Showing posts with label Monasticism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Monasticism. Show all posts

Thursday, February 6, 2020

Christendom and "Leitkultur"



Klosterneuburg Abbey near Vienna looks back on 900 years of tradition. Its huge dome bears the imperial crown with the cross.
By Wolfram Schrems
Sometimes there is discussion about what constitutes Europe and what it is based on. The discussion then comes to the "influence" of Christianity, to the "three hills" Golgotha, Acropolis and Capitol and to the "Leitkultur." But all of that is idle. We would simply not exist as peoples and as individuals without the work of the Catholic Church.
A few basic thoughts on this topic from an Austrian perspective:
During the land grabbing by so-called “refugees” in autumn 2015, I spoke to a Hungarian diplomat about the role of Christianity in the development of the peoples of Europe. I hypothesized that without Christianity the Hungarians would have remained a primitive and predatory nomadic people. The answer of my interlocutor surprised me, but in retrospect it turns out to be smarter than my only half-thought. He said: Without Christianity, there would be no Hungarians at all, they would have disappeared from history.
Obviously, the historically conscious Hungarian had recognized something that underpins the radar of today's everyday consciousness. However, nowadays there is not only a certain sluggishness in perceiving (and pronouncing) natural things but also a kind of censorship:
The question of how Christianity is the "foundation" of Austria and Europe is sometimes raised. However, the discussion is not very knowledgeable. This is also the case because even Church leaders refuse to use the expression "Christian West" and prevent any meaningful discussion, at least in the area of ​​the Church. Therefore, if you actually come to this question among Catholics with a contemporary spirit, you will encounter mute ignorance.


The orb
The orb, the world dominated by the cross of Christ
The thesis of this essay is based on the diplomat's conviction: Without the motivating power of the Catholic faith, there would be no European civilization, and consequently no European peoples. There would not be "us" as individuals because our ancestors would not have been created. There would not be "us" as a nation because without faith there would not have been sufficient cohesion and self-assertion.
Because Catholics, and especially monasticism, which is a more intensive realization of the faith, created the structures on which our culture and our existence as European peoples are based, amid immense sacrifices. We still draw on what is left. Catholic Christianity is thus not only a “contribution” to European civilization among others, but also the reason for it and the actual foundation.
So to the individual points to support this thesis:

Monasteries as structure-building centers

The existence of the monasteries in this country has become so self-evident to many that they stop thinking about their origin and meaning. At most, some people come across their “wealth”. But there is no further thought here: the monasteries are "rich" because generations of monks have labored without pay and have accomplished enormous work to feed and afford modest accomodation for the poor. These range from pioneering activities such as clearing and building, to agriculture, to welfare, science, medicine, fine arts and music. The monastery school and hospital are Catholic inventions. They are an answer to Christ's judgment speech, the main sentence of which is: What you do to the least of my brothers, you did to me.
After all, the knights of the monks contained Islamic aggression for several centuries and made the development of Christian Europe possible in the first place.
Another fact is considered by many too little:

Work as a source of added value

The Benedictine Ora et Labora made the call to work culture-defining. If you don't want to work, you shouldn't eat, as the Apostle Paul says, and: The thief should no longer steal, but work and earn something with his hands so that he can give it to the needy.
This access to work has created solid and lasting economic structures, including welfare work (poor relief). This approach differs from an economy that is based on usury, begging, extortion or caravan robbery and therefore neither produces anything nor creates jobs nor cares for the needy, on the contrary, it produces them.
As is well known, Greek and Roman paganism despised physical labor and therefore kept slaves. Islam also has this attitude. But Christianity strives to sanctify work, even the “low” work, and itself through work. The Benedictine rule prescribes physical work and nobody has to be too good for it.
Under early medieval conditions, this can be understood as a social upheaval towards the positive.
There is something else associated with permanent work:

Stabilitas loci: prerequisite for stability

Benedictine monasticism usually implies (usually) lifelong ties to a particular monastery. It differs from the missionary work of the Anglo-Saxon and Irish traveling monks and from the mendicant orders founded in the 13th century. We also owe a lot to both groups in Europe. The focus here should be this: The stabilitas loci was a haven and anchoring during the time of the migration of the peoples. It was an alternative lifestyle - and of course it is also at a time that “migration” celebrates as a value in itself.
Beyond the life of the individual monk, the monasteries achieved tremendous temporal continuities. This fact is also little anchored in the collective consciousness: Even relatively short-lived monasteries, e.g. those that fell victim to the Josephine monastery storm [When Freemason Emperor, Joseph II looted the monasteries and "put everyone to work"] in this country, worked over a period of time that affected all current political continuities, far outshines the existence of the Republic, the EU, and the USA among other things. The Gaming Charterhouse may serve as an example, having only run as a monastery for over four hundred years. That is more than five times as long as the existence of the second Austrian republic.
Incidentally, in the 14th century, the building was so solid that all of the parts of the former monastery are still usable in Gaming - only to illustrate the contrast to the "modern" design. (And because we are talking about the continuities: When Gaming was founded, the Benedictine monastery Kremsmünster had already stood about six hundred years, but one normally does not think about it and it is not subject to the opinion published in the [!].. Fake news media. )
The continuity and reliability of the monasteries therefore contributed as crystallization points to the formation of cultural and political continuities.
This is related to the following:

Education: theology and tradition of ancient culture

The monasteries were and are places of education. The complete Benedictine imperative is yes: Ora et labora et legeAny accusation of “hostility to science” against the Catholic faith is absurd given the facts. Theology also holds the building of science together as the keystone, illuminates the naturally recognizable reality with supernatural light and prevents science-drivers from misusing their knowledge, as does a Promethean, even satanic alchemy and magic.
Within this framework, science was able to develop in the service of human needs. Just think of the life-saving monastic medicine. 
For our question about the foundation of European culture, it is also important to see that the best of ancient wisdom about the monasteries has come to us. According to the Catholic faith, everything true, good and beautiful has a part in the eternal Logos and comes from it. The Gospel of John says that "in the beginning", in principio , ie "in principle", was the Logos, the word, the meaning, the understanding, not the absurd.
References to logos can be found in ancient thinkers such as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Cicero. Based on its own traders, ancient philosophy, which de facto hardly shaped the political life and culture of their contemporaries, would have disappeared without a trace. One must not believe that a Plato has met with great interest on a social scale. The circle of the academy was too small. Plato was unsuccessful politically. His dialogues would have been lost. But it was the monks who copied the testimonies of ancient wisdom and therefore preserved them and made them fruitful for Christian philosophy and theology, and thus for the development of culture.
It is therefore obvious that Athens and Rome, i.e. the Acropolis and the Capitol, the two “hills” next to Golgotha ​​(after a dictum by the German Federal President Theodor Heuss), have shaped Europe only because the Church has the best of them, Philosophy and jurisprudence. The three hills are not "equal", if you want to put it that way, because they are not equally effective in history.
Ancient thinkers, state theorists and lawyers then found their place within the framework of the revealed faith. Of course, this does not reach that of the bearer of the express revelation, so it is not a scripture, but it must not be despised either.

summary

The motivation of the monk, like any other Catholic, is not to provide cultural achievements as an end in itself, but to give glory to God and to attain eternal life. This can only be reached via a steep and narrow path. The above-mentioned tangible and intangible assets were then created through indirect profitability. The instruction of the Sermon on the Mount came true on a large scale: First look for the Kingdom of God, everything else will be added to you. This allowed a true “culture” to emerge from colere : cultivate, maintain, refine, cultivate and worship the true God. The villages and towns grew around the churches and monasteries. What held the communities together was the common belief.
At the same time, the peoples gained their profile. As is well known in the missio of Christ, he says: Make all nations my disciples. Not only the individuals, but the peoples as a whole should implement the teaching of Christ. This practically made the Church the inventor of “ethnopluralism”, if you put it that way. Obviously, the uniform Latin liturgical and scientific language was no obstacle to the development of the national peculiarities within Christianity. Thus, Germans, French, English, Poles, Croats, Hungarians and all others were united to Christian peoples, in the Church under the Roman Pope and through the Latin language in an uncomplicated understanding.
The content of the Catholic faith proved to be plausible in its action, the moral regulations as beneficial, the central imperative of love for God and neighbor as liberating. Faith opened meaning and peace of conscience and let its confessors come to terms with it. The horror of paganism with its idols and human sacrifices disappeared.
Paradisiacal conditions were neither attained nor sought because the Church faith precludes any conception of such conditions on earth. The alleged “consolation” to the hereafter has proven to be a real consolation for the people of the Migration Period and the “Middle Ages” and has led to the aforementioned cultural achievements.
It is therefore irrelevant whether the present thoughts may be perceived as "romantic" or "idealizing": we are there as individuals and as a nation only because of this and can only look back on 1500 years of Catholic culture in our homeland because our ancestors were creators of life-promoting and community-building structures. We are there because countless of our ancestors have received medical help in Catholic hospitals and orphanages and have therefore been able to stay alive longer and start a family. Circumstances, as they were, led to the generation of our ancestors, from whom we descended.
We should always be aware of this.
If the Church had not gained a foothold in Europe, Europe would have remained a meaningless Eurasian peninsula. No peoples would have developed that were worthy of historiography. A conglomerate of descendants from ever-invading and massacre pagan hordes could not have enabled national continuity, cultural and human development.
So the Hungarian diplomat was right.
At a time when churches and monasteries are often little more than empty shells due to the apostasy of hierarchies and devotees, the destruction of faith will also entail the destruction of the cultures and peoples that have arisen from it. In Fatima it was said that peoples who do not convert will disappear from the face of the earth. Well, as you can see, it doesn't require atomic bombs.
Text: MMag. Wolfram Schrems, Vienna
  • (This essay is the revised version of an article that first appeared in the Attersee Report , the publication of the Attersee Circle within the Freedom Party of Austria , No. 21, 2019, p. 14. It is a pleasant surprise that it appears in the FPÖ gives those responsible who are at least interested in Catholic positions and who always offer a platform to an articulating author of this kind. WS)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Monday, October 16, 2017

900 Year Old Cistercian Abbey Closes in Trier

The only remaining six monks will move to another monastery of their choice.

