look at this beautiful photograph of an investiture from Kansas Catholic (H/t).
On Tuesday, January 6, 2009, the Feast of the Epiphany, the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, a traditional community in the Diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph (MO), had a novice make her first profession of vows and also had the investiture in the Benedictine Habit of four postulants. This happened at the Oratory of Old Saint Patrick in Kansas City, MO.
Here are photographs of the Holy Mass, celebrated by His Excellency Robert W. Finn, as well as the profession of Sister Grace of the Merciful Face of Jesus and the investiture of the four postulants. Congratulations to the Benedictines of Mary for their phenomenal growth. Their website is here, and details, among other things, their making of traditional vestments.
Fr Finegan at HOC comments that a Dutch sociologist, has noted that it is only orthodox religious orders which are attracting vocations, libby whatever you're having yourself orders are dying on their feet.
In an interesting article in the Nederlands Dagblad (Nieuwe ordes weer in habijt), the sociologist Theo Schepens is quoted on the pattern of religious life he observes in the Netherlands today.
"You see growth in those orders that emphasize the Pope, the Eucharist and Mary. Among the religious there was always a lot of support for progressive movements [...] These would lead to an attractive Church, these were the future. Well, it seems not [...] not that there's so much growth in traditional orders, but they're the only ones growing at all."
Of the religious orders for men in Ireland the only one that I know is doing well for vocations is the Dominicans.
See enclosed Dominican nuns being interviewed on RTE TV here.
So you had to go foraging to the USA to find an 'orthodox' first profession to celebrate - on dear!
ReplyDeleteThe Dominicans in Ireland are not the only order with vocations - the Redemptorists have seven in training. Many 'libby' orders as you term them are quietly getting vocations.
Their emphasis lies not on form but substance.
I know that one 'orthodox' seminary in Austria - St Polten's - which placed a huge emphasis on traditional habits, and orthodox traditional piety - actually almost brought the Church in Austria down a couple of years ago over the child pornography found on the seminary computers and the gay sex taking place amongst its priests and seminarians.
A recent Austrian church report described it as a 'veritable brothel'. Just goes to prove, where human nature is concerned, no one should be smug or complacent, orthodox or liberal.
Then there are the sordid goings on of the founder of the Legionaries of Christ.
Vocation is all about conversion of heart - and those who rejoice in any order seeing a decline in vocations does the work of the devil.
Stop spreading your seeds of destruction. The Church is in enough trouble without your snide and sneering 'take' on faith.
Thank you very much for your post Anon.
ReplyDeleteYes, in a way it is sad I have to go to America to get an orthodox first profession to celebrate.
If Irish bishops allowed even one of the Traditional orders who wish to come to Ireland into the country I'm sure they would do very well with vocations. I am aware of a number of young Irish men who have gone off to train for the Society of St Peter for instance.
I am very pleased to see that the Redemptorists are getting a few vocations. May they increase even more!
It is a simple verifiable fact that many of the 'libby' orders are NOT getting vocations in any number.
The Marists, Jesuits, Christian Brothers etc etc have barely had a vocation for years. They now reap what they have sown for so long.
St Polten's seminary was not an 'orthodox traditional' seminary - still what happened there would disgust anybody who read about it.
I am not an apologist for the Legionaries of Christ - their spirituality is based on a dangerous cult of personality. They're certainly better than most of the libby orders but if an order wants real solid growth I think it should return to the traditional faith and liturgy of the Church.
I ask you to read the amount of phrases of invective in your last two posts and then reconsider tack.
best wishes
Brian
From:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/Sodomy/gay_priests.htm
The Daughters of Trent
The Austrian scandal doesn’t come as a shock to those who have been hearing the outrageous details of goings-on inside many Catholic seminaries. What does come as a surprise to many is that such bacchanalia fests would take place at seminaries known to liberals as "arch-conservative" (a completely meaningless label) and directed by priests and a bishop regarded as theologically orthodox.
Perhaps this speaks to a different state of affairs in Austria than in the United States. But then again, maybe not. The so-called Daughters of Trent, tradition-minded gay priests and seminarians, have their own foothold in the American Church. And so much more scandalous are they who practice the opposite of what they openly preach.
