On Thursday, September 14, the Archbishop of Prague, Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, issued a public statement, in which he condemned "extremism". By that he meant the visit to Prague and a talk given by Prof. John Rao, President of Roman Forum, titled "Novus Ordo Seculorum and the War on Terror" under the auspices of St. Joseph Institute and Katolík Revue.

Another person mentioned in Cardinal Vlk's statement was Dr. E. Michael Jones, who took part in the panel after John Rao's talk. Both gentlemen were accused by the Prague Archbishop of coming to Prague to "instruct political extremists, Lefebvrites, nationalists, anti-Semites, Islamists and neo-Nazi’s in the spirit of "anti-Americanism". Cardinal Vlk met both the American and Israeli ambassadors in Prague and assured them that the groups organizing the talk and the "anti-Americanism" of the speakers do not represent the view of the Catholic Church.

Obviously, the Cardinal Vlk's statement is a mere piece of propaganda, a series of insinuations and calumnies. We, as traditional Catholics, strongly oppose neo-Nazis for being a neo-pagan ideology with racist overtones, as we oppose every kind of nationalistic hatred, including anti-Semitism, if by that term is meant the hatred of the Jewish nation. We have nothing to do with "Islamism", which is alien to our culture and Catholic heritage.

This statement of Cardinal and the related fact, that the American and Israeli embassies are monitoring the activities of traditional Catholics might be a sign of future obstacles for disseminating the traditional Catholic social and moral teaching, at least in the Czech Republic.

Please, our dear friends in Christ, keep us in your prayers.

Michal Semin, Director, St. Joseph Institute

Martin R. Cejka, Katolik revue

P.S. The statement of Cardinal Vlk, which is in Czech, can be read at http://tisk.cirkev.cz/z-domova/kardinal-vlk-odmitl-jakekoliv-projevy-extremismu.html