Showing posts with label Anglican. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anglican. Show all posts

21 May 2011

Australian Anglican bishop denies evangelical group is using school chaplain program to convert children to Christianity



The Age  -   Australia          May 13, 2011

We are not trying to convert kids: Bishop

by Jewel Topsfield, Mex Cooper



The Christian group responsible for religious education in Victorian government schools has denied it is trying to convert children to its faith.

Access Ministries chair Bishop Stephen Hale defended the role played by its religious educators and chaplains in schools, who he said did not breach government guidelines.

The Age revealed today that Access Ministries chief executive Evonne Paddison told a church conference in 2008: "We need to go and make disciples".

"In Australia, we have a God-given open door to children and young people with the Gospel, our federal and state governments allow us to take the Christian faith into our schools and share it. We need to go and make disciples," she told the Evangelical Fellowship in the Anglican Communion national conference in Melbourne.

Bishop Hale said despite Dr Paddison's comments, which will be investigated by state and federal governments, Access Ministries was not proselytising to students.

"We're not actually seeking to convert them and she may have given that impression but I don't think that's what we actually do in reality," he told ABC 774.

Bishop Hale described teaching children Christian stories and values without pressuring them to adopt Christianity as "a pretty tricky exercise".

"We are extremely respectful of the balancing act that's involved," he said.

He said teachers remained in classrooms during religious instruction and if guidelines were being breached there would be more complaints.

The Victorian branch president of the Australian Education Union, Mary Bluett, said most volunteers appeared to adhere to the guidelines but there had been some shocking examples.

"Comments such as, 'Buddha is Satan's friend' ... and things like that clearly breach the guidelines," she said.

Ms Bluett said religious instruction should be offered outside of school hours.

Schools Minister Peter Garrett said he would look closely at Dr Paddison's remarks after being provided with a recording from the conference.

He will ask his department for advice on any action that might need to be taken.

"The guidelines for the National School Chaplaincy Program are very clear; any breach of those guidelines will be investigated," Mr Garrett said. "If there is any evidence of a breach it should be referred to the department for investigation."

Victorian Education Minister Martin Dixon said the Victorian government did not "in any way, shape or form condone proselytising".

"We will be talking to Access Ministries and seeking an assurance from them that their instructors abide by this requirement," Mr Dixon said.

Access Ministries provides chaplains to 281 Victorian schools and its volunteers teach 96 per cent of special religious instruction in Victorian schools.

The Victorian government announced an extra $200,000 a year to Access Ministries in this month's budget to fund 196 chaplains. This brings the total state government contribution to $500,000 a year for four years.

The national school chaplaincy program, introduced by the Howard government, also received a $222 million boost in this week's federal budget, to fund chaplains for up to 3700 schools by 2014.

The code of conduct for the school chaplaincy program states: "A chaplain should not take advantage of his or her privileged position to proselytise for that denomination or religious belief."

with Alana Rosenbaum


This article was found at:



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Posted by Perry Bulwer at 11:48
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17 Mar 2011

Church of England and Church in Wales complete child protection review of thousands of personnel files



BBC News - Wales March 9, 2011

Action after Church in Wales child abuse check


The Archbishop of Wales says that the religious notion of forgiveness does not mean the church will forget incidents of child abuse and re-employ perpetrators.

Dr Barry Morgan was speaking after a Church in Wales review which checked for allegations of child abuse.

A comprehensive study was carried out of staff records dating back decades.

The children's commissioner for Wales says lessons must be learned.

The employment files of five clerics were investigated by police and social services, but no further action was taken following an investigation.

The archbishop welcomed the report, which made 36 child safety recommendations.'Forgiveness'

Dr Morgan said he would leave "no stone unturned" to see the church "safe for children" and welcomed one recommendation which called for a debate on the subject of forgiveness.

He told BBC Radio Wales: "If I can compare it to a church treasurer who commits fraud, it may be possible to forgive him as a person but we would not employ him again as a church treasurer.

"By the same token, it's up to the victim to forgive the perpetrator of violence against a young person, but the church would never employ them again.

"In other words forgiveness doesn't mean let's forget about it, you've repented and you can work with children again - that would never happen."

The Church in Wales said the historic cases review was not prompted by a particular case or incident.

A total of 1,381 files across the six dioceses were opened up and checked for allegations of child abuse as part of the review "to ensure the safety of young people".

The files of every serving and retired cleric in the Church in Wales were scrutinised to "make sure any concerns previously raised have been properly dealt with in the light of current best practice".

The Church in Wales said the review was a result of its child protection policy which it had been developing since the mid-1990s, and follows the example of the Church of England, which carried out a similar review in 2007. [see article below]

An independent specialist social worker seconded from the office of the commissioner, Keith Towler, trawled the church's employment files for 18 months to produce the review.

Five of the files were referred to police and social services who, after investigation, decided not to bring any charges or take further action.

Domestic violence

Two of the five were also referred to the Independent Safeguarding Authority, which helps prevent unsuitable people from working with children and vulnerable adults, which decided not to act in either case.

Mr Towler said: "It was imperative that these historic cases were reviewed and that lessons would be learned.

"I commend the archbishop for accepting all of the review's recommendations and for restating the Bench of Bishops' commitment to safeguarding children and young people within the church community."

The report made 36 recommendations, including further training for clergy on child protection issues, such as heightening their awareness of "grooming" and domestic violence.

Responding to the review, John Cameron, the head of NSPCC Helpline, said: "Whilst this review has now come to an end, it's important to remember that we can all play a valuable part in helping to keep children safe in all communities."

This article was found at:


******************************************************************************

BBC News  -  UK    February 24, 2011

Church child abuse review completed


Thirteen cases which needed formal action have been identified following a Church of England review into child abuse in the church.

About 40,000 diocesan files dating back more than 30 years were examined during the investigation.

The review was launched in 2007 following claims the church had covered up abuse dating back decades.

Six of the cases were referred to police, who said they were unable to take any further action.

As a result of the review of 40,747 files, 11 cases were referred to the authorities. Eight involved a member of the clergy and three involved a non-ordained person holding some form of church office.

Five of the cases had originally been investigated by police and some had resulted in convictions, the church said.

