Comments Posted By Mark from the DOS
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How Did We Get Here? Part I: Syosset and the Dearth of Vision
What is healthy about 5 orphaned dioceses?
What is healthy about the conclusion after years without a shepherd that there are no qualified candidates for bishop of the Diocese of the South?
What is healthy about retiring bishops under the age of 70 and putting them on a shelf?
What is healthy about shrinking attendance, shrinking donations and shrinking relevance?
What is healthy about concentrating moneys and management at the centralized location rather than the diocese level?
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On April 22, 2013 @ 4:15 pm
Does this mean you aren’t going to reveal the secret true agenda? What a surprise.
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On March 5, 2013 @ 12:18 am
I think the greatest risk of liability would be not from the current woman alleging the conduct, but the liability that would be faced if there were later misconduct of a more egregious nature. In that instance, the returning of a bishop to active service with known issues, could certainly be seen as conscious disregard/gross negligence sufficient to trigger liability for punitive damages. I don’t think that’s hyperbole in the least, especially given the awareness of clergy abuse in the public eye. It is however, premised on future bad conduct.
I would agree that the present instance, with no prior record of abuse, would not appear to evoke huge fears of large actual damages, much less liability for punitives.
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On March 5, 2013 @ 12:11 am
Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss
Good lord. Save us the condescending “you Southerners need civilizing” nonsense. That’s so “Orthodox” of you.
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On February 27, 2013 @ 10:24 pm
I agree with Carl 100%. I don’t see it. Just doesn’t sound like a HIPAA issue at all. Employers can get health information in all kinds of ways. That doesn’t make them a covered entity.
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On February 26, 2013 @ 12:12 am
Generally employers are not covered by HIPAA. If they operate a self-funded, self-adjudicated health plan, maybe. But generally not.
Don’t get me started on Fr. George’s misstatements about appeals and double jeopardy. If a defendant is acquitted by the finder of fact at trial (analogy to the priest’s situation) the prosecution does not get to appeal and retry him. I think Fr. George claims to be a lawyer of some sort, but if so, he either doesn’t practice or is trying to cow people with his credentials, facts and law be damned.
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On February 23, 2013 @ 12:45 am
+Jonah’s Release Requested More Than a Month Ago
I note Fr. Jillions Feb. 8 diary entry opens with: “For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy.” Would that he shares that sentiment with the Holy Synod.
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On February 10, 2013 @ 11:25 pm
Carl you are not so dense as to seriously suggest that the Soviet Union was not able to exercise influence over those countries in its sphere of influence. You call yourself a Cold Warrior, yet you are going to trot out here and claim that in no way could those churches have felt the reach of Moscow. Give me a break.
Reality for the ROC under Soviet rule was acquiesence for survival’s sake. Surely you remember the joys and sorrows of the Soviet are the joys and sorrows of the church! Surely you remember the patriarchate abandoning the martyrs in prison and conceding their imprisonment was just punishment for “counterrevolutionary” conduct. You old cold warrior Carl, how could you leave this out?
I am sure you are right. It is mere coincidence that the only churches that recognize the autocephaly of the OCA are churches in nations that were under Soviet subjugation. Since, of course, we can’t establish an apostolic tree to show they were canonically bound to follow MP directives, it must not have happened. How silly of me to mention what is surely just a big ole coincidence.
I know my family in the Czech Republic never felt any obligation to do as Moscow indicated would be wise. Prague Spring be damned, the CSSR was its own nation with a constitution to prove it! Just coincidence here folks; nothing to see; move along now.
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On January 25, 2013 @ 6:23 pm
How exactly is it schismatic to start a mission with another jurisdiction? Until the canonical anomalies in the US are resolved, it cannot be schismatic, unless you are affiliating your mission with the Autonomous Ukrainian Anglican Catholic Autocephalous Orthodox church or one of those such “jurisdictions.”
It may be schismatic in a dictionary definition kind of way, but not as we would commonly use the word. But I guess name calling feels good.
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On January 25, 2013 @ 6:01 pm
What do you notice about those that recognize it Carl?
All were either under Soviet domination or as in the case of Gergia, part of the USSR.
