Monday, June 15, 2009

Is Austria being sorted out?

This is the Corpus Procession in the diocese of Linz Austria from the Archdiocese of Washington blogsite, I don't think it is being held up as an example to be followed, on the contrary, the author says, "If something is crazy, ugly or just plain illicit it is on display is this diocese".

It is hardly surprising that the Vatican Information Services announced that "A delegation of Austrian bishops led by Cardinal Christoph Schonborn O.P., archbishop of Vienna" was received in audience by the Pope. The goings on in Linz, the rejection of Fr Wagner as auxillary bishop, the strange homoerotic art appearing in the Cardinal's own Cathedral, the rise of the "We Are Church" movement and the general secularisation are causing concern in Rome.

17 comments:

I.P. said...

What do you expect from the diocese which nourished the Fuhrer?

Michael Petek said...

If the priest in the video thinks that is any right way to treat the Sacred Host, one wonders what aspects of eternal damnation he finds appealing.

George said...

Now I know that the Austrians have no sense of humour so it can't possibly be a joke or some weird kind of wind-up!

But why is this Priest holding a stick with a pitta bread in the air? Is he about to place it on a very hot BBQ - hence keeping his distance?

I know one thing for sure and I'll tell you what that is, "That ain't no Monstrance!" What are these Linz guys on??? Have the yummy Austrian chocolate bars gone to their brains? Are they trying to set new world records and reach the dizzy heights for inventing ever more crazy liturgical abuses?

Bread is bread and a Monstrance is something beautiful within which is held the Sacred Host - the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Please dearest Catholic brothers and sisters of Linz, do you believe this is pleasing to God? Does this glorify His only Son who died for us on the Cross so we could all be saved from the eternal torments of hell? Don't let the devil mess up your Faith and Obedience to the Teachings of Mother Church. Turn to Our Blessed Lady and ask her to help the Austrian Catholic Church out of this mess, she will lead you always and directly to her Son.

Now, leave the pitta bread for the Doner Kebabs, get on your knees and beg forgiveness for this nonsense and irreverence.

Elizabeth said...

The Priest looks old enough to know better. What a sad world we live in when the Body and Blood of Jesus is made a mockery of by His own people.
How much longer can Our Lady tolerate such abuse of Her Son. It looks like crucifying Jesus 2000 years ago just is not enough to satisfy man?

berenike said...

A most expressive contrast between the picture in this post and that in the previous one ...

Red Maria said...

Let's get this right.

We Are Church is not, repeat NOT a "movement". A one-off opportunistic petition created at the height of a media frenzy and signed by millions of Austrians does not a movement make. Sorry. The overwhelming majority of signatories wouldn't have had the faintest idea of who We are Church is or what it stands for.

A movement, at the very least would have to have a coherent ideology and cadre of committed activists. We are Church doesn't.

Neither is We are Church a Protestant group, or for that matter a Christian group of any type whatsoever.

We are Church is, even, in Austria a relatively small grouping - the same names always crop up - of malicious individuals who have strong links to anti-Catholic groups, most notably Anti Catholics for Choice.

Elfriede Harth is currently Anti Catholics for Choice's point woman in Brussels, where she provides the secretariat for the EU Parliament's Separation of Religion and Politics group, a notable member of which is the notorious anti-Catholic, Mary Honeyball.

In the 90s Harth was the spokesperson for We are Church. We are Church's UK representative and probably sole member, Valerie Stroud recently lavished Harth - and her confederate, Jon O'Brien (ACFC's president) with praise, gushing that she'd learnt so much from them.

AP said...

"If the priest . . . thinks that is any right way to treat the Sacred Host . . . "

What makes you think that a valid consecration had been confected?

By simply oberving the quality of the bread that appears to be impaled upon a stake, one can reasonably conclude that was proper matter is lacking.

Adulio said...

Could one say that gates of Hell have over-powered the church in Linz?

Joe of St. Thérèse said...

::I'm going to go offer prayers for reparation after watching that::

Wynn said...

Not sure which I find more offensive in that video: the bizarre form of exposition (which, even if not in itself irreverent, self-consciously violates every norm of the Church), or the horrid mish-mash of Beethoven's 5th that the video's creators have seen fit to superimpose upon it.

Red Maria said...

the bread that appears to be impaled upon a stake

No, AP, the object resembling a large pitta bread was not impaled on a stake but reverently clasped between a pair of tongs.

This was the Rite of the Sacred Barbeque, the follow up to Cardinal Schönborn's smash hit, RockMass(tm).

Coming up next, a troupe of Austrian nuns perform Dance of the Biscuit Tin at St Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna.

Paul Viola said...

How come the monstrance looks like brain tissue? This looks grotesque. I've heard that the state of faith is not great in Europe, but really is this any way to treat the Lord?

becket said...

And they (Austrian and German Bishops) have the nerve to complain about the SSPX. Let's contrast this so called Mass with a SSPX Mass. See which looks more Roman Catholic.

Ma Tucker said...

Evil sees ugliness as beautiful and true.

Fr Seán Coyle said...

I.P., I don't think the Fuhrer has anything to do with it. I've read a number of biographies of Hitler and, apart from noting the fact that he was baptised in the Catholic Church, none mentioned any subsequent involvement with the Church.

There is a worldwide problem of a loss of faith, at least in the Church in the West.

Jef said...

I will assume the consecration or the bread used was as dodgy as the monstrance and that this is not, in fact, Our Lord(Please don't correct me if I'm wrong).
This kind of behaviour seems, in my experience, to stem from three main points:

Poor catechesis of the faithful
I am was baptised catholic as a baby and only found out what catechesis was, and with it the fullness of the Faith, in my early 20's.

Possibly an incomplete understanding of the Faith by some Priests
For example I have been told by Priests in the past, with no more explanation, that the Eucharist is basically a meal and that non-Catholics such as Anglicans can receive Holy Communion in Catholic Churches if they want

Priests trying to make Catholicism more meaningful to a poorly catechised people

Push these points to the extreme and you get Linz. But it could be anywhere.

Our Lady of perpetual Help, Pray for us.

Dilly said...

George - you completely spoilt my joke about the Bishops going to Rome and getting kebbabed...

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