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Moi? Zis ees a vedy unusual request, but seence you ask so nicely... okay.
Posted on 10/08/2004 7:28:14 PM PDT by Land of the Irish
TOULON, France (Reuters) - The French law meant to banish Muslim headscarves from state schools is finding unexpected targets in southern France, where some principals have begun turning away Roman Catholic chaplains.
Five priests have been barred from state schools in the Var region despite the fact that French law has long allowed them entry to meet Catholic pupils there, according to the local diocesan spokesman Father Charles Mallard.
One school in this Mediterranean port city barred a priest this week because he was wearing a cassock, the traditional black robe he wore last year without problem before the new law barring conspicuous religious symbols came into force.
"These decisions were taken unilaterally without consulting the chaplains," local Bishop Dominique Rey said.
Determined to stand firm against Muslim fundamentalism without singling out Islam, French lawmakers this year banned "conspicuous religious symbols" and indicated this meant the headscarf, the Jewish skullcap and large Christian crosses.
This has created problems for Sikh pupils, who now cannot wear their turbans although they are not a religious symbol, and now raised questions about the loophole in France's strict secularism that allows chaplains to work at state schools.
The teachers' union SNES supported the schools' stand, saying in a statement: "The law on secularism applies not only to pupils but to teachers and other personnel who are part of the teaching or logistical staff of a school."
Teachers have long been barred from wearing any religious or political symbols so as not to influence their pupils.
"How can you explain to pupils that the law is the same for everyone if we make an exception like that?" asked Jean-Pierre Andrau, a history teacher at the lycee where Father Antoine Galland was turned away.
Wearing an open-necked black shirt, diocesan spokesman Mallard said Galland wore a cassock because he belonged to a traditionalist Catholic community. Most chaplains wear black suits with Roman collars or secular clothes.
Saint Louis XIV, King of France, pray for us.
Ping
Don't you mean St. Louis IX? Louis XIV hasn't been canonized yet. Perhaps Pope Pius XXIII will do so.
Just a taste of what's to come here.
Poor France, once the fair-haired child of Christendom.
I think it's great, however, that a nation so worred about losing its "European/French" heritage managed to to swing wide enough at the Muslims it's slamming and deliver a blow to its own head.
Something at least "fair" about that.
Yes, I did. Thanks for the correction.
Everything that's happening now is the logical and inevitable result of the evil Revolution of 1789. The French Republic is built on the murder of King Louis XVI, Queen Marie Antoinette, and countless others; it does not deserve to survive. If it were not for the fact that the Muslim invasion also hurts France's traditionalist minority, I would say that the coming demographic catastrophe serves the French right.
If it were not for the fact that the Muslim invasion also hurts France's traditionalist minority, I would say that the coming demographic catastrophe serves the French right.
Agreed ... save for it's being a demographic catastrophe, I guess. I have a hard time thinking in those terms. Folks who don't reproduce, don't reproduce. It's just that simple. And the meek shall inherit the earth.
Was this a SSPX or FSSP priest?
France, Spain, Italy, all once bastions of Catholic monarchies, have fallen.
The black of the cassock is a sign of mourning for the sins of the world that necessitated the death of the Son of God. All the more proper a garment considering this God-denying sin of evangelical secularism.
ROTFL
I don't know. I suspect he's FSSP.
True, the King and Queen were the ligitimate rulers of France, and France has never been the same since their murders and the subsequent masonic influence that followed. Nice post, thank you.
And not a one of them has ever returned to their former power and glory. All three are shells of their past glories.
Thank-you for reminding me of that. It makes me appreciate my cassock wearing priests even more. If only I had such humility as these holy men.
If so, you need to get out more ... you're suffering from tunnel-vision.
My goodness, another pleasant remark from the Novus Ordo crowd. I can't say I'm surprised.
Have diocesan priests begun wearing cassocks again? Yes, I realize there are a couple of other traditional orders in Europe. SSPX and FSSP tend to be the largest, at least in France.
Not really all that unexpected, when you consider French history since the Revolution. Prior to, and during, the First World War, the government was so anticlerical that competent officers were denied promotions if it was discovered that they were "too Catholic."
Prior to the Second World War, the various rightist groups in France, such as the Camelots du Roi and Action Francaise were very pro-Catholic, but the victory of the Anglo-Americans (and French Communists) in 1945 ensured that the Catholics would be tarred with "collaboration" and excluded from the political and cultural scene.
It is easy to read far too much into the recent "outburst" of anti-Mohammedan legislation. It's not really nationalist, and it's certainly not pro-Christian. Basically, it is just the devotedly anti-God government going after anything even remotely resembling religion. Last century, it was the Catholics. Now that they have been utterly and completely routed, it's the Mohammedans' turn in the barrel. Damage to Catholics is purely collateral, and -- I am sure -- not unwelcome to those in power; the secularists are just happy to be able to kill two birds with one stone, and take a last belated swipe at l'infame.
l'abbé Antoine Galland, membre d'une congrégation conservatrice, la communauté Saint Martin, implantée dans le Var depuis une vingtaine d'annéesI take it this means that he is a member of the conservative "Community of St. Martin" which has been in the province of Var for about 20 years.
I'm not familiar with this group, and a quick google search did not turn up any information.
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