Spanish Diocese Want Financial Independence From the State

Spanish Bishops With Pope Francis

(Madrid) The attacks against the Catholic Church have recently increased in intensity in Spain. In the parliamentary elections in December 2015, the progressive Partido Popular (People's Party) lost its majority. However, the left-wing parties were unable to form a government within what is the stipulated by the Constitution. This coming June 26, therefore, new elections are to be held. Another shift to the left is not excluded.

The attacks against the Archbishop of Valencia, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares, by representatives of the Left parties, may be significant as a new sign of the escalation against the Church. The former curial Cardinal was defending the natural family and criticized the gender ideology. Cañizares turned especially against "false" laws which are contrary to human nature and therefore run counter to the government's mandate to provide for the general welfare.

It's a position of the left-wing parties (PSOE, Podemos, IU),  which is barely tolerated any more. They want to muzzle the Church, and prefer to bring it into silence. The recent campaign in itself, which is being carried out initially by clerical employees who are active in left-wing political parties, who have publicly insulted  high church officials, shows that freedom of expression is in serious danger. It's a phenomenon that is not only to be observed in Spain.

The context of these recent events involve the efforts of the Spanish Church, to become independent of state funding.  The proportion of state financing accounts for between 10 and 50 percent, at present, of the annual budget of Spanish dioceses.

The state contribution to the financing of the Church is governed by a democratic transition agreement in 1979 signed between the State and the Church. The Left has agitated against the financing of the Church by the state since the 80s. In 2007, the left-wing Zapatero government put into effect a supplement that abolished the direct subsidy to the Church by the state. Instead, it was determined that the state would withhold 0.7 percent of personal income tax (IRPF) for the Church from those taxpayers who so wished it. The scheme is modeled on similar provisions which have been laid down in the 1984 Concordat between the Catholic Church and Italy.

Since the revision of 2007, the Catholic Church no longer receives subsidies from the tax budget. It will only be paid the money that Catholics want their pay voluntarily by an explicit statement on the tax return. In contrast, to the Church-tax in Germany, the tax is voluntary. Only the rate is fixed. 

The Archdiocese of Madrid is financed up to 18 percent from the IRPF tax. In Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Barcelona, ​​the figure is 34.1 percent, in the diocese of Cordoba it is at 14.5 percent.

Overall, the indirect subsidies from the government (transitory items IRPF tax) amounted to around 250 million euros annually. It's a modest sum compared to the more than five billion which sustains Germany's church through the church tax. Accordingly modest are also the salaries of Spanish priests which stand  between 700-1000 euros.

Nevertheless, there are discussions within the Spanish Bishops' Conference of renewed efforts to seek independence from the indirect funding by the state   and switch the budget of the dioceses entirely to self-financing. Financial dependence, be it only indirect, could restrict the freedom of maneuver and independence, and freedom of expression, as things are in Spain. The money supply has ever been a popular form of pressure for currently ruling authorities at any time.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Infovaticana

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Consecrated Host Spit Out and Trampled on the Floor: Possible Jail Time

Edit: rather than put real Catholics in jail using the "Civil Law" as one priest recently suggested.  Why not put the bawds, pretenders, interfaith organizers and professional Catholics who are destroying the Faith in jail?

They will still throw you in jail Italy for insulting God.


(Cagliari) A thirteen-year-old girl was reported last Sunday to the police for insulting (the) Religion. The occasion was a desecration of the Host during Mass.

The girl had taken part in Holy Mass in Capoterra on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia which was celebrated in honor of the fallen of all wars. The girl received the Holy Communion, and returned to a group of young people. She stood in front of the and spat It on the floor and stepped on it. The incident sparkedthe greatest horror among the believers from surrounding. Why the girl has committed such a sacrilege is unclear.

Whether it was a gesture of vandalism or Satanism, or simply to a lack of awareness of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ, which is little appreciated today any more, could be clarified by the minister in direct conversation. A traditional priest has been working got the new evangelization in the parish of St. Elphisius Capoterra since 2010, in the decades previously it had been rather neglected by the progressive religious of an order in the "spirit of the Council".

Text: Unione Sarda / Giuseppe Nardi Image: Messa in LatinoTrans:: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.comKatholisches...AMGD

Thoughts of a Great Shepherd of the Church

With Catholic Joy

From the wealth of clear doctrinal answers, the steadfast Bishop Kurt Krenn, loyal to Rome, whom the church owes a lot to - this is an exemplary excerpt

Bishop Kurt Krenn: words
along the way,
thoughts of a shepherd of the Church,
St. Pölten St. Joseph Publishing,
ISBN 3-901853-04-9

The truth of Christ - Regardless of Majorities (p. 49)

In the religious field, democracy and truth are not necessarily connected with each other: one can err democratically and undemocratically, a majority still doesn't determine truth.

