Showing posts with label Carmelites. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carmelites. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

French Carmel Returns to the Immemorial Rite of All Ages



(Paris) The Carmel of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and the Immaculate Conception in Alençon returned to the Immemorial Rite of the Catholic Church.

Already in 2008 the Carmelites made the first step in the direction of traditional liturgy. "We prefer the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite" which the newspaper La Nef reported in 2010 on the religious. The Holy Mass on Sundays and public holidays has therefore celebrated in the traditional form of the Roman Rite for several years. The Holy Mass on weekdays initially remained the ordinary form. Now Bishop Jacques Habert Sées has allowed the complete return to the Immemorial Rite. The Holy Mass will be celebrated in the Old Rite on Sundays and holidays at 9 clock and on all working days at 8 clock in the Carmel. The Chaplain of the monastery is a diocesan priest, assisted by priests of the Fraternity of St. Peter.

The Carmel was founded in 1988 at the request of Bishop François-Marie Tregaro Sées. A first Carmel had already existed in Alençon 1780-1792. It was abolished during the French Revolution, however, which is why the bishop has sought re-foundation. When Pope Benedict XVI. issued the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontiicum in 2007, the sisters were soon agreed to return to the Old Rite. The nuns devote six to seven hours a day in choral prayer.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
 Image: French Carmel
Trans: Tancred vekron@hotmail.com
  Link to katholisches....
AMGD

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Carmelite Nun Says Gas Attacks Were Faked: Would-be US Allies are Muslim Jihadists



Edit: this article from Haeretz is hardly defender of Christians in Syria, but it does put a light on their plight. Of course, she seems to have definitively crossed the line from contemplative to active life in her approach to what is a terrible emergency:

Why a Carmelite nun believes the chemical attack in Damascus was faked. By Gideon Levy | Sep. 1, 2013 | 8:25 AM | 29 Sister Agnes-Mariam de la Croix in Jerusalem this week: Chemical attacks were faked. Photo by Alex Levac

Sister Agnes-Mariam de la Croix feared that the United States would attackSyria on Saturday night. She expected the attack to be massive and would bring disaster to Syria and the entire region. According to Sister Agnes-Mariam, there are today 150,000 well-trained jihadist fighters from 80 countries in Syria, with arms they have received from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, and even from the United States. She says some of them are in a drugged state, induced by Captagon pills.

The nun lives in Syria and is the abbess, or mother superior, of the Monastery of St. James the Mutilated. She argues that these jihadi fighters control 60 percent of the populated areas of Syria. She claims that Islamic-Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra, which the United States has designated a terrorist group, is responsible for the acts of mass murder, rape and looting that have been committed in Syria. She also claims the Chechen fighters are exceptionally cruel and that, among the foreign fighters, there are a fairly large number of released prisoners and citizens of western countries. In her opinion, most of Syria’s citizens support the regime of President Bashar Assad because they fear a takeover of the country by Islamic extremists.

She calls on the world not to attack Syria, and to stop the flow of foreign fighters into its territory and the supply of arms they are receiving. When she journeys through Syria today, she feels as if she is in Afghanistan or Somalia. An American attack on Syria will hurt its army and open the door to a complete seizure of the country by the global jihad movement, she firmly believes. “If this regime is toppled,” she says, “it will be worse than Iraq. It will have consequences for Lebanon, Israel and Jordan, and it’s not a situation that will promote security.”

She also believes the pictures of the victims of last month’s alleged chemical attack in east Damascus are fabrications.

I met Sister Agnes-Mariam this week in a convent in Jerusalem’s hills, not far from Abu Ghosh. She is visiting Israel for a few days and next week will return to Syria, where she has been living for the past 19 years. Her life story is as surprising as her statements about the situation there.

She was born Fadia al-Laham, 61 years ago in Jounieh, Lebanon (her parents had fled Nazareth in 1948). When she was 15 her father died, and, as she herself admits, over the next few years she became a hippy and flower child who used drugs and drifted between Nepal and India. On her palm, concealed by her nun’s habit, she still has a few tattoos from India – a memento of that time in her life. She says she loves to listen to The Doors, The Rolling Stones and Santana. Her Indian experiences led her to embrace a cloistered life and, for 22 years, she lived in utter solitude in a Carmelite monastery in Lebanon’s highland region.

