Edit: if he hadn't made the lavender mafia so angry, Pope Francis would have kept him in. Will the enabling Bishop Pates be brought in from Iowa to fill the gap?
ST. PAUL, Monday, June 15, 2015 (ChurchMilitant.com) - Archbishop John Nienstedt announced this morning that Pope Francis has accepted his resignation as archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
After a string of controversies over his mismanagement of sexual abuse cases, Abp. Nienstedt will be leaving the archdiocese after seven years of service.
In his statement, the archbishop explains that he has a "clear conscience" after spending much of his time the last several years putting into place "solid protocols" that will aim to protect children and the vulnerable from sexual abuse.
http://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/archbishop-nienstedt-resigns
Monday, June 15, 2015
Friday, June 12, 2015
Cardinal Antonelli's Dual Alarm on the Bishops' Synod
(Rome) Cardinal Ennio Antonelli is an acknowledged expert on the situation. The 78 year old cardinal knows whereof he speaks. From 2008-2012 he was President of the Pontifical Council for the Family. Now he has publicly warned against giving communion to remarried divorcees. Such a move would be disastrous: it would be a diminishment of the Sacrament, but also the end of the marriage sacrament.
Cardinal Antonelli organized two World Meetings of Families in 2009 in Mexico City and in 2012 in Milan. Before Pope Benedict XVI. brought him to Rome, he was since 2001 Archbishop of Florence, and from 1995 to 2001 Secretary General of the Italian Bishops' Conference, Archbishop of Perugia from 1988 to 1995 and from 1982 to 1988 Bishop of Gubbio.
Former President of the Pontifical Council on Family offers plea for the Sacrament of Matrimony
"The crisis of marriage and the Eucharist"
Although he was preordained, he did not participate on the first part of the Synod of Bishops on the family on October 2014. Pope Francis had not ranked him among the persons appointed by him to the synod. However, he is actively involved in the current debate and in these days published a book. It is titled "Crisi del matrimonio ed eucaristia" (The Crisis of Marriage and the Eucharist" (Edizioni Ares, Milan 2015, 72 pages, 7 euros).
"This is a special book. It is handy, has little pages and reads in one breath. The foreword is by another Cardinal, Elio Sgreccia, the president from 2005-2008 of the Pontifical Academy for Life was" says the Vatican expert Sandro Magister. For reasons of age the renowned bioethicist who was born in 1928 and 2010 elevated to the cardinalatial state by Pope Benedict XVI., did not take part in the conclave of 2013.
Kasper proposal "unrealistic"
Cardinal Antonelli points out how the alleged restriction of admission to communion only to the divorced and remarried is "unrealistic" because the number of people who simply live together, is much larger. Due to foreseeable social pressure and due to an internal logic of the first step, those opinions would gain legitimacy therefore, arguing for an even greater flexibility. It would be then that even homosexual cohabitants will be included.
The cardinal also complains that the Eucharist will be reduced to a mere courtesy with such permissive thinking. "In today's cultural context of relativism, there is a danger of trivializing the Eucharist and to reduce the rite to an act of socialization. It has already happened that people who were not even baptized went to communion because they thought to make a gesture of courtesy, or that unbelievers demanded a right to be allowed to receive communion at weddings or funerals, just because it is seen as a sign of solidarity with their friends."
"Between good and evil, there is no gradualness" - answer to Schönborn's Gradualitätsthese
Foreword by Cardinal Elio Sgreccia, Former President of the Pontifical Academy for Life
In response to the theses of gradualness which were put forward by the Viennese Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn at the Synod of Bishops in 2014, Antonelli wrote the chapter: "Between good and evil, there is no gradualness".
Next the cardinal writes: "The admission of divorced and remarried and the cohabitants to the Eucharist is the separation of mercy and repentance, which does not seem in line with the Gospel", because forgiveness always presupposes repentance.
With Kasper Proposal to Abandon Indissolubility of Marriage
The former president of the Pontifical Family Council warns that no matter what the intentions of those who are in favor of the admission of divorced and remarried to the sacraments, the indissolubility of marriage would be abandoned. "Regardless of their intentions, it will be betrayed because of doctrinal incoherence between the authorization of these persons to the Eucharist and the indissolubility of marriage, end up in actual practice, what in theory and in principle still holds, with the risk that it reduces the indissolubility of marriage to a mere ideal, perhaps even a beautiful one, but an ideal only accessible to the few", said the Cardinal.
"It is foreseeable that the Eucharistic Communion of remarried divorcees and cohabitants will quickly lead to a general state. Then there will no longer be much sense to speak of the indissolubility of marriage, which is why even the celebration of the marriage sacrament is losing practical significance," are the words of warning of the former president of the Pontifical Family Council.
Full content available in Italian, English and Spanish on the Internet
The text of Cardinal Antonelli has published in full on the website of the Pontifical Council for the Family and not just in the original Italian, but also in English and Spanish translation.
