Halos Banned from Euro Coin

Depicting St Cyril and St Methodius:

The Commission of the European Union has demanded that Slovenia remove the halos from its new Euro coin commemorating the 1,150th anniversary of the arrival of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Moravia. A spokeswoman for the Bank of Slovenia explained their decision to comply with the European Comissions demands:

‘The European Commission and some member states have asked Slovakia to remove some symbols from the draft coin to comply with the principle of religious neutrality. We believe the final coin will be a dignified combination of a symbol of state and a symbol of Christianity,”

The European Commission defended its insistence that Slovenia remove the halos from  Cyril and Methodius:

“Under EU rules, when designing the national side of a euro coin, Member States are required to take into account that the coins will circulate throughout the whole eurozone, and in that context, proposed designs are shared in advance with other Member States so that they can provide any comments they deem appropriate.

The Commission acknowledged that some members states objected to the coin, adding that Slovakia submitted a slightly amended design, “which has now been approved by the [EU] Council of Ministers.”

Protect the Pope comment:  The European Commission’s demand that Slovenia  remove the Christian symbol of sanctity that has been included on coins throughout Europe for thousands of years is yet another attack on our common Christian heritage. In the censored coin St. Cyril and St. Methodius have been reduced to the stature of  mundane historical figures, their eternal significance and role as intercessors and exemplars of sanctity removed from the public arena.  The secular reformation of Europe continues to impose its intolerant ideology under the guise of ‘religious neutrality’.

http://www.thejournal.ie/no-halo-on-slovakia-2-euro-coin-680616-Nov2012/

Out: Christmas Tree; In: The Electronic Winter Tree

Lest an offence is caused. Christmas cancelled in Brussels.

Here’s a little something from Friends of Hungary.

THE END OF CHRISTIANITY IN BRUSSELS – NO CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR

According to Brussels city government’s representative Bianca Debaets Brussels will not place a Christmas tree on its historical Grand Place square, because the tree, as a symbol of Christianity, could harm the feelings of people of other faiths. The electronic timber that has been granted and already placed is called “winter tree”. The “Christmas market” thus receives a new name, from which the word “Christmas” is missing. (The muslim community reached 25% of Brussel’s total population. According to most analysts the size and influence of the muslim community in Belgium was a key factor in making the decision.)

Europe: Two Souls, Three Reasons for Hope

“The second reason for my hope lies in the fact that the Gospel of Jesus Christ, faith in Jesus Christ is quite simply true and the truth never ages.” — Pope Benedict XVI, Interview, October 15, 2012.

Read on here.

 

Europe’s Churches Becoming Mosques at Rate of up to 2 a Week

Arutz Sheva reports:

Europe’s Churches Becoming Mosques

Islam has risen, and is swallowing up Europe at an alarming rate Europe’s churches are being bought up and turned into mosques at the rate of up to 2 churches a week, reports Giulio Meotti, an Italian journalist, who wrote an article: Expose`: Europe Turns Churches into Mosques and appeared on Arutz Sheva’s Tamar Yonah Show.

“What we are seeing is the de-Christianization of Europe, and then the Islamification of it.” Meotti stated.

Rich Arab countries are investing in Europe and buying it up church by church, city by city, country by country. Meotti speaks about money from Arab oil-rich countries buying up Christian community centers, and turning them in to Muslim community centers. This trend has picked up speed and cannot be hidden anymore by European liberal leaders. Meotti breaks and exposes the silence that cannot be ignored. A must listen!

Also, ‘Dan, the Guy Who Works With Leftists’ joins Tamar and talks about the hypocrisy of the liberal left that stand for women’s & minority rights, yet supports unbridled Islamic growth, influence and power.

Listen to the audio here.

Mp3 here.

Time to wake up yet?

 

Catholic Church in France May Become Mosque

Unacceptable:

A church in the central French town of Vierzon may be converted to a mosque, as Muslims across Europe are converting empty churches to fit their faith – but some locals are worried about the threat of radicalism

Vierzon has six churches, and in order to balance the books, the diocese is selling one of them off. A Moroccan organization is in talks to convert the church of St. Eloi into a mosque, although a final decision has yet to be reached.

With a nave of 26 meters, it can accommodate 200 people and is up for sale for €170,000.

Alain Krauth, the pastor of Notre Dame de Vierzon, explained to weekly newsmagazine Le Nouvel Observateur, “We must keep the buildings; Vierzon has experienced a population decline in recent years, the Christian community is not as important as it used o be in the past.”

