Showing posts with label Germany. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Germany. Show all posts

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Religious Identity of 70 Year Old Woman's Murderer Known

BAD FRIEDRICHSHALL. [Junge Freheit] Police have released new details In the case of a murdered 70 year old woman from the Baden-Württemberg Bad Friedrichshall  about the alleged perpetrators. On the scene Arabic and English notes were found containing what was mainly religious in content, reported the SWR. What they mean exactly, the police do not say so, but that it concerns the identity of the perpetrators.

The alleged offender is likely a 26 years old, according to Pakistani police. He has been in Germany for three years. The man's identity could not be released because he has used a different personal repeatedly in the past. The suspect was already known to the police for theft and threats. He has not denied the fact.

Because of the DNA traces found at the scene, the man is still strongly a suspect of having murdered a 70 year old woman in Bad Friedrichshall-Untergriesheim in Baden-Württemberg last Thursday. Police had arrested the suspect on Monday. The investigators found an item from the victim's home during their search. The prosecution is convinced that the man has actually been in the house of the 70 year old. (Ls)

https://jungefreiheit.de/politik/deutschland/2016/polizei-prueft-religioesen-hintergrund-nach-mord-an-rentnerin/

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

1,000 Year Old Rose Tree at Hildesheim Cathedral Blooms Again

Eight weeks after the destruction of the cathedral by bombs in March 1945, when burned even the rosebush, sprouted from his spilled debris root out 25 new shoots.

Hildesheim (kath.net/KNA) The first pink blooms are opening on the famous millennial rose tree at the eastern apse of the Hildesheim cathedral. The main flowering is to be expected in the coming days, according to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hildesheim this Monday. They should attract many visitors to the Diocesan Church, as they do every year. The legend of the rose tree, a wild dog rose, goes back to the founding history of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hildesheim around the year 815.

 At that time, Emperor Louis the Pious,  built a chapel on the spot where a rose tree had twined about a precious reliquary [Of Our Lady's robe]. Ultimately this chapel was the site of the construction of the Hildesheim's St. Mary's Cathedral, whose outer wall goes back to where the legendary rose tree grows today. It has been testified in writing  for more than 400 years. Eight weeks after the destruction of the cathedral by bombs in March 1945, which even burned the rosebush, 25 new shoots sprouted forth from its spilled debris.

The diocesan church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which opened again after extensive renovation work since the summer of 2014. The rose tree, a landmark of the diocese and the city of Hildesheim, is surrounded by a low boxwood hedge. The greenhouse is accessible through a single access point at the cathedral foyer, daily from 10:00 to 18:00 hours. The Hildesheim Rosenstock (C) 2016 CBA


Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Monday, May 9, 2016

Up to 40,000 Non-Muslims Are Harassed in German Refugee Centers by Muslims

According to a study, thousands of Christians who fled Syria and Iraq are exposed to in German refugee camps to violence and threats. In most cases there are converts.

Berlin (kath.net)
According to a study thousands of Christians fled Syria and Iraq are exposed to in German refugee camps violence and threats. This was reported by the FAZ. Those responsible  for the attacks are said to be security personnel and Muslim refugees. 

On Monday several human rights organizations like ISHR ( "International Society for Human Rights"), ZOCD ( "Central Oriental Christians in Germany") complained at a press conference about  this violence in German refugee camps. 

The human rights organization "Open Doors" spoke here of a climate of "fear and panic". Meanwhile, 231 cases in the whole of Germany are documented. This would include discrimination, assault, sexual assault and to death threats. In most cases they were converts, while 204 are reported to have been attacked by other refugees for religious reasons. 

 Protestant Berlin pastor Gottfried Martens said he was "stunned that the paradigm continues to hold in each case." According to Volker Baumann of the action for persecuted Christians and needy (AVC) up to 40,000 refugees are harassed in Germany for their religious beliefs. At the press conference, a Syrian refugee was "shocked" that he had to flee from Muslim extremists and now meet them again in the refugee home.  Iranians reported provocations, harassment and death threats in a Brandenburg accommodation.

http://kath.net/news/55119
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Attempts to Torpedo Recognition of SSPX in the German Press Begin

(Rome) The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) today published a broadside against a possible recognition of the Fraternity of Saint Pius X founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. 
" You do not provoke these rulers! " Is the title of the article by Christian Geyer-Hindemith. A recognition of the SSPX by Rome suggests a threat to the features editor.
"What a 'new humanism' would that be?" Asks Geyer in an idiosyncratic allusion to the acceptance speech of the Pope last Friday, as he was awarded the Charlemagne Prize in Rome.
The FAZ article first confirms that a canonical recognition of the SSPX by Pope Francis may be imminent, and with very favorable conditions for the Fraternity. It was founded in 1970 by Archbishop Lefebvre in response to the Second Vatican Council and its consequences with the aim to preserve the Catholic heritage undiminished in doctrine and discipline.
Against such recognition there is resistance stirring, and it comes mainly from Germany. The intention of the FAZ article is to generate pressure against such recognition. Thus the usual "fight against right-extremism" mechanisms and taglines are employed.
It is therefore likely to be expected in the coming days with further tendentious articles in the German "mainstream media" who want to prevent a canonical agreement between Rome and the SSPX. [Let's not forget Vatican Insider.]
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: FAZ (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

"With Luther to Pope" -- Eccentric Pilgrimage Action

(Berlin) "With Luther to the Pope"  describes itself as an unusual "pilgrim action."  The Center for Youth Ministry of the Diocese of Magdeburg  has organized, together with the youth organizations of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany and the Evangelical Church in Anhalt is an "ecumenical journey to Rome".
"With Luther to the Pope" leaves a lot to be desired.  In fact,  the "Christian pilgrims" of Catholic and Protestant confession are not intending to pilgrimage to the tombs of the apostles in Rome. They want to present  "Theses and wishes for ecumenism" to Pope Francis, says Vatican Radio .
With its own website,  they advertised for the  800 located participants. "There are at least as many conceptions of God as there are people, and that's good," says the website of the 9th Ecumenical thesis, "Honouring Diversity". What the Catholic and Protestant organizers want to say is that each "idea" of God is indifferent. The bizarre  1st Ecumenical thesis is: "You're different, and that's my luck: I am only, because we are."
These "theories and desires" Although are not fixed yet, but are in "draft". Anyway, they should be 95 theses, in accordance with the obviously idealized model.

