Public to have big say in who will be new bishop

THE PROCESS of selecting the next Bishop ofWinchester is well under way. It’s one of the most important positions in the Church of England dating back more than 1,000 years.

These days the public has a big say in who takes over the top post at the cathedral from the current incumbent, the Right Rev Michael Scott-Joynt, who is one of England’s most influential bishops.

The bishop, 67, a father-of-three, has been in the post for more than 15 years. He retires in May. And this month the ecclesiastical machinery to find his successor gets into top gear. Sir Paul Britton, the Prime Minister’s appointments secretary, and Ms Caroline Boddington, the Archbishop’s appointments secretary, will start their rounds of the diocese as they carry out wide-ranging consultations.

Read More: http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/8850019.Search_for_next_Bishop_of_Winchester/

Pope declares the Internet presents great missionary opportunity

The Internet, because of its ability to overcome distances and put people in contact with each other, presents great opportunities for the church and its mission, Pope Benedict XVI told the Congregation for Catholic Education.

Referring to a draft document on the Internet and seminary formation, the Pope told the Congregation that with "necessary discretion for its intelligent and prudent use," the Internet may be of help for both studies and pastoral work of future priests in the various fields within the church.

He stressed that it was important to have adequately trained persons to work in the Internet missionary sector.

Read More:http://www.goddiscussion.com/40663/pope-declares-the-internet-presents-great-missionary-opportunity/

Christianity Experiences the Largest Growth and Islam Too -- 270 Christians are Killed Daily

(New York) For 27 years the International Bulletin of Missionary Research  (News Haven, Connecticut) has published a yearly report about the situation of Christians in the world.  The "Status of Global Mission" - Report offers interesting and astonishing numbers every year of the numerical strength of Christians and other religions.  The strength of the various denominations are also be included.

In the report of 2011 (which deals with the year of 2010) puts the martyrdom of Christians right before your eyes.  The report defines "martyr" Christians, as those "who lose their lives violently for their faith".  The report estimates that in the last ten years (2000-2010), one million Christians were killed.  That involves the death of an average of 270 new martyrs every day.

The report estimates there are 2.306.609.000 Christians in the whole world.  That corresponds to a third of the population, over 33 percent.  This means that a small rise since 2000 (32,7 Percent), but a slight decline since 1900 (34,5 Percent). Of the 2,3 billion Christians there are about 1,5 billion regular church goers with an entirety of about 5.170.000 churches, community centers and gathering spaces. In  1900 there were about 400.000.

The complete number of Christians are divided into six "large church groups".  The largest group is made up of the Catholic Church with  1.160.880.000  Catholics. In second place are the Protestants with 426.450.000 (for example: the national churches of the Lutherans, Calvinists and others)  In third place are the 271.316.000 Orthodox Churches and on fourth are the 87.520.000 Anglicans.  The fifth group is identified by the report as 378.281.000 "independents", who are seperated from the historical denominations and don't belong to any of them.  Then the last group is identified as "marginal Christians" of around 35.539.000, whose christology is doubtful relative to what is in the "published texts" of the "Bible".

In comparison to the 2,3 billion Christians there are around 1,6 billion Muslims, who are divided into various large groups and subgroups; 951 million Hindus; 468 Buddhists; 458 million adherents of Chinese religions and  137 million atheists.

Besides the strong media attention atheists get with the  likes of Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens, their numbers have declined since the last decade (period of consideration 2000-2010).

Every day there are  270 Christians who are killed because of their faith.  Every year there are, however, 80.000 new Christians to replace them.  More than 31.000 of them are Catholics.  The number of Muslims grows daily at  79.000.  The number of atheists declines about  300 per day, according to the report.

Africa has been awarded with the status of the most "breathtaking Christian growth" in the report, like the Catholic historian George Weigel writes of it, "In 1900 there were around 8,7 Million African Christians (in order, from Egypt, Ethiopia and South Africa.) Today there are 475 Million African Christians.Their numbers will reach 670 by 2025.

The yearly report of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research continues with still more numbers.  Accordingly, there were  71 Million Bibles distributed worldwide in 2010. About two billion people listen at least once to Christian radio -- or television. In 2010 there were 7,1 million books published about Christianity.  In 1970 there were 1,8

Globally it is observed, the report continues,  that although Christianity is declining at this point in Western Europe, it is experiencing in other parts of the world a "remarkable" growth, also in Asia, where the announcement of the Gospel in "bitter" terrain is in evidence.  At the same time that there is a measurable growth in Christianity, as the "decline of atheism" which is evaluated in the light of the report against "the radical advance of neo-Atheism" before the Papal visit in England and Scotland which was described as "a doubtful leap forward" for an atheism, whose "hour had gone".

In conclusion there is the data of the Status of Global Mission-Report on the unity of Christians.  In 1900 there were 1600 different Christian denominations.  In 1970 there were 18.800 and in the year of  2010 even 42.000.  The Catholic Church is the most numerous with 1.160.880.000 and their worldwide scope with a the largest world-wide net of Diocese of all Christian denominations, but also all other religions of the world, the only universal Church and universal religion.  Far behind in second place is the Russian Orthodox Church with 100 million believers.  The protestant branch of Christianity falls in a hard to decipher myriad of communities and groups, which range in numbers between a few million to only a dozen or so followers.

Read further...German original.

insidecatholic.com

Youthful Dissidents Reorganize in Minneapolis

Saturday, February 12, 2011

 

Full of the Vigor of Life

 CCCR's Action Plan for 2011

The Twin Cities-based Catholic Coalition for Church Reform (CCCR) is building on its successful Synod of the Baptized of last September with a bold and hope-filled action plan for church reform.

The Progressive Catholic Voice is a founding member organization of CCCR, and so the PCV editorial team is happy to share the following message from CCCR. This message was originally published last month on the CCCR website.

 H/t: Stella Borealis

The Priest Makes His Strength from Friendship with Christ

Benedict XVI to the Priestly Society "St. Charles Borromeo":  Jesus wanted a priesthood for maintaining the life of the Church.

Rome (kath.net/as) The importance of the priesthood in the life of the Church and the world is in the middle of the language, with which Pope Beenedict XVI addressed the priests and seminarians of the Missionary Society of St. Charles Borromeo this Saturday on the occasion of their twenty fifth anniversary.

Benedict XVI recalled his long friendship with Don Luigi Giussiani, the founder of the movement, "Communion et Liberation" from whose charisma helped establish the priestly society through the work of Massimo Camisacascas.  The Society testifies to the fruitfulness of Don Giussiani's initiative of charisma.

The priesthood needs constant renewal, in which it finds in the life of Jesus the natural form of its existence, says the Pope, who exclaimed: "The Christian priesthood is not an end in itself".  Much more, it is deliberated through Jesus for the sustainability and the life of the Church.

The glory and joy of the priesthood consists in serving Christ and His mystical body.  it is a "very beautiful and rare calling in the Church" in which the presence of Christ is the participation in  the particular and eternal priesthood of Christ.  The priestly calling "is a sure sign for the reality and the vitality of the Christian society."

"There can be no true and fruitful growth in the Church without true priestly presence which bears and nourishes it", says Benedict XVI, further, that the importance of contemplation and the prayer must be stressed there as a "dialog with the risen Lord".

