Jawdrop: Pope Calls German Bishops "Good Shepherds"

Edit: why he expects them to act any different than they have during the past, or even during his visit is hard to say. No conclusions are being drawn, however. It is to be assumed that this story is true since it was reported by his trip organizer. There's no word as to whether the Pope was being sarcastic or not.

"Pope Benedict XVI expressly praised the German Bishops Conference. In a spontaneous, emotional speech after a common luncheon the Pope said that the German Bishops were >>good shepherds<<, said the General Coordinator of the trip, Father Hans Langendorfer, on Sunday for journalists in Freiburg. Game over. Papst lobt deutsche Bischöfe als „gute Hirten“ correspondingly the Pope said >>I go back home with the feeling that we belong together and that I can rely on you.<<" Link to original...

Trust equation...

German Journalist: "The Church is Caught in a Modern Trap"

The Church gropes in the Modern Trap

Edit: Matussek has suggested that the church tax, which is levied in Germany and managed by the government, is going away. It's been suggested in certain other quarters that this last vestige of confessional Europe has been used as a medium for the auto-destruction of the Church in Germany. We've tried to keep our intrusions on Matussek's blunt and awesome observations to a minimum.

Matthias Matussek

After the Council the Church was placed increasingly in the hands of Liturgical dilettantes and fussy hobby-thinkers, who presented themselves as an Avantgarde organized against volksreligion and Tradition.

(kreuz.net) Pope Benedict XVI knows "that the form of the Una Sancta [One Holy} with its Dogmas and Traditions must be protected against the hobbyists."

Matthias Matussek wrote this in the recent edition of the bitterly anti-Church German boulevard magazine 'Spiegel' [basically, it's Germany's Time Magazine]

The magazine was founded after the Second World War by a former Nazi journalist and a Lieutenant of the Wehrmach.

Matussek's article appeared under the title: "Rock in the storm -- why Catholicism could not be Protestant."

The Pope has to be a Rock Now More than Ever


For Matussek the Pope has to be a successor of Peter now more than ever -- "the rock, on which the Church was once founded."

Because: "He is not only responsible for the 1.2 Billion Catholics, but also for the Tradition, which Chesterton once called >>the Democracy of the Dead<<. Tradition may not be betrayed on behalf of the tiny, German parish, which constitutes no more than two percent of the World Church.

Not a Reformer, but a Resistance Fighter

Benedict XVI, for Matussek, didn't come to Germany as a reformer, rather as a "great figure of contradiction".

"The Catastrophe, which has to do with us, is the memory loss of Catholics."

Matussek traced the problem to the time following the Second Vatican Council.

Then the Church was placed "increasingly in the hands of dilettante Liturgists and fussy hobby-thinkers, who presented themselves as an Avantgarde organized against volksreligion and Tradition.

Already in 1968 Pope Paul VI wept over the "weighty and complex disruption, which no one had expected after the Council." [Not entirely so, Msgr Bandas returned from the Council in abject despair and did his best to prepare for what he foresaw.]


Discussion instead of Holiness

Matussek brought the problem to a point: "The Church has been caught in the modern trap."

He defined the modern trap as: "Much head, little heart." [Which brings to mind Mozart's comment that, "Protestantism is all in the head"]

One has lost the feeling for Holiness and Grace: "In place of that, discussions take place."

Link to kreuz.net...

Photo: © Melanie Feuerbacher, Wikipedia, CC

Pope Vigil: Archbishop Zollitsch Organizes Event Promoting Homosexuality

Edit: As if to justify the Pope's words about "Overhanging structures", Archbishop Zollitsch steps in to provide evidence for it.

(kreuz.net) Freiburger organizers tried to abuse the Vigil Celebration before the morning Papal Mass for their Old Liberal purposes.

Youth were posed apparently explosive Church-related questions at the Freiburg Mass area where they were gathered.

Balloons and Suggestive Questions

Every youth received a red and a green balloon in his pilgrimage package.

Before the balloons were deployed, however, rhythm exercises were done, to bring those present into order and in agreement.

Finally the moderators posed the following questions of the evening:

- Do you find celibacy meaningful for today?

- Shouldn't the Pope be elected by the people of the Church?

- Are you personally behind the personal morals of the Vatican?

Participating youth reported that the questions were provocative and anti-Roman. They gave the impression of cheap propaganda against the Pope.


Red Balloons for the Homosexuals

The organizers also asked: Do you have anything against lived homosexuality?

Thereafter many youth showed the red balloon.

The moderators commented: "We see a majority of red balloons! I think lived homosexuality is in order."

The responsibility for this scandalous pre-show is Archbishop Robert Zollitsch.

He has promised himself during this Papal visit, that at the next consistorium he will be named a Cardinal.

Link to here...

Photo credit, here...

A Dance Bar in the Stadium

The German Bishops have begun fearfully to drag their otherness through the thorns, that they can oldliberalize themselves with enormous theological jingles.

