A disturbing story with a COG connection appeared on the New Zealand Herald website today. The named individual was a prominent member of the Worldwide Church of God in Auckland, often playing the piano to accompany hymns at services and presenting "special music". In recent times he has been Fred Coulter's representative in the country.It is with some hesitation that I post this link. My first reaction is simply how very sad this all is. I took into account that at least one family member of this individual has already reposted the item and obviously wishes this information to be known. Please be advised that any comments on this item will be heavily moderated.
Addendum: Gary Leonard has just posted on this matter and linked to a version of the same story appearing on the Daily Mail website in the UK.
It's difficult for victims of sexual abuse to come forward, and it's also so sad that people knowing of the abuse are often silent.
ReplyDeleteOur tears and outrage for the victims we don't know don't cause healing.
I believe that much of our society is becoming more aware and more helpful toward those who suffer such abuse.
My best wish and hope is that victims have good help available so they may heal as best is possible.
I personally know two women who were sexually abused in the WCG. Both have moved on with their lives, albeit not easily (including suicide attempts).
Just very recently, my wife told me that one of those ladies has gotten good help with her eating disorder.
Just last night, I watched an episode of Adam-12, and officer Malloy chased a sexual predator down and was rough with him when the chase ended.
Considering the nature of the crime, I think that everyone watching could relate to officer Malloy's roughness in capturing the man, even though it would result in a suspension for officer Malloy.
I saw that headline (propagated to) an international news service the other day - a worldwide story!
ReplyDeleteI don't think that I was even conscious of child molestation until hearing of Uncle Ernie "fiddling about" in the Who's opera, "Tommy". It strikes me as being perhaps the supreme evil on the planet, betraying a child's trust and taking their innocence like that. To my knowledge, we did not have such predators in our local WCG congregation. Now, it is recognized as an incurable pathology, a deviation from "normal" sexuality, almost a sexual orientation.
ReplyDeleteBB
According to the news reports, this perpetrator had been through three rehab programs, but pedophilia cannot really be "cured". It tends to be something not so much that a man does but more what he is, which makes treatment very difficult. As for what this says about WCG, it's hard to say. All churches seem to have this sort of thing going on at one time or another, and there is probably a good deal more of it than that which is reported. It's easy to look at the history of WCG, including in particular its founder, and conclude that perhaps there was more of this going on than in other organizations, but I'm not so sure that is true, and I don't how that could be determined at this point.
ReplyDeletePeople in the Armstrongist churches of God often discount how much impact this has on the life of the children. Our daughter's best friend was being subject to incest and she has had terrible problems all her life as a result.
ReplyDeleteIt is disturbing that much of this has been covered up in the ACoGs. Our son was in the Y.O.U. class with an elder we later found was a pedophile. The leading women within the congregation knew this and they reported it to headquarters in Pasadena. The administration ignored them. The best they could do is 'watch' the elder during services and particularly on the holydays.
Unfortunately, I did not know this until a Night to be Much Observed in the home of the deaconess who told me.
There are now those commenting that this sort of thing happens in all the churches, as if it excuses it in the Cult of Herbert Armstrong Mafia which is supposed to be converted and have the Spirit of God.
ReplyDeleteQuestioning the ratio of pedophiles in different churches is a rather disturbing proposition.
So, just how many pedophiles should each sect of Armstrongism have to match the general population?
Is there a minimum number of pedophiles that each ACoG should have?
I always thought that one would be too many.