Showing posts with label Ecumenism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ecumenism. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

"Rebel Pastor" Bernard Kroll Will be the President of the Catholic Workers' Movement of Eichstät

On the 10th Anniversary of His Betrayal of Christ
[Bild: kreuz-net/Archiv]
"Rebel priest" Bernhard Kroll is Programme Director of Pastoral Workers of the Diocese of Eichstätt Kroll was rightly suspended because of prohibited participation in a Protestant communion with the "Ecumenical" Church Day in Berlin by Bishop Mixa. Now he is promised a management function.


"Ecumenism" - A Plague of [Bad] Advice

Driven mainly by Protestants and Leftist "Catholics" as a hobby, "ecumenism" has as its primary purpose to enfeeble, and to pull down Roman Catholic values ​​and beliefs to Protestants level.

To date, it is certainly not known if Protestants are coming to the Catholic Church. The former cult director and current ambassador of the Reformation, Margot Käßmann, who drank her way out of her former office, expects a "positive signal for ecumenism", quite the opposite for the Luther celebration in 2017.

At the same time it is clear: "The divisive - Papacy, Marian devotion, theological understandings of the official Church and the Eucharist - will remain of course."

In other words: the Catholic Church is to move towards heresy after example of the Protestants.

Abusers Lord's Supper

In connection with the "Ecumenical" Church Day in May 2003, in Berlin, he cooperated in celebrating Eucharist with the later banned, Emeritus Theology Professor Gotthold Hasenhüttl, in the Gethsemane Lutheran Church and Fr. Bernhard Kroll, pastor in Franconia Großhabersdorf, had used members of the Protestant cult as lackeys.

Out of sheer greed for public acclaim, he was also filmed here.

Fr. Gotthold Hasenhüttl celebrated Holy Mass in a Lutheran church. For supper he invited everyone present explicitly - Catholics, heretics and infidels.

Hw. Hasenhüttl described in an interview with the anti-Catholic polemic journal "The Mirror", the Papal encyclicals - like those of Pope John Paul II, with which it is clearly presented by the Holy Father that Catholics attending the Protestant type of the "Eucharist" is forbidden - as a "contribution to the discussion by the Pope".

Premeditation

Fr. Kroll continued the compare the celebration of Holy Communion in the Church of the presence of God as the same as a mere memorial by Protestants.

Fr. Kroll knows that the participation of a Catholic priest in vestments in a Protestant wine tasting with bread is forbidden.

But that did not bother him.

On the contrary, he had even accepted the action taken, even expected sanctions by the Church - "but at most with a warning, or a leave of absence."

Proper response of Bishop Mixa

Instead, the then Bishop Walter Mixa had done the right thing: He suspended Fr. Kroll a few days later, prohibiting any celebration of the Eucharist and relieved him of his duties as President of the Diocesan Catholic Youth Community (KJG). The official website of the Diocese of Eichstätt euphemistically describes it ten years later (release: July 8, 2013) with, "In the fall of 2003, he resigned [Fr. Kroll, Editor's note] his pastorate and began further studies."

Church from Below

Then the supposedly Catholic associations of de facto Protestants as "We Are Church" attempted to stage a peasant revolt. In a leaflet of the anti-Roman "Church People's Movement" ("We Are Church") you availed the mobilization effect and asked the recipients "for their generous (tax-deductible) donation - of course for themselves.

Bishop Mixa was fortunately committed in his objectively well-founded decision.

But he also receives unintentional praise from "We are Church": "Walter Mixa, Bishop of Eichstätt, for whom the Pope is a welcome guest, who had already made known his unwavering loyalty to the Roman doctrine on the assumption of office."

Support was received for Mixa from his Excellency Meisner, Archbishop of Cologne and Catholic associations like the "Network Catholic Priests": "Kroll is a further indication of the theological and pastoral nadir of German Catholicism."

However, the network of Catholic priests wished even a punishment of unfair practices in the Eucharist even when they are not attacked in the media.

Press Conference by Fr. Kroll

He had been shocked, is what Fr. Kroll reported. Apparently not enough, at a press conference given after his disciplining he shows himself obstinate and refers to previous misdeeds, "church services, weddings and baptisms along with evangelical colleagues are common in my community. The time was ripe to go a step further. I would probably not do it again in this way."

Commendation by Bishop Gregor Maria Hanke on the 10-year anniversary of the suspension

Almost exactly ten years later the incumbent Bishop of Eichstätt Hanke promoted Fr. Kroll, to the order to the diocesan president of the Catholic Workers Movement (KAB). He replaces vicar Michael Konecny, who is now translated to the parish of Buxheim.

Even before that (early 2008) had his Excellency had appointed Kroll as city youth minister in Ingolstadt - how aptly he could convey his Protestant views of equality to the youth right here.

