Exhibit opens commemorating 80 years of Vatican City State

An extraordinary journey through time and history. In honor of the anniversary of the signing of the Lateran Pacts, a display has been set-up at the Braccio di Carlo Magno wing of Vatican City, entitled "1929-2009, Eighty years of the Vatican City State". Until May 10, visitors can enter free of charge and immerse themselves in the atmosphere of the times, full of changes for the small State. The itinerary develops in 5 sections: the first dedicated to the Vatican before 1929; the second to Pius XI, Achille Ratti, the craftsman of the settlement with Italy, great builder of the juridical structure and architect of the new State. Following that is a section on the Lateran Pacts, Treaty and Agreement

Austrian Bishops in open revolt

Rorate Caeli suggests the Austrian Bishops are in "open revolt", below is an extract from a letter issued under the signature of Cardinal von Shoenberg and Austria's senior bishop following an emergency meeting after Fr Wagner withdrew from his appointment as auxilliary bishop to the uber-liberal diocese of Linz. The implications of "factions" seem to indicate the Austrian Church is ungovernable.

"4. There were problems of communication in the recent appointment of an auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Linz. The bishops are aware that Fr Wagner asked the Pope to withdraw the appointment. The theme of Episcopal appointments is therefore important because since the mid-eighties in Austria it has been associated with a number of problems. For many, the controversy over episcopal appointments led to a painful conflict, and they have triggered splits in the church.
It is precisely in this area that sensitivity is most appropriate. There is no question that the Pope is free to appoint bishops. The bishops do not want to go back in time where - as in 1918 - the Emperor alone chose the bishops. Even a 'popular choice' of the bishops would divide the church into parties and conflicts would be inevitable.
We bishops are convinced that the procedure provided for in canon law for the selection and the examination of candidates has proved its worth, if this procedure is really followed. Therefore, before the Holy Father takes the final decision, reliable and thoroughly tested basic information must be provided on which he can rely.
In Austria in the next few years a number of bishops are to be appointed. The faithful are legitimately concerned that the process of candidate search, examination of the proposals and the final decisions should be carefully undertaken and with pastoral sensitivity are possible.
This can ensure that bishops are appointed who are not 'against' but 'for' a local church. We bishops will make every possible effort to support the forthcoming episcopal appointments in the sense of monitoring these procedures in close cooperation with the relevant Vatican offices."

....
"Trusting in God's help, we will overcome the crisis of recent weeks." [Adapted according to original text]

Valentine: habeas corpus

Fr Mildew has an intesting post on the relics of St Valentine, there are three St Valentines in the British Isles:

Cardinal Newman who brought the body of St Valentine back from Rome where he found it in a catacombe but had difficulties with customs. At Verona they wanted to open the box containing the relics and at the Custom House it was recorded as a "mummy". It appears they wanted to charge duty on it. It is now found in a shrine at the Birmingham Oratory. At least it is genuine.There are it seems two other "bodies" claiming the name of Valentine enshrined. One is in the Carmelite Church in Dublin sent as a gift from Pope Gregory 16th in 1835 while a trip to Glasgow and a visit to the Church of Blessed Duns Scotus you will discover Valentine No 3 this time the gift of a French family in 1868.

Cardinal: Britain needs the recession

The Cardinal recently caused a stir when he spoke at a fundraising lunch for Britains wealthiest Catholics by talking about the "death of Capitalism". In an interview in Saturday's Times entitled "Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor: recession may be jolt that selfish Britain needs" he put a little more flesh on these words. Here are a couple of extracts but read the whole interview.

According to the Archbishop of Westminster, the economic downturn could be the very thing that brings us to our senses. “It's the end of a certain kind of selfish capitalism,” Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor said. “This particular recession is a moment - a kairos - when we have to reflect as a country on what are the things that nourish the values, the virtues, we want to have ... Capitalism needs to be underpinned with regulation and a moral purpose.”
......

Torture Victim

I am proud that I have in the basement of my house with an organisation works for illegal immigrants and torture victims. I have just received this e-mail from another organisation, see what you can do.

Dear Father Ray,

Is there any chance you could bring the case of Sayed Parnian to the attention of your readers? An appeal for him is being run by Brighton Unemployed Workers Centre, which has kickstarted it with a donation of £200. The details of the torture inflicted on him and his wife sound horrific; the experience drove him to make an attempt on his own life this summer.

Best wishes,


Maria.

