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

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

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

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

Manipulation 1 Ratzinger with Hitler at the Sports Palace

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

Manipulation 2: Ratzinger with Hitler Salute

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

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

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

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
 Image: UCCR

Return of the Communion Rail -- Experiences of a Priest

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

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

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

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

In his report the priest gave the following conclusions:

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

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

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Bild: Info Catolica

The "Confession Mobile" Is Coming to its Next Location

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

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

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

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

Link kath.net...

www.kirche-in-not.de

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

Kirche in Not: Spenden online

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

No Consequences for Helmut Schüller in Vienna?

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

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

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

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

Link to kath.net...

Pope Benedict Names Traditional Bishop to Troubled Portland Diocese

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

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

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


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

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

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

Link to original....

Bishop Fellay Vests 16 Seminarians in Flavigny

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

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

They have received the spiritual robes of clerics.

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

The SSPX operates six seminaries world wide.

Bulgarian Metropolitan Commemorates Clergy Martyred by the Communists

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

New SSPX Chapel in Paris

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Vanishing Justice" of the Preaching Dialog

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

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

Joy of the Instructor of Pastoral Theology

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

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

Exit of the Fool

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

Link to kreuz.net...

CDF Challenges German Bishops and SSPX

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

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

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

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

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

Is Vienna's Cathedral Pastor a Freemason?

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

"That can damage your career!"

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

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

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

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

Catholic Minority Among the Freemasons

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

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

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

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

Link to kreuz.net...

ADMG

Church Renewal in Holland-- Priestly Formation in TLM

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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The Turkish Parliament Discusses Turning Hagia Sophia into a Mosque

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

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

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

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

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

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

Link to katholisches...

A Witch in the Sanctuary

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Link to Katholisches...

50,000 March for Life in San Francisco

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

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

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

Ht: Katholisches

The Birthday of Blessed Charlemagne the Great

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



ADMG

Cabbalistic-Occult Rituals in a Catholic Retreat House

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

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

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

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

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

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

Link to katholisches....

ADMG

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

by Roberto Reggi, translated by Tancred

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

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

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

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

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

Link to Katholisches...

Pope Benedict Dissolves Dissident Branch of St. John Sisters

(Vatican)  The Secretary of State of the Holy See has announced in a decree of January 10, 2013 that Pope Benedict has abolished the association of the faithful with the name Sisters of St John and of St. Dominick.  This dealt with a dissident branch of the Johannites.  A part of the Soeurs contemplatives de Saint-Jean, the contemplative sisters of St. John, which is a branch of the Johannine Community, had separated themselves from the community.

The contemplative female branch of St. John was founded on the 8th December, 1982 by P. Marie-Dominique Philippe.  The Archbishop of Lyon established it on March 25th, 1994 as a Diocesan Congregation of Right.  It shoujld not be confused with the Apostolic Sisters of St. John, the other female branch of the Community of St. John.

In 2007 the contemplative sisters had 342 members, of which 98 had taken solemn vows and 134 temporary vows.  The order numbers 40 establishments in Europe, America, Africa and Asia.  In the German speaking areas there is one house in Marchegg in Austria.

The decree of dissolution proceeded from years of internal conflicts about the founding charism.  The Church's expected reforms were not accepted by part of the Sisters.  The conflict escalated and led to a break of a  part of the Sisters from the Order. Because of this, the cloister in Marchegg has stood empty since the summer of 2012.  The dissident sisters founded a new order in Spanish Cordoba with the name of the Sisters of St. John and St. Dominick.

On February 24th, 2012 Pope Benedict XVI named Bishop Henri Brincard as the Papal delegate for the sisters.  With that the Holy See undertook the direct leadership of the community.  Shortly after the Papal delegate reached his concluding report and was received by the Pope in a personal audience, Pope Benedict XVI dissolved the Sisters of Saint John and St. Dominick because of serious offenses against Church Order "with immediate effect".  The community may not then constitute itself in any new form.

The Johannine Community has published a statement on the decision of the Pope on January 25th:

Given the difficult situation, which is taking place with the community of the Contemplative Sisters of St John, inform you, about the brothers of St John, in accordance with the Superior General of the other two congregations of the family of St. John, that the Holy Father, which wants to preserve the unity of the family of St. John, in an audience transcript tells you that he has decided to dissolve the institution of the "Sisters of Saint John and the Saint Dominic," which was brought into life in June 2012 in Cordoba, Spain. Its members came mostly out of the community of contemplative sisters of St. John. 

The Community of the Brothers of Saint John wants to affirm, through its Superior General, Father Thomas,  in humble obedience, its communion with the Holy Father. The Brothers of St. John in close community of contemplative sisters continue in their prayers. They invite the Oblates and friends of the community to work together with them to trust the Holy Father, united to the intercession of the Virgin Mary.

Link to katholisches...