Trier (kath.net) After almost 900 years the Cistercian abbey Himmerod is dissolved. The decision to dissolve came from the Mehrerauer Congregation to which the abbey belonged. The only remaining six monks will move to another monastery of their choice. The abbey property will be passed on to the Diocese of Trier.

The abbey was founded in 1134 by Bernard of Clairvaux. In secularization, the Abbey was abolished and rebuilt at the beginning of the 20th century and in Baroque style. The Abbey church is currently not renovated after a fire under the organ and therefore can not be used at the moment, kath.net has reported

The Heiligenkreuz Abbey - a Cistercian Abbey in the Vienna Woods - commented on their Facebook page with this message "very, very sad". The Heiligenkreuz monk continued to write: "We are thinking in prayer of the remaining confreres of Himmerod, whose convent is now being dissolved because there were simply too few new vocations. Please pray with us together for many new spiritual vocations and for a renewal of the faith in us in Europe, so that more monasteries will not have to be closed, but on the contrary, new ones can be founded and revived! May God, through such sad news, move our hearts, so that we may be more energetic and courageous in our faith and in the Church!" 

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

The Baroque Pictorial World of Ottobeuren Abbey

The Upper Swabian Benedictine abbey Ottobeuren is celebrating its 1,250th anniversary this year. On this occasion the monks, with at personal expense, and generous financial support from outside, have produced a two-volume book project entitled "Otto Beuren. Baroque Imagery of the Monastery in Painting and Sculpture ," published  by the EOS-Verlag. In hundreds of pictures - which are a bit too small, unfortunately, in some rare cases - the Publisher presents paintings, statues, stucco and other artistic features, which have given the Abbey  worldwide fame.  Almost everyone should know the problem of looking at a painting and recognizing its beauty, but what is represented is not really being  deciphered. The two illustrated books provide expert comments and explanations, which often open up new dimensions for the reader.
Founded in 764 it is the story of the Abbey, which was dedicated to St. Alexander and Theodore, closely connected with the history of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, which existed in about the same period. The founders of the monastery were the Alemannic noble couple Sylach and Ermiswinth whose son Toto a little later, was the first abbot of Ottobeuren. Already in the tenth century the Imperial City was obtained by Bishop Ulrich of Augsburg, but the advocacies were only removed in 1710 from Abbot Rupert Ness by the Bishop of Augsburg.
The baroque monastery of the 18th century, as we still know it today, has the enormous size of 480 by 430 meters and this is due to the initiative of the aforementioned Abbot Rupert Ness. The full imperial immediacy (Reichsunmittelbarkeit) meant that Abbot Rupert was full state and court master of an area of ​​around 265 square kilometers and about 10,000 residents. The rich immediate status of Ottobeuren explains the magnificent interior of the building, which of course not only had to serve for monastic life, but also the administration of the territory of the abbey.
Nevertheless,  the secular did not push the spiritual  into the shadows: "Only apparently did  the secular manorial features outshine the monastic elements of the Ottobeurer monastery structure, because the cloistered areas for are inaccessible to laymen; they belong 'to the monks.' That it was the kingdom of prelates and feudal lord, Abbot Rupert Ness, was above all in the beginning much less the representative of the Imperial Abbey and more about the Benedictine community, as the genesis of the new building began in 1711; in the care of his confreres Abbot Rupert first built functional cells refectory and kitchen build and equiped the south east quadrangle.  "In addition, the financial balance sheet  was not burdened by excessive pomp by the monks, as it was elsewhere often the case." Despite immense expenditures for construction and equipping of the monastery, they were able to accumulate no debt."
Text: Benedict M. Buerger
image: publisher
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Saturday, June 30, 2012

SSPX Benedictine Says Mass at Desolate 1,000 Year Old Monastery

Sensation


Pius Benedictine Saying Mass at
Michealsberg Monastery
At the end of the thousand year history of the Benedictine Abbey on the Michealsberg there is yet another Old Mass being said for which the old monastery had been built in the first place.

(kreuz.net, Siegburg)  On May 25th the SSPX Benedictine Bernhard Huber said the levitical High Mass in the Abbey Church of St. Michealsberg in Siegburg.

The 40,000 population city of Siegburg is some 35 km south east of Cologne.

