utorak, 24. ožujka 2020.

Zagreb earthquake

I was asked by some friends and acquaintances about the situation in Zagreb so I decided to write a report highlighting those things which an average Catholic traditionalist might find interesting.

With respect to the Church, the Wuhan virus scenario had the same development in Croatia as in other previously Catholic countries. First, the prohibition of blessed water in the stoups and communion on the tongue. Almost universally endorsed by the clergy and a large part of the neoconservative Croatian faithful (obedience to our bishops and priests is what really counts!), but also opposed by a vocal minority. Our group of traditional Catholic faithful went on a pilgrimage to the Croatian national shrine of Our Lady in Marija Bistrica. It was a strong encouragement for the bleak days we knew were coming. On Sunday March 15 no communion was distributed at the Traditional Latin Mass in the church of St. Catherine in Zagreb where we had Mass during the colder months of the year.

Late Tuesday evening last week a draft of a document prepared by the Croatian Bishops' Conference was published by mistake on the web page of one Croatian archdiocese and was soon removed. Not before it spread like a fire all over the social media. There was to be a complete suppression of all public masses as well as confessions starting from the next day. The genuine faithful were outraged, not even the Solemnity of St. Joseph, patron saint of Croatia since 1687, was to be celebrated by a public Mass. The bishops' spokesman soon gave the usual nondenial that "no official announcement regarding this has been made to the public". On Wednesday the Civil Protection Headquarters of the Republic of Croatia instituted a ban which included all religious gatherings. The bishops, however, waited until the next day to publish their decree, so that we were able to celebrate our patron with Masses.

At the end of the last week Croatian government announced that stricter measures will be introduced to combat the spread of coronavirus. Schools and universities were already closed and all public transportation, both intercity and urban, was to be suspended with further restrictions on movement envisioned. Croatia is still in a relatively good position with as of today only 315 confirmed cases and no deaths. Nevertheless, the Minister of Health is regularly threatening with increasingly draconian regulations, probably hoping we wouldn't see something like what's happening in Italy.

With this in mind and knowing that the weather will get worse the next day, on Saturday afternoon I went to a popular hiking destination, Medvednica mountain which bounds Zagreb from the north.

Returning from the walk.
Since I no longer needed to help with the preparation for the traditional mass in St. Catherine's, I intended to sleep a little longer. Some time after 6 am I was awaken by a violent shaking of the bed and furniture. As you can imagine, after exclaiming to God to have mercy on us, I quickly got up. There was plaster on the floor and some new cracks in the walls. I opened the windows and got dressed, preparing the backpack and praying to Our Lord and Our Lady. I decided not to go out of the apartment building I live in unless another strong earthquake happens. However, I can't say the aftershocks were not worrying. It was a limited yet real comprehension of that Gospel verse on "men fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken". After checking on my family and friends, I prayed the first third of the Rosary which helped a lot with calming me down. Outwardly, I am not a very emotional guy, but there were tears in my eyes when I finally saw Father Robert Perišić OFM appearing on the youtube channel with only a few minutes of delay after 9 am. He is a Franciscan priest who celebrates Traditional Mass privately, but seeing that there would be no such Masses streamed from Croatia, he decided to do it from his parish in the newer part of Zagreb, south of the river Sava. He prepared everything very quickly so that the Mass could be celebrated outdoors.

After the Mass, Fr Robert prayed the usual Procession in time of Pestilence from the old Roman Ritual. As my twin brother remarked, it's easy to notice that the situation is not good when more than one invocation has to be doubled in the Litany of the Saints (against earthquake and against pestilence).

From now on I will be using photos and videos from the internet and social media. Hopefully their authors will not be too angry with me for breach of copyright.

What woke us up on Sunday morning at 6:24 was a 5.4 magnitude earthquake with epicenter not far from where I went for a walk on Saturday.

