Dr. Eduard Hapsburg Speaks on Church Crisis in Austria

On the afternoon of October 27th, Dr. Eduard Hapsburg spoke with Franciscan University students about the crisis of faith in the church of Austria.

With his perfect English, engaging personality, and personal experience working for the Austrian Catholic church, he electrified the room of students with some astonishing facts:

- that many confirmation candidates in Austria are unable to recite the Our Father
- in this historic bastion of Catholicism, adoration and confession are in many places taboo
- that priests are lonely, hopeless, overburdened, overworked, and under-appreciated
- that the contemporary situation in Austria is similar to the 7th century when the first Benedictines came to Christianize the land.  Austria is back to ground zero and is in need of missionaries again.
- that an overwhelming majority of Catholics are unable to explain the basic tenets of their faith, even those which work for the church.
- that there is an extraordinary church bureaucracy of over 60,000 employees, many which are without faith and working only to enjoy the salary and social benefits of a comfortable job.

He spoke of the need to pray, do penance, and encouraged lay missionaries to give their witness and talent to the German speaking lands.  He also spoke of Church wealth, the Church-Tax, and monolithic church bureaucracy which has become too comfortable and complacent.

But, even so, the current church structure is crumbling, he asserted.  Furthermore, he spoke of a new church organization which was beginning and would evolve over the coming years.

In the end, while the situation is dire, there is still hope, he professed.  Going back to the Reformation, he reminded the students that practically the whole land converted to Protestantism, before returning back to its Catholic roots. It has been worse.  In the past, it was easy to "go with the flow" of religion.  But, in today's climate, it is different.  Going with the flow means getting swept away in secular culture, not in the current of the church.  As such, tepid and lukewarm Christians will slowly trickle out of the church.  Nevertheless, pruned, it will grow again, it will grow anew.

As a final call to action, Hapsburg challenged all students, "If you don't speak of Christ, who will? Each one of you must be missionaries and speak about your Christian faith."  

A Fall Sunrise in Gaming

God's Angels

Welcome back to our readers.  Students and many of the faculty and staff have been away on the 10-day break which is why there have been few posts the past few days.  But, the students literally scattered to the winds, going to Turkey, Morocco, the Holy Land and all over the European continent.


Student Chelsea Graham, discusses some of her travels in the post below:

Hello again! I just got back from my 10 day break, and I fell in love with Europe all over again. I love America, but there is something about Europe that just draws me in everywhere I go. I went to Paris, Lourdes, Venice and Capri for my 10 day. I traveled with three others, and we had a great time. In the words of one of the girls I traveled with, Lourdes is “Disneyland for Catholics.” It was just such a blessing to go there and go in the baths, be a part of the candlelight procession, and just explore an amazing town. And while Lourdes is such a spiritually uplifting and inspiring place, Capri too was remarkable in beauty and in grandeur. Indeed, God’s creation is incredible. Capri is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to. I could go into detail of what I did in each of those places, but instead I want to tell you about a different part of my trip.

Coming over to Europe, I was told that everyone hates Americans, the French people are rude, and good luck traveling because nobody likes tourists. Well, I’d have to disagree with all of that! Over my trip, I encountered several of “God’s Angels” (what my group and I decided to call them after we realized how big of a role they played in our trip). “God’s Angels” are the people who came out of nowhere in our times of need and helped us tremendously. Not only did we encounter several of “God’s Angels” but I also cannot remember one person that was rude to us.

I’d like to share some of “God’s Angels” experiences with you, but first I have to tell you that my group, overall, did not have a lot of travel experience. For myself and one other this is our first time in Europe, and for the other two it had been awhile since they were here, so when it came to train systems, getting from one place to another, etc. we weren’t too good at it.  It was a good dose of humble pie.

Our first night was in Paris, but our hostel wasn’t exactly in Paris (that’s what happens when you look for the cheapest places instead of researching the location as well!  By the time we got to the town where our hostel was, it was close to midnight, almost nobody was around, and we had no idea how to get from where we were to our hostel. We started walking around, hoping to just stumble upon our hostel, but then we saw a girl about our age and with my very little French skills, I asked her if she knew where our hostel was. She didn’t know, but without even wasting a second, she pulled out her cell phone, called a friend and got directions for us, and we got to our hostel within the next 5 minutes. She could have just told us she didn’t know where the hostel was and went on her own way, but instead, went out of her way to call and get us directions, without which we would have been lost for hours!