Bishops Promote Anti-Rome Clergy

The new office is to begin for "rebel priest" on the 1st of September, 2013, coinciding with the disobedience Pastor Strohmaier in St. Veit am Vogau in southern Styria.

But that the episcopate also conveys that it is behind the anti-Rome movement or at least approves of this.

Link to kreuz.net...


Editor: Bishop Walter Mixa was one of the few German Bishops trying to get it right, and he was trammeled and dismissed over very weak allegations of physically abusing his students.  He was "helped" along by the decadent Cardinals Marx and Zollitsch.  Clearly, he was replaced by a very evil Bishop.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Lutheran Church: "Homosexuality is Part of Creation"

Edit: despite the fact that there are quite a few German Catholic Bishops pushing for  the legalization of aberrosexual marriage, it's going to be very difficult to justify the upcoming ecumenical celebrations celebrating the Protestant Revolt. Here's the translation from Junge Freiheit:

[Darmstadt] The Synod of the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau (EKHN) has largely assimilated the blessing of homosexual couples with the traditional marriage of a man and woman. As the EKHN announced on Saturday, the Synod decided to upgrade the blessing of same-sex partnerships.

The intention of the Church Parliament for such blessings are to be certified in the future church records. It will also consider whether the ceremony can also be called a marriage.

"Homosexuality can be seen as part of creation"

Delivered up by a large majority in the regulations of the Synod, it is described by Hessian Broadcasting, among other things: "Today, it is assumed that the same-sex orientation belongs to the natural conditions of life. Homosexuality can be seen as part of creation. "

Church President Volker Jung praised the decision of the Synod for the blessing: "Here the current practice of the blessings of registered partnerships which is consistently integrated into the portion of the ceremony," he said. The Protestant understanding are both acts of blessing and not [yet] sacraments. (Krk)

Link to Junge Freiheit [One of Germany's conservative political weeklies.]...

Monday, May 27, 2013

Voting Till You Get the Right Result -- Schönborn's Unacceptable Comparison

(London) Vatican Radio reports: "The Anglican Church has announced plans to test the recognition of the Episcopal ordination of women again." In other words, in the Anglican "Church of England" the motto is "democracy instead of truth" voted on as long as needed until the result desired by progressive circles results.

Vienna Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn said in mid-May, in a speech at London's Royal Albert Hall for an Anglican organized Ecumenical Leadership Conference of a "peculiar similarity" between the election of Pope Francis and the choice of Justin Welby as the Archbishop of Canterbury and thus the Primate of the Anglican Communion. He described the "similarity" even as "a small miracle" and as a "sign of the Lord" .

The comparison of the Conclave with the election of the president of the Anglican Communion by the Austrian Cardinal seems more "strange". Observers of the development of the "Church of England" and the Anglican Communion speak of hard battles as a direction was found for a sufficient majority for a candidate. The majority determined, and wanted a new "Primate", which is precisely a moderate progressive. No conservative, but not a candidate who accepts homosexuals as bishops. At least not now.

The current goal in ascendent liberal circles is namely the enforcement of women bishops. Welby meets all the criteria of what is currently considered moderately progressive in the "Church of England": He explicitly rejects homosexual bishops, but spoke even before his election explicitly for the admission of women to the episcopate.

Welby's choice was the result of calculated, painstaking negotiations, of tactics, the massive lobbying majority of majority shoppers, of compromise and lengthy inventions by democratic majority, i.e., human rules. The Holy Spirit can hardly recognize it.

The Archbishop of Vienna's statement on the election of Welby and equating it with the election of Pope Francis is all the more incomprehensible because his statements on the simultaneous connection with the Conclave, relatives the work of the Holy Spirit in the Sistine Chapel.

Text: Martha Weinzl Image: RV Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to katholisches...

Monday, May 20, 2013

Silent March for the Kidnapped Metropolitans in Amman

Damascus / Beirut, 20.5.13 (Yarmulke) On Tuesday the Christian churches organized a silent march in which they are demanding the release of the two Bishops abducted a month ago in Aleppo, Metropolitan Mar Gregorios Yuhanna Ibrahim and Boulos Yazigi. "The initiative is to have all Christian denominations connected,” said Archbishop Maroun Lahham, Vicar General for Jordan of the Latin Patriarchate Jerusalem for Vatican news agency Fides.

At the same time in the Old City of Jerusalem, the release of the two metropolitans Aleppo is required. On Tuesday, the Christian churches call in Amman, Jordan in a silent march for the release of the two. (Photo: Andrea Krogmann, 2013) Also on Tuesday there will be an international conference on the situation of Christians in the Middle East, in which the situation of the disappeared Aleppo metropolitans and the other victims of abduction will be raised, at Notre-Dame-du-Mont monastery in Beirut. It has been organized by the World Council of Churches, together with the Near Eastern Churches MECC conference, for which 150 participants are expected, in particular, it should also address questions of Christian-Muslim relations, the threat of extremism and social justice. [Oh, that slippery concept again.]

