The Decline of a Seminary

When there were many seminarians in the diocesan seminaries.

(Rome) The seminary of the diocese of Vicenza was still in its prime just a few decades ago. From this diocese comes Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, who was ordained a priest in 1980 for the diocese.

Until the early 1970s, the Major Seminary had a constant 130-150 seminarians. The Minor seminary, the episcopal high school, was attended by about 200 students. Every year 20-25 new priests were ordained.

That was not uncommon, but in whole European regions the rule.

The diocese had a well-known Schola Cantorum, which consisted of a hundred singers who belonged to the two seminaries. It was headed by Msgr Ernesto Dalla Libera (1884-1980), who took piano and organ lessons at his own expense as a student and trained in Gregorian chant with the Benedictines of Parma. He was commissioned in his home diocese to become the main representative of the Cecilia Movement and the then bishop, Msgr. Ferdinando Rodolfi, Bishop from 1911, with the implementation of the liturgical renewal in the diocese. From 1908-1968 Dalla Libera was choirmaster of the Schola Cantorum of the episcopal seminary, which performed her musical service at the Duomo of Vicenza.

The Schola has not existed for a long time.

The Seminary currently has nine seminarians in the academic year 2018/2019, although the population in the diocese has increased by 30 percent since 1970, from 670,000 to 867,000.

In 2018 there was no ordination. Also in 2019 and 2020, as it currently looks, there will be no new priestly ordinations.

The minor seminary was closed three years ago, and the task of the vocation ministry among high school students transferred to a retreat and meeting center for young people. The seminary building, which was rebuilt in the 1950s under great financial sacrifice of the faithful, was sold to the National Health Service in 2015.

Now it became known that the private school H-Farm will move into the former small seminary. It describes itself as a "school of the future.” There are "neither blackboards nor school desks,” but "mobility and networking.” The main tools are "McBook and iPad from primary school.” Digitization and the use of modern, technical aids is a central component of the "school philosophy.” Particular emphasis will be placed on "robotics and artificial intelligence,” but also "magic hour to meet the superheroes of our time" and "soft skills to train capable managers with leadership and empathy.” H-Farm wants to develop a "completely new school model" and test it on some "thousands of students" in the H campus in order to gradually export it.

The spectrum should reach from kindergarten to post-university and further education. "A span from the age of 3 to 33," says the founder and CEO of Riccardo Donadon. Half of the money is privately owned by the insurance company Cattolica Assiscurazioni, whose largest single shareholder is Warren Buffett. The other half are financed by the public sector through a credit institution controlled by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The cooperation had been entered into by the previous government.

According to the traditional website Messa in Latino, it is "sad" that one Diocesan high school closes down while another private board closes.

Messa in Latino accuses the incumbent bishop of Vicenza of being the confirmation that the "typical" activity of a bishop today, that of a "steward of decline" is to "shut down, let go, sell.”

"Is it possible that nobody realizes that he needs a course change?"

Text: Giuseppe Nardi

Picture: MiL

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

The 68 Revolution and Its Consequences: The Year of 1968 Had the Fewest Children

The 1968 Revolution, the German People and Empty Cradles

(Berlin) statisticians and demographers have calculated: "The year 1968 had the least children." This was announced in Die Welt  in an edition from last week. 1968 is regarded as the crucial "year of change", the significant outcome of this year made  the world today is as it is. With the left-wing student protests of May 1968, the long-term profound cultural, political and economic changes were introduced. Three significant consequences are the demographic collapse, mass immigration and the weighty church crisis. It was then that the decisive year took on a more significant prominence, for  1968 became  the year in which  women have borne the least children. It's a fact of a symbolic nature. 

The following considerations relate to the Federal Republic of Germany, but also apply to the other German-speaking countries and more or less include  other Western European countries.

DISPLAY 

Bishops AWOL on the Death of the Boy Scouts: One Catholic Parish is Clear

Edit: while the USCCB, and its constellation of cockroaches, brood parasites and hyenas, have issued its usual mealy-mouthed statement on issues of the day, other organizations have been less compromising.  As Stella Borealis reports, at least one parish. St. Agnes, in St. Paul, Minnesota has made a rather unequivocal statement and disolved its association with the Boy Scouts of America.  Here's what Father Mark Moriarty  said, citing a need to protect the innocence of children:

The Boy Scouts of America National Council recently voted  to approve a resolution to change the membership policy:  “No youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of  America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference  alone. “ 

 After discussing the unfortunate state of affairs  with the leadership of Troop 592 and Pack 592, as head of  the chartering institution, I have decided to withdraw the sponsorship role of Saint Agnes.  

The Troop and Pack leadership have, in turn, decided to dissolve their association  with the BSA.  The last 592 Troop and Pack meeting will take place on  Monday, June 10th. At that gathering we will have an official striking of the Troop and Pack flags, which will then be  placed in the parish archives in the hopes that they may  someday be used again in more favorable circumstances. 

Michael Voris is one of the few Catholic bloggers to have addressed the issue.

Dying ELCA Lutheran Denomination Holds Concord with the World Above The Church: Ordains Aberrobishop

Edit:  Most of the official state broadcasters are enthusiastic and fail to hide their happiness.  Of course, since it's a relatively small and shrinking denomination, front page news has not been achieved.  It will be even more interesting to see if any Catholic Bishops hail this by ringing their cathedral bells.  Of course this should be a death blow to ecumenism.

(CNN)– For more than two decades, the Rev. R. Guy Erwin couldn't officially be a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. On Friday, he was elected a bishop. 

