Early Art in Wales

Could not resist a post on this. A drawing of a reindeer has been found in Wales and is the oldest rock art in Britain. Ah, as I am partial to Welsh artists, I am happy to report this find. Here is the link. The art is dated at about 12,500 BC. The article notes also that the oldest formal buried person is from Wales. 

The limestone cliffs along the Gower coast are known for their archaeological importance.

The Red Lady of Paviland, actually the remains of a young man, is the earliest formal human burial to have been found in western Europe, around 29,000 years old.

It was discovered at Goat's Hole Cave at Paviland on Gower in 1823 by William Buckland, then a geology professor at Oxford University.

The picture is not too clear, but it is wonderful to know that men and women were "into art" for whatever reason so early.

Catholics, pray and act, if you can, for our sisters

From the Great Spencer, and why is this happening in Western Countries, based, supposedly on Roman and Judeo-Christian law?  From Spiegel, a great site to follow, even though one may not always agree with the editorial board. As a woman, I am very concerned for my sisters here and in other lands, who are discriminated against in these regards, and even in the States. Radical feminists are always silent on these facts. Why? And, someone I know, a doctor, lost all her children to her husband in Germany, when he disappeared to his original home with them. She never saw them again and had no rights to claim custody. In addition, the big question is why is violence allowed in any circumstance?

Catholics need to study and realize what the law which we have in our Western countries really holds as compared with other forms of law. This cannot be ignored.

German Spiegel Online, June 20, 2012:

 "In the Name of Allah. Islamic Mediators and Germany's 'Two Legal Systems'":

Demir's typical clients are husbands whose wives have left them and fathers of couples who are having problems. They often complain about their wives and daughters, namely Muslim women who rebel against corporal punishment or want to free themselves from the confines of marriage, even if they have children. ...

Arnold Mengelkoch, the official in charge of immigrant affairs in Berlin's Neukölln district, is familiar with the "informal Islamic family justice system" in his neighborhood. He estimates that 10 to 15 percent of Muslims in the religiously conservative community use the system to resolve their conflicts.

"There are two legal systems," says Sabine Scholz, a family law attorney in the northern city of Flensburg, "a German one and an Islamic one, which puts women at a disadvantage."

For some Muslim immigrants, Islamic law is more important than German law. Mathias Rohe, an Islamic law expert in the Bavarian city of Erlangen, encountered cases in his field studies "in which Muslim parties performed marriages or divorces, for example, exclusively in accordance with traditional Islamic norms."

Some Muslims mistrust government organizations, says Rohe, who sees himself as an intermediary between the Islamic and German legal cultures. According to Rohe, some people are trying "to establish a religious parallel structure, because they do not want to submit to the institutions of a secular, non-Islamic state."

As a result, imams and arbitrators in Berlin, the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein apply Sharia law on a daily basis, even though it is sometimes incompatible with the German constitution and German family law. In particular, Islamic law discriminates against women in the following ways:

• They are not permitted to marry non-Muslims;
• In an arbitration, family unity takes precedence over the woman's right of self-determination, even in cases involving violence;
• In a divorce, the man receives sole custody of the children;
• Polygamy and marriages with minors are allowed; under German law, 16-year-old girls can only marry with the permission of a family court.

Derailment? Rorate Caeli This Week

I am a bit late on this news, and the entire article is on Rorate Caeli. We need to pray for the SSPX and the Vatican persons involved in the reconciliation.

The district superior of Germany [of the Society of Saint Pius X (FSSPX / SSPX)], [Father Franz] Schmidberger, says to this newspaper that he knows that there are "people in the Vatican" that, against the will of the Pope, have thrown a wrench in the works. 

Yet, Schmidberger described the nomination of the American Archbishop Joseph Augustine Di Noia last Tuesday as vice-president of the Ecclesia Dei commission as a "good sign". This commission operates under the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and is responsible for the dialogue with the SSPX. Schmidberger assumes that Di Noia will advance the case according to the will of the Pope. 

The Vatican spokesman Lombardi, however, told this newspaper that the Pope is indeed "in favour of reunion, but only under clear theological conditions". These conditions had not changed. The Dominican Di Noia was until recently secretary of the Congregation for the Sacraments. Thouvenot claims in his letter that circulates the internet that the pope approves of the version of the doctrinal preamble as presented by Bp. Fellay in April. 

(...) While the Pope had approved of Fellay's version, Cardinal Levada would have proposed a version to Bp. Fellay mid-June that was "rolled back a couple of months". Accepting this version is "clearly unacceptable", according to Thouvenot [in the leaked internal correspondence]. Fellay would have reported this to Levada immediately. 

Ven. Fulton J. Sheen on the Sacrament of Holy Orders

I pray for many seminarians and those who are considering the priesthood. I also pray for priests. We must support our priests. There is a cool site on Venerable Fulton J. Sheen's comments on Holy Orders may be found here. A selection on celibacy follows:


Our Lord wished to have a group of men who would have the freedom to give full time to His service; hence He ordained in order that they who served the altar were to live by the altar. Celibacy in the Latin Rite stresses this quality of total dedication. The priest is a celibate in order that he might not have the cares of family and, therefore, not be afraid to minister to people in plague or to give the last rites to soldiers dying in battle. St. Paul, speaking of celibacy as a spur to undivided service, writes: "And I would have you free from concern. He who is unmarried is concerned with God's claim, asking how he is to please God" (I Corinth. 7:32).

 

Chastity, however, is not something cold or negative. It is, as Francis Thompson called it, "a passionless passion, a wild tranquillity." A man cannot live without love, though he can live without romantic love or the Eros. The divine command, "increase and multiply" (Gen. 1:28) may be verified not only with reference to the body, but also to the soul. There can be increase of man in the cultural, moral, and religious spheres. The priest is called a "father," because he begets souls in Christ. As St. Paul wrote to the Galatians: "My little children, I am in travail over you afresh, until I can see Christ's image formed in you" (Gal. 4:19). The purer the mirror of his humanity is, the better he reflects the image of Christ.

 

Though a priest is called a father, nevertheless, he is also a "mother" of children. Our Blessed Lord used two analogies to describe His attitude toward the city that He loved, and also to all humanity. He said that He loved Jerusalem as a hen who gathers her chickens, but the city refused His love. The night of the Last Supper, He used the similitude of a mother about to bring forth a child, implying that He would be in labor in His Crucifixion, but would bring forth new life in His Resurrection.

 

First Day of the Novena to the Holy Spirit for the SSPX

On a day and in a week when there are so many world crises, as in Egypt, the EU and in the States, I can hardly decide what to write. I think the most important thing today is to start the novena to the Holy Spirit which many of us are saying for the reconciliation of the SSPX. Here it is from the site. Click on the Veni Creator for the prayer.


"The Society of St. Pius X's annual General Chapter will take place at St. Pius X Seminary in Econe, Switzerland from July 9 to 14, following a retreat for the participants (the General Council and the SSPX's major superiors).

We invite the faithful, religious and clergy to join the members of the SSPX in a novena to the Holy Ghost from June 30 to July 8. The novena will consist of praying the Veni Creator Spiritus with the addition of 2 invocations:

• Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us. (3 times)
• St. Pius X, pray for us."
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  It is time for humility. I think the SSPX would renew the Church. Please join me in prayer.