"Cardinal Antonelli has presented with amiable stability and practical realism, the doctrine and the pastoral force of the Sacrament of Matrimony. Above all, he makes the untenable consequences visible, which would come with the changes now proposed at various levels of the Church," said Sandro Magister
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: familiam.org/MiL
Image: familiam.org/MiL
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Journalist Pope-Critic and Anti-Mason Danilo Quinto Fired -- "Purge Continues"
(Rome) The press agency SIR (Servizio Informazione Religiosa) of the Italian Bishops' Conference has dismissed Danilo Quinto, a renowned Catholic journalist and publicist. They fired him for criticizing Pope Francis. Quinto is one of the best connoisseurs of the secular-Masonic agenda. For 20 years he was a militant activist of the radical liberal, anticlerical Radical Party, whose treasurer he was.
He has the necessary insider knowledge and knows radical secularist actors like Marco Pannella and Emma Bonino, and their motives personally. After his conversion to Christ and his return to the Catholic Church, he broke with the anti-Christian Party and its ideology. In his book "From the servant of Pannella to the free child of God" he settled with this party and its mindset, Founded in 1877, Italy's Radical Party, which was the political wing of the Masonic Grand Orient of Italy in Parliament and government. It was a settlement that led to Danilo Quinto receiving public attacks, slanders and public humiliations, as far as the arm of his opponent could reach.
Dismissal because of critical remarks about Pope Francis
SIR news agency of the Italian Bishops Conference
Since the spring of 2013, Danilo Quinto, was a regular contributor to the press agency SIR. At the express request of the press agency his articles were published under a pseudonym. A decision that was taken by SIR out of concern not to provoke the radical liberals. Since then SIR has published 316 articles by Quinto, an average of three per week.
As Danilo Quinto announced himself, this collaboration was abruptly and unilaterally terminated by SIR. The dismissal was justified not with articles he wrote for SIR, but with contributions which he wrote for other media. In a telephone conversation with SIR editor in chief, he was told on the eve of his release, that it was because of the item broadcast on the traditional Internet sation Radio Spada. In it Quinto voiced criticisms to some of the statements and decisions of Pope Francis. Criticism is not tolerated in official church media.
The dismissal was carried out by SMS:
"In full respect for your freedom, I take note that your position to the pope is in clear contradiction to that of the SIR. I will share with the agreement of the management - since the relationship of trust with the director is no longer present - that with today's release of your two most recent articles your collaboration with the agency SIR will be considered terminated. Good Luck. "
The main reason: Quintos book against the Church's surrender to the aberro lobby
"Ancilla hominis", Danilo Quinto's latest book oppose gay heresy
However, the main reason is his latest book Ancilla hominis . Published in the publishing house of Radio Spada, the book critically analyzes the Catholic Church's approach to the gay agenda under Pope Francis. Danilo Quinto askes in the subtitle: "If the Church is the mystical body of man?" On the book cover is a caricature depicting Pope Francis showing him with an outstretched hand and giving a thumbs up against the background of the colors of the gay organizations, signing his approval.
Quinto had also leveled criticism that Pope Francis called the abortion lobbyist and declared enemy of Church Emma Bonino Quinto. It is not the act itself that was so wrong, said Quinto, but its handling, it necessarily gives the public the impression that the Church of today would even recognize the inhuman, anti-Christian attitude of Bonino. "The task of the Pope, is not to converse with just anyone," said Quinto (see"Woohoo" by Pope Francis with radical abortionist Emma Bonino in German). Bonino was from 1995-1999 EU-Commissioner, from 2006-2008 Italian Minister on International Trade and European Affairs and 2013/2014 Italian Foreign Minister.
The dismissal was surprising because Quinto at SIR worked under a pseudonym and the news agency received no embarrassment by his pope-criticism, which he published under his full name elsewhere.
The press agency SIR emerged 27 years ago as an initiative of the Federation of Catholic Weeklies Italy, most notably the Church newspapers and the Italian Episcopal Conference.
"The cleansing" against Pope's critics "continues"
Emma Bonino with Gustavo Raffi, Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy
Danilo Quinto thus joins himself to an ever-lengthening list of Catholic journalists and writers who have been dismissed because of their criticism of Pope Francis. The purge began in fall of 2013 with the release of Mario Palmaro and Alessandro Gnocchi at Radio Maria. "The cleanup continues," said Radio Spada about Quintos dismissal.
From Radio Spada, a relief operation has been launched to financially help the family man Danilo Quinto, because the employment at SIR (net 1,200 euros) represented the livelihood of his family. That Quinto yet will find a job in an official Catholic media in this pontificate, seems very unlikely.
Katholisches.info magazine for Church and Culture would like the colleagues Danilo Quinto to express its solidarity and thank him for his previous work as a qualified Catholic journalist and publicist.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Radio Spada / MiL
Image: Radio Spada / MiL
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG
What Has Rome Decided About Medjuogorje? Commission Member Names a Third Way
Pope Francis named the 17-member International Commission of Inquiry Medjugorje on the return flight from Sarajevo, which will replace one established in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI to investigate the phenomenon of alleged Marian apparitions in the Herzegovinian mountain village. The Commission was led by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the longtime chairman of the Italian Bishops' Conference (1991-2007) and close friend of Pope John Paul II. As the Cardinal reported Pope Francis gave the Commission's final report, referred to it several times on the plane to journalists as "significant work." Ruini blurted spontaneously: "Any way. That makes me happy. "
Preferably Rome a Gentle Solution?
