Albert Camus on the Death of King Louis XVI

Edit: the following is a translation of Camus' account of the execution of King Louis XVI, which wasn't only the murder of the King, but an attempt to destroy God forever and replace it with the general will of the people and Rouseau's Social Conctract. H/t: at vexilla-galliae:

On January 21, with the murder of the King-priest, was consummated what has significantly been called the passionof Louis XVI. It is certainly a crying scandal that the public assassination of a weak but goodhearted man has been presented as a great moment in French history. That scaffold marked no climax—far from it. But the fact remainsthat, by its consequences, the condemnation of the King is at the crux of our contemporary history. It symbolizes thesecularization of our history and the disincarna-tion of the Christian God. Up to now God played a part in historythrough the medium of the kings. But His representative in history has been killed, for there is no longer a king.Therefore there is nothing but a semblance of God, relegated to the heaven of principles.

The revolutionaries may well refer to the Gospel, but in fact they dealt a terrible blow to Christianity, from which ithas not yet recovered. It really seems as if the execution of the King, followed, as we know, by hysterical scenes of suicide and madness, took place in complete awareness of what was being done. Louis XVI seems, sometimes, tohave doubted his divine right, though he systematically rejected any projected legislation which threatened his faith.

But from the moment that he suspected or knew his fate, he seemed to identify himself, as his language betrayed,with his divine mission, so that there would be no possible doubt that the attempt on his person was aimed at the King-Christ, the incarnation of the divinity, and not at the craven flesh of a mere man. His bedside book in the Temple was the Imitation. The calmness and perfection that this man of rather average sensibility displayed during hislast moments, his indifference to everything of this world, and, finally, his brief display of weakness onthe solitary scaffold, so far removed from the people whose ears he had wanted to reach, while the terriblerolling of the drum drowned his voice, give us the right to imagine that it was not Capet who died, butLouis appointed by divine right, and that with him, in a certain manner, died temporal Christianity. To emphasize this sacred bond, his confessor sustained him, in his moment of weakness, by reminding himof his "resemblance" to the God of Sorrows. And Louis XVI recovers himself and speaks in the language of this God: "I shall drink," he says, "the cup to the last dregs." Then he commits himself, trembling, into the hands of an ignoble executioner.

Link to Albert Camus' "The Rebel"....

Order of Friars Minor Meet in Assisi to Elect New Superior

(Assisi)  In the Basilica blessed by St. Francis of Assisi the 200th General Capital of the Order of Friars Minor opened in its home city of Assisi.  99 brothers from all five continents are gathered till the 17th of February to select the 120th Father General.

Every six years, the General Chapter meets in order to talk about the state of the Order, to agree on decisions and select the Father General and the members of the General Council, which will be the leadership of the order till the next General Chapter.

The General Chapter is the most important event within the order.  Since 2007 Father Marco Tasca has served as the 119th Father General of the branch of the Conventual Franciscans, as the Minors are also called, which has formed a branch of the Franciscan family since 1517.   With the election of the 44th Father General, the lesser brothers separated themselves.  The more severe branch with the braun robes,  the Observance, are generally known in the German speaking areas as Franciscans.  The other branch, the Conventuals with the black robes are called "Minoriten" in Germany.

At the General Capital the brothers gather around the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi in order to renew the  founder of the spirituality of their Order.



The brothers of the various cloisters spread throughout the world were greeted by the Curator of the Holy Convent of Assisi,  Father Giuseppe Piemonese, of the Bishop of Assisi, Msgr Domenico Sorrentino and the mayor of the city, Claudio Ricci.

"We represent 65 countries", says the departing Father General Marco Tasca.  "In some countries, the Order is just appearing, in others there is a centuries long tradition.  Our religious family numbers 4,300 brothers.  In some states there are hundreds of brothers, in others there are a few dozen."

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Bild: Wikicommons



Link to Katholisches...

Cardinal Sarah: If "Catholic Charity" Betrays the Church -- Not Everything That Says it's Catholic is Catholic

Edit: you may have seen what this Cardinal has already said about clergy who fail to preach against abortion and aberrosexual marriage.

(Vatican)  With the Motu proprio Intima Ecclesia e natura of the 11th of November, 2012 about the charitable work of the Catholic Church as Pope Benedict was barely recognized by the public, but it set radical interventions against Catholic help organizations in motion, which are Catholic in name, but in word and deed are not. This refers to organizations that help the "non-negotiable values", such as attacking the defense of the family and of life. With the recently held Vatican General Assembly of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, which coordinates the charitable work of the Church worldwide, the Pope is asking for the proceedings  to enter a concrete phase.

