Influential paedophile monk to die in prison after bizarre case divides church
A powerful paedophile monk will die in prison after survivors spoke out against their “spiritual father”, who used his influence to abuse children and keep them quiet for decades in Sydney’s Russian churches.
Alexis Rosentool, 74, has reigned as abbot of a monastery tucked away in the Snowy Mountains town of Bombala since the 1990s.
He had ascended, over the decades, through the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) in Sydney and abroad, earning the senior title archimandrite. He was considered a gifted artist who painted religious icons through the diocese’s churches and homes across the city.
But Rosentool was an active paedophile who, over 20 years, abused children within the church community.
On Friday, he faced sentencing over crimes against three boys, now adult men.
Rosentool was sentenced to 19 years in prison, 13 without parole. His life expectancy, the court heard, was about seven years due to declining health. Rosentool sat in shocked silence, dialled in from Goulburn Supermax prison.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/infl...5mlpe.html
Former Youth Pastor Accused Of Sexually Abusing At Least 6 Teenagers
Thomas Pinkerton Jr., 52, who was commonly known as 'Pastor Tommy,' faces 24 felony and misdemeanor counts following accusations that he sexually abused six teens from 2006 to 2010 while working at Central Christian Church in Baltimore County and is being held without bond.
Pinkerton is accused of inappropriately touching and kissing six teens between the ages of 13 to 19 while serving as a youth pastor at the Assemblies of God church. A seventh man reported abuse allegedly committed by Pinkerton in Georgia, which is being referred to local authorities, and detectives believe there could be even more victims.
Pinkerton, who has recently worked as a traveling evangelist, was "completely shocked" by the charges, according to Hollimon.
Pinkerton's case is the latest incident of alleged child sex abuse allegations facing the Assemblies of God, the world's largest Pentecostal denomination.
https://wsyr.iheart.com/content/2025-08-...teenagers/
A powerful paedophile monk will die in prison after survivors spoke out against their “spiritual father”, who used his influence to abuse children and keep them quiet for decades in Sydney’s Russian churches.
Alexis Rosentool, 74, has reigned as abbot of a monastery tucked away in the Snowy Mountains town of Bombala since the 1990s.
He had ascended, over the decades, through the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) in Sydney and abroad, earning the senior title archimandrite. He was considered a gifted artist who painted religious icons through the diocese’s churches and homes across the city.
But Rosentool was an active paedophile who, over 20 years, abused children within the church community.
On Friday, he faced sentencing over crimes against three boys, now adult men.
Rosentool was sentenced to 19 years in prison, 13 without parole. His life expectancy, the court heard, was about seven years due to declining health. Rosentool sat in shocked silence, dialled in from Goulburn Supermax prison.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/infl...5mlpe.html
Former Youth Pastor Accused Of Sexually Abusing At Least 6 Teenagers
Thomas Pinkerton Jr., 52, who was commonly known as 'Pastor Tommy,' faces 24 felony and misdemeanor counts following accusations that he sexually abused six teens from 2006 to 2010 while working at Central Christian Church in Baltimore County and is being held without bond.
Pinkerton is accused of inappropriately touching and kissing six teens between the ages of 13 to 19 while serving as a youth pastor at the Assemblies of God church. A seventh man reported abuse allegedly committed by Pinkerton in Georgia, which is being referred to local authorities, and detectives believe there could be even more victims.
Pinkerton, who has recently worked as a traveling evangelist, was "completely shocked" by the charges, according to Hollimon.
Pinkerton's case is the latest incident of alleged child sex abuse allegations facing the Assemblies of God, the world's largest Pentecostal denomination.
https://wsyr.iheart.com/content/2025-08-...teenagers/
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
