Religious Freedom? Not a Notre Dame

Mark Stokoe OCA News Reports OCA Truth Deletes

I have taken a day or two breather from the intrigue that is the OCA and wow tons has happened. Apparently Fr. Joseph Fester if not actually shown the door, had  it was opened to him and that corporate walk out is a done deal. The unofficial 'official' mouth piece for all things OCA, the website OCA Truth during an early morning post May 2nd that Fr. Joseph Fester, former Chancellor of the Diocese of the South and Dean of the Metropolitan’s St. Nicholas Cathedral in Washington DC had been “released”. That entry has since been yanked from the Internet and other even less official reports indicate that he was simply “relieved of duty”.  

There seems to be plenty of blame to go around. Even the FBI has been brought into the conflict. There are propped up theoretical law paradigms for all to consider. One quick note if there is any correspondence electronic or otherwise at a workplace any and all correspondences including voice mails, texts, instant chats, address books, contact information and emails are the property of the company. It is naive to assume otherwise.  They have equated private and confidential as classified "under the seal of the confessional". The writer then requests that we all pull any such information out of "respect for the sacred bond of trust between a priest and his spiritual children". Well to me that is a dog and pony show. It is a head game and just an appeal to destroy evidence of unethical behavior and questionable judgment of leadership and those who seek to support such efforts.  If the seal of the confessional was violated indeed then that is the jurisdiction of the victim, an advocate and spiritual court.

There are claims that there was not enough to take Fr. Joseph to spiritual court and yet time and time again the OCA has looked the other way. One such case would be Archpriest Peter Tutko who was 'granted retirement' in lieu of addressing his breaking the confessional, allegations of sexual indiscretion, and embezzlement. When locals tried for decades to get help Tutko was shielded by Arch Bishop Dmitri of the South who was blinded by his personal affection (no pun intended) for the disgraced priest.  Later in his tenure the local Dean wouldn't answer letters or telephone calls. He was later defrocked for having relations with female parishioners. He and his Matuska believed they where sanctioned by God. The newest Dean grew up under the charisma of Tutko and didn't proceed further with investigations. The OCA did eventually a year later put a priest with one week experience in that parish which dwindled to 3-4 families. The OCA also eventually assisted the parish negotiated $400,000+ debt owed to a loan shark which resulted from arrangements make by Tutko.

So corruption was not confined to Syosset or the north. The small parish  has since stabilized and refashioned itself.

Back to today...there have been retractions in the form of deleted entries and sentences that haven't made the final cut as it were. This story like many in the OCA are all about sources. "Sources in Chicago later confirmed that decision of the Metropolitan".

After much postering and cock fighting we will have to stay tuned to see if the chicken did in fact cross the road. For the record all confidential correspondences reposted here were taken directly from published sites public sites.

Patriarch murder plot merged with Ergenekon case in Turkey



İsmet Rençber is charged
with attempting to assassinate
Fener Greek Patriarch Bartholomew.



Hurriyet Daily News Story Reposted here:

İsmet Rençber is charged with attempting to assassinate Fener Greek Patriarch Bartholomew.

The trial of a man accused of plotting to assassinate Fener Greek Patriarch Bartholomew has been merged with the first Ergenekon coup-plot case pending at the 13th High Criminal Court.

At the last hearing of the attempted-murder case, prosecutor Selim Berna Altay requested the two cases be merged, saying there are both legal and actual connections between them.

The man accused in the assassination plot, Ismet Rençber, did not attend that hearing, held at the Istanbul 9th High Criminal Court, but his lawyer Melissa Aslanözcanan asked for the cases to remain separate.

The court ruled in favor of Altay’s argument, meaning the next hearing of Rençber’s case will be held at the 13th High Criminal Court. He is facing a prison sentence of between 7.5 and 15 years on charges of “being a member of armed organization.”

The indictment includes an anonymous notice sent to the Istanbul Governor’s Office that describes alleged plans for the assassination of six rabbis and says Rençber has been chosen for the assassination of the Istanbul patriarch.

Ergenekon suspect Gürbüz Çapan has been accused of organizing the attempt on Bartholomew’s life.

According to the indictment, released following an investigation, police discovered that Rençber had made some phone calls to find the numbers of various rabbis, who he then called and asked for a job. The calls evoked suspicion among the rabbis and synagogue officials filed a complaint against Rençber, according to police reports.

Police arrested Rençber, who is from the eastern city of Kars, upon his arrival in Istanbul on June 23, 2010.

Rençber, who was arrested at the home of a relative in Istanbul, told police during his testimony that he “hated Jews” but denied intending to kill members of the Jewish community.

Ergenekon is an alleged ultranationalist, shadowy gang accused of planning to topple the government by staging a coup, initially by spreading chaos and mayhem in society. It is an alleged extension of the “deep state,” an unofficial organization within the state that has operated beyond the authority of elected governments since the beginning of the Cold War.

Case against plot to kill Patriarch Bartholomew merged with Ergenekon

Today's Zaman Article posted here for your convenience. A case filed against a plot to assassinate the İstanbul-based leader of the world's Orthodox Christians has been merged with the ongoing case into Ergenekon, a suspected criminal network charged with plotting to overthrow the Turkish government.

The merger decision came on Thursday during a hearing of the trial into the plot to kill Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew. The trial is being heard at the İstanbul 9th High Criminal Court. The only suspect in the case, İsmet Reçber, who was released last December pending trial, was not in attendance. During the hearing, prosecutor Selim Berna Atay requested the merger of the case with Ergenekon, which is being heard at the İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court, on the grounds that there are legal and evidentiary links between the two cases.

The court accepted the request and the two cases have been merged. Reçber, a carpenter, was facing up to 15 years in prison. The man was arrested after an anonymous letter was sent to authorities claiming that Ergenekon suspect Gürbüz Çapan had planned the assassination and chose Reçber to carry out the killings.

The plot to kill Bartholomew is thought to be part of the Cage Action Plan, a subversive plot allegedly devised by military officers that sought to undermine the government through the assassination of non-Muslims and other acts of terror. The Cage plan was allegedly drawn up at the order of Ergenekon. Cage plan documents specifically call the killings of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, Catholic priest Father Andrea Santoro and three Christians in Malatya an “operation.” An anti-democratic group within the Naval Forces Command behind the Cage plan had intended to foment chaos in society with those killings, but complained that the plan had failed when large segments of society protested the killings in mass demonstrations.

During an interview in 2009, Bartholomew said that “dark forces planned to use minorities to overthrow the government, as revealed in the investigation into Ergenekon.”

Based in İstanbul, the spiritual leader of the world's approximately 300 million Orthodox Christians was referring to the revelations of the Cage plan. “When the Cage plan was revealed, we thought the raid could be part of that plan,” he said. “At the time we thought that they were just trying to scare us.” Patriarch Bartholomew said he is grateful to the security forces, which uncovered the “dark plans.” “It is a very satisfactory development that the police and prosecutors have been revealing those dark plans so those responsible can be captured and tried.”