Church of Scientology opens new Twin Cities landmark church

The latest Ideal Org opening:

Scientologists, guests, state and city officials assembled in downtown St. Paul, Saturday October 22, for the dedication of the new Church of Scientology Twin Cities. The Church stands at 505 Wabasha Street and was formerly home to the Science Museum of Minnesota. The acquisition of the 82,000-square-foot facility in the heart of St. Paul was necessitated by the meteoric growth of the resident Scientology community. The Church of Scientology Twin Cities is now the largest Scientology facility in the American Midwest and will serve parishioners from Wisconsin to the Dakotas.

Located just blocks from the State Capitol and St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Church is additionally adjacent to the famed Fitzgerald Theater and so forms an “historic square” of buildings in downtown St. Paul. The premises were carefully renovated to preserve its most memorable features, including the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Wabasha Street and the three-story atrium. Also faithfully preserved was the original 300-seat IMAX Theater, now to serve as the Scientology Chapel and community meeting ground for citizens of all denominations.

Just off the expansive reception is a Public Information Center presenting the beliefs and practices of the Scientology religion as well as the life and legacy of Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard. The Information Center further provides an overview of the many Church-sponsored humanitarian programs. These programs include a worldwide human rights initiative, an equally far-ranging drug education and prevention campaign, global networks of literacy and learning centers and the Scientology Volunteer Minister program now comprising the largest independent relief force on Earth. The multimedia displays include nearly 500 documentary films.

In tribute to the import of the occasion, Mr. David Miscavige, Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center and ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion, officiated at the ceremony. In pointing to the significance of the day, Mr. Miscavige cited all that new Ideal Churches of Scientology traditionally bring to their surrounding communities, pledging the Church’s resources and support across a broad range of civic programs for the benefit of all citizens. Thus, by dedicating a new Church for Minneapolis and St. Paul comes the inauguration of a new partnership in Twin Cities.

Welcoming the new Church were St. Paul City Councilmember Dave Thune; Minnesota State Senator Sandra Pappas; Minnesota State Representative Rena Moran; and President of the Minneapolis Chapter of MAD DADS (Men Against Destruction Defending Against Drugs and Social Disorder), Mr. V.J. Smith.

In his salutary address, City Councilmember Dave Thune said: “I’m so happy to see that the Church of Scientology has moved into this landmark building. I always hate to see buildings go unused and sit vacant, especially in my Ward! So let me say this: thank you for moving across the river to the best side of Twin Cities.”

President of the Minneapolis Chapter of MAD DADS, Mr. V.J. Smith, addressed the Church’s anti-drug initiative: “I want to thank you, because we’ve already given out thousands of your Truth About Drugs booklets that show the impact drugs have on a person. The Church of Scientology and the Foundation for a Drug-Free World provided those to make it easier for us to do our job. You gave us a resource… and we’re really excited to see this beautiful Church open up in our community.”

Minnesota State Representative Rena Moran spoke of the Church’s pervasive volunteerism: “I believe very strongly in community engagement. And that is why I’m especially excited about your Volunteer Ministers and so impressed by the work that they do. It takes a certain kind of heart to give unconditional help to people you don’t even know and may never meet again. Your volunteers seem to specialize in that. They’re reaching out, they’re engaged, they’re facing the needs in our communities—and proving that something really can be done about it.”

Minnesota State Senator and leading proponent for human rights and human trafficking legislation, Sandra Pappas spoke to the Church’s award-winning Human Rights education materials and its longstanding support of human rights in general: “At the core of this support is an educational campaign that delivers a clear and impactful presentation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That is certainly a credible endeavor that I think you should be acknowledged for, so thank you. …I am proud of my work and you should be proud of your work to educate others on what are human rights. Please continue.”

How Scientology helped gentrify Hollywood

A nice article on just one of the ways in which the Church of Scientology has improved Hollywood:

The Red Line and the Kodak deserve a lot of credit for the re-gentrification of Hollywood, but the Hollywood Reporter reports that the Church of Scientology was buying and improving old Hollywood buildings long before the Cinerama Dome rehab was a twinkle in the LA Conservancy’s eye (and like gentrifiers before, they’re moving east, having purchased the KCET campus in Los Feliz). There’s plenty of debate over why Scientologists snatch up and fix up so much prime real estate (some say it’s for pedestrian exposure, some say it’s for the appearance of legitimacy, some say it’s just good PR), but either way they do it a lot. Let’s take a look at what they’ve accomplished in Hollywood over the last four decades, by the numbers:

1970s: When spokesman Tommy Davis says Church founder L. Ron Hubbard “noted the ‘physical blight and social problems’ of Hollywood but ‘believed the area would come into a period of revitalization.’” In the seventies and continuing into the eighties, Hubbard bought bargain buildings throughout blighted Hollywood.

