Roman Catholic Blog

Rule Brittannia?

Britain is no longer

a Christian nation,

claims Church of England

Bishop

Britain is no longer a Christian nation and the Church of England could die out within a generation, an Anglican bishop has warned.

By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent
Published: 9:00PM BST 27 Jun 2009

"The Rt Rev Paul Richardson said declining church attendance and the rise in multiculturalism meant that "Christian Britain is dead".

He criticised his fellow bishops for failing to appreciate the scale of the crisis and warned that their inaction could seal the Church's fate.

As one of the Church's longest-serving bishops, the comments by the assistant Bishop of Newcastle are set to fuel the debate over its future.

The General Synod, the Church's parliament, will next month consider proposals to cut the number of bishops and senior clergy amid fears over the Church's finances.

Writing for The Sunday Telegraph, Bishop Richardson said: "Many bishops prefer to turn their heads, to carry on as if nothing has changed, rather than face the reality that Britain is no longer a Christian nation.

"Many of them think that we are still living in the 1950s – a period described by historians as representing a hey day for the established church."

He said that the Church had lost more than one in ten of its regular worshippers between 1996 and 2006, with a fall from more than one million to 880,000.

"At this rate it is hard to see the church surviving for more than 30 years though few of its leaders are prepared to face that possibility," said Bishop Richardson.

Nearly half of the population in England regard themselves as belonging to the Church of England, while seven in ten described themselves as Christian in the last census.

However, the Bishop said that the fall in church marriages and baptisms revealed that Britain was no longer a Christian nation.

The number of babies being baptised has fallen from 609 in every 1,000 at the turn of the twentieth century to only 128 in 2006/7 and church marriages have also dropped.

Bishop Richardson said: "The church is being hit by a double whammy: on the one hand it confronts the challenge of institutional decline but on the other hand it has to face the rise of cultural and religious pluralism in Britain."

He says that the way the Church responds to this will be "crucial in determining whether it will be able to survive as a viable organisation and make a contribution to national life".

"At present church leaders show little signs of understanding the situation. They don't understand the culture we now live in."

The bishop believed it is inevitable that disestablishment will happen and suggests that the Church should take a lead on the issue rather than being dictated to by Parliament.

"Rather than try to cling on to their places in the House of Lords, they should take the initiative by withdrawing, which shows that they appreciate Christian Britain is dead."

Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury has also delivered a bleak assessment of the future of Christianity in this country, claiming previously that Britain's Churches are in such serious decline that if they were shops they would have been declared bankrupt long ago."

See the full story at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/5662294/Britain-is-no-longer-a-Christian-nation.html

___________________________________

This all started long long ago........

 

and there is only one antidote.......

Our Lady of Walsingham, intercede for your English sons & daughters!

Learn from the Poles! - Again

 

Why the Catholic Univ. of Lublin (KUL)

Won't Award an Honorary Degree

to President Barroso

By Paweł P. Reszka

2009-06-19, ostatnia aktualizacja 2009-06-19 07:52

The president of the European Commission will not receive an honorary doctorate from the Catholic University of Lublin. Is the academy afraid the EU wants to force Poland to accept same-sex marriages?

On the 440th anniversary of the Union of Lublin, the KUL was to honour Mr Barroso as well as leaders of the countries that once made part of the

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - the presidents of Ukraine, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, and an ex-Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus.

Gazeta was the first to report about the plans back in March. KUL spokesperson Barbara Górka confirmed them for Gazeta: 'The award for Mr Barroso is related to the official slogan of the celebrations, "From the Union of Lublin to the European Union."'

In the spring, preparations began at the KUL's Faculty of Law, Canonical Law and Administration for the awarding of the doctorate. Gazeta's sources suggested that the academy had already named internal reviewers. The process was being handled by the Faculty of Law, because Mr Barroso is a lawyer by education.

The faculty was to draw up an official recommendation, which was then to be reviewed by the Senate, which decides on honorary doctorates.

A special Senate meeting during which the decisions were made took place on 4 June. The guests are to receive their honorary degrees on 1 July. But not Mr Barroso. Why?

Father Prof Antoni Dębiński, dean of the Faculty of Law: 'I was informed by the KUL president, Father Prof Stanisław Wilk, that this doctorate wouldn't be awarded. We dropped the matter at that point. I didn't analyse the reasons.'

Ms Górka explains, 'We had received no official confirmation that Mr Barroso would be present on 1 July. Hence the change of the decision.'

Ms Górka adds that in charge of inviting the heads of state and diplomats was the Presidential Chancellery.