Byproduct of CINO Education Now Obama's Chief of Staff

*CINO = Catholic in Name Only

Edit: the brother of the troubled former Vicar General of the Archdiocese of St. Paul in Minnesota, the Old Liberal, Father Kevin McDonough, has now been announced as Chief of Staff.

Denis McDonough attended the decadent Monastery school of St. John's University and was the star of John Gagliardi's famed football franchise.  St. John's University is a haven for predators, deviants and worse, dissenters from Catholic teaching.

The nut doesn't fall far from the tree.

For those who don't remember, Father McDonough was identified as a problem in the Archdiocese by local activist Doctor David Pence.  The priest, who was born in Stillwater, Minnesota in a family of 11, went on record as denying a homosexual subculture in the Archdiocese, as it was reported at Lifesitenews.

The priest was subsequently moved from his Vicar General slot down to be the assistant of a small, failing parish in South Minneapolis.

The other brother, William McDonaugh didn't agree with his brother's assessment and lamented that it wasn't more over than it already is.



H/t: DC

The Ecumenical Movement Can Not be a Contract of Mutual Interests

Rome (www.kath.net/as)  The unity of Christians is the privileged medium of the credible presentation of the Faith to those who do not know Christ or those who have already received the Gospel as a priceless gift,  but have forgotten it again.   With these words, Pope Benedict XVI. addressed the Feast of the Conversion of Paul in the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Before the Walls to the faithful gathered for the Vespers at the conclusion of the week of prayer for the unity of Christians.

The unity among Christians, says the Pope, is above all a work of the Holy Ghost.  The prayer and the spiritual ecumenism "is formed in the heart of the mission of ecumenism,"  which without faith becomes a kind of contract of common interests.   The preconditions for a mutual brotherhood is in that the communion with the Father.

If the dialog reflects a priority for the Faith,  this is allowed, it opens itself with secure trust in God's work, that the Holy Ghost will lead to full communion.  This permits the acquisition of spiritual riches,, which are present in the various churches and church communities.

In view of a society as it appears today, where the Gospel appears ever less important,  but which is still in need of reconciliation, dialog and mutual understanding, the challenge is there to announce Christ in common and to give the world a shining example in the quest for communion."

The doctrinal question which still divide, "may not be left behind or set aside",  says Benedict XVI.  They must be courageously in a spirit of brotherhood and approached with mutual respect.  Ecumenism carries lasting fruits, if they are accompanied with concrete gestures, which heals the understanding and promotes relations.

The divine gift of unity "is inseparable from that of Faith, and the Faith is inseparable from the personal holiness as well as the search for justice".  Benedict XVI recalled the Christians in India,  who had prepared this years week of prayer, as well as the difficult situations in which they live, to bear witness.

"To go with God" means above all, to enter into the radicalness of the Faith, "like Abraham, we  trust in God and place all of our hope in Him."  At the same time this means that we go beyond limitations, "beyond hatred, of racism and social and religious discrimination, which divides entire societies and damages them."

Link to kath.net...

Vatican Warns Against Aggressive Religious Websites

Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, President of the Pontifical Council on Social Communications:  "We recommend Catholic websites to have a respectful dialog with others.  Sometimes there are sites which are too aggressive."

Vatican City (kath.net/KNA)  The Vatican has warned Catholic internet sites to represent the faith aggressively.  "We recommend Catholic sites to have a respectful dialog with others.  Sometimes we have too aggressive sites",   said the President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, on Thursday for a press conference in a presentation to the Pontifical Council.  "If we don't ensure a respectful disposition, everything runs falsely," he stressed.

At the same time it's not just for the purpose of recapitulating the Gospel.  "The net is a world occupied by people, and that necessitates a human sensibility."  It isn't sufficient to merely present dogmatic citations.  Just now young people are seeking more more for the meaning of their lives.  This challenge must be met on the internet.  Celli mentioned also that the twitter account of Pope Benedict XVI in Latin has more than 11,000 followers.

Link to kath.net....

Jack Kerouac was Catholic

"I believe in order, tenderness and piety. "

Edit: there's so much about celebrated literary figures confirming our religious feelings.  Many people find so much consolation in actors, punters, gangsters and so on who've changed their ways and admitted they were wrong.

One such figure is Jack Kerouac.  Bad Catholic, who especially likes to report on these sorts of stories about "cool" cultural icons, performed a fairly succinct and detailed summary of Kerouac's emotional and literary attachment to Catholicism. It was especially plain in how he named the beatnik movement as related to "beatific".

There's a great deal to poetic figures and part of their vocation to see and appreciate things with a wonder and conviction which is the polarity and polarization which makes their poetic work a religious experience.

