monks

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Guy Exists on Beer Alone for Lent

Man says he is drinking only 'liquid bread' to 'educate' people

(Newser) - Whereas some people might give up alcohol for Lent, a 38-year-old Iowa man is existing on nothing but, reports the Chicago Tribune . J. Wilson, a beer aficionado and blogger, said he came up with the idea when reading about German monks who did not eat during Lent, but who drank...

Monk Caught Smuggling Nun's Remains

He wanted to give her a better burial at Cyprus monastery

(Newser) - Bag checkers at the Athens airport turned a Cypriot monk over to authorities when they discovered a nun's skeleton in his luggage. The monk admitted digging up the nun's 4-year-old grave at an Athens cemetery so he could bring her remains back to his monastery in Cyprus, reports Huffington Post...

Monks Seek to Recruit High-Flying Execs

Ad campaign offers stressed bankers a different life

(Newser) - Unlike most ads in Switzerland's leading "executive search" magazine, a prominent one that appeared over the weekend was most notable for what it promised candidates they wouldn't get. Bankers-turned-monks will enjoy a life "free of personal material riches and a couple relationship," read the ad from the...

Horrific Abuse Alleged at Monastery in Pope's Old Turf

Abuse transpired in Ratzinger's archdiocese

(Newser) - More bad news for the Catholic Church from Pope Benedict's native Germany, where monks and lay teachers stand accused of abusing students for decades at an elite Catholic boarding school near Munich. Allegations from more than 100 students that monks "brutally mistreated, sadistically tormented and, not least, sexually abused"...

PETA Accuses Monks of 'Un-Christian' Farming

Group wants Candian abbey to give up its chickens

(Newser) - PETA is waging a campaign to get monks at a Canadian monastery to reform farming practices the group decries as inhumane. "It denies God to treat animals this way," said a PETA official of the New Brunswick abbey, which produces about 300,000 chickens yearly. The campaign has...

Poor Folk Disliked Hood Too: Expert

(Newser) - The rich and poor alike may have despised Robin Hood in his day, the BBC reports. A note written by a monk in a medieval manuscript describes the famous thief—and giver to the needy—as having “infested” the countryside “with his accomplices.” The find also pinpoints...

Young Burmese Monks Ready to Take Up Arms

Buddhist movement gets bolder; some suggest stockpiling weapons

(Newser) - After seeing nonviolent protesters killed or detained in last year’s protests against the ruling junta, younger segments of Burma’s Buddhist monks are becoming more radical, embracing armed resistance and overt dissent, the Christian Science Monitor reports. "We need weapons,” one young monk said. “That is...

Brutal Monk Beatings Shock Italy
 Brutal Monk Beatings Shock Italy
Aug 28, 2008 1:16 PM CDT

Brutal Monk Beatings Shock Italy

Hooded attackers bound, gagged victims in Clockwork Orange -like attack

(Newser) - A manhunt is under way to find the three hooded men who gagged, bound, and beat four Franciscan monks in an Italian monastery Tuesday night, the Times of London reports. Father Sergio Baldin, the monastery's 48-year-old guardian, was having dinner with three elderly monks when they were attacked. Baldin remains...

Burma's Monks Forge Secret Relief Network

Monks lead aid effort pushed by government reluctance

(Newser) - Although Burma’s junta relented today and allowed in foreign aid workers, weeks of delays and restrictions have led to the formation of an underground network of volunteers led by monks, Internet activists, and pro-democracy students. The Wall Street Journal looks at their efforts, which risk the wrath of the...

China Seals Off Tibetan Capital
 China Seals Off Tibetan Capital 
Mar 29, 2008 2:51 PM CDT

China Seals Off Tibetan Capital

Crackdown comes after new protests, visit by foreign envoys

(Newser) - Chinese police closed off Tibet's capital today after fresh protests broke out during a tightly-orchestrated visit by diplomats. “The whole area has been shut down,” said one London-based advocacy group. Authorities swarmed Lhasa’s main temples, as monks continued demonstrating and urged Beijing to begin talks with the...