The local Benedictine Abbey has been closed after an almost 1,000 year history.  It will in the meantime be transformed into a hotel and serve as an Old Liberal adult miseducation.

The house full of glory is in desolation

Father Huber celebrated Mass at the Michealsberg as part of a pilgrimage with about 100 traditionalists from the surrounding area.

At the end of the Mass they sang the hymn "A house full of glory shines far over the land, from every stone built by God's mighty hand."

The text of this song was written by the poet and priest, Fr. Joseph Mohr (1848 +), at the moment he saw the now dissolved Abbey on the Michealsberg.

The Vatican is helping the Archdiocese of Cologne Hop

The Old Mass at the Michealsberg was clearly only possible after an intervention from the Vatican.

This is from a report at the German website of the SSPX 'pius.info.com'.

Because in his sermon, Father Huber thanked the Vatican authorities for the permission to be allowed to celebrate the pilgrimage Mass.

It was not mentioned that tho authorities of the Archdiocese of Cologne were causing difficulties.

Link to kreuz.net...

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Monk Professes Solemn Vows in Old Rite at Trappist Mariawald

Germany. Yesterday, Brother Johannes OCSO made his solemn vows at the Trappist Abbey Mariawald in Eifel as part of a Pontifical Mass. The Abbey had returned to the Old Liturgy and old discipline in 2008. Many friends of the Abbey took part in the solemnities. From kreuz.net...

Monday, April 30, 2012

Arrest of Archimandrite Ephrem is a hostile attack against Athonite monks and Orthodoxy

Edit: for years there are forces in Greece that would like to minimize and diminish the influence of the Greek Orthodox Church. One of the most important targets to attack is Mount Athos, for monasticism has always been the living heart of Christian culture and mysticism.

Last week the court ruled to arrest Archimandrite Ephrem, abbot of the Vatopedi Monastery on Mt. Athos, in connection with a large-scale investigation into real estate deals between the Monastery and the Greek State initiated in 2008. On weekend the police came to the Vatopedi Monastery to arrest Fr. Ephrem. After medical doctors had examined the abbot, it was decided to leave him in the Monastery for health reasons. It was reported on Tuesday, however, that Fr Ephrem was arrested and taken away from Mr. Athos.

Metropolitan Hilarion, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations, gave his appraisal of the actions of the Greek authorities in his short interview to Interfax-Religion.

- Your Eminence, the Greek authorities arrested Archimandrite Ephrem, abbot of the Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos, who has recently accompanied the Belt of the Mother of God in Russia. Please, give your comments.

- We do not and can not know all about the charges in abuses in real estate transactions made by the Vatopedi Monastery in the past filed against Fr Ephrem and other persons. Whether these charges are just, the Greek court will decide; we cannot interfere. However, it is quite obvious that detention under remand of Archimandrite Ephrem, who does not pose any danger, without considering the case on its merits and before a court ruling, is an extraordinary action that surprises us deeply. The authorities arrested nobody but the elderly and ailing priest. This ruling arouses grave concern of believers of the Russian Orthodox Church, puts her hierarchs on guard, and makes us ponder over its true reasons.
Read further at interfax...

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Benedictine Monastery Streams Sung Liturgy of the Hours on Line


Edit: want to help the Church?  Want to see what it's like to be a monk? Pray the Liturgy of the hours on line.




(Le Barroux) The monks of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Madeleine de Le Barroux have made a special Christmas gift for the faithful.  Over the internet site of the Abbey it is now possible, four times a day, to directly participate in the Divine Office of the Convent.  The monks present the sung Office completely in the Immemorial Roman Rite.  The faithful in the entire world may pray along over iPhone, over iPad in the small hours of Prime, Sext as well as the Grand Hours of Vespers and Compline.




The monk's day begins at 
3.20 and ends at 20.30 hours. The Liturgical day begins at 3:30 with Matins and is complete at 19.45 with Compline.


Live streaming Liturgy of the Hours:


• Prime : 7.45 Uhr oder 8 Uhr (see calender)
• Sext : 12.15 Uhr
• Vespers : 17.30 Uhr
• Compline : 19.45 Uhr
For all who want to celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours in the Old Rite itself, the Cloister Store of Le Barroux has a complete Office of the Hour or appropriate Liturgical Calender in a single volume.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Bild: Abbeye du Barroux



Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Criminals Find Monastery Life Harder Than Prison

Edit: Monastic life is like prison.  It's like the army.  The worst of both worlds, perhaps.

[Daily Mail] A convicted criminal who was serving out his sentence in a monastery has escaped for the second time and asked to be sent back to prison because life was too tough.

Thief David Catalano, 31, was sent to a Santa Maria degli Angeli community run by Capuchin monks in Sicily last November.

But he found their austere lifetstyle too tough to handle and soon escaped. After a short while on the run he was caught by police and sent back

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2081757/Criminal-serving-sentence-monks-pleads-sent-prison--monastery-life-hard.html#ixzz1iSFjGuyN

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Modernist Monastery to Hire Layman for University President?