7: Number of historic Hollywood properties that the Church owns—that number makes it possibly the biggest owner of historic buildings in the neighborhood.

…

26: Number of Hollywood properties the Church owns in total—that number makes it one of the biggest property owners in the neighborhood. Notable: the Church says it doesn’t take out mortgages, but buys properties with donations.

1973: Year the Church bought the Chateau Elysee on Franklin Ave., now known as the Celebrity Centre.

$1.5 million: Price it paid for the building, which had been slated for demolition.

$75 million: Minimum amount it’s now estimated to be worth. The Church did an extensive renovation in the nineties.

…

40: Approximate number of staff designing, planning, and overseeing the Church’s worldwide real estate holdings. They work out of a “squat, unremarkable building” on Hollywood Boulevard, next to the Hollywood Guaranty Building, which the Church also owns.

8: SoCal projects that architecture firm Gensler has worked on for the Church.

500,000 square feet: Size of the Church’s West Coast headquarters, nicknamed the Complex, located near Sunset Blvd. and Vermont Ave. The campus used to be the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital.

3: Acres the headquarters sits on.

1: Number of ceremonial offices in the Complex kept “cordoned off and spotless” for Hubbard. [This is actually not true. There are at least four that I know of, in four separate churches on the premises.]

16 feet: Height of the “Church of Scientology” sign on its blue building on Fountain.

…

2,000: Number of seats in an auditorium the Church plans to add to the Complex.

John Travolta opens Church of Scientology Mission in historic downtown Ocala, Florida

This looks like a wonderful place to achieve spiritual freedom.

On Sunday, May 29, Scientologists, friends and neighbors filled 1stAvenue, joining actor and Ocala resident John Travolta and Ocala Mayor Randy Ewers at the dedication and grand opening ceremonies of the Church of Scientology Mission of Ocala, Florida.

Mr. Travolta and his wife, actress Kelly Preston, spearheaded establishment of the new Church in their adopted hometown.Located adjacent to the historic town square, the Mission of Ocala will offer Scientology beginning services to the community.

At the ribbon-cutting, Mr. Travolta acknowledged the City of Ocala and expressed the significance of the day for him:

“I would really love to thank the citizens of Ocala. When I was a little boy I had this idea that one day when I grew up I would have a home, an airplane in the backyard and a runway and little did I know that it would be in Ocala, Florida.

“The biggest gift I can give you in return is this Mission. Everything you’ll find behind those doors, the Life Improvement Courses, the knowledge and the magic behind those doors, has helped me survive and I can’t tell you the miracles you’ll find there.”

The Mission building was originally part of the Hood Block, home to Ocala’s first Opera House. The structure was built following the great Ocala fire of Thanksgiving Day 1883 and features the fire-resistive brickwork that earned Ocala the title “The Brick City.”

During the past year, the building’s exterior has undergone extensive restoration. The interior features an arched sun motif throughout, reflecting greater Ocala’s historic designation as “Kingdom of the Sun.”

Also participating in the grand opening was Ocala Mayor Randy Ewers, who spoke of the new Church’s place in the community:

“When I see residents help their neighbors out and take care of those around them, it makes me feel very proud, because they are participating in their community. The Travolta family has definitely been an example of this by being active participants in our community. I look forward to this Mission of Scientology Ocala contributing to our community as well. I respect what you have achieved in this community, increasing drug education among our citizens, raising awareness about moral education, and assisting our firefighters to overcome the side effects from exposure to toxic substances in their lifesaving work. Your generosity has been in the spirit of giving, and in the spirit of Ocala. For that, I thank you.”

Ocala Police Major Dennis Yonce described his experience with the Church-sponsored anti-drug campaign:

“For years I have been looking for something better, something more effective to combat the drug problem in our community. Two years ago I discovered your award-winning anti-drug public service announcements. Just listening and watching them struck home to me. I could see that the messages about the truth about drugs brings truth to anyone who watches, but most importantly to our kids.”

Recently retired fire chief Dan Gentry spoke of his personal experience and life-changing results with the detoxification program sponsored by the Travoltas:

“In the summer of 2010 I found the detoxification program based on the discoveries and technologies of Mr. L. Ron Hubbard. By then I only had half a kidney remaining and I could not maintain a normal life with my condition. My doctors felt that the detox program could help me and I decided, along with 14 other Ocala and Marion County firefighters, to do the program. During the program I kept close coordination with my doctors.