The Pope undescored the "value of  common life", that isn't just an answer to the urgency of the moment like the priest shortage.  The theological signficance of the community, explained Benedict XVI., as the "expression of Christ's gift, which is the Church".  The communal life is formed by the Apostolic community, which comes from the priest: "no priest, to wit, gives something that is his, rather he allows the other brothers to participate in a sacramental gift that comes directly from Christ."

The communal life brings such a help to expression, "Christ in our midst".  Living together means the necessity to accept its own existing return and above all to recognize the beauty of this path, "the joy of humility, penance and even of talking together, the encounter of forgiveness and support."

"A real community life is not possible without prayer", says Benedict in conclusion. It is necessary to be with Jesus, in order to come to another being:  " That is the heart of mission.  In the society of Christ and the brother, every priest can find the power that is necessary, to accept the other person, with those ever more new words from the love to learn the eternal truths of the faith, for which our present age thirsts."

Read further...

Traditional Masses in The Diocese of Harrisburg

Saint Anthony's Roman Catholic Church
501 East Orange Street
Lancaster, PA 17602
Sung High Mass Every Sunday 1:30 P.M.
717-872-3350
Website http://www.hbglatinmass.com/lancaster/

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Mater Dei Latin Mass Community
Saint Lawrence Chapel
110 State Street
Harrisburg, PA 17101
Low Mass Every Sunday 8:00 A.M.
Sung High Mass Every Sunday 10:00 A.M.
Daily Mass-Monday,Tuesday, Thursday, Friday-7:30 A.M.
                       Wednesday-7:00 P.M., Saturday-9:00 A.M.
Call for details 717-889-4217
Website http://www.hbglatinmass.com/

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Saint Joseph Parish
2935 Kingston Road
York, PA 17402
Traditional Mass Sunday-Friday 6:00 A.M.
Website http://www.sjy.org/efm

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Carmel of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
430 Monastery Road
Elysburg, PA 17824
Sunday 8:00 A.M.
Monday-Friday 7:00 A.M.
Saturday 8:00 A.M.
570-672-2937

Muslim Rebels Burn Down Christian Town

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Archbishop Zycinsky of Lublin 62, RIP

He was a friend of John Paul II, but also a friend of the TLM.  He was a great exponent of dialog with the Orthodox as well.



There are film fragments of that Holy Mass.

Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK484A2HhAE

Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0HW1Hm8NAc

Part 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3MCE5N_RPs

(Archbishop Józef Życiński had served Holy Mass in Trident Rite (Lublin, 7. 2. 2010 A.D., The Church of Immaculate Conception at the Stanislav Staszic street).)

H/t: catholic answers for the mass links.

Capitulation Bishop to Take Major Diocese in Wales

Editor:  Thompson at the Tablet has just reported that we're going to get a really poor appointment for Wales. Thompson says it's business as usual, which from our perspective is chaos as usual.  We'll see. Thompson says he's a good pastor, but he looks more like an Old Liberal.  When you accept the assumptions of your enemies, you play by their game.  So,  if you want the kind of guy who's paid to take a fall, this is the kind of hireling you want to put in place.  He recently said that Traditionalism promotes pedophilia.  Of course, if you're guilty of something, redirect people's attention to someone small and relatively defenseless.

Capitulation Bishop Tom Burns

Link to Tablet, here

Cardinal Ravasi: Duet Instead of Duel Against the Cultural Fog: Another Voice Against Multiculturalism

More The idea of multi-clturalism is shattered, said the President of the Pontifical Council on Culture.  The "double sickness of Europe".  by Armin Schwibach

Rome (kath.net/as) Not only the British Prime Minister David Cameron [Sarkozi and Merkel as well], but also the President of the Council for Culture Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi,  has recognized that the idea of multiculturalism as the cohabitation of different cultures in western lands is shattered.

For Ravasi it is necessary that at this point of the dialogue has brought out the "interculturality", that are interacting with "powerful cultural identities". The president of the Council of Culture expressed itself in this way at Castel Gandolfo at the event of the 35th meeting of Bishops who are associated with the Focolare Movement.

At the same time he proposed the possible publication of documents on the side of the Vatican dealing with this theme, according to a report in today's edition of the Milan paper "Corriere della Sera".

Cardinal Ravasi explained that it is necessary to manage a confrontation, which not be described as conflict and is communicated from within values, without each losing its own identity.  Multiculturalism has been a fact since antiquity, it is present to all in the midst of the urban environment.   There are various cultural presences established there,  which in any event  are colliding together in diverse forms leading from fundamentalism.

"Dialogue" is presented that it is a "dia-logue" " and with it a relation between two "logoi".  This means that the goal of interculturalism is not consist in the identification of the building of a single global society.

The attempt of multiculturalism is in the atempt of a "duel" for domination, said the Cardinal.  Against that it is above all necessary today, to form interculturalism as a "duet", by which the two can be strengthened, rather forming the different identities not to be like each other, rather they harmoniously encounter each other.

Cardinal Ravasi warned of a "double sickeness" in Europe.  this is on the one side aggressively approaching ideology of "the sword" , which is not necessarily excluded to the Christian, and on the other side from "cultural syncretism, superficiality, banality, stupidity, depraved morals, colorless and a overbearing cultural fog, which is predominant."

Cardinal Kasper Severely Criticizes Theological Dissidents

Editor: We got earlier statements from the good Cardinal at Enlace Catolico. Here he is again, this time for Vatican Radio and kath.net, saying his piece against these theologians.  It's certainly one of the most striking statements from a Curial official so far, and one of the most surprising.  Here are some excerpts from his interview as translated at kath.net.

As we pointed out last year in September, the Cardinal had admonished Germans to obey the Holy Father.  


"Churches, which have opted for woman's ordination and the recognition of same-sex partnerships, have put themselves for that reason in a very deep crisis"

Rome (kath.net) The Roman Curial Cardinal, Walter Kasper has made a clear denunciation for the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" against the Munster "Theological Referendum".  Kath.net has documented the main statements from "Radio Vatikan"  from FAZ-Report on the theme of "We're Coming to the Point".

"No sensible man, no follower of Christ will contend that the Catholic Church in Germany has had an acerbic and necessary break.  No one can seriously contend that the teachers and teacheresses of Theology are accorded any especial responsibility.  As one who has been in service for more than thirty years in academia,  I must say clearly, that the Memorandum has disturbed me greatly... because I would have expected more from Theologians, namely, a substantial theological contribution.

I ask myself, how a theologian can speak of the past situation and their difficulties, without mentioning the crisis of faith. Instead of this, the Memorandum remains stuck in a justifiable self-criticism.  Do the undersigned seriously believe that the Church's constitution today is an existential question for people? Is it not the reverse: that the crisis in the Church follows from a crisis of faith?  That is also valid for the horrible cases of sexual abuse.

What the undersigners of the Memorandum want to bring to the Dialog, has already been long known and expressed by other groups ad nauseum.  For that reason I have paid attention as the initial words of the message of freedom in the Gospel demand.  I thought: Yes, that's it.