Action by the statutory authorities was not possible in two further cases, relating to members of clergy, but they were deemed by the reviewers to warrant formal disciplinary actions by the church.

The individuals involved in those cases will be referred to the Independent Safeguarding Authority for consideration for inclusion on their barred list.

Vigilance

The other six cases were referred to the police for investigation but they said they were unable to take further action.

In three of these cases, a risk management strategy has been put in place by the diocese's multi-agency child protection management group. There are no cases where a police investigation is still ongoing.

The review involved the examination of personnel files held on diocesan staff, clergy, and lay ministers.

Some 900 letters were sent to bishops, senior clergy and diocesan staff asking for further information.

Rt Revd Anthony Priddis, Bishop of Hereford and chair of the church's central safeguarding liaison group, said: "While no such review can be perfect, and we can never let our vigilance slip in this vital area of concern, we have done all we can to ensure that it has been as comprehensive as possible.

"It indicates there are no outstanding issues of which the church has previously been made aware relating to any clergy or other office holders' suitability to work with children that have not now been investigated by the police or other relevant professional authority."

He added there was no room for complacency and the church remained committed continually to developing procedures for safeguarding vulnerable people.

In 2007, three people were jailed for abuse dating back decades. In each instance, the church had been alerted but failed to take action.


This article was found at:



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Posted by Perry Bulwer at 16:01
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3 Dec 2010

One of Canada's oldest, most elite Anglican schools was "a place that destroyed children"

Montreal Gazette - Canada May 1, 2010

‘This is a place that destroyed children’

Former Bishop’s College students – plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit – describe the elite private school in the 1950s and ’60s as a house of horrors and dirty secrets, where a culture of abuse reigned unchecked

By Hubert Bauch, The Gazette


MONTREAL – Students and alumni of Bishop’s College School are generally regarded as members of a privileged class. For some, however, the privilege of a BCS education came at a terrible price. Not in fees, but in shocking, soul-eroding, life-wrecking abuse visited on them there. Long buried, their memories of Bishop’s school days of yore have lately risen to haunt the esteemed institution.

It has long been one of Canada’s elite private schools, founded in 1836, a year before Queen Victoria ascended the throne and three decades before Confederation. It sits in splendid baronial style on 350 bucolic Eastern Townships acres at Lennoxville. Its accoutrements include the country’s oldest continuous cadet corps, affiliated with the Black Watch.

It has been the prep school for the scions of some of Montreal’s finest old families. It has produced graduates distinguished in an array of fields. They include early last-century magnate Sir Montagu Allan and later last-century newspaper tycoon Conrad Black; author Michael Ondaatje and moviemaker Paul Almond; two senators, the late Hartland Molson and current Colin Kenny; celebrated radio raconteur Stuart McLean; inventor Reginald Fessenden, who pioneered radio transmission, and Scott Abbott, who invented Trivial Pursuit.

For others, their BCS “education” put them on a downward life path, to alcoholism, drug abuse, psychological disorder, failed relationships and career instability. Their lately rendered accounts of sexual abuse at the hands of an ordained faculty member and rampant corporal punishment – routine floggings on bared backsides with canes, steel-edged rulers and hockey sticks – echo recent tales of abuse in Catholic parishes and Indian Residential Schools, as well as other upper-crust schools, including Montreal’s Selwyn House and Toronto’s Upper Canada College.

More than three dozen former students banded together to launch a lawsuit against the school, which is now coming to a head, demanding $15 million in compensation, full disclosure and apology.

The stories they tell, in the claimant statements and in interviews with The Gazette this week, depict the school in their time – the 1950s and ’60s – as a house of horrors and dirty secrets, where a culture of abuse reigned unchecked.

Their hair-raising accounts and accusations are dolefully consistent.

“This is a place that destroyed children,” said David (not his real name) who is among the plaintiffs. “You cannot imagine what went on in what was supposed to be a refined and civilized place.”

Peter, another former student, said: “Corporal punishment was legal then, but this went way beyond normal classroom corporal punishment. It was a culture of abuse, of disciplinary punishment that was exploited and went way overboard.”

(Names of claimants are protected by court order and those quoted in this story are given pseudonyms.)

Both David and Peter are among those who say they were sexually molested by the only alleged culprit named in the suit, Rev. Harold Forster, who served at the school from 1953 to ’62 as a teacher, chaplain, choirmaster and house master, whose predatory routine, it is said, was to call miscreant students to his quarters, have them strip and bend over his knees, then alternately spank and fondle their buttocks and sometimes their genitals.

Peter typically recounts how he got the treatment from Forster who ordered him into his bedroom early one morning, Peter naked and Forster clad in a dressing gown.

“He took a dark brown coloured hairbrush from a nearby chair and started hitting my buttocks violently with the hairbrush. He was breathing hard and making funny noises with his mouth. After four or five blows he massaged my buttocks with his hand in a circular motion. Then he resumed with the brush for another four or five hard strokes, then again the circular massage. It went on for at least 20 minutes, all the time making weird sounds with his mouth.”

Richard recalls him doing it right in the open to him with a ruler that he called Excalibur, after King Arthur’s mythical sword.

“At least once a week he used it on me in front of the class. It was how he used it that was degrading. He used to smooth out my pants and feel down between my legs and squeeze me a little. All this in front of the class.”

At the time from which the allegations arise, BCS was an all-boys’ school with a student body of mostly boarders.

It went co-ed in 1972 when it merged with King’s Hall private school for girls in nearby Compton.

It modelled itself after elite British “public schools” where routine caning and “fagging” – institutionalized hazing of younger boys by seniors – were integral to school culture. Beatings were administered not only by staff, but also senior boys, designated prefects or head boys, who were given licence by school authorities to inflict caning and other humiliations on their younger schoolmates as they saw fit.

“For the slightest infraction we’d be sent to the prefects’ room for discipline,” said Frank. “We had to make their beds, shine their shoes, tidy their rooms, all that kind of stuff. We had to cater to their needs and if it wasn’t to their satisfaction they had licence to do to us what they wanted.”

“You had 17-, 18-year-olds hitting 12-year-olds with canes,” said David. “It’s unbelievable. It shouldn’t be very difficult to understand that large boys being allowed to beat little boys is just wrong.”

There was heavy pressure on the boys not to complain and to adhere to an institutional code that what happened at the school stayed at the school.

