SEPTEMBER 2007 NEWS BITES
1)Magnus Fest activities
2)Bishop Walter Mixa visits St Mang(See Bishop visits Füssen Page)
3)Servers day out
4)Acht Seligkeiten website gets E Lin Exclusive coverage of changes in St Mang
5)Pro-Abortion search engine Google Blacks this website-MSN Live makes it top!
6)The Zebra Crossing that doesn't exist!
7)Was Bishop Mixa snubbed by 1st Mayor Christian Gangl?
8)Mayor Gangl refuses to answer questions about Bishop Mixa's visit
9)Watch out for the Leopards in Füssen!
10)Exhaltation of the Cross Mass celebrated on the Deer Meadow
11)1st Schoolclass attend special Sunday Mass.
12)New Kindergarten group not opposing the Proddies!
13)Pilgrimages to the Basilica.
14)Füssener Initiative for Premature Stillbirths.
15)Harvest Festival in St Mang
Harvest Festival celebrations are a big thing here in the rural area of Bavaria.St Mang Basilica was packed at the 1000hrs Mass.
Father Böhm concelebrated with a visiting priest and was assisted by Deacon Hofmann.
The Large congregation sang with lusty voices in praise of God.Father Böhm is shown below blessings the fruits of this years harvest.
After Mass some of the younger members of the congregation,who brought their little baskets full of fruits for blessing,eat the fruits of the labours of the growers.Thank God for the Harvest.
Over at Acht Seligkeiten the children had their own Harvest Festival Service at the same time as Holy Mass.
Unfortunately they didn't finish in time and came back to an empty church!
Our German website covered the event here
ECUMENICAL SERVICE FOR LOST BABIES
The Füssen Initiative Group for Premature Stillbirths met in the Franciscan Monastery on 26th September for their annual meeting.
Representatives from the Evangelical and Catholic Churches as well as a reporter from the Allgäuer Zeitung were present.
Beate Kowell was chair of the meeting and told the new Evangelical Minister,Reverend Dr.Susanne Birkel about the work of the group.It was explained that grieving parents could either bury their baby in a family grave or wait for the yearly service and bury them in the memorial area set aside in the Old Cemetery in Füssen.The Churchcare representatives from St Mang Basilica said there was €1270 set aside for the project.
Myke Rosenthal-English who was allowed to sit in on the meeting representing the Miscarriage & Infant Loss Memorial Book Ministry spoke about trying to improve the memorial area itself so as to enhance the spiritual,physical and mental wellbeing of the grieving parents.It was pointed out that this has difficulties due to ownership of the land the Memorial is on.
An "Eternal Flame " was suggested by him.Sponsors would be needed to bring this to reality.It was also discussed as to the internet presence of the Initiative.Some felt that the Acht Seligkeiten pages were good enough.Others felt that more links to these pages from the Füssen city webpage and others would help to make the Memorial more easy to find.
Memorial Site in German
Reverend Dr. Birkel made it very clear that young people like herself use the internet as a first port of call when searching for information.
Its was also made very clear that the local Daily Paper was well read and a must for sending public information out.
Money for the initiative can be sent to the following bank account:
ACCOUNT NUMBER:610273435
BLZ:73350000
Bank:Sparkasse Allgäu
Account:Frühgeburten
It was noted that the medical staff always used the medical term "Embryo" during the meeting.To grieving parents this can be very upsetting.It is most important that the baby is called a baby when talking about any child that has been lost.We have come across this problem worldwide in our ministry and know how upsetting it can be for the parents.
The meeting concluded with times being made for the services of remembrance.
At 1500hrs on 16th October all this years babies will be buried at the Memorial Site in the St Sebastian Graveyard.
On the 17th November at 1600hrs a service of prayer and thanksgiving will be held in the St Stephan Franscican Church and also in the graveyard.Following the service drinks and refreshments will be available in the Franscican Monastery.
Photo shows: Reverend Dr.Susanne Birkel(Evangelical),Mrs Beate Kowell,(Grief Counselor),Dr.Clemens Braselmann, Mrs Maximiliane Jüttner,(Midwife).Father Michael (Franciscan Catholic Priest).Mr ???? and Mrs Waltenberg(Reporter,Allgäuer Zeitung)PILGRIMAGES TO THE BASILICA
We get many groups of pilgrims regulaly visiting the Basilica.Some actually have a priest with them and arrange to celebrate Mass whilst visiting.If your group wants to do this then contact the Parish Office at least two weeks in advance if possible so it can be arranged.The photos below show one group of pilgirms from Austria led by their Parish Priest Father Moritz Lenz.
Father Moritz Lenz,Below, celebrated Mass for the Pilgrims of Stift Herzogenburg,Austria.
