Hotels and bars made out of ice have been common for a while — now a church is the latest project to get the cold treatment. In the Bavarian Forest, one congregation wants to build a place of worship out of 1,400 cubic meters of snow, just as their ancestors did 100 years ago.

… Stiefvater wants the snow church to serve as a reminder of an extraordinary event in local history. At the beginning of the 20th century, a trip to Sunday mass for people living in the remote mountain village of Mitterfirmiansreut meant an arduous 90-minute walk to the neighboring town of Mauth. After their pleas for a church of their own fell on deaf ears, the villagers decided to mount an unusual protest during the Christmas season of 1911: They built their own church out of snow. [Der Spiegel]

The visuals are impressive:

The original 1911 Snow Church:

The article mentions the original church was a place for “Mass” but the writer out of ignorance may not know that protestants do not refer to their services as Masses.

Can anyone help me find out if this is actual going to be a Catholic Church? I tend to doubt that.

UPDATE – it appears this snow church could well be Catholic. Plus, there’s a snow church in Japan, too!

There’s fury in Germany after George Papandreou, Greece’s President called upon the people of Greece to vote on the austerity package. Expect stocks worldwide to plummet. http://cvote.to/78

Echoing CV Blogger Mark Stricherz, Ramesh Ponnuru says the flat tax is fool’s gold. http://cvote.to/76

Gays begin a boycott of Chick-Fil-A because their charitable arm supports groups which promote marriage as a union of one man and one woman. http://cvote.to/77

Two people who worked for abortionist Kermit Gosnell plead guilty to murder (warning: graphic details). http://cvote.to/79

Jonah Goldberg says right now could have been Tim Pawlenty’s Moment. (He was my favorite candidate…) http://cvote.to/7A

Why the U.S. needs DOMA. http://cvote.to/7B

US House votes today on resolution that reaffirms “In God We Trust” as the official US motto. http://cvote.to/7C

(This is the opening of the Berlin Papal Mass from Rocco Palmo on Vimeo.)

Seriously. At least most of the bad music we’ve had in the past 40 years had a definite direction, took a stand (if heretical), was offensively committed to drums and other banal instruments, etc., but at least it took a side! This stuff doesn’t uplift, tear down, evoke silly voices or jokes, focus attention, or demand anything of the listener but numbness. It’s the audio equivalent of a tranquilizer dart.

The only redeeming part of the video is the money shot at the end when Benedict looks off to the side after sitting down, as though he’s looking to see who it is he needs to excommunicate for spiritually and emotionally anesthetizing the congregation.

I’ll bet there are times he wishes he could do that force lightning thing…

You can rate your restaurant meal, your make-up, your teacher online and now in Germany your priest.

Hirtenbarometer or the “shepherds’ barometer” is the first online platform where priests can be rated for their performance at church services, on projects for youths and the elderly, on their credibility and on how up to date they are.

… Ratings for priests on the site are represented by sheep, whose woolly coats range from white to black to visually express a priest’s rating. The pope and other prominent German priests so far sport light to middle grey wool. [Reuters]

I poked around the website and found Pope Benedict’s rating:

And here are the details:

Of course, it’s always easier to “rate” other people than it is to acknowledge our own faults.

What do you think — is this a completely bad idea, or does it have some merits?

Twenty-five French kings were annointed there, one in the presence of St. Joan of Arc. But at the outset of World War I, German guns trained on the cathedral as they advanced toward Paris. According to one account, the pattern of German shelling in the surrounding town suggested that the Germans sole target in Reims was Notre Dame de Reims. And when things were going poorly elsewhere on the front, they would open up again on the defiant Lady, still standing.

The Germans battered the cathedral, destroying most of the glass, many of the hundreds of statues on the exterior, and leaving gaping holes throughout, but they could not completely destroy it.

The restoration effort began apace in 1919 and the cathedral was completely re-opened in 1938, partly with funding from the Rockefellers, and work on the interior and windows has continued since that day. Commissioning a German artist to design these six windows was a very intentional act, aimed at continuing the reconciliation and moving forward with healing old European wounds.