I asked myself, how can it be that German Catholic theologians are so clearly  closed, that  churches, which are decided for women's ordination and for the recogniztion of same sex partnerships, have for that reason put themselves in a much deeper crisis than the Catholic Church in Germany.

The Celibacy is not just for today a hot iron in the fire.  Actually, I have been preoccupied with it for over forty years with other theologians that Pope and Episcopal College have the duty to assure the unmarried state of the diocesan priesthood.  Clearly, the fact is little known that this assessment has been for a long time in place.  The question has been discussed internationally, exegetically as well as historically some exceptions, that it can't be seriously allowed to review the old arguments.  Not less than three World Conferences of bishops have voted in the meantime with overpowering majorities for the continuance of the unmarried priesthood.  If anyone had wanted another internal Church legal structure, then it would have been appended, that decisions would also have been recognized, that he had preferred another solution himself.

Only a hopeless and futureless and therefore false conservatism can be living, what pastoral structures have previously been  identified artificially with 'viri probati' [married men of good character].  In any event those superficial German priestly communities in the Diocese are also not the final word.

More imagination and a view  beyond one's own teacup could help out tremendously.

The crisis of faith is not only a celibacy crisis, rather it has also led to a crisis of the faithful and the community.  When in Germany the number of regular churchgoers since 1950 has dropped more than two thirds, then that is a sign that has been long nudging and pushing to the real ground, what the priest shortage really means.  I can only propose a radical solution which is set on this "radix", on this root, in place of superficially turning on the parameters of celibacy."

From kath.net...

Suburbanite Phillistine Retires from Education: Monaghan Calls it Quits at Ave Maria

Editor: after making horrible tasting, boring pizza, helping EWTN, building ugly ecclesiastical architecture, hosting frankenstein experiments in his "Catholic" village and building another faux-Catholic educational boondoggle, the Pizza King is calling it quits.

The Village from the Prisoner

Ave Maria University Board of Trustees

Announces Jim Towey as School's Next President

AVE MARIA, Fla. (February 10, 2011) - Ave Maria University's board of trustees announced today that Jim Towey will be the university's next president.  Towey will be responsible for the day-to-day operations as president when his term begins on July 1, 2011.  Thomas S. Monaghan, who currently serves as Chancellor and CEO of AMU will remain Chancellor, but will relinquish the responsibilities of CEO and hence the oversight of the daily operations of the university.

The board of trustees voted on the appointment of Towey at its regularly scheduled meeting earlier this week.  Chairman of the board of trustees, Michael T. O. Timmis, made today's announcement on behalf of the board.  Timmis praised the incredible vision of Monaghan and the solid foundation that he has set in place for AMU.  He also talked about the confidence the board has that Towey is the right person for AMU at this stage of its development.

"This is a huge win for Ave Maria University," Timmis said.  "We retain the vision and experience of our pioneers, while seamlessly handing over the reins to the next generation of leadership.  It is the belief of the Trustees that Jim Towey is the most desirable Catholic university president in America today.  And I am thrilled to announce that he is going to be our president."

Read further....

Second Investigation of Clergy Abuse in Philadelphia

Editor:  Rare abuses which occur within the ranks of the Catholic Church, perpetrated by homosexual leftists and protected by same are blown out of proportion while crimes perpetrated by entertainment figures and politicians are glossed over.  

On February 10, 2011, a Philadelphia Grand Jury released a report and a presentment following an investigation into allegations that two priests and a teacher sexually abused a 10-year-old boy at St. Jerome Parish in Philadelphia, and that another priest assigned to St. Jerome sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy. 
 
The presentment recommended criminal charges, including for rape and indecent sexual assault, against the three priests, Edward Avery, Charles Engelhardt, and James Brennan; and the teacher, Bernard Shero. The Grand Jury also recommended charging Monsignor William J. Lynn, the Secretary for Clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia under Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

From 1992 until 2004, Msgr. Lynn was responsible for investigating reports that priests had sexually abused children and for recommending appropriate action to ensure that priests could not reoffend. The Grand Jury found that Msgr. Lynn endangered children, including the victims in these most recent cases, by knowingly allowing dangerous priests to continue in ministry.

here 

http://www.phila.gov/districtattorney/grandJury_clergyAbuse2.html

News Reports Say Cardinal Protected An Abuser

Editor: More dreck from the New York Times.  "Never mind the homosexual side of this, let's get the Catholic Church by continuing to cash in on the abuse-hoax."  Remember, it's all about manufacturing moral panic and diversion.

By STEPHEN CASTLE

[Brussels] Reports in three news media outlets increased the pressure on the cardinal, Adrianus Simonis, the retired archbishop of Utrecht, who testified last month as a witness in a legal action taken by one of almost 2,000 people who have said they were victims of abuse.

The crisis in the Netherlands is another setback for the Roman Catholic Church, which has been struggling with sexual abuse allegations from Ireland and Belgium to the United States.

H/t: Seismo

Twin Cities area priest called 'evil' by man who committed suicide

Editor: Fr. Baer was always a company man, even when the company was poor or less than savory. A seminarian known to the editor once had a spate of enthusiasm and foolishly decided to show the seminary rector, Father Baer, a draft he'd made for something he was excited about.  So Father Baer published the seminarian's building plan for a new seminary on a communal bulletin and attached a note which said, "someone has too much time on their hands".  Whatever you think of someone's ideas, you don't ridicule them in a public forum, especially when they were given in confidence. It's behavior reminiscent of those insecure clerics who have too much authority on their hands. Perhaps Fr. Baer is one of those guys...  But yes, Fr. Baer was always a company man, hailed by some as an improvement.  We were always skeptical of him; a bit too soft.  In any event, St. Paul Seminary is still ordaining males with deep seated homosexual inclinations.  That's really what the problem is here. Fr. Baer is another legacy of the Old Liberal administration of Archbishop Flynn and the ballyhooed Irish Episcopacy which has been the bane of American Catholicism for a century and a half.

By ROSE FRENCH, Star Tribune

Last update: February 9, 2011 - 10:00 PM

EA man who shot himself in front of a Kentucky church posted sex abuse accusations involving Catholic clergy on Facebook just before taking his life and referred to a Twin Cities area priest as an "evil man."
David M. Jarboe Jr., 23, singled out the Rev. William Baer, who was rector of St. John Vianney Seminary at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul when Jarboe was there for three semesters between 2006-08. Baer, 53, is now pastor at Transfiguration Church in Oakdale.

St. Thomas spokesman Jim Winterer said neither the seminary nor the Twin Cities archdiocese has ever received complaints about Baer.

The Facebook post was removed shortly after Jarboe's body was found in front of an Owensboro, Ky., Catholic church on Thursday. But several Kentucky media outlets have quoted excerpts of Jarboe's post, which criticized the Catholic Church's response to clergy sex abuse.

Jarboe did not accuse any priest by name but wrote that abuse in the church is "real" and that he hoped to "save at least one child from the pain and torment that I had to go through," the Louisville Courier-Journal reported.

Winterer confirmed that Baer was named in the note and said the priest was taken aback. Winterer said that Baer is not speaking to the media but that he is "very saddened" by Jarboe's death. Baer left the St. Thomas seminary in spring 2010 after serving there nearly 11 years.