But, according to what Gazeta has learned, the president of the Commission hasn't been invited for different reasons. A KUL professor said, 'I think it was behind-the-scenes discussions among the academy's top brass. It was probably about the Lisbon Treaty and certain issues related thereto.'

What issues? Political scientist Prof Marek Pietraś notes that the Polish Episcopate has criticised certain provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, an integral part of the Lisbon Treaty, which Mr Barroso deems his personal success.

'The Church, just like President Leh Kaczynski, criticised the fact that the Charter, a collection of man's fundamental rights, lacks a reference to God,' says Mr Pietraś. 'Other controversial issues included the lack of a clear-cut ban on human cloning and of a precise provision that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman. This could have opened the way to same-sex marriages.'

A year ago, the alleged prospect of poalnd being potentially forced to accept same-sex marriages was mentioned by President Kaczyński in his famous address on the Treaty of Lisbon.

translated by Marcin Wawrzyńczak

See: http://wyborcza.pl/0,86871,4728582.html

_________________________________

God Bless KUL for demonstrating the "intestinal fortitude," or in plain English "guts," to do with President Barroso what Notre Dame University should have done with president Obama.

The crucial difference is that the administrators at KUL love the Church, whereas the Holy Cross Fathers in Indiana view Notre Dame from the standpoint of wealth and corporate power, and how that wealth and power can be used to subvert the Church.

Poland was once historically referred to as "alte murale Christianibus," or the "outer wall of Christendom." Today she may "be" Christendom in its entirety, at least in Europe.

Saint of the Gallows

Feast (New Calendar) June 17

Feast (Old Calendar) June 23 (the anniversary of his death)

 

 

 

St. Joseph Cafasso

(1811-1860)

 "Perhaps the most noted part of his public life were the entire days that he spent in the prisons-----preaching, comforting, instructing the unfortunates detained there, and hearing their confessions.

He had gone to the prison in order to prepare the prisoners for the celebration of a feast in honor of Our Lady, and had spent a whole week instructing them and exhorting them. This he did in a large room in which there were forty-five of the most noted criminals. Almost all had promised to go to Confession on the vigil of the feast. But when the day came, none of them could make up his mind to go to Confession. He renewed his invitation, recapitulated what he had said during the week, and reminded them of the promise that they had made. But whether it was through human respect, or the temptation of the devil, or some other vain pretext, none of them would consent to go to Confession. What was Don Cafasso to do?

His ingenious charity and courage found a way out of the difficulty. With a smile on his face he went over to the man who appeared to be the biggest and strongest and most robust among the prisoners, and without saying a word, he caught hold of his luxurious long beard. The man, thinking that Don Cafasso had acted through jest, said to him as courteously as could be expected from such people, "Take anything else from me you like but leave me my beard!"

"I will not let you go until you go to Confession," replied Don Cafasso. "But I don't want to go to Confession," said the prisoner. "You may say what you like, but you will not escape from me; I will not let you go until you have made your Confession," said Cafasso. "I am not prepared," said the prisoner. "I will prepare you," said Cafasso.

Certainly, if the prisoner had wished, he could have freed himself from Don Cafasso's hands with the slightest effort; but whether it was respect for the holy man's person, or rather the fruit of the grace of God, the fact is that the man surrendered and allowed himself to be led to a corner of the room. Don Cafasso sat down on a bundle of straw and prepared his friend for Confession. But lo! In a short time there was commotion; the strong man was so moved by Don Cafasso's exhortation that his sighs and tears almost prevented him from telling his sins.

Then appeared the great marvel; he who had been most vehement in his refusal to make his Confession went to his companions after it was finished and told them that he had never been so happy in his life. He became so eloquent in exhorting them that he succeeded in persuading them all to go to Confession.

This example, merely one out of thousands of its kind, whether we consider it as a miracle of grace on the part of God, or a miracle of charity on the part of Don Cafasso, forces us to recognize in it the intervention of the hand of God. "

(Found at www.catholictradition.org)

Born with a sever deficiency of the spine (for which many babies are today aborted), St. Joseph Cafasso although usually "hunched" over became one of the greatest preachers and teachers of his day.

Near the main prison in Turin where he worked there is a main traffic circle, or rondo, where Pius XII dedicated a statue to him.

 

¡POBRE ESPAÑA!

http://www.zenit.org/article-25797?l=english

ZE09050510 - 2009-05-05
Permalink: http://www.zenit.org/article-25797?l=english

 

Spain's Bishops Defend Pope

Against Congress

Legislators to Debate Public Reproof for Condom Comments

MADRID, Spain, MAY 5, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The proposal before Spain's lower branch of congress to condemn the recent comments Benedict XVI made on condoms is an insult to the nation's Catholics, says the archbishop of Madrid.

Cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela (pic above), who is also the president of the episcopal conference of Spain, said Monday that the proposal that would publicly denounce the Pope "has hurt all Spanish Catholics."

The proposed censure responds to the comments the Holy Father made during a press conference March 17 on the plane en route to Cameroon. He said that condoms are not the solution for AIDS.

Deputies Gaspar Llamazares(pic above) of the party United Left and

Joan Herrera (pic above) of the party Initiative for Catalonia Greens introduced the proposal last week. It would express "consternation and rejection" for the comments.

The proposal will be debated later this month or in June in the Commission of International Cooperation for Development.

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party and the People's Party have both said they would not support the bill as the Congress of Deputies is not the place to publicly denounce a head of state.

Cardinal Carlos Amigo Vallejo (pic above), the archbishop of Sevilla, responded to the proposal saying it was part of the "new inquisition" that is "fundamentally secular, agnostic and bad-humored," reported the Spanish news service Religión Digital.

"It's formed by all the fundamentalists driven to find, with or without reason, the weak point and the faulty side of the Church," he added.

Manipulation

Cardinal Luis Martínez Sistach (pic above), the archbishop of Barcelona, also criticized the proposal in a press statement published Sunday. The cardinal lamented "that they have taken out of context the comments of the Holy Father and have manipulated the position of Benedict XVI as one that is against the defense of life and the promotion of health."

The cardinal expressed his "deep adhesion and communion with the Holy Father" and asked that the "Christian people accompany [the Pope] in the exercise of his ministry as the Successor of Peter at the service of the entire Church."

Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera (pic above), the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments and apostolic administer for the Archdiocese of Toledo, published a statement from Rome in which he asked the faithful of Toledo to offer all the Masses this past weekend for Benedict XVI.

He rejected the proposal as an "attack and a disgrace against a man of God, a good and just man, the utmost defender of humanity, of its dignity and fundamental rights, promoter like few others of the culture of peace and a civilization of love."

The cardinal said the proposal constitutes "an offense against Spain itself, which is always close to the Pope, [and] loved by him."

Rome Blinks....

Austria: `Katrina' pastor giving up promotion

VIENNA (AP) — A radio station says an Austrian pastor who suggested that God punished New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina because of the city's sins is giving up the auxiliary bishop post the pope promoted him to.

The national broadcaster ORF said Sunday the Rev. Gerhard Maria Wagner made the decision because of the controversy surrounding Pope Benedict XVI's promotion of him in Linz, Austria's second largest city.

The promotion of the conservative pastor sparked an outcry among Catholics who warned it could prompt people to leave the church.

ORF quotes the 54-year-old Wagner as saying: "Regarding the fierce criticism, I am praying and after consulting the diocesan bishop I have decided to ask the Holy Father in Rome to take back my promotion as auxiliary bishop."

________________________

A horrible, horrible precedent. That the Austrian episcopacy could "roll" Pope Benedict XVI on who he appoints as Bishop is outlandish. In the words of the late Pope John Paul II:

"Christ's Church is not a democracy!"

"Piling on" the Pope

 

Pope's bishop pick criticized over Katrina comment

By VERONIKA OLEKSYN – Feb 1, 2009

"VIENNA (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI's decision to promote a pastor who suggested Hurricane Katrina was provoked by sin in New Orleans was criticized Sunday by Austrian priests and church groups.

The Vatican announced Saturday that the Rev. Gerhard Maria Wagner, 54, would be auxiliary bishop in Linz, the capital of Upper Austria province.

A 2005 report by Kath.Net, a Catholic Austrian news agency, said Wagner had characterized Katrina as divine retribution in a short essay in a parish newsletter.

Wagner wrote that people should ask themselves whether the "noticeable" increase of natural disasters such as Katrina was a result of pollution caused by humans or the result of "spiritual pollution," according to a copy of the essay published Sunday on Kath.Net's Web site."

See the full article at:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5igLGCLTAYGIPQ7ZA_tywOPzU5p9AD96305DG0

A related article:

Pope making a sect out of the Catholic Church according to Salzburg Archbishop

"The Salzburg Archbishop Alois Kothgasser warns the Catholic Church against an illness which takes her towards being a sect and makes an unusually strong criticism of the Vatican.

In a written statement to the media on Tuesday Kothgasser urges 'confidence in the local church ". Otherwise, confidence in the "central authority" of the church would also dwindle. Also Kothgasser clearly stated that the SSPX whose excommunication Pope Benedict XVI has lifted does, "not stand on the same ground as the Roman Catholic Church.