As Jesus once asked his disciples, who do they say He is, he got different answers: John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or some other prophet.

It was reserved to Peter not to give answer for the polls but the true answer: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (cf. Mt 16, 13-19). On Peter, Christ founded his Church and their faith.



Marriage and Family - to murderous abortion and homo-perversion (p. 130)

Once it was hoped to reduce cases of abortion by unauthorized contraception, yet it is already evident now long the deceptive is the illusion of such a hope.

Sexuality is a gift from the order of the Creator, irrevocably linked to the married couple, was offered to children and young people as a social and cultural accomodation, that has long led it since on its own path of the destruction of souls and can not be controlled by the free gifts of contraceptives.

From the contempt of the Creator, which is described in Romans as the reversal of the truth of God into a lie:

Wherefore, God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness: to dishonour their own bodies among themselves. Who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause, God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is against nature. And, in like manner, the men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts, one towards another: men with men, working that which is filthy and receiving in themselves the recompense which was due to their error. And as they liked not to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense, to do those things which are not convenient. Being filled with all iniquity, malice, fornication, avarice, wickedness: full of envy, murder, contention, deceit, malignity: whisperers, Detractors, hateful to God, contumelious, proud, haughty, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Foolish, dissolute: without affection, without fidelity, without mercy. Who, having known the justice of God, did not understand that they who do such things, are worthy of death: and not only they that do them, but they also that consent to them that do them.(cf. Rom 1, 24-32).

The Church, as Christ Wanted Her - to Obedience (p. 196)

In the background, faithful obedience is the reality of the Holy Trinity: one God in three persons, one God in three equals the Deity.

Also in the mysterious Trinity, between peers obedience is nothing more than love for each other, the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is not the Father, the difference of the same is and stands still not in the way of the most perfect union of equals.

Anyone who thinks theologically, can immediately understand those relationships of obedience just in the Trinity, the most perfect reality of all realities, not the preserve of dependence but love in the differences and yet the most perfect of all communities.

The Church, as Christ Wanted Her - the "Right to the Eucharist" (p. 221)

The Church recognizes the "right to Eucharist" not as a collective right of the community, but as a personal invitation to the faithful, who are in turn personally bound to the celebration of the Sunday mass.

Right now is the moment of truth that the faithful take their Sunday obligation seriously and conscientiously attend the Eucharist every Sunday and holiday.

An outward fulfillment of the Sunday obligation is not sufficient. It must bear the celebration of the liturgy in faith and reverence.

Beyond all activities and external forms, events filled with the inner grace of the Eucharist raise the faithful: the true consummation of the work of our redemption.

Religion is Not a Private Matter - for unborn life (p. 249)

Our least brethren and sisters, the unborn children, these may concern both  Church and State, who seeks or justifies seemingly licit means to eliminate the unborn. Christ suffers in the fetus in which the absence of love means death.

We appeal to the conscience of all educated people, which remains today in many systems of injustice as the only protection for our most vulnerable children of men.

We must always remember the truth about man and return to the truth of God. In this question there is no escape and deception.

It is Christians with conscience and fear of God, who must raise their voices.

Do not remain silent and also act in forming this question in your political judgment that is consistent with the teaching of the Church.

© kreuz-net.info, EMail: redaktion@kreuz-net.info, Impressum
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMGD

When Heads of State Placed Cardinals' Birettas

Till 1969 some bearers of the purple receive their insignia from a worldly hand. by Ulrich Nersinger

Cardinal Roncalli Receives Socialist Biretta

Rome (kath.net/im) In France, Spain, Portugal and earlier also in other Catholic countries until half a century ago, the respective head of state had the privilege to place the Biretta the newly appointed cardinals of his country, and also the Nuncio - if this was confirmed by the Senate and The Church. This is how Monsignor Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, later Pope John XXIII, received the office of Apostolic Nuncio in France, along with the the Cardinal's insignia in the rooms of the Elysee Palace from the hands of the socialist President Vincent Auriol(photo). However, this is also where the recipient had the obligation, according to Canon 234 of the old Church law books which solemnly and binding declare, that he would in the course of that year, come to Rome for the red hat which he could only receive from the Pope himself.

