New Study: Suicide Among Non-Believers Higher Than Among Believers -- Lower Among Catholics

by Roberto Reggi, translated by Tancred

Suicide is negatively regarded in the religious and moral view.  In addition it is yet a significant and statistically easy scale for well being. Already, since the clasical study of Emile Durkheim (1897), which is generally considered the first scientific sociological study, it is known that among believing people in comparison to non-believing, there is less suicide.  In detail, there are fewer suicides among Catholics than Protestants.

The interpretation for this phenomenon, which the father of Sociology poses, is founded in the concept of anomie. [A sociological term describing the disturbance of in social relations.]   The decline or loss of religious norms and values (a-nomos, without laws) leads to disturbances in the social order and the loss of social integration.  The results of anomie are for people the feeling of a sense of loss, growing dissatisfaction and fear, which could lead to suicide.  Believing people have however ideals to which they can hold and adjust to every situation.  They have the patience and hope.  Catholics are more tied to a community and social relationships than Protestants, which further reduces anomic manifestations.  The Catholic network is more widely and broadly extended than the Protestant, because the Protestant, lacks the this worldly pressure to perform and failure according to human standards is always circumscribed as a possibility in the Catholic.

More than a century after the ground breaking study by Durkheim there was a University study published in the Summer of 2012. In that the number of suicides in Switzerland was researched between 1981 and 2001,  a country therefore, in which the Catholic Church and Protestant belief systems have historically lived side by side.  The Study Suicide and Religion:  New Evidence on the Differences Between Protestantism and Catholicism was written by Benno Torgler (EBS University for Research and Law, Oestrich-Winkel) and Christoph Schaltegger (University of Luzern).

The study offers valuable information between the homogeneity of the researched cases, which all come from the same political and social back grounds, which marks the Swiss national situation.  The study affirms Durkheim's assertions from the last 19th century: Protestants are more frequently inclined to suicide than Catholics.  In practice:  the same social and economic conditions (income, family relationships, etc...)  show a decline in suicide, the higher the Catholic section is.

*Robert Reggi, Jahrgang 1974, Promotion in Philosophie (1998), Diplomstudium der Theologie (2007), Diplomstudium der Bildungswissenschaften (2007), Lizentiat in Biblischer Theologie (2007), Psychologie (2009), Anthropologie (2011), Mitarbeiter von Radio Maria, UCCR, Mitglied im wissenschaftlichen Komitee von Cathopedia.

Link to Katholisches...

Pope Benedict Dissolves Dissident Branch of St. John Sisters

(Vatican)  The Secretary of State of the Holy See has announced in a decree of January 10, 2013 that Pope Benedict has abolished the association of the faithful with the name Sisters of St John and of St. Dominick.  This dealt with a dissident branch of the Johannites.  A part of the Soeurs contemplatives de Saint-Jean, the contemplative sisters of St. John, which is a branch of the Johannine Community, had separated themselves from the community.

The contemplative female branch of St. John was founded on the 8th December, 1982 by P. Marie-Dominique Philippe.  The Archbishop of Lyon established it on March 25th, 1994 as a Diocesan Congregation of Right.  It shoujld not be confused with the Apostolic Sisters of St. John, the other female branch of the Community of St. John.

In 2007 the contemplative sisters had 342 members, of which 98 had taken solemn vows and 134 temporary vows.  The order numbers 40 establishments in Europe, America, Africa and Asia.  In the German speaking areas there is one house in Marchegg in Austria.

The decree of dissolution proceeded from years of internal conflicts about the founding charism.  The Church's expected reforms were not accepted by part of the Sisters.  The conflict escalated and led to a break of a  part of the Sisters from the Order. Because of this, the cloister in Marchegg has stood empty since the summer of 2012.  The dissident sisters founded a new order in Spanish Cordoba with the name of the Sisters of St. John and St. Dominick.

On February 24th, 2012 Pope Benedict XVI named Bishop Henri Brincard as the Papal delegate for the sisters.  With that the Holy See undertook the direct leadership of the community.  Shortly after the Papal delegate reached his concluding report and was received by the Pope in a personal audience, Pope Benedict XVI dissolved the Sisters of Saint John and St. Dominick because of serious offenses against Church Order "with immediate effect".  The community may not then constitute itself in any new form.

The Johannine Community has published a statement on the decision of the Pope on January 25th:

Given the difficult situation, which is taking place with the community of the Contemplative Sisters of St John, inform you, about the brothers of St John, in accordance with the Superior General of the other two congregations of the family of St. John, that the Holy Father, which wants to preserve the unity of the family of St. John, in an audience transcript tells you that he has decided to dissolve the institution of the "Sisters of Saint John and the Saint Dominic," which was brought into life in June 2012 in Cordoba, Spain. Its members came mostly out of the community of contemplative sisters of St. John. 

The Community of the Brothers of Saint John wants to affirm, through its Superior General, Father Thomas,  in humble obedience, its communion with the Holy Father. The Brothers of St. John in close community of contemplative sisters continue in their prayers. They invite the Oblates and friends of the community to work together with them to trust the Holy Father, united to the intercession of the Virgin Mary.

