Roman Catholic Blog

SSPX and continued Anti-Semitism

Bishop's blog raises tensions

between Jews and the Vatican

Richard Williamson, who has previously denied existence of gas chambers during Holocaust, accuses Jews of killing Jesus

Riazat Butt, religious affairs correspondent

The Guardian, Wednesday 19 October 2011

" Relations between Jews and Catholics are under immense strain after a bishop made controversial remarks on his blog.

Richard Williamson, who has previously denied the existence of gas chambers and the murder of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust, accused the Jews of killing Jesus, a charge that divided the two faiths for centuries until Pope Benedict XVI declared this year that Jews could not be held responsible for Jesus's death.

In his weekly post, Williamson wrote that "the killing of Jesus was truly 'deicide' " and that "only the Jews (leaders and people) were the prime agents of the deicide because it is obvious from the gospels that the gentile most involved, Pontius Pilate, … would never have condemned Jesus to death had not the Jewish leaders roused the Jewish people to clamour for his crucifixion."

His comments have angered Jewish leaders and Holocaust survivors, who are urging Rome to cease reconciliation talks with the ultra-traditionalist splinter group to which Williamson belongs, the Society of St Pius X. Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt of the European Council of Rabbis said: "We call upon the Catholic church to suspend negotiations with extremist Catholic tendencies until it is clear that these groups show a clear commitment to tackling antisemitism within their ranks."

Last month, Régis de Cacqueray,(pic above) the head of the French SSPX chapter, also accused Jews of deicide. To the despair of Jewish groups, there has been increased dialogue between the Vatican and SSPX.

Goldschmidt said: "Comments like these take us back decades to the dark days before there was a meaningful and mutually respectful dialogue between Jews and Roman Catholics. There must be no rapprochement within the Catholic church for those of its flock who seek to preach words of hate."

The Vatican has said SSPX will have to sign up to core teachings if they are to reintegrate, although it has not stated what these are. Four SSPX bishops, including Williamson, were excommunicated in 1988 when they were illegally ordained.

But the Vatican lifted Williamson's excommunication on the very day that his Holocaust-denying remarks were aired. The decision appalled Jewish leaders, with many suspending contact with the Vatican as a result. The Vatican said it did not know Williamson held such views.

Williamson has repeatedly ignored pleas to retract his remarks and not even the pope has managed to get the cleric to recant.

The fresh row will embarrass the pope, who is preparing to host a summit of world faith leaders in Assisi, Italy, next week as part of his interreligious outreach programme."

___________________________________________________________________________________

Twenty five plus years ago, as a young man exploring religious vocation I visited the SSPX Seminary in Ridgefield, CT. I arrived on a weekend, after being shown to my room, and having some time before communal prayer, I wandered about finding a bookstore run for families that attended the Tridentine mass at the seminary chapel. While perusing books at that bookstore I was horrified to find copies of the "Protocols ofthe Elders of Zion" on sale. I believe that Fr. Williamson was a superior there at that time. I immediately went back to my room, packed, called a taxi and got the heck out of there.

I have never been able to understand the rampant and vicious anti-Semitism that seems to imbue SOME (luckily a small number) traditional Catholics.

How can Benedict XVI have a doctrinal rapproachment with groups espousing such vile hatred and lies?

Benedict XVI at heresiarch Luther's Monastery - Irony or Insult?

Pope's trip to Germany to focus

on 500-year Christian split

 

By JEAN-BAPTISTE PIGGIN
Kansas City Star - www.kansascity.com

Posted on Mon, Sep. 19, 2011

Pope Benedict XVI has an appointment with history this week when he meets Protestant leaders at the place where Martin Luther first began thinking about the Reformation nearly 500 years ago.

The head of the Catholic Church is not expected to repeal Luther's 1521 excommunication. But Protestants will be listening to the pope's every word for some sign of detente.

During his four-day trip to Germany, Benedict will also be addressing the parliament in Berlin and will have the meetings with other faiths and sex-abuse victims that have become an obligatory part of so many of his trips abroad.