Tridentine groups, for example, have had their share of lurid homosexual scandals in recent years. Rev. Carlos Urritigoity, the founder and Superior General of the Scranton-based Society of St. John was suspended for sexual molestation of male students, but only after years of denials and obfuscation by the priest, his society, and Scranton’s Bishop James Timlin, known as one of the more conservative American prelates. To be sure, candid photos would have spared a lot of needless scandal in this case.
The Institute of Christ the King, a venerable international order of traditional Catholic priests loyal to Rome, suffered the scandal of its North American superior, Fr. Timothy Svea, being sentenced to 18-months in jail for tying a 16-year-old boy to his bedpost in the interest of sex games.
"It’s a wonderful thing to have priests who will say the traditional Mass," wrote Roger McCaffery, former editor of The Latin Mass in a 2002 editorial, "but let’s stop the mindless cheerleading and face reality. The law of averages suggests that there are more scandals to come on the Catholic right."
In non-traditionalist but conservative circles, Fr. Marcial Maciel, the founder of the Rome-based Legionaries of Christ, has been accused by at least eight former seminarians of gross sexual abuse. Despite mounds of credible evidence stopping short of photographs, Maciel and his order have steadfastly maintained the now-octogenarian priest’s innocence and attacked his accusers as anti-Catholic agitators, despite the fact that one of them is still a priest and not one has benefited either personally or financially by making the accusations. This whole sorry epic is recounted in Jason Berry’s Vows of Silence, although the book risks being wholly dismissed as empty polemic due to the author’s thinly-veiled liberal agenda.
The Austrian scandal is just another chip away at the false sense of security many conservative and traditional Catholics once had in thinking they’d be safe in trusting the clerics they admire for their ostensible orthodoxy and commitment to the Catholic faith.
Bishop Kurt Krenn is at the epicenter of the Sankt Poelten scandal
The ongoing scandal of Kurt Krenn
It’s not clear how many Austrian Catholics, conservative or otherwise , have ever admired Sankt Poelten’s Bishop Kurt Krenn.
His defiance in such delicate matters is nothing new. Known as a conservative if reactionary prelate in a country of liberal bishops (most more liberal than their American counterparts), Krenn made headline news in Austria in 1998 when he staunchly defended Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, also a conservative, against pedophilia charges. The cardinal was later forced by the Vatican to resign his post as the Archbishop of Vienna after it became clear he had been molesting students at an all-make boarding school for years.
The Groer affair came to a head during Pope John Paul II’s 1998 trip to Austria. The Pope was greeted in Sankt Poelten by 1,000 black balloons in the hands of Catholics protesting Bishop Kurt Krenn. They also distributed leaflets urging the Pope to sack the bishop. Krenn’s defiant support of a guilty pedophile cardinal was, for them, the last straw.
Needless to say, these Catholics now have more ammunition to use against the unpopular Krenn. They also have a lot more allies in the campaign to oust the defiant bishop.
An open rift between Krenn and Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn has been ongoing for years, and judging from statements coming out of various Church officials in Austria, Krenn is not going to enjoy much support from his fellow churchmen. Homosexual orgies and child pornography at Krenn’s seminary is over the top—even for them.
There is, of course, a silver lining to this scandal, as with most that play out in this way: reasonable people can no longer deny the sickness. It’s exposed now and needs more exposure, until the situation heals properly. That means a thorough cleaning of the Augean stables.
Michael S. Rose is the author a several books including the New York Times bestseller Goodbye, Good Men. He is Executive Editor of Cruxnews.com.
That is not a comment Anon.
ReplyDeleteJust a rip off posting - but anyway.
The traditional orders are still getting vocations - libby orders are dying on their feet.
Your bringing up of issue of homosexual abuse of minors does not change that fact.
If you can show that libby/ modernist orders are doing well in Ireland perhaps you could post on that?
regards Brian
The number three post by Anon gives a reference to a site
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/Sodomy/gay_priests.htm
This is an anti-catholic site.
Whereas the stuff about Austria has been in the news
There is not basis on ANY news site to form basis of allegations against member of Christ the King institute. The material is wholy unattributed and should be removed.
Mark