Link to katholisches...

Byproduct of CINO Education Now Obama's Chief of Staff

*CINO = Catholic in Name Only

Edit: the brother of the troubled former Vicar General of the Archdiocese of St. Paul in Minnesota, the Old Liberal, Father Kevin McDonough, has now been announced as Chief of Staff.

Denis McDonough attended the decadent Monastery school of St. John's University and was the star of John Gagliardi's famed football franchise.  St. John's University is a haven for predators, deviants and worse, dissenters from Catholic teaching.

The nut doesn't fall far from the tree.

For those who don't remember, Father McDonough was identified as a problem in the Archdiocese by local activist Doctor David Pence.  The priest, who was born in Stillwater, Minnesota in a family of 11, went on record as denying a homosexual subculture in the Archdiocese, as it was reported at Lifesitenews.

The priest was subsequently moved from his Vicar General slot down to be the assistant of a small, failing parish in South Minneapolis.

The other brother, William McDonaugh didn't agree with his brother's assessment and lamented that it wasn't more over than it already is.



H/t: DC

The Ecumenical Movement Can Not be a Contract of Mutual Interests

Rome (www.kath.net/as)  The unity of Christians is the privileged medium of the credible presentation of the Faith to those who do not know Christ or those who have already received the Gospel as a priceless gift,  but have forgotten it again.   With these words, Pope Benedict XVI. addressed the Feast of the Conversion of Paul in the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Before the Walls to the faithful gathered for the Vespers at the conclusion of the week of prayer for the unity of Christians.

The unity among Christians, says the Pope, is above all a work of the Holy Ghost.  The prayer and the spiritual ecumenism "is formed in the heart of the mission of ecumenism,"  which without faith becomes a kind of contract of common interests.   The preconditions for a mutual brotherhood is in that the communion with the Father.

If the dialog reflects a priority for the Faith,  this is allowed, it opens itself with secure trust in God's work, that the Holy Ghost will lead to full communion.  This permits the acquisition of spiritual riches,, which are present in the various churches and church communities.

In view of a society as it appears today, where the Gospel appears ever less important,  but which is still in need of reconciliation, dialog and mutual understanding, the challenge is there to announce Christ in common and to give the world a shining example in the quest for communion."

The doctrinal question which still divide, "may not be left behind or set aside",  says Benedict XVI.  They must be courageously in a spirit of brotherhood and approached with mutual respect.  Ecumenism carries lasting fruits, if they are accompanied with concrete gestures, which heals the understanding and promotes relations.

The divine gift of unity "is inseparable from that of Faith, and the Faith is inseparable from the personal holiness as well as the search for justice".  Benedict XVI recalled the Christians in India,  who had prepared this years week of prayer, as well as the difficult situations in which they live, to bear witness.

"To go with God" means above all, to enter into the radicalness of the Faith, "like Abraham, we  trust in God and place all of our hope in Him."  At the same time this means that we go beyond limitations, "beyond hatred, of racism and social and religious discrimination, which divides entire societies and damages them."

Link to kath.net...

Vatican Warns Against Aggressive Religious Websites

Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, President of the Pontifical Council on Social Communications:  "We recommend Catholic websites to have a respectful dialog with others.  Sometimes there are sites which are too aggressive."

Vatican City (kath.net/KNA)  The Vatican has warned Catholic internet sites to represent the faith aggressively.  "We recommend Catholic sites to have a respectful dialog with others.  Sometimes we have too aggressive sites",   said the President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, on Thursday for a press conference in a presentation to the Pontifical Council.  "If we don't ensure a respectful disposition, everything runs falsely," he stressed.

At the same time it's not just for the purpose of recapitulating the Gospel.  "The net is a world occupied by people, and that necessitates a human sensibility."  It isn't sufficient to merely present dogmatic citations.  Just now young people are seeking more more for the meaning of their lives.  This challenge must be met on the internet.  Celli mentioned also that the twitter account of Pope Benedict XVI in Latin has more than 11,000 followers.

Link to kath.net....

Jack Kerouac was Catholic

"I believe in order, tenderness and piety. "

Edit: there's so much about celebrated literary figures confirming our religious feelings.  Many people find so much consolation in actors, punters, gangsters and so on who've changed their ways and admitted they were wrong.

One such figure is Jack Kerouac.  Bad Catholic, who especially likes to report on these sorts of stories about "cool" cultural icons, performed a fairly succinct and detailed summary of Kerouac's emotional and literary attachment to Catholicism. It was especially plain in how he named the beatnik movement as related to "beatific".

There's a great deal to poetic figures and part of their vocation to see and appreciate things with a wonder and conviction which is the polarity and polarization which makes their poetic work a religious experience.