'Spiegel' Describes Pope as "Unteachable"

(kreuz.net) Germany "one first glance has nothing to do with the streaming world Church, which it showed in Madrid."

This was written by German journalist Matthias Matussek in the recent edition of the bitterly anti-Church German boulevard magazine "Spiegel".

The Magazine was founded after the Second World War by a former Nazi journalist and Lieutenant of the Wehrmacht.

The article appeared with the title" "Rock in the Storm -- Why Catholicism may not become Catholicism."

Theological Opportunism

Matusek insists that Germany reveals a contentious and intriguing official Catholicism.

He described the German Church as the richest and most morose in the world.

For the money it receives from the state "they pay with correlation to the state and often with theological opportunism."

The consequence: "the German Church doesn't propose have a counter world any more, rather, according to Theology professor Hubert Windisch -- >>to a dance bar in a stadium<<."
 
One Acclimatizes

The Church in Germany takes great pains, to enact their so-called reform agendas according to the five minute plebiscites of talkshows:

"Fearfully, they try to drag their otherness through the thorns, that they >>liberalize<< themselves with enormous theological jingles."

Link to original...

Papal Embassy Hit With Paint Bombs

The Apostolic Nunciature in Berlin-Neukölln has been hit with a paint bomb just as the Papal visit is about to begin.

Berlin  (kath.net/KNA) The Apostolic Nunciature in Berlin has been hit with a paint bomb just as the Papal visit is about to begin.  The act is said to have taken place on Tuesday night, said the police spokesman in Berlin.  The pain has covered the embassy building as well as the neighboring St. Johannes Basilica.  The damage to the Nunciature has not been reported yet.  The police are ascertaining the perpetrators and the background of the crime.

Link...

Dramatic increase in Scottish Mass attendance since Holy Father’s visit

By admin, on October 4th, 2010
The Edinburgh Evening News reports that since Pope Benedict’s one day visit to Scotland there has been a dramatic increase in attendance at Sunday Mass.

Local priests told the local newspaper that some Masses over the weekend, the first since the Pope concluded his state visit, had been standing-room-only, with some crowds even spilling out into the streets.

Fr. Michael Henesy, a priest at the large parish of St. Patrick’s in the Old Town, said he believed the reinvigorating effect would continue beyond the immediate impact of the visit. “People were commenting on the increase of our congregation at the weekend,” he said. “The visit overall has been a tremendous boost for us and will have a lasting effect.”

The Evening News reported that “hundreds more” parishioners, and possibly new inquirers, were attending Masses at Catholic churches around Edinburgh.

Read further at Protect the Pope...

The Wanderer Says Pope's Visit Transforming England

Pope Makes Astounding Impact On Britain

By JOHN BURKE

LONDON — The papal visit to four British cities has proved an unexpected triumph, amazing even Benedict XVI himself who had been aware that the schedule faced both problems and protests.

Although the turnout, which was always going to be lower than that for John Paul II in 1982, was needlessly curtailed, this was compensated for by extensive reporting in the secular media, especially the television channels whose live coverage was almost continuous.

The biggest achievement of His Holiness over four days was in calling the nation back to ancient,Christian values and in reminding ecumenical enthusiasts that he headed the one, true Church that could not abandon disputed doctrine.

For all Catholics, whom he asked to defend their faith, therewere six defining occasions. The very first was when he met the British sovereign in Scotland rather than as Elizabeth II in London where she also heads the Church of England. They met at Holyroodhouse, which was once the palace of Mary Stuart, the last Catholic monarch of Scotland, later executed by Elizabeth I, the first Protestant queen of England.

The next two occasions were in London on September 17. Benedict XVI addressed 1,800 politicians and other civic leaders at the Houses of Parliament, standing at the very spot in Westminster Hall where Sir Thomas More and others were condemned to death for not acknowledging Henry VIII as national head of the Church. Reminding his audience of the famous statesman’s conscience, he outlined “ the proper place of religious belief in the political process.”

The Pope then went across the way to Westminster Abbey, a church nationalized during the Reformation, where he made a point of incensing the tomb of its founder, King Edward the Confessor, and mentioning Archbishop Thomas à Becket who was slain for opposing royal encroachment. This time, His Holiness was exemplifying English champions of the faith to 2,000 churchmen and churchwomen from various Protestant denominations, largely Anglicans led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, whom he had met privately earlier in the day.

Read further...

UK Hearts Opened to Message of Faith and Reason

Interview With Newman Scholar Joseph Pearce

By Genevieve Pollock

NAPLES, Florida, SEPT. 23, 2010 (Zenit.org).- During the papal U.K. trip, the hearts of millions were opened to Benedict XVI's words about faith and reason, a message also underscored by the newly beatified Cardinal Newman.

Joseph Pearce, an Englishman and a Catholic convert who has studied and written about Cardinal John Henry Newman, spoke with ZENIT about the Pope's visit to the United Kingdom and the beatification ceremony.