Edit: The Benedictines were the tutors of Europe once upon a time. Now it looks like that chapter is closing on yet another Benedictine Monastery which has lost its way in middle America.  Earlier this fall, the Modernist Monastery cut its relationship with its University
They've already cut their ties with the University.  Will they change up what they've done in the past and hire a Catholic president at Collegeville?  Part of the reason is certainly the decline in their population due to lack of replacements and death.
COLLEGEVILLE — St. John’s University has hired a search firm to help find its next president, and for the first time the pool of candidates could include someone who isn’t a member of the monastery.
Academic Search Inc. will assist in the search to find the successor to the Rev. Robert Koopmann, who is retiring. The goal is to have Koopmann’s replacement selected by March; that person will start their job next summer.
Koopmann became president of St. John’s University in July 2009, replacing interim President Dan Whalen, who stepped in when Brother Dietrich Reinhart unexpectedly announced his retirement due to health reasons.
Link to St. Cloud Times...

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Siebenburg Abbey to Close After 947 Years

Edit: what was uncertain before is now looking more certain, and these Abbeys are being sold for a song.

"No one can understand this pain who isn't involved."

That the thousand year old Benedictine Abbey on the Michealsberg in Siegburg can not last any longer has been known for a year. Since then there has been increasing speculation about the future use of the buildings. Rumours have been heating up, from the tasteless April Fool's joke in the local press, which proposed to turn it into a shopping center, to the sad development that the former Redemptorist Cloister 5 kilometers distant, will be turned into an "event center".

The withdrawal of the Benedictine presence has been entrusted to the last Monk on the Michealsberg, Brother Linus OSB, who has put his opinion on the current situation into words, which could only move:

"There is no correspondence to fact that the Abbey will be used for a commercial purpose. In the last two weeks I've only clearly told the daily "General-Anzeiger", that a purely spiritual use in the future is improbable. From that it was said that the Abbey will have a commercial use, which I consider a distortion of my words.

These are rumors sent into the world, which have no basis.

Neither 'kreuz.net' nor the Cologne 'Stade-Anzeiger" -- or any one else -- can describe the pain which we Siegburger Monks have experienced in the last Months. We must give up our home, the place of our monastic stabilitas. Decadence has been ascribed to us. But here there are Monks -- for example Father Mauritius -- who've seen sixty long years of dedicated service.

I know entire back ground. And on this I have to say: things have also been unfair to the Archdiocese of Cologne. Several of us Benedictines have been addressed as well by the Cardinal. There was really nothing untried in order to find a solution, which is possible and would do justice to the place.

Many participants and inquirers were horrified by the giant buildings with 21,000 cubic meters. We have looked for months to find a solution. I went to a visitor conference of the Benedictine Congregation of Subiaco in Brazil, in order to get a promise [votum] from our Congregation.

It really shocks me, when I see how the reactions are. In stead of praying for the Church, for the good way of a neighbor, we are publicly denounced in some quarters. As in the past, so we are also keeping the public informed -- as to the future of the Abbey. At the current moment there is nothing that is newsworthy.

I can't completely address the entirety of the speculations. They damage the Abbey and do not serve the subject. The only thing for it is time and patience.

We monks have to have to know about so many things. It is said to us that Siegburg is losing a "spiritual center", which makes people sad and, ahh, how important the Abbey actually has become in people's lives. How it has gone though with us monks during the events of the last months -- has been seldom inquired about outside the Church. It can hardly be conceived how it is for me to end 947 years of history and tradition.

As it is, evenings alone are like the way of the Cross for me, the empty refectory and the Kalefactorium [Scriptorium]-- as it is "my" Cloister which I must see die. No one could understand this pain, who isn't involved."


Together with the above explanation about their situation, is this recommended reading for all who dare to believe and utter the lie about the "new springtime after the Council".

Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host -
by the Divine Power of God -
cast into hell, Satan and all the evil spirits,
who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.


In Germany, a thousand years of Christianity is at an end. The propagated form of "opening to the world" has not achieved the expected goals. And where one could assume 40 years ago a "mistake in good faith" that is with those who hold in the face of bankruptcy in this course, almost impossible. The "unworldliness" of the Church can not be arrested or prevented by Episcopal Conferences. It happens. In goods like in the situation with the Weltbild situation long destroying the Church, and in lesser goods such as this manifestation of the fact that a Monastery like Michaelberg is for the vast majority, at best, of only folkloric significance. The minority is involved, and they suffers alongside.

Translated from summorumpontificum.de....

Friday, August 19, 2011

Monastery Corporation Goes Into Insolvency

The Monastery in the Ardennes was founded personally by St. Bernard of Clairvaux himself.  Now the talk is of savings accounts.
Cloister Himmerod



(kreuz.net) 'The  Abbey Himmerod Corporation mbH' is bankrupt.