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On January 24, 2013 @ 4:05 pm
Except that outside the MP daughter churches, the OCA is not viewed as autocephalous. It wouldn’t be viewed as meddling at all. It would be viewed as the parent exercising appropriate supervision over the child. Not an eyebrow would be raised from the EP side because their position is that the OCA is just a component of the MP anyway. For the MP daughters the action would clearly indicate that the OCA’s autocephaly is a dead letter.
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On January 24, 2013 @ 10:42 am
How Far is St Nick’s from the National Cathedral?
Maybe his parish has a lot of e-mails it needs leaked and published online.
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On January 11, 2013 @ 12:20 pm
Laurie Paffhausen, May Her Memory Be Eternal
AAC Observer wrote:
I was absolutely befuddled by a chancellor of the OCA pointing to an interview of Mark Stokoe as proof that everything is well. Things just get weirder and weirder. It leaves me speechless.
It’s called rubbing salt in the wound.
Healing and repairing broken bonds is not on the agenda. Only triumphalism and victory dances (see any comment by Carl Kraeff).
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On November 21, 2012 @ 4:23 pm
It’s called rubbing salt in the wound.
Healing and repairing broken bonds is not on the agenda. Only triumphalism and victory dances (see any comment by Carl Kraeff).
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On November 21, 2012 @ 4:22 pm
Extra! Syosset Reports of Deal Struck with Met. Jonah Not True
Bless Vladyka!
You reference something called a spiritual court. What should you make of the fact that since the removal and deposition of Fr. Bob, we have seen suspension after suspension, removals etc. and nary a word about a spiritual court in any of those instances. By what procedure are bishops and clergy “administratively” removed without recourse to a spiritual court to judge the basis for their removal?
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On December 17, 2012 @ 6:40 pm
Is this real? A deacon just called a bishop an old fool twice . . . oh our leadership!
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On December 15, 2012 @ 2:03 pm
The Letter that Will Never Be Written
Beloved Brothers and Sister of the Orthodox Church in America:
Christ is in our midst!
It is with great awareness of my own unworthiness, that I have accepted election as Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church in America. I ask for your prayers, that God’s will be done and that the OCA, this vine planted by His right hand, be sustained, nurtured and by God’s grace permitted to grow.
As I begin my service as Metropolitan, I am acutely aware of the pain, discord and anger amongst many of our members, resulting from the circumstances leading to my election. I feel it more than you can imagine, and I accept it as my burden to bear. For us to move forward together, we must renew and recover a sense of trust in the leadership of the Holy Synod. We, as heirarchs, understand that we cannot lead when those we ask to follow must first be convinced of our sincerity, honesty or motives. The broken bond of trust is our failing; it is my failing.
As Metropolitan, I beg your forgiveness for my part in allowing this bond to be broken. I have sinned, and I have been unworthy of my calling as a Bishop in the Holy Orthodox Church. I cannot change the past, but I can change my future. I ask forgiveness for the pain caused to the faithful by the letter of July 16, 2012. Many parts of that letter were in error. Fr. Symeon was never received as an OCA priest. Metropolitan Jonah never knowingly shielded a rapist from prosecution or from church discipline. Indeed, records of the OCA show that Met. Jonah recused himself from the investigation because of his role in inviting the nuns and Fr. Symeon to the U.S. Upon recusal, oversight of any investigation fell on the Synod, and any failings are ours. I repent and beg your forgiveness for permitting that letter to be published without thorough vetting and verification. I am most grieved by the fact that the action of publishing that letter resulted in the media painting unsavory and untrue pictures of Metropolitan Jonah. I beg forgiveness for not immediately correcting those misperceptions. I ask this of you, though I am unworthy to receive forgiveness. I will privately prostrate myself and beg forgiveness from Metropolitan Jonah personally.
Though I cannot undo what happened in the past, I can assure all who have been grieved by Metropolitan Jonah’s plight, that he will either be returned to active ministry for the OCA or released to another jurisdiction in the next 60 days. The details may take time, but I assure you that one of these outcomes will be achieved.
Finally, I ask, again, for your prayers. I will not ask you to trust me. I will only ask that you give me, and the Holy Synod, the opportunity to earn your trust.
An unworthy sinner,
+Tikhon
Metropolitan of All-America and Canada» Posted By Mark from the DOS On November 21, 2012 @ 4:13 pm
I’d say anyone aspiring to become a Bishop, ought not become a Bishop.
