AFP Reports Fierce Power Struggle in the Vatican

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On Tuesday, Agence France-Presse reported that there’s an intense power struggle in the Vatican, with an attempt to overthrow Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, in a bid to undermine the position of Pope Benedict XVI Ratzinger. Marco Politi, a Vatican expert at the newspaper il Fatto Quotidiano, said that the widespread public outcry caused by the recent leak of secret Vatican documents was a specific effort to discredit Bertone, noting, “One way, or another, all the documents that fell into the hands of journalists had connections with Tarcisio Bertone. Whoever did this, they did it to attack his credibility, to force the appointment of a new Secretary of State”.

Earlier, the Italian newspaper la Repubblica wrote that Bertone could be just an intermediate target on the way to a coup against the Pope, observing, “A coterie of cardinals has a very ambitious goal… to appoint a new Secretary of State, and, after that, to gain power over the next conclave, so that they could elect a new pope from the ranks of their allies”. Previously, Benedict XVI appointed a special commission to investigate the leak of secret documents in the media, which provided information about corruption and internal conflicts in Roman Catholic clerical circles. Amongst the leaked documents were personal letters to the Pope. Materials unearthed in the investigation led to the arrest of the Pope’s valet, Paolo Gabriele, and to the removal of Vatican Bank President Ettore Gotti Tedeschi.

29 May 2012

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=45727

Editor’s Note:

HERE is one of the reasons why the RC bishops are making such a fuss over “Obamacare”. This Vatican contretemps, plus the continuing sexual abuse scandals amongst RC clergy has led to the RC hierarchy taking measures to divert people’s attentions. We shouldn’t be suckered into supporting such. Of course, in the case of the OCA and the ROCOR, there’s been unsavoury doings amongst us in the past, too (Sam Greene, Panteleimon Metropoulos, Neal Carrigan, and Gleb Podmoshensky pop to mind), and there’s some (such as the Storheim case) at present.

In short, don’t be fooled. Keep your eyes and ears open… notice what clergy do. If they’re not up to snuff, speak up! After all, they make grandiose claims for themselves based on having the “moral high ground”. I’d say, “Remember that the Orthodox Church is the freest of the Churches… it’s not hyperclerical, no matter what this-or-that unhinged convert may say. It’s OUR Church… and we share the responsibility of keeping it sweet”… let’s do that, and leave the hypocritical and bootless political posturing over Obamacare to others. God has better things for us to do…

BMD 

29 May 2012. Recent Events in Mayfield COULD be Just “Pokazukha”… Do NOT Celebrate Yet

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There are great moans of glee over Fathausen’s hegira to Mayfield. I advise caution. There’s such a thing as pokazukha… that’s something engaged in for show, but nothing actually changes. Let’s be frank… Fathausen’s a SALESMAN… there’s not an honest bone in his body. He has the knack of discerning what someone wishes to hear, and that’s what he gives them. He’s one of those people with the ability to lie straight-faced and without any compunction about it, I might add. Knowing that, I take NOTHING that he says at face value, and neither should you. Again, I remind you, I personally handed his deacon a letter three years ago, and he deigned to give me NO REPLY AT ALL. That is, if you can help him, or if he thinks that you can “hurt” him, then, he’ll pay attention to you. If not… “FUCK YOU, and don’t you dare bother me. Die, for all that I care”. Therefore, let’s see if anything actually changes… to be blunt, I think that nothing will change, and that the latest love feast is nothing but First Family pokazukha… engaged in to fool HH.

At present, NOTHING of any substance has changed in the OCA. SVS still pushes its strident Renovationist line. SVS still attacks the Mountain and still sucks up to ecumenists. Fathausen still kisses the bums of the Uniates and of the Right Wing of the Republican Party. Fathausen is still pushing his pals Brum and Eliel for the episcopate, and he didn’t condemn the false academic honours given to Eliel by SVS. Fathausen still surrounds himself with HOOMie cultists and still has the twice-married “Fr” Matthew Tate as a close advisor. Fathausen refuses to rebuke Matthias Moriak for feathering his son’s nest and he allows Benjamin Peterson to serve as a bishop, even though Peterson shamed the Church publicly by his DUI arrest. Jillions, Bobby K, Lyonyo, Behr, Hatfield, and all the rest still hold on to power. In short, there’s no cause for celebration, yet. I say, wait… let’s see if this poseur actually does anything to change the above situation. To be frank, I’m NOT optimistic. Don’t drink Fathausen’s Kool-Aid… after all, he’s a disciple of Gleb Podmoshensky, and you KNOW what that means…

If the OCA and ROCOR First Families were on the up-and-square, the Mayfield events would’ve been reported on Sunday night, with full images and videos, on  both official websites (Memorial Day Weekend is no excuse… VRL gets things up on EASTER, and that’s FAR more important). The present contretemps, whereby all concerned have to wait until Thursday, smells of manipulation. If the Mother Church gets things up immediately, so can we. How long must this last, dear God? Don’t become a useful idiot… ask questions and observe what’s out there… after all, we’re NOT dealing with truthful people.

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Tuesday 29 May 2012

Albany NY

29 May 2012. Chad Hatfield Spoke Against Healthcare Extension at Far Right Venue… Fathausen Did NOT Condemn It… THIS is Why I Do NOT Trust JP’s Blubbering in Mayfield

I’ll believe it when see ACTION from JP… and NOT before… I’m NOT alone…

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A friend sent me this a few days ago; I wanted to see if it got any press on oca.org… it didn’t. It was:

Hatfield spoke out against Obamacare. I’m guessing it had to do with the contraceptive issue, but there’s no video or transcript available.

