Priest Arrested for Solicitation

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Yesterday, a story broke of a young Roman Catholic priest arrested for solicitation of sex in New Hampshire. I know this priest and was in the seminary with him. I make no excuses for his actions nor should anyone. My issue is with how it is being reported. And before you blame the so called “liberal” media read on.

I am choosing the Boston Herald, not know as a liberal paper, as the example of how this is being spun. The headline reads, “Priest’s hooker arrest rocks Chelmsford parish.” Okay I am sure this true but what a sensational headline. What the story will not tell you is he was arrested with 7 others who responded to an ad on Craigs List. Why is it that the other 6 get a free pass but this one person gets the headlines? Why is it that the other six will all be arraigned together but this one will be arraigned separately?

Now again not defending his actions, because he went there looking for sex, but according to reports in various press outlets, he responded to the ad to come to a motel in New Hampshire. The ad was placed by the police. He did not exchange money with anyone, nor have sex with anyone. He was arrested for basically just showing up.

This story has already renewed the call to make celibacy in the Roman Church optional. Okay we in the Orthodox Church have optional celibacy and I can tell you we have many, many dysfunctional clergy families. I can also tell you that if I was married I would not be able to be here as priest because this parish could not afford a married priest, so they would not have a priest if a celibate priest was not available to them. This really has nothing to do with clerical celibacy and more to do with formation and on going spiritual direction. It also has to do with decisions and the ramifications of those decisions. This priest made a bad decision and he will have to pay the price for that. Maybe even spend a little time in jail. I also think it makes him a little more human. We are all sinners and have fallen short of the grace of God and priests are no different.

Please pray for this priest. Pray for all of the priests out there. Are there some bad apples yes there are. But thanks be to God there are more good apples than bad ones. Every time this happens the priesthood, and let me say I feel it as well and I am not a Roman Priest, take a little hit. Each time I go outside in my “priest clothes” I wonder if people are looking at me and wondering if I am on my way to molest someone. Right or wrong this is how I feel and I know many priests who feel the same way.

The Church is under attack by the forces of darkness. Darkness cannot stand the light and tries to extinguish the light. That is what is happening here. We need to stand up to the darkness by being the light and let our light shine bright. The light will beat the darkness every time.

The Church

Posted on by Fr. Peter
The last few weeks have seen another flare up in the abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church. Part of this has been calls for reform in the Church. As I have said on a number of occasions, the Church does not change very easily nor should it. The Church does not change because of public opinion polls.

The Church and when I use Church I mean Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches, have a hierarchy and a system for change. In both cases they require a synod of bishops. In the case of the Orthodox Church it requires an Ecumenical Council, that is a gathering of all the words bishops. The Church can change procedure and it has from time to time, but things like clergy celibacy and ordination of women are not procedures but doctrine and these are harder to change.

The staying power of the Church is that is does not change. We Orthodox will say that our theology has been the same for 2,000 years and this is true. How we speak about theology has changed over the years, and things that need to be clarified have been. But I as a priest, or a single bishop, do not have the power, if you will, to make whole sale changes in theology. I would also submit that in the Orthodox Church those mentioned already do not have the power to change the churches liturgy. I do not believe you would ever see a gathering of bishops for example, meet and say we are no longer going to use the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom we are going to use the Liturgy of Bishop Snuffy. That will not happen. I would also submit that they do not have the power to change the Liturgy. What I mean by that is they do not have the right to remove portions of the Liturgy we use.

It has been my experience that Churches who are wishy washy or try to be politically correct run into all sorts of problems. Just look at what is happening to the Episcopal Church here in the United States. I am not saying they are wrong, just that when you let people do whatever they want and believe whatever they want there is a cost associated with that.

The Church is not a democracy. It never has been. Yes there was a time when bishops in the Roman Church were elected, and bishops in the Orthodox Church are elected, at least for the time being, but theology is not subject to opinion polls. The truth is the truth and that is absolute. The truth was the same yesterday as it is today. The truth can never change. The way we speak about the truth can change, but the truth cannot.

