Theodore ("Ted") Jaracz
1925-2010
About 7:30, June 9, 2010, Theodore ("Ted") Jaracz, one of the members of the Governing Body ruling over Jehovah's Witnesses, died. Previously, on May 19, 2009, he had had a serious stroke, but recently seemed to have made a big recovery, giving some assembly talks.
Jaracz was born in 1925 and was 85 years old at death. Even prior to the major stroke he had been diagnosed with a heart condition as far back at the early 90s.
Raised in southern Illinois, in 1951 Jaracz graduated Gilead and was sent to the Australian branch where he worked in the Service Department, then as Branch Overseer where he was diligent in preaching and demanding theocratic order. However, for reasons no one has yet divulged, around 1956, Jaracz was ordered to leave the Australian branch. Now that he has died more is likely to come out then President of the Watchtower Society, Nathan Homer Knorr, sent Jaracz back to the United States to serve in the district work in California. He eventually declared himself to be "one of the anointed."
In the early 70s, Knorr invited Jaracz to be on Watchtower's Governing Body Board of Directors as a way to "get even" after the directors began shifting power from Knorr over to the Governing Body . It was Lloyd Barry, Branch Overseer in Japan, who recommended that Jaracz be removed from the Australian branch, so there was no love lost between the two men. Barry also was appointed to be a member of the Governing Body, and, eventually, overseer of the Writing Department.
Confrontation and disagreements between Barry and Jaracz were the talk of those in the know in the Writing Department, especially over the organization's child abuse policy of appointing molesters to positions of authority if they had repented.
In 1972, the Watchtower Society sent a directive to its Bodies of Elders saying they need not delete as fellow elders those who confessed to having committed pedophilia provided "several years" (later defined to 2-3 years) had passed and they appeared to still be enjoying "Jehovah's blessing," meaning their pedophilia had not become widely known beyond the other elders of the Watchtower Society.
Knorr was instrumental in bringing in Jaracz to Bethel knowing that he was a hardline fanatic. Once empowered, Jaracz was nicknamed "Boss" by the other Governing Body members. He took positions on policies that harmed the lives of millions of rank-and-file JWs and their children around the world. In 1976, at the Watch Tower Society's world headquarters, Jaracz wound up as head of the Service Department over Bodies of Elders around the world.
Barbara Anderson, former staff member in the Watchtower's Writing Department, says Jaracz was single-handedly responsible for the hard-line attitude towards child sexual abuse victims and the way the Service Department dealt with such abuse.
After being appointed to the Governing Body in 1973, Jaracz, as head of the Service Department over all Watchtower's elders, heartily promoted what the 1972 directive had stated. Due to Jaracz those molested were silenced, while their molesters, often elders, were allowed to stay in good-standing.
As the years rolled by the numbers and percentage of pedophile elders and other pedophiles among the congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses quietly increased, reaching crisis proportions that would eventually become a scandal breaking onto the world news.
Jaracz detested the October 8, 1991 Awake! about molestation and the following April 8, 1992 Awake! article that contained letters thanking the Governing Body for that Awake!. He even ordered the Watch Tower Society's factory not to print the April 8, 1992 Awake!, but was overruled by the second-in-command of the Writing Department, John Barr, when Barry was out of the country and could not intervene.
Jaracz was single-handedly responsible for sending forth Circuit Overseers to intimidate child abuse victims into silence by threatening them with disfellowshipping if they continued to accuse Watchtower elders and ministerial servants of having molested them. He rewarded one especially diligent Circuit Overseer, Guy Pierce, by inviting him to Bethel, and, eventually appointed him to the Governing Body .
Another Circuit Overseer, who helped Jaracz out by threatening victims, was named Beagle. He also was called into the Service Department. However, Circuit Overseer Beagle, who was being groomed for the position of member of the Governing Body , died after being in Bethel only one year due to a viral infection in his heart. Informants say that before Beagle took ill, he had requested to go back into the district work.
In January 2001, Kentucky-based elder, William H. ("Bill") Bowen, went public about a Watch Tower pedophile cover-up in his own congregation. The story was carried by local Kentucky newspapers. Immediately, Bowen founded a website, www.silentlambs.org, where he discussed his accusations of a Watch Tower child abuse problem. Bowen used information shared by Barbara Anderson, former staff member in the Watch Tower's Writing Department, and also related his own encounters with many pedophilia judicial cases.
Thousands of JW victims of abuse responded which validated the claims made against the Watch Tower. Later, in 2002, he appeared with Barbara Anderson on Dateline NBC, a national TV program. In addition, over the years, Bowen appeared on international TV. For example: CBS, CNN and BBC told his story to the press many times. Anderson was also interviewed for many newspaper articles. She appeared on local Tennessee TV programs, and in November 2007, on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.
[from Barbara Anderson, former member of the Watchtower's Writing Department]
Ted Jaracz' Influence On The Rest of the Governing Body
One dissenter writes:
There is a big philosophical split between the Writing Dept. and the Service Dept. - liberals versus conservatives. The Writing Dept. (was) headed by GB member Lloyd Barry, who I've heard mixed reviews about. I've been told by people who know him that he's fairly hard-line or fairly soft-line. I suppose it depends on one's point of view. Ted Jaracz head(ed) up the Service Dept. and those who have commented about him are unanimous that he's a "hard-line ***hole." The other GB members call him "The Boss" and they aren't just making fun. Barry and Jaracz, and of course their respective departments, have major disagreements about how JWs should behave and how the JW organization should be run. The nasty, hard-line approach of the last 20 years is due almost entirely to Jaracz' dominance.
Whenever there are conflicting directions from the Writing Dept. in The Watchtower and from the Service Dept. via the Circuit Overseer and direct letter channels, naturally the elders will follow the privately-given instructions. This is how the elders have ended up with the extreme nastiness and conservatism of Ted Jaracz.
More subjects on Ted Jaracz are discussed HERE such as:
Ted Jaracz vs Jack Barr - Governing Body Showdown
Ted Jaracz And Mental Health Counselors
Ted Jaracz And the United Nations Scandal
Ted Jaracz And Child Abuse Policy
Ted Jaracz On The Secret Child Abuser Database
Audio and Video available
Interview with Bill Bowen of silentlambs.org (8/15/2002) (Windows Media, 11 minutes)
Fifth Estate program on Spiritual Shepherds (2/3/2003) (Windows Media, 45 minutes)
Interview with Bill Bowen of silentlambs.org (8/4/2006) (Windows Media, 2 parts, 37 minutes)
Barbara Anderson on JWs and Pedophiles with WSMV.com (11/22/07) (Windows Media, 2 minutes)
NBC Jehovah's Witnesses child sexual abuse on YouTube (11/23/07)
Interview with Mark Furhman from the Mark Furhman Show on Radio 1510AM KGA on Real Audio:
part 1 with Linda John (20:10)
part 2 (continued) (18:08)
part 3 with Barbara Anderson (15:00)
part 4 with Barbara Anderson (21:18)
Randall Watters
see also: Most Wanted Watchtower Leaders - For Crimes Against Humanity