"He does not know what motivated David's criticism," Winterer said. "He had positive conversations with David after he left the seminary."

Meanwhile, the Diocese of Owensboro has launched an investigation into Jarboe's post, according to a diocesan press release. Police are looking into Jarboe's death. The Twin Cities archdiocese and the seminary do not plan to investigate.

When reached by phone in Kentucky on Tuesday, Jarboe's mother, Karen, declined to talk about her son.

H/t: Stella Borealis.

Patriarch Lubomyr Husar on his possible successor

Джерело публікації: risu.org.ua

 [Religious Information Service of Ukraine] "My peers are pensioners. To transfer patriarchal power to any of them would be futile. Our church has a synodal structure that must search not for a person with extraordinary talents but for the leader of this community. The archbishop, father, and head of our church is the head of the synod. In our tradition, especially in the restored tradition, the synod is the governing body that sets the tone of the church’s life. I am sure that our bishops will look for a man who will plan for the future, who will continue the work that has already begun, because through the synod, we all take part in the life of our church," Patriarch Lubomyr Husar said in an interview on Thursday.

Read further...

Джерело публікації: risu.org.ua

Habbemus Abbatem -- Heiligenkreuz Elects New Abbot P. Maximilian Heim

Editor: mentioned earlier because of the large number of vocations literally storming the place.

What is perhaps the most famous Monastery in the German speaking world has a new Abbot, P. Maximilian Heim, Professor for Fundamental Theology and member of the increasing Schülerkreis von Joseph Ratzinger.

P. Maximilian Heim is the new Abbot of Abbey Heiligenkreuz as kath.net has learned. Heim is the Professor for Fundamental Theology at the Phil.-Theol University of Benedict XVI. Heiligenkreuz and also a member of the Schülerkreis von Joseph Ratzinger.

P. Maximilian was born in Kronach [Bavaria] in 1961. He completed his degree in theology at Augsburg and in Abbey Heiligenkreuz. There he entered the Monastery in 1983. In 1988 he was delegated in the founding of a new Monastery in the Ruhr region. In 1996 he was called back to Heiligenkreuz and took over the office of Master of Novices and Cantors.

In 1998 to 2002 he concluded his Doctorate with Bernhard Korner at the Institute for Moral Theology and Dogmatics at the University of Graz, and in 2004 presented the dissertation theme on the Theology and Teaching of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger at the University of Holy Cross in Vienna. 2007 saw his following appointment as the full Professor of Fundmantal Theology and Dogmatics [Ecclesiology] in the Phil-Theol institute of Benedict XVI in Holy Cross. In September of 2004 he was made the prior in the recently established [1989] Priory of Stiepel in Bochum. In 2009 P. Maximilian was invited to participate in the growing Schülerkreis von Joseph Ratzinger/ Benedict XVI. On 10. February 2011, he was chosen as the new Abbot of Heiligenkreuz. With the selection of the new Abbot, the approved Catholic course is assured for the coming years.

Link to kreuz.net...

Video of leading a youth pilgrimage to Bocum, here. It's in German, but there are a lot of pictures.

Will the Pope Allow King Juan Carlos to Sign the Abortion Law?

Apparently, there are reports that the King of Spain is being given permission by the Pope to sign this thing into law. This will be very interesting, indeed. In any event, so far, this is only one person, Alfonso Ussia, saying that this is what happened. It would be hard to believe indeed if the Pope were to have said this.

It also brings to mind article by Dr. Thomas Drolesky about Cardinal Cushing of Boston, who once told a radio audience when he was interviewed about how a Catholic politician should vote about allowing contraception to be sold in his district, that the politician has to represent his constituency before he is true to his Catholic Faith, so the Church teachings need to take a back seat to Americanism.

This is a strikingly similar pattern.

A google translation from Christinidad reads:

Little presaged in the early hours of Saturday, the information would be heard in the last moments of "Tears in The Rain", the film program and discussion of Juan Manuel de Prada on Intereconomía TV, that deals with the always hot Friday dilemma between monarchy and republic.

He had shown the film My Street (1960), Edgar Neville, and along with the show's hosts, Prada and Maria Carcaba, had discussed the issue with Miguel Ayuso, Professor of Constitutional Law, Dalmacio Black, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Peter González-Trevijano, rector of the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, and Alfonso Ussía writer.

In the final minutes a point was raised of different moral issues that may arise in a Constitutional Monarchy in the case of Catholic kings. The most famous were those of Henry of Luxembourg (which in 2008 refused to sanction the legalization of euthanasia), Baudouin (who in 1990 refused to enact the law on abortion) or Don Juan Carlos (who passed twice, in 1985 and 2010).

But it was when he took the floor and launched Alfonso Ussía's informative bombshell of the night: "The king went to see the Pope and ten days ago, the Pope said, 'you meet your obligation. Their duty is to obey the Constitution' The King personally went to see the Pope to request some relief."

Link to intercommunia, here

Christianidad, here.

ReligionenLibertad.com, here.

H/t: fisheaters

Yes, Another Deceptive New York Times Story

Once again, Pinch Sulzberger's often inaccurate, thoroughly discredited, leftists scandal rag steps in to try and keep the flames of the abuse-hoax alive.

Andrew Madden is one of a relatively new breed of Irish celebrities who would just as soon be less well known. He was among the first people in Ireland to go public about being sexually abused by Catholic clergy — one of those who set off the intense bout of soul-searching that has racked the country lately. When I met Madden last fall in Dublin, the early rumbles of the collapse of Ireland’s economy were shaking the country, and throughout much of a pub lunch he talked about the failures of the government and the banks. It was only later, once we were driving around his old neighborhood, past the pebbledash house where he grew up and where his parents still live, that he began to talk about his childhood. As we sat in his car in front of Christ the King Church, where he spent much of his youth as an altar boy and a choir member, he outlined the four years of torment he suffered in the late 1970s at the hands of the Rev. Ivan Payne, one of the infamous serial sex offenders among the Irish Catholic clergy whose stories have transfixed the country over the past year and a half.

Read further...

H/t: wrigleys

Funery Music for a Catholic Queen

We should probably be doing stuff all week. Read about it, here.

The tragedy at hand cemented the perfidy both past and present of the Tudors and paved the way for Oliver Cromwell and the murderous entrance of atheism in politics. Kings were no longer profound, sacral figures, they were a target for revolutionary ire, and this alchemetical recipe led to the murderous excesses of the French Revolution. You can actually see it all unfold as each new century shows man being more inhumane to man, more efficiently and often legally.

h/t: gpm at AQ

Turkey Dispossesses Syrian Orthodox Monastery

Catholic and Evangelical Churches are distraught at the judgment on Cloister Mor Gabriel

Hannover/Bonn (kath.net/idea)Their great concern about the current persecution of the Syrian-Orthodox Church in Turkish has brought the leading representatives of the largest churches in Germany to a common expression.