Peter recalls being called into a classroom with other boys before a Christmas break to be threatened by Forster.

“He said whoever tells parents about the goings-on in the school will be beaten within an inch of their lives and there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

Some say they were too frightened to speak up, others too ashamed and confused. In other cases the parents simply refused to believe them.

Sam says he told his father he was being molested by Forster and begged to be taken out of the school. “But my father was adamant that I stay. He didn’t believe any of that. It was something people didn’t talk about in those days.”

Sam says he did persuade his father after he got another boy to tell of his own molestation. His father went to the headmaster and Forster was fired.

“Even at that he was allowed to finish out the term and got sent off with a letter of recommendation. Nothing was ever said because we had to protect the reputation of the school, can you believe it?”

(Forster went on to teach at a private school in Jamaica and top-drawer Harrow school in Britain before he was killed in a 1967 train crash.)

Another common thread in the stories of those molested is that they repressed the memories of the abuse until middle age or failed to connect it to their misfortunes as their adult lives unravelled, not until they talked about it to partners or psychiatrists.

“For years I buried it,” said Sam. “I never had any idea that it ever affected me. I just thought I was crazy. Why I couldn’t hold a job or get along with people, why I had an explosive, crazy temper when I was drunk. I know now.”

What the plaintiffs want is compensation to help them through their encroaching old age. More than the $1 million tentative agreement worked out by their lawyers and the school which, after lawyers’ fees and other expenses would net them roughly $15,000 apiece.

They also want acknowledgement by the school of the harm done to them.

“What we want is for someone to to say, ‘Yeah, we really screwed up here,’ to recognize the damage that was done,” said Sam, who verged on suicide at one point.

It’s what the school should do, said John Pratt (real name) who was both a student and teacher at BCS in the period and is part of a small group of alumni who have organized a “truth and reconciliation” initiative to intercede between the school and the plaintiffs.

He said he was never sexually molested and took the beatings like most others as just the way things were. “I was caned like any other boy, but never thought of it as a problem. That was the culture and it never occurred to me there was anything wrong with it. It was what you got used to.”

Speaking for the school, board chairman Kurt Johnson said efforts have been made to reach out to those who say they were damaged by the school. “We have worked to address this very serious issue with respect, sensitivity and concern for all those involved, in the best interest of both former and present students.” He noted that the allegations stem from half a century ago, and that no one from those bad old days is still connected with the school. “It is a very different place today. It’s a different world.”

But Pratt and others maintain the school’s response has been grudging at best. He said he still loves his old school, which to him was like family, but feels let down by it now that he’s heard the horror stories, which to him have the ring of truth. He said he attended a BCS annual meeting two years ago and there wasn’t any mention of the lawsuit, launched two years before. “They say they want to help, but they haven’t really so far.”



This article was found at:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/This+place+that+destroyed+children/2973166/story.html


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Posted by Perry Bulwer at 14:44
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19 Jan 2009

Sex abuse victim slams 'hypocrisy' of church and Archbishop

The Australian - January 20, 2009

A VICTIM of pedophile Kevin "Skippy" Lynch has slammed as hypocritical the push by Anglican primate Phillip Aspinall to remove the statute of limitations on child abuse compensation cases.
by Michael McKenna | The Australian

Dr Aspinall last week confirmed he was leading a multi-denominational push to exempt child abuse victims from nationwide laws requiring they sue for compensation by the time they turn 21.
While the campaign was welcomed by child protection advocates, it was seen by some, including the victim of Lynch, fighting for compensation in Queensland's Supreme Court, as hypocritical, given the church's use of the time limits.
Lynch, a school counsellor who committed suicide in 1997, abused scores of children at Brisbane Grammar School.
"There is a gulf between his words and actions," the victim told The Australian. "It is noble that he is petitioning the Government, but he needs to ensure his dioceses' actions follow his words and they stop hiding behind statutory time limits."
In late 2007, after years of struggling with the lingering demons of his abuse, the hope of imminent justice was delivered to the victim in a letter from Dr Aspinall, in his role as Archbishop of Brisbane. Dr Aspinall offered a candid admission to the "enormity" of the abuse suffered by the victim and a desire to end years of failed mediation that was destined for the courts.
"I sincerely apologise for the hurt and pain you have experienced and I trust that you will be able to continue a journey of healing as you address the effects the abuse has had on you," Dr Aspinall wrote. "I reiterate my apology to you for the pain and distress you have suffered and hope we can move to a speedy resolution of your claim."
For the victim, the letter was a rare show of empathy and willingness to end his pain. "For the first time, I felt the church was maybe on my side, not his," he said yesterday.
And it gave him hope that he would not need to take legal action, which was being forced on him by the church.
Like child sex abuse victims around Australia, he faced a battle to overcome the statute of limitations before he could even be allowed to have his claim tested by the courts. Over the past decade, state governments and churches have blocked most child sex abuse compensation claims by using the statute.
It is these time limit provisions that Dr Aspinall is now trying to have removed so that the church can pay compensation using insurance money.
The church argues it was on its insurers' insistence that it used the defence.
Just after Dr Aspinall's letter was sent, another arrived from Rod McLary, the church's director of professional standards, telling the victim the church would not use the defence to sabotage his chance at a day incourt.
But two months later, the victim received a letter from corporate lawyers MinterEllison, representing the Brisbane diocese, stating: "We confirm that our client does intend relying upon a defence that your client is statue barred pursuant to section 10 and 11 of the Limitations Act 1974 (Qld)."
It was another betrayal for the victim. A year later, he is still fighting a costly legal battle just to have his case heard. Only a handful of cases have overcome the statute of limitations.
This article was found at:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24935533-5006786,00.html
Posted by Perry Bulwer at 23:18
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17 Jan 2009

Australia's church leaders secretly lobby to lift sex abuse claim time limit

The Australian - January 17, 2009

AUSTRALIA'S church leaders are secretly lobbying for the removal of a time limit that blocks child sex victims from suing for compensation over institutional abuse.