Sister Agnes-Mariam moved to Syria 19 years ago and, together with two other nuns, rebuilt the ruins of a monastery on the main road between Damascus and Homs, not far from the village of Qara. She became mother superior of the Monastery of St. James the Mutilated. In addition to the nuns of the convent, there are 20 Sunni refuges who have sought asylum from the horrors of the war.

She was forced to leave the monastery in June 2012, after the threats on her life increased because she was suspected of being an agent of the Assad regime. Her monastery is situated between the area controlled by the Free Syrian Army and the area controlled by the “foreign legions.”

Currently she lives in Damascus and is an international peace activist trying to warn the world of the dangers of a jihadist takeover of her adopted country. She is fighting what she considers a pack of lies, trying to counter the propaganda and disinformation in the Arab and international media, and documenting the atrocities of the war for the organization she has established. She arrived this week to visit relatives in Nazareth and to participate in an interfaith conference in Israel.

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Tuesday, April 9, 2013

SSPX Sisters of Carmel Leave Brilon Wald Opt for Bishop Williamson



The Carmel Sisters clarification, who will leave the SSPX before long, will be relocating their cloister to southern Germany. Furthermore, because of SSPX Bishop Williamson who was excluded because of disobedience,  is asked by the sisters to exercise jurisdiction. The sisters want to leave their enclosure in the future "regularly"  to ensure their livelihood.
The Communication was briefly the reason for the rift with the SSPX, but lacks concrete will. It is argued generally that, in the run of the German district of the SSPX company Sarto (publisher and bookstore) doubtful books are distributed and published in the finances are newspaper Ecclesiastical Umschau "continuously publishing offensive items by conservative representatives of the official Church." Otherwise they refer to unnamed websites of resistance", where the Liberalism" of the Society of St. Pius X.  has been “collected in evidence".
Sister Marie Theonilla worked before joining the camel as a hair stylist and was, after making her final vows. the German founding prioress Brilon Wald. The monastery has been unable to hold the many vocations of sisters. The women who left the convent before taking their vows have been critical, including the censorship of the Prioress. Back in the 80s and 90s the Prioress would cut the articles from publications of the Fraternity of St. Pius X before passing them on to the sisters. Currently, eight sisters live in the community, which was founded in 1984.
Their announcement concludes with an appeal for donations in the amount of 700.000, - € for a "small building”.
Text: Linus Schneider
Translated: Tankard

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

News -- A Powerless Church is Under the Power of the World

A powerless Church is under the power of the world -- Church vandalism: increasing bell thefts -- Jewish right-wing extremists bar Arab farmers -- A victim of the Conciliar Church -- 

A powerless Church is under the power of the world

Italy.  On Sunday the Italian historian Roberto de Mattei commented in the Milan news 'Il Giornale' on the occasion of the 1,700th anniversary of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge (312).  Then, the Emperor Constantine (+337) saw the cross in the sky.  He was victorious and led Christendom into Rome.  Mattei insisted that today's Old Liberals like the Communists are calling for a Christendom without power.  Only: when Christendom ceases to change the world, then it will be changed by the heathen world.

Church Vandalism: increased bell thefts

Germany.  Metal thieves are stealing church bells because of rising commodities prices.  The German bell museum in the 17,000 population community of Gecher in western Munsterland warned on Monday.  The museum asked for better security measures.  The perpetrators would destroy valuable cultural artifacts for raw materials.

Jewish Right-Wing extremists block Arab farmer out

Occupied Palestine.  A group of Jewish settlers blocked about ten dunums (10,000m^2) of farmland near Qarount in the vicinity of Nablus with barbed wire so the owner, Mohamad Najim (66) couldn't enter his unharvested fields on Sunday.  A so-called security post of a larcenous band of settlers warned Najim sternly of further approaches to his property and warned him of "attacks by robbers".  The Right-Wing Radicals had already cut down ripe olive trees 14 years before.  Then they informed the farmer that they wouldn't be responsible for his fat, if he attempted to enter his land.