But the historic high point of the visit, from Thursday to Sunday, will be Friday's half-hour in a vaulted room in the former Augustinian Monastery, a hallowed site of Protestant history, in Erfurt, in central Germany.

Luther (1483-1546) entered this monastery in 1505 to become a Catholic monk, rejecting his father's wish to become a lawyer.

This was the place where, for three years, his conscience was first torn about how sin could be forgiven, leading to his radical break with Rome in 1517 at Wittenberg. The split in western Christendom soon spread to England and other nations.

The room to be used Friday, now restored to its 14th-century white and brown color scheme, was the sole place in the monastery in Luther's day where men could talk and debate freely.

Ecumenism, the idea of re-uniting Christianity, has hit hard times after a flowering four decades ago. Suspicion rules on both sides.

In the eyes of many senior Vatican officials, Germany is the homeland of the Protestant Reformation and still Lutheran territory.

Even German Catholics, who are a minority, sometimes sing Lutheran hymns in church and have a reputation for rebellion.

Lutherans are resentful that the Vatican does not describe them as a "church" and denies them communion if they visit a Catholic mass.

The welcome speeches by Germany's most senior Lutheran leaders, several of them women, and Benedict's reply, will be carefully scripted, and may turn out to be bland. Many say the simple fact that Benedict is entering a Lutheran sanctum as a guest is the message.

He will afterward pray at an ecumenical service in the site's chapel where Luther was ordained a Catholic priest.

Erfurt also marks another front line in history: the struggle behind the Iron Curtain between deeply religious people and Soviet-led communism.

Catholics living in the nearby countryside were the most stubborn in communist East Germany in resisting atheism. Benedict is to pray at one of their chapels of pilgrimage, at Etzelsbach, later on Friday.

The day will begin in Berlin with another closely watched meeting by the pope. A group of German Muslim leaders will call on him inside the apostolic nunciature, the Vatican embassy in Berlin.

Benedict's last visit to Germany, five years ago, strained Catholic-Islamic relations.

In a Sept. 12, 2006, lecture, Benedict argued that God never demand what is unreasonable, and quoted an unfavorable remark about Islam by a 14th-century Byzantine emperor. In Muslim nations, violent protesters wrecked churches and injured Christians in response.

The conflict had one positive outcome: Muslims and Christians became more polite to one another.

"There's been a relatively busy dialogue since," said Peter Huenseler, a Catholic official overseeing contact in Germany.

Although German by birth, Benedict, 84, cannot count on the easy reception that his predecessor John Paul II always had in his own homeland, Poland. The German Catholic Church is shrinking in size.

Of the 24.6 million registered German Catholics, only about one in eight attend Sunday Mass more than a couple of times a year.

Meanwhile, gay rights campaigners and anti-church groups plan to hold noisy demonstrations against the pope.

About 100 opposition politicians who object to Catholic teachings plan to boycott an address by the pope to the Bundestag, or parliament, on Thursday.

Parliamentary officials are inviting ex-members to attend and occupy the seats left empty.

On Saturday, the pope will fly to Freiburg, in Germany's south-western corner, where he will celebrate a large outdoor mass before returning home on Sunday.

Some 260,000 Catholics have tickets to hear the pope's masses in the three cities. Security is too tight to allow spontaneous attendance.

Since becoming pope, Benedict has visited his homeland twice in his capacity as a religious leader, but this time he will be honored as head of state of the Vatican, with the German government paying for the security and the church paying for venues and hospitality.

Holy Mother Russia?

Russian Lawmakers Prepare

For Major Crackdown on Abortion

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia‘s Orthodox Church teamed with Conservative parliamentarians Monday to push legislation that would radically restrict abortions in a nation struggling to cope with one of the world’s lowest birthrates.

The legislation would ban free abortions at government-run clinics and prohibit the sale of the morning-after pill without a prescription, said Yelena Mizulina, who heads a parliamentary committee on families, women and children.

She added that abortion for a married woman would also require the permission of her spouse, while teenage girls would need their parents’ consent. If the legislation is passed, a week’s waiting period would also be introduced so women could consider their decision to terminate their pregnancy, Mizulina said.