That Rome is taking this seriously, became clear with the opening speech by Cardinal Robert Sarah, who is chairman of the Council since 2010. The speech was published Osservatore Romano on the 18th January. It is a hard accusation and an unvarnished analysis of the charitable organizations of the Catholic Church. There, the Cardinal said, a "laicizing ethics" [Your Professional Catholics], which is represented by "certain international institutions" and "will be imposed by force through complex political, legal and cultural mechanisms upon cultures and peoples around the world." This would be disclosed "as a negative and destructive view of man and woman."

Catholic organizations have made "secular ethics" their own

These mechanisms were perfectly attuned, wrote the sociologist Massimo Introvigne in an article for La nuova Bussola quotidian. Poor countries that are dependent on the provision of international credits are literally blackmailed. Loans are granted only if the States in return accept a particular ideological agenda. This standard includes the legalization of the killing of unborn children, recognition of homosexual unions and mass dissemination of artificial contraceptives.

Pope Benedict XVI. had denounced this blackmail method during his pastoral visit to Africa. Since his indictment could not penetrate to the global public, an immediate anti-papal campaign had picked a quarrel. The whole issue has been reduced to condoms. Anti-Religious groups flooded the Internet with all possible and unspeakable graphical variants of the subject "and Pope condom" or "condom and church." An objective consideration of the Pope's actual statement did not take place.


Church takes action against Charities that call themselves Catholic, but are not

The whole world imposed the "inhuman contraceptive mentality of the West and the intolerant gender ideology and their disdain of people created in God's image as male and female," said Introvigne. This form of violence must be identified and denounced tirelessly, the sociologist. It would also be possible, if at least the Catholic organizations had shut themselves to this ideology and would reject any collaboration.

Pope Benedict XVI. complained in the Motu proprio Ecclesia intima e natura that the not the case. Thus it was not without a bitter undertone that Cardinal Sarah affirmed the Pope's assertion. Some members of the church who work in the charitable sector would have let themselves be seduced by a "purely secular ethics of worldly charities". And to such an extent that they had abandoned their Catholic identity and made the secular position completely their own. These Catholic in name only associations "pursue the same goals with the same destructive anthropological ambiguous language and the same slogans," the Cardinal said in his speech.

Unfaithfulness to the Magisterium and THe Loss of Faith go hand in hand

The charge is extremely serious. It says that there are Catholic institutions, which collaborated in the destruction of people, mentioned in the Pope's December Christmas message to the Roman Curia, which Benedict XVI described as the most dangerous threat to the Church and humanity. Since these organizations ignore the Church's Magisterium, they lose their faith together with the ability to act for the public good, went the the Pope's warning.

"The history of the West has sufficiently proven the connection between infidelity to the Magisterium and loss of faith," said Cardinal Sarah. According to the Chairman of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, the secularization of Catholic charitable organizations has been already more than just a threat.

Catholic institutions have to oppose the culture of death

The danger of this situation is not to be undervalued, said Introvigne. Forces act in the world today, "wishing the death of man, created by God, in order to destroy the miraculous image," said Cardinal Sarah. It was not just about theoretical ideas, but hard, deadly facts. To achieve their goal, these forces would use all means "to globalize the culture of death." As a particularly perfidious example of this, he cited the effort to camouflage the spread of abortion logic as an "aid" to the woman.

The "unacceptable situation" has arisen from the myth that the major international organizations would always have been basically right and had only the good of all in mind.

Breaking the Myth of the "good behavior" of international institutions

It is time to change that, says Introvigne, what the Catholic area always means conversion. "The grace of conversion helps us to overcome this logic and start new in Christ. The prophetic mission of the Christian calls him to bear witness to Christ and the Gospel values. Charity is not a specialization of the Church. It is the life of the body as a whole, it is a universal appeal to live our faith and to help humanity through the Gospel to grow," says Cardinal Sarah, in his opening speech at the plenary session of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum.

  Text: La nuova Bussola Quotidiana/Giuseppe Nardi Bild: Cathopedia

Edit:  Here's some of the coverage on Vatican Reports:

Requiem for a Dynasty

Edit: throughout France yesterday and today, there will be Masses said for the repose of the soul of the Martyr King.  It is being organized by various Monarchist associations.  Louis XVI, who was unjustly slain by revolutionaries on January 21st, 1793, will be in the hearts of many Frenchmen as they keep the candles of restoration burning with hope.