Catholic Diocese wants to bring  "With Luther" demands to  Rome


"With Luther to the Pope", its own website

The Bishop of Magdeburg is Msgr. Gerhard Feige, one of the last appointments of bishops by Pope John Paul II. In 2014  Feige appointed by Pope Francis to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
Feige supported in 2015 the demand of Bishop Stephan Ackermann of Trier to change Catholic moral teaching. Feige said it was "finally time to stand open to the unvarnished reality and in the spirit of Jesus Christ, sensibly and fairly to struggle for responsible and life-serving solutions."  What was meant was the recognition of homosexuality, divorce, remarriage, and premarital sex.
This eccentric pilgrim action by a Catholic diocese, which wants to bring the "with Luther" demands to Rome,  finds a parallel to another controversial ecumenical initiative. On October 31, Pope Francis is to participate in  a Catholic-Lutheran Reformation commemoration in Sweden. Pilgrims will also  travel in autumn from all over Germany "With Luther to the Pope."
The patronage for the action has been assumed by  the ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Holy See, the former Education Minister Annette Schavan (CDU). Schavan belongs to the progressive ZdK milieu. From 1991 to 2008 she was a  member of the Central Committee of German Catholics [We Are Church types] and held from 1994 to 2005 the office of Vice President. The Forum of German Catholics designated the Schavan appointment as ambassador to the Holy See as an "affront to the Catholic Church".
The German Bishops' Conference has established in 2013 its own project site "Reformation commemoration".
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image. pixabay
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG
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Saturday, March 5, 2016

Volker Beck: When the Prototype of a Political Wind Sower Reaps the Whirlwind



A personal, political "obituary" on Volker Beck or: "I must needs now go."

Guest commentary by Christian Meissner

Berlin (kath.net) Even in the Bible it says, "For they who sow the wind will reap the whirlwind." (Hosea 8,7). Volker Beck (Photo) is for me the prototype of a political reaper of the wind who has now been overtaken the storm.

Like no other in his party, he embodied the representation of the ideal, the self-righteous Old Left, who mercilessly portrayed others on the political spectrum of opinion in the strict focus of his higher moral certainty for the general public.

I have even seen it a few times: sorry, but I can't go into it here! Recently he saw me - our paths have crossed politically several times since 2003 - at the Kirchentag in Stuttgart last year during a visit of the members of Alliance 90 / The Greens, after which he then turned mercilessly with piercing eyes and straight in my direction, roared into the microphone and blustered, "idiots" and "imbeciles of the CDU." . This cold ran down my back.

From my own view I can only say: that is the "fair and respectful treatment", that Claudia Roth now asks for him (rightly), is something he has rarely granted to political opponents, least of all the representatives CDU or CSU.

And the "malice" which was poured out for many years on others, is still taken to heart. That's life! It means we should not pour "malice" over him. Has that now anyone actually done?

The fact that the Greens are just now suddenly rediscovering the virtues of civic decency, which they themselves have not infrequently violated in political discourse, in my opinion, speaks for itself.

Many of Beck's downright hateful and verbal attacks in the characteristic style of the Grand Inquisitor on political dissidents - quite a good party tradition - went directly to the person and not the argument or the thing.

At the latest, in 2013 he personally should have - considering the priggish standards that he uses to measure others - suffered much more significant consequences because of a hushed up and ultimately mendacious statement in his very own essay in the anthology "The Pedosexual Complex" (1988).

Conclusion: With respect to his person, Christian compassion and all understanding are now, indeed, appropriate. One can only wish that he gets away from this terrible addiction.

But as far as his so-called political "merits" (C. Roth), and above all, the manner of his "careful", political discourse, I say without "malice", but from deepest political convictions with Michael Kretschmer: "Good riddance" Christian Meissner is the national director of the Protestant working Group of the CDU / CSU (EAK) . archive photo Volker Beck: (c) Wikipedia / Mathias Schindler. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Translation: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Erosion of the German Church -- Gäswein: "Shepherds Must Not Make Decisions Based on Media Applause"

Flashmob in Rio... Reduced to Ridicule
(Rome / Berlin) The Catholic Church in Germany has experienced a record number of almost 218,000 leaving the church last year. 39,000 more than the year before.
More even than in 2010, when the German Church was shaken by the sexual abuse scandal of minors and was under massive public pressure.
The figures highlight a sideshow: Between 2005 and 2013 Pope Benedict XVI was  annually blamed, if there wasn't  a merely  local "culprit", who could share the blame, like  Bishop Krenn in Austria or the bishops Mixa and Tebartz-van Elst in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Church Exit Numbers Were Instrumentalized Against Benedict XVI. - Since silence

"Controversial actions of Pope Benedict XVI. were to blame"  the "like exclusion of homosexuals ", "lack of equality for women"  or the "lifting of the excommunication for Lefebvrian bishops"  which was said, for example in 2010 by the Austrian pastoral theologian Paul Zulehner (Vienna) and Episcopal Vicar Willi Vieböck (Linz). But there has never been when all things are considered, more leaving the Church than under Pope Francis. Since then there is an awkward silence until the  among the wordy Church representatives and the media. Their "interpretations" are subsequently exposed as a church-political instrumentalisation.
In the Federal Republic of Germany, Church membership is directly coupled to tax aspect. The recognized denominations demand and  are payed the so-called "church tax", which is calculated and charged by the state  and sent to the churches.