Again, while looking for our hostel (this time in Lourdes) we met a man who seemed to be in his late twenties who appeared to be traveling with his mom, get off a bus, asked us where we needed to go (his first language is French, but he also spoke decent English). Then he spoke to the bus driver and arranged to have us dropped off closer to our hostel. Once we got to the bus stop, he and his mom got off with us to make sure we made it all the way to our hostel safely. We didn’t even ask for help! He just got off his bus and offered…and he was French! That’s two French people that not only didn’t hate us, but were incredibly helpful! And I’m only telling you of a few! We encountered about five others just as helpful as those two, just in France alone!

And Capri! I wasn’t kidding when I said everyone was nice! We stayed in a small hotel in and getting there wasn’t easy (I know, I know we should have found hostels that weren’t hidden!) Whenever we stopped and asked for help, everyone was incredibly friendly and happy to give us directions. When we got to the hostel, the receptionist was really kind and extremely helpful. She told us all kinds of things to do on the island, when we told her we were going to watch the sunset, she told us a better place to go so we could see it better.  Furthermore, she made phone calls for us to see if/when things were open, etc. And I know that was her job to do all of that, but she went above and beyond what she needed to do for us.

As Christians, we are called to look for Christ in everyone we encounter.  On my recent 10-day break, that was not hard to do! The four of us would have been so lost without the help all of “God’s Angels”, and it just reminded us to trust God in every situation and each hour of the day.

Germany Travel Poem

A blog post by Leanna Praetzel, Fall 2011

Grüß Gott, my dear friends!

I’ve made you a rhyme

On traveling Europe

Alone our first time.

The first stop was Munich—

What madness, I say!

Oktoberfest?  Crazy!

We had a short stay.

Though dirndls and music

And dancing is great,

A castle was calling…

And I couldn’t wait!

To my great surprise

We hopped the right train.

(Déjà vu—all my worrying

Turned out in vain.)

We arrived at “Neuschwanstein”—

A magical view!

With towers and horses and

Hang gliders, too!

We made the hike up, and

Made friends on the way.

The tour was awesome!

What a wonderful day.

A great “Mozart Mass”

The next morning, and then,

We all shuffled off

To old Österreich again

We boarded the train,

Our weekend was done.

Of course we agreed that

We had lots of fun!

The Monastic Contribution to Modern Society

The Franciscan University study abroad program in Gaming, Austria is situated in a former Carthusian monastery dating back to the early 14th century.  As such, the spirit and ethos of the Carthusian monks still permeate the walls and environs of this historic and holy place. 


In this vein, Pope Benedict XVI, recently visited a Carthusian monastery in the Italian region of Calabria where he spoke on the contemporary value of monasticism, silence, and solitude. 

His apt words per Vatican news are as follows: 

"Monasteries have an important, I would say indispensable, role", he said. "Their purpose today is to 'improve' the environment, in the sense that sometimes the air we breathe in our societies is unhealthy, it is polluted by a non-Christian mentality, at times even a non-human mentality, because it is dominated by economic interests, concerned only with worldly things and lacking a spiritual dimension.

   "In such a climate not only God but also our fellow man is pushed to the margins, and we do not commit ourselves to the common good. Monasteries, however, are models of societies which have God and fraternal relations at their core. We have great need of them in our time".

  Benedict XVI completed his remarks by exhorting the faithful of Serra San Bruno "to treasure the great spiritual tradition of this place, and seek to put it into practice in your daily lives".

SILENCE AND SOLITUDE REVEAL THE PRESENCE OF GOD

VATICAN CITY, 9 OCT 2011 (VIS) - Having addressed the local people of Serra San Bruno, the Holy Father entered the Carthusian monastery of Sts. Stephen and Bruno where he was greeted by the prior, Fr. Jacques Dupont. At 6 p.m. the Pope presided at Vespers with the monastic community in the monastery church.

  In his homily the Pope explained that the aim of his visit was to confirm the Carthusian Order in its mission, "more vital and important today than ever before", he said. The spiritual core of the Carthusians, founded by St. Bruno, lies in the desire "to enter into union of life with God, abandoning everything which impedes such communion, allowing oneself to be seized by the immense love of God and living from that love alone", through solitude and silence.


Technological progress, the Holy Father noted, has made man's life more comfortable but also "more agitated, even convulsive". The growth of the communications media means that today we run the risk of virtual reality dominating reality itself. "People are increasingly, even unwittingly, immersed in a virtual dimension, thanks to the audiovisual images that accompany their lives from morning to evening. The youngest, having been born in this state, seem to fill each vacant moment with music and images, almost as if afraid to contemplate the void. ... Some people are no longer capable of remaining silent and alone".

