image of Mariawald --- a relationship which is unfortunately the exception up until now.

2)  Could you explain your motivations, to address the Motu Proprio "Summorum Pontificum" of 2008 and choose the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite for you Cloister?  How as the situation before?  Has your community suffered in the post-Conciliar crisis?

Fruits following on the Second Vatican Council  were not recognizable:  The Community had became significantly smaller.  Between 1965 and 2011 there were many departures and among the vocations, older men and only two vocations of younger, who proved their worth.  For that reason there was the desire, in stead of the anthorpocentric tendencies of the new orientation, to turn again to put God back in the center.  Just like a tree, which can only live from the power of its roots, so may the monk -- and not only him! -- fill in the wisdom of hundreds of years as a treasure, of himself and the Church again with youthful power.

It is still noticed that the Liturgy Mariawald is not completely identical with the Roman Rite, but has some particularities in its calendar, in the Liturgy of the Holy Mass and especially in the Office.

3) How has the choice changed your religious life?  What are the practical alterations in the Breviary, the Prayers of the Office, the Music education and Liturgical celebration and the Mass service?

The reform has made the spiritual lives of the monks more remarkable and strenuous.  The new "old" Liturgy has to be learned; the singing of Gregorian chant is an art, which requires special schooling; the care of the Latin as the required language of cultus requires eagerness to learn and industry; the prayers of the Breviary is a demand of more time, and the beginning of the hours at night at 3am really needs a preparedness to self denial.  All of the effort finds its own reward  in the experience of the threatened loss of wealth.

The altar service must also be learned, the visitors to the liturgy also must learn. The Latin liturgy versus deum instead of versus populum offers another and truly also deeper way of participatio actuosa.  Similarly, Communion on the tongue leads to the possibility of a conscious awe.  By the way, the Holy Father gives Holy Communion on the tongue according to the Novus Ordo -- and gives an example of his desired "Reform of the Reform".

4) What is the impact this has had on the lives of your community? On the relationship between the monks, on the spiritual life?

Forty years with the reformed liturgy has made a reorientation of course difficult, especially for the older brothers. Initial tensions have subsided, however, the situation has calmed down. The opening for the unabridged tradition, the intensification of the spiritual life, as we fervently hope, has born fruit, not least because of new vocations. This impatience is misplaced. To speak with the image of a friend of the monastery: The Company of the reform of Mariawald is like trying to turn an ocean liner traveling at full speed by 180 °. Both will not succeed immediately. Also Mariawald needs time - and the prayer of many.

5) What  stock can you take from this choice from today's perspective? You have shown an effect on vocations? How many monks have you today, how many were there in 2008?

If you're ask for an appraisal of this decision: I'd do it again - despite a number of  and somtimes subtle difficulties.

There were and are many candidates for admission to Mariawald, since the reform there have been about 40 to 50. But with the specific requirements of the strict rule almost all will leave. This reflects the general social phenomenon of our times. The escape from a lifelong relationship is reflected, too, in all the unmarried people cohabitating and the growing number of divorces. The inability to commit has probably burdened all orders and is not specific to our reform path.

In 2008 twelve monks were part of the convent, and of them, two have died in the meantime. Today, there are thus ten, including a brother who has recently taken perpetual vows - they're still showing the willingness to bond - and a newly recorded novice. Later this year, a postulant will be included, and there are two or three others seriously interested. Not to mention there are three external monks belonging to the monastery to Mariawald.

6) Do you get visited by priests from dioceses and other religious communities, who have the desire to discover the extraordinary form or to learn it?

Inquiries from priests to learn the celebration of the Usus Antiquior from us, are still coming, however, at first they were more common. With its limited manpower Mariawald can not afford this training.

7) It is obvious that at parish level, the "Reform of the Reform" of Benedict XVI, who wants to encourage more kneeling Communion, Gregorian Kyriale, Eucharistic Prayer in Latin, celebration to the East, altar crucifix, etc., is spreading slowly. Do you observe a Motu Proprio effect in your Trappist community?

A positive response to the request of the Holy Father, to bring tradition in the Novus Ordo is not visible. Rather, there is, as it seems a rigid denial and continued discrimination against the Holy Father and a clear disregard of such statements as the Council for Liturgy. Obedience and humility don't seem to be ideals.

In our monastic community, to respond briefly to your last question, in the course of the reform efforts, there is, if not an unconditional love of all tradition, acceptance has still grown. They really do love them, wanting no longer to do without them.

Link to source...

The Benedictines of Nursia Have Made an Album

(Rome)  The traditional Benedictines of the Cloister of Nursia in central Italy have published a "Christmas Gift" Hymns and Antiphons of the Gregorian Chorale.  The Monks, who have lived just a bit more than twelve years together in the Benedictine Cloister in the home town of the founder of the order, Benedict of Nursia in 480, have made an album with Gregorian music on it.  The 21 pieces may be ordered on the internet site of the Cloister in MP3 and downloaded.  The Prior of the Cloister, Dom Cassiano Folsom OSB, describes it as a "little sign of thanks" for the help of benefactors and friends of the monastic community, which is subject to the Papal Commission Ecclesia Dei.  It was not done like a studio production, but in excerpts of the monks during the liturgical celebrations in the Cloister.