Fault line near Markuševec?
Unfortunately, one teenage girl died and a dozen or so people were injured. The greatest damage to property was in the older parts of the city which includes the center of Zagreb. After the first major shock and smaller tremors later on, a lot of people went out into the streets and parks while some escaped the city completely. The officials immediately started warning the population to keep the social distancing and to return to their homes in the city because of fears of spreading coronavirus.

Here are some photos:






Zagreb doesn't have a lot of old churches and quite a lot of them were affected by the earthquake. Here are some of them.

The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the city center. This Jesuit parish is well known for its pastoral activity, especially offering confessions. I'm glad to see that the main and side altars appear unharmed. I have fond memories of serving at Father Ante Sumić's private mass at the side altar of Our Lady. It's nice to see that Father Sumich is also streaming his masses from New Zealand. He was one of the first to celebrate a publicly announced Traditional Mass in Zagreb in 2009 (although that almost got us locked out of the small chapel within the Franciscan monastery in the center of city, which by the way, has also been evacuated after the earthquake).




The church of Visitation of Our Lady better known as St. Mary on Dolac (central market). The church was recently renovated. The first Traditional Latin Mass in a long time was celebrated there only two months ago for a wedding. The Mass was sung by the priest in charge of our traditionalist community in Zagreb, Reverend Borna Puškarić.





The beautiful shrine of Our Lady in Remete was established by the Pauline Fathers and is now under the direction of the Carmelites.




Close to the epicenter of the earthquake are the churches in Granešina and Čučerje, villages absorbed by Zagreb in the 20th century.


The church was built after the last major earthquake which struck Zagreb in 1880.


The church of Saint Catherine on the hill Grič from which Zagreb sprawled is covered with fallen plaster and some frescoes seem to be in a bad shape. I don't think we will be having mass there again any time soon.

I left the cathedral for last since it has the strongest symbolic impact. The cathedral doesn't look too bad from the inside, certainly nothing like it was after the 6.3 earthquake hit in 1880.  But the top of the southern spire fell off.



Father Borna's main job is being the director of the press office for the archdiocese.
At first it was reported that the tip of the spire broke off and crashed onto the roof of the adjacent Archbishop's Palace. Although the palace was damaged and Cardinal Bozanić had to move with his staff to the nearby seminary, the rumors that the big gilded cross from the top of the spire fell directly through the roof and landed in front of his room were probably false. Cardinal Bozanić said that they cannot locate the cross which could be lying under some debris.

This all fell off. I was lucky some years ago to be able to climb up the southern tower while it was under renovation. 

Lastly, I have to say a few words about the official ecclesiastical narrative which started almost immediately after the earthquake and has now received the endorsement by the Archbishop. The churchmen are now congratulating themselves for forbidding all public Masses, looking at this as a divine inspiration since, they say, otherwise there could have been numerous casualties. Leaving aside the fact that none of the churches most afflicted by the earthquake would have been open at 6:24 in the morning, there still remains an obvious question: If God could use the coronavirus to inspire you to stop the Masses, could he have not just as easily halted the earthquake if the Masses had continued. Or is this beyond the scope of God's omnipotence? In any case, these kinds of hypothetical considerations don't really add much value and can easily lead one astray.

What then, should be the message we need to take from these calamities which struck our city and, more generally, the world that we live in? This is what our Archbishop Cardinal Bozanić had to say:
I want to point out that God loves us all very much. And in this we should see the sign of God’s closeness. The coronavirus situation is a challenge. We need to be serious and respect the rules and so help each other. Let's be more solidary, closer to each other. A man shows his greatness when faced with a challenge.
[...]

I celebrated the Mass of thanksgiving because after yesterday's earthquake God saved lives. Man matters the most, human life is what matters the most. We do not know what God's plan is and by what paths and signs he leads us.