As the new Cardinals were made known as of May 29th 1967, it was arranged by a decision of the Apostolic Nuncio in Portugal, for Msgr Maximilian von Fürstenberg. A relative of the Cardinal, Micheal von Fürstenberg, described in tiny script ("Report on the celebration on the event of the placing of the red biretta on Archbishop Maximilian Fürstenberg, Eggeringhausen 1967"), as the Prelate had the red Biretta placed on his head by the Portuguese Minister President Thomaz. Already some days before from this date, Maximilian von Fürstenberg received the red Pileolus (skullcap)from the Noble Guard Venceslao Valentini, who had been sent by the Papal Secretary of State to from Rome.

"The invited guests (Frock, Religious, Ladies) and the entire diplomatic Corps, whose dean is always the Papal Nuncio, gathered on the morning of the 3rd of July 1967 at the Royal Palace of Lisbon, the magnificent Palacio da Ajuda'. Meanwhile, the then Pro-Nuncio was picked up by the Chief of Protocal in the Nunciature and went, escorted by a squadron of the Republican Guard, to the Ajuda Palace. At 10:55, the train arrived at the courtyard of the Palace, where an honor guard of the Republican Guard was deployed, and a band playing the papal and Portuguese national anthems. During the meeting between the government and followers of the Pro-Nuncio, then entered the Patriarch of Lisbon, Cardinal Cerejeira, followed by several bishops of the chapel while he took his place opposite the position of the President. He was followed by the government led by Prime Minister Prof. Salazar. At 11 o'clock the Pro-Nuncio appeared, followed by the Papal Sub-legate, Monsignor Rotoli, the courier of the Vatican Secretariat of State, Venceslao dei Conti Valentini in the uniform of the Pontifical Noble Guard and the Secretary of the Pro-Nuncio, Father Antonio Becchetti SCI.

"The Pro-Nuncio took his place on a seat at the Epistle side, the red biretta and the Sub-legate put the papal brief in a credenza at the Gospel side and took a seat there. Then entered the President, followed by his civil and military suite. For him, there was a high seat on the Gospel side As he took his place, the Portuguese clergyman Manuel Coehlo Lopez celebrated a Holy Mass... following Holy Mass Monsignor Rotoli gave a short Portuguese address... At that point he placed the Papal Brief naming the Cardinal, that was passed on to Father Antonio Becchetti, who read it with a loud voice.

"Atter the reading of the Brief, the Pro-Nuncio, who attends to the Zucchetto (another name for Pileolus, the skullcap) are dressed in Bishops' purple, goes to the front seat of the president, kneeling there. With a great gesture, the President places the red Biretta on him. Cardinal Maximilian von Fürstenberg rose, exchanged a few words with the president and returned to his seat. After a "Te Deum Laudamus" (alternative with Gregorian chant and polyphonic choral singing), he gave his first blessing from the altar as a Cardinal of Holy Church.

"The Liturgical celebration sounded out with a many voices singing the "Jubilate Deo omnis terra". While now decked in Cardinal's robes, the guests in the hall Joa V were met by a little Sala de Musica to the President, Minister Salazar, President of the National Assembly and the ministers and their ladies presient. After the performance had reached the most magnificent and probably largest hall in the palace, the throne room, there was Maximilian von Furstenberg, now all in red, addressed to the President."

On the occasion of the Consistory of 28 April 1969, the Governments of France, Italy, Portugal and Spain delivered by then, accredited nuncios a communique in which the Holy See announced that the privilege, which the respective heads of state conceded the right, in their country, to be styled in purple and set up with the red biretta, will no longer exist. The decision was made since the 19th century where efforts were pursued to eliminate the influence of secular authority (Crown Cardinals, veto power in the conclave, etc.) but was probably also influenced by current political considerations. In 1965, the Bishop of Malaga, Angelo Herrera y Oria, received the red Biretta from General Franco, the Spanish head of state, which had led to violent protests.

For more information on the theme "Cardinal" and much more:

Ulrich Nersinger, Liturgien und Zeremonien am Päpstlichen Hof (Band II), nova&vetera, Bonn 2011, ISBN 978-3-936741-75-9

Link to original...

Patriarch Kyrill Describes Putin as "Wonder" for Orthodoxy

(Moscow) He did not do it, in order to meet Western observers, nor to meet together in a discussion with his promoters about the office of the State President of the Russian Federation. But he took some time on the 8th of February to take some "time off" of the business of government to meet with the religious leaders of Russia. As Vladimir Putin's press speaker said, the religious leaders support his candidacy.