Church-tax Secures Influence

The money supply is enormous. In 2011 alone, took the Catholic Church in Germany took in about 5.8 billion euros.
With 1.3 million employees, the Catholic Church is  the second largest employer in Germany next to   the public sector. The largest private company, Siemens, employs just over 400,000 employees.
With the bulging coffers, the German Church exerts considerable influence in the Third World.

Majority of the German Bishops Want to Change the Doctrine of the Church

Some commentators, such as the American George Weigel, writing of the growing erosion process, in addition to financial reasons, describes the tendency of most of the German bishops to trying to change the doctrine of the Church.
This includes marriage and sexual morality, especially the doctrine of the right to access the sacrament of marriage and the Eucharist. Concretely it  applies to the recognition of  second marriages and the admission of remarried divorcees to communion. It is exactly these issues that the Synod of Bishops will address this October.

What Curial Archbishop Geogr Gänswein Says

"It is interesting to hear what Curia Archbishop Georg Gänswein, Prefect of the Papal Household and private secretary of Pope Benedict XVI. has to say in a far more extensive interview," said Marco Tosatti. Interview by Jaume Figa i Vaello for the Catalan and Spanish website +1 Sumant Hostories of the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya .
Question: Some of these issues come from your native Germany. Why?
Archbishop Gänswein: Yes. It is true that not all the errors come from there, but the point in question is provided as follows: 20 years ago John Paul II  rejected, after a long and laborious negotiation,  that divorced and remarried would have access to communion.. We can not simply go and change things established in our Magisterium.
Question: Why do some shepherds want that  which is not possible?
Archbishop Gänswein: I do not know. Maybe they give in to the Zeitgeist, perhaps they can be  led by  the applause of the people, which is made by the media ... to be critical of the mass media, is certainly less enjoyable. A shepherd must not decide on the basis of whether the media applauds or not. The benchmark is the Gospel, the Faith, sound doctrine, Tradition.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Mil
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Friday, July 17, 2015

The Numbers Leaving the Church in Germany Are Climbing



The German Bishops' Conference has published the number of people leaving the Church in 2014. After 178,805 in 2013, 217,716 people have left the church in the following year. An increase of 20 percent! This is topped by the Protestant Church

Munich (kath.net/pm) The German Bishops' Conference (DBK) are in the midst of silly season this Friday and the dioceses have reported the Church statistics in 2014 and again this is explosive, because the number of leaving the Church has risen significantly again. After 178,805 people left in 2013, 217,716 people have left the church in 2014. That's an increase of about 20 percent. Church attendance has risen with an increase of 0.1 percent to 10.9 percent. The total number of priests is 12,219 (2013 12,336). The number of pastoral assistants is at 3,171 (2013: 3,140) which increased slightly as did the number of community workers at 4,526 (4,470 in 2013). Cardinal Reinhard Marx commented in a press release: "The statistics released today show that church is multiform and is a missionary force, even if we are made painfully aware of the high number of people leaving the Church, that we do not reach people with our message, there are personal life decisions behind the number of leaving the Church that in each case we profoundly regret but also respect the freedom of choice. We will strive to continue our mission credibly to gather so that we can proclaim the joy of the Gospel and many people will find a home in the community of church. The faith joy and momentum of Pope Francis has given us a great help. We want to be on the move with him 'raising' the church in Germany, to actively bring the people for God's sake in community and gives testimony of the great message of the Gospel."

The numbers leaving the Catholic Church are still comfortably topped by the Protestant church. There 410,000 people have left. According to the EPD deaths are also here included, however. They do not wish to publish exact numbers at present. Thus, the Catholic German Bishops' Conference counted 23.9 million members at the end of 2014, the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) approximately 22.63 million.

Link to Kath.net...
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Berlin's New Archbishop Koch Warns of Fiasco for Cathedral "Renovation"

Edit: reading between the lines, you can tell that he means to destroy more of the Catholic heritage of a predominantly Protestant city.

The new Archbishop Heiner Koch seeks an amicable solution in the controversial renovation of Berlin's St. Hedwig's Cathedral,  because "to renew a building so that it destroys the community, does not make sense."

Berlin (kath.net/KNA) In the controversial renovation of Berlin's St. Hedwig's Cathedral, the new Archbishop Heiner Koch seeks (Photo) an amicable solution. "To renew a building so that it destroys the community, does not make sense," he said on Wednesday in his first press conference in Berlin. "Then the renovation is a fiasco," said Koch, who was   appointed by Pope Francis to succeed Cardinal Rainer Woelki.

For the renovation and remodeling of the cathedral there is a design that took first place in an architectural competition a year ago. At issue is especially the plan to close the large bottom opening applied 50 years ago in the center of the cathedral with staircase to the lower church. The new Archbishop has to decide on the implementation. 

Koch has  already said he has received many "menacing, sharp" emails on the renovation design. "If you agree to this approach, you will not have many friends," he quoted from it. Koch takes office on 19 September. The designated Archbishop announced that he would "look again exactly" at the plans. At the same time, he stressed,   there was a stress on "urgent action".  Moreover, the competition had been completed, and there were already ​"factual decisions" made.  Moreover, there are different liturgical requirements for the Cathedral today   than 30 years ago.

Even with the also controversial structural reform of the Archdiocese, Koch signaled his willingness to talk. The criticism is particularly the plan, which is to currently combine  105 parishes in Berlin, Brandenburg and Pomerania to around 30 large parishes by 2020. Koch also has received his own words already from letters that clearly made ​​a "tremendous fear of anonymity and homelessness".  