Not that I expected something like the following, but this is what the previous Archbishop of Zagreb Bl. Alojzije Stepinac wrote in his circular letter in February 1941:
God punishes entire nations and overthrows entire cities for wickedness. By a general flood he punishes perverted humanity. He burns Sodom and Gomorrah for grave and shameful wickedness. He sinks Pharaoh and the Egyptian army in the Red Sea. When the Israelites fell into idolatry, He sends them into Assyrian and Babylonian slavery. When they rejected the true Messiah Jesus Christ, God disperses them throughout the world for punishment. Looking at the magnificent interventions of God into the lives of the people, it is not difficult to understand the words of Jeremiah the prophet: 'Who would not fear thee, o King of the nations? For thy glory is among all the wise men of the people, and in all kingdoms, there is none like unto thee.' (Jer 10:7)
Yes! The hand of God is too evident in the history of the world, and only limited and corrupt people do not or will not see what is clear to a reasonable man.
Bl. Alojzije Stepinac, of course is not some outlier, this was how Catholic shepherds and faithful understood disasters, as a sign to repent, to do penance. To imitate Ninevites. We do not need to agree on the interpretation of the details (e.g. does Croatia's presidency of the Council of the EU from January until June have any meaning in all of this), but come on. If pestilence, cancellation of all public masses, earthquake which breaks off the cross from the cathedral do not mean that we have sinned and we need to turn towards God and away from our usual ways, then what will it take?

From the the Cloisters Apocalypse (f. 32 v.)
And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom became dark, and they gnawed their tongues for pain: And they blasphemed the God of heaven, because of their pains and wounds, and did not penance for their works. (Apoc 16:10-11)

Some priests claim that we should not think of these events as God's punishments and quote the Novus Ordo gospel of last Sunday in which Jesus cures the blind man. When the disciples asked who sinned so that the man was born blind Our Lord told them "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents; but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." I do not know how they go from Our Lord's admonition not to assign blame to saying that God does not punish sins even if innocent also have to suffer. But in our Mass we heard the prayer that shows the right attitude:
Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that we who are justly afflicted for our deeds, may be relieved by the consolation of Thy grace. Through our Lord...

Broj komentara: 16:

  1. Toma, možete li u komentaru objaviti hrvatsku verziju citata bl. Alojzija Stepinca? I ako biste mogli navesti izvor. Hvala!

    OdgovoriIzbriši
    Odgovori
    1. Bog kažnjava čitave narode i razvaljuje čitave gradove zbog opačina. Općim potopom kažnjava izopačeni ljudski rod. Spaljuje Sodomu i Gomoru zbog teških i sramotnih opačina. Potapa faraona i vojsku egipatsku u Crvenom moru. Kad su Izraelci upali u idolopoklonstvo, šalje ih u ropstvo asirsko i babilonsko. Kad su zabacili pravoga Mesiju Isusa Krista, Bog ih za kaznu raspršuje po svemu svijetu. Promatrajući veličajne zahvate Božje u život naroda, nije teško razumjeti riječi Jeremije proroka: »Tko se ne bi Tebe bojao, o Kralju nad narodima? Tvoja je naime slava: među svima mudracima naroda i u svim kraljevstvima nema nikoga sličnoga Tebi.« Da! Ruka Božja i odviše je očita u povijesti svijeta, i samo ograničeni i pokvareni ljudi ne vide ili neće da vide ono, što je bjelodano razumnom čovjeku.


      http://stepinac.zg-nadbiskupija.hr/hr/stepinac-nam-govori/poruke-i-okruznice/1941-1946/731?page=2

      https://justpaste.it/okruznica

      Preko facebook stranice Vratimo Tradiciju nadjoh.

      Izbriši
  2. Excellent review dear Toma.

    Dodao bih Vašem osvrtu nešto znakovito što primjetih u nedjelju nakon zemljotresa.
    U nedjelju ujutro otišao sam se pomoliti u crkvu i probdijeti određeno vrijeme s Gospodinom. Molio sam srednji čas Časoslova. U srednjem času navedenog dana molio se Psalam 23. i Psalam 76. Duboko su me potresle riječi Psalma 76.:

    "Strašan si ti, i tko da opstane kraj žestine gnjeva tvojega.

