Tidbits from La Crosse

Just some tidbits I heard about

Archbishop Listecki will be back in La Crosse March 7th for Mass of Thanksgiving and May 29th for priestly ordinations


Bishop Harrington, retired from Winona, MN will celebrate Holy Week this year at the Cathedral in La Crosse.

The Cathedral in La Crosse planning a bus trip to the Dominican convent at Sinsinawa (eek! do you remember this?) where there is a museum of Father Samuel Mazzuchelli, OP.  We may also stop at St. Gabriel’s in Prairie du Chien on the way where there is a monument to Father Lucien Galtier.   Fr. Galtier was a major force in the establishment of the Catholic faith on the Minnesota Frontier in the early to mid-1800's.  He renamed the city of Pig's Eye, MN to St. Paul, MN :)  I'm sure there are plenty who appreciate that.  I also heard that he died after cutting himself shaving, and that he would have been the first Bishop of La Crosse had he not died. 

Palace of Soviets

At my job I often have to learn about cultures of countries at it pertains to how they store data.  Sounds boring?  Yes, yes it is most of the time.  But every now and then I run across something cool.

In this case I wouldn't call it "cool" but fascinating.

After the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917, Vladimir Lenin supplanted the rightful Imperial Russian crown and brought to power his communist government.  I won't go into the role that the notorious character named Rasputin had in this post.  Little his followers must have known of his anti-Christian sentiments.

But we will move to Lenin's successor Joseph Stalin.

In 1924, Lenin's death and the construction of the temporary Lenin's Mausoleum initiated a national campaign to build Lenin memorials across the country. Victor Balikhin, a graduate student at VKhUTEMAS, proposed to install Lenin's memorial on top of a Comintern building, on the site of Christ the Savior Cathedral. "Arc lamps will flood the villages, towns, parks and squares, calling everyone to honor Lenin even at night..." 

Note the Christ the Savior Cathedral was the largest Orthodox church in existence and largest ever built.  It was not just a religious symbol but of the Russian culture which was also under attack. 

Six years later, in February 1931, the State declared the first contest for the Palace of the Soviets, distributing preliminary proposals to 15 architectural workshops (avant-garde and traditional architects). This contest ended in May, 1931, with no winners.
On June 2, 1931, a conference of Party elders identified the site of the future Palace and condemned the Cathedral. This was formally endorsed on July 16 by the VTsIK commission. July 18, state commissioners started an inventory count of Cathedral properties.

On 5 December 1931, by order of Stalin's minister Kaganovich, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was dynamited and reduced to rubble. It took more than a year to clear the debris from the site. For a long time, they were the only reminder of the largest Orthodox church ever built.  A small fraction of the priceless artwork was removed and stored at state expense and the expense of Donskoy Monastery; the rest perished. Demolition began on August 18; on December 5, 1931 the structure was finally destroyed in two rounds of explosions. Hauling out the rubble took more than a year.

This should be taught in every high school in America...

In August 1932, as is clear from Stalin's memo Stalin personally intervened to correct the omission of a statue on top of the design of the Palace of Soviets. A taller tower and Lenin's statue appeared after the fourth draft, in response to Stalin's public speech: "The Palace of the Soviets is a monument to Lenin. Don't be scared of height; go for it." In the process, the total height increased from 260 to 415 meters. The Main Hall with a capacity of 21,000 seats was 100 meters high and 160 meters in diameter (the Little Hall in the Eastern Wing was 6,000 seats). This project was released to the public in March 1934. The statue structure was designed later; a 100-meter 1936 version weighed in excess of 6,000 tons. In 1937, Frank Lloyd Wright, addressing the Congress of Soviet Architects, remarked "This structure — only proposed I hope — is good if we take it for a modern version of Saint George destroying the dragon."


How telling that last sentance was.  Communism or Marxism being St. George and the Dragon being Freedom or Christianity. 

The foundation was completed in 1939. The builders drove a perimeter of 20-meter steel piles, excavated the pit, demolished and hauled out the old cathedral foundations. The new foundation was a slightly concave concrete slab with concentric vertical rings, intended to carry the main hall columns. By June 1941, the steel frame for the lower levels was erected. Then the war interfered: the steel frame was cut in 1941 and 1942 and used for Moscow's defense fortifications and railroad bridges. The empty foundation stood unused, filled with seepage water, but well guarded, until 1958.

Can anyone say Tower of Babel?  


Like the French Revolution the Red Revolution had as much to do with politics as it did religion.  As we find so often in politics in this country today, people who do not have the True Religion must make their politics their religion.  Every man must worship something, whether a golden calf, or a concrete Vladimir Lenin, or abortion rights, or social health-care.  How far we can be carried away and how quickly we can become murderous pagans when we do not put Jesus Christ at the center of our daily worship. 