An article in Culture Wars reads:

It may be hoped that Catholicism did more than keep Jack sane. He wrote his editor about "the result of praying to St. Mary to intercede for me to make me stop being a maniacal drunkard." Kerouac continued, "Ever since I instituted the little prayer, I've not been lushing. So far, every prayer addressed to the Holy Mother has been answered."28 He resumed his boyhood habit of praying to St. Thérèse and "the little lamby Jesus", and his diaries are filled with prayers (some for humility) and sketches of the crucified Christ. He never formally returned to the Church and the sacraments, but in the last decade of his life he often slipped into neighborhood churches to light a candle and pray. 

In 1969, the last year of his life, Jack and Gabrielle, and Jack's third wife, Stella, lived in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was a retirement town, and Jack seemed retired, spending most of his time indoors, drinking Johnny Walker Red and reading National Review, the Bible, Pascal, and Voltaire. He was watching television the morning of October 20, eating tuna fish out of the can, sipping whiskey, and scribbling a note. There was a pain in his stomach. He made it to the bathroom in time to vomit a waterfall of blood. His liver, long cirrhotic, had finally hemorrhaged. The blood filled Jack's chest and welled up into his throat. 

He was rushed to St. Anthony's hospital. He remained unconscious while doctors operated on him and pumped thirty pints of blood into his body. He died an alcoholic's death, drowning in his own blood, at 5:30 a.m. the next morning. His body was taken back home for a high mass at St. Jean Baptiste Cathedral in Lowell, where Jack had served as an altar boy. The body in the coffin wore a sports coat and bow tie. The right hand held a rosary.

What is also of note, was his interview with William F. Buckley on the PBS show, Firing Line not long before he died, where he described his understanding, against the press and popular description, which was really more of a statement of Faith, "I believe in oder, tenderness and piety".  Indeed,  he was eager to attack the Communists like Ferlengetti and Ginsberg, from whom he disassociated himself from several times in the interview. Despite being terribly drunk, he has moments of clarity and makes one of the most sartlingly accurate description of the false prophets...

  Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Bad Vestments Hit the London Runway

Edit: the show got off with a rousing "hooray" and Julia roamed down the runway with a deep red chasuble. Many bad ideas were born of a desire to be less stuffy.

THESE strutting 'supermodels' are more familiar with the Holy Ghost than Heidi Klum.

They're all real vicars, hand-picked to show off the latest range of ecclesiastical wear at a special clergy catwalk show.

Five trendy revs, including retired Methodist minister Brian Hoare and minister-in-training Beth Allison, flaunted a collection of brightly-coloured cassocks and blinged-up crucifixes aft the event, part of a Christian exhibition in Bristol.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4759497/Vicars-turn-garments-fashionable.html#ixzz2IyWh7CMm

The TFP Processing Against Abortion and Aberrosexualism Attacked by Mob

He pressed them very much to turn in unto him: and when they were come into his house, he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread and they ate: But before they went to bed, the men of the city beset the house both young and old, all the people together. And they called Lot, and said to him: Where are the men that came in to thee at night? bring them out hither that we may know them. [Genesis 19: 9,10]

Edit: this appeared recently on the  LifeSiteNews, which is nice. The Traditionalist TFP (Tradition Family and Private Property) members stoutly marched through the streets of Curitiba to protest the sin of abortion and aberrosexuality in the state of Parana where they were greeted mostly by friendly, well-wishing people of the town. This abruptly ended as they were attacked by a vulgar crowd of tolerant Leftists who shouted obscenities and spat on them while inciting violence. One of the brave TFP members was struck by an object at one point and had to go to the hopistal.

This video is in Portuguese, but features highlights of the march.  From LifeSiteNews:

Videos of the harassment were filmed by the perpetrators themselves, and two of them found their way onto the blog of Milton Alves, a former communist who is now a member of the socialist Worker's Party that currently holds power at the federal level in Brazil.  Alves acknowledged his presence and expressed his support for the counter-protesters, stating, "I was there and I saw everything. I'm on the side of democracy and against the TFP."

Good News! Abbot Werlen Resigns!

Einsiedeln (kath.net) Martin Werlen, the controversial Abbot of Einsiedeln will resign at the end of 2013. At that time the Cloister of Einsiedeln will get a new abbot. On twitter, Werlen himself described this as "Good News" In the Catholic Church and also in his own cloister itself Abbot Werlen's tenure was controversial.

Recently, Abbot Werlen was concerned because Swiss gas stations are open from 1 to 5am throughout the night offer their entire inventory and not just "items of daily use". There were significant protests from politicians and the Church. Martin Grichting, the Vicar General of the Diocese of Church said that the political positions of the Abbot: "The Church, especially its leadership, should not engage the Faith in politics. We have the task of preaching the Gospel, and not to get involved in politics." The Abbot did not refrain from critical questions. Last November he accepted to return again for an interview with kath.net.

For the Cloister itself the departure of the Abbot itself may be a new beginning. Some brothers were not pleased with the media presence of the Abbot, as kath.net has learned from Church circles in Switzerland.

Link to kath.news....