    S neba reče presudu - od straha zemlja zadrhta i zanijemje kad se diže Bog da sudi, da spasi uboge na zemlji."

    U trenu mi je prošla misao; jesu li ove riječi potresle nutrinu naših biskupa i svećenika dok jutros mole srednji čas, jesu li izazvale nemir u njihovoj nutrini, jesu li porodile sveti Božji strah. Može li svećenik i redovnik kojeg je probudila snažna trešnja Zemlje i srušeni toranj Stepinčeve katedrale ostati indiferentan na navedene Božje riječi. I to na dan u kojem se po prvi put u povijesti na cjelokupnom kulturnom prostoru hrvatskog naroda ne održavaju sv. Mise za narod, ne dijeli sv. Pričest i ne ispovijeda. Zahvaljujući njihovim recentnim odlukama i Odredbama.

    Čitajući jučerašnje objave pojedinih biskupa i komentare nekih svećenika, pomislio sam da sa mnom nešto nije u redu i da možda ne razumijem što je i tko je Gospodin, da sam potpuno pogrešno razumio djela sv. Augustina, sv. Tome Akvinskog, sv. Ivana od Križa, etc.
    Zato Vam hvala na citatima blaženog Stepinca.

    Benedikt

    OdgovoriIzbriši
  3. "If pestilence, cancellation of all public masses, earthquake which breaks off the cross from the cathedral do not mean that we have sinned and we need to turn towards God and away from our usual ways, then what will it take?"

    Prvih pola godine moj mozak bi od ovakvih stvari na ovom blogu naprosto eksplodirao, a sablazan je bila gusta da se mogla rezati ko maslo. Ne zna čovjek koliko taj pojam sablazni može bit težak dok ga iskustveno ne osjeti. Do ovih dana je došlo do toga da takve priče i moje iskustvo mogu nekako koegzistirat u mojoj glavi bez da izazivaju vatromet, valjda vrijeme i navika, ali to ne znači da znam kako ih povezati međusobno. Jer ne znam. Surealno. Naprosto surealno. Čas mi se čini da je sve bolest, čas da je naprosto bezobrazluk. A kako sve povezati s pričom koja i dalje ful trezveno i ozbiljno djeluje, stvarno ne znam... I kako se postaviti prema toj priči u kontekstu. Moja zadnja ispovijed je bila prije 12 godina. Najavljuju ukidanje ispovijedi, hara potencijalno smrtonosna epidemija, ako čovjek namjerava promijeniti mišljenje sad bi bilo vrijeme. Ali ja se upitam - kako? Naprosto kako? U svjetlu mog sveukupnog iskustva kojemu je ta bizarna i surealna situacija vrhunac i kraj. Ostalo je na tome da je moja zadnja ispovijed bila prije 12 godina, a kad će biti sljedeća ne zna se, ne samo zato što je ispovijed dokinuta do daljnjega. Da se razumijemo, to sigurno nije jedini razlog, ali svakako jest vrhunac i kruna svega, zadnje uporište koje je najsolidnije djelovalo, a na kraju najbizarnije eksplodiralo. Prebizarno i surealno.

    OdgovoriIzbriši
    Odgovori
    1. Svi imamo sada priliku razmisliti o zivotu i kamo ideno.

      Izbriši
  4. Pokazuju svima da nisu pastiri. Kojem bi to pastiru uopće palo na pamet zabraniti sakramente krštenja i ispovijedi (ne spominjem tu novu misu, ne samo jer je ona u najmanjem slučaju sumnjive valjanosti nego i jer njezina zabrana ujedno sprječava nametanje svetogrdne pričesti na ruku)? Ima toliko načina kako se osigurati od zaraze, od postavljanja ispovjedaonica vani odijeljenih staklom do redovitih javnih odrješenja, a za krštenje bi bilo još lakše - ništa rizičnije od odlaska u supermarket. Koja su im opravdanja - da se boje zaraze, da je država zabranila okupljanje? Krštenje se može obaviti s 4 osobe, dakle manje od 5, a za ispovijed treba samo dvije. Što se tiče zaraze, trenutačno je u Hrvatskoj zaraženo manje od 0,01% stanovništva, dok je prema podacima Južne Koreje, koja za razliku od većine država obavlja opsežno testiranje stanovništva (preko 300.000 ljudi testirano) pa tako otkrije i asimptomatične slučajeve koji drugima promaknu, smrtnost manja od 1%.
    Gospodin zna koliko su prozirna opravdanja modernista.

