RF Commissioner for Human Rights Confirms Facts about Child Abuse in the St Andrei Bogolyubsky Convent

An investigation under the auspices of RF Commissioner for Human Rights Vladimir Lukin confirmed that complaints of ill-treatment by children residing at the shelter of St Andrei Bogolyubsky Convent in Vladimir Oblast were justified. “Children, who previously lived in the shelter, told us of torture inflicted upon them by caregivers. They had to make repeated prostrations as a punishment, and they were made to work in the field from three in the morning until ten at night, with only half-hour breaks for breakfast and lunch. Some were housed in facilities in the second floor of a cowshed, and were deprived of food and water for 16 consecutive days. They were beaten with a belt 12, 50, and 70 times by teachers. On top of this, they had to recite the Psalter aloud for two hours every night, then, had to rise at 05.30”, the press service of the RF Commissioner reported, referring to the results of the investigation. Sources at the press office also confirmed that after the closure of the shelter at the convent, some of the resident children remained. In particular, investigators “interviewed an 18-year-old girl, who said that she remained there at her own free will, was in external studies for Year 11 classes, but she had no passport or health card, which was true of many of the shelter residents”. The Commission also found that, after the closure of the shelter, at present, some of the children were placed at a boarding school in the village of Mikhaly and in the Cadet Corps in the village of Raduzhny, others live at home with their families and receive their education via external studies from schools in different locations. According to the Mother Superior of the convent, some of the children went to parents and guardians in other cities.

25 October 2010

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=37940

Editor’s Note:

There one has it… here’s why the Mother Church is more honest than the OCA (or AOCANA) is. It’s NOT because they’re better human beings. It’s because there was media and government attention thrown on the situation. Now, we need the Manitoba authorities to act just as vigorously against the OCA. The whole rotten edifice will collapse if they dig deeply enough… I’d tell ‘em to trust Cappy and Mel at Pokrov (http://www.pokrov.org/contact.asp). They have the Full Monty on why the OCA’s position is an utter crock of shit.

We have enabled the paedophiles for years via our (coerced) silence (don’t forget Eric! “Let my right hand wither” if I do!). It’s time to say, just like in the movies, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take it any more”. You’ll not only feel 100 percent better, Almighty God will bless you for telling the truth. If the Russians can clean out crank clergy… so can we. It’s our DUTY before God and man…

BMD

Anglican Diocese of Bradford in West Yorkshire May Cease to Exist due to the Lack of Practising Anglicans and Increase in Number of Muslims

Most Rev and Rt Hon John Tucker Mugabi Sentamu (1949- ), Anglican Archbishop of York… he was a “prisoner of conscience” under Idi Amin in Uganda. He calls stock market speculators “clearly bank robbers”, is in sympathy with the Palestinians, called the American gulag in Guantánamo “unjust”, and is a hardcore York City FC supporter… what’s not to like?

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[Multiculturalism] seemed to imply, wrongly for me, “let other cultures be allowed to express themselves, but do not let the majority culture at all tell us its glories, its struggles, its joys, its pains”.

Asking someone to leave their belief in God at the door of their workplace is akin to asking them to remove their skin colour before coming into the office.

Christianity is the tapestry upon which our country’s heritage was woven.

Archbishop John Tucker Mugabi Sentamu

The Anglican Diocese of Bradford in West Yorkshire in northern England may cease to exist as an independent entity because of the sharp reduction in the number of practising Anglicans, and a concurrent rapid growth in the number of Muslims, within its borders. A diocesan commission is already considering joining the diocese to the neighbouring Diocese of Ripon and Leeds, according to the British newspaper The Daily Express. In turn, some spokesmen for the diocese proposed to attach it to the Archdiocese of York, creating a “super-diocese” headed by Archbishop John Tucker Mugabi Sentamu of York, the second-ranking bishop of the C of E (he is styled “Primate of England”). According to Rev Rod Anderson, vicar of the local church of St Barnabas, over the 16 years of his ministry in this parish, the number of parishioners attending Sunday service dropped from more than one hundred to only forty. He also said that, in recent years, there were demographic changes due to a large influx of Asians, which, in his opinion, affect the number of communicants. According to The Daily Express, by 2008, attendance at Anglican churches in Bradford dropped to 7,800, compared to the fact that the mosque in Bradford has up to 20,000 regular attendees. Thus, the ratio of practising Muslims and Anglicans in the diocese is more than two to one. In England, church attendance is now declining so rapidly that later generations of permanent C of E parishioners will be less than the number of regular attendees of Muslim mosques, the newspaper notes.

26 October 2010

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=37967

Greek Neocon Pukes to Face Charges in Crook Athos Land Deal

Parties, minus ND, to deliver their findings on Vatopedi affair on Monday…

The parliamentary committee investigating the Vatopedi real estate swap is due to deliver its findings to the House on Monday. It is expected that the report, which will be signed by the PASOK MPs who form the majority on the committee, will suggest the indictment of five ministers in the previous New Democracy government to face a special court on a range of charges. The Communist Party, the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), and the Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS) will deliver their own judgments. New Democracy won’t produce a report, as it walked out of the committee proceedings; it felt that it had turned into a witch-hunt against former conservative ministers.

16 October 2010

H Kaθhmepinh/ekathimerini.com

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_2_16/10/2010_120497

Editor’s Note:

It sure looks like there were shenanigans on the Mountain! Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean that the Athonite Fathers are hypocrites. It means that some guys fell victim to temptation… which could happen to any one of us. Monastics aren’t angels… they’re human too! In any case, such pratfalls often lead to a salutary shaking up of things… who knows, a great elder could arise as a result of the shock, it’s happened in the past. Remember, great goodness often arises as the result of great evil. Maybe, that’s Paffhausen’s purpose… to be a catalyst for the death of the unthrifty and Renovationist OCA and the birth of a united Russian Orthodox Church in the USA (and others in Canada and Alaska, too). God willing, that’s the case…

BMD