But he said, like a martyr:

« Je meurs innocent de tous les crimes qu'on m'impute. Je pardonne aux auteurs de ma mort, et je prie Dieu que le sang que vous allez répandre ne retombe jamais sur la France. »  

"I am innocent of the crimes imputed to me.  I pardon the authors of my death, and pray to God that the blood you shed will not fall on France's soil." 

Seminarians of Tradition Visit Abandoned Monastery of Weigarten

(Weingarten) The Community of the International Seminary of the Old Ritual Society of St. Peter made a visit on the 8th of December for the High Feast of the Immaculate Conception to Abbey Weingarten. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is being celebrated for the intention of the benefactors of the Seminary. The Seminarians received the blessing of a blood reliquary guarded by the monastery since 1094.  It contains some soil stained with the blood of Jesus from Golgotha.

The Benedictine Abbey Weingarten was founded in 1056 as a Royal Abbey.  In 1803 the monastery was abolished by an Imperial Deputation.  However there the Archabbey of Beuron however attempted resettlement.  In 2010 followed the second extinguishment of the monastic community.  Internal conflicts had driven the convent to dissolution.  The monks of Weingarten still living there have found a new cloister.  The most famous among them is the 101 year old Moral and Pastoral theologian Father Anselm Günthör.

The visit of the seminarians of the International Priestly Seminary of Wigratzbad and the celebration of the Old Mass, which is used as a parish church, but which is joined by orphaned monks, has been filled with new life, who carry the seeds of renewal in them.  With that there is a photo gallery which shows also some events taking place during the visit of the seminary community in October to the Church of the former Imperial Abbey Salem and St. Nikolaus Münster of Überlingen.

Link to katholisches....

Signals of Church Renewal

Holland

Msgr Joseph Marianus Punt, the Bishop of Haarlem-Amsterdam has arrected the first Personal Parish in the "Old Rite" at the St. Agnes church in Amsterdam according to the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum. It is the first canonical establishment of this sort in Holland.  The Parish has been entrusted to the Priestly Society of St. Peter, which had been assigned the Mass site in 2006.  Its parish patron is Blessed Karl I of Austria.

On Sunday on the 20th of January Msgr Johannes Gerardus Maria van Burgsteden, the Bishop emeritus of Haarlem-Amsterdam will celebrate the Tridentine Mass and confer the Sacrament of Confirmation.

France

On Sunday the 20th of January Msgr. Raymond Centene, the Bishop of Vannes, celebrated a Pontifical Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.  The High Mass is set to take place at 9am in the Church of the MIlitary Academy of St. Cyr-Coëtquidan.  "There is a small group of Bishops, who are ready and decided, to forsake the sure path of suicide, one of these is Bishop Raymond Cetene of Vannes," says the Spanish Church Historian and Catholic Blogger Francisco de la Cigoña.

Austria

On the Feast of the Epiphany, Gabriel Jocher of the order of the Servants of Jesus and Mary (SJM) made his solemn vows. The Order of Jesus and Mary was founded in 1988 by the deceased Father Andreas Hönisch and is since 1994 recognized as a Congregation of Papal Right.  On the same day, three candidates in the Novitiate of SJM were accepted.  The General House of the bi-ritual Order under its General Superior Father Anton Bentlage is located at Schloss Auhof in Lower Austria.

Italy

On Friday, the 11th of January, Msgr Edoardo Aldo Cerrato CO, the new Bishop of Ivrea assited at Holy Mass, which was celebrated by the famous Liturgist and consultant of the Congregation for Doctrine and the Faith and the Office for Papal Celebrations, Don Nicola Bux, in the Immemorial Mass of All Ages.  The celebration took place in the Parish of the Archangel Michael in Rivarolo Canavese in the Diocese of Ivrea and was planned on the initiative of the John Henry Newman Society.

France

Msgr. Dominique Rey, the Bishop of Frejus-Toulon is proving to be the outstanding bearer of hope for the European Episcopate.  He has consequently made his Diocese biritual.  [This should remind you of a fictional Bishop popularized in the novel "Mitre and Crook"] Although his Diocese only has one million inhabitants, he is assigned in relation by far the largest priestly seminary in France and by far the most new priests.  Now the largest Archdiocese of Paris can measure itself with the tiny Diocese of Frejus-Toulon.  Bishop Rey is considered a pioneer of the New Evangelization.  Pope Benedict XVI. had called the European Bishops to the New Evangelization in the last year, which consequently wasn't mentioned by the French Bishops' Conference.