Stats on USA Catholics

From Fr. Z.  

You want to read the whole article here

For example… Catholic population in the USA is going up and so is, – surprise – Mass attendance.

U.S. Data	1965	1975	1985	1995	2000	2005	2009
Total priests	58,632	58,909	57,317	49,054	45,699	42,839	40,666
Diocesan priests	35,925	36,005	35,052	32,349	30,607	28,702	27,594
Religious priests	22,707	22,904	22,265	16,705	15,092	14,137	13,072
Priestly ordinations	994	771	533	511	442	454	472
Graduate-level seminarians	8,325	5,279	4,063	3,172	3,474	3,308	3,357
Permanent deacons	na	898	7,204	10,932	12,378	14,574	16,380
Religious brothers	12,271	8,625	7,544	6,535	5,662	5,451	4,863
Religious sisters	179,954	135,225	115,386	90,809	79,814	68,634	59,601
Parishes	17,637	18,515	19,244	19,331	19,236	18,891	18,280
Without a resident priest pastor	549	702	1,051	2,161	2,843	3,251	3,400
Where a bishop has entrusted the pastoral care of the parrish to a deacon, religious sister or brother, or other lay person (Canon 517.2)	na	na	93	314	447	553	517
Catholic population	45.6m	48.7m	52.3m	57.4m	59.9m	64.8m	65.2m
Percent of U.S. population	24%	23%	23%	23%	22%	23%	22%
Catholic elementary schools	—	8,414	7,764	6,964	6,793	6,122	6,028*
Students in Catholic elementary schools	—	2.557m	2.005m	1.815m	1.800m	1.559m	1.568m*
Catholic secondary schools	—	1,624	1,425	1,280	1,297	1,325	1,220*
Students in Catholic secondary schools	—	884,181	774,216	638,440	653,723	653,226	624,515*
Mass Attendance CARA Catholic Poll (CCP): Yearly average percent of U.S.adult Catholics who say they attended Mass once a week or more (i.e., those attending every week) in CARA’s telephone polls. Comparison: The Gallup Poll trend for the  yearly average percent of U.S.adult Catholics who say they attended Mass in the last seven days (i.e., those attending in any given week).	—	—	—	—	33%	35%	36%
*Most recent estimates of the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA). School data for previous years is from the ASE.

Day of prayer and penance

Don't forget tomorrow is the anniversary of the Roe v Wade mistake. 

In February 2002, the Catholic Church established that throughout the United States, January 22^nd would be observed as a day of prayer and penance against abortion:

“In all the dioceses of the United States of America, January 22 (or January 23, when January 22 falls on a Sunday) shall be observed as a particular day of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion, and of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life. The Mass 'For Peace and Justice' (no. 22 of the 'Masses for Various Needs') should be celebrated with violet vestments as an appropriate liturgical observance for this day.”

                       – General Instruction of the Roman Missal, no. 373

Read more at Aquinas and More 

And follow the March for Life on EWTN.  Last year some said up to 250,000 people attended.  But none of the main stream media will cover it(not even Fox News). 

Tommy Barrett pro-choice Catholic politician from Milwaukee area

From Dad29

Tommy Barrett is a member of St. Sebastian's Parish over by the Highlands, there, ain'a.

Tommy Barrett may have a problem. Oh--not with the former pastor of that church, whose total disrespect for liturgical law is well-known (and despised).

Nope. Tommy's problem is with the Archbishop of Milwaukee.

As a congressman, Barrett:

• Voted against the Child Custody Protection Act which would have made it a federal crime to take a minor across state lines to have an abortion to keep the abortion secret from her parents.
• Voted against a ban on performing abortions at military hospitals.
• Voted against the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, a federal law which allows prosecutors to charge a third party for death or injury to an unborn child.
• Voted against a ban on human cloning.
• Voted against the Mexico City Policy which prohibits the use of federal funds to promote or perform abortions overseas.
• Voted for taxpayer funding of abortions for federal employees.
• Voted against banning partial-birth abortions (2002 bill).

Oh, that's not all. As a Wisconsin leggie, Barrett:

• Voted in favor of taxpayer funding of abortion referrals.
• Voted against protecting the unborn child of a pregnant woman on life supports.
• Voted against the right-to-life position on 53 out of 55 votes

It's pretty well-known that Abp. Listecki does not suffer pro-abortion "Catholics" well at all. Let's hope that the Abp's past is prologue.