During the time of the Soviet Union, abortion laws were liberal, and unrestricted termination of pregnancy became virtually the only method of family planning. Sex education was frowned upon.

Russia‘s abortion rates are still among the world’s highest, contributing to a fertility rate of only 1.4 children per woman – far below the 2.1 needed to maintain the existing population. The rate has become a serious concern for Russia as it fights to stem a steep population decline

Mizulina said she wants to see public debate on abortions before the bill is submitted to parliament, an apparent attempt to build support after similar legislation stalled last year.

A bill proposed in late 2010 called for the criminal prosecution of doctors who end late-term pregnancies, but it faced government opposition and was never put up for a vote.

 
(Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias)

The effort to restrict abortions has strong backing from the Russian Orthodox Church, which has sought a more muscular role in society in recent years. It counts more than 100 million Russians in a population of 143 million as its congregation, although polls show that only about 5 percent of Russians are observant.

“I hope that very soon we will live in a Russia without abortions,” church spokesman Vsevolod Chaplin said at Monday’s presentation.

According to a United Nations survey in 2004, Russia had the world’s highest abortion rate: 53.7 per 100 women.

Figures from the Russian Health Ministry suggest the rate may have declined in recent years, though it remains high: In 2009, there were 74 abortions for every 100 births in Russia, a significant drop in comparison with 169 abortions per 100 births in 2000.

The total number of abortions recorded by the Health Ministry in 2009 reached nearly 1.3 million.

Mizulina claims that the official statistics do not include pregnancies terminated at private clinics, or those stopped by morning-after pills, and the true number might be closer to 6 million.

She also proposed that the law be changed to allow women to leave unwanted children at orphanages anonymously without risking criminal prosecution for child abandonment.

It was unclear how much support the anti-abortion measures would receive in parliament.

Natalya Karpovich, a lawmaker with the dominant pro-Kremlin party United Russia, who is expecting her fifth child, said she supported stricter regulation of abortions. But she said banning the procedure in Russia was unrealistic and would only lead to more children whose parents were unwilling or unable to care for them.

Blessed Georg Haefner

 

 

Priest who defied Nazis beatified

The Associated Press

Published Sunday, May. 15, 2011

BERLIN -- Germans in Pope Benedict XVI's home state of Bavaria celebrated Sunday the beatification ceremony of a priest who was honored for practicing his Roman Catholic faith in defiance of the Nazis.

The pope, who grew up in Bavaria, sent Cardinal Angelo Amato from the Vatican to celebrate the beatification Mass for Georg Haefner in Wuerzburg Cathedral, the DAPD news agency reported.

During his traditional Sunday greetings to pilgrims in St. Peter's Square, the pope, who grew up in Bavaria and was forced by the Nazis to serve as a teen in the Hitler Youth, praised Haefner.

"In the confusion of National Socialism, Georg Haefner was willing, as a faithful shepherd, to protect his flock and deliver the sacrament and the water of life to many people, until the end of his life," the pope said, speaking in German.

"He forgave those who wronged him and in a letter to his parents from prison, he wrote, 'We want to be at peace with everyone.'"

Haefner died of hunger and disease in Dachau concentration camp in 1942.

Friedhelm Hofmann, the bishop of Wuerzburg, said Haefner represented all members of the Catholic church who perished for their faith during the Nazi-era.

_____________

An even better article

Permalink: http://www.zenit.org/article-32539?l=english

WWII "Martyr of Reconciliation"

to Be Beatified

Carmelite Priest Aimed to Be Love, Reveal Love, Give Love

By Carmen Elena Villa

WURZBURG, Germany, MAY 10, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Carmelite Father Georg Häfner never had any intention to confront the Nazi regime head-on. But his quiet, daily fidelity to his priestly ministry landed him in Dachau. This Sunday he will be beatified.

Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, will represent the Pope at the beatification ceremony in Wurzburg.

"We do not want to condemn a human being, or sow rancor against anyone. Rather, we want to be good to all," said the priest before being killed in August 1942.

Georg Häfner was born in Wurzburg in 1900. At the end of World War I, after having done his military service for a year, he began to study theology and became a member of a Catholic student association.

