Saturday, January 19, 2013

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

Friday, January 18, 2013

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...

Thursday, January 17, 2013

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.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

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...

Monday, January 14, 2013

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...





Pastor Determines Latin Mass "Disturbs" Tourists

Ventura Mission, Public Domain
Edit: We just received a discouraging letter from a friend about a Latin Mass Community in the Los Angeles, California area. There has been a Mass said for the last 15 years at a Mission of San Buenaventura in Ventura California.  The parish resides in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and so is Archbishop Gomez's responsibility.  So far, Archbishop Gomez hasn't shown any interest in expanding any more Latin Mass communities and it looks like this one will be moved because, it seems to us, that the church is more important as a museum and a tourist attraction than for the purpose which it was intended.

There's no mention or apology about cultural treasures which have disappeared, or the alterations and damage which may have been done to the Church in the wake of the Second Vatican Council.

Here is part of a letter with contact information:

To the Faithful who attend and defend the Traditional / Extraordinary Form of the Mass

The Extraordinary Form Mass has been said every Sunday for 15 years at Mission San Buenaventura. Now it faces being moved, for reasons that do not make sense. Please find below the text of the notice letter that was issued without discussion or a chance to develop solutions. Included also is a summary of main points discussed at a meeting with the Mission pastor regarding his reasons for wanting to move the Mass elsewhere. The Latin Mass (TLM) community would like to make sure that Archbishop Jose Gomez knows of the situation and quickly brings it to an equitable resolution.

We ask that everyone concerned, please immediately write a short, concise letter to the Archbishop today requesting that the weekly offering of the Extraordinary Form Mass be preserved at the Mission. Please keep a copy for your records and if you would like, submit a copy to Una Voce Ventura for our files (email to info@unavoceventura.org or fax to 805-435-1654). 
Archbishop Jose Horacio Gomez, Archdiocese of Los Angeles 3424 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90010-2202  
Please find attached the following three documents for your reference: Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum of the Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI Given Motu Propio Letter to Bishops regarding the Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum Universae Ecclesia of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei    
Leo Raab, President Una Voce Ventura
www.unavoceventura.org

"The Forbidden Rite": Part II

An Altar Used During Penal Times
[Katholisches] "The Forbidden Rite" describes a film for the defense of the Tridentine Rite, which has been published in two parts on the internet.  [The second part appeared on January 9th.]  "On a film, whose pictures speak for themselves", says the traditional site Messa in Latino.  "Forbidden, powerful, timeless, beautiful, unusual, unique", with these words the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite is described as it is shown in the film.  The film has been in existence already since the end of 2011 in the USA, but still is little known in the German speaking zone.

In the first part of the film, it says: Yet in 2007, history began to change. The Vatican unleashed this once almost forbidden rite, requiring that every bishop, priest, and diocese around the world welcome those who desired it, and help them to obtain it.  
 Despite the many efforts of the Pope, who himself practices this ancient rite and desires for it to become the norm in parishes, their persecutors still abound within the Church, continuing to negate them the best that they can.  
 The battle is only beginning, but it is one that will change the face of the Catholic Church, and that of the world, forever.
The film has presented the back ground of the Society of St. Peter, canonically established and founded in 1988.  The Society which has one of its International Seminaries in Wigratzbad in Bodensee, [but also in Denton, Nebraska at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary] belongs to the so-called Ecclesia Dei Community, which is subject to the Papal Commission of the same name.

The Second part of the film "The Forbidden Rite" is dedicated to The Society of St. Peter. [There will be a Part III as soon as the producer can accomplish it]

Part I



Partt II




Source at Katholisches...

Image...

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Argentinian Archbishop Warns That the Fun Ends on Ash Wednesday

Buenos Aires (kath.net/KNA)  Argentina's Carnaval goers are celebrating a little too freely according to Archbishop Andres Stanovnik: the colorful celebration may not be celebrated past Mardigras, warns a letter of the Archdiocese of Corrientes according to the Latin American Catholic Press Service Aciprensa.

"I remind all Catholics of the Archdiocese that Lent begins on February 13th," says Stanovnik.  For the Catholic Church begins its preparation for Easter on Ash Wednesday; Ash Wednesday itself is a Fast -  and day of abstinence.

Link to kath.net...

"Suggestions" and DDoS- Attacks


Edit: kreuz-net.info has reappeared again after a a brief absence.  They intend to continue.

Expected "cordiality" has been inclined to the internet site kreuz-net.info.

As the provider informed us on 9 January, 2013 "the excess of daily DDos-attacks (...) were so large, that entire parts of our network were effected by it.  This also resulted that along with your  client server, other customers were significantly impacted."

From security grounds the server was removed from the net (and now a more capable server has been undertaken."

Before this, the provider had already been informed, that their willingness to provide a server could damage their business.

The internet site "kreuz-net.info" will naturally carry on.  There is no reason not to do this.

The information site is also searchable under kreu-net.at.


One Million Protest Marriage Equality in Paris: Rousing Success for French Bishops

Update 1.14.13 GMT 0423: originally, we said 650,000 protesters according to Austrian Catholic News Service, but now it's even higher than that.  Although Andrew Cusack doesn't give the Bishops any credit for this, he indicates reports that there are more than one million and maybe more.  The throngs even closed down traffic and a major sporting event.  The title is getting changed too, because a lot of people who are involved in this protest against marriage equality are not only not Catholic, but many of them are simply secularists who for various reasons find themselves opposed to this legislation. Cusack writes:

The protest today was organised by the eccentric comedian Frigide Barjot, founder of the Collectif pour l’humanité durable, joined by gay atheist Xavier Bongibault of the association Plus gay sans mariage (“More Gay Without Marriage”), and Laurence Tcheng of La gauche pour le mariage républicaine(“The Left for Republican Marriage”).