  This situation of modern society and culture "throws light on the specific charism of the Carthusian monastery as a precious gift for the Church and for the world, a gift which contains a profound message for our lives and for all humanity. I would summarise it in these terms: by withdrawing in silence and solitude man, so to speak, 'exposes' himself to the truth of his nakedness, he exposes himself to that apparent 'void' I mentioned earlier. But in doing so he experiences fullness, the presence of God, of the most real Reality that exists. ... Monks, by leaving everything, ... expose themselves to solitude and silence so as to live only from what is essential; and precisely in living from the essential they discover a profound communion with their brothers and sisters, with all mankind".

  This vocation, the Pope went on, "finds its response in a journey, a lifelong search. ... Becoming a monk requires time, exercise, patience. ... The beauty of each vocation in the Church lies in giving time to God to work with His Spirit, and in giving time to one's own humanity to form, to grow in a particular state of life according to the measure of maturity in Christ. In Christ there is everything, fullness. 


However we need time to possess one of the dimensions of His mystery. ... At times, in the eyes of the world, it seems impossible that someone should spend his entire life in a monastery, but in reality a lifetime is hardly sufficient to enter into this union with God, into the essential and profound Reality which is Jesus Christ".

 "The Church needs you and you need the Church", the Holy Father told the monks at the end of his homily. "You, who live in voluntary isolation, are in fact at the heart of the Church; you ensure that the pure blood of contemplation and of God's love flows in her veins".

Everyday Blessings

A blog post by Chelsea Graham, Fall 2011

Oh the simple joys of life! I am sitting outside the Kartause right now with the sun shining down on me, surrounded by beauty. Other students are running around doing last minute things before their weekend trips, while about everyone else is just relaxing for the afternoon….

This past week has been incredible. I didn’t travel last weekend so I would be able to travel this weekend without getting too behind on studying for midterms.  I don’t have any crazy stories to tell you about train rides or foreign countries, but soon I will! This weekend I’m going the Netherlands, and I’m meeting my older sister there (she is studying abroad in France) and we’re going to stay with our family there.

This past week the Lord decided to bless me in so many ways. A friend and I decided to be each other’s accountability partners, and I think that is exactly what I need. We’re going to hold each other accountable for journaling daily, doing a holy hour together each week, and we’re going to goon a “date” once a week. I am so excited to see where this relationship leads me, with Christ and also with my friend. I think, for me, this the best way to get the most out of my Austria experience.

On top of that, I went to confession this week. I’ll be completely honest with you: Reconciliation is not my favorite sacrament, but one that is necessary. After visiting the Divine Mercy Shrine in Poland, going to confession is so much easier for me. Not only is Christ willing to forgive us for our sins, but he wants to! He wants to flood us with his mercy! For the past few years, David Crowder Band’s, “How He Loves Us” has been one of my favorite songs, but the lyrics, “If His grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking,” now have an even deeper meaning, because it is so true.

Also, October is Our Lady of the Rosary month and the month for the Unborn, so we have made a commitment to praying the rosary everyday and together as often as possible. I am really excited about this, because I truly believe that through prayer and the intercession of Our Lady, so many things can happen.

On top of all that, I got a package from home and a card from my household sisters back on campus, and the weather has been beautiful! I don’t think a week can get much better, and I’m ending by seeing family!!

  

So thank God for his many blessings this week, for those extraordinary and those that come to us in the ordinary events of daily life.  Don't take life for granted for with a closer look, we all have things to be thankful for and blessings that come our way.  

Reflection: A Franciscan Retreat in Ireland with Direction for our Times Apostolate

 A blog post by  Sarah Spies, Fall 2011

Back by popular demand, I want to share a little bit more about my personal experience of the new connection between the Franciscan University Austria Program and Direction for Our Times Lay Apostolate. Before coming to Gaming this fall, I was able to go on the retreat with Anne, a lay apostle and the Direction for Our Times missionaries. What a blessing it was! Before going on the retreat I really had minimal knowledge about the apostolate and had only read Anne’s Volume Nine, but this retreat opened my eyes to the heart of their mission and it certainly was a pilgrimage filled with new lights and consolations from the Holy Spirit. We (the thirteen Franciscan students signed up for the retreat) were greeted and picked up from the airport in Dublin and driven by friends of Anne to Cavan county for the retreat, which was a blessing in itself since it was our first time travelling and even more importantly it was free! It’s important to mention this because the Lay Apostles gave us a place to stay, food to eat, and transportation for the duration of the retreat.

The first day, was filled with spiritual activities, but it didn’t even feel too busy because the leaders of the retreat were so in tune with each of our needs (especially our jet lag) and they were very flexible. From the beginning I saw how much the lay apostles simply desired to serve us and meet our needs on this retreat. We began with mass and afterwards proceeded to listen to an address from Anne. My first reaction was honestly surprise with just how normal she was. I didn’t initially know what to expect from this woman who receives daily locutions, but I was affirmed by her peace, honesty, and genuine desire to be the Lord’s servant. Her message to us was about the role of the laity in the Church, especially us as young adults. 