by Michael McKenna | The Australian

A multi-denominational push, led by Australia's Anglican leader, Brisbane Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, is pressuring Queensland's Bligh Government to set a nationwide precedent and exempt child victims from the laws, which normally require that they launch legal action by the time they turn 21.
Hundreds of victims - including those openly acknowledged as being abused for years by some of the country's most notorious pedophiles - have been blocked by state and church lawyers from having their claims tested and compensated by the court by the "time-limit defence".
The Bligh Government has so far rejected the proposal to change the personal injuries laws amid fears it may pave the way for a flood of compensation claims from victims.
Dr Aspinall, the primate of Australia's Anglican church, began the push in 2005 in Queensland after being pressured by victims and clergy within his diocese of Brisbane.
But Dr Aspinall has been privately criticised by some of his own clergy because the church has adopted the stance while fighting ongoing compensation claims, by acknowledged victims, using the same statute of limitations provisions it wants dropped.
In one case, Anglican lawyers last year moved to block a compensation action with the time-limit defence just two months after the church wrote to the victim acknowledging years of abuse at a Brisbane school and vowing not to use the provisions.
Dr Aspinall and the Bligh Government confirmed the stand-off over the proposed legal changes after The Weekend Australian obtained correspondence and documents relating to the push and legal fights.
In a statement, Dr Aspinall said he believed "these limitation periods harsh and inequitable".
"The rights of child sexual abuse victims should not be undermined because they have not brought their case forward in a given time," Dr Aspinall said.
"It can take victims many years before they confront the abuse that has happened to them and seek healing and justice.
"I have spoken about this issue to my colleagues from the heads of churches and I believe I have their support in seeking changes to the act.
"To date the (Queensland) state Government has not agreed to any changes in the law."
Queensland law academic Ben Mathews, whose academic papers on the issue were used by Dr Aspinall in his submission to government, said the proposal would set a nationwide precedent and fix a legal system that was failing child-abuse victims.
"This proposal would set a nationwide precedent in guaranteeing victims access to the justice system that these people deserve," he said.
The provisions are similar across Australia and are only voluntarily invoked by defendants such as the church or states to attempt to block or delay the claims from going to court.
But Dr Aspinall said insurance companies forced churches to use the time-limit defence.
He said the proposed changes would guarantee a victim's right to go to court and allow the church to comply with insurance policies under law.
"Insurers usually instruct their lawyers to use the statute of limitations in defence," he said.
"At times, this is directly contrary to the expressed wishes of the church. However, in order for our insurance policies to apply, and for abuse victims to be compensated through them, we need to comply with the legal provisions of insurance contracts.
"Achieving a change in the law would address this issue and provide better opportunity for victims to secure redress."
A victim does have the right to seek an extension of the time limit. But there have been very few cases in recent years where a victim has, after a costly legal battle, been able to win a court-ordered extension of the time limit to go to trial with their compensation claim.
A spokesman for Queensland Attorney-General Kerry Shine yesterday confirmed the Government had rejected the proposal and that the Queensland Law Reform Commission had reviewed the matter.
"The commission determined that the judicial discretion to allow an extension of time provided protection to victims of childhood sexual abuse to allow them to commence proceedings in appropriate cases," the statement said.
It is believed there has only been a handful of cases in Queensland, where the victim beat the provisions.
In September, a general practitioner overcame the provisions to win the right to sue the Anglican Church and South Australian Government over his sexual abuse at a Brisbane private school.
The Queensland Supreme Court yesterday paved the way for the $3.7 million compensation claim, only after new evidence showed the headmaster was warned that the now-convicted pedophile teacher had been sacked from another school for improper behaviour.
The Anglican Church is now appealing the decision.
Senior lecturer in the School of Law at the Queensland University of Technology, Ben Mathews, said similar exemptions to those being proposed have been adopted in some jurisdictions in America and Canada. "This has not produced an intolerable flood of claims."
This article was found at:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24923370-2702,00.html
Posted by Perry Bulwer at 11:37
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6 Jan 2009

No abuse charges laid at Grenville College

Anglican Journal - Canada

January 5, 2009

by Anglican Journal Staff

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) announced on Nov. 21 that no charges will be laid in connection with allegations of past abuse at the now-closed Grenville Christian College (GCC), a private school run by Anglican priests in the mid-1970s.

Meanwhile, the diocese of Ontario said that its own inquiry into allegations of psychological and physical abuse involving two of its priests, one of whom served as headmaster for 20 years at GCC, has been delayed as a result of the OPP’s investigation and because its incorporated synod had been named defendant in a class action lawsuit filed by former students in October 2007.

“The completion of the bishop’s inquiry remains delayed because the diocese cannot breach the rules of civil procedure as he (the bishop of the diocese of Ontario, George Bruce) would have direct contact with the various litigants if he resumed the canonical process,” said Archdeacon Wayne Varley, diocesan executive officer, in a message sent to members of the diocese. He explained that the diocese “operates according to the laws of the civil province of Ontario and the Criminal Code of Canada.” But, he said, “our pastoral responsibility continues to be stewards of Christ’s healing, justice and reconciliation within our parishes and the communities we serve in his name.”

Archdeacon Varley said that Bishop Bruce intends to complete the investigation “at the appropriate time.”

This article was found at:

http://www.anglicanjournal.com/issues/2009/135/jan/01/article/no-abuse-charges-laid-at-grenville-college/
?cHash=e743ec3b93


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Posted by Perry Bulwer at 11:17
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24 Nov 2008