The meeting took place officially on the invitation of the Russian Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow, in the DAnilow Monaster, which is the seat of the Patriarch of Moscow. Patriarch Kyrill described the era of Putin as a "wonder". In the Monastery there were gathered with Putin in the congress, the members of the "traditional religions" of Russia, who were held to be the Orthodox, Muslims, Jews and Buddhists, as also the "non-Traditional Religions", which consisted of the Catholics, Armenians and various Christian denominations.

Patriarch Kyrill "blessed" the political ambitions of the Russian Prime Minister. Putin is "the candidate, with the greatest view, to translate the office of state through his candidature," said Kyrill.

The Moscow Patriarch supported the 2011 demonstrations against election fraud during the parliamentary elections. He is since of the opinion that Putin is the most qualified man on to be at the head of Russia, in order to lead the land, who had been during the last twelve years for the Orthodox Church in Russia, "a wonder". Vladimir Putin was State President from 2000-2008 and has occupied since then the office of Prime Minister.

Also Russians Chief Rabbi Berel Lazr supported a third term of office for Putin, as he had opposed the anti-government protests of the last two months. He was quoted as saying; "The fact that the demonstrations always happen on Saturday shows that it has nothing to do with Jewish issues."

At the same time support comes from the Muslims from the mouth of the President of the Mufti's Council, Ravil Gainutdin, who said of Putin, "The Muslims know him and trust him. They wish him success."

The meeting in Danilow Monstery was critiized by the opposition.
Text: Asianews/Giuseppe Nardi Bild: Asianews

Underground Bishop Lorenz Zhang Wenchang is Dead -- 24 Years in Concentration Camp

Bishop Lorenz Zhang Wencheng

(Hong Kong) At the age of  92 Msgr Lorenz Zhang Wencheng has died.  The Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Kunming had passed twenty four years of his life in Communist concentration camps.  The Bishop died on the 5th of February.  His burial is planned for the 12 of February.

Bishop Zhang, who died in his home village of Shilin, was the Apostolic Administrator of three church districts south of Yunnan: Kunming, Dali and Zhaotong.

In 2006 the Communist regime has been on a collision course with the Vatican and recently on its own and without the approval of the Pope its own Bishop loyal to the regime in Kunming.  The unjustly consecrated Ma Yinglin drew an excommunication upon himself immediately.  Subsequently the Communist Party in china has promoted him to become the President of the Council for China's Bishops.  The Council, not being recognized by Rome, is true to the regime in opposition to the Bishops Conference which is loyal to Rome.

Despite the support from the regime for the loyal Patriotic Union, Ma Yinglin is avoided by the Catholic Faithful.  Where ever he goes out in public, Catholics leave and refuse to receive the Sacraments from him.

Bishop Zhang belongs to the underground Church.  Till his life's end he lived under strict police surveillance.  His life was that "typical" of the Martyrs to Communism.  Born in 1920 in a Catholic family, he went to Catholic schools. In 1946 he was ordained a priest by Bishop Alexandre Derouineau.  Msgr Derouineau was expelled by the Communist takeover of China in 1952.

Msgr Zhang served next at the Cathedral Church in his home Diocese.  In 1953 he had to give up his pastoral activity during the Maoist persecutions and became a rabbit and chicken farmer.  in the underground he continued to work as a priest and cared for hidden Christians.

In 1958 Msgr Zhang was imprisoned during the Communist campaign, "Agains the Reaction" and condemned to 20 years of imprisonment.  Under the cynical motto "Reeducation Through Work", the priest passed his period of forced labor in a concentration camp till 1982.  Till 1987 he was recognized as a pries t by the state and worked openly as a clergyman again.

The Church of Yunnan numbers around  60.000 Catholics.  The majority belong to ethnic minorities.  Since the expulsion of Bishop Derouineau in 1952, the See has been officially vacant.  The government has prevented since then the appointment of Bishops by Rome.  Instead, the Communist regime installed its own loyal Bishops in 1962, without the agreement or recognition by the Pope.  Msgr Kong Lingzhong usurped the Bishop's See till his death in 1992.  Since 2006 Ma Yinglin  has unjustly occupied the Bishop's See.  The Holy See has since named underground Bishops for the vacant Diocese, which are occupied by a standing persecution.

Link to Katolisches...

Text: Asianews/Giuseppe Nardi
Bild: Asianews

Hungary's Prime Minister: "If the Church Were Stronger, The Nation Would be Much Stronger"

The Hungarian Prime Minister is a lighthouse in a circle of unscrupulous political criminals, who want to impose their absurd Democracy.