After her message we were able to ask her any questions about the apostolate, her messages, and her locutions. It was intriguing to hear how simple it was for her to accept her experiences merely as just another part of her daily prayer life. Later she prayed over each of the retreatants individually. My overall experience was that she and the other missionaries genuinely saw us as their brothers and sisters and simply wanted to empower us in our baptismal call as laity in the temporal order. It was such a peaceful experience. That night we made a Holy Hour in the quiet, small chapel in the back of one of the missionary’s homes. This was the chapel where Anne wrote Volume Two: Conversations with the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus.

The next day was so powerful; we began with a pilgrimage hike of Croagh Patrick. Some of the guys with us decided to hike it barefoot like the 80-year-old women. As for me, I suffered even with my shoes on! It was a grueling and steep hike to the top, and I had to stop a few times, but it was one of the most beautiful spiritual experiences in that I was able to learn a lot about perseverance in suffering. About an hour or so in I realized how much my thoughts were becoming increasingly negative. I wanted to complain, but I knew this would make it so much more of a challenge for all of us. I knew that it was necessary to give from my poverty of spirit and so I simply prayed “Come Holy Spirit” in order to tame my natural instincts. 

God is SO good and faithful, because after that prayer I was able to start to make so many parallels between this hike and my spiritual life. I recalled many things I had learned from St. Therese and St. Jose Maria Escriva which motivated me to continue making the steps up the mountain. I know that these lights came from the Holy Spirit because He is faithful to all who call and the consolations I was able to provide for the others around me were inspirations for me as well! We certainly bonded as a group through this climb. All I wanted was to make it to the top because Jesus was waiting for me there. Once we arrived at the summit we received our Source and Summit in the Eucharist at Mass in the small chapel on top of the mountain.

Despite the harsh weather conditions, we spotted a rainbow over Clue Bay after mass. The view was absolutely spectacular! Even though I was soaked to the bone I was overwhelmed with joy because I realized that though the mountains, plains, and islands in the bay were so beautiful and a testament of God’s power, I was convicted of how much more glorious each of us were upon receiving Christ in the Eucharist. Of course there is much more I could say about the lights we all received from this hike, but I must tell you it’s something you certainly don’t want to miss, the view alone is the best I saw in all of Ireland. We finished our retreat with a visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock... AWESOME... and then ate dinner at Bed and Breakfast for pilgrims run by the Daughters of Charity. Overall, this retreat was an incredible opportunity for me spiritually and it’s something I definitely recommend for those planning on really experiencing Ireland before future Austria semesters. 

Polska, Polska, Polska: Head Awake & Heart Ablaze

A blog post by Leanna Praetzel, Fall 2011

Skipping down the sidewalks of Czestachowa, Poland at 6:30 in the morning after an overnight bus ride, clapping and singing the only Polish song you know (Sto lat!) over and over again: that’s the best way to know who your true friends are.  At least… it is from my experiences, anyway.  Many students were suffering the effects of sleep deprivation—and rightfully so!  A bus is difficult enough to be comfortable on whilst passengers are awake, let alone asleep (or at least trying to be).  But with a mix of sufficient shut-eye (thanks to the semi-comfy sleeping spot I claimed on the bus’s floor) along with the Polish blood fervently pulsing through my veins, I found myself ecstatic on the streets of Czestachowa, head awake and heart ablaze.

I suppose the unveiling of the Black Madonna also contributed to my unusual alertness at such an early hour Friday morning.  A miraculous image of Mary and the infant Jesus painted by St. Luke on top of a table that Jesus built?  Yes please!  Of course I couldn’t pass up a tour given by a pleasant and quite comical German priest either; He took us around the fortress that housed the Black Madonna to see hidden chapels, statues, and even a treasure room containing the First Holy Communion veil of St. Thérèse.

From Czestachowa our bus turned its wheels toward the infamous Auschwitz—a place I was uneasy about going to.  Eighth grade history class had pounded the Holocaust into my sensitive self so forcefully, I felt sad and guilty very often.  I frequently wondered why we had to learn about the Holocaust in the first place.  Needless to say, Auschwitz was not on the top of my to-do list.  But I went anyway… and I’m glad I did.