Albert Camus on the Death of King Louis XVI

Edit: the following is a translation of Camus' account of the execution of King Louis XVI, which wasn't only the murder of the King, but an attempt to destroy God forever and replace it with the general will of the people and Rouseau's Social Conctract. H/t: at vexilla-galliae:

On January 21, with the murder of the King-priest, was consummated what has significantly been called the passionof Louis XVI. It is certainly a crying scandal that the public assassination of a weak but goodhearted man has been presented as a great moment in French history. That scaffold marked no climax—far from it. But the fact remainsthat, by its consequences, the condemnation of the King is at the crux of our contemporary history. It symbolizes thesecularization of our history and the disincarna-tion of the Christian God. Up to now God played a part in historythrough the medium of the kings. But His representative in history has been killed, for there is no longer a king.Therefore there is nothing but a semblance of God, relegated to the heaven of principles.

The revolutionaries may well refer to the Gospel, but in fact they dealt a terrible blow to Christianity, from which ithas not yet recovered. It really seems as if the execution of the King, followed, as we know, by hysterical scenes of suicide and madness, took place in complete awareness of what was being done. Louis XVI seems, sometimes, tohave doubted his divine right, though he systematically rejected any projected legislation which threatened his faith.

But from the moment that he suspected or knew his fate, he seemed to identify himself, as his language betrayed,with his divine mission, so that there would be no possible doubt that the attempt on his person was aimed at the King-Christ, the incarnation of the divinity, and not at the craven flesh of a mere man. His bedside book in the Temple was the Imitation. The calmness and perfection that this man of rather average sensibility displayed during hislast moments, his indifference to everything of this world, and, finally, his brief display of weakness onthe solitary scaffold, so far removed from the people whose ears he had wanted to reach, while the terriblerolling of the drum drowned his voice, give us the right to imagine that it was not Capet who died, butLouis appointed by divine right, and that with him, in a certain manner, died temporal Christianity. To emphasize this sacred bond, his confessor sustained him, in his moment of weakness, by reminding himof his "resemblance" to the God of Sorrows. And Louis XVI recovers himself and speaks in the language of this God: "I shall drink," he says, "the cup to the last dregs." Then he commits himself, trembling, into the hands of an ignoble executioner.

Link to Albert Camus' "The Rebel"....

Order of Friars Minor Meet in Assisi to Elect New Superior

(Assisi)  In the Basilica blessed by St. Francis of Assisi the 200th General Capital of the Order of Friars Minor opened in its home city of Assisi.  99 brothers from all five continents are gathered till the 17th of February to select the 120th Father General.

Every six years, the General Chapter meets in order to talk about the state of the Order, to agree on decisions and select the Father General and the members of the General Council, which will be the leadership of the order till the next General Chapter.

The General Chapter is the most important event within the order.  Since 2007 Father Marco Tasca has served as the 119th Father General of the branch of the Conventual Franciscans, as the Minors are also called, which has formed a branch of the Franciscan family since 1517.   With the election of the 44th Father General, the lesser brothers separated themselves.  The more severe branch with the braun robes,  the Observance, are generally known in the German speaking areas as Franciscans.  The other branch, the Conventuals with the black robes are called "Minoriten" in Germany.

At the General Capital the brothers gather around the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi in order to renew the  founder of the spirituality of their Order.



The brothers of the various cloisters spread throughout the world were greeted by the Curator of the Holy Convent of Assisi,  Father Giuseppe Piemonese, of the Bishop of Assisi, Msgr Domenico Sorrentino and the mayor of the city, Claudio Ricci.

"We represent 65 countries", says the departing Father General Marco Tasca.  "In some countries, the Order is just appearing, in others there is a centuries long tradition.  Our religious family numbers 4,300 brothers.  In some states there are hundreds of brothers, in others there are a few dozen."

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Bild: Wikicommons



Link to Katholisches...

Cardinal Sarah: If "Catholic Charity" Betrays the Church -- Not Everything That Says it's Catholic is Catholic

Edit: you may have seen what this Cardinal has already said about clergy who fail to preach against abortion and aberrosexual marriage.

(Vatican)  With the Motu proprio Intima Ecclesia e natura of the 11th of November, 2012 about the charitable work of the Catholic Church as Pope Benedict was barely recognized by the public, but it set radical interventions against Catholic help organizations in motion, which are Catholic in name, but in word and deed are not. This refers to organizations that help the "non-negotiable values", such as attacking the defense of the family and of life. With the recently held Vatican General Assembly of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, which coordinates the charitable work of the Church worldwide, the Pope is asking for the proceedings  to enter a concrete phase.

That Rome is taking this seriously, became clear with the opening speech by Cardinal Robert Sarah, who is chairman of the Council since 2010. The speech was published Osservatore Romano on the 18th January. It is a hard accusation and an unvarnished analysis of the charitable organizations of the Catholic Church. There, the Cardinal said, a "laicizing ethics" [Your Professional Catholics], which is represented by "certain international institutions" and "will be imposed by force through complex political, legal and cultural mechanisms upon cultures and peoples around the world." This would be disclosed "as a negative and destructive view of man and woman."