2012 National Religious Freedom Conference

Start:

Thursday, May 24, 2012 08.00 EDT

End:

Thursday, May 24, 2012 17.15 EDT

Session 3

Uniting to Preserve Robust Freedoms

12.30-14.15 EDT

• Elder L Whitney Clayton, Presidency of the Seventy, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• The Most Reverend Salvatore J Cordileone, Roman Catholic Bishop of Oakland
• Dr Timothy George, Dean and Professor of Divinity, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University (Homewood AL)
• The Very Reverend Dr Chad Hatfield, Chancellor/CEO and Professor of Missiology, St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (Yonkers NY)
• Rabbi Dr Meir Yaakov Soloveichik, Director, Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought, Yeshiva University (New York NY)

Moderator:

Professor Robert P George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University

http://www.eppc.org/conferences/eventID.225/conf_detail.asp

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There was NOTHING on this on oca.org. In short, Fathausen’s changed NONE of his spots. His blubbering at Mayfield was nothing but sales patter of the most disgusting sort. Fathausen’s still a Hard Rightwing fanatic of the most vicious union-busting Russophobic sort… that means that he and his circle are still sucking up to the enemies of the Church and the Rodina, as the above submission shows. To associate the Church with Mormons and Hard Shell Baptists… that’s unforgivable! They’re our enemies, they hold very little (if anything) of substance in common with us. They proselytise amongst us; that proves that they have no respect for us as “Church” or as individual human beings. Indeed, they’re nothing but Radical Individualist Sectarian “Evangelicals” of the worst sort.

The above meeting took place under the auspices of the so-called Ethics and Public Policy Center, a well-known Radical Right think-tank founded by the rather-questionable Ernest Lefever (even his brother called him a racist… Slobberin’ Ronnie tried to put him in the State Department, but the Senate Foreign Relations Committee overwhelmingly said non licet (13-4), thank God). Such well-known unhinged rightwingers as George Weigel and Paul Ryan actively work for this organisation… that means that we affiliated Christ with it by our dalliance with such theomachistic money-grubbing creepozoids. Truly, Hatfield and Paffhausen must apologise publicly for dragging Christ’s Church through the mud and muck through such their unconsidered actions of speaking at this venue and at the equally-godless American Enterprise Institute.

These think-tanks oppose single-payer healthcare, they oppose state social welfare schemes, they are in favour of laissez-faire landshark Neoliberalism, they are in favour of Wafflin’ Willy-style crony vulture capitalism, and they droolingly support neocon warmongering (and the concomitant “collateral damage” that it causes) throughout the world. That is, they oppose HH’s ideas on social justice and world peace utterly and completely. In particular, they disagree with HH’s ideas on a Church/state social welfare effort to minimise abortion, his demand that the USA should end the economic blockade of Cuba, his insistence that there be a REAL Palestinian state, and that the USA close its Guantánamo Gulag. Therefore, no decent believing Orthodox Christian should have anything to do with such anti-Christian scummers.

Oh, yes… HH is friends with G A Zyuganov, Fidel Castro Ruz, and A S Zaldostanov (“the Surgeon”) of the Night Wolves MC… NOT GWB, NOT King Rush, NOT Wafflin’ Willy… NOT Queen Ann… NOT Richard Cheney. Birds of a feather DO flock together. If Paffhausen et al associate with the latter set named above, and HH doesn’t, what does that tell you about JP (nothing good, to be sure)? What does that tell you about HH (MUCH good). Remember this… Fathausen has the successful salesman’s knack of perceiving what his audience wants to hear, then, he gives it to them, but in a subtly-twisted form. He has NO fixed beliefs… NO central core of character. Note this well… NONE of the OCA scummers has been removed or even censured… Bobby K is still there… as is Lyonyo, Jillions, Behr, Hatfield, and Peterson. Also mark down that JP continues to protect and push forward his pals Brum and Eliel (and indeed, pressured SVS to give Eliel false academic honours). Bear in mind that Fathausen refuses to repudiate his ties with Gleb Podmoshensky (GP) publicly (and to repudiate and condemn the HOOMie cultists), nor does he publicly denounce and renounce David Brum, Gerasim Eliel, Rod Dreher, and Freddie M-G, all of whom had intimate and fawning relationships with GP. In short, it’s the same ol’ shit, packaged in a shiny new box with a pretty bow.

Do you smell what I smell?

BMD

29 May 2012. The Buzz Sez that the ROCOR Website’s Preparing “Pravda” on Fathausen’s Hegira to Mayfield

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I received the following from a trusted source:

I learned that the ROCOR site is preparing a major video/gallery/article on Mayfield, but that it probably won’t be ready until later this week, maybe Thursday.

THURSDAY? Either they’re lazy layabout bastards or they’re all putting their heads together to “airbrush” the event. What makes one think that it’s a sad combination of both? I’d have something up that very evening of the event, as would Vlad Legoida. Trust me… that’s what decent people and professional journalists do. It certainly lowers my opinion of Peter Perekrestov (which wasn’t overly high, to begin with). Modern technology allows us to have almost real-time reporting of most events. Anything else smells of manipulation and of Goebbels-style Sportspalast propaganda. This is disgusting…

BMD