The Archdiocese of Toledo invited Bishop Rey on the 11th-13th of January to Spain, in order to explain the Program of the New Evangelization to its new priests.  The spiritual program of action consists in 9 doors, 6 establishments and 8 changes.

Msgr Rey also was involved in the International event Sacra Liturgia, which took place from the 25th-28th of June in 2013.  He was a lecturer with Cardinal Antonio Canizares, Malcom Ranjith and Raymond Burke, with other Bishops, Dominique Rey and Marc Aillet, Abbot John Zielinksi OSB as well as the ceremonial minister of the Pope, Msgr Guido Marini and the Consultor of the CDF and the Office for Liturgical Celebrations of the Pope, Don Nicola Bux.  From the German-speaking lands, a prominent lecturers participated like the Oratorian Uwe Michael Lang, the Speaker of the Priest Network Pastor Guido Rodheudt and the Church musician Gabriel Steinschulte.

Italy

In Milan a lecture series for the Year of Faith will take place at the Cardinal-Ildefons-Schuster-Center, whose patronage has been undertaken by the new traditional Bishop of Ferrara-Comacchio, Msgr. Luigi Negri.  On Friday, the 25th of January, Don Pietro Cantoni, the Superior of the Priestly Society Opus Mariae Matris Ecclesiae will speak on the theme: "Break or Continuity?" on the magisterial significance of the Second Vatican Council.

France

According to Paix Liturgique there are between 83 to 95 French Diocese who have Mass locations in the "Old Rite" according to the 2007 Motu Proprio Sumorum Pontificum founded by  Pope Benedict XVI..  The movement of Tradition is young and beats with  dynamism. "They are spreading out and are breaking the last hard resistance of the old, demoralized modernist troops",  says Cordialiter. "The Modernist Maginot Line was broken through" and the further "positive developments" are foreseeable in the priestly ordinations which come from Tradition.


Link to Katholisches...

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Bild: Accion Liturgica

Cardinal Canizares Cites SSPX in Need to Reform Liturgy

Edit: Cardinal Canizares cites Archbishop Lefebvre.  "Some of the changes called upon by the Second Vatican Council are still pending..."  This is a possible motive for his reform, which he also says, is not synonymous with change.

Archbishop Di Noia has also sent out a letter to SSPX HQ in Menzigen, which then forwarded the letter to all of the priests of the SSPX.

Hence, so much for those who've not wanted these discussions to be fruitful from the start, especially those Old Liberals in Germany.

Islam Hour in Kindergarten: Coming to you Soon!

Edit: this liveleak video from 2011 shows a German Kindergarten visited by a local Imam.  The SSPX German District website has introduced the story again.  It's interesting to see that some of the children refuse to participate.  It is still topical:

This published video shows how a German Kindergarten (!) is made into an advertisement for Islam.

A women with a head covering gives the children a liquid with which they can rub and probably purify themselves, in order to prepare for Muslim prayers.

A Muslim, apparently an Imam, shows the children the Koran and explains to them how Muslims pray and how Turkish children play.



The muslim who praises the Koran to the German children, is clearly Ömer Akbulut, who is the spokesman for the Islamic community engaged in the building of a mosque with a minarett in Wertheim.  It is also apparent that this leaked video is of a Kindergarten in the vicinity of Wertheim.

pius.info recommends to readers:  If you have children in Kindergarten, then suggest to the teacher a visit from a conservative, Catholic priest.  Father will show the children how to make the sign of the cross, how one gets holy water and who the Mother of God is.

If the teacher answers, that such is not possible in a ideologically neutral state like Germany, then show her the photo above.

Link to pius.info...

Original source...

The Press in Disarray as More Than a Million March in Paris Against the Consensus

Edit:  at present the media reactions have been very muted and it's easy to see that they're made uneasy by the appearance of more than one million people in France last weekend against aberrosexual marriage and adoption.

The BBC's reportage was handily taken apart by patheos' GetReligion with a look at the numbers and the analysis of the people marching.  It is as if the mouthpieces are at a loss to explain their own irrelevance.  Do we not have an absolute hold on the people?

The BBC then plays the Million Man March game. (For those unfamiliar with this sport, the Million Man March game is one way a news outlet telegraphs its opinions. If it favors the event it accepts the numbers given by the organizers. If opposed, it plays up the numbers offered by the police.)