Catholic organizations have made "secular ethics" their own

These mechanisms were perfectly attuned, wrote the sociologist Massimo Introvigne in an article for La nuova Bussola quotidian. Poor countries that are dependent on the provision of international credits are literally blackmailed. Loans are granted only if the States in return accept a particular ideological agenda. This standard includes the legalization of the killing of unborn children, recognition of homosexual unions and mass dissemination of artificial contraceptives.

Pope Benedict XVI. had denounced this blackmail method during his pastoral visit to Africa. Since his indictment could not penetrate to the global public, an immediate anti-papal campaign had picked a quarrel. The whole issue has been reduced to condoms. Anti-Religious groups flooded the Internet with all possible and unspeakable graphical variants of the subject "and Pope condom" or "condom and church." An objective consideration of the Pope's actual statement did not take place.


Church takes action against Charities that call themselves Catholic, but are not

The whole world imposed the "inhuman contraceptive mentality of the West and the intolerant gender ideology and their disdain of people created in God's image as male and female," said Introvigne. This form of violence must be identified and denounced tirelessly, the sociologist. It would also be possible, if at least the Catholic organizations had shut themselves to this ideology and would reject any collaboration.

Pope Benedict XVI. complained in the Motu proprio Ecclesia intima e natura that the not the case. Thus it was not without a bitter undertone that Cardinal Sarah affirmed the Pope's assertion. Some members of the church who work in the charitable sector would have let themselves be seduced by a "purely secular ethics of worldly charities". And to such an extent that they had abandoned their Catholic identity and made the secular position completely their own. These Catholic in name only associations "pursue the same goals with the same destructive anthropological ambiguous language and the same slogans," the Cardinal said in his speech.

Unfaithfulness to the Magisterium and THe Loss of Faith go hand in hand

The charge is extremely serious. It says that there are Catholic institutions, which collaborated in the destruction of people, mentioned in the Pope's December Christmas message to the Roman Curia, which Benedict XVI described as the most dangerous threat to the Church and humanity. Since these organizations ignore the Church's Magisterium, they lose their faith together with the ability to act for the public good, went the the Pope's warning.

"The history of the West has sufficiently proven the connection between infidelity to the Magisterium and loss of faith," said Cardinal Sarah. According to the Chairman of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, the secularization of Catholic charitable organizations has been already more than just a threat.

Catholic institutions have to oppose the culture of death

The danger of this situation is not to be undervalued, said Introvigne. Forces act in the world today, "wishing the death of man, created by God, in order to destroy the miraculous image," said Cardinal Sarah. It was not just about theoretical ideas, but hard, deadly facts. To achieve their goal, these forces would use all means "to globalize the culture of death." As a particularly perfidious example of this, he cited the effort to camouflage the spread of abortion logic as an "aid" to the woman.

The "unacceptable situation" has arisen from the myth that the major international organizations would always have been basically right and had only the good of all in mind.

Breaking the Myth of the "good behavior" of international institutions

It is time to change that, says Introvigne, what the Catholic area always means conversion. "The grace of conversion helps us to overcome this logic and start new in Christ. The prophetic mission of the Christian calls him to bear witness to Christ and the Gospel values. Charity is not a specialization of the Church. It is the life of the body as a whole, it is a universal appeal to live our faith and to help humanity through the Gospel to grow," says Cardinal Sarah, in his opening speech at the plenary session of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum.

  Text: La nuova Bussola Quotidiana/Giuseppe Nardi Bild: Cathopedia

Edit:  Here's some of the coverage on Vatican Reports:

Requiem for a Dynasty

Edit: throughout France yesterday and today, there will be Masses said for the repose of the soul of the Martyr King.  It is being organized by various Monarchist associations.  Louis XVI, who was unjustly slain by revolutionaries on January 21st, 1793, will be in the hearts of many Frenchmen as they keep the candles of restoration burning with hope.

But he said, like a martyr:

« Je meurs innocent de tous les crimes qu'on m'impute. Je pardonne aux auteurs de ma mort, et je prie Dieu que le sang que vous allez répandre ne retombe jamais sur la France. »  

"I am innocent of the crimes imputed to me.  I pardon the authors of my death, and pray to God that the blood you shed will not fall on France's soil." 

Seminarians of Tradition Visit Abandoned Monastery of Weigarten

(Weingarten) The Community of the International Seminary of the Old Ritual Society of St. Peter made a visit on the 8th of December for the High Feast of the Immaculate Conception to Abbey Weingarten. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is being celebrated for the intention of the benefactors of the Seminary. The Seminarians received the blessing of a blood reliquary guarded by the monastery since 1094.  It contains some soil stained with the blood of Jesus from Golgotha.

The Benedictine Abbey Weingarten was founded in 1056 as a Royal Abbey.  In 1803 the monastery was abolished by an Imperial Deputation.  However there the Archabbey of Beuron however attempted resettlement.  In 2010 followed the second extinguishment of the monastic community.  Internal conflicts had driven the convent to dissolution.  The monks of Weingarten still living there have found a new cloister.  The most famous among them is the 101 year old Moral and Pastoral theologian Father Anselm Günthör.