(kreuz.net)The Hungarian Constitution asserts that the foundation of all life has its origins in the family.

That's why homosexual unions are not protected by the same rights as families.

It forbids homosexuals to adopt children.

Viktor Orbán (48)anounced this at the end of January in an interview with journalist and musician Jan Pospieszalski (57) in a broadcast for ‘Blizej’ on Polish state television.
Orbán is evangelical reformed and the father of five children.

As a younger politician he belonged to the opposition against dehumanizing Communism.

The interview discussed above all the giant majority of the new Constitution of Hungary. It is a milestone of progress.

That is the reason why it was bitterly fought against by obscurantist left circles.

A European Politician


The Hungarian Constitution declares that human life must be protected from the beginning.

With that it struck the barbarism of abortion down.

Orbán stressed that the defense of human life isn't merely valid for Hungary, but concerns all of Europe.

No Money for the Violence of Abortion


Orbán will be distorted by a left-obscurantist discussion.

These despisers of people are angered that the Hungarian Government are distributing the EU-payments to the promotion of adoption instead of abortion.

One inhuman individual attacked Orbán even in the EU-Parliament.

In his answer Orbán insisted that life is still widely "not respected".

That is -- according to Orbán -- a relic of the Communist regime, which hold people and life in contempt.

He continued: "If we had a strong Church, then the nation would be much stronger."

And: "I in the process of attempting an alliance with politicians, for whom Christendom and traditional values are important."

That is a great power for me


Orbán also stressed that prayer has a long tradition in Central Europe:

"For me this tradition has great significance."

Before difficult undertakings people would pray for him: "That is a great power and help for me."

"I would like to thank you for this talk and wish God's blessing on every single citizen of the Polish nation."

Here's the Interview in German, unfortunately, where he also thanks Poland for its demonstrations on behalf of Hungary:

Romanian Orthodox Church in Trouble With EU for Union Busting

Edit: just another bit of caesaropapism without the Caesar. What happens when priests want to go on strike?


Orthodox Archdiocese of Oltenia (Lesser Wallachia) had opposed the plans for the formation of a union, the European Court of Human Rights has made a decision

Strasbourg (kath.net / CBA), the European Court of Human Rights declared the founding of an Orthodox priest in Romania for trade union legal.   Such a ban violates the right to freedom of association, the judges ruled on Tuesday in Strasbourg. In 2008, 35 members of clergy and lay employees of the Romanian Orthodox Church organized to establish a union. The Archdiocese of Oltenia (Lesser Wallachia) opposed the plans.  State agencies and courts initially recognized the union. On appeal, however, the foundation was prohibited by the court. The Romanian judges ruled the statutes of the Orthodox Church foresaw no unions. The Human Rights Court has now decided that priests and laity who are employed by the Orthodox Church in Romania since their salaries were mainly from the state,  they are subject to social insurance. The contracts could not therefore be classified as if they were entirely outside the civil law. This applies especially for the laity. Restrictions on trade union rights should exist only in very exceptional cases. The ban was disproportionate. The plaintiffs were awarded € 10,000 compensation. (C) 2012 Catholic News Agency KNA Inc. All rights reserved.

Italians Are Saying "Pay Up" to the Church

Edit: It wouldn't be the first time the Catholic Church has helped the State.  In the seventh century, the Church helped the Emperor Heraclius raise an army which drove the Persians back beyond the Tigris and Euphrates.

Another time was just before the French Revolution, which brings to mind a bit of compare and contrast between the two instances.  In the first case, Heraclius was grateful and continued his support of the Church.  In the second case, the revolutionaries turned on the Church and destroyed virtually all of its monasteries and murdered a third of its clergy.

And then there was the time when Henry squeezed the Church in England and gave us St. Thomas Becket.



Here's the story.

Victory for The Cross in Polish Parliament

Edit: It's no wonder that they want to get rid of it, as IrishCafe writes us on twitter, "This cross is the gift from mother of Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko, priest and martyr murdered by commnist politial police in 1984."
Warsaw

(www.kath.net/ KNA) In a conflict surrounding the crucifix in the Polish Parliament has yielded a victor on the part of those favoring it. As the Chancellery of the Sejm (Lower House)reported this Friday, all four advisory opinions concerning the removal of the crucifix from the assembly hall were found to have no legal ground by the Parliament's President, Ewa Kopacz. A press speaker from the Chancellery told the Catholic News Agency (KNA)that Kobacz will decide the proposal of the anti-clerical "Palikot" movement in the forthcoming week.