An article in Culture Wars reads:

It may be hoped that Catholicism did more than keep Jack sane. He wrote his editor about "the result of praying to St. Mary to intercede for me to make me stop being a maniacal drunkard." Kerouac continued, "Ever since I instituted the little prayer, I've not been lushing. So far, every prayer addressed to the Holy Mother has been answered."28 He resumed his boyhood habit of praying to St. Thérèse and "the little lamby Jesus", and his diaries are filled with prayers (some for humility) and sketches of the crucified Christ. He never formally returned to the Church and the sacraments, but in the last decade of his life he often slipped into neighborhood churches to light a candle and pray. 

In 1969, the last year of his life, Jack and Gabrielle, and Jack's third wife, Stella, lived in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was a retirement town, and Jack seemed retired, spending most of his time indoors, drinking Johnny Walker Red and reading National Review, the Bible, Pascal, and Voltaire. He was watching television the morning of October 20, eating tuna fish out of the can, sipping whiskey, and scribbling a note. There was a pain in his stomach. He made it to the bathroom in time to vomit a waterfall of blood. His liver, long cirrhotic, had finally hemorrhaged. The blood filled Jack's chest and welled up into his throat. 

He was rushed to St. Anthony's hospital. He remained unconscious while doctors operated on him and pumped thirty pints of blood into his body. He died an alcoholic's death, drowning in his own blood, at 5:30 a.m. the next morning. His body was taken back home for a high mass at St. Jean Baptiste Cathedral in Lowell, where Jack had served as an altar boy. The body in the coffin wore a sports coat and bow tie. The right hand held a rosary.

What is also of note, was his interview with William F. Buckley on the PBS show, Firing Line not long before he died, where he described his understanding, against the press and popular description, which was really more of a statement of Faith, "I believe in oder, tenderness and piety".  Indeed,  he was eager to attack the Communists like Ferlengetti and Ginsberg, from whom he disassociated himself from several times in the interview. Despite being terribly drunk, he has moments of clarity and makes one of the most sartlingly accurate description of the false prophets...

  Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Bad Vestments Hit the London Runway

Edit: the show got off with a rousing "hooray" and Julia roamed down the runway with a deep red chasuble. Many bad ideas were born of a desire to be less stuffy.

THESE strutting 'supermodels' are more familiar with the Holy Ghost than Heidi Klum.

They're all real vicars, hand-picked to show off the latest range of ecclesiastical wear at a special clergy catwalk show.

Five trendy revs, including retired Methodist minister Brian Hoare and minister-in-training Beth Allison, flaunted a collection of brightly-coloured cassocks and blinged-up crucifixes aft the event, part of a Christian exhibition in Bristol.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4759497/Vicars-turn-garments-fashionable.html#ixzz2IyWh7CMm

The TFP Processing Against Abortion and Aberrosexualism Attacked by Mob

He pressed them very much to turn in unto him: and when they were come into his house, he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread and they ate: But before they went to bed, the men of the city beset the house both young and old, all the people together. And they called Lot, and said to him: Where are the men that came in to thee at night? bring them out hither that we may know them. [Genesis 19: 9,10]

Edit: this appeared recently on the  LifeSiteNews, which is nice. The Traditionalist TFP (Tradition Family and Private Property) members stoutly marched through the streets of Curitiba to protest the sin of abortion and aberrosexuality in the state of Parana where they were greeted mostly by friendly, well-wishing people of the town. This abruptly ended as they were attacked by a vulgar crowd of tolerant Leftists who shouted obscenities and spat on them while inciting violence. One of the brave TFP members was struck by an object at one point and had to go to the hopistal.

This video is in Portuguese, but features highlights of the march.  From LifeSiteNews:

Videos of the harassment were filmed by the perpetrators themselves, and two of them found their way onto the blog of Milton Alves, a former communist who is now a member of the socialist Worker's Party that currently holds power at the federal level in Brazil.  Alves acknowledged his presence and expressed his support for the counter-protesters, stating, "I was there and I saw everything. I'm on the side of democracy and against the TFP."

Good News! Abbot Werlen Resigns!

Einsiedeln (kath.net) Martin Werlen, the controversial Abbot of Einsiedeln will resign at the end of 2013. At that time the Cloister of Einsiedeln will get a new abbot. On twitter, Werlen himself described this as "Good News" In the Catholic Church and also in his own cloister itself Abbot Werlen's tenure was controversial.

Recently, Abbot Werlen was concerned because Swiss gas stations are open from 1 to 5am throughout the night offer their entire inventory and not just "items of daily use". There were significant protests from politicians and the Church. Martin Grichting, the Vicar General of the Diocese of Church said that the political positions of the Abbot: "The Church, especially its leadership, should not engage the Faith in politics. We have the task of preaching the Gospel, and not to get involved in politics." The Abbot did not refrain from critical questions. Last November he accepted to return again for an interview with kath.net.

For the Cloister itself the departure of the Abbot itself may be a new beginning. Some brothers were not pleased with the media presence of the Abbot, as kath.net has learned from Church circles in Switzerland.

Link to kath.news....

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....