No criminal charges will be laid in Anglican school abuse case

Brockville Recorder & Times - Canada

No charges in GCC abuse allegations

by Kim Lunman | Recorder & Times Staff Writer

There will be no criminal charges laid after a 14-month investigation into allegations of abuse at Grenville Christian College, Ontario Provincial Police announced on Friday.
The allegations of physical assault and mistreatment at the school by former students between the mid-1970s and mid-1990s were made after the private boarding school east of Brockville abruptly shut its doors in August 2007.
The Grenville County detachment of the OPP in Prescott opened an investigation into allegations against former staff of the Christian school on Sept. 10, 2007.
The OPP issued a brief press release Friday afternoon, announcing its investigation into the "historical abuse allegations" was concluded.
"The OPP, in consultation with the Crown attorney, have decided not to lay any criminal charges in relation to the extensive investigation," said the written statement. "All complainants have been notified."
"It wasn't in the interest of the public to lay any charges," said OPP Sgt. Kristine Rae in an interview. "When you're looking at historical allegations, you're looking at the whole picture."
Rae said there were "23 potential victims interviewed" during the lengthy investigation.
"There were other people that came forward with information," she said.
Andrew Hale-Byrne, a British civil servant who graduated from the school in 1990s and is a litigant in a class-action lawsuit against Grenville Christian College, said in an interview from the United Kingdom on Friday that he is shocked and disappointed no charges were laid.
"I am concerned to hear that the Crown and the OPP do not feel it is in the public interest to proceed with criminal charges. Perhaps it is in the interest of those devastated abuse victims to proceed. Just because the alleged behaviour is alleged to have taken place many years ago that is no excuse not to press charges."
The closure of Grenville Christian College and allegations of abuse by former students also sparked two class-action lawsuits amid a flurry of accusations in the national media and on the Internet.
The school as well as some former staff members are named as defendants in the civil suits. The allegations between the mid-1970s and mid-1990s claimed physical and sexual abuse at the former private boarding school and alleged bizarre cult-like behaviour that has left the pupils traumatized.
The claims allege students were subject to public humiliations and light sessions, in which pupils were dragged out of bed at night by staff shining flashlights in their face and denouncing them as sinners.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
Meanwhile, there are still questions swirling around the future of the stately school overlooking the St. Lawrence River. In September, it emerged at an Augusta Township council meeting that developer are proposing to buy the property and build a residential development on the sprawling 264-acre campus.
http://recorder.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1310239

For previous articles related to this story see the labels "Anglican" or "education"
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1 Nov 2008

Church-run homes investigated for abuse

Anglican Journal - November 1, 2008
Ecumenical News International

Trier, Germany
Protestant leaders in Germany say they will investigate and expose past cases of mistreatment in church-run children’s homes after an investigation found that children had been physically and sexually abused in such institutions.

“We have established to our horror that even in church-run homes children were brought up with violence,” Bishop Margot Kässmann of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover said Sept. 22. -

The bishop’s comments follow the preliminary findings of an investigation she commissioned into claims of violence and abuse at children’s homes run by the social welfare agency of the Hanover church in the 1950s and 1960s.

“Our investigations that have been undertaken by our social welfare agency have shown that there were infringements of human rights, and sexual assault by individuals in our institutions,” said Bishop Kässmann. “We need to listen to the victims, and the perpetrators must be brought to justice.”

Hans Bauer, the researcher employed to investigate the claims, found cases of physical and even sexual abuse, the German Protestant news agency EPD reported.

“Children in homes had to scrub tiles with toothbrushes or were locked into windowless cells for days on end,” Mr. Bauer was quoted as saying by the news agency on Sept. 15.

“The violation of the most vulnerable was the order of the day,” said Bishop Kässmann.

This article was found at:

http://www.anglicanjournal.com/issues/2008/134/nov/09/article/church-run-homes-investigated-for-abuse/
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25 Feb 2008

Brisbane sex abuse priest may be defrocked

AAP | Monday, 25 February 2008

An Anglican Church tribunal this week will hear evidence which could lead to a priest jailed for child sex being stripped of his orders.

Robert Francis Sharwood, 62, of Brisbane, was jailed for 12 months in November 2006 after being found guilty of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy in Brisbane more than 30 years ago.

Sharwood was released from jail in November last year, attracting calls by child protection advocates for him to be immediately stripped of his holy orders.

While Brisbane Anglican Archbishop Phillip Aspinall removed Sharwood's licence to operate as a priest in the diocese in 2002, the church's Professional Standards Board has yet to complete its processes which could lead to Sharwood being defrocked.

The process involves allowing Sharwood to make a submission before any decision is made on his Anglican orders, and could allow him to cross-examine his victim.

A church spokesman today said a formal hearing would be held in Brisbane on Saturday.

He said the hearing would be open to the public and its findings made public.

The church also plans to review its system of handling clergy convicted of serious offences.

Meanwhile, The Courier-Mail newspaper today published a photograph of Sharwood singing in an inner-Brisbane church choir which included children.

A church spokesman told AAP Sharwood was taking part in a public performance and was "monitored by suitable adults".

"He was kept a distance from children," the spokesman said.

"It's important to note part of our policy requires that parishioners are informed of his presence ... so they have the right to take any action they deem necessary.

"This whole system is aimed at ensuring that parishioners and, in particular, children are at no risk.

"Our requirements are more strict than any other requirement the law has of him."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/
4415164a12.html
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22 Jan 2008

Orleans woman named in abuse lawsuit against school

Cape Cod Times - January 22, 2008

by Susan Milton

ORLEANS — An Orleans woman is one of six defendants named in a $225 million lawsuit alleging physical, psychological and sexual abuse at a Canadian prep school linked to the Community of Jesus.

Mary Haig French, a former administrator and teacher at the recently closed Grenville Christian College, is named in a $225 million suit seeking class-action status in Ontario Superior Court.

The suit by four former students names as defendants the school, the Anglican Diocese of Ontario, two Episcopal priests ordained by the diocese who also served as school headmasters, and the priests' wives, who are also identified as school administrators or instructors.

The defendants include J. Alistair Haig, who was in charge from 1969 to 1983, and his wife, Mary; and Charles Farnsworth and his wife, Betty.

Haig's wife has since remarried and is known as Mary Haig French. She lives in Orleans near the Community of Jesus' 10-acre site near Rock Harbor. Haig French had no comment.

Grenville was a K-12 boarding school in Brockville, Ontario, with ties to the Orleans-based Community of Jesus from the 1970s to the mid-1990s. The school closed in July because of financial problems and dwindling enrollment.

In 1981, then-headmaster Haig told the Cape Cod Times that the Community of Jesus saved the college in 1973 from morale and financial problems. At the time, 60 of the school's 65 staff members belonged to the church and many regularly visited the Cape group "to study community doctrine and to learn discipline." Haig was recalled to the community in 1983, the suit says.

The Community of Jesus is an ecumenical religious group unaffiliated with any organized religion. The community was founded by two women in the late 1960s and now has about 300 members.

A $1 billion class-action suit filed in November alleging abuse at Grenville named the Community of Jesus as a defendant but not the headmasters' wives.

Haig's and Farnsworth's lawyer, the college and diocese did not respond to calls for comment.