The future archbishop promised "to familiarize himself with the local communities on the way." He defended the foundations initiated by his predecessor for reform: "I can not see that it is factually incorrect."  The question of the best structures should, however, "not be answered uniformly," he conceded at the same time. "Since the archdiocese is too different." But he also warned that he was to reform the structures. They are only the means to an end. The principal issues were "how the Church can fulfill its responsibilities in a changing society." [Get ready for more modernism in Berlin.] (C) 2015 Catholic News Agency KNA GmbH. All rights reserved. Photo Bishop Koch (c) Diocese of Dresden / M. Kasiske
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Photo: Wiki

From Wiki:

After the Kristallnacht pogroms that took place over the night of 9–10 November 1938, Bernhard Lichtenberg, a canon of the cathedral chapter of St Hedwig since 1931, prayed publicly for Jews in the evening prayer following. Lichtenberg was later jailed by the Nazis and died on the way to the concentration camp at Dachau. In 1965 Lichtenberg's remains were transferred to the crypt at St. Hedwig's.

AMDG

Sunday, September 28, 2014

German Bishops Want a "Pastoral Aggiornamento" at the Bishops' Synod

Cardinal Marx at Discussion Forum in Magdeburg
(Rome) In a few days in Rome, the Synod of Bishops on the Family will begin. The unofficial theme is, according to the specifications of Cardinal Walter Kasper: "Communion for remarried divorcees". On which side the great majority of the German bishops are,  is already clear. The Rhenish alliance stands behind Cardinal Kasper and whose  bishops it wants to take things in their own hands at the Synod of Bishops.  The President of the German Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Reinhard Marx of Cardinal of Munich and Freising said that quite frankly at the "Discussion Forum" in Magdeburg two weeks ago.
Cardinal Marx  has experienced a boost in his career under Pope Francis. He has been DBK President for a few months, and starting in 2015  he will be Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community  (COMECE) and belongs, since April 2013, as  the representative of Europe to the C-9 Cardinal Advisory, which advises the pope on the management of the universal Church and the reform of the Curia. Also, the Pope also made him the coordinator of the new Economic Council of the Vatican.

German Bishops Want "Pastoral Aggiornamento"

Cardinal Marx belongs with the German church, as a weighty spokesmen for a "pastoral aggiornamento"  in order to bring justice within the family which have been in "situations unknown until a few years ago". The allusion refers to the Synod of Bishops on the Family, held under Pope John Paul II. in 1980 and was reflected in the Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio. It will  say that the majority of the German episcopate is of the opinion that Familiaris Consortio  is no longer on  "timely" because of how quickly and radically people  change  behavior.
This  Marx was told also by his German brothers of Cardinal rank, Gerhard Müller, Cardinal, Prefect of the Congregation, very directly and candidly. The meeting was "cordial" held in a  "benign" atmosphere. Head of the delegation, said Marx modestly,   was not he, but Bishop Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabrück.
Cardinal Müller  is considered, due to his position, as well as his German origin, as the main opponent of Cardinal Kasper's theses. Müller points out that the "mercy is  the completion of justice" and that therefore it could never be used to to remove the Ten Commandments or weaken the meaning and scope of the sacraments or even to override them. Otherwise there  would be a "serious manipulation of true charity." A hard accusation by the CDF Prefect of Kasper and Marx in the meeting without Müller calling them by name.

The Attempt, to Put Reigns Action on the Synod Itself

Marx announced in Magdeburg, however, that he personally, as soon as the Synod will have begun, as President of the German Bishops' Conference  has an already revised document he will present that will explain the position of the German bishops at the Synod. In any case the majority. The minority will probably have no voice at the Synod. Those German bishops who support the position of Kasper, Marx and his predecessor, Zollitsch, all are notable signatories of the document, so says the DBK-chairman. The ranks of the German bishops will be pretty close.
Marx left no doubt in Magdeburg that the document that was presented the front line of   the cardinal consistory by Cardinal Kasper in February. The announced document seems to be another part of a deliberate and planned strategy to  take control, one that harks back to the year 2013. In calculations perhaps up to the conclave. The detailed document prepared by Kasper and Marx seems to want to steer the discussion of the Synod of Bishops in a certain direction.
Excited about the prospects, are progressive organizations like "We Are Church". The President Martha Heizer who was excommunicated with her husband for arbitrary imitation of  Holy Mass, said: "Just a quick, compelling and anthropocentric reform" could help in its resultant sexual morality, could contribute to the  shortening of the distance between the traditional teaching of the Church and the reality of the lives of the Catholic faithful.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Diocese of Magdeburg (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Monday, August 25, 2014

National Pilgrimage of the German District of the Society of St. Pius X to Fulda to Renew the Consecration of Germany to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

For the 11th  year, the German District of the  Society of St. Pius X. has organized its a pilgrimage to Fulda for the 6 and 7 September. It was introduced in 2004 for the annual renewal and the consecration of Germany to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which was completed in 1954 for the first time in Fulda by the bishops of Germany.
This year's pilgrimage takes as  its subject the life of the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist, against the background of the  100. anniversary of the death of the great Eucharistic Pope Pius X.
The pilgrimage begins on September 6 at noon at 12.30 in the center of Fulda in front  of the castle with a Marian procession through the city and surrounding area.
The venue of the two-day prayer meeting is the ballroom of the old Orangerie, in the castle garden (Maritim Hotel). There, a first solemn High Mass in the traditional Latin Rite will be celebrated on Sat evening at  6:30. At night the members of the Catholic youth movement  will hold a prayer vigil before the altar, which is built in the Orangerie.
On Sunday morning at 8:00  the day's program begins with a talk on the pilgrimage theme, which is followed by a solemn Pontifical High Mass at 9:30, which will be said by the Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X, Bishop Bernard Fellay. 
The grand finale is the prayer of Consecration to Mary, as the   pilgrims who come from all parts of Germany will again commend their fatherland to  Maria.
It is an open event for all Christians who want to endorse the concerns of pilgrimage. There are about 800 people expected for the Mary procession, for the High Mass on Sunday morning, there will be up to 1000 participants from all over Germany.
For more information: www.deutschlandweihe.de
Text: PM / LS
Image: Pilgrimage Office
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Sunday, June 8, 2014

In Japan As on the Banks of the Rhine. The Church's Surrender

The responses of the Japanese and central Europeans to the questionnaire for the synod on the family register the yielding of Catholics to the dominant “uniform thought.” But also the pastors' inability to lead

by Sandro Magister

ROME, June 6, 2014 – So far six episcopal conferences have violated the terms of confidentiality and have made public the responses to the 39 questions of the preparatory questionnaire for the upcoming synod of bishops, convened on the issue of the family. 

