Looking East?
CRISIS Magazine e-Letter
June 22, 2005
**********************************************
Dear Friend,
The photos were splashed across the tabloids... a 91-year-old
bishop, caught in the act with a young woman. The latest scandal in
the Catholic Church? No. He was actually a metropolitan bishop of the
Greek Orthodox Church.
One of the many consequences of the awful sex-abuse crisis in the
Catholic Church is that some have been looking to the Orthodox
Churches as potential ports in the storm. After all, the Eastern
Orthodox have apostolic succession, valid sacraments, breathtaking
liturgies, and are nearly identical doctrinally to the Catholic
Church. Furthermore, their thoroughgoing conservatism has protected
them from some of the foolishness that emerged in the Roman Church
the past 30 years.
But alas, the Orthodox Churches have their own share of scandals...
some of which are every bit as awful as those that have struck our
own Church.
Take, for example, the aforementioned Greek Orthodox Church. On
Saturday, the Scotsman (a newspaper from -- you guessed it --
Scotland) reported that things are not going well in the Greek
Church. Greek Orthodox priests have been videotaped parading around
in g-strings, and the press is reporting that homosexuality is
rampant in the upper echelons of their clergy.
One prominent example was revealed when recordings of sexually
explicit phone calls between Metropolitan Panteleimon of Attica and
several young men surfaced. But that wasn't Panteleimon's only
problem... it also now appears that he's embezzled millions of
dollars in Church funds.
Even the head of the Greek Orthodox Church is in trouble. The
Scotsman reported that he's being accused of having bribed a
notorious drug dealer to help elect his preferred candidate for the
patriarchate of Jerusalem back in 2001.
And the mischief doesn't end there. That same patriarch of
Jerusalem, Eirinaios I, was recently deposed and defrocked after his
own scandal came to light. It seems that he'd been quietly leasing
Church property in Arab areas to Israeli investors. This didn't go
over well with the 120,000 Greek Orthodox Palestinians in the area.
While a replacement for Eirinaios was named, the deposed patriarch
didn't take his ouster very well and barricaded himself on Church
property.
But the Greek Church isn't the only Orthodox body with a recent
scandal.
Father Daniel Petru Corogeanu, superior of Holy Trinity Romanian
Orthodox monastery in northern Romania was indicted for the torture
and crucifixion of one of his nuns. (Four other nuns were also
charged.) He remains unrepentant, claiming the crucifixion was
necessary because the young woman was possessed.
The real scandal here isn't actually the horrific murder of the
23-year-old nun; after all, the priest is clearly nuts and the Church
can hardly be blamed for the actions of a small group of unstable
religious. The real outrage is that, according to USA Today, when
contacted for comment, a spokesman for the Romanian Orthodox
Patriarchate of Bucharest refused to condemn the atrocity. "I don't
know what this young woman did," he said.
Is there anything -- anything at all -- that would justify starving,
gagging, and crucifying a nun? It boggles the mind.
Look, it's not my intention to beat up on the Orthodox Churches. I
have great respect for them and, along with all Catholics, recognize
them as authentically apostolic.
However, following the Catholic Church's own scandals here in the
U.S., there was a small but noticeable contingent of Catholics who
began to toy with the idea of jumping to the Orthodox... after all,
they said, the Eastern Orthodox would never have stood for such
things.
Well, the reality is quite different from the travel-brochure
fantasies of some disgruntled Catholics. Scandal is everywhere, in
every group of people. Such are the consequences of Adam's fall, and
we do no service to the truth by ignoring it.
Before I sign off, I need to break one of my own rules. As you could
imagine, I'm often contacted by various apostolates and causes that
ask me to promote them in this letter. I've avoided doing so, since I
don't want you to have to wade through appeal after appeal from
various organizations -- no matter how noble they may be.
But I'm going to make an exception here, and I think you'll
understand why. First, a little background...
On May 7, a 26-year-old wife and mother named Susan Torres collapsed
at home. Her husband, Jason, rushed her to the emergency room only to
learn that she has stage four melanoma and is brain-dead with no hope
for recovery.
Adding to that crushing news, Susan was 17 weeks pregnant. Jason
knew that his wife would want desperately for the baby to live and be
delivered, and so he instructed the doctors to keep her on life
support until the child had a fighting chance.
Over a month has passed and the baby is doing well. Unfortunately,
though, the hospital bills are adding up. Since insurance only covers
a portion of the expense, the family is absorbing $1,500 a day in
medical costs. They have little money and need our help.
This is the time for Catholics to stand behind a man who has lost
his beloved wife; he must not lose his child as well. If the baby is
successfully delivered, it will be a victory in the midst of a
heartbreaking situation.
The family has a Website where you can donate money, receive regular
updates, and look through a few family photos. I know you have bills
to pay and all the other costs of everyday life. But if you can,
please help them.
Here's the website:
http://www.susantorresfund.org/
Thank you in advance for your generosity. And please keep the entire
Torres family in your prayers.
I'll talk to you next week,
Brian
P.S. An important note: The Eastern Orthodox Churches are separate
and distinct from the Eastern Catholic Churches. For more on the
Catholic Churches of the East, keep your eyes out for the July/August
issue of Crisis. It should be arriving in mailboxes early next week.
**************************************************************
To subscribe to the FREE CRISIS Magazine e-Letter, and get the
latest
news, views, and responses to current issues, send an e-mail to
e-letter@crisismagazine.com and
write "SUBSCRIBE" in the subject
line.
**************************************************************
To learn more about CRISIS Magazine, visit
http://www.crisismagazine.com/subscribe.htm
**************************************************************
If you no longer wish to receive the CRISIS e-Letter, please send an
e-mail to mail@crisismagazine.com
and write "CANCEL" in the subject
line.
**************************************************************
To change your e-mail address, please send an e-mail to
mail@crisismagazine.com with
"ADDRESS CHANGE" in the subject line.
Please make sure to tell us your old and new e-mail addresses, so we
can
make the change.
**************************************************************
Please forward this letter to anyone you think might benefit from
it.