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On November 17, 2012 @ 11:45 am
Silence in the face of injustice is no virtue. +Jonah’s silence has been true obedience, love and respect for the HS. But you still want that pound of flesh, eh?
If the HS were, after five months of inaction, to release +Jonah or provide for his future service within the OCA, then I think there would be little said by any of his supporters other than “Thanks be to God.”
It is the continued inaction of the Synod that is to blame., not +Jonah’s failure to speak when he has been told not to.
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On November 16, 2012 @ 10:50 am
I think this as succinct and accurate a statement on the closing of this whole debacle as can be made. Four protesters, 17 votes, and the election of one of the Bishops behind the resignation of +Jonah says all that needs to be said. It would be nice to see a kind resolution to Met. Jonah’s status and a clarification of the statements made in the July 16th letter, but having achieved victory, I would expect the HS to choose a post Civil War type Reconstruction approach over a post WWII Marshall Plan approach. Time will tell, but it will tell without me.
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On November 14, 2012 @ 10:28 am
Dead on with my prediction that an announcement would come at or right before the AAC to quiet/cow supporters and those on the fence about this. If it turns out to all be a lie, oh well, AAC is over in a day. Mission accomplished.
I noted the Vespers Homily was delivered by Fr. Garklavs and the DL homily by Fr. Hopko. It’s pretty obvious what the agenda is and that the HS still doesn’t “get it”
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On November 13, 2012 @ 12:18 pm
Welcome Comrades to the Un-American Council
This is as clear a signal as can be imagined. Note also the hope that “full fledged relations” with other Local Orthodox Churches” be restored. Moscow is not blind to what has gone on and its effect on the legitimacy of the OCA.
It is time for the HS to give Met. Jonah his release and let him get on with his “further life”
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On November 16, 2012 @ 10:46 am
Midwest Clergy Wives to Synod: Keep Matthias Out
I always enjoy when people cite Occam’s Razor on this site. In citing it, they oversimplify its meaning and overstate its application.
You do realize Occam’s Razor is frequently cited by atheists in support of the non-existence of God, right? Maybe we Orthodox Christians should be a little more circumspect in pulling this tool out of our toolbox just to “win” an internet argument.
(And I say this without reference to the argument at hand. As far as I am concerned, Matthias should resign and repair to a monastery.)
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On November 12, 2012 @ 11:09 am
Respected, and needed, I would add.
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On November 16, 2012 @ 3:18 pm
Bless Vladyka -
Yes I am familiar with the decision of the chancery to use an “insider” as outside counsel. That he is on retainer, as opposed to an employee of the OCA is why I referred to him as outside counsel. Many similarly sized non-profits as the OCA could and do procure full time in house legal counsel for less than the retainer the OCA pays. The legal issues involving the OCA aren’t exactly rocket science, and when complex legal issues arise, I am certain there are many highly qualified and successful attorneys among the flock who would donate a little pro bono to help out.
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On November 11, 2012 @ 12:53 am
I would think that is the HS’s expectation. I would certainly rejoice at the prospect of Met. Jonah being able to continue using his considerable gifts in a hopefully far more hospitable environment. As for me, I doubt I would ever set foot in an OCA parish again, barring the good cleansing that is needed.
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On November 11, 2012 @ 12:47 am
My guess – a small cash settlement and a canonical release to ROCOR wrapped up before Parma in hopes of quieting the mobs. Maybe some required statement from +Jonah aimed at giving the HS some cover from their mess.
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On November 10, 2012 @ 12:43 am
I find that almost as shocking as the idea that a 30,000 member church keeps an outside lawyer on a $120,000 a year retainer . . . separate and apart from money it spends defending lawsuits! That figure in itself is astounding.
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On November 10, 2012 @ 12:39 am
The phrase “Physician, heal thyself” comes to mind.
» Posted By Mark from the DOS On November 10, 2012 @ 12:28 am
Guest Editorial: Dysfunction in the OCA
«« Back To Stats PageFr. Justin -
May you be abundanly blessed and protected for having the courage to speak when others remain silent out of fear of reprisal. May the Lord grant us all true repentance, indeed. And when the truth shall out, let those who hid it, through action or inaction, stand to account.
Praying for you and your family,
Mark» Posted By Mark from the DOS On November 2, 2012 @ 6:26 pm
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