A statement that is obviously meant for the long duration of the decision. The Commission had concluded its work shortly before the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. Since then, the final report is in Rome. The Argentine pontiff seems in no hurry. In Rome the main concern applies to the part of the faithful who are so convinced of the authenticity of Medjugorje that a negative judgment of the Church could shake or alienate even them from the Church and the faith.
For this reason they are looking for "gentle" solution, which will satisfy opponents, such as the bishop of Mostar, and proponents, such as the Archbishop of Vienna, without them losing face, maintains the validity of the negative decision by the Yugoslav Bishops' Conference 1991 and guides the faithful. In the Church that sometimes means not to decide and "ride out" a question.
Interview with the Mariologist and Commissioner Salvatore Maria Perrella
On Tuesday, another member of the Commission of Inquiry, Father Salvatore Perrella Maria took a public position. The Servite is Rector of the Pontifical Theological Faculty of the Marianum in Rome and teaches Dogmatic Theology and Mariology.
"We have worked thoroughly and seriously," said Father Perrella, quoted for the daily newspaper Avvenire. The judgment of Rome will reflect the fact and point out that "appearances are always possible", and if they are recognized as genuine, "represent a gift from God," said the Mariologist.
"However, the Church has the duty to preserve the primacy of revelation, by understanding these special events only as supports of the gospel of Christ," said Father Perrella. "The Virgin Mary is radiant, but still a creature of God that never overshadows the encounter with Christ, but always encourages. Apply the words of Mary in the Gospel of John: do what he tells you to do.' As John Paul II taught, the phenomena include the maternal mediating role of Mary. "
Lifestyle of the "Seers" Important - Messages on "Doctrinal Ambiguities" Examined
The Mariologist pointed to the importance of the right way of life of the seer. "If they are real, they do not seek the visions. Rather, it is God who leads. It is also necessary that they keep a contemporary life in the Gospel; in addition, they may not seek the limelight."
The judgment of the Medjugorje phenomenon was carried out by the commission of inquiry, said Father Perrella, after the last of the criteria supplemented by Pope Paul VI. There are "positive criteria": "Even the place of events has its importance, because it must have rich and lasting spiritual fruit. That is, looking for evidence of conversions, testimonies of charity and vocations."
But there were also "negative criteria" said the Mariologist: "There are clearly errors associated with the event, such as lies or storytelling. In addition, any doctrinal ambiguities are analyzed in the messages or profit, i.e., whether, the 'seer' or 'other' beneficiaries speculate with the events. Science also provides its contribution. For example, by determination of psychological diseases."
A third decision option?
Due to its confidentiality, the Mariologist did not say what conclusion the commission of inquiry had come to. About this he said amazing things about the judgment. Avvenire emphasized his words in bold type. Has the Servite thus anticipated the decision of the Vatican?
"You can say that moral certainty exists with a supernatural character. Or that it is the result of fraud and therefore does not come from God. There is a third possibility, which is not included in the provisions of the Holy See, but it has been considered by the theologians: The Commission chooses neither a yes nor a no, but notes that at present there is not an obviously blatantly supernatural phenomenon."
Father Perrella referred to the non-decision as a "third way". As a member of the commission of inquiry it must be assumed that he has thus not merely posed theoretical speculations.
Recognize as a place of worship, Report Directly to Rome and Not Definitely Confirm Phenomena
On August 14, 2013 Ignazio Ingrao published in the weekly magazine Panorama article: "Will Pope Francis Stop Medjugorje?" That was a month before the new pontiff took a position for the first time unofficially on Medjugorje. Ingrao wrote:
"After the disclaimer on Medjugorje that, during the pontificate of Benedict XVI were put forward [...] now many hope that Bergoglio's Marian devotion will cause him to officially recognize the apparitions.
According to the first indiscretions, surrounding the the visions, it seems on the contrary, that the solution to propose to the Pope, the Commission is recognize Medjugorje as a simple place of worship, but insinuate direct control of the Holy See. This without definitely commenting on the phenomena. "
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Medjugorje.pro/Secretum meum mihi (screenshots)
Image: Medjugorje.pro/Secretum meum mihi (screenshots)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG
Current State of Abortion in the US
Apparently, our enemies at The New York Times are aghast that Texas's recent anti-abortion law has actually been upheld in federal court. With this, we should also delight in the progress we are making in Wisconsin where a bill is underway to outlaw abortion in those instances where the fetus will experience pain (i.e., after twenty weeks of gestation). This legislative progress naturally mirrors trends in the broader culture where only 41% of Americans now consider themselves "pro-choice." In short, we are winning and our liberal opponents have begun to gnash their teeth. Continue to pray and fast for the Pro-Life movement worldwide.
In the spirit of "tacky liberal incoherence," we should note that the Texas bill primarily aims to regulate abortion clinics to ensure that they are safe. Given what happened in Philadelphia, this should be a top-priority for all legislators nationwide. And insofar as lefties are fond of insisting that abortion ought to be "safe, legal, and rare," it is odd that they too would not support legislation requiring abortion clinics to be safe. Or perhaps by "safe, legal, and rare," they really mean "often-unsafe, tax-payer-funded, and common."