    Čak bi se i najamnik suočen s takvim jasnim upozorenjem kao što se dogodilo u nedjelju barem od straha pobrinuo za ovce.
    Dakle, nisu ni pastiri niti najamnici, nego vukovi.

    OdgovoriIzbriši
  5. Na LSN (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU67VpChGXQ) objavljen je video s isječkom intervjua pape Franje španjolskom novinaru Jordi-u Évole-u. Intervju je realiziran via skype, a papa Franjo u kontekstu koronavirusa kao posljedice negativnog ljudskog djelovanja prema majčici Zemlji navodi sljedeće:

    "Bog oprašta uvijek, čovjek ponekad, a priroda nikad"

    Dakle, prema papi Franji koronavirus je kazna prirode zbog onečišćenja okoliša i emisija CO2 i ostalih štetnih plinova.
    Kasnije decidirano navodi da su požari, zemljotresi i druge elementarne nepogode zapravo upozorenje majčice Zemlje kako bi više brinuli o prirodi.

    Ljudi moji, pa on se nije slučajno klanjao Pachamami. On i njegova družba zaista vjeruju u Pachamamu.
    Pitam se hoće li nas nakon ovog ludila u crkvama dočekati oltari sa Pachamamom.

    P.S. Još su ovi naši biskupi i dobri. Zamislite da je prečasni nadbiskup Bozanić izjavio da je nedjeljni zemljotres posljedica povećane emisije CO2 i ljutnje majčice Zemlje.

    Benedikt

    OdgovoriIzbriši
  6. https://www.tumblarhouse.com/blogs/news/problems-in-the-traditionalist-movement

    Izvrstan tekst!

    Krševan

    OdgovoriIzbriši
    Odgovori
    1. Osobno nisam veliki ljubitelj p. Rippergerovih predavanja i nagovora, ali ovaj tekst nam (barem po naslovima tocaka i onome sto sam preletio) moze posluziti kao ispit savjesti barem u onome cega se kao tradicionalni katolici (katolici koji se zele drzati Tradicije i tradicije) posebno trebamo cuvati.

      Izbriši
    2. Dosta toga je točno, ali ne slažem se s retorikom "traditionalist movement" jer daje dojam (barem meni) da je to samo jedan od mnogih pokreta danas. SAP

      Izbriši
    3. Doduse, ne vidim kakve to ima direktne veze s ovom temom, pa mozda bolje da ova rasprava ostane za neko drugo vrijeme.

      Izbriši
  7. "Da! Ruka Božja i odviše je očita u povijesti svijeta, i samo ograničeni i pokvareni ljudi ne vide ili neće da vide ono, što je bjelodano razumnom čovjeku."

    Ovaj citat našega sveca bi trebalo velikim i podebljanim slovima uklesati na svakoj građevini Hrvatske i šire. Kao i na svakoj katoličkoj stranici i blogu. Ne bi li se drugovatikanski mirotvorci koji nariču više za ovim svijetom nego zbog grijeha ovoga svijeta, dozvali pameti te shvatili Propovjednikove riječi.
    Posebno će biti od koristi onim mirotvorcima koji neprestance viču,- šuti i moli!, jer je očito da ne poimaju onu Gospodinovu "ovo je trebalo činiti, a drugo ne zanemariti."
    Jer kako veli sveta Katarina Sijenska; Dosta nam je šutnje. Svijet propada od truleži, a stalno namgovore da šutimo.
    Dosta je šutnje!
    JbD

    OdgovoriIzbriši
  8. Mudrost bozija je vise nego potrebna , nikako hirovitost . Da treba nam smirena mudrost bozija u smirenosti i jakosti koja jakoscu bozijom pobjede osvaja u istini bozijoj .