Obedience and the Priest

Posted on by Fr. Peter
This past Sunday I preached about faith, and where your faith lies. Dies it lie with the Institutional Church or with Jesus Christ? This is the question each of us needs to ask ourselves.

The past few weeks have seen another flare up in the Roman Catholic Church clergy abuse situation. Who knew what and who did what and what not. Once again we see the media thrashing the church, but as I told my congregation on Sunday, the media is not about telling the truth the media is about profit. The media is about whatever will sell papers or get you to tune in and watch. That’s their job. Like it or not the days of true journalistic ethics is gone. If it bleeds it leads!

Yesterday the Boston Globe ran a story about Fr. James Scahill priest at St. Michael Roman Catholic Church in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts. During his Sunday homily Fr. James called for the resignation of Pope Benedict. I am not going way into the fray here on weather he should or should not resign. I will say they need a better media strategy but that is for another day. The interesting this about the story yesterday, and the follow up story today, is people are mad at Fr. James for telling the truth. This is where the title of this post comes in.

In the comments section on Facebook where I posted this story, someone brought up the question of priestly obedience and the vows they make at their ordination. At the ordination of a priest in the Roman Church, they place their hand in the hands of the bishop, look into their eye and promise obedience to that bishops and their successors. We Orthodox do not make such a vow, if face we make no vows at our ordination. I always say they are implied. Sort of the fine print in the contract.

But what does this obedience mean?

When I was in the seminary, at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts. That’s the Roman Catholic Seminary of the Archdiocese of Boston, I was there when the scandal broke wide open in Boston. At first it looked like it was a few cases but as time went on the true horror of the entire thing came out. Not to diminish the effects of sexual abuse, but to me the large scandal was the cover up. Moving priests from place to place. The stone walling of local authorities trying to investigate crimes that had been committed and using legal tactics that could only have been learned at the Bill Clinton School of Law. “It depends on what your definition of ‘is’ is.

As time went on, a group of 50 priests signed a letter calling for the resignation of then Archbishop Law of Boston. Almost immediately, the church machine went into action and started to leak stories about each priest that signed the letter and one by one they started to lose position in the church. There are many stories of priests who spoke out, or tried to speak out, before, during, and after all of this and how they were thrown on the pile. It is amazing how fast a priest who speaks out is dispatched but one who rapes is not. Makes one think.

So what about obedience?

My personal feeling is that this vow of obedience is not blind obedience. What if the bishop went off the reservation so to speak and started preaching and teaching things against the faith? Would a priest have to be obedient and follow his instructions? Where does ones obedience to man end and your obedience to the church or better yet your obedience to Jesus Christ begin?

I have said this before. Our job as preachers and teachers is to speak the truth and speak for those who have no voice. This will not make up popular, but then again we are not supposed to be popular. Being a Christian is not easy, and leading a Christian community is not easy either.

There is an old saying in the Orthodox world that goes something like this. You take man, dress his up like a Byzantine Emperor, place him in the center of the Church, and sing that he lives for ever, no wonder it goes to their heads. This saying has to do with Bishops.

We need more brave priests and lay people who will speak out when they see things that are wrong. However, one also has to understand that the Church does not run by polls and doctrine is not changed because of the latest fad. The message of the church is eternal and should never change. The way we speak about it needs to change, but the message should remain the same. The church does not need to change because society demands it, no the church needs to change society. Those churches that have watered down their theology, and never speak about sin, the Devil, or hell, are going the way of to Doto bird. We need to speak the truth in a loud and clear voice.

My advice to Rome, of they are willing to hear it. Open wide the doors and clean house. If there is a priest, bishop, Pope or whatever that has molested, covered it up, or anything else they need to be gone. Not tomorrow but today! They need to be turned over to the local authorities and all of their records need to be given to the authorities as well. This needs to be done now!

It is not blind obedience, and if it is blind obedience then that obedience needs to be only to the teachings of Jesus Christ and not another man or to an institutional church.

