But he has prayed 500 days
And he will pray 500 more
Only the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary can understand
Our Most Blessed Virgin Mary is taking Fr Dermot by her hand
But he has prayed 500 days
And he will pray 500 more
He’s been walking the way of the cross
It’s been Loss and Gain, Gain and Loss
But he has prayed 500 days
And he will pray 500 more
And we hope and we pray
That one day
he will kneel down at the Birmingham Oratory door…
Showing posts with label Jakob Knab. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jakob Knab. Show all posts
Sunday, 25 September 2011
Monday, 9 May 2011
Sophie Scholl, the White Rose, and Conscience
From Supremacy and Survival: The English Reformation blogspot on 9.5.2011
http://supremacyandsurvival.blogspot.com/
Sophie Scholl, White Rose objector to Nazi rule in Germany, was born on May 9, 1921; she was guillotined on February 22, 1943. Scholl is one of the most admired women in 20th Century German history--but what does she have to do with the subject of this blog?
According to this Catholic Herald story from 2009, she and her White Rose compatriots were very much influenced by Blessed John Henry Newman, particularly by his teachings on conscience:
Cardinal John Henry Newman was an inspiration of Germany's greatest heroine in defying Adolf Hitler, scholars have claimed.
New documents unearthed by German academics have revealed that the writings of the 19th-century English theologian were a direct influence on Sophie Scholl, who was beheaded for circulating leaflets urging students at Munich University to rise up against Nazi terror.
Scholl, a student who was 21 at the time of her death in February 1943, is a legend in Germany, with two films made about her life and more than 190 schools named after her. She was also voted "woman of the 20th century" by readers of Brigitte, a women's magazine, and a popular 2003 television series called Greatest Germans declared her to be the greatest German woman of all time
But behind her heroism was the "theology of conscience" expounded by Cardinal Newman, according to Professor Günther Biemer, the leading German interpreter of Newman, and Jakob Knab, an expert on the life of Sophie Scholl, who will later this year publish research in Newman Studien on the White Rose resistance movement, to which she belonged.
The researchers also found a link between Scholl and Pope Benedict XVI in the scholar who inspired her study of Blessed John Henry Newman:
He added: "The religious question at the heart of the White Rose has not been adequately acknowledged and it is only through the work of Guenter Biemer and Jakob Knab that Newman's influence... can be identified as highly significant."
In his speech Fr Fenlon explained that Sophie, a Lutheran, was introduced to the works of Newman by a scholar called Theodor Haecker, who had written to the Birmingham Oratory in 1920 asking for copies of Newman's work, which he wanted to translate into German. . . .
It was through Haecker that the young Joseph Ratzinger - the future Pope Benedict XVI - learned to admire Newman, who died in Birmingham in 1890.
Conscience is a subtext throughout the history of the English Reformation and its aftermath--beginning with Henry VIII's "tender conscience" about having married his brother's widow. Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons centers St. Thomas More's heroism on his defense of the rights of conscience. Blessed John Henry Newman, as I've posted before, defended the rights and outlined the responsibilities of conscience, properly understood, in reaction to English concerns about the doctrine of Papal Infallibility.
http://supremacyandsurvival.blogspot.com/
According to this Catholic Herald story from 2009, she and her White Rose compatriots were very much influenced by Blessed John Henry Newman, particularly by his teachings on conscience:
Cardinal John Henry Newman was an inspiration of Germany's greatest heroine in defying Adolf Hitler, scholars have claimed.
New documents unearthed by German academics have revealed that the writings of the 19th-century English theologian were a direct influence on Sophie Scholl, who was beheaded for circulating leaflets urging students at Munich University to rise up against Nazi terror.
Scholl, a student who was 21 at the time of her death in February 1943, is a legend in Germany, with two films made about her life and more than 190 schools named after her. She was also voted "woman of the 20th century" by readers of Brigitte, a women's magazine, and a popular 2003 television series called Greatest Germans declared her to be the greatest German woman of all time
But behind her heroism was the "theology of conscience" expounded by Cardinal Newman, according to Professor Günther Biemer, the leading German interpreter of Newman, and Jakob Knab, an expert on the life of Sophie Scholl, who will later this year publish research in Newman Studien on the White Rose resistance movement, to which she belonged.
The researchers also found a link between Scholl and Pope Benedict XVI in the scholar who inspired her study of Blessed John Henry Newman:
He added: "The religious question at the heart of the White Rose has not been adequately acknowledged and it is only through the work of Guenter Biemer and Jakob Knab that Newman's influence... can be identified as highly significant."