In the last MECC General Assembly, a proposal was drawn up, which was taken by the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches in 2011. The Central Committee noted at the time that "the living faith of Christians has its roots in the Middle East. This faith is nurtured by the unbroken testimony of the local Churches, whose roots go back to apostolic times." Without the Christian presence there, the coexistence of peoples of different religions and cultures in the Middle East, which is "a sign of God's love for all humanity", would be in danger.

Solidarity and Ecumenism

Michel Nseir, who is responsible for the activities of the World Council of Churches Middle East, emphasized now that the "ecumenical concern for the importance of the Christian presence in the Middle East" significantly differs from the attitude of those "who want to inflame Islamophobia". Just down the road on the forthcoming 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Busan, it was necessary in the "pilgrimage for peace and justice” to involve the churches in the Middle East and their take concern with "generous solidarity and a truly ecumenical spirit of unity in action". Among the speakers at the conference - scheduled for the 25th of May - is the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, Samuel Kobia, the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, the Former (Orthodox) Lebanese Minister Tarek Mitri and the Coptic scientist and former adviser Mursi Samir Morcos.

Assad talks about the Abduction

Syrian President Bashar Assad has taken the first time publicly on the fate of the two abducted Aleppo metropolitans position. In an interview published at the weekend with the Argentine daily newspaper "Clarin" he was asked, among other things about the two bishops. Assad replied: "We have preliminary information that they are close to the Syrian-Turkish border. We are pursuing this matter very closely and cooperating with the Orthodox patriarchates, so that the Metropolitans will be freed from the hands of terrorist groups, by whom they have been kidnapped."

(Kipa / cap / on)

Edit: just for once it would be nice to have something like this not become co-opted by agitating Socialist entities like the World Council of Churches (another ape of the Catholic magisterium) and their quest for “social justice”, however, any ecumenical effort on behalf of these men is something most Catholics can agree upon.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Kasper: “No Synodal Form of Church Leadership"

Edit: now that there’s been a change of management. Cardinal Kasper feels free reign to speak his mind.
“The world Church can’t be led in a Eurocentric way any more.” This is what the German Curial Cardinal Walter Kasper said in an interview with “Corriere della Sera”, that was published this Sunday. In a “globalized and complex world collegiality is the right direction”, said the former leader of Vatican Ecumenism. It is also important for the Pope, that he governs and has the last word. “But it is important that he has well informed advisors about him, who represent the entire world.” The Curia needs reform, “in order to become more efficient” [Less Catholic, he means.] That Pope Francis has chosen eight Cardinals to advice means “no synodal form of government as it is understood by the Orthodox”, specified Cardinal Kasper.

Link to Radiovaticana.va...

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Moscow Patriarchate Warns Anglican Church Against Deviations From Christian Values

Edit he’s not asking, he’s telling him.  These radicals will talk all day about ecumenism, until it actually does something to unify Christians.  They’d much rather divide Christians and keep them in Schism.  There are a few characters in the Bible who were like that.

If anything, it looks like the Orthodox are growing closer to the Catholic Church, as the Patriarch of Constantinople suggested the plausibility that the Great Schism could be drawing to a close.
Russian Church hopes new head of Anglican Church will not allow female bishops, same-sex marriage

Moscow, March 25, Interfax - The Moscow Patriarchate expects Justin Welby, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, to adhere to the norms of Christian morals and the church system. He didn’t strike a conciliatory tone, no.

"We know that the Anglican Church is now going through a difficult time and various views, positions, and parties co-exist in it. However, we really hope that the traditional understanding of Christian morals and the church system will prevail in this polemic," Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, the head of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations, said during a meeting between Welby and representatives of the Orthodox Churches who attended his enthronement.

The introduction of the institution of female bishops will lead to the elimination of even a theoretical possibility of the Moscow Patriarchate recognizing the church hierarchy of the Anglican Church, the communications service of the Department for External Church Relations reported on Saturday. [I should think women’s ordination had already done that long ago.]

"I would like you to know about that and take our opinion into account when this issue arises again," Metropolitan Hilarion said.

Metropolitan Hilarion also said he is hoping Justin Welby will firmly defend the traditional biblical understanding of marriage as a union between a man and a woman "to prevent secular society from forcing on the Church of England the recognition of some forms of cohabitation which were never considered marriage by Christian churches."

Welby responded by saying he appreciates the comment, adding that the position of the Church of England on the issue of marriage is absolutely clear and it has recently confirmed that marriage is a life-long union between a man and a woman.

Link to Interfax-Religion...