KINDERGARTEN LEADER SPEAKS OUT TO CALM SPECULATION!16th September 2007
Sibylle Berktold,Director of the St Gabriel Catholic Kingarten in west Füssen,has spoken out to quell rumours that the new group has been set up in opposition to the Protestant kindergarten group.
Mrs Birktold made it very clear that the Kindergarten 5 groups were all full and others still wanted to join.This was put to the Church and the local authorities and both agreed with the idea of using a room in the church centre above the existing Kindergarten for a new group.The new "Beetle" group is for the very young members.Some are only two.The older children were placed in the existing groups first.
No one knows where the rumor started that the group was direct competition to the new Manger group starting in the protestant Kindergarten.Mrs Birktold was unable to say if the group would be permanent."That will depend on the requirements in the future"she said.
St Gabriel Catholic Kindergarten
1st CLASS OF 2007
The 1st Sunday after the school's go back,a special Mass is celebrated in St Mang for all children who have gone up from Kindergarten and are now in the first school class.Here in Germany children enter school at 6 years old.
The children were invited by Monsignor Karlheinz Knebel to come forward round the Altar for the "Our Father"
After Mass all the children who had just joined the 1st class brought their "schultüte",A large shaped cone which is normally filled with sweets.These were then filled with goodies like a baloon,necklace,
rainbow candle and Monsignor blessed each child and presented them with a prayer book and Children's Bible.
MASS ON THE DEER MEADOW (16th September 2007)
Mass for the Feast of the Exhaltation of the Cross was celebrated at 100hrs Sunday 16th September on the Deer Meadow which is halfway up the Füssen Calvary Mountain.
The servers and Monsignor Karlheinz Knebel process from St Mang Basilica to the Kalvarienberg for Holy Mass.Here they are just about to cross the bridge over the Lech river.
Starting the long climb up the Calvery Mountain.They are just beside the "Frau am Berg Kirche"
Awaiting the start of Mass.
Music was provided by Füssen Harmonie.
Monsignor spoke about the great love God has for everyone.He used the 3 examples that Our Blessed Lord used.The Prodigal son was welcomed by his father with open arms when he returned.The Other son though had started building barriers between himself and his brother and also with his father.He called his brother "Your son" when talking to his father.Nothing can come close to the love God has for us.He always wants us to turn to Him.The woman lost her money her money searched the whole house to find her money.Yet when he brought an ice-cream one day and had some small change in his pocket,he saw a server and asked if they would like some money."No Thanks,I have enough"said the server.It shows that people would not now turn their house upside down to find a small amount of lost money.So we are now far better off than in the past.Also the lost sheep,when the shepherd left 99 to look for one.This is what is so important with God.Each one of us sinners is worth saving.Christ died on the cross for us.God the Father sent His only Son,Jesus Christ for each one of us.Each one of us is that lost sheep who God wants to save if only we accept His invitation.
The Consecration .Monsignor holds the Body of Christ in his hands for all to worship and adore.
The Consecration:The Blood of Christ.Following the words of Consecration offered by the priest,the water and wine become the Blood of Christ.Everytime we receive Holy Communion under either species we receive the Body,Blood,Soul and Divinity of Christ.
The special blessing against the elements which we are always prone too,especially in this mountainous area where weather can change very quickly.
After Mass everyone can buy a beer,soft drink or sausage in a roll.As can be seen the sausages in their rolls did a roaring trade.The Germans love their Sausages!
The Statue of "Our Lady of Bavaria above the Altar of the Chapel on the Kalvarienberg Deer Meadow is shown below.
WATCH OUT FOR THE LEOPARDS IN FÜSSEN!(14th September 2007)
Parishioner and Extra Ordinary Minister of Communion,65 year old Dieter Prinz has designed a new watch to celebrate the 85th anniversary of Füssen ice hockey team.He admits to being a great fan of the team!
EV Füssen are nicknamed the "Leopards" and Herr Prinz has incorporated a leopard into the design.Füssen is home to the National Ice Stadium for the German Ice Hockey team.
Herr Prinz is a qualified Jeweler and owns his own shop,"Juwelier Wollnitza" It can be found in the centre of the city by the fountain.The watches are strictly a limited edition with only 100 being made and retail for €135 each.So get your skates on if you want to wear a leoperd on your wrist as opposed to a "Tiger in your tank!"
1st MAYOR GANGL REFUSES TO ANSWER QUESTIONS ON BISHOP MIXA'S VISIT (13th September 2007)
EXCLUSIVE1st Mayor of Füssen;Christian Gangl has refused to answer questions about the visit of Bishop Mixa to Füssen last Sunday,fuelling speculation that he snubbed the Bishop deliberately.
Herr Gangl was asked to defend himself in an email sent by the Editor of the St Mang English Website,Myke Rosenthal-English.One of the 1st Mayor's staff,Hermann König deleted the email without even bothering to read it.
