Doctrinally Orthodox Austrian Priest Appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Heritical Hotbed Diocese
It isn't surprizing that the Main Stream Media would attack him by misrepresenting what he says. He is the very type of priest they don't want, especially in a leadership role. He will be working with Bishop Ludwig Schwarz SDB who has been Bishop of Linz since 2005. Bishop Schwarz was auxiliary Bishop under Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, O.P. in Vienna before coming to Linz.
Daecon Fournier, who is mentioned in the article, has more on the appointment in an article for Catholic Online (New Bishop of Linz Austria Chosen, Surprises of the Spirit). In the article he looks especially at the BBC's coverage. Bishop-Elect Wagner is too young to directly tie into the Nazis. But that doesn't stop the Beeb from trying to paint him in that mold by trying to tie him into the recent controversy about SSPX Bishop Williamson.
Deacon Fournier lays out what he sees as the plan behind the Bee's approach: "The plan is apparently to lump all 'ultraconservative' (read faithful to the Magisterium) appointments by the Holy Father in the future to this seriously disappointing turn of events in the SSPX reconciliation process. The long term goal seems to be to paint Pope Benedict XVI as some kind of reactionary who is opposed to “progress” in the Church." I think the Deacon has it right.
Deacon Fournier goes on to explain the real facts to the BBC: "What the BBC does not seem to understand is that orthodoxy and orthopraxy are not some throwback to the past but signal instead a work of the Holy Spirit within the Church. The future of true progress passes through a dynamically revived Catholic faith, life and worship in Europe and around the rest of the world."
I don't know if the BBC doesn't understand or does get it & doesn't like what it sees. Given they are the Brtish version of our MSM & just as big a cheerleader of the "culture of death" I suspect they may at least get the general thrust of what is going on. They see what Deacon Fournier said, the Holy Spirit is working to revive the true Catholic faith, & they see it as a threat to their agenda. But what they don't get for sure at the Beeb is that by opposing what God is doing to restore His Church, they are ultimately ending up on the losing side.
All I can add about Papa Benedetto's choice of Fr. Wagner is what the various Byzantine Catholic (& Eastern Orthodox) Churches say at the ordination of a deacon, priest or bishop: "AXIOS!" ("He IS worthy!")
By Thaddeus M. Baklinski
VATICAN, February 2, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Holy Father has appointed Fr. Gerhard Maria Wagner as the new auxiliary bishop of the ultra-liberal Diocese of Linz in Upper Austria.
Fr. Wagner, who is currently parish priest at Windischgarsten in Austria, is well known for his doctrinal orthodoxy and faithfulness to the Magisterium (the teaching authority of the Roman Catholic Church). After his installation on March 22 he is expected by some to deal with issues in the diocese that Deacon Keith A. Fournier of Catholic Online described as "a center of almost every heretical and heterodox tendency within the European Catholic Church."
Fr. Wagner gained both notoriety and praise from conservative quarters, for his controversial statements in defense of the Church and his warnings about cultural phenomena like the Harry Potter book series, and even natural phenomena like hurricane Katrina. In a parish newsletter he posed the question of whether the "noticeable" increase of natural disasters such as Katrina was a result of pollution caused by humans or the result of "spiritual pollution."
The mainstream media reported this as an indictment of New Orleans' moral permissiveness by Fr. Wagner and misreported his essay as a suggestion of divine retribution.
Fr. Wagner told the Associated Press he had "never talked about divine retribution" as such and described his parish newsletter essay as an effort to elicit thought and discussion about the connections between events.
The Bishop-elect is in good company in his condemnation of Harry Potter, joining not only critics like Michael D. O'Brien and Gabriele Kuby, who have written extensively about the dangers presented by the books to young minds, but also the Vatican's chief exorcist, Rev. Gabriele Amorth, who said of the books, "You start off with Harry Potter, who comes across as a likeable wizard, but you end up with the Devil. There is no doubt that the signature of the Prince of Darkness is clearly within these books."
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prior to his elevation to the Pontificate, denounced the Harry Potter series in a letter to German Potter critic Gabriele Kuby, where he praised her effort to expose the spiritual dangers of the series in her book, "Harry Potter - gut oder böse" (Harry Potter- good or evil?).
In the letter, then-Cardinal Ratzinger specifically pointed to the fact that the danger in the Potter books is hidden, and this was of great concern to him. "It is good that you shed light and inform us on the Harry Potter matter, for these are subtle seductions that are barely noticeable and precisely because of that deeply affect (children) and corrupt the Christian faith in souls even before it (the Faith) could properly grow," said Cardinal Ratzinger.
See Related Links:
Watch a German language interview with Bishop-Elect Wagner discussing his appointment:
VATICAN, February 2, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Holy Father has appointed Fr. Gerhard Maria Wagner as the new auxiliary bishop of the ultra-liberal Diocese of Linz in Upper Austria.
Fr. Wagner, who is currently parish priest at Windischgarsten in Austria, is well known for his doctrinal orthodoxy and faithfulness to the Magisterium (the teaching authority of the Roman Catholic Church). After his installation on March 22 he is expected by some to deal with issues in the diocese that Deacon Keith A. Fournier of Catholic Online described as "a center of almost every heretical and heterodox tendency within the European Catholic Church."
Fr. Wagner gained both notoriety and praise from conservative quarters, for his controversial statements in defense of the Church and his warnings about cultural phenomena like the Harry Potter book series, and even natural phenomena like hurricane Katrina. In a parish newsletter he posed the question of whether the "noticeable" increase of natural disasters such as Katrina was a result of pollution caused by humans or the result of "spiritual pollution."
The mainstream media reported this as an indictment of New Orleans' moral permissiveness by Fr. Wagner and misreported his essay as a suggestion of divine retribution.
Fr. Wagner told the Associated Press he had "never talked about divine retribution" as such and described his parish newsletter essay as an effort to elicit thought and discussion about the connections between events.
The Bishop-elect is in good company in his condemnation of Harry Potter, joining not only critics like Michael D. O'Brien and Gabriele Kuby, who have written extensively about the dangers presented by the books to young minds, but also the Vatican's chief exorcist, Rev. Gabriele Amorth, who said of the books, "You start off with Harry Potter, who comes across as a likeable wizard, but you end up with the Devil. There is no doubt that the signature of the Prince of Darkness is clearly within these books."
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prior to his elevation to the Pontificate, denounced the Harry Potter series in a letter to German Potter critic Gabriele Kuby, where he praised her effort to expose the spiritual dangers of the series in her book, "Harry Potter - gut oder böse" (Harry Potter- good or evil?).
In the letter, then-Cardinal Ratzinger specifically pointed to the fact that the danger in the Potter books is hidden, and this was of great concern to him. "It is good that you shed light and inform us on the Harry Potter matter, for these are subtle seductions that are barely noticeable and precisely because of that deeply affect (children) and corrupt the Christian faith in souls even before it (the Faith) could properly grow," said Cardinal Ratzinger.
See Related Links:
Watch a German language interview with Bishop-Elect Wagner discussing his appointment:
http://www.lifesite.net/features/harrypotter/obrienpotter.ht...
See the LifeSiteNews.com Harry Potter controversy page:
See the LifeSiteNews.com Harry Potter controversy page:
posted by Al @ 12:20 AM
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