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Pope and Patriarch of Constantinople Will Travel Together to Jerusalem

Pope Francis has accepted the Orthodox Leader’s offer to make a common trip to Jerusalem, in addition  he will publicly visit the See of the Patriarchate in Constantinople.

Athens/Vatican City (kath.net/KNA)  Pope Francis (76) and Bartholomew I (73) of Constantinople will make a common trip to Jerusalem. next year.  The Pope has accepted the corresponding proposal of the Greek Orthodox Head, reports the Greek news site "NewsIt" this Wednesday.  This trip will commemorate the historic meeting between Patriarch Athenagoras and Pope Paul VI. 50 years before.  Their meeting in Jerusalem lead to the lifting of the mutual excommunications, which had stood since the schism of 1054.

At the same time Bartholomew I. invited the Roman Pope according to the report, to visit the Phanar, the seat of the Patriarch in Constantinople.  Francis has also accepted this visit.  An official invitation still has to go through diplomatic channels, it says.  Both Church leaders had met in the context of an ecumenical meeting for the new Pope in the Vatican on Wednesday.

Additionally, the two Church leaders, “NewsIt” says, agreed to develop common initiatives for the protection of the environment.   Patriarch Bartholomew I. urged that Francis and he might go together to open a planned event in 2015 for the defense of creation on Mount Athos.  The outcome should be shown in an exhibition in the Quirinal Palace.

Bartholomew I. is known for his ecological engagement. For this reason, he is also known by the media as the “Green Patriarch”.  Francis had mentioned the protection of the environment in the sermon for his inaugural Mass.  Francis of Assisi (1181/82- 1226), for whom he chose his name, is the Patron Saint of environmentalism.

Initially reported by Rome Reports:




Saturday, January 26, 2013

The Ecumenical Movement Can Not be a Contract of Mutual Interests

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Link to kath.net...

Saturday, October 20, 2012

2013 Catholics and Orthodox Will in Holy Land Will Celebrate Easter Simultaneously -- Soon in the Whole World?

(Jerusalem)  In 2013 Catholics of the Holy Land will celebrate Easter together with the Orthodox on May 5th and not on March 31st.  March as in the rest of the whole world.  In Jerusalem and the other Holy places Easter will be celebrated according to the Julian calendar as the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem reveals.

The Holy See has allowed the various rites the freedom to celebrate with the Gregorian or the Julian calendar.  The Catholics Bishops of the Holy Land have thus concluded, in order to strengthen the Christian unity in places,  where the son of God was born on earth, lived and died on the cross, to follow the Julian Calendar which the Orthodox Christians also use.

From Gregorian to Julian Calendar

The ecumenical gesture which has significant importance also has to do with questions which are significant to members of the Latin and Oriental rites.

Lent, Easter and Pentecost will be celebrated according to a decree published yesterday by the Latin Patriarchate, according to the Julian Calendar, and thus was a suggestion  triggered by the Bishops' Synod for the Near East in 2010.  The decision addressed the paradox of different feast times in the same territory, and with that the element of division which has reached even into families.

The Ruling is Valid for 2013 ad experimentum 

The decree will be issued ad experimentum only for the year of 2013.  In 2014 in any case, the dates for Easter fall on the 20th of April and without any help, together on the same day.  Til the year 2015 the Latin Patriarchate and the Holy See will meet for a final ruling. The Catholic Bishops of the Holy Land are prepared to give their agreement to a lasting adoption of the Julian Calendar and have expressed the wish that Rome may grant canonical approval.

In Israel, Palestinian Areas, Jordan and Cyprus the Western and Eastern Churches Celebrate Together

For the year of 2013 the ruling will effect the Catholic parishes of Israel, Palestinian Authority, Jordan and Cyrpus and then the complete sphere of influence of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.  There will be at least two exceptions in 2013.  The parishes of Jerusalem and Bethlehem will celebrate according to the Gregorian Calendar during Easter on the 31st of March.

Exceptions exist in the Holy Sites of Jerusalem and Bethlehem because of the complicated legal system

Both exceptions are dependent upon the legal status quo, which date back to an Ottoman decree which certified the exact times the various confessions would use the various sites.  These ordinances are expected to change in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, yet are at present unforeseen where the various confessions are eager to fight for every centimeter and every minute in the Holy Site.  For the Catholic pilgrims who will visit the Holy Land and want to celebrate Easter in Jerusalem or Bethlehem, nothing will change.

The sign, which has been established by Catholics for the coming year, will be highly visible for the Christians in the Near East.   In the Holy Land the divisions between Christians is clearly visible.  It is not seldom that there is evidence of physical animosity between the confessions.  The Latin Patriarchate  wants to make a gesture of good will with this one-sided step and express the desire that for the faithful, whose families, might celebrate the feast at the same time.

