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Metropolitan Jonah at the American Enterprise Institute, December 6, 2011 [Video]

December 7, 2011 3:12 PM
aei-logo-150x150

Below is the video of Metropolitan Jonah's talk at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) held on December 6, 2011. The event was introduced by Eric Teetsel of AEI, and Fr. Gregory Jenson introduced Met. Jonah. The title of the talk was "Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems: Faith in a Consumerist Society" with a The following post event description was provided by AEI: Many Christians struggle to balance their faith with the increasing emphasis on consumerism and material goods in today's society. In a keynote address Tuesday evening at AEI, the Orthodox Church in America's Metropolitan Jonah, Archbishop of Washington and Metropolitan of All America and Canada, discussed how Christians should respond to these societal pressures. He began by emphasizing the battle between consumerism and materialism, defining the former as the ultimate fruit of secularism. Fr. Jonah stressed the dehumanizing nature of a consumerist society and the moral dangers associated with reducing human life to a … [Read more...]

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Metropolitan Jonah to speak at the American Enterprise Institute on Faith in a Consumerist Society on December 6, 2011

December 4, 2011 9:00 PM
Metropolitan Jonah

The average American income is 10 percent greater today than 30 years ago, yet the debt burden of American households has more than doubled over the same time period. How should a person of faith deal with the pressures of a consumer society? At what point does materialism begin to corrupt? How does our faith influence our pursuit of material prosperity? In a keynote address, the Orthodox Church in America’s Metropolitan Jonah, Archbishop of Washington and Metropolitan of All America and Canada, will address these questions and more, providing insight into how persons of faith might deal with the challenges brought by the consumer age. A pizza dinner will be provided. More information: The American Enterprise Institute Introduction by Fr. Gregory Jenson of Koinonia Live video streaming available on the American Enterprise Institute website. Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems: Faith in a Consumerist Society Tuesday, December 06, 2011 | 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 … [Read more...]

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Orthodox Silence on the “Conscience Clause”

December 2, 2011 8:36 PM
conscience-clause

Most people were probably not aware that there was a fierce battle raging between the Catholic Church and the Obama administration over the "conscience clause," a Bush-era piece of legislation that exempted medical professionals and religious institutions (primarily Catholic hospitals and schools) from dispensing birth control pills to children, performing abortions, and other morally objectionable activities. The Obama administration has been waffling on this for over two years, but last week the clause was rescinded. Catholicculture.org outlines what is at stake (A 'conscience clause' is not enough). While written for an exclusively Catholic audience, the points apply to all Christians. Author Phil Lawler argues: Unfortunately, with each passing year our society shows less and less tolerance for the individual conscience. An overweening government requires Christians to accept the prevailing moral norms even when they violate the principles of Christian morality, and … [Read more...]

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Orthodox and Catholics Face the Same Challenges

November 30, 2011 1:16 PM
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Making common cause against secularism and other maladies of the modern era with the Catholic Church is a wise course. The Russian Orthodox Church approves (see my articles on Catholic Online). But how will Constantinople respond? Below is a press release where Pope Benedict sounds the same theme in a message to Pat. Bartholomew of Constantinople. It will be interesting to see what Constantinople's response will be, if any. Apart from environmental care, they have not addressed secularism, the demographic implosion of the West (including abortion), ethical issues, and other critical problem facing Western culture in any substantive or comprehensive ways in years. Care for the environment is close to Pat. Bartholomew's heart but even there most of the thinking remains trapped in the polemics of Progressive ideology (global warming, supporting international cap and trade legislation, embracing secular apocalyptic scenarios, and so forth), while the Vatican frames environmental care in … [Read more...]

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Met. Jonah to Headline “Towards an American Orthodox Church Symposium”

November 29, 2011 10:28 PM
orthodox-unity

This looks very good. St. Cyril of Jerusalem Orthodox Christian Church P. O. Box 133234 The Woodlands, TX 77393-3234 Driving directions to St. Cyril Orthodox Church. Friday, December 2, 2011 8:00 am  -  8:45 am  Continental Breakfast 8:45 am  -  9:00 am  Morning Prayers & Welcome 9:00 am  -  9:15 am Opening Remarks  His Beatitude Metropolitan JONAH + 9:15 am  -  9:45 am Foundation for Unified Local Orthodox Church According to John 17  Protopresbyter Nicholas Triantafilou  (President Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology) 9:45 am  - 10:15 am Ecclesiology and The Local Church Cynthia Kostas 10:15 am - 10:45 am Update of Episcopal Assembly   His Beatitude Metropolitan JONAH + 10:45 am - 11:00 am Break & Refreshments 11:00 am - 11:45 am Update of AAC  His Beatitude Metropolitan JONAH … [Read more...]

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WND: Bonhoeffer in Harlem

November 28, 2011 10:39 PM
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

When I attended seminary over 20 years ago, one of my favorite activities was the inter-seminary dialogues. Once a month about seven or eight of us would drive down to Jewish Theological Seminary in Manhattan to meet up with Jewish rabbinical students and seminarians from Union Theological Seminary (Protestant) and St. Joseph's (Catholic). You'd think the gathering would spark some lively and substantive debate, but the truth was the contest wasn't even close. From the very first meeting the Jews and Orthodox left the Protestants and Catholics in the dust. The participants from Union were caught in the worst sort of theological relativism, so much so that they were uncertain even of first principles. We just got tired of waiting for them to build up enough self-assurance to craft a coherent argument. The Catholics were reeling from the exposure of the sex-abuse scandals that were coming to light at the time and retreated into an obscure Marian piety that we Orthodox could … [Read more...]