In the spirit of "tacky liberal incoherence," we should note that the Texas bill primarily aims to regulate abortion clinics to ensure that they are safe. Given what happened in Philadelphia, this should be a top-priority for all legislators nationwide. And insofar as lefties are fond of insisting that abortion ought to be "safe, legal, and rare," it is odd that they too would not support legislation requiring abortion clinics to be safe. Or perhaps by "safe, legal, and rare," they really mean "often-unsafe, tax-payer-funded, and common."
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Year of Mercy: The Adverse Reaction from the Italians
The Italians did not have to wait long for the reactions that have been described by Professor Patrizia Fermani as a "Putsch of Mercy".
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| Antonio Socci |
Fermani is a founding member of Giuristi per la Vita (lawyers for life) and founder of the Comitato Nel Nome dell'Infanzia (Committee On behalf of the childhood). The Italian journalist Antonio Margheriti Mastino wrote on his website papalepapale: " Some time ago, a well-known, hypochondriacal Cardinal, perhaps under a permanent state of fear of suffering caused by the psychosis, had said in private that the IOR [Vatican bank] was in very poor condition and that it was only a matter of months until it breaks down. Was that exaggeration? Possibly. However, this is not the first time that similar financial situations have occurred and the Holy See has often reacted to it with an extraordinary anniversary. By this he meant that such a generous offer had been made, that could avoid through repentance and conversion, to reduce the budget deficit. Nevertheless, Antonio Mastino continued, "it is a fact that the last remoarseful Jubilee did not earn much and they had bet all on extensive media coverage. To those, like me, who live in Rome and experience it live, it seemed like a kind of giant fairground, where all sense of boundaries had gone and in the general penance was the last thing on the minds of the participants which took place in all of 2000. This was so bad that Cardinal Ratzinger raised his eyes to heaven glancing at this psychedelic program of the jubilee and resignedly said, once every 25 years, okay ... but no more ' ."
On March 15, the Italian journalist Antonio Socci asked on his site antoniosocci: "Will the Holy Year, which has just been announced be centered, as the previous, on Jesus Christ or will it be centered on Pope Bergoglio? ... The jubilee years have always been related since the First in 1300 on dates that had to do with the birth and death of Jesus Christ; including the (very rare) Extraordinary anniversaries. The anniversary year in 2016 is the first anniversary in the history of the Church that is not centered around a historical event of Jesus Christ during his earthly life. Because they needed a reason to convene it in 2016, Bergoglio decided that it should take place on the 50th anniversary of the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council. But what's this? For an anniversary? There was never an anniversary year for a council. Moreover, the Second Vatican Council ended in 1965, not in 1966 and therefore they will not celebrate the 50th, but the 51st anniversary of the conclusion of the 21st Council of the Church.
Therefore, this is an excuse, which is more than any other ideological and self-referential, because the anniversary year refers to a church event, rather than on Christ. (When we look at similar events in the history of the church, you could organize a Holy Year every year.)
"The first anniversary in Church history that is not centered on a Christ-event, will have Pope Bergoglio as undisputed protagonist of the media, a pope, by the way, who does not greet the faithful with the traditional greeting "Praised be Jesus Christ," but rather with "Good Day" and "Good evening" welcomed, so that the media him as an" affable welcome Pope ".
"So this will be a year of Bergoglio triumphalism. The issue of mercy, which elected the Pope, is going in this direction.
The Corriere wrote in a cover story: "It will be devoted to Mercy ." But this is unnecessary because all anniversaries are dedicated by their very nature to divine mercy. The cathedral in Siena has an engraved plate on the portal that lists the words with which Boniface VIII. announced the first Jubilee in the history in 1300 and the key word was "mercy".
"But why did they then decide to focus and characterize Mercy for the 2016 Jubilee??"
On March 17, Patrizia Fermani on the website Riscossa Cristiana: "This is the point where the dexterity comes into play. Here we have the tremendous idea, to give a revolutionary political program a sacramental form. All you have to do is to give it the form of a solemn anniversary. This will disguise the reversal of the mission of the Church under a ballast of religious pathos, even for those who are stunned, dull or confused. Bergoglio's mercy - general amnesty with a retroactive blotter for the sins - has a theological and religious form that is able to defeat any resistance. In primitive religions, mystical increase was also the sublimation of what is irrational and carnal. Bergoglio's anniversary aims to be the sublimation of the new rites of modernity which are the rites of the ecumenical, atheist and popular New Church of the third millennium, and by his impetus, he will bring forth its final consecration."