In his speech Fr Fenlon explained that Sophie, a Lutheran, was introduced to the works of Newman by a scholar called Theodor Haecker, who had written to the Birmingham Oratory in 1920 asking for copies of Newman's work, which he wanted to translate into German. . . .
It was through Haecker that the young Joseph Ratzinger - the future Pope Benedict XVI - learned to admire Newman, who died in Birmingham in 1890.
Conscience is a subtext throughout the history of the English Reformation and its aftermath--beginning with Henry VIII's "tender conscience" about having married his brother's widow. Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons centers St. Thomas More's heroism on his defense of the rights of conscience. Blessed John Henry Newman, as I've posted before, defended the rights and outlined the responsibilities of conscience, properly understood, in reaction to English concerns about the doctrine of Papal Infallibility.
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Open letter to Fr Felix Selden from Mrs Hiltrud Knab, Bavaria
Dear Fr Selden
I will begin, if I may, by introducing myself: my name is Hiltrud Knab, and I was born on 30th July 1930 in Marktbreit. I am the mother of eight children: Barbara Hiltrud (born 1953), Stefanie Maria (1955), Martin Theodor (1956), Claudia Elisabeth (1957), Christine Margarete (1959), Michael Helmut (1961), Ingrid Marie (1962), and Monika Eva (1963). My youngest daughter Monika died from viral encephalitis in 1983.
In gratitude for my eight children, and in the knowledge that every human life, from conception to natural death, is a gift from God, and that the fifth commandment “Thou shalt not kill!” holds true for every life, I founded the “Prayer Circle for Life” (Gebetskreis für das Leben) in 1982. I was inspired by the theme of the Day for Catholics in Essen in 1982: “Choose Life” (Deuteronomy 30:19). Since then I have brought my intention for the “protection of unborn children and their mothers” to the Mother of God every week in the Rosary in one of the churches in our town.
In the spring of this year I came to know Fr Dermot Fenlon of the Birmingham Oratory through my son-in-law Jakob Knab. For two weeks he stayed as a guest of the Franciscan nuns at their Convent of St Crescentia. Almost every morning I came across him at Holy Mass, which he concelebrated with the convent chaplains. I found Fr Dermot to be a devout, prayerful and God-fearing priest. I met him in person at the home of my daughter Stefanie and her husband Jakob. Here, too, I sensed how deeply imbued he was by his faith in Jesus Christ. With a combination of my own knowledge of English retained from my schooldays in Marktbreit and Fr Dermot’s broken German we managed to enjoy a very cordial conversation.
He was pleased that I knew of Mary Ward, the great lady of English church history. I told him of the tragic destiny of Mary Ward, who became caught up in the machinery of the hierarchy. The responsible officials of that time were unable to recognise Mary Ward’s charismatic trail-blazing gifts. Whilst I was relating this moving story, Fr Dermot gave me his full attention. It is only in the past few days that I have been made aware that decades ago he was a historian of some repute in the University of Cambridge (Gonville and Caius College).
Fr Dermot also listened with immense sympathy when I told him about my mother, who recited the prayer of John Henry Newman with us when we were children during the dreadful days of the Second World War. It remains one of my best-loved prayers today: “O God, these days are full of affliction, the cause of Christ lies in its final agony ….”.
You, Fr Selden, with your mysterious machinations, have sent a trustworthy and honourable priest into the wilderness. A priest, whose mission and heart’s desire are to preach the word of God and to advance the Kingdom of Heaven. Why have you silenced him? What is the real reason for that? What purpose do you have in mind? Do you really want to destroy the “cause of Christ” in the world and thereby to sacrifice a human being? A verse from St John’s Gospel comes into my mind, when the Jews say to Pilate “We have a law – and by that law he must die” (John 19:7).
Fr Dermot argues unceasingly for the sanctity of human life. It must be respected from conception until natural death as a gift from God. Fr Dermot stands as a symbolic figure for the sanctity of life. What motives do you have, Fr Selden, for banishing one of your brethren, one who speaks out for the protection of human life out of his own deep faith and conviction?
I say to you: whoever kills a human being, whether yet unborn in his mother’s womb or old and no longer in control of his faculties, that person kills the love of God, which strengthens and blesses the person in every phase of his life.
Fr Selden, what heavy guilt could Fr Dermot have brought upon himself, to make you separate him so hard-heartedly and mercilessly from his familiar life in the Birmingham Oratory? Why have you silenced him? What severe offence can you prove against him, that would warrant such an unjust sentence? Do you have an answer to my question? An answer for me, and for all the faithful who “serve life”?