BREAKING NEWS ~ Polish Orthodox Bishop Killed in Plane Crash

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Word has just reached us that the Orthodox Bishop for the Polish Military Vicariate was on board the plane that went down in Russia this morning. The President of Poland was on board as well and there were no survivors.

Archbishop Miron Chodakowski was 51 years old and the Bishop for Poland’s military. More information as it becomes available

Memory Eternal

Bullied to Death

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Last Thursday on the Dr. Phil Show, Dr. Phil McGraw focused on school bullying and how we can deal with it. We were all shocked by the recent suicide of Phoebe Prince from South Hadley, Massachusetts. The Great and General Court of Massachusetts has reacted by passing the anti bullying act that puts strict requirements on Parents, Teachers, and Administrators and levies some pretty hefty sentences on all of the above, including the bullier if they get caught.

Now let me say that some level of bullying is part of growing up. Kids will be kids, but it can get out of hand. One of the discussion points during the show was how to deal with the bully. You need to stand up to the bully yes, but they also should be reported.

Sometimes I think we legislate responsibility away from the place where it needs to be. First bully have parents, and those parents needs to teach that bullying is wrong, and I also believe that if your kid bullies someone, and in the case of Phoebe, bullies them to death, then not only should the kid be sent away to make small rocks from big one, but you should as well. Parents, you have a responsibility to raise your children to be productive members of society and they need to learn that their actions have consequences.

We all like to laugh at people and adults can be just as bad, and now we have seen the consequences of such actions. Kids have a difficult enough time just being kids and all of the pressure we put on them and they put on themselves. Several years ago two kids shot up their high school because their were picked on, and the stories are legion. My point is we cannot legislate good parenting.

I have heard stories of little league teams where no one looses because it is bad for the kids to loose. Well you know what, people loose and they loose everyday. It is how we deal with that loss that makes us who we are. Success is standing on the top of a pile of failures. We need to teach our kids right and wrong and that there are consequences for their actions. Parents you need to be parents and not friends, they have enough friends they need parents.

Dr. Phil has put some resources on his site and I recommend them to you. Watch your kids, talk to them, be involved in their life. They might hate you now but they will love you for it latter.

Dr. Phil Resources:

Warning Signs of Bullying
Dealing with Bullies
Sample Anti-Bullying Letter
Helping Teens Survive High School Cattiness
Dos and Don’ts for Dealing with Suicide
Suicide Warning Signs
Suicide Myths
Suicide: Warning Signs and What to Do
Teens under Pressure
The Dark Side of Teens
Easy Methods to Alleviate Stress
Dealing with Anger and Guilt after a Suicide
Experiencing Grief after Loss

Put No Trust In Princes

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Many of you know that I began my seminary studies at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts. St. John’s is the seminary of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. I started in August of 2001. Not long after I started the events of September 11th happened and then in January of 2002 the clergy abuse scandal broke in the news. Now all these years latter it is in full swing again.

One of the things that amazes me about the entire situation is the number of people who left the church because of the abuse. The title of this post is Put No Trust in Princes. If your faith lies in the Institutional Church you will be let down at every turn. Why do I say that, because human beings are in charge of it and we are flawed. Your faith belongs in one man and one man only and that is Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I have often said that the wheels came off the wagon for the church the day after the Ascension. It was the first full day that humans were in charge of the church and if you read Acts you will see that the arguments began almost right away. The Hellenists complained that their widows were not getting attention. The Gentiles complained that they should not have to follow the laws of the Jews and so on. I will say again, if your faith is in the Institutional Church then you will be let down.

Orthodox and Catholic Theology states that the priest stands In Person Christi, in the person of Christ. Not that the priest is another Christ, but the priest stands in for Christ. The Sacraments of the church do not rely on the Holiness of the Priest, thanks be to God for that! We pray to God that my insignificance and sins should not be held against anyone. The Holy Spirit is the one who “performs” if you will the Sacrament, I am just the vessel that is used by the Holy Spirit. I can be the most horrible wretch on the face of the earth, yet the Sacraments are valid and Grace filled because they do not rely on me but on the Holy Spirit.