As Cardinal Walter Kasper when asked by the news agency I.Media on April 9th, 2015 answered, he recalled that Francis aligns with this topic II. Vatican Council, referring to the inaugural speech of John XXIII. to the Council: "Today, the Bride of Christ [i.e., the Church] prefers to use the remedy of mercy rather than the arms of severity." In the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, he adds, Francis noted the obligation for a pastoral conversion, "The church must be a home that is open to all ," he explained. "The Church is a sacrament of salvation and the sign and instrument of God's mercy ." However, by the "enlargement of a central main theme of the Bible and the spiritual tradition of the Church in this way ", the Pope has made mercy to a key theme of his pontificate, said the President Emeritus of the Council for Promoting Christian Unity, in his opinion, the Year of Mercy is in fact part of the reform program of Francis.
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG
Eco-Encyclical to be Released on June 18 -- Over-watched by UN Rottweilers
(Rome) This Thursday, June 18 the Eco-Encyclical will be presented at 11 clock in the New Synod Hall of the Vatican by Pope Francis.This was announced by the Press Office of the Holy See and confirmed for the first time officially, that the encyclical will be titled "Laudato si" after the Canticle of St. Francis of Assisi. It will also be the first encyclical of history to also have a subtitle: "About the concern for the common house". Encyclicals have so far received the first words as a title with which they begin.
The presentation of the encyclical will be made by Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. At his side will be Metropolitan Joannis Zizoulas of Pergamum, an 84 year old representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople. Similarly Hans Joachim "John" Schellnhuber a representative of the international institutions. Schellnhuber is the founder and director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Chairman of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) and long-standing member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate (IPCC).
IPCC and UN Are Sitting at the Presentation Table - as Watchdogs?
While the presence of the Orthodox representative underlines the appreciation of Catholic-Orthodox relations, the presence of Schellnhuber's is evidence that makes use of the eco-Encyclical, the thesis of human-inflicted global warming and thus the UN Millennium Agenda. Schellnhuber is one of the leading advocates of a drastic and costly IPCC climate policy. It's a step that would mean a serious surrender of the Catholic Church to the powerful of the world. One step, Pope Benedict XVI. had fought against throughout his pontificate.
The warnings and concerns of climate skeptics, conservatives and pro-lifers were obviously justified. The rapprochement between the Vatican and the United Nations has been announced since the election of Pope Francis. The new cooperation was sealed with a climate conference at the Vatican late April 2015 in the presence of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and UN Director Jeffrey Sachs. Already the two were mentioned at the Vatican meeting, who gave the content guidelines and direction. Is the Vatican following orders on the issue? Is Schellnhuber sitting like a watchdog at the presentation table? The presence of special guests or co-presenters has not been previously common.
The eco encyclical will be presented in original Italian and in French, English, German, Spanish and Portuguese translation on Thursday. One issue in the church language Latin, in which almost all encyclicals have been drawn up, has not yet been made.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Vatican Insider
Image: Vatican Insider
In the Syrian Crusader City of Tartarus is the First Alawite Marian Mosque in the World
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| Marian Mosque of Tartarus |
(Damascus) is a mosque dedicated Mary in Syria not an anachronism? Syria has become the epitome of war and flight. The Christians in the country are being brutally persecuted. Not by the government, but of Islamist combat forces who want to overthrow the government of Bashar al-Assad. Syria is a majority Muslim country. Only ten percent of the population are Christians. In1920 they were still 30 percent. However, the Muslims are divided into two groups. 70 percent are Sunni, 20 percent are Alawites. From the latter comes the first mosque named after Mary in the world.
The Alawis of Syria
Alawites in the coastal strip of the Crusader states
Little is known about the Alawites in the West. Within Islam they are considered related parties to the Shiites. However, there is also the theory that it is the Alawites, if they are not then at least the offspring of Islamized Christians, at least have significant Christian influence in their religious expression. In fact, since their early years in the 10th century, they have concentrated in Syria and Turkey, two areas which in contrast to other parts of the Islamic world today, which were once heartlands of Christianity.
The Alawites live in what is now Syria, especially along the Mediterranean coast, that area west of the Orontes plane, which belonged to the Crusader states in the Middle Ages and has thus historically and culturally experienced a differing development, than the Islamic territory east of this location. The parallel to the coast mountain range is therefore called the Alawite Mountains (Jebel al-Alawia, Jabal an-Nusayriyah after the original name "Alawite" Alawite).
The Crusaders of Tartus
Fortified Crusader Cathedral of Our Lady of Tortosa (now a museum)
On the Syrian Mediterranean coast, the city of Tartus is the second largest port in the country. Tartus was founded by the Teutonic Knights and belonged from 1102 to the County of Tripoli, the youngest of the four Crusader states. In 1157 it was given by King Baldwin III. of Jerusalem to the Knights Templar. The Templars, the oldest of the Crusader orders of religious knights, built the port city into a mighty fortress. Saladin besieged it in 1188 in vain. 1291 Tartus was briefly headquarters of the Knights Templar after the fall of Acre. The city was the last mainland stronghold of the Knights, but fell in the same year. In 1300-1302 the Templars made a last, unsuccessful attempt to recapture Tartus.