The visit of the seminarians of the International Priestly Seminary of Wigratzbad and the celebration of the Old Mass, which is used as a parish church, but which is joined by orphaned monks, has been filled with new life, who carry the seeds of renewal in them.  With that there is a photo gallery which shows also some events taking place during the visit of the seminary community in October to the Church of the former Imperial Abbey Salem and St. Nikolaus Münster of Überlingen.

Link to katholisches....

Signals of Church Renewal

Holland

Msgr Joseph Marianus Punt, the Bishop of Haarlem-Amsterdam has arrected the first Personal Parish in the "Old Rite" at the St. Agnes church in Amsterdam according to the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum. It is the first canonical establishment of this sort in Holland.  The Parish has been entrusted to the Priestly Society of St. Peter, which had been assigned the Mass site in 2006.  Its parish patron is Blessed Karl I of Austria.

On Sunday on the 20th of January Msgr Johannes Gerardus Maria van Burgsteden, the Bishop emeritus of Haarlem-Amsterdam will celebrate the Tridentine Mass and confer the Sacrament of Confirmation.

France

On Sunday the 20th of January Msgr. Raymond Centene, the Bishop of Vannes, celebrated a Pontifical Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.  The High Mass is set to take place at 9am in the Church of the MIlitary Academy of St. Cyr-Coëtquidan.  "There is a small group of Bishops, who are ready and decided, to forsake the sure path of suicide, one of these is Bishop Raymond Cetene of Vannes," says the Spanish Church Historian and Catholic Blogger Francisco de la Cigoña.

Austria

On the Feast of the Epiphany, Gabriel Jocher of the order of the Servants of Jesus and Mary (SJM) made his solemn vows. The Order of Jesus and Mary was founded in 1988 by the deceased Father Andreas Hönisch and is since 1994 recognized as a Congregation of Papal Right.  On the same day, three candidates in the Novitiate of SJM were accepted.  The General House of the bi-ritual Order under its General Superior Father Anton Bentlage is located at Schloss Auhof in Lower Austria.

Italy

On Friday, the 11th of January, Msgr Edoardo Aldo Cerrato CO, the new Bishop of Ivrea assited at Holy Mass, which was celebrated by the famous Liturgist and consultant of the Congregation for Doctrine and the Faith and the Office for Papal Celebrations, Don Nicola Bux, in the Immemorial Mass of All Ages.  The celebration took place in the Parish of the Archangel Michael in Rivarolo Canavese in the Diocese of Ivrea and was planned on the initiative of the John Henry Newman Society.

France

Msgr. Dominique Rey, the Bishop of Frejus-Toulon is proving to be the outstanding bearer of hope for the European Episcopate.  He has consequently made his Diocese biritual.  [This should remind you of a fictional Bishop popularized in the novel "Mitre and Crook"] Although his Diocese only has one million inhabitants, he is assigned in relation by far the largest priestly seminary in France and by far the most new priests.  Now the largest Archdiocese of Paris can measure itself with the tiny Diocese of Frejus-Toulon.  Bishop Rey is considered a pioneer of the New Evangelization.  Pope Benedict XVI. had called the European Bishops to the New Evangelization in the last year, which consequently wasn't mentioned by the French Bishops' Conference.

The Archdiocese of Toledo invited Bishop Rey on the 11th-13th of January to Spain, in order to explain the Program of the New Evangelization to its new priests.  The spiritual program of action consists in 9 doors, 6 establishments and 8 changes.

Msgr Rey also was involved in the International event Sacra Liturgia, which took place from the 25th-28th of June in 2013.  He was a lecturer with Cardinal Antonio Canizares, Malcom Ranjith and Raymond Burke, with other Bishops, Dominique Rey and Marc Aillet, Abbot John Zielinksi OSB as well as the ceremonial minister of the Pope, Msgr Guido Marini and the Consultor of the CDF and the Office for Liturgical Celebrations of the Pope, Don Nicola Bux.  From the German-speaking lands, a prominent lecturers participated like the Oratorian Uwe Michael Lang, the Speaker of the Priest Network Pastor Guido Rodheudt and the Church musician Gabriel Steinschulte.

Italy

In Milan a lecture series for the Year of Faith will take place at the Cardinal-Ildefons-Schuster-Center, whose patronage has been undertaken by the new traditional Bishop of Ferrara-Comacchio, Msgr. Luigi Negri.  On Friday, the 25th of January, Don Pietro Cantoni, the Superior of the Priestly Society Opus Mariae Matris Ecclesiae will speak on the theme: "Break or Continuity?" on the magisterial significance of the Second Vatican Council.

France

According to Paix Liturgique there are between 83 to 95 French Diocese who have Mass locations in the "Old Rite" according to the 2007 Motu Proprio Sumorum Pontificum founded by  Pope Benedict XVI..  The movement of Tradition is young and beats with  dynamism. "They are spreading out and are breaking the last hard resistance of the old, demoralized modernist troops",  says Cordialiter. "The Modernist Maginot Line was broken through" and the further "positive developments" are foreseeable in the priestly ordinations which come from Tradition.