The new suit, filed Jan. 15, identifies the Community of Jesus as the inspiration for many alleged activities, including exorcisms and hours-long "light sessions" in which students were forced to confess sins, real or imagined; public humiliation; isolation from family; brutal and demeaning tasks; periods of silence; and strappings.

But the suit did not name the Community of Jesus as a defendant. The plaintiffs' attorney, Loretta Merritt of Toronto, declined to say why.

The community's attorney, Jeffrey Robbins, said they had no connection to the allegations. "The community does not condone, has never condoned, and would not condone abuse of any kind," he said.

The school promoted itself as an Anglican church. A Canadian police probe started in September into allegations of physical and emotional abuse at the school after complaints by some students to the Anglican diocese. That investigation continues.

Susan Milton can be reached at smilton@capecodonline.com



http://www.capecodonline.com/
apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/
20080122/NEWS/801220324
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21 Jan 2008

Second class-action suit against Anglican School seeking $225M in damages

Brockville Recorder & Times, Section A, Page 3

January 18, 2008

By KIM LUNMAN


Life behind the stately walls of Grenville Christian College was "stranger than fiction," according to a former student who is part of a second class-action lawsuit seeking $225 million in damages for alleged physical and sexual abuse at the former private boarding school east of Brockville.

A statement of claim filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto against Grenville Christian College and the Anglican Diocese of Ontario alleges that although the school was promoted as an Anglican school, its principals were closely allied with the Community of Jesus and promoted bizarre cult-like behaviour that has left the pupils permanently traumatized.

Former Grenville College students in the class-action lawsuit are claiming damages for psychological, physical and sexual abuse that took place at the school between 1973 to 1997.

"It's really important for these former students to have a forum in which they can get justice," Toronto lawyer Loretta Merritt said in an interview Thursday. "A lot of these people have been sitting on these secrets for a very long time," she said.

One of the case's plaintiff's, former student Andrew Hale-Byrne, said in a written statement released Thursday he was under the impression the school was an Anglican boarding school when he was first enrolled.

"The reality behind the walls was so rarefied and absurd that it was truly stranger than fiction," Hale-Byrne said, adding the case gives the alleged victims a chance at closure. "I am pleased that this process offers the opportunity for the victims of abuse to be heard and that those responsible are being called into account."

The lawsuit seeks $200 million in general damages and $25 million in damages for the "physical, psychological, sexual and spiritual abuse" Merritt alleges the former students suffered at the school, which shut down suddenly last summer.

The claim alleges students were subject to public humiliations and light sessions, in which pupils were dragged out of bed at night by staff shining flashlights in their face and denouncing them as sinners. It also states female students were subjected to lectures on celibacy and marriage and told all other women were "sluts, whores, bitches in heat, jezebels and temptresses."

The lawsuit names as defendants the school, the Anglican diocese, Rev. Charles Farnsworth, a former headmaster, and his wife Betty, and former headmaster Al Haig and his ex-wife Mary.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

Merritt said former students have suffered a loss of self-esteem and confidence and experienced trouble with relationships and employment as a result.

The latest lawsuit focuses on the close relationship between the school and the Kingston Anglican Diocese of Ontario and alleges that the school and its founding headmasters, both ordained Anglican priests, were closely allied with the Community of Jesus, an organization labelled a cult by U.S. media. The lawsuit also states the Anglican Diocese of Ontario was responsible for the clergy at the school and should have known about the bizarre practices and behaviour at the school overlooking the St. Lawrence River.

Another class-action lawsuit from former Grenville Christian College students seeking $1 billion in damages was filed last October.

Christopher Haber said in an interview Thursday he has applied for a certification motion hearing before a judge in Superior Court of Justice in Milton, Ont., to certify the class-action lawsuit. The hearing is expected to be held in March or April.

He said it is up to a judge to certify a class-action lawsuit, which will determine which of the cases will go ahead.

"We'll see how the other lawsuit unfolds and we'll proceed on that basis."

Neither lawyer in both cases would reveal how many former students are being represented in the class-action lawsuits.

The statement of claim filed in Superior Court of Justice in Milton on Oct. 17 names Rev. Haig and Rev. Farnsworth as defendants along with the Anglican Church, Grenville Christian College, Berean Fellowship International of Canada, and the Massachusetts group known as the Community of Jesus.

The court document alleges students were beaten with wooden paddles and subjected to "light sessions" and also accuses former staff of questioning female students about their virginity and denouncing them as "whores."

Rev. Farnsworth, of Brockville, who served as headmaster between 1984 and 1998, has publicly denied the allegations.

Allegations by former students against the private school first surfaced on Internet chatrooms and in the media after Grenville Christian College closed in July.

The complaints sparked an Anglican Church Diocese of Ontario inquiry into the allegations and an OPP investigation. There have been no charges laid in the ongoing probe, OPP spokesman Sgt. Kristine Rae said in an interview Thursday.
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18 Jan 2008

Second lawsuit filed against Grenville Christian College and the Anglican Diocese of Ontario

Private school faces new $200-million lawsuit

MICHAEL VALPY
Globe and Mail

January 17, 2008


A second lawsuit filed against Grenville Christian College and the Anglican Diocese of Ontario claims the now-closed private school was operated as a mind-control cult that left former students physically, mentally and sexually traumatized.

The suit paints a bizarre portrait of the school near Brockville, Ont., where students were told that illnesses and disabilities were the result of unconfessed sin and where a former headmaster, an Anglican priest, preached that AIDS and killer bees in Texas were evidence of the approaching end of the world.

The suit, filed by former students as a class action, asks for $200-million in damages and seeks a so-called Mareva injunction to block the sale of the school and its 107-hectare property overlooking the St. Lawrence River. An earlier class-action suit was filed in November. The Ontario Provincial Police are also conducting a criminal investigation into complaints of sexual and physical abuse. None of the allegations against the school, church or individuals have been proven in court.

The latest lawsuit details the close relationship over 30 years between the school and the Kingston-based Diocese of Ontario and alleges the school prospered because of its advertised connection with the diocese and the Anglican values it was supposedly promoting.

Instead, the school and its founding headmasters, both ordained priests of the diocese, fell under the influence of the Community of Jesus, a Massachusetts-based organization identified as a cult in the U.S. news media, the suit says.

