Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Springtime in France? More like springtime in Europe!

In a Very Secular France, Nicolas Sarkozy Is Breaking a Taboo

by Sandro Magister, at his site, www.chiesa

This is interesting news and probably comes as no surprise to those of us in parishes like Assumption Grotto in Detroit and Sts. Cyril & Methodius (Sterling Hgts). One excerpt caught my eye and I can't wait to read the rest of it later when I have time. I think we will continue to live with much persecution, but in time, the old guard at the ACLU which tickles its fancy by attacking all things religious, will find itself replaced with a new generation of folks who will defend the very things the ACLU should be protecting.

One example of this renewed interest in Christianity in Sweden is the success of the information website “Katolsk Observatör.” The site describes itself as “traditional and aligned with Rome” and publishes news and analyses of substantial quality, with sections in English and French. One of its assiduous contributors is the Catholic bishop of Stockholm, Anders Arborelius, a member of the Carmelite order and the author of powerful homilies.


* * *

In Germany also – and not only in Catholic Bavaria, the birthplace of pope Joseph Ratzinger – there would seem to be signs of a religious revival. In mid-April, the German newspaper “Handesblatt” published a survey on this very phenomenon. In the view of the newspaper, the presence of a German pope on the chair of Peter makes an important contribution to this rebirth. Having visited Cologne in August of 2005, Benedict XVI will return to Germany next September, from the 9th to the 14th. “Handesblatt” writes that the pope “was able to speak about love to the youth he met in Cologne in a way that was new in comparison with that used in the past by many pastors of the German Catholic Church.”


Click the title link to read the entire story. It gives much hope for the future of our Church. Springtime is, indeed, in the air.