Growing up in the shadows of a Carmelite monastery and participating in Mass as an altar server nourished the seed of his vocation. He was ordained a priest in 1924.

"His pastoral activities coincided with the period of the Nationalist dictatorship," noted Andrea Ambrossi, the postulator of his cause, in a statement to ZENIT.

In 1938 Father Häfner was visited by the bishop of his diocese, who was very pleased with the catechesis the priest imparted and noted in his report the good religious formation of the children of the parish.

"There are close to 700 faithful who receive Holy Communion and this is a reason for joy," the bishop wrote.

Father Häfner "dedicated himself seriously to his obligations and duties," Ambrossi said. "But it was inevitable that his pastoral zeal would put him in conflict with the Nationalists, to the point that, a priest as good and truly available to all as he was, became a political 'enemy.'"

The religious priest's pastoral initiatives annoyed the Nazi regime. On Oct. 3, 1941, he was detained briefly, and on the 31st of the same month, arrested and taken to Dachau concentration camp, where he was branded with the number 28 876.

Ambrossi observed that Father Häfner did not have "the intention to combat head-on the National Socialist regime."

"But," he continued, "the fact is that the complete observance of his priestly ministry led him inevitably to become a victim of the convictions of his conscience, that is, of his pastoral obligations."

Even in the concentration camp, Father Häfner said that in life there could be no enemies.

His aim was "to be love, to reveal love, to give love, so that men will have life and have it in abundance," the postulator said.

The Carmelite in Dachau showed a total abandonment to God, Ambrossi affirmed, such that "we are truly before a martyr of reconciliation, a priest soaked in a profound love of the cross, a most credible witness of the faith."

Yodeling Offends Muslims?

Austria: Judge Rules That

Yodeling Offends Muslims

 by Elad Benari

It seems as though in Austria, the popular yodel is an insult to Muslims.

 An Austrian court has recently fined a citizen for yodeling while mowing his lawn, according to a report in The Kronen Zeitung newspaper.

 The citizen, 63-year-old Helmut G., was told by the court that his yodeling offended his next-door Muslim neighbors, who accused him of trying to mock and imitate the call of the Muezzin.

In Muslim tradition, the Muezzin is the chosen person at a mosque who leads the call to prayer at Friday services and the five daily times for prayer from one of the mosque's minarets.

 The yodel is a song which is sung with an extended note which rapidly and repeatedly changes in pitch and makes a high-low-high-low sound. Developed in the Central Alps as a method of communication between alpine mountaineers or between alpine villages, the yodel later became part of the region's traditional lore and musical expression. The technique is used in many cultures throughout the world and Austria is one of the countries where it is most popular.

 Unfortunately for Helmut G., his neighbors were in the middle of a prayer when he started to yodel. The Kronen Zeitung reported that he was fined 800 Euros after judges ruled that he could have tried to offend his neighbors and ridicule their belief.

Helmut G. clarified that “It was not my intention to imitate or insult them. I simply started to yodel a few tunes because I was in such a good mood.”

(IsraelNationalNews.com)

 

 

The Writing on the Wall

 

Mohammed is most popular boys' name in England

LONDON (AFP) - – Mohammed was the most popular name for newborn baby boys in England and Wales in 2009, according to official data released Wednesday.

But 12 different spellings of the name, each listed separately, meant that Oliver officially topped poll.

The name, given to 7,364 children, ended Jack's 14-year reign at number one, with Harry, Alfie and Joshua rounding out the top five in the figures published by the Office for National Statistics.

The two most common spellings of the Muslim name came in at 16th and 36th place, a total of 7,549 baby boys, making it the most popular name overall.

The most common spelling, Mohammed, was the number one name in its own right in the West Midlands region of central England which includes the city of Birmingham, and number four in London.

Olivia, meanwhile, remained the most common girls' name with 5,201 children of that name, followed by Ruby, Chloe, Emily and Sophie.

The highest climber in the girls' top 100 was Maisie, up 29 places to number 34.

Austin showed the largest rise of any name in the top 100 for boys, surging from number 160 in 2008 to 100th place in 2009.