Also of great interest is how the event has been reported in France.   France 2 pulled down their coverage and put it back up.  That's not the only interesting dimension of the coverage in France, as Gallia Watch reports, it's actually Marine Le Penn's response to criticism about her absence from the event as she drifts further and further to the left:

The information in my previous post about what seemed to be a news blackout at France 2 needs to be updated. The first clarification is that the news was in fact shown on television the night of January 13, but vanished from the France 2 website the next day. The same was true of France 3 that also produced a segment on the demonstration. There was such a protest that eventually the videos were restored. Above is the ten-minute video from France 2. We see the great enthusiasm of the marchers, the comments by parents loyal to the principle of traditional marriage. We see Jean-François Copé, chairman of the UMP party, and most importantly we see the members of the Front National. The announcer makes a point of emphasizing Marine Le Pen's absence. Her absence from the rally, and her general reluctance to take a stand on several issues have resulted in a major outpouring of criticism from various patriotic websites. She has been heavily (and unfortunately) influenced by the man she appointed as vice-president of the FN: leftist Florian Philippot. She has also been unwilling to ruffle the feathers of the numerous homosexual members of the Front National. This is very bad news because it places her in a weakened position, and exposes the gulf between herself and other Front National members, such as Bruno Gollnisch, the former vice-president who received very little support from Marine, deputy Gilbert Collard who refused to join the FN because he wanted to keep his independence (no wonder), and Marine's hard-working and telegenic niece, deputy Marion Maréchal Le Pen, who I heard was upbraided by her aunt for knowing nothing about politics! But it is Marine Le Pen, who suddenly knows little about politics, having lost still another unique opportunity to defend in person, at a momentous event, the basic principles she claims to espouse. She has greatly compromised her prestige among her own constituents, and only time will tell if she can repair the damage, or if she is moving to where her heart really is - to the left. For the record, her sister Yann and her father's wife Jany were there, as was her "companion" Louis Aliot. 

To be clear, Marine Le Pen's actual presence at the rally was not the issue so much as the unsatisfactory reasons she has been concocting to explain away her absence. She has said she did not want to be an auxiliary ("supplétif") to Jean-François Copé, a ridiculous statement since a party leader and presidential candidate cannot be an auxiliary to anyone. How could she be an auxiliary to Copé, unless she marched in his delegation, which is not what she would have done anyway. She has also said that the whole topic of gay marriage is just a smokescreen by the government to cover up more important issues. Another ridiculous comment since it was patently clear last November that Christiane Taubira's bill on gay marriage and adoption had mushroomed to become a major concern of traditionalist Frenchmen, those very Frenchmen liable to vote for Marine Le Pen. Some say that she feels it is beneath her dignity to march in a demonstration. Nonsense, since she has marched in political rallies side by side with her father. If it is beneath her dignity to march, then she is haughtily looking down on all those who came out, braved the cold, exhibited exemplary behavior and expressed the soul of France's heartland. 

Back to the video for a moment. France 2 explained that it had withdrawn the video because it showed a female journalist in an unacceptable light. What this meant was that a woman with glasses was seen laughing with Gilbert Collard - a mortal sin. This woman, it turned out, was a reporter for France 3, but France 2 felt it had to censure the segment! Totally crazy. Anyway, the woman with glasses is not even visible in the video above except as the opening image.

One reader at Le Salon Beige reports this incredible comment from a television executive:

"We had a complicated choice to make. Either we retained the segment and engaged in an intense internal power struggle. Or we were, for a few hours, interrogated by everybody and suspected of censoring. We chose what seemed to us the least complicated solution."

In substance, they prefer to look like fascists skilled at censoring than to fight against their left-wing editors. That tells us something about the atmosphere… 

More to come. The quantity and quality of commentary from the French websites surpasses anything I've seen since the election.

It's also not hard to compare the fervor of these marchers with that of other demonstrations of Catholic youth earlier this year.

Bishop Williamson Found Guilty in Regensburg of "Inciting Hatred"

Edit: a man can be tried as many times in German courts as they need to get a verdict they like, apparently.

 Regensburg (kath.net/KNA)  The District Court of Regensburg has found British traditionalist Bishop Richard Williamson (72) guilty of inciting hatred [Volksverhetzung] for a fine.  This will be 1,800 Euro, significantly lower than the 6,500 desired by the prosecutor.  The court had mitigated the sentence because +Williamson had tried after his interview with the Swedish broadcaster to keep his statements from spreading in Germany.  The attorney for the Bishop, Andreas Geipel, appealed immediately against the verdict after it was ruled.