Another victim of the Conciliar Church

Belgium.  The Carmelites in the 100,000 population city of Mons -- in the western Belgium Province of Hennegau -- must close its cloister.  The community is too old and has no growth.  In the next weeks the remaining sisters will settle in the other Belgian closter.  The Cloister in Mons has existed since 1607.

Link to kreuz.net...

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Tug of War over Carmelite Monastery Continues

Edit: The Diocese already has a buyer.  Ka-ching... according to KATH.NET.


Zweifall (kath.net) The tug-of-war over the Carmelite monastery in Eifeldorf Zweifall in the Diocese of Aachen comes to a head. Two Nuns, Sister Katharina (46) und Sister Regina (60) still remain there and are resisting the plans of the Diocese to dissolve the monastery, now they can no longer have access to their bank account, as the newspaper "Bild" reported.

The Diocese has a Buyer



The Diocese has, since 2006, imposed an emergency board from the Monastic Association of Carmelites consisting of Sister Hildegard Grimme, the president of the Federation of Carmelites in Germany (Karmelitinnenkloster St. Josef in Auderath in der Eifel)and Sister Josua Maria Bubenikova (Karmelitinnenkloster von der Heiligen Familie in Düren).

Only in the accompaniment of Sister Hildegard, may the two Carmelites get any more money. "That is a degradation that we don't need", said Sister Katharina. "We can't get our money any more, so we can't use it to buy food, and can't pay any more bills," complained Sister Regina.

Both Sisters operate a bakery for hosts and sell about 80,000 hosts per week to over 200 parishes. The payments go into their account. They don't get any financial support either from the Diocese or the Order. After a rescission the property ownership falls to the Diocese, and according to media reports plans a sale. The Cloister Maria Königin [Mary the Queen] has been in existence since 1955 and sits on a height above the village of Zweifall in the Eifel Mountains.

The village people and the Friends Circle of the Cloister are furious: "This is like the Middle Ages," said Josef Ehlen of the Friends Circle. "The Bishop of Aachen wants to let the nuns die of starvation." The temporary solution: "every Sunday in our Holy Mass a collection is made by the people of the village for us. We are very frugal, and we can get by with that for the week", explained the Sisters.

"On the side of the order it is feared that a cloistered life according to the rule was not possible any longer", explained the speaker of the Diocese of Aachen regarding the plans of dissolution to the Hamburger Abendblatt. The Bishop has already filed the dissolution.

The Roman Monastic Congregation confirmed the dissolution in December 2005 and authorized the Diocese to direct it, and on 2007 the Apostolic Signatura, the highest Catholic Court, denied Sister Regina's complaint against the Monastery closure.

Link to original...

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Will the Diocese of Aachen be Driven to Use Force?

Many faithful have gathered themselves around these two Carmelites in Zweifall.  They won't leave the field without a battle.



(kreuz.net) The sword of Damocles of forced expulsion hangs over the head of the two Carmelites of Zweifall.

This was reported in the German boulevard magazine 'Bild' on Monday.


Since their case has become known, Sister Regina(60) and Sister Katharina (40), have received a great sympathetic demonstration.

The Cloister which the two industrious Alsace Nunus occupy about 4.000 cubic meters has been abolished since six years ago by official Diocesan mandate.

The Diocese of Aachen would like to close the Carmel and sell it.

Actually, the Nuns don't need anyone's help. They earn their keep with their host bakery.

By a petition of the Diocese, the Aachen court has assembled an emergency board for the non-Profit association of the Carmel.

The goal: It should dissolve the association. Then the Cloister and the Land will fall to the Diocese.

The two Nuns will defend themselves with tooth and nail:

"I won't go freely", explained Sister Regina to 'Bild': "The Cops are going to have to drag me out of here."

And: "the men in the village stand behind us, will even fight with us, if it's going to get tough."

It's clear to Sister: "If we have to leave the Cloister, it will be as if Jesus had been put a second time on the Cross."

A speaker of the Diocese of Aachen is confident in the members of the Emergency Board. It has dealt with two other Carmlites from two other Cloisters:

"Both nuns in the Emergency Board will decide now, how it will proceed -- and what will be the fate of the two Nuns in Zweifall."

Link to kreuznet...