It seems that this issue has touched a sore spot in the photo opportunity loving 1st Mayor of Füssen!
BISHOP MIXA SNUBBED BY FÜSSEN'S 1ST MAYOR?
EXCLUSIVE REPORT12TH SEPTEMBER 2007
Was Bishop Walter Mixa,Diocesan Bishop of Augsburg and Bishop to the German Forces snubbed by 1st Mayor of the city,Christian Gangl on his recent visit to St Mang?
1st Mayor Gangl decided to send 3rd Mayor,Dr.Anni Derday to represent the Civic Authorities at the book presentation by renouned German Artist, Erwin Wiegerling.
Many have wandered why the 1st Mayor of the City was not there to meet two such well known persons.Both Bishop Mixa who is known throughout the whole of Germany for his courageous defense of the family and the artist are known Worldwide.
Was the fact that the CSU which 1st Mayor Gangl is a member of and its sister party, the CDU came up with new laws for children which encourage mothers to have to work rather than look after their children.It put those mothers who want to look after their children in a difficult position.Family Minister, Ursula von der Leyen who has 7 children herself was responsible for the changes.Bishop Mixa critisised her plans.He said at the time "Von der Leyen's family policies are not meant to benefit children's well being or strengthen family values but rather are mainly designed to recruit young women into industry"The Bishop is of course right.Those who are working can now receive extra money on the birth of their baby.But if you have married young and have not worked ,but looked after your children,then what money are you then entitled to on the birth of a new baby?
Could it Be that 1st Mayor Christian Gangl snubbed the Bishop deliberately because of the Bishop's attack on a Government Minister belonging to a party with a majority in the ruling Coalition?
We can not give the answer ,but know that Social Democratic Party of Germany Mayor Candidate for Füssen,Paul Jacob has told The English Website for St Mang in an exclusive interview he would not have dealt with it that way.
SPD Candidate for 1st Mayor in next March's elections,Paul Jacob.
Paul Jacob told us;"If I was the 1st Mayor of Füssen and such a prominent person came to visit the city,I would invite them to take a tour of the city with me taking in the Museums and other important buildings.I would most certainly invite Bishop Mixa to sign the Golden Book which all important and well known visitors to the city sign.I can only say this was an oversight on the part of our 1st Mayor"
Herr 1st Mayor, Christian Gangl is well known for never missing a photo opportunity, and the local paper hardly goes a day without having his picture somewhere.He is welcome to answer his critics on this website.We will let you know if he does!
ZEBRA CROSSING OUTSIDE THE ST MANG CHURCH OFFICE(10TH SEPTEMBER 2007)(EXCLUSIVE!)
SPD Füssen Mayor Candidate,Paul Jacob is to ask why the Zebra Crossing outside the church offices and Presbytery has been removed. When changes to the trafic flow in the city centre were made the Zebra Crossing was painted over.However the job has been so badly done that people still think it is a Zebra Crossing and there has been a few near misses where people have nearly been run over.German drivers are renouned for not taking notice of children trying to use Zebra Crossings so the fact that this still looks like a crossing is highly dangerous.Paul Jacob has promised to bring the item up in the council.He told us "I do not understand why they got rid of it.It is needed".
SERVERS DAY TRIP TO SONTHOFEN (10th September 2007)
It's the last day of the school holidays here in Bavaria and the servers from the 4 churches in our parish spent the day in Sonthofen. We mangaged to catch the group before they left with Monsignor Karlheinz Knebel.Amasing that he looks so fresh as he was entertaining the Bishop after the Magnus festivities.The Bishop left Füssen at Midnight and Monsignor hit the sack at 0200hrs.
Thanks to Frau Brigitte Bock for arranging the day out.
Getting ready to go.Herr Vogler of our sister site Acht Seligkeiten went with hem.His coverage of the day in German can be found here:
http://www.acht-seligkeiten.de/07maerzgruben.htm
FEAST OF ST MANG 6TH SEPTEMBER 2007.
The Feast of St Mang was celebrated in the Parish today,6th September 2007.This morning at Acht Seligkeiten,Father Piotrowski,celebrated Mass in honour of St Mang at 0830hrs.The hymn of St Mang was sung during the Mass.
Then at 1900hrs following a festive pealing of the bells of the Basilica,Mass was concelebrated by Monsignor Karlheinz Knebel,Father Kasimierz Piotrowski & Father Rudolph Böhm,Deacon Fredl Hofmann assisted.The Church was nearly full for the Festival Mass.During Mass two copies of St Mang's Staff were blessed and will be sent local associations of the "Heimatbund Allgäu.It is a tradition to present the different association with copies of the Magnus Staff.However due to the cost of each staff being €500.This year the staff were blessed for these two associations:
1)Geschichts und Heimatverein Eglots
2)Unterillertaler Kempten.(Verein & Schwäb Brauchtum)
After Mass,Deacon Fredl Hofmann took some servers and a few other down into the crypt where St Mang was originally buried.He held a gold chain above the exact spot where the body was originally buried.The chain wouldn't stop moving and he told those listening that water could be found below this exact spot.