If you belong to a church because of a person or a program, then you belong for the wrong reason. You should find a church whose theology you agree with regardless of the priest, minister, rabbi, Imam, or what have you. We do need community as this is where we live out our spirituality but I say again you should not belong to a church simply because you like the guy who stands in front.

The Institutional Church is as flawed, if not more so, than any other corporation in the world. The Devil is after the church, and make no mistake about it, sin comes from the Devil! Yes the Devil is real and sin is real! The Devil wants nothing more than to bring the church down. Each time a person leaves the church, and does not return, the Devil rejoices.

I am not saying that people should not be held accountable for their actions, no I am saying the opposite. Clergy, Priests, Bishops, Popes, etc are held to a higher standard. We are the moral leaders of the community and we should be held to a higher standard. To my clergy brothers and sisters who read this, if you do not want to be held to that standard it is time to find another line of work. It is hard being in the spotlight, but we chose this and we knew this coming in. Yes when the church fails it hurts, the cover up, the lies, the tom foolery that goes on needs to stop.

I submit that anyone who abused, covered up abuse, or in anyway tried to hide things from proper authority should be removed from their position in the Church. The Church needs to come clean and open the records of all and for all to see. The best disinfectant is sun light. The Church, and by that I mean all Churches because believe it or not, all of our churches are guilty of this, needs to come clean and repent of her sins.

If you are considering leaving your church because of something that someone has done, I would ask you to reconsider and to stay because of something that someone has done. Jesus Christ died for your sins and mine. For the Popes sins, for the bishops sins, and for the priests sins. Jesus is the reason one attends church not a man or a woman who stands in front and leads the church. You will be disappointed in the flawed nature of that person. Listen we all make mistakes, and clergy are no different.

Put no trust in Princes. Put your trust in Our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ. He is the only one that will not let you down!

Holy Week and Easter, a Reflection

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Well it is now Thursday of Bright Week and I am able to reflect back on the past week in the Church.

Holy Week here is full of all sorts of activities that start off easy and get more difficult as time goes on. We begin on Palm Sunday with the regular Divine Liturgy with the addition of the blessing of the Palms. Then the Bridegroom Matins Services begin. Sunday night, Monday night, and Tuesday night see the same service. It is dark in the church and peaceful as we prepare ourselves for Christ to come. I really like this service as it sets the tone in a great way for the coming week.

After each service is a time for confession and this year I think I heard almost every confession in the church. It seems that every other year or so more people come to confession. Those of you who are in Churches that do not have Sacramental Confession have no idea what you are missing. None of us like to go to confession because we do not like to admit we make mistakes but to a person, everyone felt better afterwards. It is also a grace filled moment for me to stand there with them as they confess and offer some words of encouragement. I never know what I am going to say but the Holy Spirit has not let me down yet.

Wednesday is the Unction Service. This is a great gift to the Church. I love this service and I am committed to serving this more than one time each year. We bless the oil with seven prayers and then each person comes forward for the anointing for healing of body, mind, and soul. I think we feel that this is what you get when you are dying, how sad that is, it can be used for any illness or before surgery. People will take some of the oil home to use on loved ones. I think it is the most beautiful of services during the whole of Holy Week.

The Liturgies of Thursday and Friday are filled with images of trial and Crucifixion. We are reminded again and again what Jesus did for each one of us and how much he loves us. On Thursday night we sing what are called the Lamentations. This is a series of lines of lamentation that are sung at the funeral of Jesus. The priest stands in front of the Tomb and the entire congregation sings this. Well that is what is supposed to happen. We decided this year to re print the books we use, and the musical genius that I am, when I typed the phrases out they were a tad off. So far off that it was impossible to sing! Man it was bad! So we recited the lamentations and we quickly moved on to the next thing. Man it was painful. It will be corrected for next year, trust me!

