Religious Authorities

A promising start:

CANFIELD, Ohio -- The monks seemed to come out of nowhere.

They arrived from Cleveland last fall - Archbishop Timothy and Father Anthony and the cleric in charge, Metropolitan Stephen. In their billowing black robes, they were looking for a new base for the Syro Russian Orthodox Catholic Church.

Joke #1:

It was Archbishop Timothy who first drove past the Canfield Colonial Motel Condotel, a crime-ridden, no-tell motel on a desolate road dominated by hay bales and barns with sunken roofs.

"My first thought was: This would make an excellent monastery," says the archbishop, whose earthly name is Timothy Kjera. "The rooms in front are the perfect size for a monk's cell."

Joke #2:

This was no small thing. The little, dirty white building with the threadbare rooms was now the official headquarters for a church and seminary that have thousands of followers around the globe - or so the monks claim.

But these monks have credibility issues.

Joke #3:

The history of those early years is spotty. The church would surface and disappear again, making its way across Indiana to the Rocky Mountains, then on to Minnesota and Ohio.

The names were elaborate:

The Mercy and Right Greek Catholic Church. St. Michael's Greek Orthodox Church. St. Mary the Theotokos Orthodox Catholic Church. The Mercian Orthodox Catholic Church. Saints Peter and Paul Anglican Catholic Church. The Michael American Orthodox Catholic Church.

None of them were recognized by any credible religious authority.

The article's an interesting one about scams: the three-person church seems to make money running diploma mills, sometimes with slave labour, and in the US there are enormous benefits to operating your scam while wearing funny outfits and crucifixes. Worth reading.