Benedict XVI's desire For Worldwide Easter Between Orient and Occident

Pope Benedict XVI. has expressed many times the hope that Catholics and Orthodox will come to an accord for the celebration of the feast of Easter.  The Holy Land represents the first step for that.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Bild: Sizemore Insights

Link to original Katholisches...

Sunday, September 23, 2012

More News : Rock Abbot Re-Elected to Benedictine Order

Abbot Notker Re-elected -- Abortionist Nina Hagen plays at event with Cardinal Woelki -- Cameldolese General Chapter

Rock Star or Abbot?





Old Liberal Remains Abbot Primate of the Benedictines

Italy.  [kreuz.net] On Friday 250 Abbots of the Benedictine Confederation re-elected Abbot Notker Wolf (72) as Abbot Primate. He has had this office since the year 2000 inclusive and has been elected for still another four years. Abbot Wolf represents about 7,350 Benedictines and 15,400 nuns.

Diversity is a value in itself? In the Criminal Museum There is a Diversity of Instruments of Torture
Abortion Fiend Nina Hagen

Germany. On the Saturday before last there were about 20,000 eager spectators at the Berine Alexanderplatz for a "Festival of Churches". The rock singer and defender of the violence of abortion, Nina Hagen, gave a free concert. For an additional eent there was an ecumenical service with the Old Liberal Homo-Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, the Evangelical Lay-Bishop Markus Droge and the Greek Orthodoox Metropolitan Augoustinos. There were about 170 booths supposedly informing about the "diversity" of the Christian community.

Cameldolese Begin their General Chapter

Italy. On the 18th September the General Chapther of the Catholic eremitical order the Carmeldolese began. This was according to the website 'ruferstimme.blogspot.com'. The order of eremites was founded by St. Romuald of Camaldoli (+1027). The General Chapter took place in Rome.

Friday, August 31, 2012

++Schönborn Triumphant at Pope Benedict's Schülerkreis


‘Ratzinger Schülerkreis’ Is Now in Session

Edit: Vienna's Pornography Cardinal practically gloats as he describes Cardinal Ratzinger's programme for the American Neoconservative Catholic Register. In his interview with Vatican Radio on 30 August, he dissembled:
“The fact that the Holy Father has chosen this theme for the meeting this year is a sign that the ecumenical question is of primary importance for him” 

After years of frustrating the Pope's initiatives in Austria and undermining his authority by giving in to dissidents, promoting Medjugorje, and slyly promoting homosexuality by overturning a pastor's decision when he tried to reject a parish council member who was an active homosexual earlier this year.

All of that is forgotten, as the Cardinal waxes sensitively about the very close relationship between himself and the Holy Father, and yet there is not one word of criticism from NCR.

“It is an academic circle, and this means that what counts are the arguments,” said Cardinal Schönborn. “Of course there is the question of friendships that have been built up after so many years, we have met for over 30 years, every year, and now we are almost at the point of retirement!”

A key component of the annual get together is, of course, the involvement of Pope Benedict himself. Cardinal Schönborn said the Pope’s disposition throughout is not merely academic but also “paternal” and “fraternal” towards his former students. “What strikes us is how the Holy Father always knows his pupils, he always asks about their family, children, and when there is suffering in a family he knows about it, he cares deeply,” the Austrian cardinal said.

The basis for much of the group’s studies this week will be Cardinal Walter Kasper’s 2009 book Harvesting the Fruits, which explores Catholic relations with Anglicanism and Lutheranism.

The discussion on Lutheranism will be led by the German Lutheran Bishop-Emeritus Ulrich Wilckens, while the Swiss Catholic Bishop Charles Morerod of Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg will lead the discussion on Anglicanism.

“With the Holy Father, we expect a dialogue in truth and charity: in the truth that does not conceal the drama of division among Christians in Europe and, as a consequence, all over the world, but also the great issue of what is the reform of the Church, a theme of utmost importance to the Holy Father,” Cardinal Schönborn remarked.

Pope Benedict’s 26-year academic career involved him teaching at universities in Bonn, Munster, Tubingen and Regensburg. He was appointed archbishop of Munich and Freising in 1977.
Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/ratzinger-schuelerkreis-is-now-in-session/#ixzz25AqztrNj

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Cardinal Awaits Pan Orthodox Council


Cardinal waiting for Pan-Orthodox Council before ecumenical 


Kardinal Koch: Ökumenisches Warten auf ein gesamtorthodoxes Konzil – kipa/apic

A stumbling block in relations between the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches continues to be the Pope's primacy, Cardinal Kurt Koch said in an interview with the press agency Kipa in Einsiedeln in Switzerland. It is now necessary to wait for the Council before there are any further decisive ecumenical steps. - Cardinal Kurt Koch was staying on 20 May in Einsiedeln on the occasion of an Aid to the Church in Need pilgrimage .