Austrian Monks Nab Record Deal
 Austrian Monks Nab Record Deal
Mar 23, 2008 2:16 PM CDT

Austrian Monks Nab Record Deal

Austrian monks to record Gregorian chant album

(Newser) - Amy Winehouse and Cistercian monks wouldn't seem to have much in common, but now they've got the same record label, the BBC reports. Universal Music's search for "sacred singers" to record a Gregorian chant album turned up an Austrian monastery dating back to 1133. "It was beautiful, beautiful...

Tibet Monks Protest China Rule
Tibet Monks Protest China Rule
Mar 11, 2008 4:10 PM CDT

Tibet Monks Protest China Rule

Dozens arrested in biggest demonstrations since 1989

(Newser) - Tibetan monks staged the biggest protests against the Chinese government in 2 decades yesterday, reports the Times of London. The two sides clashed in Lhasa amid sporadic gunfire. Hundreds of monks and supporters marked the anniversary of a failed 1959 Tibetan uprising. Sources say police arrested as many as 60...

Burma's Pens Mightier Than Censors
Burma's Pens Mightier Than Censors
Feb 13, 2008 1:17 PM CST

Burma's Pens Mightier Than Censors

Info-starved population gets creative to bypass government's gags

(Newser) - Never shy about censorship, Burma has cracked down even more since September's monk uprising—no small event in a country that ranks 164th out of 168 on the Press Freedom Index. But information-starved citizens are finding creative ways to circumvent an extreme government that bans even benign news about soccer...

At 500, 1st 'America' Map Baffles
At 500, 1st 'America' Map Baffles
Dec 4, 2007 5:25 PM CST

At 500, 1st 'America' Map Baffles

German monk closely mapped South America, unknown Pacific

(Newser) - The Library of Congress this week unveils the first map to use the name "America"—and the 500-year-old mysteries that go with it. The 1507 map by a German monk includes a surprisingly precise rendering of South America, Reuters reports, and seemingly predicts the contours of the continent's...

Belgian Monks Balance Brewing and Benediction

'Insatiable' thirst complicates simple life

(Newser) - A Belgian monastery is struggling to balance the growing global craving for Westvleteren, the "holy grail of beers," with its devout way of life, the Wall Street Journal reports. Customers are limited to two cases per month of the St. Sixtus brew, which the monks neither label nor...

Burma Protests a 'Success,' Says Buddhist Leader

Famed anti-Vietnam agitator supports monks on US tour

(Newser) - Revered Buddhist spokesman Thich Nhat Hanh, famed for enlisting Martin Luther King's help against the Vietnam War, is supporting his spiritual brethren in Burma on a US tour. The monks' struggle against Burma is "already a success," he told Time, "because if monks are imprisoned or have...

Facebook Users Hook Up—With Fellow Burmese Monk Backers

300K mobilize through social networking site

(Newser) - Mammoth networking site Facebook is triggering a massive mobilization of protesters around the world who will hit the streets this weekend in support of the Burmese monks, Wired writes. Nearly 300,000 people have joined the Facebook group "Support the Monks' Protest" since a story on the movement broke...

Monasteries Get Wired
Monasteries
Get Wired
Sep 28, 2007 5:00 PM CDT

Monasteries Get Wired

No vocal cords needed to sell truffles or recruit brethren on the net

(Newser) - Buddhist monks in Burma aren't the only religious brethren getting the word out on the internet these days: many American monasteries are so wired they not only correspond via email and sell-hand-crafted products over the internet, they use it to recruit new brothers. One web site, VocationsPlacement.org, matches religious...

Monks Hold Burmese Officials Hostage

Incident ends in release as protests of fuel price hikes rage

(Newser) - Hundreds of angry monks have released Burmese government officials they held hostage for over 5 hours yesterday, the Guardian reports, in protest of the military regime’s fuel price hikes. Reading Buddhist scriptures, nearly 500 monks burned the officials’ cars, locked them inside a monastery, and surrendered the prisoners only...

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