The suit states that Anglican authorities knew or should have known that the school was deviating from Anglican doctrine and that the practices being followed would lead to students suffering sexual, physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual harm.

It describes students being subjected to exorcisms and exercises in self-loathing. Students were told that all women except those "tamed in marriage" or belonging to celibate religious orders are "sluts, whores, bitches in heat, jezebels and temptresses."

The suit - filed by the Toronto law firm of Torkin, Manes, Cohen & Arbus LLP - names as defendants the school, the Anglican diocese, Rev. Charles Farnsworth and his wife, Betty, and former headmaster Rev. Al Haig and his divorced wife, Mary, who lives at the Community of Jesus on Cape Cod.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/
RTGAM.20080117.wgrenville17/BNStory/National/Ontario/
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5 Dec 2007

Deliver us from evil: Exorcisms in demand

Waikato Times - New Zealand

December 1, 2007

Some may feel they've had a brush with evil, others experience total demonic possession. Either way, the demand for exorcisms keeps the Church busy.

It's about 9pm when Michael Hewat answers the phone at his Dinsdale vicarage.

Two minutes later he's out the door and on the road.

People in a house a short drive away in the country are scared. A man in their company has suddenly started hissing like a snake.

Hewat, vicar of West Hamilton Anglican Parish, knows the signs. Behaving like an animal especially a snake can be evidence of possession by demons.

Later the occupants would tell Hewat that as his headlights came up the driveway, the man, with a history of P use, went into a frenzy.

It seems he sensed what Hewat was there for.

When Hewat gets out of the car the heavily tattooed man is on the veranda.

His eyes are narrow and angry. Hewat puts a wooden crucifix in front of the man and starts praying for him.

It sounds like a supernatural thriller. But Hewat assures the Waikato Times that it happened.

He is matter-of-fact about exorcisms, which he says are relatively rare maybe two or three a year.

House blessings are more common. He doesn't particularly enjoy the exorcisms, but they have to be done.

He's agreed to talk about this subject because of what occurred in Wainuiomata in October.

He wants people to know that the tragic death of Janet Moses in a bizarre attempt to lift a Maori curse called a makutu has no relationship with exorcisms practised in the Christian Church.

Moses' life ended when buckets of water forced down her throat finally drowned her.

Her 14-year-old cousin was also a target and almost lost her eyesight after having her eyeballs gouged. The behaviour even has Maori experts on makutu wondering what was going on.

For many of us, knowledge of exorcisms is limited to memories of the movie The Exorcist: Linda Blair levitating or swivelling her head around 360 degrees; two priests repeatedly shouting the words "the power of Christ compels you!".

With the charismatic Christian revival in recent decades, exorcism or deliverance as it is known has become a relatively common practice.

Proponents are keen to point out that deliverance is quick, relaxed and gentle.

Generally it is simply a case of praying for someone a far cry from the incident in Wainuiomata or the way exorcism is portrayed in movies.

Some churches don't practise exorcisms. Others use it regularly.

One woman who'd had several exorcisms told the Times that demons are common and most people could benefit from being "set free".

The events of October 12 when Janet Moses died are still being pieced together by police. They are seeking advice on how to handle the matter and how to access who is culpable.

No kaumatua or tohunga (expert practitioner) was present at the house where the ceremony occurred only relatives.

Apparently a further six people were also "cleansed" including the 14-year-old cousin. The other five were unharmed.

It is understood the relatives believed a makutu had been put on after Moses' sister stole a statue from a pub.

The extent to which exorcism is practised in Christianity depends on the church. Auckland University School of Theology head Elaine Wainwright says in Catholicism exorcisms are virtually unknown.

If they are done, it is only under the strictest guidelines. Most priests would not have performed one.

They would also not be considered by most mainstream churches such as Presbyterian, Methodist and Anglican, and are practised more by the more evangelical churches.

Wainwright says often exorcism can simply be a case of praying over someone, "which is fine".

"Where the problems come is when it becomes physical but they are aberrations."

She refers to a case in 2001 of a Korean pastor in Auckland who conducted an exorcism that resulted in the death of one of his flock.

He was convicted of manslaughter but the verdict was overturned on appeal and a retrial ordered. He has since skipped the country.

While exorcism can be a fraught area, Wainwright is careful not to be critical.

"There's an element in tradition around healing that I think the mainstream churches have lost sight of," she says.

Michael Hewat sees exorcisms as an essential role for the church.

"I know of no mainline or pentecostal Christian denomination which does not still acknowledge that exorcism is one of the ministries Jesus commanded the church to exercise under his authority.

"True, there are many individual ministers and congregations within the liberal mainline who will not have a bar of it, but that is consistent with their rejection of a personal God doing anything supernatural, including raising Jesus from the dead.

"For those who have not abandoned a biblical faith, however, the devil too is a supernatural being who until he is finally vanquished once and for all needs regularly to be put in his place. Exorcism is one of the Church's key weapons in this spiritual battle."

Hewat recently did a house blessing.

He says occupants will generally contact him because they are worried about manifestations of spiritual activity such as doors opening and shutting and fingers trailing on the window.

Often the calls come from people associated with martial arts or involved with occult practices such as ouija boards or seances.

Such activities can provide the entry point for spiritualism, he says.

He'll go through a house from room to room with salt and water, praying and symbolically cleaning.

Do house blessings work?

"I've never heard of one not working."

He recalls one house he blessed after being called because children were seeing faces on the ceiling.

A teenager apparently returned to the house at night afterwards, unaware of what had happened, and immediately said: "What's happened to the house? It feels completely different."

Hewat's introduction to exorcism came when he was part of a group supporting a minister in Auckland about 20 years ago.

A four-year-old girl was talking like an adult and saying horrible things about her mother. She was asleep as they prayed for her.

Suddenly one of the women who had a similar first name to the girl started screaming.

"She just went to pieces. We heard this terrible screaming from the other room. I thought 'Oh no something has gone terribly wrong'."

He says it appeared the demon had come out through the woman. It was initially traumatic for her but the exorcism was very successful.

Hewat says the crazed man on the veranda he described earlier settled down quite quickly after he prayed for him.