The concentration camp existed.  It was there, where I stood, brick on brick.  It was the solid, enduring evidence of the terrible fate of many innocent people.  But the mounds of piled shoes, suitcases, and more were not placed on display to make us cry; on the contrary, they served, in my eyes, as a memorial to those who died.  Each picture and flower, building and stone had its place on the grounds of Auschwitz, reverently pointing towards the victims.  This helped me to see the Holocaust as not something that requires constant sorrow (although, as we are human, some sensitivity must indeed be felt), but rather as something that simply needs to be remembered.

Not to mention that in the dark tunnel of Auschwitz I found a surprise light—Maximilian Kolbe.  Talk about joy!  This saint took another man’s place in being sentenced to starvation, and still sang hearty praises to God.  I never imagined a concentration camp to contain a square inch of happiness, and yet, upon seeing St. Maximilian’s cell, I couldn’t help but smile.

Of course, nothing says a happy ending to our Poland trip quite like the Divine Mercy Shrine in Krakow.  One of the sisters from the shrine gave a wonderful talk reaffirming the outstanding joy that can come through suffering.  The talk also described the extreme power of Divine Mercy: during his final days of living, Nazi commander Rudolf Höss, convicted for ruthlessly murdering the lives of millions, made a 180-degree turn.  Upon finally realizing the gravity of his sin, Höss wrote Poland a profound apology letter and sincerely asked God for forgiveness.  Along with many people, I believe this man has been forgiven... What are the sands of sin in comparison to the vast ocean of God's mercy?

Our final stop, Blessed Pope John Paul II’s hometown of Wadowice, quite literally provided the icing on the cake.  Ever since he was a boy, JP II was absolutely crazy about the pastry “kremówka”.  Now, vendors in Wadowice market the delectable “Pope Cake” dessert to sweet-toothed tourists like me.  So, a plastic fork and a powdered sugar-covered scarf later, I was ready to once again roam the lovely streets of Polska, but this time the same ones that Karol Wojtyla himself roamed as a child.  I felt very fortunate, especially when I was able to touch his baptismal font!

Truthfully, I was saddened when boarding the Gaming-bound bus—Poland was so full of vibrant life!  But I knew that I will value my time spent there for decades to come.  

Living to the Fullest

A blog post by Chelsea Graham

All throughout the Poland Pilgrimage ideas for this blog kept popping into my head, but now that I’m writing it, I don’t know if it’s what I really want to write about…

 I loved Poland, it was an incredible experience, and one I am so glad that I had, but it was possibly one of the hardest things I’ve experienced. It was wicked cool to see the unveiling of the Black Madonna, touch my rosary to St. Faustina’s relic at the Divine Mercy Shrine, have mass at the Cathedral in Krakow, and see where Blessed John Paul the Second grew up.  And at some of those times I felt like I wasn’t on a pilgrimage, just on a trip visiting Poland. But then Auschwitz would pop into my head. It would remind me of the horror that happened inside the barbed-wire fences. Flashes of buildings, the sleeping conditions, and the death wall would flood my memory, and remind me that this was indeed a pilgrimage.

After Auschwitz I almost forgot how to be happy for a while.  For the rest of that night I was dazed, I was angry, but most of all, I was confused. How could any human being watch what the prisoners were going through and not do anything? What spell were the “commandants” under? None of it had made sense to me. And yes, I’ve seen pictures and read books on the Holocaust, but those in no way prepared me for what I saw at Auschwitz. Nothing could have prepared me for actually being there and beholding the atrocities.

For the rest of the weekend I felt guilty for having a bed to sleep in, food for every meal, and the freedom to do what I want--all the very things that were denied to the prisoners of the concentration camp. It wasn’t until days later at the Festival of Praise (an evening of charismatic prayerful song and praise) that I really let everything sink in, and I accepted it. What right did I have to let life pass me by and not live it to the fullest in the honor of those who couldn’t? The prisoners of the camps will always be a reminder that there is evil in our world, and our lives can change in a matter of minutes, everything can take a turn for the worse in seconds, or we can lose all of our material possessions in a blink of an eye (just think of all the recent natural disasters). 

And we can continue to live just waiting for that to happen or we can look at the opposite end of the spectrum: for many of us, we have our occasional difficulties, but we also have a beautiful, happy life and everything we basically need. We have more than the prisoners of the camp could even dream of in their time of need, so let’s take advantage of that. Let’s not let another day go by when we don’t thank God for the beautiful gifts he has given to us: for his mercy, love and compassion.

I am so blessed to be here in Gaming, and I let almost a whole week go by without even enjoying any of his beauty. Time is of the essence, so let’s not waste it! Go out, explore the beauty of creation, spend time with everyone you love, and love till it hurts. Love like you’ve never loved before for in the scheme of things, we really have so much to be thankful for.