The Party, which won ten percent of the votes in the elections in October, demand the banning of the Christian symbol from the assembly hall. The cross behind the speaker's chair infringes against the state's "impartiality" in religious matters. Since the the installation of the cross by two delegates 14 years ago, there has been a "permanent state of lawlessness", it says in the proposal.

The legal experts of the University of Warsaw and Torun, the Catholic University of Lublin and the Polish Academy of Science who were consulted found, that the crucifix neither infringes on the Constitution nor against European law. Roman Wieruszewski of the Academy of Science maintains the cross exercises "no influence". It also constitutes no discrimination, because an initiative for another symbol has not been rejected. Ryszard Piotrowski of the University of Warsaw views the cross as a "source of identity for the Polish Nation."

Ministerial President Donald Tusk showed himself to be pleased about the findings of the panel. He hopes that the political conflict over the cross will come to an end. In a presentation of his government program he had closely associated himself with the cross. Ann appeal of the proposal by "Palikot-movement" is not foreseen.

Besides the "Palikot"- Party there is also the opposition Party of the Social Democrats and the only left State President, Alexander Kwasniewski for the removal of the cross. The Conservative-Liberal Government Coalition and the Right-Conservative Party, Law and Justice, on the other hand, desire that it stays. The "Palikot-movement" has declared that in case of a rejection of their proposal in the constitutional court, and if necessary, they will bring it before the Court of Human Rights in Strassburg.

(C) 2011 KNA Katholische Nachrichten-Agentur GmbH.
Link to kath.net...

Turkey: Reopening of Orthodox Seminary at Constantinople Soon

Edit: The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reports, on the other hand, that it won't because the Patriarchate refuses to compromise on "various formulas in the Constitution".  

 Metropolitan Lambrinidnidis has been named the new Abbot of the Trinity Monastery on Princes' Island.

Constantinople (kath.net/KAP) In Constantinople the expectations are increasing that the Orthodox Seminary and the Theological University on the Princes' Island of Chalki will be opened soon.  This is the sense in with which the naming of the Metropolitan of Bursa, Elpidophoros Lambrinidis, as new Abbot of Trinity Monastery, is being interpreted.  +Lambridnidis will take over the direction of the Seminary and the University.

Patriarch Bartholomaios I  held an Agape after a feastday Liturgy at Holy Mary's in Souda where he had a short meeting with Minister President Recep T. Erdogan on August 31st.  It was there that the government chief announced the return of the real-estate taken away in 1936 related to Christian "pious Establishments".

At the Agape the Patriarch said, that he is to have expressed his "contentment, his happiness and his gratitude", but also, that the non-Muslim minorities "are in expectation of important steps".  Erdogan is said to have answered:  "This is only the beginning".

If Turkey is a just state, it must proceed in the realm of justice and "not illegality",  insisted the Ecumenical Patriarch and made an indirect comment, that isn't just to "please" the non-Muslim minorities, but rather it is an amends for a serious injustice.

Erdogan's new disposition in respect to Chalki was already in August of the year before expressed by the past government chief Bülent Arinc in Constantinople at a dinner with the Ecumenical Patriarch and the members of the Christian "pious Establishments".  Arinc stressed many times that no one in Turkey should ever feel themselves to be a second class citizen. "For me personally and so long as I am the chosen representative of the government, that  there will be education available at the the reopened Seminary," said Arinc at that time.  Actually the Constitutional Courts have narrowly closed the legal conditions for the possible opening.  He hopes still that the reopening of the Seminary and the University might be realized in the conditions of the existing laws "without substantial exceptions" ,  says the serving government chief.

The Seminary on the Island of Heybeliada/Chalki is in the Marmara Sea near Constantinople, and has been closed since 1971.  Because the Ecumenical Patriarchate can't educated its own clergy any more, the personnel situation which has lasted for over 1,700 years is becoming more and more precarious.

Link to kath.net...

Russia to Introduce Religious Instruction

Current Education Minister: Russia Plans the introduction of Religious Education and ethical instruction in all schools. Religious Instruction was abolished by the Communist government after the October Revolution in 1917.

Moscow  (kath.net) Russia is planning the introduction of Religious  Education and ethical instruction in all schools.  This was broadcast by Maxim Dulinow, present Education Minister, yesterday (31.8.), according to "Domradio Cologne".  Which was the result of a previous introductory instruction in a quarter of the regions of the country.