The Knights Templar built the fortified cathedral of Our Lady of Tortosa (Tartus) in the city in the Romanesque-Gothic style. It was built on an original Byzantine site, consecrated to the Virgin Mary consecrated from the early Christian era, and is said to have been consecrated, according to tradition, by the Prince of the Apostles, Peter. After the Mamelukes conquered the city, they converted the cathedral into a mosque. In 1516 the area was conquered by the Ottomans. Under Ottoman rule, the cathedral was used as a cowshed. Today it is a museum. It is considered one of the best preserved examples of crusader churches built in the east. Hafez al-Assad, President from 1970-2000 and ruler of Syria, the father of today's President Bachar al-Assad, had promised to give the the cathedral back to the Christians. His death prevented the return.
First Mosque Named After Mary in the World - Marian Devotion in the Koran
Report of the Daily Star of Beirut
In this predominantly Alawite Tartus the first mosque was built and dedicated to the Virgin Maryn the world. According to the Beirut daily newspaper Daily Star, the new mosque is called Al-Sayyida Maryam. This is one of several Arab names for the mother of Jesus, says the Minister of Religious and Cultural Goods, Mohammad Abdel-Sattar al-Sayyed at the opening ceremony last Saturday.The minister described the new mosque as a sign "of the opening of Islam that is far from aberrations and extremism ."
At the opening Antoine Dib, the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch, who is also a representative of the Eparchy Latakia, was present. He explained that he is "proud of the initiative" has been brought forward and expressed the hope that the mosque dedicated to Mary may be a "sign of peace" for the whole country.
The worship contained in the Koran for the Virgin Mary, the foundation of the mosque dedicated to Mary, is returned by Islamic scholars to Christian context in which the early Islam arose. Some scholars see in Islam an anti-Trinitarian heresy of Christianity.
The Franciscan Giulio Basetti-Sani (1912-20011), a student of the orientalist, Louis Massignon, had especially devoted himself to the Marian devotion in his studies on Islam, including "Mary and Jesus, Son of Mary in the Qur'an", which led him to the conclusion to recognize in Islam a "sister faith". Following in the footsteps of St. Francis of Assisi and in the pursuit of their Mission, the Franciscans endeavored to make the figures of Jesus and Mary in the Koran visible.
Islam Knows no Personal God, nor the Son of God, but the Virgin Birth of the "Anointed"
Impressive interior of the former Cathedral of Tartusa
Islam knows no personal God. For this reason there are no references to "father" that can be found in the 99 invocations of Allah. For this reason, for Islam a "son of God", which would imply a father, is unthinkable. Nevertheless, the Virgin Mary is called "God's chosen", who was "chosen among all women of creation" (Surah 3.42).The divine sonship of Jesus is, however, denied by Islam vehemently. God has no son. Jesus is acknowledged in the Koran as the "Son of Mary", Isa ibn Maryam, as it says in Surah 19.34 to 36. There is acknowledgment of the virgin birth of Mary, who gave birth to the "anointed one", one of the names for Jesus in Islam.
For several years the feast of the Annunciation on March 25th in Syria is a national holiday. It's a sign of the relatively good relations between Christians and the ruling Alawite Islam of Syria.
Mary is now considered a "door" in interreligious dialogue between Islam and the Catholic Church.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Daily Star (Screenshots) / Wikicommons / Espen Lutken (Screenshot)
Image: Daily Star (Screenshots) / Wikicommons / Espen Lutken (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred verkon99@hotmail.com
AMDG
What is going on in the Vatican?
As reported in The Week, it looks like Pope Francis has lost control of his staff in the Vatican. Michael Doughtery's article deserves a close read and clearly expresses the same position of concern and incomprehension at contemporary events that we at the EF take, albeit in a tone less polemical than our own.
A few things to note: In the contemporary church the only thing worse than the hubris of an archbishop towards well-meaning laypeople seeking clarification for his unCatholic behavior, is the hubris of a lay employee in the Vatican towards her critics. What these people would have us believe is that to combat poverty, slavery, and prostitution in the world, we must join forces with those at the UN who think that the murder of the unborn is necessary to save the environment. Shame on them! And instead of engaging in meaningful dialogue with their opponents, these elitists who have only condescension and contempt for their opponents, are only too eager to engage in mudslinging by accusing their opponents of being funded by the Tea Party and the oil industry. And who, pray tell, funds their salaries? Hmm? It does make one wonder if either of them ever took a course in formal logic and learned about the ad hominem.
One last thing: Apparently, Cardinal Pell does not own a cappa magna. I would only suggest that those of you with the money who support the churchiness-of-the-church might want to think about buying him one. That way someone in the anglosphere other than Cardinal Burke can proclaim to his opponents what he really feels.
A few things to note: In the contemporary church the only thing worse than the hubris of an archbishop towards well-meaning laypeople seeking clarification for his unCatholic behavior, is the hubris of a lay employee in the Vatican towards her critics. What these people would have us believe is that to combat poverty, slavery, and prostitution in the world, we must join forces with those at the UN who think that the murder of the unborn is necessary to save the environment. Shame on them! And instead of engaging in meaningful dialogue with their opponents, these elitists who have only condescension and contempt for their opponents, are only too eager to engage in mudslinging by accusing their opponents of being funded by the Tea Party and the oil industry. And who, pray tell, funds their salaries? Hmm? It does make one wonder if either of them ever took a course in formal logic and learned about the ad hominem.