Erwin's election signals a shift not only for the ELCA – the nation's seventh largest church – but also for American Christianity. Only one other mainline Protestant denomination, the Episcopal Church, has elected openly gay and lesbian bishops. 

“In these days such milestones seem to be coming at an ever-faster rate," Erwin told CNN, "and eventually what seems revolutionary now will seem normal and predictable."

 Even NCR reported this:

In addition, financial support for the denomination hit an all-time low of about $60 million in 2009, the church announced. ELCA Treasurer Christina Jackson-Skelton said the economic recession and “disagreements within congregations” about the decision on gay clergy had contributed to the decline.

Belgian Socialists: Euthanasia for Minors Also

Brussels (kath.net/KNA)  Belgian Socialists want to expand active assistance in dying for minors.  Media reports (tuesday) will apply to youth and children, who "have the maturity and the soundness of judgment, to understand all of the consequences",  can be entitled to undergo euthanasia.  Additionally, there may be a statement of understanding by the parents,  as it says in a drafted bill of the Socialist Party of President Elio Di Rupo.

The Flemish Christian Democrats stress that this is not a proposal of the government.  There are six parties participating in the government.  The proposal originated from Senator Philippe Mahoux, who is according to Belgian media, the "father" of the current assisted death law.

Active assistance in death has been permitted in certain circumstances in Belgium for ten years.  According to valid law a terminally sick patient in full possession of his mental faculties must express the desire to die "voluntarily, considered and repeatedly".  There must also be no hope for improvement.  The illness must make the continued existence for the patient "physically or psychologically unbearable".

Link to kath.net..

"Ale Mary" Dive Bar Uses Monstrance and Chalices for Drunken Revelries

Edit: A definition from Wikipedia is useful here: Blasphemy is irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things.^[1] Some countries have laws to punish blasphemy,^[2] while others have laws to give recourse to those who are offended by blasphemy. 


[Fell's Point, Baltimore, MD] There was a show called "Cheers" on television years ago.  It was bawdy and vulgar yet there were some borders it was not safe to pass in the early 80s when the show first aired.  It depicted a homey place, reminiscent of an unpretentious neighborhood bar with a hint of old world ambiance and Boston charm.  The heavy wooden furniture and the bar spoke of permanence, elegance,  and  that favorite piety of secular artists, human dignity. It was not always clear who the show's buffoons were, but you knew them when you saw them, and sometimes, it was a comedic mailman who could be the most noble in the simplicity of his fears.  Some other writer said something about irony being lost on a society which had no shame.  That's why we'd like to wield a metaphorical hammer.  Perhaps there are others who can put a better finish on the details of what we will tell.

Satirical painting: priest displeased with Nun?

All we can say is that sometimes evil is really mundane and some of us don't realize that we're not only bufoons needlessly offending  people's religious sensibilities, but far worse than that, we're offending God.  Even the name of the bar, a pun on the Blessed Mother's name seems calculated to be offensive.

Would you like some candy?

 We're not talking about this place, but it's not far from Boston, but it boasts a similar unmistakable charm you'd expect in New England with friendly folks. One of the features of the bar, and there are many, is its unmistakable Catholic ambiance. It's called, Ale Mary's and is located in Fell's point Maryland. One can just smell the faint aroma of the ocean as you think about it. The food is inexpensive, but if you're Catholic you might find it too expensive for the peace of your conscience to see the sacramental elements of your religion appear for the sake of decoration in peculiarly deliberate ways.

Chalices Used for Holy Sacrifice Being Abused by Patrons

It's not surprising, but it's not acceptable either that chalices which are used in Catholic Mass for the consecration of wine which becomes the blood of Christ, are used by patrons to drink (and get drunk from). They're made of precious metals, sometimes jewels, but their use in such a secular setting is strange and unsettling. No less than the inexplicable painting of a priest with a stole, looking aghast or in surprise at a nun who has her back to him. The most disturbing thing in the restaurant is the monstrance which is behind the bar used as decoration. The monstrance is large ornate disk, often resembling the sun, which is surmounted in a long stand with a heavy base. It contains a crystal compartment at the center of the disk where a consecrated communion Host can be placed inside and it allows the priest to elevate the entire object by the stand for the veneration of the Sacrament it contains. Seeing this monstrance here in this bar, covered with mardigras beads and a mustached smiley face where the Host would normally be is a little bit like finding family heirlooms in the hands of people who not only use them for purposes for which they were never intended, but use them in disrespectful ways.

Mustached Smiley Face Seems Particularly Malevolent

We found out about this recently and the individual who sent this to us wrote an e-mail complaining about the display of these religious items and even offered to purchase them. Far from being treated with the respect she deserved, her concerns were met with derision. 

Despite the bar owner claiming that no one cared about this clearly blasphemous display of religious artifacts, he asked her to remove an entry she made under the bar at a public site allowing comment on establishments. As he berated our friend, the proprietor insisted as an argument to justify his sacrilege and disrespect for Catholic sacramentals, that there were even Bishops and priests who thought that his blasphemous inclusion of religious articles was comical and that there was nothing wrong with this display.

Apparently, there's some truth to what he says, because Catholic clergy, including senior, does frequent this place.

We'll be praying a Rosary in reparation for having seen this blasphemy.  Hopefully, the proprietor can be persuaded to part with these items before word of this affects his business either spiritually or financially.


Give them a call:

Corner of Fleet & Washington Sts.
Fell's Point
Baltimore, MD.
21231
410-276-2044 

Other Sites Linking

Angelqueen, Catholic Forum [Excellent Commentary]

Creative Minority Report

Transfigurations

Cathinfo

American Conservative

Free Republic [Lots of Comments]