It will offer elective subjects in the "Foundations of Religion" and Ethics. In the test run since the year 2009 there were six electives: Russian-Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism or Buddhist religious instruction, ethical instruction or a subject about the foundations of World Religions. The students preferred ethical instruction, Orthodox Religious Instruction and the foundations of World Religion. The students were instructed by previously qualified secular teachers.

Religious instruction in the schools was abolished after the 1917 October Revolution by the Communist regime.

Link to original, kath.net...

Short video in English, here...

New furor over France's Muslims as veil ban looms

(AP) – 2 hours ago

TRAPPES, France (AP) — Karima has a plan. If police stop her for wearing a veil over her face, she'll remove it — then put it back on once they're out of sight. If that doesn't work, she'll stay home, or even leave France.
For Muslim women who cover their faces with veils, it is the moment for making plans. Starting April 11, a new law banning garments that hide the face takes effect. Women who disobey it risk a fine, special classes and a police record.

The law comes as Muslims face what some see as a new jab at their religion: President Nicolas Sarkozy's party is holding a debate Tuesday on the place of Islamic practices, and Islam itself, in strictly secular but traditionally Catholic France.

Link to AP Google...

Mount Athos is Losing its Tax-Exempt Status

The Greek Government is insisting on a stronger contract so that the Orthodox State Church and also the Athos Monasteries can reach their savings goals.

Athens (kath.net/KAP) With a sharp note of protest, the Parliament will finalize a decision by Prime Minister Giorgios Papandreou to withdraw the tax privileges of the Athenite Monastery, the Synaxis. This touches upon a Monastic property, which lies outside of the peninsula of Athos. Observers have predicted that this will further alienate Athos from legislation at Athens. So, earlier, the Ministry for Northern Greece in Thessaloniki took over control of the Pilgrimage Bureau to the Holy Mountain of Orthodoxy from the Monastic Republic.

The Greek Government insisted on a stronger contract so that the Orthodox National Church as well as the Monastery of Athos can stay within their budget, in order to save the nation from impending bankruptcy. The State Church is the largest land owner in the country; they were among other things, implicated in a large real-estate scandal. Unrecognized for self-determination and special status in the EU, the Monastic Republic of the "Holy Mountain of Athos" is subordinated to the Greek Department of Finance. According to the conclusion of the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire over Greece in the Peace of Lausanne in 1923, Athens protected Athos under different exemptions from duties and taxes.

Till now the Cloister of Athos has enjoyed a tax exemption. They occupy a large part of their income from real-estate in Greece outside of the Monastic Free State. There are very expensive inner-Athens properties managed by the Monastic Foundation.

Read at kath.net...

Polish Church Gets Back its Property Stolen by the Communists

Poland: The Polish State will return property stolen from the Church by the Communists. The current State Commission ruled on this after a twenty year study. The final ruling was made on Wednesday. The Church will receive 65,000 Hectares [160,615 Acres] of Land and 36 Million Euros back.

It's about 251 square miles, or about 20 Percent of the land area of Luxembourg.

Link to kreuz.net...

Image from, here. It's in the comments section in a discussion about the meaning of Communism.

Judge Assigns Penance in Church as Punishment

 Restorative Extra-Judicial Justice 

In Italy two youth who were brought to trial for robbery must also "do penance" in the Church...

Mestre (kath.net) In the Italian city of Mestre two convicted minors have received an unusual punishment, as the Austrian daily 'Kurier' reported:  A 15 year old and a 16 year old, members of a youth gang, were charged with robbery and extortion.

The judge decided for the following "judgment":  The boys must go to Mass every Sunday to Mass.  They must get volunteer jobs, earn good grades in school and apologize to their victims.

Original, from kath.net... 

French Judge Forbids Community to Display a Crèche: And the Son of Man Had Nowhere to Lay His Head

Freethinkers have complained-- Now there are fears that the example will make a school.

Paris (kath.net/KAP) in the Northern French community of Montiers the Town Council has been forbiden by a judge to display a Crèche.  The judge ruled for the plaintiff, who based his suit on the principle of the separation of Church and State against the display, as the regional paper "Courier Picard" reported this Tuesday.  Commentators fear that this example could be a school for others like it.

Claude Debay, retired teacher and former Mayor of the Community had already decided that the crib would not be displayed in the market area, rather more "hidden" -- namely between the Church and the War Memorial.  That didn't satisfy the freethinker though [See, don't make concessions to these people.]: The judge has agreed with him and decided, the neutrality of the town area, to remove the crib from it completely.

The current Mayor Xavier Deneufbourg strongly voiced his anger in "Courrier Picard", Debaye has also organized Easter Egg Hunts himself during his time in office.  So his action against the Crèche is completely inconceivable.