Reduction to a sect?
Kothgasser asks the church a "fundamental question": "Should the Catholic Church reduce herself to a cult, which only a few, but law-abiding members practice, or should the Catholic Church of Jesus Christ leave room for diversity, be open and influence society from the inside? "He argues for the latter" It is necessary for the church and necessary for society that the church is turned towards the people and preserves their values. If confidence in the local church is missing, also bs the confidence in the central authority of the Universal Church begins to wane. "

 

See the full article in German at:

Kothgasser warnt Kirche vor „Gesundschrumpfen“ in Richtung Sekte

Here's a picture of Arcbishop Kothgasser celebrating a "clown mass" in the Cathedral of Salzburg!

 

 

How sick must the Catholic Church in Austria be to have protests over Bishop Wagner's appointment while this bafoon is Archbishop in Salzburg!

 

 

 

 

Our Lady of Good Counsel, Patroness of Austria, Pray For Us!

More Mosques?

Milan needs more places of worship including mosques, says cardinal

By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

08DEC2008

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Milan needs more places of worship, especially for the city's Muslims, said Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi of Milan.

"We need places of worship in every neighborhood of the city. People belonging to faiths other than Christianity need them even more urgently, especially Islam," he said Dec. 5 in an annual speech to the city before the Dec. 7 feast of St. Ambrose, a doctor of the church who was bishop of Milan in the fourth century.

"We also need cultural initiatives that promote reflection, not provocation that only creates dead-end debates and sensationalism," Cardinal Tettamanzi said.

True and fruitful dialogue with people who are different is "currently a real emergency in Milan and elsewhere," he said.


"Often people say, 'Islam scorns other religions and their followers ... it is fanatical, exploits its faith for twisted or criminal ends, doesn't use reason as a means for discussion or discourse with its people, enslaves its women,'" the cardinal said.

Only by talking with Muslims will people discover if the common perceptions are true or true for everyone, Cardinal Tettamanzi said.

Isolated, serious incidents caused by individuals must not push people into accusing all Muslims of the same crimes or to looking upon them with suspicion, he said.

As a sign of the church's willingness to dialogue, the archdiocese's priests and lay faithful will be leaving written greetings with the Muslims they meet during their traditional visits to neighborhood homes this Christmas season, he said.

The cardinal's remarks came just a few days after two suspected terrorists were arrested Dec. 2. Authorities accused two Moroccan men of planning terrorist attacks on targets in northern Italy.

Police also shut down a cultural center where one of the suspects worked as a Muslim prayer leader.

The arrests led Italy's interior minister to call for a moratorium on the building of new mosques in Italy, saying mosques were being used to recruit terrorists and finance terrorism.

Some politicians, especially from the country's anti-immigrant Northern League, criticized Cardinal Tettamanzi's call for more mosques and places of worship for people of all faiths.

The cardinal responded to the criticisms on Vatican Radio Dec. 7, saying it was time "to abandon prejudices and stereotypes" and begin open and objective dialogue with people of other religions, including Islam.

Only through dialogue can people ascertain whether their fears, suspicions or doubts are justified or not, he said.

Most striking is that this comes immediately after:

Two Muslims were arrested for plotting to blow up Milan Cathedral on Christmas Day

Two Moroccans arrested in Italy yesterday wanted to blow up the Milan Cathedral on Christmas.  They hoped an attack during the busy holiday would cost dozens of lives.  This according to tapped phone calls, reports La Repubblica.

The two belonged to an Islamic terror cell which had been followed by the Italian police already for months.  "The plot was discovered yet before the suspects could get explosives," says the Italian minister of Internal Affairs, Roberto Maroni, in response.

Rachid Ilhami (31) and Abdelkader Ghafir (43) were arrested in Giussano, a city 25km away from Milan.  The detectives gathered from tapped phone calls and confiscated computer files that the two also prepared attacks on a supermarket and a police bureau.  They are arrested on suspicion of terrorism and eventual cooperation with al-Qaeda.

Ilhami had been living since he was ten in Italy.  He is married and has two children.  He worked as a blacksmith and in his free time worked in a center for peace activities, in the area of prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's villa, according to Corriere della Sera.

Full article at: http://islamineurope.blogspot.com/2008/12/italy-plot-to-blow-up-milan-cathedral.html

A Real Catholic Monarch!

"Grand Duke of Luxembourg Will Lose His Veto

Luxembourg's parliament looks ready to strip the Grand Duke of his last lawmaking power as a controversy over euthanasia comes to a head. One of Europe's last royals with political sway may lose his formal veto by taking a stand against a law legalizing euthanasia.