+Williamson had estimated the number of Jews murdered by the Nazis at the most, at 300,000, and denied the existence of gas chambers.  The Judge, Andrea Hausladen said, that the Bishop had done this before running cameras and established his views at length over several minutes.  In conclusion of the recording he did not insist on any limitation of the use of the materials.  That was given as necessary for an intent to incite hatred.

+Williamson could have easily said that he didn't want any distribution in Germany, said the Judge.  "He didn't do that."   Otherwise the defendant had to know that other media would report over this explosive interview.  In this manner he at least tacitly approved of its distribution.  The defendant had, according to his earlier legal representative, Maximilian Krah, regretted his statements.  More importantly was the time of the broadcast, stressed Hausladen.

As far as the statement of Krah, that +Williamson had answered the questions of the journalists with "vanity and extensively" on the Holocaust, the Judge said: "Vanity sometimes leads one to do something which he later regrets."  As further grounds for the mitigating of the sentence, Hausladen introduced +Williamson's dismissal from the Society in October of last year, as well as the four year long duration of the proceedings.  The size of the penalty in consideration is difficult to ascertain. +Williamson lives at present exclusively on grants from friends.

His defender, Geipel described the verbal justification of the court as "not comprehensible".  The assertion that his client had pre-meditatively acted is an "innuendo".   Previous to the trial Geipel and his colleage Edgar Weiler spoke of a previous judgement of +Williamson.  In his pleading they talked about the expressions of the traditional Bishop, that they had been completely careless.  They moved for a dismissal to all public bodies.

+Williamson had already been condemned in a trial for a fine.  The decision was dismissed in February of 2012 by Nurenburg Superior Court because of procedural errors.

With his comments the Briton sparked an international scandal, because shortly after the publication of the interview, the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI. had lifted the excommunications of +Williamson and three other traditionalist bishops. Later the Vatican explained, that the pope did not know about +Williamson's remarks about the Holocaust.

Kath.net...

French Abbey to be Resettled by Monks from Fontgambault

ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam

(Wisque)  The Abbey of St. Paul, belonging to the Congregation of Solemes in the 300 population village of Wisque (about 200 km West of Brussels) will be settled by monks from the traditional Abbey of Fontgambault in central France.  This was reported by the website of Wisques Abbey.

The Abbey was founded by monks from the Abbey of Solesmes in 1889 and had at the time, 60 monks.  Yet in the last years, the number of new entrants had stopped and then many monks died,  then the Abbey was about to close.  A similar fate in the Diocese of Arras befell the Cistercian Abbey of Belval.

Since the 7th of January there are 4 monks from the Abbey of Fontgambault in Wisque,  so that they can say the traditional Office as well as support their practical concerns.  The Abbey operates its own ceramic atelier (art studio).

Several new monks are expected from Fontgambault at the end of the year.

Source... Katholisches...

Pastor Determines Latin Mass "Disturbs" Tourists

Ventura Mission, Public Domain

Edit: We just received a discouraging letter from a friend about a Latin Mass Community in the Los Angeles, California area. There has been a Mass said for the last 15 years at a Mission of San Buenaventura in Ventura California.  The parish resides in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and so is Archbishop Gomez's responsibility.  So far, Archbishop Gomez hasn't shown any interest in expanding any more Latin Mass communities and it looks like this one will be moved because, it seems to us, that the church is more important as a museum and a tourist attraction than for the purpose which it was intended.

There's no mention or apology about cultural treasures which have disappeared, or the alterations and damage which may have been done to the Church in the wake of the Second Vatican Council.

Here is part of a letter with contact information:

To the Faithful who attend and defend the Traditional / Extraordinary Form of the Mass

The Extraordinary Form Mass has been said every Sunday for 15 years at Mission San Buenaventura. Now it faces being moved, for reasons that do not make sense. Please find below the text of the notice letter that was issued without discussion or a chance to develop solutions. Included also is a summary of main points discussed at a meeting with the Mission pastor regarding his reasons for wanting to move the Mass elsewhere. The Latin Mass (TLM) community would like to make sure that Archbishop Jose Gomez knows of the situation and quickly brings it to an equitable resolution.

We ask that everyone concerned, please immediately write a short, concise letter to the Archbishop today requesting that the weekly offering of the Extraordinary Form Mass be preserved at the Mission. Please keep a copy for your records and if you would like, submit a copy to Una Voce Ventura for our files (email to info@unavoceventura.org or fax to 805-435-1654). 