England and Manchester United footballer Wayne Rooney's son Kai was one of 1,012 born last year, making it the 68th most popular boys' baby name.

Alfie was the highest climbing new entry to the boys' top 10, up 60 to number four over the past ten years.

More generally, the last 10 years showed a resurgence of popularity among names popular around the start of the 20th century.

In another development, there were 16 newborn Kings in 2009, three KingDavids, 68 Princes, eight Dukes, 11 Earls, four Barons and four Lords born.

Amongst the girls, there were 12 Queenies, seven Queens, 109 Princesses and five Ladys.

Florence, the name of Prime Minister David Cameron's new baby, was at number 80 last year.

There were 706,248 live births in England and Wales in 2009.

Christian Babies Best Defense Against Islam

 
 
Breed or be Islamised,

priest tells Europe

Simon Caldwell, London

September 9, 2010

 

EUROPEAN Christians must have more children or face the prospect of the continent becoming Islamised, according to a senior Vatican official.

Father Piero Gheddo, an Italian, said that a low birth rate among indigenous Europeans combined with an unprecedented wave of Muslim immigrants with large families will result in Europe becoming dominated by Islam in the space of a few generations.

''The challenge must be taken seriously,'' said Father Gheddo, of the Vatican's Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions.

He predicted that Islam would ''sooner rather than later conquer the majority in Europe''.

''As a people, we are becoming ever more pagan and the religious vacuum is inevitably filled by other proposals and religious forces,'' he said. ''An answer must be given in the religious and cultural fields and in the area of identity.''

He said that Christians who lapsed were also vulnerable to secularism. ''When religious practice diminishes in Christian Europe and indifference spreads, Christianity and the church are attacked.

''If we consider ourselves a Christian country, we should return to the practice of Christian life, which would also solve the problem of empty cradles.''

Czech clerics have also blamed lapsed Catholics for the Islamisation of Europe.

On his retirement as the Archbishop of Prague earlier this year, Cardinal Miloslav Vlk said that Muslims were filling the spiritual void ''created as Europeans systematically empty the Christian content of their lives''.

SEE: http://www.theage.com.au/world/breed-or-be-islamised-priest-tells-europe-20100908-1518w.html

From Seminary Professor to President.

from: Catholic News Service

POLAND-PRESIDENT Jul-6-2010 (450 words) With photo. xxxi

Poland's new Catholic president gets mixed reviews from bishops

By Jonathan Luxmoore

WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- Polish bishops have given a mixed reception to their country's new president, Bronislaw Komorowski (pic above), a 58-year-old Catholic father of five and former seminary history teacher.

"I see him as a man of ideas with many personal qualities, a person of dialogue who can also listen -- I think this election serves Poland well," said Archbishop Henryk Muszynski of Gniezno (pic above).

"I'm also pleased with the manners shown when the results were announced. I see clear progress over what happened previously and a good sign for the future when it comes to the style of exercising government in a democratic country," he said.

In a presidential runoff July 4, Komorowski garnered 52.6 percent of the vote, while his conservative challenger, former Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski (pic below), got 47.4 percent.

Komorowski told Poland's Catholic information agency, KAI, July 6 that the election, which saw a national turnout of less than 55 percent, had marked a break from "factionalism and hunting for special benefits" and a move toward a "quest for what unites." He said it would help stabilize democracy by leaving a strong government and opposition.

However, another senior prelate said he feared the victory of a candidate from a party already in government risked "not just a party monopoly, but also a monopoly of haughtiness and disdain," and would strengthen "the diktat of the big cities, with their power, business and media."

"Every monopoly generates deviation, scorn and foppery toward the weakest," Archbishop Slawoj Glodz of Gdansk (pic above) told KAI. "So the church will defend the weakest -- this isn't only its right, but also its duty."

As speaker of the Polish parliament, Komorowski became acting head of state after the April 10 death of President Lech Kaczynski with 95 others in an air crash in Russia. Jaroslaw Kaczynski was the late president's twin brother.

Arrested several times in the 1970s for anti-communist activities, Komorowski was jailed with other Solidarity union supporters under martial law from 1981 to 1983. He became a member of parliament in 1991 after the restoration of democracy and served as defense minister, 2000-2001.