Read the original, auf Deutsch, here at kath.net...

Photo stolen, here.  It took us a while to find a decent looking Baby Jesus, because most of them looked ... weird.

Faith and Politics Meet: Pope Benedict on Faith and Legislation

Benedict XVI to the New Ambassador from Hungary:  Legislative initiatives which value alternative relationships and family models, will promote the relativization of legislation and awareness of values in society.

Rome (kath.net/as)This morning Pope Benedict received in audience the new Ambassador of the Republic of Hungary to the Holy See, Gábor Győriványi.  In his German address, the Holy Father recalled the reinstatement of diplomatic relations with the Holy See and the Hungarian Republic in 1990 and expresse the hope, "that the deep wounds of the materialistic conception of man, which after  45 long years years will strengthen and heal the heart and society of the citizens of your land, in a climate of peace, freedom and attention to the dignity of man."

Benedict XVI explained that the Catholic Faith belongs as the cornerstone of Hungary's history.  Politics and Christendom [Sic] were touched upon: "The Faith has its own certain and particular nature as an encounter with the living God, who opens a new horizon wide of an actual domain of reason.  But he is also a purifying power for the reason thereby, that he enables reason, to do Faith's work better and to better see its qualities.  For that reason commands and patterns of behavior which impose, which don't take part in the Faith.  It simply goes to the purification of reason, which will help, that which, what is good and just, which is understood here and now and then can be carried out".

The Pope underscored then that it is of importance that a new constitution of the land is inspired by Christian values, respects marriage and family, and defends the country.

"We all know, how much marriage and family are engangered today --  to which through the removal of its most essential values of the constancy and indissolubility on the basis of an increasing liberalization of divorce and increasing habit of cohabitation between man and woman without the legal recognition and the protection of marriage, to various other forms of life styles which have no foundation in the culture and legal history of Europe.

The Church can not endorse legislative initiatives which legitimate alternative partnerships and family models:  "They attack the principles of natural legal principles and thus are for the relatizing of  legislation and also the consciousness of social values."\


The rest of the Pope's speech is down at kath.net...

Small-minded Provincial Catholicism Celebrates its Resurrection

First the old liberal fat cats set an Anti-Catholic revolution loose. Then they complain that they have been lumped in with the revolution.

[kreuz.net, Chur] Bishop Vitus Huonder (68) of Chur has been canonically, practically driven out of half of his diocese by non-designated community consultants.

For the notorious church-hate journalist Michael Meier there is no reason to raise the hue and cry in the Zurich regional paper 'Tagesanzeiger'.

Behind the decision there is a yearlong battle between the Zurich State-Church, which controls the Church-Tax, and the Bishop of Chur.

The battle escalated, as the Church-Tax Board adopted an Anti-Catholic church measure.

There it reads: "No priest can be selected as pastor, the Church Community selects the Deacon, the assistant pastoral leader person with the function to direct the community for a term of three years."

The Bishop Strikes Back

Msgr Huonder has actually replaced these illegal regulations now through a new "Guidelines for Sacristies".

They dismiss -- in agreement with Church law -- lay theologians and community leaders.

Simultaneously the Bishop wants more Parishes bound to their sacristies according to the German Model by 2018.

This direction will supersede proposals by the Bishop and also of the community elected pastors.

Those assigned to the Sacristy as employees and princely rewarded lay theologians will be called in the new concept "Pastoral Assistants".

They will be exclusively named by the Bishop or his successor.

"The popular vote is not required" -- cried Meier.


The Strategy of the Fat Cats

Markus Arnold -- an earlier State-Church fat cat in Zurich -- may whine to the 'Tagesanzeiger' and threatens to take legal steps against the Bishop.

Actually, a Zuricher Judge of the Canton Government waves this aside: "Bishop Huonder does according to canon law probably what, what he wants, even if it goes against Church Order."

In reality the tinkering of the Church Order stands in contradiction to worldwide Church Law.

The Jurist propose that the Zurich State Church might select pastoral assistant persons as community leaders independently of the Bishop and in opposition to Church Law.

Speaker Makes Plain

Bishop Huonder's communication's director, Prelate Christoph Casetti, cited Meier's article in his statement for the 'Tagesanzeiger'.

The Bishop has not allowed for any right of election in his "Guideline for Sacristies": "That happens time and again after votes that developments carry on running" -- avowed the Prelate.

It will come sooner than later to Priest selection, because there is "not a large selection" any longer.

The Parishes would rather select a Pastor, because they must share with other communities.