Saturday is a slow day as we prepare for the evening service. Last year we moved this service from 11:30pm to 9:00pm and it has worked out great. I am glad we made this move. The service is one of darkness and light and is rich with the images of the risen Christ as we gather outside the church and read the Resurrection Gospel and sing CHRIST IS RISEN! for the first time. All the lights in the church are lit and the service moves one. After we have a meal together in the parish hall and continue the celebration of the Risen Christ.

Sunday morning comes and we serve Agape Vespers. It is odd to have a Vespers service at 11:00am but that is Holy Week and Easter. Times does not matter. The highlight of this service is reading the Gospel in as many languages as possible. This year we had, English, Spanish, Romanian, Latin, and French. I have to say we were blessed. I was sad that we did not have anyone to read the Romanian, and it would have been the first time in the history of this church that the Gospel was not read in Romanian, but God is good and sent a wonderful young man named Nick to read the Gospel in Romanian.

So that was it. The week was a blessing as we saw people reconciled to the church and to each other and we had some Spirit filled Liturgies. Attendance was okay and I was happy for that. The Church looked beautiful and we praised God and sang Christ is Risen from the Dead! What more could you want.

Great and Holy Friday

Posted on by Fr. Peter
When Friday dawned, Christ was sent bound from Caiaphas to Pontius Pilate, who was then Governor of Judea. Pilate interrogated Him in many ways, and once and again acknowledged that He was innocent, but to please the Jews, he later passed the sentence of death against Him. After scourging the Lord of all as though He were a runaway slave, he surrendered Him to be crucified.

Thus the Lord Jesus was handed over to the soldiers, was stripped of His garments, was clothed in a purple robe, was crowned with a wreath of thorns, had a reed placed in His hand as though it were a sceptre, was bowed before in mockery, was spat upon, and was buffeted in the face and on the head. Then they again clothed Him in His own garments, and bearing the cross, He came to Golgotha, a place of condemnation, and there, about the third hour, He was crucified between two thieves. Although both blasphemed Him at the first, the thief at His right hand repented, and said: “Remember me, O Lord, when Thou comest in Thy Kingdom,” to which our Saviour answered, “Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.” As He hung upon the Cross, He was blasphemed by those who were passing by, was mocked by the high priests, and by the soldiers was given vinegar to drink mixed with gall. About the ninth hour, He cried out with a loud voice, saying, “It is finished.” And the Lamb of God “Which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) expired on the day when the moon was full, and at the hour when, according to the Law, was slain the Passover lamb, which was established as a type of Him in the time of Moses.
Even lifeless creation mourned the death of the Master, and it trembled and was altered out of fear. Yet, even though the Maker of creation was already dead, they pierced Him in His immaculate side, and forthwith came there out Blood and Water. Finally, at about the setting of the sun, Joseph of Arimathea came with Nicodemus (both of them had been secret disciples of Jesus), and they took down the all-holy Body of the Teacher from the Cross and anointed it with aromatic spices, and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth. When they had buried Him in a new tomb, they rolled a great stone over its entrance.

Such are the dread and saving sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ commemorated today, and in remembrance of them, we have received the Apostolic commandment that a fast be observed every Friday.

The Holy Light of Jerusalem brought to Bucharest on Easter

Posted on by Fr. Peter
30/3/2010
Romanian Orthodox Church

In order to increase the joy of the clergy and faithful at the Holy Easter, on Saturday night, 3 April 2010, a delegation of the Romanian Patriarchate headed by His Grace Bishop Varsanufie Prahoveanul, Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Bucharest will bring the Holy Light from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, by a special plane, with the blessing of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel – informs the Press Office of the Romanian Patriarchate.

His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel will offer the Holy Light to the clergy and faithful present at the Patriarchal Cathedral during the Resurrection service (midnight).

The deaneries of the Archdiocese of Bucharest and of some other Eparchies within the Romanian Patriarchate are invited to send delegates to the Henri Coandă International Airport on 3 April 2010, in the evening, in order to receive the Holy Light from Jerusalem and offer it to the Romanian Orthodox priests and faithful from some other parts of the country.

The event is part of the series of manifestations of 2010 that the Holy Synod declared Homage Year of the Orthodox Creed and of the Romanian Autocephaly.