Friday, August 26, 2011

Carmel Zweifall: The Old Liberal Church Strikes Mercilessly

Edit: It bears a faint resemblance to the film The Conflict.

The Diocese of Aachen seems resolved to put the Carmelites in their place.


Pre-Conciliar Carmelite in Her Cell



(kreuz.net) "This lightning has struck from the sunny sky" -- 'Aachen Zeitung' cited Sister Maria Regina (60) yesterday.

The nun was the Sub Prioress in the previous report on the Carmel in Zweifal.

Zweifall is the most southerly part of the north Westphalian city of Stolberg in the vicinity of Aachen.

Two Zweifall sisters have been opposing the decision by the Diocese of Aachen to close the Cloister.


The Long Arm of the Old Liberal Bishops


According to reports from the 'Aachener Zeitung' the official court of Aachen has put into immediate effect an Emergency Board Meeting for the incorporated society 'Carmelites of Stolberg'.


The Society is the occupant of the Carmel.

If the new board decides the Society's dissolution, then the ownership of the entire property will go to the Carmel at the Diocese of Aachen.

The court is basing its steps for the reason that the Society has been without a board sine the death of its Prioress Sister Maria Helene on 27. Juli 2006, and also without a legitimate representative.

The named emergency board are two Carmelites from Auderath and Düren.

Both Zweifall Sisters view them only as the "emissaries" of the Bishop.

They fear that they will have to leave the Cloister and that the property will be sold.

The Battle Lies Ahead


The Conflict surrounding the Carmel has been going since 2004.

On the one side are the Sisters and the circle of friends of the Carmel and on the other is the Old Liberal Diocese of Aachen.

In the past even the Police have sided with the Sisters after an emergency call from them.

The nuns felt threatened by the then Cathedral Rector, Herbert Hammans.

Johann Ehlen -- the speaker for the Circle of Friends -- feels pessimistic: "I fear this is the end of the Cloister."

The struggle is at least legally lost because all legal recourse has been exhausted.

Hhlen had hard words for the decadent Diocese: "Our ecclesiastical life will be destroyed. One pastor we haven't had since four years ago. Now they want to take our Cloister."

Still, the Sub Prioress still won't give up the struggle: "I will leave this Cloister in a Coffin."

Link to original... kreuz.net..

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

"They'll Only Take me Out of Here in a Coffin"

Without any substantial motivation the German boulevard paper is helping the Carmelites of Zweifal with a shot of media fame: "He didn't even congratulate us on our fifty year Cloister Jubilee."


(kreuz.net) "I'm leaving this Cloister only when I'm dead" -- said Sister Regina (60) for the German website 'bild.de' today regarding the officially disbanded Carmel in Zweifal.

Zweifal is the most southerly part of the North Rhein-Westfalian city of Stolberg in the vicinity of Aachen.

The sisters there have been resisting the decision of the Diocesan Bishop of the Diocese of Aachen to close the Cloister for six years.

Six Years on Death Row

The Diocese of Aachen

The Carmelite Cloister Maria Königin was founded in 1955 besides Sister Regina, there are still Schwester Katharina (40) and Schwester Maria (28).

The Cloister occupies 4,000 cubic meters of living space and the estate is on a hill that's about as tall as two football fields.

For six years the Bishop Heinrich Mussinghof of Aachen has wanted to close the community due to a lack of growth.

In the best days the Cloister held twenty Carmelites.

Actually, the Carmelites of Zeifal oppose the Bishop with deathly courage.

"I have lived her for thirty years. I won't go freely. That is God's will", explained Sister Regina for 'bild.de'.

And: "I will leave this Cloister only when I'm dead, the only way they'll get me out of here is in a coffin."

"We're not indulging ourselves in anything else"

Sister Maria is presently "on a trip".

Sister Katharina commented in an explanation: "Earlier there was nothing. But we have established ourselves. Otherwise we're really not indulging ourselves."

The Sisters live by their host backery -- which produces 80.000 hosts a week.

The customers are about 200 parishes and cloisters in the Diocese of Aachen and Cologne.

Vegetables and grapes come right out of their own greenhouse.

Fight to the end

The Diocese wants to continue to bar the Cloister. It doesn't want any force used against the Sisters.