German:


Austrian:


Swiss:


Belgian:


French:


Japanese:


As can be noted, five of the six episcopal conferences belong to the central European geographical area that was the activist wing of the innovations of Vatican Council II but afterward was also the one most marked by the phenomenon of secularization.


Today it is above all from this area that the strongest pressure is coming for a change of teaching and pastoral practice concerning marriage, in particular with the request to give communion to the divorced and remarried.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Cardinal Kasper Answers Critics of His Lecture: SSPX German District


[PIus.info]  There has been global criticism among faithful, conservative and traditional Catholics about the pastoral lecture of  divorced and "remarried" by Walter Cardinal Kasper, the Cardinal replied yesterday with a half-page letter to the editor in the "Tagespost" on some of these criticisms.

The crucial passage from the letter to the editor refers to his proposal to allow "remarried" divorced to the sacrament of penance, the Cardinal writes in the letter.

"The decisive statement in this presentation is: 'Penance and the Sacrament of Penance are the way to connect both aspects. Commitment to the word of the Lord, and the never-ending mercy of God' (p. 65) It turns to the question  which has not been answered by the critics: Are you allowed to refuse absolution in such a situation in which the penitent has repented and testified honestly and in good will with their best efforts to live by faith? Is it not possible with God that someone could fall into a hole from which there is no way out? If that is impossible with God, then why not in the Church ...? "

Cardinal's sentences clearly demonstrated an awareness of precisely the crucial point of the whole discussion. Of course, the Church has never denied absolution to a man who has "repented honestly and testified in good will with their best efforts to live by faith." Yet the question here is, what it means, that the penitent has repented honestly? For sincere repentance it means  that he separates himself from sin and possesses  a firm resolve  never to repeat the sin, which without the help and grace of God is not possible of course.

However, this means with respect to the divorced and "remarried" that the partners decide to separate or if this is for important reasons (e.g. due to the children) is not possible, to refrain from the conjugal act in the future and to live together as brothers and sister. This is exactly what the Church has recommended for centuries for people living in such a situation. Cardinal Kasper, however, would like to eliminate this clear and visible sign of remorse and repentance, and it is based in substantial part of the criticism of his lecture, which he never responded to in his letter to the editors at any point.

Link to Pius.info... 

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMGD

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Pro Missa Tridentina: Traditional Latin Mass in Germany is Growing

Edit: here's an excerpt from an article on Regina Magazine interviewing Monika Rheinschitt of Pro Missa Tridentina.

Monika Rheinschmitt is a trained computer scientist. These days, however, she keeps a weather eye on some numbers she couldn’t have imagined in her university days — developments in Catholicism and the growth of the Latin Mass in the German-speaking world.

Monika is the Stuttgart-based Director of Pro Missa Tridentina, one of the most active organizations on the planet to practically support the Latin Mass. Since 1990 she has been the editor and publisher of a traditional newsletter, in 2010 upgraded to the magazine “Dominus vobiscum”, which is published twice a year and avidly read in Germany, Alsace, Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein, Belgium and the Netherlands.
DSC_5792-1a
An Interview with Monika Rheinschmitt of Pro Missa Tridentina in Germany
Hers is not an easy job, not the least because in these countries the Latin Mass faces an unimaginable uphill battle. In Germany and its neighboring lands, secular attitudes range from indifferent to hostile about the idea of religion itself. Within the Church, both traditional teachings and the traditional rite are often suppressed, ignored or ridiculed in ways that might astonish outsiders.
Even though the numbers of Mass-goers and Catholics continue to drop precipitously in these countries, there seems to be little awareness on the part of Church leadership of the significant power of the Extraordinary Form to attract converts and indeed to bring Catholics home again. (For more about the German church see here.)
Against this background, the gains that the Latin Mass has made are a testimony to the true grit of Catholics, laity and clergy alike. In this exclusive interview withRegina Magazine, Monika gives us a view into her world.
Q. Tell us about Pro Missa Tridentina. When was it founded, and by whom?
Pro Missa Tridentina was founded in Stuttgart in Spring 1990 as an association of  laypeople dedicated to the care of the Traditional Latin Rite of the Catholic Mass. We work to promote this “Vetus Ordo” by supporting Catholic laity who wish to be able to assist at this beautiful rite. That includes the organization of trainings for priests, altar servers and choirs as well as practical help finding locations for the Mass – and from writing letters to the local bishop to preparing the first celebration of a Traditional Latin Mass.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Priest Announces Violation of His Vows on German Television and Acknowledges Daughter

A Celibacy Breaking Careerist Senses a Change in the Winds?