This was recently reported by the website of the Cistercian Cloister Himmerod.

On the 12th of August the Operation filed for insolvency at the district court of Wittlich.

The Cistercian Cloister Himmerod is located in the Ardennes. It was founded in the years 1134/35 by St. Bernard of Clairvaux.

It is located in the municipality of Manderscheid -- 56 kilometers north of Trier.

Today there are thirteen Monks living in the Cloister.

Since January the Cloister has been directed by an administrator, Father Stephan Senge.

It operates a museum with rotating art exhibits, a book and art store, a guest area, a guest and meeting hall.

AFter losses of more than 200.000 Euro during the years of 2008 and 2009, employees must be dismissed and special projects like the fish farm must be closed.

Unfortunately, these measures aren't sufficient.

The leadership of the Subsidiary Company of the Cloister foresaw after talking to Counsel, to apply for bankruptcy, in order to protect the Abbey from enormous debts.

The Monastic life of the Monks is not going to be effected by this step.

On Tuesday the website of the Cloister announced that events, guest invitations, reservations and all further dealings will take place in the customary and planned extent in Abbey Himmerod.

Link to kreuz.net...





Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Real Monasticism in Greece

Editor: Mount Athos has some of the same problems as St John's Abbey.  There are Marxists on the Holy Mount, Monks with leftist ideologies, but there are also Monks who are serious about living a religious vocation, a quest for God, too.  The Devil can be particularly strong anywhere, especially in a place where men strive like athletes to suffer God's love in the mysteries.

(CBS News) 
On this Easter Sunday, we're going to take you to a place outside our world. It's not Mars or Venus but it might as well be. It's a remote peninsula in northern Greece that millions believe to be the most sacred spot on Earth.
It's called Mount Athos and prayers have been offered there every day, with no interruption, for more than a thousand years. It was set aside by ancient emperors to be the spiritual capital of Orthodox Christianity and has probably changed less over the centuries than any other inhabited place on the planet. The monks come to Mount Athos from all over and do everything they can to keep what they call "the world" far away.

Link to original...

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Mount Athos is Losing its Tax-Exempt Status

The Greek Government is insisting on a stronger contract so that the Orthodox State Church and also the Athos Monasteries can reach their savings goals.


Athens (kath.net/KAP) With a sharp note of protest, the Parliament will finalize a decision by Prime Minister Giorgios Papandreou to withdraw the tax privileges of the Athenite Monastery, the Synaxis. This touches upon a Monastic property, which lies outside of the peninsula of Athos. Observers have predicted that this will further alienate Athos from legislation at Athens. So, earlier, the Ministry for Northern Greece in Thessaloniki took over control of the Pilgrimage Bureau to the Holy Mountain of Orthodoxy from the Monastic Republic.

The Greek Government insisted on a stronger contract so that the Orthodox National Church as well as the Monastery of Athos can stay within their budget, in order to save the nation from impending bankruptcy. The State Church is the largest land owner in the country; they were among other things, implicated in a large real-estate scandal. Unrecognized for self-determination and special status in the EU, the Monastic Republic of the "Holy Mountain of Athos" is subordinated to the Greek Department of Finance. According to the conclusion of the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire over Greece in the Peace of Lausanne in 1923, Athens protected Athos under different exemptions from duties and taxes.

Till now the Cloister of Athos has enjoyed a tax exemption. They occupy a large part of their income from real-estate in Greece outside of the Monastic Free State. There are very expensive inner-Athens properties managed by the Monastic Foundation.

Read at kath.net...

Sunday, January 30, 2011

The Fate of the Abbey Remains Uncertain: More German Cloisters Closing

The cloister was founded in order to inform the soul of the way to life.   Will their walls receive the dark consecration to serve the cult of the body?

(kreuz.net) It is unclear if the Abbey Michealsberg can continue as the spiritual center of the city of Siegburg. The Bonn paper, the 'General-Anzeiger' said on January 26th.

Only one thing is sure:  the monks must leave the cloister after 946years.  The one or the other of them apparently had the interest to align themselves with the Steyler Missionaries.

According to the paper investors for hotels or wellness-spas have been contacted.

A speaker for the Archdiocese of Cologne explained, however, that an ecclesiastical use of the people "will have the highest priority".

 An important date is 5. April.

Then  a summit meeting will take place about the future of the Abbey.

The participants:  members of the Archdiocese, the Abbey and of the Benedictine Order as well as the city Dean Peter Weiffen, the business office of the Abbey and the Siegburger Mayor.

Included, the Abbey swept the fate of the Redemptorist-Cloister in Hennef-Geistingen.

There the condominums are in place.  The landmark cloister church will become a convocation hall for corporate events and similar affairs.

A similar fate awaits the once famous Dominican Friary of Walberg in Bornheim.

It was purchased two years ago by the company 'Summit Partners' from Cologne for five million Euros.