When we read the Bible with an open heart and mind we will discover that the devil attacks those people and those places where the Kingdom of God begins to grow. Do you, Fr Selden, wish to act as the henchman of this bringer of denial and confusion? That would surely be a triumph for Hell! In your capacity as a Catholic priest, you are charged with fighting evil!
So I ask you – no, I beseech you as Delegate of the Apostolic Visitation for the Confederation of the Oratories of St Philip Neri – to prepare a way for grace and justice.
Trusting in the intercession of the tender and immaculate heart of Mary, I beseech you:
Stop the persecution and oppression of Fr Dermot!
Listen to the words of the Judge of the World:
“I was homeless, and you gave me shelter.” (Matthew 25:35)
Listen to your priestly conscience:
Fr Dermot must come home this very week to the Birmingham Oratory!
MARIA MIT DEM KINDE LIEB
UNS ALLEN DEINEN SEGEN GIB!
(MARY, WITH YOUR LOVING CHILD,
GIVE US YOUR BLESSINGS!)
Hiltrud Knab
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
Press Release: "... In the Corridors of Death"
PRESS RELEASE – Jakob Knab - 15 September 2010
... in the Corridors of Death.
All his life Rev. Dr. Dermot Fenlon C. O. has been preaching and fighting for the sanctity of life. Now his frail health is deteriorating. Those nefarious structures of authority are going to ruin his life in the “corridors of death”.
But at the same time the initial step has been taken for an appeal at the Cour Européenne des Droits de l'Homme - European Court of Human Rights by faithful friends of Father Fenlon. They are fighting for the life of Fr Dermot Fenlon.
Let us pray to Our Lady of Sorrows:
Help your humble servant Father Dermot Fenlon.
Bring him home to his beloved Birmingham Oratory.
SUB TUUM PRAESIDUUM CONFUGIMUS
Warning to all those little “devils in disguise“ round the globe:
We will not be silent.
We are your bad conscience.
We will not leave you in peace!
... in the Corridors of Death.
All his life Rev. Dr. Dermot Fenlon C. O. has been preaching and fighting for the sanctity of life. Now his frail health is deteriorating. Those nefarious structures of authority are going to ruin his life in the “corridors of death”.
But at the same time the initial step has been taken for an appeal at the Cour Européenne des Droits de l'Homme - European Court of Human Rights by faithful friends of Father Fenlon. They are fighting for the life of Fr Dermot Fenlon.
Let us pray to Our Lady of Sorrows:
Help your humble servant Father Dermot Fenlon.
Bring him home to his beloved Birmingham Oratory.
SUB TUUM PRAESIDUUM CONFUGIMUS
Warning to all those little “devils in disguise“ round the globe:
We will not be silent.
We are your bad conscience.
We will not leave you in peace!
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
Message from Jakob Knab
Jakob Knab is a leading German historian on Sophie Scholl and the White Rose Resistance Movement
Dear friends of Father Fenlon,
Please send your complaints, petitions and supplications to:
Father Felix Selden C.O., Delegate of the Apostolic See, Confederation of the Oratory
p.felix@oratorium.at
At the same time send a copy to:
P. Edoardo Aldo Cerrato C.O., Procurator Generalis
cerrato@oratoriosanfilippo.org
And finally send a copy to Simon Caldwell (Catholic Herald)
simon@catholicherald.co.uk
One of the fundamental rights of European citizens: Any citizen, acting individually or jointly with others, may at any time exercise his right of petition to the European Parliament under Article 194 of the EC Treaty.
Contact:
European Parliament
Committee on Petitions
The Secretariat
Rue Wiertz
B-1047 Brussels
And please pray with me:
We fly to thy protection, O holy Mother of God.
Despise not our petitions in our necessities,
but deliver us always from all dangers
O glorious and blessed Virgin.
Dear friends of Father Fenlon,
Please send your complaints, petitions and supplications to:
Father Felix Selden C.O., Delegate of the Apostolic See, Confederation of the Oratory
p.felix@oratorium.at
At the same time send a copy to:
P. Edoardo Aldo Cerrato C.O., Procurator Generalis
cerrato@oratoriosanfilippo.org
And finally send a copy to Simon Caldwell (Catholic Herald)
simon@catholicherald.co.uk
One of the fundamental rights of European citizens: Any citizen, acting individually or jointly with others, may at any time exercise his right of petition to the European Parliament under Article 194 of the EC Treaty.
Contact:
European Parliament
Committee on Petitions
The Secretariat
Rue Wiertz
B-1047 Brussels
And please pray with me:
We fly to thy protection, O holy Mother of God.
Despise not our petitions in our necessities,
but deliver us always from all dangers
O glorious and blessed Virgin.
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