In 2007 in Ravenna (in Italy), there was a meeting of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.  On that occasion an agreement on the question of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome was near, Koch said.

For the first time separated churches stated in a common expert document that, according to the tradition of the church that at a universal level there was pre-eminence of a "Primus" as had the Bishop of Rome during the first millennium. - The document was entitled "Ecclesiological and canonical consequences of thesacramental nature of the Church; conciliarity and authority in the Church ."

Translation:  Chris Gillibrand @ Cathcon

Friday, March 9, 2012

Ukrainian Archbishop: Moscow Patriarchate Incapable of Asking Forgiveness

The Superior of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in Union with Rome, Schwetschuk: "The Russian Clergy has not asked for forgiveness, for annexing our entire property."

Vienna (kath.net/KAP)  An actual obstacle involving the  holdup of a meeting between the Pope and the Moscow Patriarch, is "the incapability of the Russian Orthodox Church, to recognize their own errors":  This is what the Superior of the Greek Catholic Church in Union with Rome, Senior Archbishop Swjatoslaw Schewtschuk (or Shevchuk),  told the organization "Pro Oriente" on Thursday as  reported by Italian Catholic news agency, "SIR".  The Moscow Patriarch Kyrill is saying  that the conflict between Western Ukrainian conflict between Uniates and Orthoddox must be resolved before a meeting can take place between himself and Pope Benedict, says Shevchuk.  The  Senior Archbishop considers this, however, as a pretext.

Schwetschuk recalled that the Russian Orthodox Church was used by Stalin's regime to liquidate the Greek Catholic Church.  "The Russian clergy have still not asked for forgiveness,  for annexing the entire property of the Greek Catholic Church,"  said Schewtschuk.  The ability, to ask for forgiveness, is yet an indicator of the presence of a living Christian conscience.

The Archbishop has made it clear that he is prepared, now as before,  take a long and common look at the "Psuedo-Synod" of Lwiw (Lemberg) in 1946, at which Stalin's intervention forced the unification of the Greek Catholic Church and the Moscow Patriarchate.   From 1946 to 2989 the Greek Catholic Church in west Ukraine only survived in the "catacombs".

As a positive example of ecumenical work on history and reconciliation, Schwetshuk described the apologies between the Polish Catholic Church and the Greek Catholic Church for the bloody conflicts in the years 1941-47 in the Polish-Ukrainian boarder area.   There are also efforts to make similar requests for forgiveness between the Polish Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church.  Unfortunately, between the Greek Catholic and Russian Orthodox Church, there isn't even a symbolic act of reconciliation being undertaken.

Link to kath.net....

Friday, February 17, 2012

Romanian Patriarchate Meets with Nuncio



A Group Of Ambassadors At The Romanian Patriarchate
A Group Of Ambassadors At The Romanian Patriarchate
The Press Office of the Romanian Patriarchate, inform us:

On 13 February 2012, a working session took place at the Patriarchal Palace, between the Preparatory Commission of the Romanian Orthodox Church for dialogue with the Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic, made up of His Eminence Laurentiu, Metropolitan of Transylvania, His Eminence Andrei, Metropolitan of Cluj, Alba, Crisana and Maramures, His Grace Ciprian Campineanul, Assistant Bishop to the Patriarch, and a group of ambassadors accredited in Bucharest made up of Their Excellencies Mark Gitenstein, Ambassador of the United States, Mario Cospito, Ambassador of Italy, Estanislao de Grandes Pascual, Ambassador of Sapin, Michael Schwarzinger, Ambassador of Austria,Philipp Brauline, Ambassador of Canada and Jose Antonio Arrospide del Busto, Ambassador of the Republic of Peru. Monseigneur Baudouin Muankembe, representative of the Apostolic Nuncio in Romania was also present at the meeting.

During the meeting, after the discussions on various aspects of the relations between the Romanian Orthodox Church and the Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic, the participants reached the conclusion that the resumption of the dialogue as soon as possible remains the best way of solving the disagreements between the two Romanian Churches.

To end with, the participants presented the conclusions of the meeting to His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel, who underlined the fact that the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church has had the initiative to resume the dialogue with the Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic, ever since July 2010. At the same time, the Patriarch of Romania reiterated the proposal that the agenda of the Joint Commission for Dialogue should include topical themes of the pastoral-social activity of the two Churches (phenomenon of immigration, activity with the youth, looking after the sick etc.).

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Bishop of Trier Says Indulgences Frustrate Ecumenism

Edit: The Holy Robe is a Catholic sacramental.  The local ordinary of the Imperial City of Trier doesn't mind people visiting the Robe, even on a pilgrimage, but he draws the line at indulgences.  They're too Catholic and will impede the ecumenism, he cries.