Above is the oldest Fresco in Germany.It can be seen in the crypt of St Mang Basilica.It shows St Gallus and St Mang together.
The Statue of St Mang outside the basilica adorned with flowers for his feast
Magnus wine by the altar
St Mang Statue at front of the church especially for the week of festivities.
The wine prior to it being blessed
Frau Hornsteiner,Monsignor Knebel's Housekeeper puts the wine out ready in the porch
After the service to St Mang,on the eve of the saints feastday,which included Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament,Monsignor Karlheinz Knebel blessed this years Magnus Wine which came from South Tirol in Austria!
Blessing of the Magnus Wine September 5th 2007
Brisk sales of the Wine follow the service.
One of the English Website reporters,Dr.Miriam Rosenthal-English tries this years Magnus Wine which came from South Tirol.Her View on the wine was Light & Fruity.
E-LIN PLANS-EXCLUSIVE CHANGES IN ST MANG!
Artist Erwin Wiegerling is to present his new book to Bishop Dr.Walter Mixa on Sunday.Congratulations to Alfred Vogler who runs the Acht Seligkeiten website for obtaining EXCLUSIVE blueprints of the changes.Following our EXCLUSIVE first photos of the new windows in position,our German sister website was able to obtain all the relevant information on the changes.Monsignor Karlheinz Knebel announced at Mass on Sunday 2nd September that they could be seen on the Acht Seligkeiten site.
The German St Mang website is very staid and like a Financial Times paper in the UK.It doesn't report much news, but is very factual on the Basilica and its history.The Acht Seligkeiten website is the website for the sister church of St Mang which is based in west Füssen.It is much more newsy and often covers St Mang as well as the other churches in the Partnership.It is equivalent of the 'Daily Mail' and is fully backed by "The Boss",Monsignor Karlheinz Knebel.This could explain how Herr Vogler managed to get the "World Exclusive".It can be found on the following page in German
http://www.acht-seligkeiten.de/07nwportal.htm
For those wondering where the English website rates in UK paper terms-Try "THE SUN"!
.Our German colleagues may not understand that one!So for them try "Bild"
!
THE MASTERPIECE IN PLACE(WORLD EXCLUSIVE PHOTO)5TH SEPTEMBER 2007
Our German sister site although they had taken exclusive photos of E-Lin finalising the widows and doors with Monsignor Karlheinz Knebel overseeing the operation,failed to post the photos to the web before us
.Their photos can be viewed on this page
The doors actually show the Church Liturgical year on them.The Colours represent the different times in the Church Calender.The feasts of St Mang,Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos,Christmas,Easter,St Joseph's Day,Solemnity of Mary,Mother of God and Candlemas all have their own special engravings on the work of art.It runs from 1st January to 31st December rather than starting at 1st day of Advent and ending at the Feast of Christ the King.
Our personal opinion at the English website is that this is the best work of art we have seen from the artist and its well worth visiting the Basilica to see it!
Owing to the new doors the copy of the Pieta by Michael Angela has been moved to the window at the side of St Michael the Archangel Altar.
GOOGLE SEARCH ENGINE PUTS THIS SITE ON ITS BLACK LIST!
MSN LIVE AND YAHOO UK PLACE US NUMBER 1!
A few months ago the world's number one search engine decided to change its algorithm for cataloging websites.This meant that sites which had lots of links and used to be found in the Top 10 suddenly couldn't be found anymore.
The pro-abortion search engine was trying to stop spammers from tricking their way into it's ratings,unfortunately genuine sites like St Mang Basilica in its English version were put on a black list.
Because we are the only English speaking site covering St Mang we have attracted a lot of incoming links from places like the English Wikipedia.St Mang,St Mang Cloister of which the Basilica was part of ,Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos and Füssen are all very important and have pages on the English Wikipedia,so it is only natural that an external link would come to our site from these pages.Our German sister sites are not so fortunate as nobody has ever bothered linking to them from the Füssen page or the St Mang Kloster page of the German Wikipedia..
It is all these links that have caused the problems with Google.Many people have become so disillusioned by their search results that they have switched to other search engines for more reliable results.
This site is now number 1 for the search term:St Mang in MSN LIVE search engine in the United States.Number 1 in Yahoo UK,3rd place in Yahoo US ,4th place for St Mang Basilica on German MSN LIVE.