Archbishop Jose Horacio Gomez, Archdiocese of Los Angeles 3424 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90010-2202  

Please find attached the following three documents for your reference: Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum of the Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI Given Motu Propio Letter to Bishops regarding the Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum Universae Ecclesia of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei    

Leo Raab, President Una Voce Ventura
www.unavoceventura.org

"The Forbidden Rite": Part II

An Altar Used During Penal Times

[Katholisches] "The Forbidden Rite" describes a film for the defense of the Tridentine Rite, which has been published in two parts on the internet.  [The second part appeared on January 9th.]  "On a film, whose pictures speak for themselves", says the traditional site Messa in Latino.  "Forbidden, powerful, timeless, beautiful, unusual, unique", with these words the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite is described as it is shown in the film.  The film has been in existence already since the end of 2011 in the USA, but still is little known in the German speaking zone.

In the first part of the film, it says: Yet in 2007, history began to change. The Vatican unleashed this once almost forbidden rite, requiring that every bishop, priest, and diocese around the world welcome those who desired it, and help them to obtain it.  

 Despite the many efforts of the Pope, who himself practices this ancient rite and desires for it to become the norm in parishes, their persecutors still abound within the Church, continuing to negate them the best that they can.  

 The battle is only beginning, but it is one that will change the face of the Catholic Church, and that of the world, forever.

The film has presented the back ground of the Society of St. Peter, canonically established and founded in 1988.  The Society which has one of its International Seminaries in Wigratzbad in Bodensee, [but also in Denton, Nebraska at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary] belongs to the so-called Ecclesia Dei Community, which is subject to the Papal Commission of the same name.

The Second part of the film "The Forbidden Rite" is dedicated to The Society of St. Peter. [There will be a Part III as soon as the producer can accomplish it]

Part I



Partt II




Source at Katholisches...

Image...

Argentinian Archbishop Warns That the Fun Ends on Ash Wednesday

Buenos Aires (kath.net/KNA)  Argentina's Carnaval goers are celebrating a little too freely according to Archbishop Andres Stanovnik: the colorful celebration may not be celebrated past Mardigras, warns a letter of the Archdiocese of Corrientes according to the Latin American Catholic Press Service Aciprensa.

"I remind all Catholics of the Archdiocese that Lent begins on February 13th," says Stanovnik.  For the Catholic Church begins its preparation for Easter on Ash Wednesday; Ash Wednesday itself is a Fast -  and day of abstinence.

Link to kath.net...

"Suggestions" and DDoS- Attacks

Edit: kreuz-net.info has reappeared again after a a brief absence.  They intend to continue.

Expected "cordiality" has been inclined to the internet site kreuz-net.info.

As the provider informed us on 9 January, 2013 "the excess of daily DDos-attacks (...) were so large, that entire parts of our network were effected by it.  This also resulted that along with your  client server, other customers were significantly impacted."

From security grounds the server was removed from the net (and now a more capable server has been undertaken."

Before this, the provider had already been informed, that their willingness to provide a server could damage their business.

The internet site "kreuz-net.info" will naturally carry on.  There is no reason not to do this.

The information site is also searchable under kreu-net.at.

One Million Protest Marriage Equality in Paris: Rousing Success for French Bishops

Update 1.14.13 GMT 0423: originally, we said 650,000 protesters according to Austrian Catholic News Service, but now it's even higher than that.  Although Andrew Cusack doesn't give the Bishops any credit for this, he indicates reports that there are more than one million and maybe more.  The throngs even closed down traffic and a major sporting event.  The title is getting changed too, because a lot of people who are involved in this protest against marriage equality are not only not Catholic, but many of them are simply secularists who for various reasons find themselves opposed to this legislation. Cusack writes:

The protest today was organised by the eccentric comedian Frigide Barjot, founder of the Collectif pour l’humanité durable, joined by gay atheist Xavier Bongibault of the association Plus gay sans mariage (“More Gay Without Marriage”), and Laurence Tcheng of La gauche pour le mariage républicaine(“The Left for Republican Marriage”).

Edit: predictably, the English-speaking press is largely silent or unintersted.  The aberrosexual Huffington Post sets the number of participants at "thousands".  The BBC has been more accurate.  The Washington Post is predictable as well.  The Daily Mail , as usual, is better, points out that this is another real failure for the Socialist President Hollande and has an excellent photographic collage. Even the New York Times was more balanced than usual. This also comes on the heels of Hollande's increasing attacks against the Catholic Church.