Msgr. Stefan Ackermann is hardening himself in his scandalous decision to deny the faithful an indulgence. At the same time he is digging himself in behind Protestants and Old Liberal wobbly believers.

Bischof Stephan Ackermann
© Pressedienst Bistum Trier

(kreuz.net, Trier)Bishop Stefan Ackermann of Trier is standing by. At the pilgrimage to the Holy Robe on the 13th of April to the 5th of May, there will be no special indulgence.

The speaker of the Diocese, Stephan Kronenburg, in a written answer to convert and Catholic bloggerette, Barbara Wenz.

The response was published on the site 'elsalaska.twoday.net'. Msgr Ackermann has "abstained" from requesting an indulgence from the Pope.

The justifications, which the Bishop makes known through Kronenburg, have a lot to offer.

The Protestants Don't have such considerations



The possibility of an indulgence was "for the efforts of an ecumenical formation of the pilgrimage, a stone of contention" -- moralized Kronenburg.

He waxed nostalgically about the 16th Century: The teachings about indulgences are a central point of division in ecumenism.

The participation of Protestants on the pilgrimage was welcomed by the press speaker as the "highest good".

This could be supposedly endangered by a supposedly "undue stress on theologically controversial and polemical" themes -- what is meant is the fundamentally Catholic teaching on indulgences.

Initially on the 21st of January -- without any concern for false ecumenism -- their homosexual preachers promoted sodomy, which cries to heaven for vengeance, in their house of prayer in Saxony.

Misunderstanding is the Criterion


Kronenburg's second "justification" is still more painful:

"It is also the case that even among Catholic faithful, the practice of indulgence and the piety associated with it is not just uncommon, but increasingly misunderstood."

Actually: The same goes for the Holy Rock, or revolves around the office of the Bishop of Trier.

The two could be disposed of with indulgences.

Link to original...kreuz.net...

Thursday, December 22, 2011

News: Protestants Shrinking Three Times Faster in Germany


The Crib Has a Cross

Vatican. At yesterday's General Audience, the Pope warned against a secularization of Christmas and urged a move away from externals in favor of a return to religion

Interpret the humiliation of Christ in the manger to his suffering and death on the cross as well.

"Progressive" Protestant Church is Getting Progressively More Insignificant

The results of a survey of the Heidelberg 'Sinus Institute' with 2000 people over 14 show that among the Protestants, 3.2 percent want to discontinue their church membership, while there are only 1.6 percent among Catholics
.
The study does not explain why the "progressive" Protestant church has more reported more departures.[Perhaps it's because of the rampant sex abuse in the Lutheran church?]

Protestants act hypocritically

"Obviously, that the German Evangelical Christianity in many cases was more dogmatic and ethical at first, left shared Roman Catholic Church beliefs behind them, and since then have made adjustments to the spirit of the times, and has not resisted secularization.

Who but simultaneously rejected what was in common and demanded more community, is contradictory, not to say hypocritical. Compared to today, our churches in the sixteenth (and to the nineteenth) century, despite fierce controversy in their dogmatic and ethical foundations, were much closer together ecumenically.

From an article of the evangelical theologian and former lay military Bishop, Hartmut Lion, with the title "A misconception. A review of the visit of Pope Benedict XVI. in Erfurt," in the monthly journal 'Political Opinion' in December.

Link to source...

Saturday, November 26, 2011

St. Issac Jogues Parish in Niles, Illinois celebrates Thanksgiving Eve service with Muslims

Above: Clip art from the article in the parish bulletin.

Editor: Source info informed us that St. Issac Jogues parish in Niles Illinois announced in it's November 13, 2011 that it would be participating in a "Thanksgiving Eve" service with Muslims. See online bulletin here:
http://sij-parish.com/512032.111311.pdf We post the article by one of the priests at the parish below.

The following is the parish website: http://sij-parish.com/


THANKSGIVING EVE: Interreligious Service

November is the Month of the Holy Souls. It is also a month when Americans celebrate a secular holiday with deep religious roots. While the emphasis has shifted to feasting and football, Thanksgiving still inspires religious feelings. The ritual of bowed heads and table grace may be a nod to nostalgia and tradition, but it is often much more than that!

Thanksgiving is a remembrance of God’s mercy - - an encounter with the Holy. The “pilgrim fathers” were convinced that God had saved them from drought and starvation. That is why they gave thanks, why they feasted, and why they played games. Thanksgiving then was not a celebration of self-satisfied abundance, it was a celebration of God’s bounty. It was an acknowledgement of answered prayers!