The Benedictines of Nursia celebrate exclusively the Immemorial Mass of All Ages [Which they consistently describe as "extraordinary Form"].  They are also entrusted to other Mass locations in Nursia and beyond in the "Old Rite".

1. Hymnus, Audi Benigne Conditor Nostras

2. Antiphon , Ecce Nunc Tempus Acceptabile

3. Hymnus , Lustris Sex Qui Iam Peractis

4. Antiphon , Scriptum Est Enim

5. Antiphon , Angelus Autem Domini

6. Antiphon , Et Ecce Terræmotus

7. Antiphon , Erat Autem

8. Antiphon , Præ Timore Autem Eius

9. Antiphon , Respondens Autem Angelus

10. Hymnus , Aurora Lucis Rutilat

11. Antiphon , In Illa Die

12. Antiphon , Iucundare filia Sion exsulta

13. Antiphon , Ecce Dominus Noster

14. Antiphon , O Sapientia

15. Hymnus , Conditor Alme Siderum

16. Antiphon , O Admirable Commercio

17. Antiphon , Hodie Cælesti Sponso

18. Hymnus , Æterne Rerum Conditor

19. Hymnus , O Lux Beata Trinitas

Source: Katholisches...

And now for the Sister Act Liturgy!

Edit: Vienna's infamous Cathedral Rector is the one with the rainbow chasuble.




H/t: Rorate Caeli.

Canonization of John Paul II in October of 2013?

Warsaw (kath.net/KNA)  In Poland there is speculation about a coming canonization of Pope John Paul II (1978-2005).  The Polish Catholic News Agency KAI reported  on a possible date in October of 2013 this Thursday.  The source for the unconfirmed information is not named.

In order for the canonization to come, Pope Benedict XVI. must recognize another intercession, it says. It must follow after the beatification of 1 May 2011.  On the 16th of October 2013 will be the 35th anniversary of Karol Wojtyla's election as head of the Catholic Church.

Professor Dariusz Kowalczyk of the Papal University of the Gregorian in Rome has told Polish broadcaster TVP, that it is "very probable" that the canonization will take place in October for the conclusion of the "Year of Faith".  The broadcaster speculates on the date of 20 October 2013.  In Poland, there is great eagerness for a quick canonization of Pope John Paul II.  Initially, the country's media had expected it for 2015 at the earliest.

The canonization process of John Paul II has been the shortest of modern Church history.  The Vatican is testing currently several reports of unexplained healings, which are attributed to the intercession of John Paul II.  The postulator of the canonization, Slawomir Oder, said in May that in three of the four cases had first attempted medicinal examination.  Preliminary to the beatification process, the healing of a French nun in June of 2005 was recognized as a miracle.

The canonization is a solemn declaration by the Pope about the exemplary Christian life of a person and over his final acceptance by God.  After the canonization, which will be completed during a solemn liturgy, the person concerned will be honored worldwide.

Link to source, kath.net...

Bonn: Man Refuses Islam, so They Cut His Tongue

Bonn (kath.net)  The Criminal Police of Bonn are searching for two suspected Islamists, who have cut the tongue of a young Indian. According to statements of Indian students two men threatened him on Christmas Eve,  that they would cut out his tongue if he didn't convert to Islam.  The student didn't react to this, whereupon the two men struck him down and wounded him, according to police reports, on the tongue.  The "Welt" reported this.  The reports of the 24 year old guest student have been rated by police as believable, said police spokesman Harry Kolbe, because of the physical description of the and the course of the crime, police are not ruling out that there is a "political back ground" and that the perpetrators come "from an islamic spectrum".  The victim in the mean time has been released from the hospital, but stands because of his police questioning "still very strongly under the influence of the crime".

Bonn is considered, as reported by "Welt", as one of the main cities of the Islamist scene, since is happened  just two and a half weeks since the bomb attack on Bonn's main train station was just thwarted, the Attorney General suspects "connections in radical-islamic circles".

Link to kath.net...

Pope's Brother: Benedict XVI Still Feels Fresh

Regensburg (kath.net/KNA)  Pope Benedict XVI. is in good health and "relatively fresh" according to his brother Msgr Georg Ratzinger.  Bayrischen Rundfunk (BR) said the earlier leader of the "Regensburg Cathedral Circle" in an interview on Christmas, that the Pope is in good health.  "My brother is still relatively fresh, he is holding up in work and that -- I believe -- already helps to stay fresh and not mentally damed up."  The limitations of age are bearable for the Pope.  Pope Benedict XVI has difficulties with mobility, but in age everything is "a bit more difficult".

