or “Is this any way to live?
Scientology staffers working in Clearwater are members of a group called the Sea Org. They are Scientology’s elite staff. They dedicate their lives to church service and deliver the highest levels of Scientology training to visiting Scientologists. These are the uniformed Scientologists seen walking in groups around downtown.
Pat Harney, a Scientology spokeswoman and Sea Org member, likened the intensive commitment to that of Roman Catholic monks or nuns.
Harney said members typically wake around 7:30 a.m. The day starts with exercise in the on-site gym or group calisthenics in the courtyard, or by playing sports such as volleyball. Afterward, a fleet of 10 buses arrives every 15 minutes to transport staffers from their housing at Hacienda Gardens or the old Quality Inn to the church’s downtown campus.
Most are dropped directly at the former Clearwater Bank building at Cleveland Street and Fort Harrison Avenue, a portion of which is the staff cafeteria. Staffers eat meals there in shifts, with a half hour allotted for breakfast and lunch and 45 minutes for dinner. In between, staffers work at their assigned posts, or squeeze in up to 12½ hours a week of Scientology training. Most staffers finish their day at 10 p.m. and are bused back to their dorm-style quarters.
And they’re expanding their base of operations. Just in case you wondered why those uniformed folks were walking the streets of Clearwater.
Technorati Tags: clearwater, scientology
