Central University of Nicaragua Degree Scheme

I looked into the PhD in Counselling Psychology from UCN and it was technically impossible to use it for licensing in Canada. Even if it was accepted as a degree, it lacked supervision components and specific course work requirements.
As someone stated, I would have a very hard time to get a supervisor to supervise me with this degree unless I pay for this.

There are many private programs in Canada that do not lead to a degree but they can be used for licensing as they are aligned and approved. Maybe still 20K investment for a certificate but at least you can use it.
The DL degree from Yorkville is about 40K but it is accredited by most of the recognized boards in Canada.

 

His D.Sc. is from IBAM and his PhD. is from Clayton College of Natural Health. Those are schools that were closed - frauds. What kind of a success is that? And why do you continue to hype them up as if those degrees were any good?

 

That question was for LA. I don't know about Canada when it comes to this. But if you'd have to pay for supervision you'd be joining a big club. That's a problem everywhere in the United States no matter where you get your degree from, with some exceptions like top schools that afford you opportunities you wouldn't get at other schools, but most people aren't going to top schools so many have to join the pay-out-of-pocket club.

 

Not knowing Canada's system, are the requirements you're speaking of set at the provincial levels? And are there some government sites we can look at that deal with licensing? I'd like to learn some things about how it works there.

From my conversations with the Professor who runs the UCN Psychology program, they're willing to tailor it to a student's needs. In the U.S. some states give the option of having an in-school research program for half of the required hours, and the other half being a clinical phase handled by an institution you make a deal with. If those aren't options in Canada or at least in the area you live, then this wouldn't go anywhere. Might be interesting to take a look.

 

Another entry in this discussion: Fr. Laurent Cleenewerck, an admin and apparent co-founder of an international school of mystery Euclid University, completed a UCN PhD program in Public Health through Texila:
PhD in Public Health (UCN) – Pr Laurent Cleenewerck

Not surprisingly, his assessment is positive (obvious bias here), though he concludes that Euclid is better . Nonetheless, there is some info on the study process. It would be interesting to see his dissertation; he and his advisor did produce an article that seems to be a summary of it and is available open-access (in Euclid's academic journal). From my point of view, it is hard to see what his actual novel contribution is, but the article is no worse that many academic papers in the literature. So there is evidence of structure, process, and to some degree (n=1), outcome.

His advisor is a convert to Orthodoxy, ordained Hieromonk in Patriarchate of Moscow in 2017. The kind of very erudite, sincere people who collectively push me away from Orthodoxy and towards Eastern Catholicism. But this digression aside, the man is a full-time faculty member at Sacred Heart University, with relevant PhD from Tulane and record of academic productivity. This adds credibility to Fr. Laurent's work.

Speaking of Euclid: Cleenewerck claims that he is a "general methodology advisor to doctoral students" there, as well as "international faculty coordinator". The former role sounds like it would generate some academic output for the incumbent: mainly, joint papers where he's a second or third author, with grad students as first authors. And lo and behold, there is some of that:
‪Laurent Cleenewerck‬ - ‪Google Scholar‬

Granted, most of it comes from 2 or 3 students, but any output is not 0 output. Is it enough to recommend Euclid? No. Enough not to dismiss it as a mill? Probably.

P. S. He's "Laurent Alain Cleenewerck de Kiev" now. Pretentious. He also hints that he has a position on Church affairs in Ukraine but doesn't quite say what that is. Expressing "sorrow" that Kyiv and Moscow can't have "unity in Christ and shared Orthodox heritage". I don't care for that. On the other hand, Putiniste side will not accept him as one of their own either, not with his affiliation with Ukrainian Catholic University and Centre for Ecumenical Studies. Interesting guy.

 

Never heard the term. I DO know "Hire-a-Monk" service, like this, though: https://japandeluxetours.com/blog/rent-a-monk Is this what you mean?

 

In Eastern Christianity, a hieromonk is a monastic priest (or rather, a priest who also happens to be a monk).

Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hieromonk

 

Hieromonk in Eastern Churches is a priest who is also a monk. That's it. Senior Hieromonks get rewarded by elevating them to the rank of Hegumen ( which is Greek for "abbott"); higher rank is called Archimandrite.

 

@Stanislav @Messdiener Thanks. Today I learned. And I presume they can't be hired, right? Maybe if it was appropriate, (e.g. you need someone to do a top-notch ecclesiastical reading, in, say, Slavonic for a class, or ceremony) you could ask The Hegumen to assign someone and in return make a large-ish donation? Just a thought.

And yes - I know about Archimandrites, thanks. One of them once (justifiably) called Rasputin a "Most Unholy Man." Empress Alexandra did not like that Archimandrite at all....