    OdgovoriIzbriši
  9. Samo bih ostavio jednu ispravku na vaš lijepi osvrt.
    Napisali ste da je glavni oltar Bazilke Presvetog Srca Isusova u Palmotićevoj ostao neoštećen.
    Nije.
    Zastrašujuće i opominjujuće, poput s vrha tornja katedrale, pao je veliki mramorni križ i s glavnog oltara Palmotićeve crkve.

    OdgovoriIzbriši
  10. Ljudi, sve ovo što se događa je jedna ogromna LAŽ!! Poznato je da virusi svake godine mutiraju pa tako i ove. Ono što nije poznato jest da su znanstvenici testirajući desetak tipova virusa koji se pojavljuju kod respiratornih infekcija, među njima su naravno i koronavirusi, pronašli obrazac kojim su ustanovili da je jedan tip virusa prisutan svake godine i da ga se stoga u određenom postotku uvijek može pronaći. Naravno riječ je o koronavirusu. Ako gledamo slučaj Italije, tamo se virus proširio u bolnicama jer su tamo i izvodili testiranja! Normalno kad su ga tražili kod bolesnika sa respiratornim infekcijama, kod kojih bi ga pronašli u određenom postotku svake godine, i koji bi u određenom postotku svake godine i umrli. Naglašava se da su ugroženi stari i teže bolesni ljudi. Upravo ta skupina je ugrožena od gripe svake godine! Ono što pogoršava situaciju je panika koja znatno pogoršava simptome, k tome i daleko više ljudi šalje u bolnice (kao što ih mahnito šalje i u trgovine) što opterećuje sustav. Među ljudima vlada neviđeni strah uzrokovan konstantnim bombardiranjem medija, konstantnim iznošenjem brojeva zaraženih i umrlih i nemoguće je ne uplašiti se. Trgnimo se!! Ovo sve je samo test, slika onoga što nas čeka u budućnosti kad će se pod krinkom lažnog humanizma uvoditi brojne promjene koje će nam ukrasti našu slobodu, našu slobodnu volju, koju nam je Bog dao. Govorit će: sjećate se korone... ovo je za vaše dobro... Bog dopušta sve ovo i ono što će doći nakon toga kako bi nas oslobodio navezanosti na materijalno, kako bismo bili spremni vratiti se Njemu, koji svime upravlja. Dopušta ovo, ali do neke granice. Ako se prevrši granica, Bog će sigurno uzvratiti.

    https://webtribune.rs/nemacki-eskpert-zapanjio-svet-nesto-se-ovde-cudno-dogadja-poznajem-koronu-on-se-ne-ponasa-tako-titlovan-video/?fbclid=IwAR0xyfVVY9-GrtKvjlMtC7eT1E4UcvQ-fE-w3uYDps6-H5cq9b03ysdee5M

    OdgovoriIzbriši
    Odgovori
    1. Prema onom što se događa u svijetu, jedan od ciljeva je očito proizvodnja ekonomske krize udarom na gospodarstva svijeta, drugi jačanje državne kontrole i uspostavljanje mehanizama za povećanje iste, treći možda uvođenje obveznog cijepljenja tko zna kakvim cjepivom protiv koronavirusa (Danska je to već učinila, pod prijetnjom zatvora, iako još cjepivo uopće ni ne postoji: https://europe.infowars.com/denmark-passes-law-enabling-forced-coronavirus-vaccinations/), a vjerojatno ima i još ciljeva koji će se vidjeti tek u budućnosti.

      Bog to dopušta kao kaznu, ali i zato što živimo u posljednjim vremenima, i u bližoj ili daljoj budućnosti se (prema od Crkve odobrenim katoličkim proročanstvima) mogu očekivati veliki progoni protiv katolikâ, revolucije i svjetski rat.

      Izbriši

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