HT: Fischer

COMMON SURGERY of the SOUL

From The LION & the CARDINAL


What a beautiful description of a church: COMMON SURGERY of the SOUL



St. John of Damascus:

I may not have many books, nor much time to read, but, strangled with thoughts, as if with thorns, I come into the common surgery of the soul, the church; the luster of the painting draws me to vision and delights my sight like a meadow and imperceptibly introduces my soul to the glory of God. I have seen the perseverance of the martyr, the recompense of the crowns, and as if by fire I am eagerly kindled to zeal, and falling down I venerate God through the martyr and I receive salvation.

Comments

I just realized I missed a few comments from around Christmastime.  I haven't yet got the recent comments module on the side to work(it just shows up blank).  I'll work on that so I don't miss any of you. 

Yes, by the way this blog is still a work in progress.  I'm hoping to get some time to make it a bit easier on the eyes. 

Great Scott!!

Scott Brown wins Ted Kennedy's vacant senate seat in Massachusetts!! 

Why Weddings belong in a church

Reason number 457...


H/t: HusingAdoption

Back in the saddle

Doing well after a baby break.  St Anthony of the Desert, ora pro nobis! The Torment of Saint Anthony - Michelangelo  And guess what, by God's grace St. Anthony wins this wrestling match!

Hoping to post on a good lead for potential bishop of La Crosse diocese.  Also many in the area are headed to Washington DC for the annual March for Life on Friday.  

Chant for Kids

You gotta check this out!

Gregorian Chant for Kids CD

Also a pdf  available with the music.  I have just become a huge fan of Catholic Heritage Curricula.  Our friends have began using CHC for home schooling materials.  What a gem! 

New Movie: "Maafa 21: Black Genocide in 21st Century America"

Maafa, Swahili for 'great disaster' or 'tragedy', refers to the time when a people in the US lived by blood, sweat, flesh, and torment, forced into slavery by the elite of the nation. Maafa refers to a time when people were valued as property and treated as subhuman.

Maafa 21 tells of the time in which this subhuman treatment continued: the 21st century. It tells how when slavery ended, elites in the US decided that black people had no place in America. It tells how they tried to eliminate a people.

Eugenics. Forced sterilization. Birth control.

Abortion.

Although blacks make up 13% of the US population, black women make up 36% of abortions. In fact, 50% of pregnancies end in abortion within the black community. Watch Maafa 21 to see learn how the American Birth Control League, later Planned Parenthood, worked to reduce and eliminate the black population.

Google is for Dhimmies

From the always great blog of Patrick Madrid


Robert Spencer from Jihad Watch shows how Google automatically offers viciously derrogatory search suggestions on phrases such as "Christianity is" (I also found it does the same for searches on "Catholicism is," "Pope Benedict is," and "the pope is"), but it does not do the same when someone searches "Islam is." In fact, as Robert points out, type in "Islam is" and Google suggests . . . nothing at all.

Draw your own conclusions.

HT:Patrick Madrid

Some tidbits

Bishop Sample of the Diocese of Marquette (the UP) is now on the board at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  Possible Listecki replacement?  Yes, but it seems like Marquette to La Crosse is a pretty lateral move.  Not sure if that would make sense.  Plus we need more bishops.  Here's one reason to love this bishop.  He forbid very liberal Bp Gumbleton from speaking in his diocese. 

Also Fr. Frank Hoffman (aka "Fr. Rocky") is not also on the Shrine board.  I'm not sure if that is primarily as a liaison to Relevant Radio or for some other reason. 

Listecki coverage

I did some microblogging on Twitter on the installation.  If you want to check it out, it is at

http://twitter.com/LaCrosseCath

Listecki installation

Archbishop Listecki will be installed at Milwaukee's Cathedral (yuk...) today Monday Jan 4th.  I found out this is being broadcast live online according to the Milwaukee Archdiocese's website. 

Installation Mass Broadcast Live

On January 4, 2010, Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki will be installed as the 11th Archbishop of Milwaukee at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, Milwaukee. Television coverage of the ceremony will begin at 1:30 p.m. CST with the procession of con-celebrants. The Mass will begin at 2 p.m.
The following media outlets plan to broadcast the event live:

• WISN, Channel 12, Milwaukee
• WTMJ, Channel 4, Milwaukee
• Relevant Radio, 100.1 FM and 1550 AM

WISN, Channel 12 will also provide a live stream of the video on its Web site at www.wisn.com.

Click here for the online version of the Order of Worship to be used for the Vespers service and Installation Mass.

Looks like alot of news outlets are picking up on this.  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has more on the attendees.  Most noteable I think is Archbishop Emeritus Weakland.  For a man who may bankrupt the archdiocese, it seemed interesting he would be attending.  Also some nice pictures from Sunday in a hideous cathedral.