 Oberhaid / Ludwigsburg (Catholic news / CBA). Stefan Hartmann (59), a Catholic priest since 2001 in the Franconian Oberhaid wants to publicly confess on Friday to his 19-year-old daughter. The SWR announces on its website and refers to the talk show "Nachtcafe" at 10pm. As a guest of the program Hartmann wanted to report that "he is infinitely happy about his great daughter-friend and proud of her." The doctoral theologian additionally says of the SWR announcement that he had denied his child for years in order not to risk his Church career. "The long silence was cowardly and nothing good came of it," the priest is quoted as saying. Today, he serves the Church still, but confesses to openly living a lie, for which he begs your pardon. He was encouraged to go public by Pope Francis, says Hartmann. In addition, he was making an objective discussion of the obligation to celibacy for diocesan priests. The Pope did not want go into the solitude of the Apostolic Palace, "which can easily be as hard as the loneliness of rectories, which are often too large," says the priest. The priest emphasized that he wouldn't want to call into question the meaning of the celibate life of many priests and religious. The administration of the Archdiocese of Bamberg has been informed about the situation of the priest, said press office on request. Disciplinary consequences are not being considered at this point. Hartmann was born in Oberhausen in 1954. After studying psychology, philosophy and theology, he was ordained in 1982 in Trier, Germany. He has also served as a spa and hospital chaplain in Bad Säckingen and as university chaplain at the Catholic University Community in Vienna. Since September 2001 he has been active in the Archdiocese of Bamberg.

 Source: © CBA. All rights reservedPhoto: Roman collar - Source: Kath News

Monday, December 30, 2013

Ariel Levi di Gualdo About the "German" Problem and a Current Schism

(Munich), the militant Jewish convert and Catholic priest Ariel Levi Stefano di Gualdo has expressed his opinion on  the "German" problem in the Catholic Church and speaks of a current, complete schism. Specifically, he recalls his experiences some years ago in Munich with Archbishop Reinhard Cardinal Marx.
"The real problem of Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising, is that things are always the same, which plagues German representatives of the church: first they are German, then perhaps they are Catholics, but always on their  own terms with an ineradicable Teutonic arrogance. The reason for this is not  that they have remained the old pagan German people in their innermost being, but that they are  always hostile minded to Rome, or because they reject  Romanitas as a center and engine of Catholic universality. The reason for this is the thinking of Martin Luther with his, "I stand here and will not be moved,'" says Levi di Gualdo.
Of Cardinal Marx the Roman priest describes him presently: "by the result of an obvious error made in good faith, errors by two different popes: Benedict XVI, promoted the young and aspiring bishop to the Bavarian Archbishop's chair and created a cardinal, and Francis, who wanted him for his commission of the eight wise men."

Friday, December 20, 2013

Vandalism Against Catholic Symbols in Westphalia

Northern Westphalia: 40 crosses and statues destroyed.

Münster (kath.net / idea)
A series of attacks against Christian symbols there has taken place in recent weeks in northern Westphalia: The  Münster police have registered since September a total of 40 cases in which religious statues, had the head was chopped off, bent or burned crosses and shrines and chapels were destroyed. This was announced by the press officer of the Münster police, Angela Lüttmann, on request, to the Protestant news agency Idea.

christmas

We assume that it is part of a series and thus a single  offender. There are no leads presently. It could be that the perpetrators acted out of pure destruction. It is also possible that they had religious reasons and therefore wanted to express their displeasure about Christianity. Since it is not inconceivable that it was about religiously motivated crime, Time determined and the state protection. Affected by the attacks are Ibbenbueren, Saerbeck, Hoerstel, Hopsten, Mettingen, Tecklenburg and Rheine.

 In most cases, there had been  roadside crosses on private property, according to the police spokeswoman. But it has also affected the Catholic St. Barbara's Church in Ibbenbüren-Dickenberg. There, standing on the church square is a statue of Saint Barbara, who is also the patron saint of miners, was beheaded. The vicar Paul Greiwe told Idea that he had never experienced this level of vandalism in such a short time. As the Münster State People's Daily (Rheine) reported that students of Ludgeri school in Mettingen (at Ibbenbüren) put a sign up against the destruction: They made ​​crosses during religious instruction and they hung them on  an undamaged procession house and wrote: "This is illegal. Stop with the vandalism. "

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com.

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Sunday, October 20, 2013

The Silk Thread From Freiburg. Archbishop Zollitsch Advises Tebartz van Elst to Suicide



by Peter Stephan

In earlier times, the Turkish sultans sent to high-ranking personalities who were sentenced to death, a silk thread - stylishly usually in a small jewelry box. After receiving, the condemned was strangled by a servant or soldier. This method offered the very great advantage that the sultans could vacate brothers and nephews out of the way to secure their rule, without shedding their royal blood. Occasionally, even the convicted had the opportunity to escape the strangling by suicide. If the blood flowed, this was thus the responsibility of the individuals affected.

The practice is to get rid of unwelcome people by murder or solicitation to commit suicide, has been significantly refined in our society today, especially in the post-Conciliar, 'Love Church', which looks back with particular horror at the terrifying practices of the pre-Conciliar, 'Power Church'. With witch hunts, the Inquisition and poison murders à la Borgia, they want to have nothing more to do. Yes, we have exploited even these downright atrocities to justify the enforcement of a completely new Church image. Gross misinterpretation and exaggeration of the historical facts are thereby considered acceptable. Finally, it's for a good cause.

That the end justifies the means, especially when it comes to the noble goal of their own assurance of domination, not only numerous bishops, but also understood by the employees in the Chancery, the functionaries of the ZdK [German Bishops' Central Committee], the parish councils and many other "engaged" Catholics. Their victims are mostly faithful priests and pastors, as well as followers of the Traditional Rite. The 'progressive' average Catholic keeps his distance from such people, because in secular society it would be considered reasonable and enlightened and therefore to be ashamed of an authentically lived and practiced faith (which he himself lacks of religious education usually no longer recognized or understood). The functionaries and higher officials in turn fear the criticism of the media - and thus the scolding of the media-political class of hearing. One would like to continue to stand in the middle of society, that is: the socio-political establishment belonging - as once the Jerusalem Temple aristocracy.