The reason is the conflict for the property rights for the Cloister of Mor Gabriel in Tur Abdin [Mountain of the Servants of God] in the south east of the country. The recent judgment of the Court of Cassation in Ankara made against the more than 1600 year old Cloister, was explained by the president of the German Catholic Bishops Conference, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch [Freiburg], and the EKD- Advisory President, Minister Nikolaus Schneider [Dusseldorf] in a public press conference on 9. February in Bonn and Hannover. The court had annulled a previous judgment that the property rights belong to the Cloister and have alienated most of the property of the Cloister to the State.

The Monastery of Mor Gabriel, founded in 397 is the most important Syrian Orthodox Cloister in Turkey. After the interventions of Schneider and Zollitsch were ignored, the Court of Cassation ruled that it is its position is legitimized by valid documentation, which in the lower court were admitted as evidence of property ownership. Now it is feared that the walls will be torn down which overlap the Cloister, and protect against land stealing and grazing. Additionally there is the danger that the baseless allegations against the church's superior, Archbishop Mor Timotheos Samuel Aktas and the president of the Cloister Kuryakos Ergun, they had appropriated Turkish State property, which has may still have more punishable consequences.

Schneider and Zollitsch support the goal of the Cloister, to speak against the most recent judgment against the Monastery. They said this: "We expect a solution from the Turkish government, which correspond to the rule of law, which must be filled by all candidates for entrance into the European Union. We ask the German government to employ stringent measures against the Turkish Government so that religious freedom for churches and Christians will be protected and the foundations of their existence may not be further destroyed by the state."

Over 95 percent of the 72 million inhabitants of Turkey are Muslims. From the estimated 120.000 Christians there are about 4.000 belonging to Evangelical Communities. From Tur Abdin in the past ten years there are more than 300.000 Syrian Orthodox church members who have fled to Europe, because the experience of persecution, murder and pressure from Turks and Kurds.

Video available here with photos of the Monastery.

Original at kath.net...

'Welt' Accuses Cardinal Marx of Covering up Abuse-- Archdiocese Threatens Lawsuit

Editor: as kreuz.net earlier reported, Regensburg Diocese has already sued 'Spiegel'.

A serious accusation: Cardinal Marx is said to have covered up a suspected sexual abuse, in order to use this "politically" -- The Archdiocese of Munich is taking legal steps.

Munich (kath.net) "Cardinal Marx covers suspected abuse". With this headline on late Wednesday afternoon the newspaper "Die Welt" has aroused the concern of the Archdiocese of Munich. "There was an impression that Marx himself was the one who was aware of the abuse at first. Actually, he held back the information of a suspicion of sexual abuse, in order to use it later for political reasons.", wrote the paper. It is maintained in a report that the Munich Archbishop Cardinal Reinhard Marx, according to information from "Welt Online", is suspected of allegedly covering up an abuse for over three months and through that he could allegedly permit a man exposed as a pedophile to continue working as an educator at Cloister Ettal.

The "Welt" declared that it should have been the case that the victim of the educator who had informed the Diocese at first on 5. April 2010 was brought to the attention of the abuse delegate of the Archdiocese. Supposedly this was reported three months later to the State Prosecutor of Munich. The Cloister in Ettal, where the educator was active, should have been the first to have been informed, actually.

According to information from "Welt Online" Archbishop Marx is supposed to have been personally aware of the accusations against the Ettal teacher. Corresponding guidelines of the German Bishops Conference for the handling of sexual abuse require that the abuse delegate is "immediately" informed over these events. Otherwise the suspected victim according to "Welt" is supposed to have spoken later to Marx personally.

The paper reported that there was a conflict in the background between the Archdiocese of Munich and Cloister Ettal. In February 2010 Archbishop Marx had demanded the resignation of the then Abbott and the director of the Ettal Dormitory, both of whom were later rehabilitated by the Pope. The Diocese then directed, according to "Welt", the suspicion against the Ettal Educator to after a month of inactivity in the same week in which the rehabilitation of the Ettal Abbott was made public. "Possibly, these recent negative allegations could draw a cloud over the positive media-echo for Ettal", writes Welt.

The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising has condemend the report from "Welt" as untrue. "The "Welt" is called to retract and omit the untrue and damaging information. We plan on taking legal steps to obtain retraction and omission." they said in an official statement.

From kath.net...

Cardinal Kasper Defends Celibacy and the Pope

Editor: The man who was rebuked by Cardinal Burke , and a "destroyer of the Faith" by Father George May is now weighing in in defense of Tradition. Wow, didn't see this one coming.  Cardinal Kasper actually supports the Pope.  The following excerpt is the google translation from Enlace Catolico.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said Monday, speaking to the Portuguese agency Ecclesia, who never called for the abolition of celibacy in the Church.The German Cardinal was yesterday in Lisbon, on the occasion of the honorary doctorate awarded him the Catholic University of Portugal (UCP).

His name, along with the current pope, Joseph Ratzinger, and Karl Rahner, Karl Otto Lehmann Semmelroth and appears in the signing of a memorandum of 1970 to the German bishops, which called for a study on the need mandatory celibacy for priests.This text was made public by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, referring to the recent manifesto signed by 143 theologians German, Swiss and Austrians in which inter alia calls for the repeal of the law of celibacy.Cardinal Kasper, asked Ecclesia, clarified that the memorandum of 1970 was intended to "discuss" the issue, but no proposal to "abolish" the discipline.

"After this, there was much discussion, there were three global synods spoke on celibacy, and it was decided to maintain this discipline, and I credited that celibacy is good for the Church," added the cardinal.

He also stated that since 1970, "times have changed, and although he admitted that this argument is never closed,  he also stressed that "the decision of the Church in this matter has been concluded and that the current Pope does not intend to change this discipline" of mandatory celibacy.

(Rd/Zenit) (Rd / Zenit)

A New Motu Proprio on Liturgy is Here

Hero-Bishop Williamson

Bishop Williamson described a Motu Proprio that was to come out soon, back in August. There was also talk from Bruno Volpe of a Motu Proprio touching on the current talks between the SSPX and Rome.   Bishop Williamson also mentioned this talk as we reported.  No sooner this than that denials came forth by Society Superior Bishop Fellay that there was any such Motu Proprio in the future.

The current one in the works looks like it will touch on the Mass, and there's no indication that it will deal with the SSPX at all, but we'll see more when it comes out.  Here's an excerpt from Rorate Caeli.

The document, which will be published as a motu proprio, is the result of a long development - it has been reviewed by the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts and by the offices of the Secretariat of State - and is mainly motivated by the transferral of competences on matrimonial matters to the Roman Rota. ... Foregoing this [competence], which will be passed on to the Rota, the Congregation for Divine Worship will not occupy itself, in fact, with the sacraments, and will keep solely its competence in liturgical matters.

According to some authoritative rumors, a passage of the motu proprio of Benedict XVI could expressly mention that "new liturgical movement" of which Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera has spoken in recent times, when intervening in last November's consistory.  ...

The Congregation for Divine Worship - which some would wish to rechristen as "of the Sacred Liturgy" or "of the Divine Liturgy" - will henceforth busy itself with this new liturgical movement, including the creation of a new section of the dicastery dedicated to sacred art and music.

Berlin Cardinal in Induced Coma

His 75th birthday brings Georg Cardinal Sterzinsky to the intensive care unit of a Berlin hospital.  His condition is serious.

