by Rado Vleugel 4 Replies latest jw friends
Blaming the Jehovahs Witnesses shunning policy for the deaths of her sister's family, Sharon Roe plans to make a career of speaking out and helping former members deal with breaking from the Jehovah's Witnesses. Roe's sister died along with her four children at the hands of her disfellowshipped husband.
Read the whole story and previous story on http://www.watchtowerinformationservice.org
Rado Vleugel
No offence but let's put the url link and the story up ........
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/5910603p-6873017c.html
Blaming church policy for the deaths of her sister's family, Sharon Roe plans to make a career of speaking out and helping former members deal with breaking from the Jehovah's Witnesses church.
Roe's sister, Janet Bryant, 37, died almost a year ago in a rural Oregon mobile home along with her four children at the hands of her husband, Robert, also 37, who then killed himself.
For families like the Bryants, the church that for so long had been at the center of their lives could no longer be a source of support, spiritual guidance and social activities.
The Bryants left California in 2001 after Robert's landscaping business failed and he had a bitter split with family members and the Jehovah's Witnesses Shingle Springs congregation.
Mark Messier Sr., an elder at the Shingle Springs Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, said after the killings that Bryant was expelled from the congregation in the late 1990s after he announced that he no longer accepted its religious teachings.
Messier said Bryant also became estranged from several branches of his family, including his parents, three brothers and a sister in the Shingle Springs and Cameron Park areas.
Roe, 34, said she believes that Robert Bryant was in a suicidal depression that grew from his being shunned by his former congregation.
"There's just no place to turn to when you're shunned. It leaves you completely alone and eventually it just piles up on you," Roe said.
Jehovah's Witnesses officials and family members did not reply to attempts by The Bee to gain their comments for this account.
A cradle Jehovah's Witness who has subsequently left the group, Roe said the need for help for former members was underscored for her after the deaths. In the aftermath, Roe's family cut off all contact with her, she said, leaving her to experience shunning firsthand.
When the horrifying death scene was discovered, Oregon authorities contacted Roe and her husband, Marvin, as next of kin from information found in the home. They had maintained a close relationship, and the Roes' daughter, Audrey, was close to the Bryant children. In class journals from their Oregon school, the Bryant children speak longingly of their aunt, uncle and cousin in California.
The tragedy has resonated throughout the ex-Jehovah's Witnesses community and been a topic on busy Web sites that deal with problems of former members, including www.Jehovahs-Witness.com.
"I was in such pain after this I tried everywhere. I went to the hospice people, mental health -- I even went to the hospital emergency room, but the problem is that nobody understands what you're going through," she said.
The inadequacy of counseling is compounded by the church's teaching that such services are to be avoided. "You're supposed to depend on the church instead, but if you're cut off, then what?" Roe said.
Reacting to the tragedy, she and other ex-Jehovah's Witnesses have come together and agreed that an outreach program is needed for people who have left the faith.
One of the ex-members who made contact with Roe, Cathy Davidow of Chico, has a large home in rural Oregon to offer as a library and safe house for people making a transition after leaving. Further, Roe said she and Davidow are planning a memorial service for the Bryants in the Placerville area Feb. 23, the anniversary of the deaths in Oregon.
"Then I'm going to make this my life's work, helping former members whose lives are in crisis," Roe said. "I still have to finish my college degree, but I sure have an incentive now to do that."
About the Writer
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The Bee's Walt Wiley can be reached at (916) 321-1063 or [email protected].
I posted it this way, because I have also the previous story for background information on my site.
Greetings, Rado Vleugel
Holy!!!!
They gave your site a plug Simon!
hawk
It's nice to get a mention ... but I would prefer it wasn't over such a tragic event
Thanks for posting the article guys.