Edit: predictably, the English-speaking press is largely silent or unintersted.  The aberrosexual Huffington Post sets the number of participants at "thousands".  The BBC has been more accurate.  The Washington Post is predictable as well.  The Daily Mail , as usual, is better, points out that this is another real failure for the Socialist President Hollande and has an excellent photographic collage. Even the New York Times was more balanced than usual. This also comes on the heels of Hollande's increasing attacks against the Catholic Church.
Credit: Daily Mail
Here's a translation from the Austrian Catholic News Service:

Paris, 1-13-2013 (KAP) With a demonstration this Sunday in Parish, more than 650,000 Frenchmen, as  organizers have reported, are demonstrating against the introduction of same-sex marriage.  The planners revealed that media reports are amazed at the size of the participants.  Even Church representatives with Cardinal Philippe Barbarin chief among them estimated far fewer.

Already in November France there were hundreds of thousands protesting against so-called homosexual marriage.  The organizer of the demonstration was the independent association "Manifpourtous".  A counter demonstration of those promoting same-sex marriage is planned for the 27th of January.

According to online media in consequence, there were at least a dozen prominent representatives of the conservative opposition party, UMP taking part in the demonstration.  Among them was the party president, Jean-Francois Cope and Ex-Minister of the Interior Brice Ortefeux as well as Euro Minister Laruent Wauqiez.  He wants to hold a plebiscite over the controversial proposal.

In the mean time according to media reports, 115 representatives of the National Assembly have written a petition to President Francois Hollande.  In view of the social divisiveness in this question a referendum is unallowable.

In the preparation with "Manifpourtous" -- Catholic Church representatives have been outspoken against the marriage of or adoption by aberrosexual pairs.  The President of the French Bishops' Conference, Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, came to the close of the demonstration at the Place Denfert-Rochereau (at the Eifel Tower) in order to express his thanks to the organizers. Even members of the world religions have been engaged against the broadening of the concept of marriage.

The Ministry Council had adopted a proposed law for the introduction of same-sex marriages and the right of adoption for aberrosexual pairs.  The National Assembly confirmed it at the end of January.  According to the Hollande's desire the new regulation should come into effect in the first half of the year.

In the meantime, the opinion research institute Ifop published a poll, according to which 62 percent of Frenchmen are of the opinion, that there is too much talk about "homosexual-marriage".  The theme takes up too large a space in the social debate, say the majority of those polled.

Link to kathweb...

Note: there are also forces in this march which is readily evident from the photos that are also Revolutinoary, including Brigitte Bardot and her associates with their own opposition to the policies of the Socialist which overlap with the interests of the Church.

Archbishop Müller: Truth is Not Subjective -- Relativism Leads to Intolerance Against God

(Vatican)  It is not appropriate to call on the Catholic Church, if it is related to mercy and love of neighbor,  then to assert however, that some ethical truths are subjective.  This is essentially curial Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller's statement presented in his latest book published in the Vatican publishing house, L'Ampliare orizzonte della ragione. Per una lettura Tues Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI (Expand the Horizon of Reason  Readings of Joseph Ratzinger- Benedict XVI.) this morning in the Paul VI International Bookstore for Propaganda Fidei.  Principally, it speaks to the Italian Parliamentary election, but other countries are also applicable.

"I have been told regarding Italian politics before the election by politicians  and representatives of the intelligista  that the Church needs to speak of love, of charity and the mercy of God, but the truth, that is subjective and applies to the feelings. There is only my truth.  There is no objective truth, they say," says the Prefect of the Congregation of Faith.  "But without a foundational truth no reality is possible, because God is reality and mercy", as the new Prefect of the Pallazzo del Sant'Uffizio explained.

In this context, Müller wanted to speak to politics. "Without an ethical basis, with the rejection of God and without Faith, it is impossible in Europe and North America, to solve all the problems of today," he said. Because these issues affect "not only the market and economics."

His book takes the Regensburg speech of Pope Benedict XVI. in 2007.  "The relativism applied to the truth is not only a philosophical conviction, but speaks unavoidably in its intolerance against God",  he continues

With his new book, Archbishop Müller wants to offer readers with a hand up for an introduction to the collected works of Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi

Link to Katholisches...




Hundreds of Thousands March in Paris to Defend Society

Edit: We'd reported earlier about France's people resisting an attempt to further destroy the family.  This was met mostly by silence in the press and this time is little different.  While the French Bishops are showing a remarkable willingness to fight against the decadent Socialist government of France as hundreds of thousands process against Gomorra, the French people are showing a willingness to respond to the Church's call.
[France24] Several hundred thousand people are expected to march through Paris on Sunday against the planned legalisation of same-sex marriage in the first mass protest against the unpopular President Francois Hollande. 
Strongly backed by the Catholic hierarchy, lay activists have mobilised a hybrid coalition of church-going families, political conservatives, Muslims, evangelicals and even homosexuals opposed to gay marriage for the show of force. 
So many are expected to converge on Paris from around France that police had organisers split it into three separate columns starting from different points around the city and meeting in the Champ de Mars park at the Eiffel Tower.