Now there is a restaurant, a Catholic kindergarten and homes for the employees of the amusement park.

The 'General-Anzeiger' cited the Cologne Realestate-Firm 'Pro Secur', that specializes in the purchasing of ecclesiastical properties.

The firm has been buying cloisters for about twenty years.

"Presently the company has had a series of closing cloisters in offer" -- says the 'General-Anzeiger'":

The friary of the Dominicans of Neusatzeck with  89 rooms in northern Black Forest was sold for 2,5 Million Euro.

Currently for sale is also the idyllic Cloister of Maria Engelportder Hünfelder Oblates nearby the associated municipalities of Treis-Karden-Rheinland-Pfalz for 2.25 Million Euros or the Cloister "St. Joseph House" in Sunder in Sauerland for 800.000 Euro.

These properties are highly prized by hotels and culinary establishments.

Kreuznet...

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Justice for Abbot Joachim Angerer

Its true, he was an Old Liberal.  But that is only one side of the coin.  German translation of Jurg-Werner Oberlasser.

(kreuz.net) The site 'kreuz.net' reported something hard last November about the Old Lineral Abbot Joachim Angerer (76).

The Prelate was from   1986 till his defacto ouster the leader of the Premonstratensian Cloister Geras.

The Stift is located in the Diocese of St. Polten.

I know from my own experience that Abbot Angerer isn't only just Old Liberal.  He was also Liberal.

So he allowed without any ifs and buts the Latin Mass, Latin prayers and many ancient usages which the young men then wanted.

I am very convinced and can recall a corresponding discussion with him that he allowed the old Mass in his Cloister and in the incorporated parishes by implication. 

Yes, he is Old Liberal, sometimes in a strange manner.  But he is also a good man, who imposed no limitations against his conservative fellow brothers and perhaps also from conviction.

Those who supported him, either left following his resignation -- and that -- or wanted themselves to be abbot.

In order to support the abbot, they used the lever of money.

The odd acolyte service of those priests now condemned for abuse had often criticized Abbot Angerer.

But he remained powerless against his fellow brothers.

One had to hold these dubious priests in the Priory of Fritzlar closed in the meantime.  For in the priory -- why indeed? -- that too many had gone.

About the former Bishop Krenn of St. Polten, who attempted, to outwit him, one can only shake one's head in the face of such hindsight.

The idea that Msgr Krenn had been really conservative, no one could seriously maintain.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Archeologists Discover Possible Monastery in Jericho, Palestine

Moscow, November 10, Interfax – Russian archeologists have conducted the first excavations in the Holy Land since Russian research of Christian antiquaries in Palestine stopped in 1917.

"Here we have discovered a complex of Byzantium buildings that dates back to 6-7 centuries. Perhaps, it is remains of a monastery with multicolored mosaics," director of the Archeology Institute and corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Nikolay Makarov said at a press conference on Wednesday.

Excavations in Jericho were organized by the Russian Presidential Administration in connection with building Russian museum and park complex and yard facelift.

As Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia had earlier said, Russian Cultural Center in Jericho will become "the first major project in the Holy Land in the third millennium that was actively taken up by the Russian state." The center will be completed in the nearest future.

Read further, Interfax-Religion...

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Alaska Attorney Seeks Help to Enter Dominican Order

Tara Clemens

CatholicAnchor.org

Anchorage attorney, convert to Catholicism and Holy Family Cathedral parishioner Tara Clemens has been accepted for the postulancy at Corpus Christi Monastery, a Dominican religious cloister in Menlo Park, Ca. The mission of the cloistered Dominican nuns is to honor and promote devotion to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

The target date for Clemens’ entry at the monastery is June 8, 2011 – pending resolution of her educational debt.

Clemens completed an aspirancy, a month-long visit at the monastery, in February. The postulancy would be Clemens’ second step in the eight-year discernment process toward taking final, life-long vows as a cloistered nun.

But first, Clemens must resolve her school debt.

“This is the one hurdle keeping me from entering religious life,” Clemens told the Catholic Anchor.

Although she is working to pay down the debt, the balance is “significant, especially in today’s economy,” Clemens explained, so “I will not be able to enter religious life without the generous support of others.”

To this end, she is working with the Labouré Society, a non-profit organization that assists aspirants in resolving educational debt so they are free to enter the priesthood or religious life.

Paying off the debt by June is “no small task,” Clemens observed, but “with God all things are possible.”

Tax-deductible contributions may be made to the Labouré Society in honor of Tara Clemens at labouresociety.org/.

Read more about Clemens’ journey to the cloistered monastery at catholicanchor.org/wordpress/?p=934. And visit Clemens’ online blog at supporttarasvocation.wordpress.com.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Storming Heiligenkreuz: Austrian Monastery's Vocations Explode

88 Monks, average age 47: "It is above all the Liturgy and the Gregorian Choir as well as our loyalty to the Pope and the Church's teachings", said P Karl Wallner.