"He felt very tired afterwards and went to bed. A few weeks later I baptised him."

Hamilton woman Robyn Jackson went through deliverance ministry soon after becoming a Christian in 1989.

Jackson had troubled times as a teenager and young adult.

In retrospect she feels she spent a lot of her life restlessly searching for love and for answers "in the wrong places".

Living in Auckland, Jackson got interested in the occult and explored activities such as astrology, tarot card reading, channelling and psychic development.

"People tell you they are harmless, but I can tell you they are not."

Still, she wasn't fulfilled.

"There were no answers in what I'd been into it just wasn't satisfying.

"I had tried seeking answers to my troubles and a lot of the hard questions in life but I was just going in the wrong direction and it made things worse."

She began to feel she'd "stuffed up my life".

Jackson eventually started going to an Anglican church but decided she needed more spiritual help.

She still had an oppressive feeling. She still felt "bound".

Jackson began a series of sessions of deliverance ministry with the church's minister and an associate.

She describes it as a bit like counselling, while they would also pray for her and ask for God's guidance.

She remembers sensations sometimes a coughing, sometimes an unpleasant feeling the moment she felt whatever was inside her had left her body.

Jackson emphasises that it was a gentle process, done with love.

"There was nothing violent or no physical restraint."

Which is why she regards the incident in Wainuiomata as so totally foreign.

"It's just so far removed from my experience. It (deliverance ministry) is done with a lot of love and gentleness. But I'll tell you what, it's about power.

"The power of Jesus Christ is what does it. You can see Christ's power when you go into a service where there's a presence of God."

Jackson felt immeasurably better once the process was over. She doesn't like to use the word "demons" but feels dark spiritual powers had been removed.

"When the occult stuff went I felt just so much more able to relate to God and others. I was more compassionate. I wasn't thinking only about me any more. A lot of those new age things are all about you."

Jackson became deeply involved with the Anglican church. She became part of the church's prayer ministry team, participating in deliverance ministry when she was needed.

She emphasises the method is just one way of the church helping troubled people. Deliverance ministry needs to work in with medical requirements or counselling and lifestyle changes.

Nor does it make you immune from what else life may throw at you. For example, soon after, Jackson struggled to deal with the death of her husband.

"The reality is we are human beings so things don't always go right."

Jackson says she hasn't seen movies such as The Exorcist but describes some of what she has heard of their portrayal of exorcism as "absolute Hollywood rubbish".

These days she is a different person, remarried, a successful naturopath and politically active. She accepts that people may find it hard to believe in the experiences she describes.

"To understand the deliverance ministry they have to really accept that there is good and evil. I realise that if people don't believe in God they won't be able to accept my explanation."

Jackson says the reason she shared her experiences with the Waikato Times is that she wants other people to be able to ask for help.

"That's the reason I'm sharing. I hope it helps someone to be free and know the love of God in a much greater way."

The Times spoke to another woman who has been through exorcisms, who says most people will have some kind of demon.

She recounts how she had a lot of trouble throughout much of her life with grief and fear.

She could never understand where it came from or what was really wrong. Eventually she received deliverance ministry.

She was told during the process of how her father's grandmother had a little girl who died and went through terrible grief.

The person praying for her removed what she calls "the spirit of grief". She knew nothing of her ancestors' tragedy until that moment. That night she called her parents in England who confirmed it.

Similarly as a child she had a terrible fear of death which had continued into adulthood.

Again, the "spirit of death" was removed through prayers. This time she traced the problem to her mother, who nearly died when she gave birth to her first child while a missionary in India.

Her mother had become pregnant again and was scared of what would happen. It appeared her mother's fears were passed down to her before she was born.

"Often things happen in childhood that cause an emotional wound. I'm sure there is a lot of good that can come from counselling but if you have a demon there, you should get rid of it. It's so simple and so gentle and so normal. Most people will have some kind of demon."

David Riddell, editor of New Zealand Skeptics, says there was a time when almost everything the weather, disease, earthquakes, comets and eclipses was explained in supernatural terms.

"We have progressed as a society by developing natural explanations for the world around us, and this applies to the mental health field as well.

"Rather than interpreting erratic or destructive behaviour as the result of demons or curses, it's likely to be more productive to see such things as being due to psychological trauma or physiological imbalance, and to manage treatment on that basis.

"Of course it's becoming recognised that our psychological state has a tremendous effect on our physical wellbeing, and it may be that rituals or ceremonies which are appropriate to the person's particular worldview may have a part to play in restoring his or her equilibrium."

Riddell says such ceremonies shouldn't be to the exclusion of other approaches, nor should they involve coercion.

"Anyone participating in tikanga Maori relating to makutu, an evangelical church's exorcism or a New Age rebirthing ceremony all of which have seen people killed must, if someone's well-being is threatened, be prepared to stand up and say, this has to stop."

Michael Hewat says he takes great care with exorcism from start to finish. He is very careful about who he exorcises and how he does it.

Children should be prayed for from a distance, he says.

Hewat is careful with mental illnesses and says there is a need to work alongside medical authorities.

"A responsible person will take a holistic approach to any illness. You do have to be careful. There's potential to do some psychiatric damage to people.

"There are often many complexities. Other help may be required but exorcism can be an important part in the process."

He pre-counsels people and debriefs them.

"I've never known anyone who's been delivered and regretted it."

He emphasises that there is no need for any histrionics.

Exorcism can be done quickly and calmly. He has no great ritual that he follows other than to cover himself and cover the other people there.

"If a demon is coming out, you have to make sure it doesn't come out through someone else."

He also doesn't like to see exorcisms done publicly.

"It's not for public entertainment. It horrified me that someone would do it on TV. It's not sensitive to put someone on display like that."

If Hewat gets a call from someone who wants an exorcism he usually meets them in the church chapel.

"Satan knows he's on your turf , there's also lots of visual symbolism which can make people feel more secure."

The level of demonic activity can vary from people having bad thoughts, who feel they've had a brush with evil, to total demonic possession.

Hewat wants people to be aware of the good deliverance ministry can do: "Given that a small number of people in our society do suffer the terrible affliction of demonic possession and will only find freedom through exorcism, it would be regrettable if the tragic experience of Janet Moses were to discredit what is a valid ministry of the Christian church."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4300005a10.html


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