"We have a good legal case and are turning if need be to the courts" -- said Sister Regina combatively.

"The Diocese  can't really dissolve us."

That's something only the Sisters' mother house can do:  "Otherwise we have the village behind us."

What if the Bishop calls?  "Then we'll invite him for Coffee", said the Abbess -- and continued to attack:

"But he didn't even congratulate us on your fifty year Jubilee."

Link to kreuz.net...





Friday, December 24, 2010

Holy Night in Hell: Carmelite in KZ

The French Carmelite Priest and Prisoner P. Jacques de Jésus spread hope with a Mass in KZ Gusen.
P. Jacques de Jésus (left). Photo:  Archive G. Carmelites in Avon

KZ Gusen was called the "Hell of Hells".   But even there Christmas was celebrated.  On the parade ground and in secret:  the prisoner P. Jacques was able to celebrate Mass on 24. Dezember 1944. It was the most moving Liturgy of his life, reported a survivor.

A more perverse situation can not be imagined.  It was the early evening of the 24th of December.  Thousands of marled forms stood clothed in thin rags on the ice cold parade ground of Gusen and had to sing Christmas songs -- for their tormentors.  The SS-Men even took off their hats and listened to the German and Polish songs.  He had experienced much in  25 Months at Gusen, which is unimagineable, said the prisoner Louis Deblé: This Christmas feast stood out in an unimagineable way.  A large Christmas tree stood there, where normally the mobile gallows was set up.

The "Pastor of Gusen".   There was also another Christmas in the camp in 1944.  The "Pastor of Gusen", as the prisoners called P. Jacques, had his hands full with much to do.  Evidently, there was only work till midday, there the civilian foremen, the Capos and the SS-Men went home or also wanted to rest.   That afforded the possibility to move within the confines of the camp more safely than usual.  Unswervingly, prisoners sook P. Jacques out in order to do penance, and he went to several groups of Poles to give short meditations.  Even the 400 children of the camp, for whom a Christmas tree was organized, he stopped and made a visit and finally made his way on this night to the sick, the moribund.

A chalice from weapon-steel.  About 8 O'Clock  he began in Block 18with the chrism.  Between the beds the prisoners stood --- men from 15 nations sang in their mother tongues.  Upon the Consecration, P. Jacques knelt in his prison uniform before his bed where stood the Chalice and Paten.  A prisoner had made the chalice out of steel from rifle barrels, the wine came from a civil worker.  The hosts came from a Polish seminarian who had carried them since  1940.  The other prisoner Gaston Passagez stood during the Mass completely near to P Jacques:  "never have I seen such concentration with my own eyes, such an interiority -- I was moved to tears."  On this place of inhumanity was celebrated God becoming Man.  After the Mass the prisoners embraced one another.  "I will remember this night my whole life long",  said a Polish witness of the Mass.   P. Jacques died shortly after the liberation of the camp by the Elisabethinen in Linz.

Link to original...Diocese of Linz

Monday, February 1, 2010

Interfaith is a Crock and Carmelites Should Know



Liberal Catholics love "interfaith" but I don't know anyone else who does. It's more like something you're supposed to do, but invariably don't do, like eating granola, recycling or respecting diversity. No wonder real men don't go to church these days. Anyway, we can't blame these fine sisters too much since Archbishop Nichols, among others, has led the charge on interfaith by going to a Hindu Temple himself.


Catholic nuns and Hindu leader pray together for a better world

In a remarkable interfaith gesture, Carmelite nuns and well-known Hindu statesman Rajan Zed prayed together in Reno (Nevada, USA) today for making the "world a better place".

Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, prayed from Rig-Veda, the oldest scripture of the world still in common use, dated from around 1,500 BCE [wow, man, inclusive], with lines from Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita (Song of the Lord), both ancient Hindu scriptures. The nuns prayed from Songs of David and Intercessions, and read from Gospel of Luke in New Testament.

According to Sr. Susan Weber, Prioress of Carmel of Our Lady of the Mountains Monastery, where the prayers and dialogue was held, it was always nice to share the prayers and have dialogue. It was second year of such joint session of Carmelite-Hindu prayers in the Monastery. Sr. Rosey Klupfel led the prayers.


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Photo= Guardian