Thanksgiving has a “Mayflower” pedigree. There is a distinct Protestant flavor to it’s origins. But, through the centuries and with waves of immigration, Thanksgiving has been adopted and adapted by people of different cultures and religions. In that, Thanksgiving is a most accommodating feast! Thanksgiving stresses the holiness of God and the
blessings of the harvest. Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists as well as Christians instinctively want to thank God. A growing, beautiful custom is celebrating an Ecumenical or Interreligious Service on Thanksgiving Eve. I am happy to say that I have been part of such celebrations since I was ordained in 1970.

This year, local clergy and laity will observe Thanksgiving Eve (Nov. 23rd) at The Morton
Grove Mosque (8601 N. Menard Ave.) at 7:30 PM. All are welcome to participate.

Please consider attending the presentation on Islam next Sunday, November 20th in the Holy Family Room at 3:00 PM. Jason Renken & Azam Nizamuddin will explore “Thanksgiving and Service from the Muslim & Catholic Perspectives”.

Why should you consider attending this presentation and participating in the Interreligious Thanksgiving Service? A scholar of world religions, Leonard J. Biallas, has an excellent answer: “There are spiritual riches buried in the innermost
recesses of our own religions that are only opened up to us when we encounter what is strange and different in other traditions.”

Our first “encounter” with other traditions can be the beginning of better self-understanding and real dialogue. That dialogue can enable us to compare and contrast how human nature and the human condition are perceived. Life, love, compassion, destiny and death … how much do we share in common? How much comes from a different vantage or perspective?

It was Pope Pius XI who once said: “If we are to love each other, we must first know each other.” I would add something commonplace, but essential, to that: “To know each other, we must first meet each other.” The Thanksgiving Eve Service can inaugurate an ongoing dialogue with other religious people. That can contribute much toward peace in our own communities and ultimately in the world.

-Fr. Luczak

Friday, September 23, 2011

The Pope Disappoints Protestant Leaders

Edit: we posted an article from kreuz.net that the Holy Father was going to use Assisi III to attack relativism. A Lutheran minister who is a friend of Pope Benedict says this. Do we see evidence for that here?

It also bears repeating that you can't make concessions to these people. They're going to find something to complain about as long as there's a Pope in Rome and faithful Catholics, however few in number.


[Bloomberg] Pope Benedict XVI disappointed Protestants seeking common ground with Catholics by stressing differences between the two groups, as he continued a four-day journey in his native Germany.

The Evangelical Church of Germany, or EKD, an umbrella group of German Evangelical and Lutheran denominations, had raised the issue of joint communion for married couples of different Christian denominations. Speaking in the eastern city of Erfurt today, the Catholic leader rebuffed expectations by saying that one can’t “think through or negotiate” faith.

“I’d like to point out that this represents a political misunderstanding of faith and ecumenism,” Benedict said in a speech to a joint-faith group in the St. Augustine cloister, where Martin Luther, the founder of Protestantism, began his monastic studies in 1505
.
Link to here...

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Rome and Moscow Patriarchate Moving Closer Together

Edit: Believe it. It's going to happen.

The Ortodhox Church
The Ortodhox Church

 In recent days, the Russian Metropolitan Hilarion has been trying to "unblock" the historic face-to-face meeting with Russia's Patriarch. He may succeed, as long as Ukraine does not become a "Roman" patriarchy

Giacomo Galeazzi Vatican City A direct intervention, an unmediated contact. With his call to the Vatican in recent days, the chairman of the Department for External Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk has placed himself at the forefront of an unexpected attempt to accelerate dealings between the Holy See and the Patriarchate of Moscow. He made a clarification which was not on the agenda, to facilitate the meeting between Benedict XVI and the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Kirill. An historic "face to face" meeting that now seems less distant.

Moscow is laying out its request: if the Vatican resolves the issue of the Ukraine, the historic meeting between the Pope and the Russian Patriarch will finally be able to take place. During the present pontificate, relations have improved considerably between the Church of Rome and the bulk of Orthodoxy, represented by the Russian church. Both are increasingly in agreement about wanting to deal with what they consider to be the prime duty of Christians in Europe: a new evangelization of all those who are far from the faith. It is for this purpose that the Pope has decided to devote a specific Office of the Roman Curia to the new evangelisation.

Link to La Stampa...

Monday, June 13, 2011

Pope Declares the Need for Real Ecumenism

From Rorate: Glorious words of the Holy Father:

[T]he Church is Catholic from her first moment, her universality is not the fruit of the successive inclusion of various communities. From the first instant, in fact, the Holy Spirit created her as the Church of all peoples; she embraces the entire world, she transcends all limits of race, class, nation; she breaks down every obstacle and brings all men together in the profession of the One and Triune God. From the beginning, the Church is One, Catholic, and Apostolic: this is her true nature and as such it must be recognized. She is Holy, not thanks to the ability of her members, but because God Himself, with His Spirit, creates, purifies, and sanctifies her always.
Benedict XVI
June 12, 2011