“The church is modern and easy to re-arrange – it will be easy to sell,” he added.

Father Krauth explained that questionnaires have been distributed to the community about the proposed sale. “Some of the faithful rejoice that the place will be bought by members of the Muslim community – by believers in moderate Islam – but others were offended and fear radical Islam,” the priest reflected.

With about six per cent of EU citizens today identifying as Muslim, and that number set to grow, more and more churches are set to become mosques.

Nearly 150 new mosques are currently under construction to house France’s nearly five million Muslims, who make up about 7.5 per cent of the country’s population. France is home to the EU’s largest national Muslim community.

Attempts by European governments to unite the diverse cultures and religious groups living side by side in the continent’s cities have not always been successful, with tensions remaining between the Muslim and Christian populations in many countries.

 

Financially Troubled Parts of Europe Consider Taxing Church Properties

Alcala de Henares, Spain — Cash-strapped officials in Europe are looking for a way to ease their financial burden by upending centuries of tradition and seeking to tap one of the last untouched sources of wealth: the Catholic Church.

Thousands of public officials who have seen the financial crisis hit their budgets are chipping away at the various tax breaks and privileges the church has enjoyed for centuries.

But the church is facing its own money troubles. Offerings from parishioners have nosedived, and it has been accused of using shady bank accounts and hiding suspect transactions.

Now, along come officials like Ricardo Rubio.

Rubio, a city council member in Alcala, is leading an effort to impose a tax on all church property used for non-religious purposes. The financial impact on the Catholic Church could be devastating. As one of the largest landowners in Spain — with holdings that include schools, homes, parks, sports fields and restaurants — the church could owe up to 3 billion euros in taxes each year.

“We want to make a statement that the costs of the crisis should be borne equally by every person and institution,” said Rubio, a 36-year-old former accountant in his first term in office.

Similar efforts that target church coffers or powers are underway in neighboring countries. In Italy, Prime Minister Mario Monti has called for a tax on church properties or on those portions of properties that have a commercial purpose. In Ireland, the minister of education is fighting to end church control of many of the country’s primary schools, and the government has slashed in half the grants it gives poor families for first Communions. More than half the city councils in Britain have eliminated state subsidies for transportation to faith-based schools, leading to a precipitous drop in enrollment…

Read more from what is a generally negative article in The Washington Post here. All doom and gloom…

 

Don’t Misunderstand

Somehow, an important part of the Ordinariate’s message isn’t getting through.  A lack of awareness of an fundamental part of what makes the creation of the Ordinariate such an important gesture is causing the usual internet forums to get unnecessarily excited.

Therefore, it’s time to provide a little explanation, in a purely personal capacity of course, on a topic that seems to get people very wound up indeed…

Read on at the Ordinariate Support Group for Expats in Europe here.

 

Former Lutheran Pastor, Joachim Gauck, Elected German President

(Reuters) – Germans resoundingly elected  Joachim Gauck, a former Lutheran pastor and human rights  activist from communist East Germany, as president of the  European Union’s largest country on Sunday, posing a potential  headache for Chancellor Angela Merkel.

In the largely ceremonial office of president, Gauck   presents no threat to Merkel’s domination of national politics.  But his moral authority, independence of mind and lack of party  affiliation could make him an awkward partner for her government  as it struggles to overcome Europe’s economic crisis.

Gauck, 72, won 991 votes in the federal assembly comprising  members of parliament and regional delegates. His main rival,  veteran anti-Nazi campaigner Beate Klarsfeld, got 126 votes.

Germans hope Gauck, a prominent player in the peaceful  protests that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, can  restore dignity to the presidency, tarnished by financial  scandals that felled his predecessor Christian Wulff.

“I take up this post with the endless gratitude of a person  who, after a long trek through the political desert of the 20th  century, has finally and unexpectedly found his home again and  was able to witness in the last 20 years the joy of shaping a  democratic society,” he said after taking the oath of office.

His victory was never in doubt after all the main political  parties, including Merkel’s centre-right Christian Democrats,  threw their weight behind his candidacy.

Merkel played down suggestions that the feisty theologian  would use his office as a pulpit to harangue Germany’s  politicians or that they might clash over policy issues…

Unlike career politician Wulff, Gauck – who describes  himself politically as “a left-leaning, liberal conservative” -  likes to speak his mind on controversial issues, and he does so  with an eloquence forged in the pulpits of East Germany…

Source (and rest).

 

Look at Europe: Frigid

 Lake Geneva

 

Snow Blankets Rome