The Grand Duke of Luxembourg, who has said he would interfere with a decision by parliament, will likely be stripped of his veto in a historic decision after a heated showdown over a bill to legalize euthanasia.

Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg protested the bill and threatened to kill it next week by refusing to sign it into law.

Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg will refuse to sign a euthanasia law for "reasons of conscience."

Since parliament is expected to pass the bill, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said the Grande Duke has overstepped his role. Juncker personally opposes the euthanasia bill but says he will propose a change to the constitution to deny the Grand Duke his veto. His role by the end of 2008 could be reduced to rubber-stamping parliamentary decisions, instead of deciding whether to approve them.

"That means he will only technically enact laws," Juncker said, according to Reuters.

The euthanasia bill passed a first vote by parliament in February. It looks set to pass a second and final vote next week, but the Catholic Grand Duke announced on Tuesday -- in a closed-door meeting with leaders of Juncker's ruling Christian Socialists -- that he would refuse to enact the law.

His position tipped the tiny nation into the worst constitutional crisis in its history. The Luxembourg royal house has tried to block a decision by parliament only once before, when the Grand Duchess Marie-Adelaide refused to sign an education bill in 1912.

"I understand the Grand Duke's problems of conscience," said Juncker, "but I believe that if the parliament votes in a law, it must be brought into force."

The euthanasia bill has been controversial since 2001. It would let patients with "grave and incurable" conditions die at the hands of a doctor if they ask repeatedly to be euthanized and earn the consent of two doctors and a panel of experts. Medical and physician groups have opposed the bill, though, and so have many citizens of this traditionally Catholic nation.

It follows similar laws in the Netherlands and Belgium, where King Baudouin -- Henri's uncle -- abdicated for a day in 1990 to avoid signing a Belgian abortion law. The current Belgian king, Albert II, has signed Belgium's recent euthanasia and homosexual-marriage laws over his private Catholic beliefs.

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a constitutional monarchy, and the Grand Duke is its head of state. He has indicated that he won't stand in the way of any change to the constitution."

The full article can be found at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,594398,00.html

Most Catholic?

Dutch abortion ship sparks controversy in Spain.

Oct 15 02:25 PM US/Eastern

A Spanish pro-life group said it plans to protest the arrival on Thursday of a Dutch boat that is offering to provide abortions that circumvent Spain's strict laws.

The boat is due to anchor off the Mediterranean port of Valencia, the Dutch non-profit organisation "Women on Waves" said on its web site.

From Friday, it will offer abortions on the ship in international waters under the Netherlands' more liberal abortion laws. This "symbolic initiative" will allow "abortions outside Spanish law for the first time in Spain's recent history, but without violating it," said Spanish gynecologist Jose Luis Carbonell, one of the promoters.

But it has already sparked controversy. Valencia's conservative mayor Rita Barbera termed the plan a "provocation that has sparked indignation." The anti-abortion group Provida in Valencia said its members plan a protest aboard smaller vessels when the boat arrives.

Spain decriminalized abortion in 1985 but only for certain cases: up to 12 weeks of pregnancy after a rape; up to 22 weeks in the case of malformation of the foetus; and at any point if the pregnancy represents a threat to the physical or mental health of the woman.

But the Socialist government last month said it plans to introduce a new law that will offer greater legal protection for women who wish to have an abortion and doctors who carry out the procedure. The “Women on Waves” ship visited Ireland in 2001, Poland in 2003 and Portugal in 2004, sparking protests in each country.

_________________________________________

One wonders if the title “Catholicissimi Hispaniarum Regis,”

His Most Catholic Hispanic Majesty still applies?

Where's an ARMADA when you need one?

Miracle on the Vistula

I chose the category "Catholic Europe" for this post as Poland is one of the last places that calls itself Catholic and means it, at least in Europe.

Although 5 days late in posting this, I think that recent threats out of Putin's Russia about Poland's acceptance of the US Missile Shield warrants a little walk down history lane.

August 15th is in Poland known as "Army Day." It commemorates the Battle of Warsaw on August 15, 1920 in which the Poles stopped a Bolshevik Army bent on both destroying Poland and infiltrating the rest of Europe. The painting below is by Wojciech Kossak of the Battle of Warsaw.

The battle is also referred to as "The Miracle on the Vistula" as the Blessed Mother reportedly appeared to spur the Poles on to victory.

The priset in the center of the painting, unarmed except for a crucifix is father Ignatius Skorupko, who actually died leading a charge by Warsaw students against Bolshevik regulars.

Below there's a picture of the main Presidential dais at the 2008 Army Day celebration in Warsaw. Please note presence of at least one cardinal next to the President of the Republic.

Please pray for Poland!