One last thing: Apparently, Cardinal Pell does not own a cappa magna. I would only suggest that those of you with the money who support the churchiness-of-the-church might want to think about buying him one. That way someone in the anglosphere other than Cardinal Burke can proclaim to his opponents what he really feels.
Tacky Liberal Incoherence, No. 7
While ordering at a steakhouse: "Do you guys offer a vegan alternative for beacon? Because I'm not opposed to the merciless slaughter of poor, innocent animals for us just to eat them per se, because I'm not intolerant or narrow-minded. No! It's just that I'm here to help."
Bishop of Linz Offers Cathedral For Traditional Ordination on July 4th
(Linz), On July 4, 2015 a deacon of the traditional Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) will be ordained a priest in the Cathedral of Linz. The event is noteworthy as the consecration year of Peter Society has traditionally used a suitable dedicated church around Wigratzbad. Above all, however, it is because it's the first time a priestly ordination has been held in the traditional rite in the cathedral church of the home diocese by the bishop. It's a unique novelty in the German-speaking countries since the foundation of the Fraternity of St. Peter in the year 1988.
Deacon Philip Faschinger from Vorderweißenbach in Upper Austria, is to be ordained a priest. The consecration in Linz will take place at the request of the diocesan bishop Ludwig Schwarz SDB Maria [!], who has just completed his 75th year since the diocese of Linz in 2015 does not have a priestly candidate. The bishop does not want to finish his tenure without a vocation, as it is goes in the bishops' world.
The General Council of the Fraternity of St. Peter has finally agreed to the exception in this year as one has been granted to a French candidate. The French-Canadian candidates of consecration of the vintage of 2015 are to be consecrated the first time in Canada.
Peter Society in Linz has the Same Amount of Seminarians as the Whole Diocese
The Diocese of Linz has in the last several years, no priestly ordinations for the diocese. The vocations in the diocese are at a low ebb. The situation is different at the Peter Society of Linz, which is said to have currently as many seminarians as the entire diocese of Linz.
Young men who feel called, search, in the Diocese of Linz it's either a community of tradition or the community of an old monastery. In the past academic year two diocesan seminarians left for monasteries. The diocese fills the thinned ranks of seminarians with some African candidates who prefer to stay in Europe.
The ordinations speak for themselves: In the Diocese of Linz, a candidate of the Fraternity of St. Peter was consecrated in the traditional rite and two order priests were consecrated in the new rite in 2015. On August 16, Bishop Schwarz ordained the Cistercian monk Otto Rothammer in the Collegiate Church Wilhering, and on 13 September, the Norbertine Canon Matthew Stuphann in the Collegiate Church of Schlägl.
Choose vocations tradition or ancient monasteries
Originally, the ordination of deacon Faschinger was to take place on June 29, at the feast of the apostles Peter and Paul, in a traditional consecration day in the diocese. By contrast, there was some resistance in the diocese and since priestly anniversaries are also traditionally celebrated on this day. Not all, it was said, found the "old rite reasonable". As a compromise, the ordination was elected for the 4th of July.
On June 29, a Vietnamese Cistercian is now but unexpectedly to be ordained in the Cathedral of Linz in the new rite. The monk Gregor Nguyen from the Abbey An Phuoc studied in Heiligenkreuz. His studies were made possible through his support of the Upper Austrian Cistercian Abbey of Schlierbach. After his ordination he will return to his abbey in Vietnam. The consecration in Linz was apparently organized on such short notice that even the Schlierbach Monastery is still not aware of it. The sudden "balance" of a consecration in the old and the new consecration rite must have given "some relief" to the diocesan hierarchy.
The ordination of Philipp Faschinger FSSP will start in Mariendom (New Cathedral) on Saturday, on the 4th of July at 10 O'clock. On Sunday, July 5, the new priests will celebrate his first Mass in the Church of the Fraternity of St. Peter in Linz. The solemn High Mass in the Minorite Church in Linz (country church) starts at 8:30 clock.
Consecrated Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Linz
The Cathedral of Linz is a St. Mary's Church. It is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception and is still called the "New Cathedral" by the residents of Linz even after its inauguration a century ago. Its construction dates back to the Bishop of Linz, the Servant of God, Franz Joseph Rudigier (1811-1884). Bishop Rudigier is an outstanding figure among the diocesan bishops of the diocese established in 1785, and therefore according to ecclesiastical understanding, a fledgling diocese. The proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception by Pope Pius IX. in 1854 encouraged Bishop Rudigier to advance the construction of a new diocesan church, which was dedicated to the Marian dogma. Until then the former Jesuit church, popularly known today "Old Cathedral", served as cathedral.
The actual construction work on the neo-Gothic St. Mary's Cathedral began when the groundbreaking ceremony took place in 1862. In 1924 after a war-related interruption, the consecration of the church too place, which was only completed in 1935.The twin-towered Linz Cathedral is on dimensions and capacity, the largest church in Austria. The Immaculata bell of more than eight tons is the second largest bell in Upper Austria.