Nothing would be as unbearable for the majority of the German episcopate, as at a reception in the Chancellery to address an intercession of Jews about the Old Mass, the extravagance of a brother's Office or the backward views of the Pope. Because the sectarian mood can pass quickly. Quickly and could result in a conflagration. Several years ago, in the case Mixa, it went up quickly to 40,000 euros, in a Piranesi engraving which had been (mis)invested. In the causa Tebartz van Elst one takes offense at what is already 30 million for a diocesan center with a two and a half bedroom apartment, which has been successfully re-interpreted by the media to swank episcopal residence. What's next? The many millions, spent by former Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, which in his case was sunk into the completely ridiculous and self-centered redesign of his cathedral - which made Freiburgers so angry, because the funds for the renovation of the cathedral tower are missing? The nearly 20 million, by Cardinal Marx, for the purchase and renovation of his second residence in Rome has been let off free? The 40 million which Gebhard Fürst spent on a diocesan center in Rottenburg - a building that exudes the charm of an oversized District Savings Bank in contrast to the highly successful architectural Limburg Vicarage? And how it looks once the millions to be addressed, the outputs of the German bodies Catholicism for a totally bloated government - or for institutions such as the LCY, the aim now only is to undermine the Church from within and to destroy all which has been built up in this country over generations and half a millennium? There is no fear that you will be expelled from the cosiness of the German church tax haven in the end? What a horrible idea if future bishops must prepare their meals from fungi, which they themselves have collected in the forest! However, not seeing as how Bishop Jaschke flirts on a talk show about humility, but to be truly satisfied? If the German clergy his modesty can not demonstrate through the expensive transformation of sanctuaries and the acquisition of new vestments, but is forced to resort to the existing (high) altars and ancient vestments (which are usually infinitely nicer)?

To avoid this inconvenience, leading representatives of the German Bishops' Conference have decided to sacrifice another pawn. After Walter Mixa, is now Tebartz van Elst's turn. As in the days of the sultans, it comes to secure their own domination how one gets rid of a pesky brother. Naturally this is not accomplished by sending a silk cord. The post-Conciliar love Church prefers character assassination, they are practiced and shoulder to shoulder with the anti-clerical media according to its traditional pattern. Tebartz is no longer acceptable as a bishop according to all that gradually comes to light is one thing. The other, however, is the way how he is systematically demonized and publicly executed. The extent of this manipulative and slanderous propaganda has long since reached the level of, "enforcer" or, "People's Observer". Witch hunt, Inquisition and Borgia intrigue are celebrated - in a new guise - and back with a vengeance.

And as if that is not enough, Robert Zollitsch insisted a few days ago. Very publicly he literally states: "I could not imagine that I could continue living." Of course he did this in an undertone that should have brought his concerns to his stumbling colleague. But it is worthwhile to pay attention to the exact meaning of the words. Zollitsch did not say, "I couldn't imagine, as I could go on living that way." The little word "that way" would be related to the way of life and brought the possibility of a correction to the expression. One can recollect, repent and live on in other ways. The word "there" means in this context, however, a time from which a new, irreversible situation arises - a situation that makes it impossible for Tebartz's afterlife according to Zollitsch. Maybe Zollitsch doesn't know the difference in meaning between modal and time clauses, but as chairman of the Bishops' conference, he should choose his words more carefully. With what he said, he has finally sent his brother in office the silk cord, his concerned tone, like the jewelry box, in which the cord is hidden.

However, Zollitsch and the other officials of the bodies Catholicism ought to foresee. The German Church-tax system is hanging itself by a silk thread. And unlike the silk cords used for strangling, this could tear in the not too distant future. The journalistic pack has long tasted blood in the air. The tactics observed in wolves to isolate a weak animal from the herd, in order to then tear him to pieces has proved successful. In the long term, each Bishop with a decidedly Catholic profile will be attacked. The strategy of the other members of the herd, to save his own skin by delivering others to the wolves will not work.

And who knows! Maybe one day it will even come to the point that tabloids will be the new vox populi in the appointment of bishops creating a list of three from which - after a suitability interview at ZdK - Spiegel appoints a candidate. He is then formally appointed by the Bundeskanzellor - and if need be can be deducted from her again. The sending of silk lines will be a thing of the past.

Prof. Peter Stephan studied History, Church History and Art History and is adjunct professor of Art History at the University of Freiburg in Breisgau. He also teaches as a professor of architectural theory at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam.

Image: Wikicommons (Mona Katholisches.info days)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
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Saturday, October 5, 2013

SSPX Criticizes Pope Francis' Approach to Dialogue



Berlin (Catholic news / CBA). The "Chief Dogmatist" of the traditionalist Society of Pius X in Germany, Father Matthias Gaudron, has rejected the opening of the Catholic Church to other religions by Pope Francis. The talks between the Vatican and the Society are currently on ice, the theologian said Friday in an interview with Spiegel Online. He expressed criticism of the Pope's statements on homosexuality and his warning against faith as an ideology. The Catholic Church in Germany will collapse according to Gaudron in 15 to 20 years, because it has no new priests and the faithful are declining in numbers. "Many say the Church would regain members if only they would open up. But if that were so, then people would still flock en masse to the Protestant Churches," Gaudron said. He suggested the unengaging have no strength and can not inspire. Gaudron considered as "very problematic" the the Pope's rejection of an exaggerated search for security in the faith. "If the only dogmatic certainty was that God is in man, I think that's a bit little," he said. "The Pope can not change the truth of the Creed." Pope Francis had warned in an interview against seeking in "an exaggerated manner the security in doctrine", also one should not look to the "bitter lost past". "In this way, faith is one ideology among many."