Pearce, currently serving as writer-in-residence and associate professor of literature at Ave Maria University, has published numerous books on the great Christian intellectuals including "Literary Converts," "Tolkien: Man and Myth," "C.S. Lewis and the Catholic Church" and "The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde," all available from Ignatius press.

Read further.. Joseph Peirce at Zenit on Newman...

England: Prayer Marathon For the Pope

Many people in England have decided to undertake a great project, to prepare for the Pope's visit with prayer.

London [kath.net] Bad premonitions and threats against the upcoming papal visit have proven enough on the English side: some want to make provocative gifts to him like imprisonment or law suits.

But there is naturally also another side of joyful expectation for Benedict, as Radio Vatican reports. Many people in England have proposed an enormous project. Initiated by "Aid to the Church in Need" (ACN), the English branch of "Church in Need". A chain reaction of the spiritual preparation one might say. ACN speaker Terry Murphy:

"It appears to be a common spirit, that the people pray and expect great things. It will be often said, that there is a lot of antipathy against the Pope's visit. But in my opinion, I haven't seen any of that. I have only seen great anticipation."

The preparation project for the Pope's visit will include a Rosary "prayer marathon" an countless Eucharistic holy hours.

Defacto Schism in Scotland

Clerical Whispers and the Scottish Bishops talk about there being a lack of interest in the Immemorial Rite of the Mass in Scotland, but others are seeing a lack of enthusiasm in the Scottish Episcopacy for everything up to and including orthodoxy.

The Clerical Whispers blog entitles its most recent entry about the Pope's visit is misleadingly, "Just a fraction of catholics wants a Traditional Latin Mass." The mistaken view is supplemented by some suspiciously unannotated and unscientific "data:"

But the Archdiocese of Glasgow says there is little appetite for traditional Tridentine mass in Latin among worshippers, with only 0.05% in favour.

Some statements by a few liberal geezers of the clerical type:

Father Tom Boyle, treasurer of the Archdiocese of Paisley, said: “There has never been a great demand for it as far as I am aware.

“Unlike other parts of the world, the church in Scotland has never been polarised on this.”

Canon Donald MacKay, of St Columba’s Cathedral in Oban, said there was more support for a Gaelic mass than a Latin mass among parishioners.

Canon Edward Glackin, of the Diocese of Motherwell, said he conducted one weekday Latin mass, which had an attendance of 25 to 30, compared to the 1000 who attend mass on Sunday.

On the other hand, James MacMillan was concerned about the issue, and too mildly proceeded in defense of the Mass, saying:

“The low numbers mentioned by the Archdiocese would indicate that they don’t know what the issues are.

“They don’t know what they are missing or what the higher standards of liturgy can be. It would be a shame if Scottish Catholics were denied it through a basic disobedience of The Vatican.”

He said Latin mass had the ability to reduce the “slovenliness and banality” found in some services, stressing the issue was not a division between Latin or new mass, but the need to “make liturgy better”.

But there were other voices, indeed another view brought out by the Scotland Herald, whose article entitled, "Depth of Rift amongst Catholics over church worship", stands in stark contrast to the article by Clerical Whispers. The Scotland Herald article itself challenged the erroneous view of the Scottish Bishops on the matter of whether or not there's much demand for the Traditional Mass, or whether or not they are enthused about anything, much less the upcoming Papal visit. It dutifully cites Damian Thompson's critique of the Scottish Bishops, which was challenged by the spokesman of the Archdiocese of Glasgow, whose view was ultimately, and finally challenged by Patricia McKreever, the authoress of the Catholic Truth blog. The exchange and the contrast between the renditions of the issue points to a unfolding development of greater control of information on the part of conservative (or Traditionalist) laity and control of the perceptions and who controls them. Once again, we're seeing that the new medium of the internet is making it difficult for episcopal liberals to control how they're perceived, and more importantly, it is increasingly difficult for them to distort the facts for their agendas, in this case, ignoring Vatican commands as far as the Immemorial Mass and Summorum Pontificum is concerned.

According to Damian Thompson, a commentator on the UK Catholic Church, many Scottish bishops were close to retirement and set in their ways, with some preferring that the Pope did not come to Scotland.

But Ronnie Convery, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Glasgow, describes such claims as imaginative and uninformed.

In a separate letter to The Herald, he writes it was “spectacularly wide of the mark” to state that Scottish bishops did not want the Papal visit “because they are too old and can’t be bothered; too trendy and can’t cope with the Pope’s liturgical preferences or too sensitive and don’t want to upset the ecumenical or interfaith applecart”.

However, Patricia McKeever, editor of The Catholic Truth, claims apathy amongst Catholic bishops extends beyond the visit. She writes: “What informed, orthodox Catholics want now is a complete clear-out of the Episcopal palaces because the current crop are apathetic about a great deal more than just the Pope’s forthcoming visit to Scotland.

“The Scots bishops, without exception, ignore important directives from the Vatican. The Scottish bishops operate independently of Rome. We will continue to press for that Episcopal clear-out, before, during and after the Papal visit.”