WHO polices the Circuit Overseers?

by babygirl30 21 Replies latest jw friends

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  babygirl30

  I know that the C.O. is required to 'monitor' the elders...but WHO monitors the C.O.? I ask that because thinking back to all the C.O.'s I've had seen, each had his own personality and style. I remember one (when i was little) - HIS wife was a nut...she hated all things Disney and made it clear to all the sis's in the cong that Disney movies were inappropriate and demonized for JW children - mind you years later her husband got deleted as a C.O. for inappropriate behavior with a single sister! (isn't THAT demonized too???) Another I remember both he and his wife were very 'siddity' and gravitated towards the couples in our cong that had money...and they would go on trips together, sit together, have this C.O. over for dinner all the time - I mean they became close friends. BUT it always felt like the rest of the us were out of his range...and his wife was THE snottiest chick I've ever met. UGH!!! Another I recall was old as dirt...this dude had 1 foot in the grave and his wife was 1/2 his age!!!! She was VERY standoffish and HE was in a world of his own. I swear this man had his OWN teachings and was soooooooo boring. Lastly, there is the C.O. that is in the cong now...I really thought he was genuine and had a compassionate side to him. BUT being DF'd and him getting involved in my case, well, I now see that this guy is as pompous as they come. Came to bless me with a visit (I guess...) and pretty much made me feel like crap. Warned me against talking to the elders AND to my parents because of my DF status, and pretty much reminded me WHY I did not want to go back to the org. I was confused by a LOT of what he said in the visit so I asked him to come back...and he did...but he made it CLEAR that he was 'unwilling' to do this and from then on the conversation went DOWNHILL. I will never forget 1 word that man said to me because he made me, a domestic violence victim at the hands of a fellow JW, feel like a VICTIM all over again.

  Anyone else had to deal with some off the wall C.O.s?
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  AudeSapere

  I think that would Distict Overseers who report to Zone Overseers.

  -Aude.
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  sd-7

  Who polices the circuit overseers?

  Who watches the watchmen?

  Same question, really.

  In this case, they're only policed so much as it affects the turning of the wheels, just like anyone else in the Borg. Never made a habit of being too close to any of them because they always seemed...out of touch with the ordinary person's life. Like they were just there to show us how little we were doing, and to hold themselves up as all we could never be.

  Once you understand how the wheels really turn, they become as irrelevant and irritating as anyone else on the inside.

  SD-7
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  JWoods

  I once observed a CO get disfellowshipped DURING OUR CONGREGATIONS WEEKLY VISIT!!!

  He had an affair with a single pioneer sister in another congregation in a previous circuit; she confessed to her committee after he had left. They contacted the service department at the society and they authorized that congregation to hold the committee meeting. This was pre-elders, so it was just their Congregation Overseer, Assistant Overseer, and Bible Study Overseer. Strangely, I do not think that the district overseer was involved...it was almost like the society wanted this to be as low profile as possible.

  The creep of a CO did not even tell us what was going on - just that he needed to go back to his former circuit "for an important committee meeting". Like as if he was needed to ajudicate over somebody else back there!

  Marion Dunlap (who sometimes filled in for COs when they were sick or needed a vacation) had to finish the "Circuit Overseer week" for him.
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  dissed

  Its been my understanding that they are managed by someone in Bethel for correspondence stuff and the DO on the outside.

  So if you have a complaint, of a serious nature, you would contact Bethel, and they would probably contact the DO. I think.

  If he's just a jerk, we would count the days for the new one to show and do our best to put up with him or her if that was the problem.

  My PO did say one time he got a questionare from the society on our CO wanting his opinion on some very specific things.

  I've also heard of cong. BOE's writing with complaints, but we never did that.
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  JWoods

  You know - come to think of it, what exactly does a DO do during all the weeks when there is no District Convention?

  I knew one who parked his trailer at my parent's house for 3 or 4 weeks at a time - and he had his grandson with them.

  They mostly sat around our pool the whole time.
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  Open mind

  I've heard of local BOE's risking their collective positions by writing a letter to Service detailing a litany of where the CO went off the rails in their opinions.

  I'm aware of this happening twice in my area. The first one, the CO "came off the road" after the 3 year stint was up. The second one, the CO is still serving but may have gotten his hand slapped by Service. To my knowledge, the local BOEs didn't get in any trouble.

  om
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  JWoods

  I got the general impression that the COs were generally terrified of the Service Department. The service department guys were generally thought to be wanna-be society higherups who tried to exaggerate their powers over the COs. Maybe even wanna-be COs themselves - get to have a big Lincoln and a travel trailer; all expenses paid constant vacation and what all.
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  dissed

  Of course, you can do what I did once, and approach him individually over a matter, only to have him blow up, get angry and remove most of my priviledges. But I wouldn't reccomend it unless you want to leave, which I realize now was a good thing. lol
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  DNCall

  Generally, the COs answer to the DOs. One of the functions of the DO is to work along with the CO in the host congregation during the week of that circuit's assembly. During that week, he is supposed to offer counsel to the CO. Of course the CO is answerable to anyone in the organization; however, the ones below him in the pecking order had better be perceived to be right in the eyes of those those above him.