Christ of the Hills Monastery in Blanco, Texas

  • Thread starter Thread starter JesuXPIPassio
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
J

JesuXPIPassio

Guest
Hi, does anyone happen to know what happened to that Christ of the Hills Monastery in Blanco, Texas? It isn’t Catholic, but they say they are Orthodox (I can’t figure out if they really are or they’re just lying about it, like how Sedevacantists claim they’re Catholic but really aren’t).

I read a couple articles that said that the monks there were alleged to be sex offenders. religionnewsblog.com/15391/new-sex-allegations-against-christ-of-the-hills-monastery and dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-monastery_07tex.ART.State.Edition1.3e8b0d6.html.

Does anyone know what happened to those allegations? Were those monks convicted?

They had what supposedly was a miraculous Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary that wept myrrh. Does anyone know what happened with that? The Catholic Church never investigated for some reason (I don’t think it’s because they’re not Catholic; the Church has looked into and approved the miraculous apparitions of Mary, Our Lady of Zeitoun, in Egypt even though it was Coptic Orthodox). Has the Orthodox Church investigated? Is it even a canonical-Orthodox monastery?
 
I think the answers to your questions can be found in the news you cited dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-monastery_07tex.ART.State.Edition1.3e8b0d6.html:

That association (with ROCOR) ended eight years later following the allegations of child sexual abuse, as did the monastery’s practice of accepting novitiates under age 18 – and as young as 12. The cadre of full-time monks dropped to about seven.

“That year, we received evidence from a mother of a child at the monastery that sexual misconduct had been occurring there,” said Nicolas Ohotin, spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. “Within 24 hours, the church suspended the clerics and dissolved our relationship.”

Previously, the church had sent priests to Texas to investigate concerns raised about activities at Christ of the Hills, but they never found sufficient evidence of wrongdoing, Mr. Ohotin said.

So, from being canonical they became non-canonical and seems to have continued operating on their own.
 
I don’t know if anyone is still following the Christ of the Hills debacle, but the founder of the monastery, Sam Gtrrnr, Jr. comitted suicide on September 16 or 17 of last year. The ex-Abbot has been convcted of four counts of child molestation and another monk is likely to get a similar sentence when he is finally tried.
 
vladika_ioan said:
I don’t know if anyone is still following the Christ of the Hills debacle, but the founder of the monastery, Sam Gtrrnr, Jr. comitted suicide on September 16 or 17 of last year. The ex-Abbot has been convcted of four counts of child molestation and another monk is likely to get a similar sentence when he is finally tried.
Click to expand...
Geez. That’s horrible.

First they open a sham monastery, then they fake an icon that weeps, and then they molest kids.

Anyway, thanks for keeping us posted. It’s not easy to find resources on this. I’m curious, is there anything else you’ve learnt about them?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top