“Well, what can I say? After a short period of time they told me, ‘I don’t know what you’re doing, but it’s working! Keep doing it!’”

_________________

Visitors to the newest Scientology Mission enter directly into the Public Information Center, which includes multimedia presentations of the basic beliefs and practices of Dianetics and Scientology and the life and legacy of the religion’s Founder, L. Ron Hubbard. In all, the Center offers more than 100 documentary films.

The Mission is specially set up to provide beginning Scientology services, including the popular Life Improvement Courses through which anyone may find workable solutions to common challenges of everyday life—such as how to improve relationships, setting goals and increasing personal motivation, improving marriage and family life, successfully raising children, personal integrity and honesty, and many others.

The new Mission also offers daily seminars on a wide range of topics, including personal efficiency. The Hubbard Dianetics Seminar, held every weekend, is based on L. Ron Hubbard’s watershed work Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, the best-selling book that reveals the source of one’s nightmares, unreasonable fears and irrational behavior—the reactive mind—and how to conquer it.

The Mission additionally offers spiritual counseling, known as auditing (from Latin audire, to listen), and the Purification Program, a closely supervised regimen enabling an individual to rid the body of the harmful effects of drugs, toxins and other chemicals that lodge in the body and impede spiritual progress.

Church of Scientology of Pasadena recognized for historic preservation

These guys are doing great work:

The City of Pasadena honored the Church of Scientology of Pasadena May 18 with a 2011 Historic Preservation Award. At the awards ceremony, held as part of the city’s observance of National Historic Preservation Month, Assemblyman Anthony J. Portantino also presented the Church with a Certificate of Recognition on behalf of the California State Assembly.

The Church, which was dedicated and opened its doors in the heart of Old Pasadena on July 19, 2010, was acknowledged for “preserving the rich architectural history of Pasadena” in the rehabilitation of the four-story, 58,000-square-foot structure originally constructed in 1906. Attention to detail included the refurbishing of the building’s Beaux Arts exterior and skylighted galleria and extended to the Church’s Arts & Crafts-style furnishings and stained-glass windows.

The renovation also addressed environmental issues and the new Church meets LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification standards for environment-friendly building materials, energy equipment, lighting systems and reduced water consumption.

How is the Church of Scientology structured?

This is a pretty good description of how the Church operates:

The Church of Scientology is formed into an ecclesiastical structure which unifies and aligns a multitude of diverse religious activities, including not only ministering Scientology religious services and practices, but proselytization, ecclesiastical management, relay of communication, production of dissemination materials and many other functions. Thus the Scientology religious community is united both by common beliefs and practices and an organizational form uniquely suited to its religious mission.

At the lower levels of this hierarchy are individual field ministers, Scientology religious groups and Church missions involved in ministering beginning auditing and training. At the upper level are larger Church organizations that minister the advanced levels of auditing and training religious services.

Spanning all Churches is a system of international ecclesiastical management. From Church of Scientology International through a series of Continental Liaison Offices responsible for geographic zones, this management structure supports, coordinates and works to ensure that the spiritual philosophy and technologies of Dianetics and Scientology are available to anyone who wishes to receive them and that Scientology services are applied precisely as L. Ron Hubbard set forth.

Because Scientology scripture requires that its religious practices be ministered in an orthodox manner, the hierarchical structure helps ensure individual Churches receive the ecclesiastical support and guidance needed to do this. All Scientologists are thus assured of an orthodox religious observance in every Church around the world.

Each individual Church of Scientology is separately incorporated and is governed by its own board of directors. The officers and directors also form the ecclesiastical management of the Church and are fully responsible for providing services to their parishioners and their surrounding communities.
At the opening of the new Church of Scientology of Moscow (Саентологии Москвы)
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At the opening of the new Church of Scientology of Moscow (Саентологии Москвы)

Source: orgsaroundtheworld.wordpress.com

Inside the breathtaking new Church of Scientology of Moscow (Саентологии Москвы)
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Inside the breathtaking new Church of Scientology of Moscow (Саентологии Москвы)

Source: orgsaroundtheworld.wordpress.com

New Church of Scientology opens in the heart of Moscow

This looks like a fantastic new church (click the link for photos):

The Scientology religion has opened its first major Church in the Russian Federation—the new Church of Scientology of Moscow. The building stands in the city’s central Garden Ring, just a mile from Red Square.

Commemorating this new Scientology Church, Mr. David Miscavige, Chairman of the Board Religious Technology Center and ecclesiastical leader of the religion, declared: “It has been said that Russia cannot be understood with the intellect, that it cannot be measured by any common standard and that it can only be believed in. Well, let Russia now believe this: The Church that now stands in Moscow possesses a technology that is all but synonymous with the human spirit. It is a technology to bring forth the goodness in people and the greatness they are destined to achieve. It is a technology that is both kind and strong. It is a technology for freedom and wisdom.”