New Romanian Saints

Posted on by Fr. Peter
As the true horror of Communism is starting to unfold, new Martyrs for the faith are being revealed. No doubt there will be more as time passes. Here are three new saints in the Romanian Orthodox Church.

Father Hilarion the Confessor

He was born on March 21, 1903, in a village in Hunedoara county in Romania. His father was a priest. In 1926 he graduated from the Faculty of Theology of Sibiu. On July 29, 1927 he was ordained priest. On October 30, 1939 he submitted his doctoral thesis, titled Repentance: Theological and Psychological Approach. He had also written the book Towards Tabor, which is, according to Elder Justin Pirvou the best work to date about Romanian Orthodoxy and a perfect interpretation of the Philokalia. Speaking about the exalted spirituality of Father Hilarion, the greatest Romanian Orthodox theologian of the twentieth century, Father Dumitru Staniloae said: “Father Hilarion has surpassed me.” He was professor of the Theological School of Arad from 1938 until 1948. On September 25, 1958 he was imprisoned and sentenced, along with six other priests from Arad, for a 20 year sentence. He was detained in Gerla and then Aiount, where he died on September 18, 1961. He was buried without a cross, in a grave that is unknown, along with other witnesses of the Romanian nation in Aiount.

Abbot Daniel Tudor

He was born on December 22, 1896 in Bucharest. After the First World War he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts. In the year 1929 he traveled to Mount Athos, where he lived for eight months. God saved him often from a violent death. Once, flying his own plane, he was saved from death, saying the noetic prayer. While the airplane was destroyed, he did not suffer anything.

After the Second World War, returning to his house, he learned that his wife had left him. He then decided to become a monk. He sold all his belongings, renewed the Antim Monastery in Bucharest, and became a monk there. From the year 1945, the monastery gathered around it a group of scholars, which was trying to regain, based on the Bible and the Holy Fathers of Orthodox Christianity, true spirituality, having as a center of their efforts the noetic prayer. They were called The Fiery Rug. Later he went to the Sychastria Monastery where Elder Cleopas made him a hermit and later abbot of the Skete Raraou. One day in June 1958, he greeted the brothers and went to Bucharest, having been informed by God that he will re-enter prison, where he will die, confessing Christ. The principal of guilt, as confessed by a court magistrate, was that he wanted to burn Communism with The Fiery Rug.

One day in winter, they put him together with a friend in a storehouse – the White or the Refrigerator – where it was minus 30 degrees. The storehouse had no windows, but a very dirty floor. People who were put in there would die of cold after no more than three days. Father Daniel lay down immediately with his face in the dirt and with open arms, and told the friend: “Sit on me back to back with open arms and say only this, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!'” Immediately as they started to say this, the storehouse was filled by a very brilliant light, and thereafter they did not know what happened next. After eight days (without the two prisoners receiving any water or food, sleep or clothes), the guards came to take their carcasses, but they were alive and fine. When they touched Father Daniel he was hot, and what was around him had melted.

In prison he was one of the few who wore leg chains during his time of incarceration. He died after four years of suffering in Aiount on November 17, 1962. We do not know exactly where his holy body is to be found.

Valeriu Gafencu

Valeriu was born on January 24, 1921 in Vasaravia. In the autumn of 1941 he was imprisoned and sentenced to 25 years of prison. He was then a second year student of the Law and Philosophy School of Iasi. Becoming ill with TB, he was sent in December 1949 to Tirgou-Okna. There, with no medical care, he survived another two years. With many physical wounds, they would continuously discharge pus. Valeriu awaited his death with a serenity which softened the hearts of his guards and tormentors. He was a man of noetic prayer. He was made worthy by God to know the day of his death. He asked to be buried with one cross in his mouth, and another in the right hand so as to be recognized if perchance his bodied was found. He departed to heaven, this “saint of prisons” (as other inmates have called him) on 18 February 1952 and thrown in a common, as of yet unknown, tomb. Read more about him here, here and here.

h/t Mystagogy Blog

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