(kreuz.net) For already two weeks Georg Cardinal Sterzinsky has been in a hospital in the middle of the Berlin district.

According to reports of the Regional edition of the German boulevard magazine 'Bild' for Berlin-Brandenburg, Georg Cardinal Sterzinsky has been operated upon at the end of January for stomach cancer.

"At that point the health of the patient worsened,  the doctor of the wearer of purple put him in an induced coma" -- reported 'Bild' today.

On last Friday the surgeons attempted a second operation according to 'Bild'.

After the most recent reports the Cardinal should be ready for a fourth operation.

In the meantime the induced coma established a condition so that the Cardinal is not able to speak.

According to reports from 'Bild' the Cardinal's close relatives and ecclesiastical benefactors will gather at his sick bed.

It is self-evident that Cardinal Sterzinsky is being cared for by the Sister-run Franciscan Hospital on Budapest Street.

From kreuz.net...

Careful: The Abuse-Hoax is a Diversionary Tactic

A German homosexual-ideologue is using the the timeliness of the hour in order to strike more homopolitical capital from the abuse-hoax.  A Commentary, translated from kreuz.net.

More homosexuality means, necessarily, more abuse.

(kreuz.net) The Jesuit, homosexual-ideologue [are there any others?] and striking Rector of the Berlin Cansisius College, Father Klaus Mertes is once again the homo-propagandist underway in German lands.  This, according to the 'Frankfurter Allgemein Zeitung' today.

On Sunday he indoctrinated the participants of an event at the Jesuit-led Old Liberal Philosophy-Theology faculty of the University of St. George in Frankfurt am Main.

Father Mertes is known for covering up the real reason for the very infrequent cases of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

This consists in over eighty percent of the cases of abuse, homosexual perpetrators of sexually mature boys.

With preemptive complaint about the supposed discrimination against homosexual perps finds Fr. Mertes usually insisting that this problem has been made a taboo by German society.

At the same time he insults the Church because it is the only institution in the West that has the courage to condemn homosexual depravity.

With his attacks on the Church, the priest diverts attention from the homosexual problem.

In the case of the Berlin Canisius College the then supervisor categorically declared, since which -- as it was later exposed -- not having any information about the abuses at the school.

Actually the homo-ideological Jesuits aren't concerned about the protection of minors from homosexual perpetrators.  He wants to revile the Church.

So, he portrays one aggrieved of homosexual abuse as a "victim of a church pastor".

During his attack on the Church, the German priest imitates the national-masochism of his homeland.

This rages from a sexually morbid self-depreciation.  Example?

The Church never offered to approach the victims once in a "therapeutic manner" -- as the Jesuit waltzed into the slime.

Or:  It won't do, "to instrumentalize the victims as learning experiences for the Church".

Or: "What does the institution recongize, when they look from the perspective of the victim, when they see themselves in the mirror held for them by the victim?"

His answer: "The Church is also a sinner".

Naturally -- the tabooization undertaken by the Jesuits of the homosexual perpetrator only functions when the guilt can be pushed onto another -- on the Church.

After this cheap diversionary maneuver, Father Mertes published his own concern.

He can't get around, "to declare that from the perspective of the victim the fundamental question is placed in the context of Church sexual morality and the definition of spiritual power."

All clear?

Translated from kreuz.net...

Cardinal Brandmüller Celebrates Pontifical High Mass

Editor:  You'll remember the Cardinal for his apt criticism of German politicians who thought they could weigh in on the Catholic doctrine of celibacy and how he was in turn unjustly criticized by Cardinal Lehman.

Walter Cardinal Brandmülle celebrated a pontifical high Mass in the Immemorial Mass of All Ages, in the sanctuary of the Dolors of the Virgin in Camovacallo di Osimo [Marken].

Campocavallo di Osimo (kath.net) After the solemn procession in the sanctuary at 15:00 the Cardinal led prayers before the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, according to the prayers of the "Hora tertia Pontificalis" and vesting for the celebration of Holy Mass at 15:45.

Musically the liturgy was sung by the Schola Cantorum "Sancta Cecilia" from Corridonia under the direction of Alessandro Pucci with the "Missa secunda Pontificalis" by Lorenzo Perosi.

Since 1893 the sanctuary of Campocavallo village honors the Dolors [sorrows] of the Mother of God.  Campocavallo is located in the vicinity of the great Marian sanctuary 'Casa Santa" [Holy House] of Loretto.  Every Sunday and on feast days a Mass in the Immemorial Rite is celebrated  at 16:45, and on workdays at 7:00.

Every day  at 18:30 after Holy Mass the Blessed Sacrament is exposed and the rosary is prayed with a concluding Eucharistic blessing.  Every Saturday from 21:30 till 5:30 the next morning, there is a Eucharistic vigil.

iPhone App is Invalid for "Confession": Hate-media Strikes Again

Once again, the Church hate-media publishes untrue things that ridicule the Catholic Faith.  Confessions by telephone are already invalid, so this report is exaggerated and untrue.  Of course, those who are willing to believe this non-sense are of two types and you all know who you are.

The Catholic Church is the most maligned religion in the world.

Link, here.

Father Schmidberger Defends Vatican II and Celibacy

The German District Superior of the Society of St. Pius X has reprimanded the 'Central Committee of German Catholics', not only for pharisaicaly demanding a  recognition of the Pastoral Council, but also not following it.

Father Schmidberger Celebrates Mass in Holland

(kreuz.net)  Demands from some politicians of the Homosexual and Abortion CDU party in favor of married priests is against the Pastoral Council.

This was explained by the German District Superior of the Society of St. Pius X, Father Franz Schmidberger in a statement last Thursday.

The cited  principley from the decree on priestly education 'Otatam Totius' of October 1965.

Vatican Council II: Celibacy is Better

The document solemnly declared that the Seminarians must live "according to the holy and certain laws of their own Rite and venerable tradition of priestly celibacy"

Seminarians should be carefully prepare for a single state.

They were denied marriage by heaven's will and serve Christ with undivided love.

Still further  it is said that the Seminarian must understand the value of Christian marriage: "they should recognize the precedence of Christ's virginity".

Especially in the "present society" -- meant is the time of 1965 -- where there are dangers to chastity.

Seminarians are to be watchful  -- as the Decree continues:

"They must learn to protect themselves by various divine and human means."

Celibacy  should enable the future priest to "a complete mastery of body and soul toward a higher human fullness".

Old Liberal Mentality of Self-Justification

Father Schmidberger demands that the CDU- abortion politicians and the Old Liberal Lay Committee, 'Central Committee of German Catholics' with exclamation points that they obey the specifications of the Second Vatican Council and recant their Anti-Celibacy declarations.

Whoever demands recognition of the Pastoral Council in any discussion, must himself adhere to it.

The Society of St. Pius X has always declared that only a part of the Council can be corrected, which is in conflict with tradition.

On the contrary, the "Central Committee" deals with a "mentality of self-justification".

Father Schmidberger has the impression that the Council will be degraded to a "Decree Buffet": "Whatever one likes is picked up and eaten.  The rest goes back into the 'Roman kitchen'."

One such subjective method of selection can not be a foundation for serious theological confrontation -- states Father Schmidberger.