Link to Katholisches...

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Bild: Accion Liturgica

Cardinal Canizares Cites SSPX in Need to Reform Liturgy

Edit: Cardinal Canizares cites Archbishop Lefebvre.  "Some of the changes called upon by the Second Vatican Council are still pending..."  This is a possible motive for his reform, which he also says, is not synonymous with change.

Archbishop Di Noia has also sent out a letter to SSPX HQ in Menzigen, which then forwarded the letter to all of the priests of the SSPX.

Hence, so much for those who've not wanted these discussions to be fruitful from the start, especially those Old Liberals in Germany.

Islam Hour in Kindergarten: Coming to you Soon!

Edit: this liveleak video from 2011 shows a German Kindergarten visited by a local Imam.  The SSPX German District website has introduced the story again.  It's interesting to see that some of the children refuse to participate.  It is still topical:

This published video shows how a German Kindergarten (!) is made into an advertisement for Islam.

A women with a head covering gives the children a liquid with which they can rub and probably purify themselves, in order to prepare for Muslim prayers.

A Muslim, apparently an Imam, shows the children the Koran and explains to them how Muslims pray and how Turkish children play.



The muslim who praises the Koran to the German children, is clearly Ömer Akbulut, who is the spokesman for the Islamic community engaged in the building of a mosque with a minarett in Wertheim.  It is also apparent that this leaked video is of a Kindergarten in the vicinity of Wertheim.

pius.info recommends to readers:  If you have children in Kindergarten, then suggest to the teacher a visit from a conservative, Catholic priest.  Father will show the children how to make the sign of the cross, how one gets holy water and who the Mother of God is.

If the teacher answers, that such is not possible in a ideologically neutral state like Germany, then show her the photo above.

Link to pius.info...

Original source...

The Press in Disarray as More Than a Million March in Paris Against the Consensus

Edit:  at present the media reactions have been very muted and it's easy to see that they're made uneasy by the appearance of more than one million people in France last weekend against aberrosexual marriage and adoption.

The BBC's reportage was handily taken apart by patheos' GetReligion with a look at the numbers and the analysis of the people marching.  It is as if the mouthpieces are at a loss to explain their own irrelevance.  Do we not have an absolute hold on the people?

The BBC then plays the Million Man March game. (For those unfamiliar with this sport, the Million Man March game is one way a news outlet telegraphs its opinions. If it favors the event it accepts the numbers given by the organizers. If opposed, it plays up the numbers offered by the police.)

Also of great interest is how the event has been reported in France.   France 2 pulled down their coverage and put it back up.  That's not the only interesting dimension of the coverage in France, as Gallia Watch reports, it's actually Marine Le Penn's response to criticism about her absence from the event as she drifts further and further to the left:

The information in my previous post about what seemed to be a news blackout at France 2 needs to be updated. The first clarification is that the news was in fact shown on television the night of January 13, but vanished from the France 2 website the next day. The same was true of France 3 that also produced a segment on the demonstration. There was such a protest that eventually the videos were restored. Above is the ten-minute video from France 2. We see the great enthusiasm of the marchers, the comments by parents loyal to the principle of traditional marriage. We see Jean-François Copé, chairman of the UMP party, and most importantly we see the members of the Front National. The announcer makes a point of emphasizing Marine Le Pen's absence. Her absence from the rally, and her general reluctance to take a stand on several issues have resulted in a major outpouring of criticism from various patriotic websites. She has been heavily (and unfortunately) influenced by the man she appointed as vice-president of the FN: leftist Florian Philippot. She has also been unwilling to ruffle the feathers of the numerous homosexual members of the Front National. This is very bad news because it places her in a weakened position, and exposes the gulf between herself and other Front National members, such as Bruno Gollnisch, the former vice-president who received very little support from Marine, deputy Gilbert Collard who refused to join the FN because he wanted to keep his independence (no wonder), and Marine's hard-working and telegenic niece, deputy Marion Maréchal Le Pen, who I heard was upbraided by her aunt for knowing nothing about politics! But it is Marine Le Pen, who suddenly knows little about politics, having lost still another unique opportunity to defend in person, at a momentous event, the basic principles she claims to espouse. She has greatly compromised her prestige among her own constituents, and only time will tell if she can repair the damage, or if she is moving to where her heart really is - to the left. For the record, her sister Yann and her father's wife Jany were there, as was her "companion" Louis Aliot. 