Vienna (kath.net/Cross Press) IN the Cistercian Monastery of Heiligenkreuz in the Vienna Wood, the number of Monks has risen to 88, which means a doubling in the last year, and the highest manpower in its almost 900 year history. The average age of the Monks is 47 years.

"Such a wave of young people who want to participate in our life hasn't happened since the Middle Ages,' exclaimed P. Karl Wallner, Professor of Dogmatics at the Order's Academy and Youth Pastor.

As to the secret of how there are so many admissions, he says: "It is above all the Liturgy in the Gregorian Chorale according to the norms of Vatican II as well as our loyalty to the Pope and Church teaching."

In the last week, Abbot Henckel Donnersmark clothed seven young men in the Novitiate, six novices have taken temporary vows, while five novices are working for that, seven Monks have decided to take "solemn vows" and four Monks were elevated by Auxiliary Bishop Lackner to the Diaconate.

A "divesture" is required for the members of Heilgenkreuz in any case, to sell everything: their previous Prior, Christian Feuerstein, was elevated to Abbot of Monastery Rein in Steryia where he took up his office on the 21st of August.

"It is interesting, that all entrants have made their first contact with us through the Internet. Some have visited the website of the Cloister repeatedly till they found the courage just to visit the Cloister for the first time in their lives."

"Usque ad mortem"

Upon the Feast of the Assumption, the Patronal Feast of Heilgenkreuz, seven young Monks, who had already taken temporary vows, now take their celebratory Profession, that is an eternal vow "usque ad mortem", to the death"

P Joahnnes Paul Chavanne and P Mag. Tobias Westerthaler are both Vienese, P Bacc.phil. Edmund Waldstein is from Lower Austria, P. Mag. Damian Lienhart and P.Dipl.Ing. Emmanuel Heissenberger are Steyrians and P.Dipl.Kfm. Dr. oec. Lic theol. Justinus Pech as well as P.Mag. Placidus Beilicke come from Germany.

They come from various professional backgrounds, and are, however, just over 20. One is a microbiologist, another in International Business Relations and Economics and a Hydrological Engineer. Most of them have at least gleaned the book "Chant -- Life for Paradise". At their profession there were 120 Priests and Religious as well as over 700 faithful and family members, who filled the monastic environs for the accompanying Agape feast.

www.stift-heiligenkreuz.at

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

France: Only the Catholic Monasteries Grow


The old liberals command of the Church is increasingly without reservation. But the boring mush they produce doesn't attract anyone any more.

[kreuz.net] "The Cloister, which young people today are drawn to, is something which the most traditional societies offer."

Trappist, Father Guillaume Jedrzejczak explained on July 2nd, for an article appearing in the Catholic daily 'La Croix'.

Father Jedrzejczak is the former Abbot of the French Trappist Abbey Mont-des-Cats.

In figures of numbers of entrants the traditionalist Abbey of Fontgambault in Central France is at the head of French Bedictine Cloisters.

The leading Trappist Abbey is the Cloister Sept-Fons in the Central French Auvergne.

Benedictine Nun Cloisters are like Pradines in Central France and the Cloister of Saint Marie de Maumont in Western Frane.

Also some French Carmelite Cloisters have regular growth.

Pre-Conciliar Carmelites



In the year 2009 French Cloisters received 50 Novice Males and 95 Novice Females.

The departures are in comparison to the decadent Council years, significantly lower. There are in any event also fewer entrants.


It is becoming increasingly prevalent, that Cloisters must be closed, because there are no more new growth.

Actually, simultaneously there is a growing interest in stays in the guest houses of the Cloister.

In certain regions of France it is so large, that the Cloisters are not in a position, to find places for all of the guests.

"Mostly young women come in search of peace of mind" -- explained Sister Marie-Chantal, who cares for the guests at the Cloister of the Servants of the Visitation of Voiron in the Diocese of Grenoble:

"They exclaim, not to have the faith and don't want to pray. They are not so much looking for someone as something."

The Cloister can accommodate a maximum of five female guests during the year.

Original, kreuznet, here...

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Vatican official says religious orders are in modern 'crisis'

No solutions yet, but at least they are admitting that there's a problem.

By John Thavis
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A top Vatican official said religious orders today are in a "crisis" caused in part by the adoption of a secularist mentality and the abandonment of traditional practices.

Cardinal Franc Rode, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, said the problems go deeper than the drastic drop in the numbers of religious men and women.

"The crisis experienced by certain religious communities, especially in Western Europe and North America, reflects the more profound crisis of European and American society. All this has dried up the sources that for centuries have nourished consecrated and missionary life in the church," Cardinal Rode said in a talk delivered Feb. 3 in Naples, Italy.

"The secularized culture has penetrated into the minds and hearts of some consecrated persons and some communities, where it is seen as an opening to modernity and a way of approaching the contemporary world," he said.


Link to original...