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Frederica Mathewes-Green: Gay Rights [AUDIO]

November 15, 2011 10:52 AM
Frederica - Here and Now

Frederica's podcast does not offer the definitive answer on homosexuality, but it is laced with the graciousness, compassion, and fidelity to Orthodox teaching that has become her hallmark over the years. It's worth a listen, even if only as a reminder that good people struggle with same-sex attraction who don't adopt the ideological rigidity of the activist and others who insist on a moral parity between opposite-sex and same-sex behaviors. Listen here: … [Read more...]

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Church that Held the 7th Ecumenical Council at Nicea to be Turned into Mosque

November 10, 2011 3:04 PM
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Source: Vatican Insider Hagia Sophia in Nicea, where the Seventh Ecumenical Council was held in 787, is about to be declared a mosque by the Turkish authorities. As the Turkish press reports, the call to prayer was sung from the Muezzin last Thursday, for the first time since the founding of the Turkish Republish in 1923. The minaret was added to the church in the city that the Turks called “Iznik” in the Ottoman age. Last year it was restored. With the prayer to be said at the beginning of the Islamic feast of sacrifice on Sunday morning, the former church will be ready for Islamic religious ceremonies. The decision by the office of the Administrative Council, the competent authority, has sparked fierce debate. Selcuk Mülayim, of the University of Marmara, an art historian, underlined the building's importance in the history of Christianity and warned that the move would mark the beginning of protests from all over the world. Iznik's chamber of commerce criticized … [Read more...]

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What the Church Can Accomplish [VIDEO]

November 8, 2011 6:25 PM
russian-child

+Jonah asked three years ago, where are our hospitals, our soup kitchens, our schools? Indeed, where are they? Below is a video of what a monastery in Russia is accomplishing. If they can do great things, why not us? Starets Mihail started the monastery in 1994 with four brothers. Now, the monastery has 90 monks and they are raising 150 orphan children. Fr. Mihail was an orphan himself … The monastery is in Ucraina, 7 km from the northern Romanian border. They are serving in Ukrainian and Romanian languages because “we are Orthodox.” HT: Monomahkos … [Read more...]

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Frank Schaeffer’s Fundamentalist Fakery

October 26, 2011 9:02 PM
frankschaeffer

From the article: "Schaeffer’s Orthodox history might be inconvenient to him today because based on the Church’s teachings — sanctity of life, sexuality, marriage, a hyper-patriarchal priesthood — it looks a lot like the dimwitted “Taliban” Christians and “fundamentalists” that Schaeffer spends so much time denouncing of late. Then again, you can hardly go around advertising the fact that you spent years proselytizing on behalf of traditional morality if, today, you want to maximize your page views on HuffPo and get MSNBC producers to call you back." Source: Acton Institute | John Couretas Frank Schaeffer: Bachmann, Palin, Perry Use Religion Like Snake Oil Salesmen (2011) Remaining Orthodox in a Secular World : A Sermon by Frank Schaeffer (2002) Mark Tooley, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD), has a story on FrontPageMag.com about Frank Schaeffer’s call for the Occupy Wall Street protesters to go after Evangelical … [Read more...]

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With the Rise of Militant Secularism, Rome and Moscow Make Common Cause

October 19, 2011 11:05 AM
Pat. Kyrill and Pope Benedict

The Acton Institute just published my essay. Source: Acton Institute | Fr. Johannes L. Jacobse The European religious press is abuzz over recent developments in Orthodox – Catholic relations that indicate both Churches are moving closer together. The diplomatic centerpiece of the activity would be a meeting of Pope Benedict and Patriarch Kyrill of the Russian Orthodox Church that was first proposed by Pope John Paul II but never realized. Some look to a meeting in 2013 which would mark the 1,700th anniversary of the signing of the Edict of Milan when Constantine lifted the persecution of Christians. It would be the first visit between the Pope of Rome and Patriarch of Moscow in history. A few short years ago a visit between Pope and Patriarch seemed impossible because of lingering problems between the two Churches as they reasserted territorial claims and began the revival of the faith in post-Soviet Russia, Ukraine and elsewhere. The relationship grew tense at times and … [Read more...]

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Rod Dreher: It’s Time Bishops Man Up

October 19, 2011 12:08 AM
Rod Dreher

Earlier this year, there was a battle-royal raging among the elites of my church, the Orthodox Church in America, over the leadership style of Metropolitan Jonah, the primate. A number of the bishops on the Synod were plotting against him, along with some key and vocal activists associated with the OCA old guard. I involved myself in the defense of Jonah, blogging under a pseudonym to prevent the chance that that controversy could bring negative publicity to my then-employer. I and the other bloggers were outed after a bishop accessed (probably illegally) the e-mail account of a friend and former pastor, and spent two months reading all the man's private e-mails, including correspondence from me. The fallout from all that made me decide that I need to stay the hell away from anything to do with bishops, because there is nothing but trouble there for me. I never should have gotten involved, because it was all, in the end, pointless. I say that not to "re-litigate" that whole … [Read more...]

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