Link to kreuz.net...

Evangelical Lutheran Sex-Change Pastor

This goes well with the week of prayer for the unity of Christians.  In any case this "fairy" would like to be known as "Herr Pastor".

This Pastor is now a Pastoress

(kreuz.net) January  24 2011 - The married protestant pastor, Hans Gerd Spörkel (54) told the world through the boulevard magazine 'Bild', that he was "born in the wrong body".

Spörkel is active in the 5000 population town of Haldern -- a part of the city of Rees in the district of Dusseldorf.

The evangelical community  has about 1250  people.

'Bild' formulated the problem in a humorous light: "Pastor Hans-Gerd Spörkel (54) was earlier a man and enters now as a woman before the community."

Even as a young boy Spörkel cried in front of the television when he watched the film "Sissi":


"He cried from joy, because he found the glistening clothes of the Empress so beautiful" -- 'Bild" said of the schmaltzy Sissi-film and Spörkel.

Since the beginning of last month the pastor has been taking feminine hormones.

He pulls the hair of his beard out, wears makeup and wears woman's clothes -- naturally from the protestant pulpit.

His decadent community clapped for a long while as he danced into his house of worship for the first time as a woman.

Spörkel's been active there for  26 years.

Before his most recent step, there were "rumors" in his community, where he was seen wearing women's clothing.

Finally, he had understandable thoughts of killing himself, suffered a nervous breakdown and entered into a "psychosomatic" clinic.

There he turned himself around and came to consider himself as a "woman".

Spörkel is separated from his wife.  According to reports from 'Bild' he will continue being there for his children.

As you would expect he is supported in his madness by the protestant church leadership.

His boss is Dieter Schutte (61) who is the Superintendant of the communities of Wesel.

'Bild' cites him: "It was important to handle this transparently.  We have spoken with him intensively and paid close attention to how the community would handle his decision."

In the mean time Spörkel is stepping out, according to 'Bild', as a fairy:  "blue, rimless glasses, elegant makeup, blonde, short hair, two earrings, purple scarf."

He still wants to be addressed as "Herr Pastor".

"I still want to retain the masculine title for identification -- perhaps I will change it sometime," was how 'Bild' cited the disturbed man.

Link to kreuz.net original...

Freiburg Dogmatic Theologian Helmut Hoping Criticizes Bishops and Liberal Theologians

A sharp criticism on the Theologians Declaration and the Bishops:  At present, priests can "teach what they want, live as they wish and they can also celebrate liturgy as they want but that doesn't interest bishops in the main."

Cologne (kath.net) Helmut Hoping, Professor of Dogmatics at the Albert-Ludwig University in Freiburg and permanent Deacon explained his decisive  rejection of the provocative Theologians' - Memorandum.  He will not sign the Memorandum because he is criticizing the fundamental consideration of the Theolgian-Memorandum:  one use the "sexual abuse debate" to promote a simple opening of ecclesiastical offices "for married" and the "recognition of practicing homosexuality".

Otherwise, since the situation started he has had "the impression, that the Bishops are all too eager to hear movements in the community, instead of asserting certain questions like the question of celibacy."  The Memorandum criticizes, for all intents and purposes with justification, "a monstrous weight of double-standards in the Church", so went Professor Hoping's analysis.

For that reason he calls the "question of Abuse",  something which is ignored, "especially in other areas as well, so that the priests could teach what they want, they could live as they want, and they could celebrate liturgy as they want, but that doesn't interest most of the Bishops in the main."

The theology professor then expressed himself in these words:  "And that must stop, there must really be a renewal of the office following with a corresponding charge of the obligations of service law and with a powerful and transparent service law, and then one can discuss my considerations over the proposal as well, as it is now raised to the area of politics, about viri probati, with whom I generally have no problem with, since I'm a permanent Deacon, I can thoroughly imagine myself, that the office could open for married men.  But are we to believe, that one could make from the abuse debate and from the general crisis in the Church, a situation in which the office is opened for married men, and also how a part of German theologians would have it, to promote practicing homosexuality.  All of that is completely experimental, to develop a Church, which we already have in the area of Protestantism, with all of the problems that exist there.

Original, kath.net...

German "Theologians" Attack Church

Ed: They're making hay out of the abuse hoax where a few homosexuals have taken advantage of the situation for free access to young males, food, lodging and cheap esteem.

By JUERGEN BAETZ, Associated Press Juergen Baetz, Associated Press – Fri Feb 4, 2:58 pm ET BERLIN – University theologians in Germany have called on the Catholic Church to abandon the vow of celibacy for priests, open up the clergy for women and accept gays couples.

The 143 professors said the church must implement bold reforms because of "a crisis without precedent" following the discovery of widespread sexual and physical abuses by clergymen a year ago.

More Christians than ever have turned their backs on the Catholic Church in the past year, they said. "The Church has to understand these signs and move beyond its ossified structures to regain new vitality and credibility."
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Nine-year old girl shocks grandfather after puberty talk at Catholic school

Editor: Remember, they'll get to you through your children.

A grandfather whose nine-year-old granddaughter asked him if he was concerned about the size of his genitals days after a "puberty talk" at a Catholic school is shocked at the age at which children learn about puberty.

He said children were losing their innocence too early.

But the principal of St Paul's School in Massey, West Auckland, said a public health nurse at the optional "mother and daughter" evening spoke only about puberty and the associated changes, and did not talk about penis size or go into any sexual detail.

The grandfather said he became alarmed when he overhead his granddaughter telling her younger brother about what she had heard, including that some boys were worried about the size of their genitals. She then asked her granddad if he was concerned.

 http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/4616094/Personal-question-after-school-puberty-talk-shocks-granddad

H/t: MichaelNZ

Modernist Monastery Attacks New Translation of Missal: Homosexual Culture Promotes Abuse

Big surprise, homosexual super-culture promotes dissent.  Never mind that the whole thing could be solved by simply returning to the pre-54 Missal.  Father Ruff has, after much soul-searching, to be sure, has decided to call it quits. Maybe he should quit pretending to be a Catholic and a Benedictine? Why doesn't he just join the Unitarians?  Well, Pro-homosexual "America" has published his open letter.  Birds of a feather, etc...

Remember, this is the guy who recently lent an uncritical ear to the yammering of Germany's homosexual enthusiast David Berger, who recently got fired from a seminary faculty in Rome after he was shown as a promoter and practitioner of homosexuality. C'mon people, St. John's is the haunt of predatory homosexual vampires who want to destroy the Church as much as they want to corrupt and destroy young minds.  The only reason this dump still puts out a shingle with the word Catholic on it is because of lazy, good-for-nothing, laymen who turn a blind eye.  This place really deserves to be shut down by competent Church authorities.  Still, nothing heard about any disciplining for an evil Benedictine there who promotes homosexuality on your dime, [If you're stupid enough to give money to Collegeville that is]. 

You know it's got to be bad when Jeff Mirus at Catholic Culture catches on.

So, this should come as a surprise to no one, especially not the homosexual super-culture of the Modernist Monastery in the Midwest, surely the most ugly brutalist, Mies Van Der Rohe inspired pile of concrete in the world....