To be clear, Marine Le Pen's actual presence at the rally was not the issue so much as the unsatisfactory reasons she has been concocting to explain away her absence. She has said she did not want to be an auxiliary ("supplétif") to Jean-François Copé, a ridiculous statement since a party leader and presidential candidate cannot be an auxiliary to anyone. How could she be an auxiliary to Copé, unless she marched in his delegation, which is not what she would have done anyway. She has also said that the whole topic of gay marriage is just a smokescreen by the government to cover up more important issues. Another ridiculous comment since it was patently clear last November that Christiane Taubira's bill on gay marriage and adoption had mushroomed to become a major concern of traditionalist Frenchmen, those very Frenchmen liable to vote for Marine Le Pen. Some say that she feels it is beneath her dignity to march in a demonstration. Nonsense, since she has marched in political rallies side by side with her father. If it is beneath her dignity to march, then she is haughtily looking down on all those who came out, braved the cold, exhibited exemplary behavior and expressed the soul of France's heartland. 

Back to the video for a moment. France 2 explained that it had withdrawn the video because it showed a female journalist in an unacceptable light. What this meant was that a woman with glasses was seen laughing with Gilbert Collard - a mortal sin. This woman, it turned out, was a reporter for France 3, but France 2 felt it had to censure the segment! Totally crazy. Anyway, the woman with glasses is not even visible in the video above except as the opening image.

One reader at Le Salon Beige reports this incredible comment from a television executive:

"We had a complicated choice to make. Either we retained the segment and engaged in an intense internal power struggle. Or we were, for a few hours, interrogated by everybody and suspected of censoring. We chose what seemed to us the least complicated solution."

In substance, they prefer to look like fascists skilled at censoring than to fight against their left-wing editors. That tells us something about the atmosphere… 

More to come. The quantity and quality of commentary from the French websites surpasses anything I've seen since the election.

It's also not hard to compare the fervor of these marchers with that of other demonstrations of Catholic youth earlier this year.

Bishop Williamson Found Guilty in Regensburg of "Inciting Hatred"

Edit: a man can be tried as many times in German courts as they need to get a verdict they like, apparently.

 Regensburg (kath.net/KNA)  The District Court of Regensburg has found British traditionalist Bishop Richard Williamson (72) guilty of inciting hatred [Volksverhetzung] for a fine.  This will be 1,800 Euro, significantly lower than the 6,500 desired by the prosecutor.  The court had mitigated the sentence because +Williamson had tried after his interview with the Swedish broadcaster to keep his statements from spreading in Germany.  The attorney for the Bishop, Andreas Geipel, appealed immediately against the verdict after it was ruled.

+Williamson had estimated the number of Jews murdered by the Nazis at the most, at 300,000, and denied the existence of gas chambers.  The Judge, Andrea Hausladen said, that the Bishop had done this before running cameras and established his views at length over several minutes.  In conclusion of the recording he did not insist on any limitation of the use of the materials.  That was given as necessary for an intent to incite hatred.

+Williamson could have easily said that he didn't want any distribution in Germany, said the Judge.  "He didn't do that."   Otherwise the defendant had to know that other media would report over this explosive interview.  In this manner he at least tacitly approved of its distribution.  The defendant had, according to his earlier legal representative, Maximilian Krah, regretted his statements.  More importantly was the time of the broadcast, stressed Hausladen.

As far as the statement of Krah, that +Williamson had answered the questions of the journalists with "vanity and extensively" on the Holocaust, the Judge said: "Vanity sometimes leads one to do something which he later regrets."  As further grounds for the mitigating of the sentence, Hausladen introduced +Williamson's dismissal from the Society in October of last year, as well as the four year long duration of the proceedings.  The size of the penalty in consideration is difficult to ascertain. +Williamson lives at present exclusively on grants from friends.

His defender, Geipel described the verbal justification of the court as "not comprehensible".  The assertion that his client had pre-meditatively acted is an "innuendo".   Previous to the trial Geipel and his colleage Edgar Weiler spoke of a previous judgement of +Williamson.  In his pleading they talked about the expressions of the traditional Bishop, that they had been completely careless.  They moved for a dismissal to all public bodies.

+Williamson had already been condemned in a trial for a fine.  The decision was dismissed in February of 2012 by Nurenburg Superior Court because of procedural errors.

With his comments the Briton sparked an international scandal, because shortly after the publication of the interview, the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI. had lifted the excommunications of +Williamson and three other traditionalist bishops. Later the Vatican explained, that the pope did not know about +Williamson's remarks about the Holocaust.

Kath.net...

French Abbey to be Resettled by Monks from Fontgambault

ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam

(Wisque)  The Abbey of St. Paul, belonging to the Congregation of Solemes in the 300 population village of Wisque (about 200 km West of Brussels) will be settled by monks from the traditional Abbey of Fontgambault in central France.  This was reported by the website of Wisques Abbey.

The Abbey was founded by monks from the Abbey of Solesmes in 1889 and had at the time, 60 monks.  Yet in the last years, the number of new entrants had stopped and then many monks died,  then the Abbey was about to close.  A similar fate in the Diocese of Arras befell the Cistercian Abbey of Belval.

Since the 7th of January there are 4 monks from the Abbey of Fontgambault in Wisque,  so that they can say the traditional Office as well as support their practical concerns.  The Abbey operates its own ceramic atelier (art studio).

Several new monks are expected from Fontgambault at the end of the year.

Source... Katholisches...