 

In the old countries, calling a priest to do a private prayer (treby) is fairly common, and a significant side hustle for them. Some monastic clergy serve on parishes, so, yes, it is not unheard of to hire a monk. Like, many people ask a priest to bless a dwelling annually. It might be harder with that particular Russophile guy, as he has a day job teaching at a university.

 

Oh, behave! Shagadelic!

 

Now I remember. It was this man - Archimandrite Theophan. Story here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophan_(Bystrov)

 

And here's the story of one of his friends - the Hieromonk Iliodor - a man with a colourful life. He was introduced to Rasputin by the Archimandrite Theophan - then later (1912) defrocked by the Russian Orthodox Church. A few years later, in 1916, he concocted an attempt on Rasputin's life - not the one that finished Rasputin. He left for the US in 1917, and played himself in a silent film "The Fall of the Romanoffs."

He returned to post-Revolution Russia and offered his services to Lenin. Several years later, in 1922, he left permanently for the US. In America, he became a Baptist and worked for years as a janitor in the Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower. He died in 1952.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Trufanov

And now back to our regular programming - latest developments in Costaragua. ...

 

You make it sound so exotic. It's a fairly common clerical rank in the Eastern Churches. I've met several. The equivalent would be Roman Catholic priests who are in religious Orders, and these guys run many schools, colleges, and other ministries. Technically, Fr. Laurent is an Archpriest and outranks Fr. Danny John Schieffler. In practice, "Black" (monastic) clergy enjoys a tad more prestige, as Bishops normally come from their ranks.

 

I agree, Hieromonk is not an exotic rank. But Iliodor's life-story, yeah, it is exotic - why not. It's definitely cutting-edge unusual - from his meeting and subsequent volte-face with Rasputin, to his assassination plot, his trip to the US to portray himself in a movie, to offering his services (what "services", exactly?) to Stalin - to turning Baptist and working as a janitor in New York City.

Iliodor - Hieromonk, then defrocked. Hire-a-Monk, but Stalin said "Nyet." Never a Hero-monk. Yeah - at least a slightly exotic story. I'd love to act his part in a movie! If they want Al Pacino instead, I could help write the script. C'mon Stanislav. Let's pitch it to a studio. Enough work here for both of us.

 

I'll admit, this does sound like a good movie script.

 

OK. I've got an idea here -- script from me and I'll play Iliodor. And so will he. A movie within a movie. Al Pacino would be perfect as Archimandrite Theophan. You? Rasputin, of course. And maybe co-direct, if you like, and/or --- dialogue coach. Yeah, you're a natural for that. Who else?

--- and I kinda like Lady Gaga for Empress Alexandra. ...Gotta go now, my people are calling The Coast.

 

Love this.
Incidentally, if you want a story of Hero-monk, I bet there are numerous candidates. A chaplain and Medal of Honor recipient Fr. Joseph T. O'Callahan was a Jesuit priest. RCC makes distinctions between a Monk, a member of a Religious Order, and a Jesuit, but in the East that would be one and the same. I can think of one major movie: "The Shoes of the Fisherman" has Anthony Quinn as fictional Pope Kirill I, loosely based on Cardinal Joseph Slipyj, a real life GULAG survivor. He was, technically, a monk.

 

Thanks, Stanislav. Your post led me to some interesting reading - about the movie and the Cardinal. Anthony Quinn was one of my favourite movie actors when I was much younger. He also starred in a TV series "The Man and the City" as Thomas Jefferson Alcala, Hispanic Mayor of an unidentified city in the Southwestern US. One of my favourites back then (1971). https://www.episodate.com/tv-show/the-man-and-the-city

Among my current favourite Monks are these:

Thelonious Sphere Monk - Jazz pianist and composer. Major force in the Bebop movement. He is also the second-most-recorded Jazz composer after Duke Ellington. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelonious_Monk

Monk Boudreaux - singer and percussionist. "Monk Boudreaux (born Joseph Pierre Boudreaux; 1941 in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States) is an African-American musician and Big Chief of the Golden Eagles, a Mardi Gras Indian tribe. He is widely known for his long-time collaboration with Big Chief Bo Dollis in The Wild Magnolias."

Monk's page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monk_Boudreaux
Mardi Gras Indians' page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mardi_Gras_Indians

I can usually catch recorded performances of Monk Boudreaux, or his friend, the late Bo Dollis, leader of the Wild Magnolias, on Jazz FM. Friday nights 9pm - 1 am. on Ronnie Littlejohn's "Gumbo Kitchen" show. So can you: https://jazz.fm/

 

UCN finally sent me scanned documents of my diploma and transcript after one year of being approved for graduation by Azteca. I'm almost at the finish line with just waiting for the physical papers to be mailed to me.