Credit: Daily Mail

Here's a translation from the Austrian Catholic News Service:

Paris, 1-13-2013 (KAP) With a demonstration this Sunday in Parish, more than 650,000 Frenchmen, as  organizers have reported, are demonstrating against the introduction of same-sex marriage.  The planners revealed that media reports are amazed at the size of the participants.  Even Church representatives with Cardinal Philippe Barbarin chief among them estimated far fewer.

Already in November France there were hundreds of thousands protesting against so-called homosexual marriage.  The organizer of the demonstration was the independent association "Manifpourtous".  A counter demonstration of those promoting same-sex marriage is planned for the 27th of January.

According to online media in consequence, there were at least a dozen prominent representatives of the conservative opposition party, UMP taking part in the demonstration.  Among them was the party president, Jean-Francois Cope and Ex-Minister of the Interior Brice Ortefeux as well as Euro Minister Laruent Wauqiez.  He wants to hold a plebiscite over the controversial proposal.

In the mean time according to media reports, 115 representatives of the National Assembly have written a petition to President Francois Hollande.  In view of the social divisiveness in this question a referendum is unallowable.

In the preparation with "Manifpourtous" -- Catholic Church representatives have been outspoken against the marriage of or adoption by aberrosexual pairs.  The President of the French Bishops' Conference, Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, came to the close of the demonstration at the Place Denfert-Rochereau (at the Eifel Tower) in order to express his thanks to the organizers. Even members of the world religions have been engaged against the broadening of the concept of marriage.

The Ministry Council had adopted a proposed law for the introduction of same-sex marriages and the right of adoption for aberrosexual pairs.  The National Assembly confirmed it at the end of January.  According to the Hollande's desire the new regulation should come into effect in the first half of the year.

In the meantime, the opinion research institute Ifop published a poll, according to which 62 percent of Frenchmen are of the opinion, that there is too much talk about "homosexual-marriage".  The theme takes up too large a space in the social debate, say the majority of those polled.

Link to kathweb...

Note: there are also forces in this march which is readily evident from the photos that are also Revolutinoary, including Brigitte Bardot and her associates with their own opposition to the policies of the Socialist which overlap with the interests of the Church.

Archbishop Müller: Truth is Not Subjective -- Relativism Leads to Intolerance Against God

(Vatican)  It is not appropriate to call on the Catholic Church, if it is related to mercy and love of neighbor,  then to assert however, that some ethical truths are subjective.  This is essentially curial Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller's statement presented in his latest book published in the Vatican publishing house, L'Ampliare orizzonte della ragione. Per una lettura Tues Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI (Expand the Horizon of Reason  Readings of Joseph Ratzinger- Benedict XVI.) this morning in the Paul VI International Bookstore for Propaganda Fidei.  Principally, it speaks to the Italian Parliamentary election, but other countries are also applicable.

"I have been told regarding Italian politics before the election by politicians  and representatives of the intelligista  that the Church needs to speak of love, of charity and the mercy of God, but the truth, that is subjective and applies to the feelings. There is only my truth.  There is no objective truth, they say," says the Prefect of the Congregation of Faith.  "But without a foundational truth no reality is possible, because God is reality and mercy", as the new Prefect of the Pallazzo del Sant'Uffizio explained.

In this context, Müller wanted to speak to politics. "Without an ethical basis, with the rejection of God and without Faith, it is impossible in Europe and North America, to solve all the problems of today," he said. Because these issues affect "not only the market and economics."

His book takes the Regensburg speech of Pope Benedict XVI. in 2007.  "The relativism applied to the truth is not only a philosophical conviction, but speaks unavoidably in its intolerance against God",  he continues

With his new book, Archbishop Müller wants to offer readers with a hand up for an introduction to the collected works of Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi

Link to Katholisches...

Hundreds of Thousands March in Paris to Defend Society

Edit: We'd reported earlier about France's people resisting an attempt to further destroy the family.  This was met mostly by silence in the press and this time is little different.  While the French Bishops are showing a remarkable willingness to fight against the decadent Socialist government of France as hundreds of thousands process against Gomorra, the French people are showing a willingness to respond to the Church's call.

[France24] Several hundred thousand people are expected to march through Paris on Sunday against the planned legalisation of same-sex marriage in the first mass protest against the unpopular President Francois Hollande. 

Strongly backed by the Catholic hierarchy, lay activists have mobilised a hybrid coalition of church-going families, political conservatives, Muslims, evangelicals and even homosexuals opposed to gay marriage for the show of force. 

So many are expected to converge on Paris from around France that police had organisers split it into three separate columns starting from different points around the city and meeting in the Champ de Mars park at the Eiffel Tower.

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...