With a heavy heart, I have recently made a difficult decision concerning the new English missal. I have decided to withdraw from all my upcoming speaking engagements on the Roman Missal in dioceses across the United States. After talking with my confessor and much prayer, I have concluded that I cannot promote the new missal translation with integrity [You're worried about integrity now?]. I’m sure bishops want a speaker who can put the new missal in a positive light, and that would require me to say things I do not believe.[Knowing the Bishops, some of them would, at least, prefer a Catholic speaker]

I love the Church, [With caveats and qualifications] I love the sacred liturgy [You love defacing the liturgy], I love chant in Latin and English, [An artistic conceit?] and I treasure being involved with all these as a monk and priest. It has been an honor to serve until recently as chairman of the music committee of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) that prepared all the chants for the new missal. But my involvement in that process, as well as my observation of the Holy See’s handling of scandal, has gradually opened my eyes to the deep problems in the structures of authority of our church. [Yes, the practice of your community of continuing to ordain and tonsure homosexuals is a problem with authority, we suppose.]

The forthcoming missal is but a part of a larger pattern of top-down impositions by a central authority that does not consider itself accountable to the larger church. [Join a pro-homosexual, pro-anarchist "church" then, if you don't like top down arrangements.  It's not like there aren't other ecclesial arrangements more suitable to your predilections.]   When I think of how secretive the translation process was, how little consultation was done with priests or laity, how the Holy See allowed a small group to hijack [Probably that's what happened at St. John's in the thirties when Liturgical Abuses became the norm, among other kinds of abuses, to be sure] the translation at the final stage, how unsatisfactory the final text is, how this text was imposed on national conferences of bishops in violation of their legitimate episcopal authority, how much deception and mischief have marked this process—and then when I think of Our Lord’s teachings on service and love and unity…I weep. [Bullcrap]

I see a good deal of disillusionment with the Catholic Church among my friends and acquaintances. [Good, then leave.] Some leave the Catholic Church out of conviction, some gradually drift away, some join other denominations, some remain Catholic with difficulty. My response is to stay in this church for life and do my best to serve her. This I hope to do by stating the truth as I see it, with charity and respect. I would be ready to participate in future liturgical projects under more favorable conditions.

I am sorry for the difficulties I am causing others by withdrawing, but I know this is the right thing to do. I will be praying for you and all leaders in our church.

Pax in Christo,

Fr. Anthony Ruff, O.S.B.

There are a lot of other places you could go, Tony, and be an effeminate social worker with a decent salary.

Turkish Legal Claims Against Syriac Monastery

Editor: so much about the Turkish President's claims.

On 27.01.2011, Turkish Supreme Court made decision against Mor Gabriel Monastery concerning lands dispute with the villages and Turkish Treasury.

One more time there is a try to seize values and assets of Syriac people by legal and juridical pressures with the example of Mor Gabriel Monastery. With unfair methods and ways, a lot of lands of Syriacs have been seized during cadastral survey works since 2007, and had been transferred to the state treasury. The most important and clear evidence is the Mor Gabriel Monastery trials. These actions take source from local villages and state institutions. The local court made decision about cases, but later on all parties decided to go to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court dealt with the cases and reversed even the case which was gained by the Monastery Foundation. Finally, on 27.01.2011 according to the recent decision made by the Supreme Court, the Mor Gabriel Monastery has to transfer most of its lands to the state treasury.

At the time when AKP (Justice and Development Party) government is trying to persuade the whole world with the democratic openings, taking actions against Mor Gabriel Monastery is completely contradictory to the reality. And thus the AKP government is seen insincere by the Syriacs. With this latest development, the AKP government becomes a source of disappointment in the process of reforms towards European Union.

These political decisions had always been reasons of discussion on the international arena and often Turkey had been condemned by the European Court of Human Rights. We also believe that Turkey will be condemned by the European Court of Human Rights concerning the Mor Gabriel Monastery case. We call to the Turkish government to restore this unfair decision and make relevant legal arrangements.

European Syriac Union (E.S.U.), on behalf of the Syriac people, is strongly condemning the decision of the Supreme Court and made its call to all Syriac people all over the world, to the world public opinion and to relevant institutions and governments to be responsive to this situation.

Best

regardsEuropean Syriac Union -

ESUwww.esu.ccwww.esu-youth.eu
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Pope: The Church is not Merely the Dispenser of Social Services

Editor: While remaining ambivalent to the nature of the Church and the State, the Holy Father restates the importance of the State in maintaining the moral order.  Religion may not be merely limited as the participant in culture.

Rom (kath.net/as) This Thursday morning Pope Benedict invited the new ambassador of the Republic of Austria to the Holy See, Alfons M. Kloss, for the handing over of qualifications, with which this extraordinary and appointed emissary was accredited.

In his address Benedict XVI. called Austria the "Land of Cathedrals", that in its culture, its history and not least in everyday life, the faith is deeply stamped and, while at the same time it could demonstrate a long history of friendly coexistence between different religions and cultures.

The Pope went about the "peculiar tension" in the relation between Church and State which exist in the various states of Europe.  It appears that one wants to adjust the Gospel to the culture, yet it is painfully intended to avoid the fact that the culture has been participated in by the religious.

As a second point Benedict stressed the actuality of the respect for religious freedom, which allows the ecclesiastical community to exercise its various activities, from which from which the entire society makes use. The engagement of the Church has its deepest foundation in God, "in God, is love": "therefore it is necessary, to attend the nature and actual effect of the Church, without making it merely a bearer of social services.  It is much more evident in the completeness of a religious dimension."


So, there is in place of prayer, "the tendency to counter egotistical individualism.  For all communal powers consist in the penetrating and persistent mission, to secure the moral dimension of the culture, the dimension of a culture, that which is representative of people as well as of life in society. 

Finally the Pope underlined the importance of family politics and the meaning of marriage as a natural help to social ordering:  "Therefore, marriage and family necessitates the special protection of the state.  They are, for all of their members, a school of humanity with positive consequences for the individual and for society."

The Pope's complete address is available on kath.net in German, here...

Turkey: 'Seventh Church' of the Apocalypse is Found

"Church in Laodicea" has been located with underground radar signals -- The structure is in its basic and original state.

Ankara (kath.net/KAP) Archeologists have found the so-called "Seventh Church of Asia" from the biblical testimony of St. John.  Turkish Minister of Culture, Ertugrul Gunay said  for the Turkish press service [Tuesday] upon a visit to the excavation.

The antique city Ladoicea [Laodikeia on Lykos today's Cürüksu Cayi] in the city of Phrygia mentioned in the cryptic Apocalypse at the end of the New Testament mentioned as the place of the seventh Christian church [Apocalyse: 3,14-22]. Each of the seven churches [kath.net says 'communities'] - Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamon, Thyatira, Sardes, Philadelphia and Laodicea -- thus contains an epistle to the baptized.

According to reports of the dig's director Celal Simsek the Church was located with subterranean radar.  The structure is in its basic and original state.

Minister Gunay spoke after a field inspection of the exciting find.  He announced that he would present further digs in the Summer for the world press.

The city of Laodicea was also the location of the Council of Laodicea in the 4th Century.

Link to the original, kath.net...