Seyed Parnian Torture Care Appeal
For Mr Seyed Parnian from Iran
To pay for care from the Medical Foundation
working with victims of torture
Sunday, 15 February 2009
Dear friends and colleagues,
I am writing to you in the hope that you will respond to the situation of Mr Seyed Parnian, an Iranian who has been in the UK as an asylum seeker since 5th April 2006.
Up to 2006, Mr Parnian was working in the family business of importing and exporting heavy machinery. He was successful enough to travel freely all over Europe to do his job. In April 2006, he was in the process of leaving the UK from Gatwick airport when he received a call from his family telling him at all costs not to get on a flight back home, as his house had been searched by the Secret Service. Mr Seyed was charged in his absence with having ‘illegal’ books and his wife was arrested.
Mr Parnian had had a personal dispute nine years previously (1996) with man from one of the Iranian Secret Service organisations and whose family wielded huge power in Iran. In the process of the battle through the Iranian courts, Mr Parnian was imprisoned twice. He was badly tortured, being repeatedly hung upside down and beaten, his teeth smashed out and many more terrible experiences too degrading to put into words. From this period, he was continually harassed, prior to claiming asylum in the UK.
After the Home Office judges refused Mr Parnian asylum, further supporting evidence was gathered and his fresh claim submitted. However, in the time between his first UK trial and his fresh claim (new request for asylum), the very thing that Seyed feared happened. His wife was picked up for the fourth time by the Secret Services in Iran. She was imprisoned, where she was viciously attacked and traumatised, receiving amongst other injuries, a broken nose and bad bruising. She needed immediate hospital treatment upon her release in November 2009.
As a result of his wife’s trauma and his inability to protect his family, Mr Parnian became mentally unstable. He attempted suicide by taking an overdose on June 22nd 2008. He was resuscitated in hospital and a nurse aware of the Medical Foundation alerted a local member to his situation. Seyed’s constant source of fear is that he cannot protect his family and maybe will never see his wife and children again. He suffers from flash backs of the time when he was tortured by the authorities and is in continual physical pain - a symptom very typical of some torture victims.
Mr Parnian has support from individuals within Brighton and Hove and organisations in Sussex. If you are able to donate any amount towards his treatment and towards the production on a Medical Legal Assessment to legally substantiate the story of his torture, could you please forward any donations to the fund we have set up at the following address.
Any amount however small is gratefully received.
It costs £650 for a Medical Legal Assessment to be written, following interviews with specialist doctors
It costs approximately £2,000 for a course of treatment at the Medical Foundation.
Any funds in excess will be donated to the Medical Foundation for the care of victims of torture.
With thanks

Jo Smith (friend and supporter)
Please follow the link below to find out more about the Medical Foundation.
www.torturecare.org.uk



Cheques payable to … (Brighton Unemployed Workers Centre)
Please send to:
Brighton & Hove Unemployed Workers Appeal
4 Crestway Parade,
The Crestway
Brighton
BN1 7BL

Happy St Cyril & St Methodius Day

I love those sainted brothers dearly but wishing young lovers Happy St Cyril & St Methodius Day doesn't quite work.

Of course in the Extra-Ordinary Form St Valentine is still a commemoration but the "Holy Brothers" are a feast in the Ordinary Form. What a loss of a great pastoral opportunity to celebrate marriage and chaste love.

Anyone know if Professor Dawkin's sends a St Valentine Day card to anyone? Bet not, atheism is so boring isn't it?

A thought on Maciel

There is lots on the American blogs about the secret life of Father Marcial Maciel Degollado 1920-2008. I don't want to discuss the sordid details of this man, they can be found elsewhere.

What strikes me is that Pope John Paul thought of him as living saint; there were allegations about him, but he was protected by the Pope's regard for him. One of the first acts of Pope Benedict was to send him off into silence and seclusion after setting up an enquiry to investigate the allegations.

I do not think for one instance that the previous Pope acted with any bad intention, he just simply saw the fruit which was prolific: hundreds of vocations, splendid work by the order he founded, deeply committed families that came under his and his orders influence. What he failed to examine was the root, which the present revelations show as being grossly corrupt and depraved.

One of the mysteries of the Christian life is, "where sin is, there grace abounds," or "God writes straight with crooked lines". In the second half of the twentieth century there where extra-ordinary founders like Escriva, Theresa of Calcutta, and yes, Marciel Marcel, maybe even Lefebvre could be included. There were also movements like Charismatic Renewal, Liberation Theology, the Ecumenical Movement and more localised movements like Taize or Medjugorge, possibly even the personal devotion to JPII himself.

It was an age in which the person was pushed to the fore, and in which we looked for immediate fruit and bathed in the charisms of others and searched anxiously for own. We disregarded the "charism" of being a good husband or wife, mother or father, or even just a good person and promoted the extra-ordinary. In the secular world too it was the age of the celebrity and the sound-bite.

I hope we are moving away from all that with the aid of a bit of healthy Augustinian skeptical pessimism, a return to Tradition, to a close examination of texts, to the law and what it says.

The change from the age of John Paul "the Great" to that of Benedict, described by one French journalist as, "the Ordinary" in a way epitomises the transition of the 20th to the 21st century, it is movement to solid ground.


PRAY FOR THE LEGION, FOR LEGIONARIES AND FORMER LEGIONARIES