Scientology established its first Church in the Russian Federation in 1993 after the fall of communism and has seen phenomenal growth in the years since. It has been recognized as a leading voice in the fight for universal human rights.

The new Moscow Church not only meets the needs of its growing congregation of Scientologists, but also serves as the center for all faiths to unite for community betterment and social improvement in the name of religious freedom.

The Church of Scientology of Moscow further coordinates the Church’s many humanitarian initiatives. The 65,000-square-foot building houses a Public Information Display presenting an introduction to all Church-sponsored programs, including those dedicated to drug education, literacy and human rights. The new Church also provides public conference rooms and an auditorium for religious community functions.

The Moscow Church already stands at the forefront of Russia’s greater human rights movement. It works in coordination with the internationally renowned Moscow Helsinki Group, founded by Ms. Lyudmila Alexeyeva. Ms. Alexeyeva is one of the original Soviet era dissidents to decry communist oppression. She is also the recipient of the European Parliament’s prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. On the occasion of the Moscow Church opening, Ms. Alexeyeva stated: “For me, as a human rights advocate, all religions are equal in their rights. Your Church is particularly devoted to defending the freedom of belief not only for its own parishioners but for all religious people of any denomination.”

The Church’s religious freedom victories are now legend. Scientology’s landmark decisions before the European Court of Human Rights set the standard for religious rights in all 47 member states. In recognition of what this new Church of Scientology represents to religious freedom, Mr. Boris Nikolayevich Panteleyev from the Russian Federation’s Public Chamber stated: “The precedents you have set in the European Court of Human Rights regarding your Church are very important for all those who stand for religious freedom. Today all lawyers, religious scholars, human rights advocates and representatives of other faiths carefully study these texts, seeing in them hope for justice and protection from discrimination in our own land.”

Mr. Panteleyev, who presented the Church with a recognition commemorating its grand opening, continued, saying: “Scientologists work to see that all have the right to thought, to practice religion and to rejoice. You work to see that all people have the right to assemble, the right to establish and support their own churches and organizations; that they have the freedom to think for themselves and to the expression of their thoughts and ideas. These freedoms are the very manifestation of the individual spirit. So it is important that we rejoice today, for this is a glorious day in the name of freedom for all of Russia.”

Scientology’s Drug Free World initiative is but one of the Church programs now adopted by citizens of the Russian Federation. Among its foremost advocates is Dr. Victor Ivanovich Cherepkov, two-term State Duma Deputy, who said: “The drug industry has taken its toll on Russians for years. Until recently we had no solution that could prevent the problem. Your drug education is well recognized in Russia. We are already using your literature and your methods in the fight against drugs. In fact, these are widely disseminated throughout Russia. And it’s spreading for one reason only: it simply is working everywhere and anywhere.”

Dr. Cherepkov went on to say, “In the effectiveness of your anti-drug campaign, I see the wisdom of L. Ron Hubbard—the great teacher and philosopher. For he unlocked the human mind and human problems with knowledge, to free us from the wickedness of existence in the name of creation, perfection and kindness.”

With the new Church of Scientology of Moscow, so begins the next historic chapter for Scientology. It is a chapter that not only signifies a renaissance for the religion itself, but a new era for religious and human rights in Russia.

Source: scientologynews.org

What it's like to be a staff member in a Scientology organization

This is a great account of being a Scientology staff member:

Prior to my being on staff, I had a life which (I say now in retrospective) was a bit flat and purposeless.  I had gotten a string of excellent IT jobs that made great money, and had no problem, really, acquiring any car, computer, vacation, or other worldly item I wanted.  However, my activities were unpleasantly self-oriented, and I knew that.  There’s only so much gratification one can get from helping oneself, and oneself only.

Once one has a great car, a nice house, all the computer equipment one could ask for, and a body in good health, one sort of realizes that there’s got to be a bigger game – and a cooler one too that doesn’t just involve oneself.

I then started dating a girl (now my wife of 11 years) who was a staff member at the Founding Church of Scientology in Washington, DC.  After weeks of observing her and the fun she was having as a staff member, I decided to take a break from computer networking and take up a position on staff at the Church.

I honestly had no idea the number of changes that would make in me, all of them changes for the better.

Inglewood overturns denial of permit to Scientologists

It’s nice to know that religious freedom is still observed and defended. The new church in Inglewood will serve the community well.