On the topic of homosexuality Gaudron believes the Pope held a contradictory position. On one hand, he claimed that he accepted the teaching of the Catholic Church. On the other hand, Francis awakened the impression that it was okay to be gay. "Either I stick to the theory, I can not approve of homosexuality, or I'll have it. But then I am no longer Catholic." Gaudron appealed to the Pope to guarantee the right of priests to celebrate the Old Mass. That the talks between the Vatican and the Society are currently on ice, the theologian also shifts to the Prefect of the Congregation of Faith, Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller. "He does not like us. He acts hostile towards us, since he is in Rome. "The Society of St. Pius X. was founded in 1969 by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (1905-1991). It rejects the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Contentious issues are especially in the liturgy, ecumenism and religious freedom. In 1975 Rome withdrew canonical approval from it. After illicit ordinations by Lefebvre in 1976 he was prohibited the exercise of his episcopal office. By 1988 he consecrated, without papal consent, four priests as bishops of his Society, all five were charged with excommunication. Pope Benedict XVI. in 2009 as a gesture of reconciliation lifted the excommunication of the bishops of the SSPX. Since the end of 2009, there were several rounds of talks with the Vatican representatives to the Society on disputed doctrinal issues. Since spring 2012, the process has been apparently stalled.

Source: © CBA. All rights reserved Photo: Holy Mass in the SSPX - Source: fsspx.info

Monday, August 19, 2013

"Intersex" -- On November 1st, Germany Recognizes Third Sex

(Berlin) Restlessness leads to various forms of the denial of reality. This includes the struggle of gender ideology against nature. The natural reality of man and woman is to be reduced to a "-felt" Gender Unisex sterile uniformity. 's new "magic word" is intersex." From 1 November a "third type" of gender it will be on West German birth certificate; not male, not female. If a child has the "luck" to be born of such particularly ideologically "innovative" parents, it can happen to him that he would be officially registered as "gender neutral".

The ideology wants to conquer nature. "Gender-accurate" Parents will be able to "prevent" the inherent "discrimination" of a their child. The child should be no more sex "forced" imposed, no, it will eventually find itself on its sex and can make a "free and conscious" decision. The development is ongoing in almost all Western European countries. Not that this fact has surprised observers, but the fact that there are political majorities for it. Most politicians lack expertise for actual problems in the modern party-state solution, so abstruse ideology comes to the fore.

Germany is the first European "intersex" Country

And because theDeutsche Michl's want to be the paragon of the EU, the Federal Republic of Germany will be the first European country that has introduced by law the gray area between the sex of man and woman, which does not exist in nature. The legislature as the ruler of reality. The Act provides that the "third" gender variant in the birth certificates of course have a purely anti-discriminatory character. It allows the parents of a child who comes into the world with "atypical" sexual organs, to waive the registration of sex. A separate law for hermaphrodites. Today, we prefer to speak of intersex. When ideologues present melodious suggestions, caution is still advised. The gender ideology aims at overcoming known gender, because this is seen as "coercive" nature. Ideologues have always been twisted and in no way unharmful. The new law, with such harmless justifications on the way, it seems to come, is a wholly owned product of this gender ideology. For them it is just the famous gap in the wall that is to be expanded step by step.

No wonder then that the International Lesbian and Gay Association applauds enthusiastically. This may seem surprising at first glance. The federation brings together around 400 gay organizations around the world: "It is good news. It will help us to combat discrimination within the EU." Should the legislature in its reasoning, restrict the new provision nor objectively obstructs its path in any way, the feminist philosopher Nicla Vassallo lets the cat out of the bag. Looking at the arrangements which will exist in Germany from 1 November there is a preposal at hand, "I would give everyone the opportunity to leave the sex portion in the documents unfilled, as this is possible already in the registry information today. If the option for undefined gender were considered intersex-people that would indeed be a ghettoization, "The gender ideology is like any ideology of magical logic, an act against discrimination can already be transformed into an act of discrimination to the next act against discrimination. A game with no end in ideological struggle, for which the World Health Organization has no classification of the disease, because it is not a gender identity disorder of childhood, rather, a disorder of sex due to perceptions of other adults.

Even the Protestant Church , which met in early May in Hamburg, considered itself "open-ended" toward the theme of "intersex". They expressed themselves "hopefully" because with 1 November, the  "intersexual people finally" would be considering their "rights". Nature is the enemy of ideologues - Enter X instead of M or F in the passport? The debate on the impact of the new provision is still in progress. If the birth certificate is not gender specified, then what will the identity card read and what is recorded in the passport? The gender ideologues of course are the most diligent Stooges. The FamRZ - is a magazine for the whole family with legal guardianship law, inheritance law, procedural law, public law, made ​​the suggestion for all to introduce the acronyms M (male) and F (female), an X for "undefined" in all personal documents. The new federal German law, introduced by a black and yellow, Christian Democrat and Christian Social guidance does not pose a red-green majority with its denial of the anthropological and biological reality. There is another worrying mosaic that represents the  homosexual and gender ideology that can be deployed on the path of social reconstruction. The cultural and social consequences are aimed at destruction. In the frenzied struggle for the "new rights" and against a virtual sexual discrimination,  the gender and gay ideologues sacrifice on the altar of their idols, especially children's rights, the rights of the most innocent and most vulnerable in society. Those who have no voice and can not defend themselves and those already in fear for their lives for the same ideologues at the time of birth. No area of law is more violated than toward the unborn and increasingly also of children born by abortion, artificial insemination, embryo research, surrogacy and adoption rights for homosexuals. The new enemy is nature itself. You will be defeated. "One need be neither clairvoyant nor a child psychologist to foresee the psychological traumas and difficulties the modern "intersex" children will have to face in their unhappy childhoods" [Lupo Glori], as victims of "gender activist" parents.

Text: CR / Giuseppe Nardi
 Image: Corrispondenza Romana
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
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