 

As presidential candidate for Prime Minister Donald Tusk's (pic above)business-linked Civic Platform, which favors free-market reforms and closer ties with the European Union, he failed to win outright in a June 20 vote.

Several Catholic commentators have criticized Komorowski for failing to back the church on key issues, including its strong opposition to a government bill to allow state funding for in vitro fertilization.

Although several bishops rejected campaign claims that the Catholic Church had taken sides, the Gazeta Wyborcza daily claimed July 6 local priests had contributed to a "huge mobilization" on behalf of Kaczynski, who campaigned on a pro-church ticket.

END

Orange Order to protest Pope's visit.

Orange Order calls for protest

against Pope's visit to England

By Kelly Fincham, www.irishcentral.com

The bowler hats are at it again!

The Orange Order in Ireland has called on its members to protest the Pope's upcoming visit to England.

And it says that anyone welcoming Pope Benedict XVI in September should be warned that they are acknowledging "his primacy and universal supremacy as Vicar of Christ on earth."

Well that's that then.

The Grand Orange Lodge says it recognizes the Pope's right to visit but says it must object on Biblical grounds.

Apparently the Lodge doesn't mind the Pope paying a visit to his flock because it "recognises the civil and religious rights of all."

Well, not to take a cheap shot lads, but if you recognize the civil andreligious rights of all why are you protesting?

Just asking like.

Ut Unum Sint

I think it glorious news that any part of the “Dowry of Mary” may be returning to Holy Mother Church!

 

Pope establishes structure for Anglicans uniting with Rome

By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has established a special structure for Anglicans who want to be in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church while preserving aspects of their Anglican spiritual and liturgical heritage, said U.S. Cardinal William J. Levada.

The cardinal, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said a new apostolic constitution would establish "personal ordinariates" -- similar to dioceses -- to oversee the pastoral care of those who want to bring elements of their Anglican identity into the Catholic Church with them.

Anglican priests who are married may be ordained Catholic priests, but married Anglican bishops will not be able to function as Catholic bishops in keeping with the long-standing Catholic and Orthodox tradition of ordaining only unmarried clergy as bishops, Cardinal Levada said.

See the full story at http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0904673.htm

The usual “attack dogs” of the media are, not surprisingly, trying spin this positive story into an assault on the Church on two distinct fronts:

1.)             This move solidifies the Church as “homophobic” and anti-women.

"Ecclesiastical kindergarten games

By: John Shelby Spong

Former Bishop, Episcopal Diocese oF Newark

Washington Post On-Line

In the recent communication between the Pope, Benedict XVI, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, which will allow Anglicans to become Roman Catholics with an "Anglican Twist," we have a sad picture of how out-of-date and irrelevant institutional Christianity has become. Here we have two unimpressive Christian leaders, rooted deeply in yesterday, jockeying publicly to see who can be the most prejudiced about the role of women and the place of homosexual people in the life of the Christian Church. It would be amusing if it were not so ludicrous."

See the full story at: http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/john_shelby_spong/2009/10/ecclesiastical_kindergarten_games.html

 2.)             This move is incongruous as it will allow married Anglican priests to become “Catholic” priests.

"Catholic Church Makes 'Stunning' Move

By JAMES GRAFF, World Editor

AOL News

 

(Oct. 20) -- The number of married Catholic priests could grow sharply as the result of the Vatican's epochal decision to welcome thousands of disaffected Anglicans and Episcopalians into the Catholic Church.

 

"It's a stunning turn of events," says Lawrence Cunningham, theology professor at Notre dame University. "This decision will allow for many more married clergy in Western churches, and that's going to raise anew the question, 'If they can do it, why can't the priests of Rome ?,'" says Cunningham."

See the full story at: http://news.aol.com/article/vatican-creates-new-structure-to-ease/728295?icid=main|main|dl2|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Farticle%2Fvatican-creates-new-structure-to-ease%2F728295#

Despite this obfuscation on the part

of most of the media, this is truly

good news.

Saint Thomas More, pray for your countrymen!

Martyrs of England & Wales pray for us.