Georg Ratzinger, who himself will be 89 years old on the 15th of January, will celebrate Christmas with the Monastery Chapter in St. John's in Regensburg.   On the 28th of December he will be traveling back to Rome he says.  He has already picked out a gift for his brother.  Among several CDs is a selection of the H Sharp Mass of Johann Sebastian Bach, which the Pope wanted.  The gifts can't measure up in the midst of the Christmas festivities.  "He has everything what he needs and to attend to rarities -- that doesn't go at my age any more and real rarities are also too expensive", says Ratzinger.

The evenings on the end of December and the beginning of January, which Georg Ratzinger spends with his brother in the Vatican, are not very impressive, says the one time Cathedral Kapellmeister.  Thus the learned church musician plays the piano for the closes circle of Papal colleagues, among whom two are cloistered nuns, and the secretary sings Christmas songs.  Cookies and punch are brought along too.

Link to kath.net...

SSPX Wins Libel Case Against Bavarian Newspaper

Edit: this is from the SSPX District page, which is a kind of Christmas present from the German government:

The era of slander against the Society of St. Pius X is coming slowly to an end.

Often there are and have been journalists, who in the newspapers or other media disseminate downright  tall tales about the Society.

The most recent case was on the 25th of October in the Mittelbayerischen Zeitung.  There an author by the name of Fritz Winter presumed to make hair raising assertions about the Society.

The Society went with these articles to the Court of Appeals in Nurenburg and received justice.

Conclusions of the Court of Appeals in Nurenburg from 21 December 20012 [Excerpt]

I.  As far as the appeal  by the applicant the conclusion of the Regensburg court of the 23rd of November has been amended.

II.  The adverse party will be condemned in the manner of an injunction, immediately in the first part of the "Mittelbayrischen Zeitung" with the same font as the editorial:

"The evil brothers" is printed on October 25th, 2012 without insertions and deletions reprints the following reply:

Replies

In the commentary "the Evil Brothers"  by Fritz Winter on the 25th of October, 2012, there were several untrue assertions of fact:

1. "The Society of St. Pius X is ... in its heart, an organization hostile to the Constitution."

It's true that the Government upon the proposal of the Representative Volker Beck among other things, had directed (Bundestag Printed Paper 17/3334): "According to the Constitution of the Government there is in relation to the Society of St. Piux X  no ... evidence for a constitutionally hostile activity."

2.  "They [The Society]  Promotes a "Catholic Theocracy".

It's true, that the Society does not promote a "Catholic Theocracy".

3. "They [The Society] oppress the rights of women."

It's true, that the Society neither oppresses women, nor their rights.


4.  "A serious distancing of all members [The Society] from Williamson and from anti-Semitic inclinations is not evident."

It's true, that the entire Society, represented by a majority through their General Superior and German District Superior as through the Rectors of the Priestly Seminary in Zaitzkofen, repeatedly and clearly has distanced itself from Bishop Williamson, whereby his  henceforth consequent expulsion goes beyond a mere distancing.  Similarly the Society has distanced itself from every form of anti-Semitism.

[The damages ordered and their justification follow here.]

Signed,

Huprich

Judge to the Court of Appeals

This court decision of the Higher Regional Court, Nuremberg is a major victory for the Catholic tradition, because he slanders against the SSPX by anti-clerical circles put a stop.>

Council: Cardinal Christoph Schönborn Rejects Extreme Interpretations

Edit: the kinds of hermeneutics and developments that would allow you to give a funeral to a Communist pornographer?

Vienna (kath.net/KAP)  Cardinal Christoph Schönborn has turned against extreme positions in the estimation of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). In an interview with "Kathpress" and the media of the Archdiocese of Vienna the Cardinal has rejected all previous interpretations, where in the Council radically breaks with Tradition.

This determination is directed at those are only more fixed on novelties and reject Tradition, while the others demand a return to Tradition and reject the reforms of the Council.

Pope Benedict XVI. has warned against both versions and proposed a "hermeneutic of continuity". It is an organic development, says Schönborn. The Council has not been a break, actually it has been a "true doctrinal development" in the Catholic Church, for instance in relation to religious freedom, the Episcopal office or relations to non-Christian religions.

That in the wake of a Council that there are tensions and discussions about its correct interpretation, is nothing new in any case, says Schönborn. So it took about 300 years for example till the Church could prevail the doctrine of the Council of Nicea (325). From the earliest Councils till the Second Vatican Council, there have always been divisions or tendencies in the wake of Episcopal gatherings.

It is a very urgent task, says the Cardinal, that at least the central texts of the Vatican Council would have been reread, where for many it would probably be the first reading.

Admittedly there are still urgent tasks, which Pope Benedict XVI. also portends with the three volumes of his Jesus books. "It is completely decided on the question of the discipleship of Christ," stressed the Cardinal also with a view on the "Year of Faith".

A Christendom, "in which a vague love of God is somewhere on the horizon of lit and not the concrete visible living form of Jesus Christ with his invitation to follow" will sooner or later lose its ability to attract. A vague general religiosity is not able, "to gather people and imprint a society."

From kath.net...