In the Minorite Church the bridge for the rite of all time took place
The Minoritenkirche of Linz, which is where the first Mass will be held on July 5th, already dates from the early 13th century. This is the first branch of the Friars Minor in Upper Austria documented in 1235, but is likely to already have been formed immediately after the death of St. Francis of Assisi. The Franciscans played from then on a central role in the pastoral care of the city. In the wake of the Protestant "Reformation" vocations declined so much that the monastery had to be abandoned. The authorities tore the convent buildings down in1562 and erected a villa in its place. The church was supervised for several decades by the Jesuits. In 1679 the Franciscans came back in the branch of the Friars Minor in Linz and took over the pastoral care again in their church. In addition to church and villa they built a new monastery and built from 1751 the Gothic church in the late Baroque style with Rococo approaches. The choir stalls in the rear nave date back to the Gothic church. In 1785 the Linz Minorite Cloister was shut by the Klostersturm of Emperor Joseph II. The second monastery was integrated as part of the villa. The church has since been assigned to the province of Upper Austria, which is why it is also called "Villa Church".
In the Diocese of Linz, the Minorite church figured peculiarly in the liturgical reform of 1969/1970. The diocesan priest Josef Kronsteiner, from 1943-1981 Domkapellmeister in Linz, was a lecturer at the diocesan seminary and professor at the Bruckner Conservatory (now Anton Bruckner Private University for Music, Drama and Dance), rejected the liturgical reform and celebrated still in the Immemorial Rite of All Ages. Because of his reputation in the diocese the Landhausstraße church was finally made available. Thus it was the musician, composer and especially priest, Josef Kronsteiner formed the bridge in the period by which the celebration of the traditional rite in the Diocese of Linz was never broken. After his death, another retired diocesan priest continued the celebration in the traditional rite, until 1991 when the chaplaincy at the Minorite church was transferred to the FSSP founded in 1988.
The Fraternity of St. Peter has its own office in Linz, which is usually supported by several priests. The FSSP ever provides for a dignified and reverent celebration of the Sacred Liturgy. It is a proclamation, administering the sacraments and pastoral obligation that includes the entire, nearly two thousand years of tradition of the Catholic Church and is faithful to the mandate and committed to the teaching of Jesus Christ. It's a seed that falls on fertile ground, as vocations show.
Text: Wenzel Huber-Chwateck
Image: Wikicommons / Gloria.tv (Screenshot)
Image: Wikicommons / Gloria.tv (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG
Monday, June 8, 2015
Polish President Catches Falling Host
We'd reported earlier that he'd began his presidency by making a pilgrimage go Our Lady of Czestochowa and asking for Her assistance.
When one thinks of all the sacrileges committed by America presidents over the years, including unworthy reception of Holy Communion, seeing a man who believes and is a political figure fills us with hope.
One commenter also posted this video:
What Now? After the Death of Commissar Volpi?
(Rome) After the announcement of the death of Father Fidenzio Volpi,Vaticanista Marco Tosatti asks "What now?"
The Apostolic Commissioner of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, the Capuchin Volpi had suffered a serious stroke at the end of April. His health has since been very critical, so that the news of his death was wrongly been spread a month ago.
From anonymous websites who were close to the Apostolic Commissioner, or rather the small group of rebels within the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate , who support the provisional government, the false death report was polemically denied. The Secretary-General of the Order, Father Alfonso Bruno said on May 15 no less falsely, Father Volpi stands directly in the forefront of the government of the Order of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. But his health never permitted it at any time following the stroke. Especially Father Alfonso Bruno, the big winner of the provisional administration, became increasingly nervous since the stroke.
Naming of a new commissioner is likely, but there is also an opportunity for a change of course
The death of the Apostolic Commissioner has changed the situation abruptly. Therefore, Tossati's question: "What now?" What is the Holy See's reaction? If the provisional administration is to end or will there be a new commissioner? Anyway: Father Bruno can not be certain of his his leading role. An end of the provisional administration seems unlikely. A provisional administration usually lasts at least three years. The religious congregation should appoint a new Commissioner for the remaining time and the final report out in the summer of 2016 to decide whether a General Chapter of the Order can choose a new head of the order.
The naming of a new Commissioner, however, also makes a change of course in dealing with the Order possible. Had Father Volpi pursued a course of radical devastation, a new commissioner could be benevolent to the Order. Still, however, everything is open.
Commissioner Volpi leaves a field of desolation
Father Volpi leaves the once blooming Order of Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate since July 2013 after only 22 months of provisional administration as a field of desolation. Vocations have plummeted, friars who leave the Order, monasteries have been closed down, the order's own seminary was shut down and the first measure at all, the celebration of the traditional rite has been met with prohibitions.
While many Catholic orders in Europe cite a lack of vocations, the Congregation of the Religious have suppressed under the leadership of Cardinal Prefect João Braz de Aviz, one of the most flourishing Orders. Reasons for radical intervention of the young Order is still not known. Behind closed doors were sown notions that in the Order there were "crypto lefebvrian" tendencies. See Commissioner Volpi, the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate and the SSPX under Pope Francis .
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Osservatore Romano (Screenshot)
Image: Osservatore Romano (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG
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