Talk:Congregation of Our Lady of Sion

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In fact, the congregation comprised both "religieux" and "religieuses". Both communities were founded by the Ratisbonne brothers, the order of women in 1848, and the fathers in 1855. The link to the male chapter, known as the Fathers (or Priests) of Notre-Dame de Sion, is http://sion-paris.org. The Father Superior during the war was P.Devaux and was posthumously awarded the medal of Righteous among the Nations, for his role in sheltering 500 jewish children in the order's headquarters and elsewhere in Paris during WWII. In the late 40s and 50s, the Father Superior was a Hungarian Jew named Paul Démann who had converted to catholicism prior to the second world war. Together with Jules Isaacs and others, he edited and contributed to the "Cahiers Sioniens", which were a powerful moral and intellectual motor in bringing about a reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the Jews. Some on the more conservative side of catholicism have categorised the Fathers of Sion - whose original mission was to convert Jews - as a sort of Jewish trojan horse which was able to influence catholic doctrinal thinking, leading to the declarations of Vatican II in 1965.

62.114.10.161 13:41, 12 September 2006 (UTC)


 * OK, I'll check this. The Catholic Encyclopedia specifically refers to the congregation as a female order. Please add comments to this discussion page, not to the main article. Paul B 14:23, 12 September 2006 (UTC)


 * The CP uses the term "Congregation of Notre-Dame de Sion" to refer to the order of woman, but says that they are "directed spiritually by the Priests of Notre-Dame de Sion, a congregation of secular priests, which includes lay brothers. At St. Peter's in Jerusalem, there are six priests, nine lay brothers, and some scholastics. The German settlement of Tabgha, on the Lake of Genesareth, is in charge of a priest of Notre-Dame de Sion, assisted by a Lazarist. There is a foundation of Priests of Notre-Dame de Sion at Constantinople." It seems to be really a question of terminology. Paul B 14:32, 12 September 2006 (UTC)