Waiting for waiting for
Hey Hawk! When they make the movie, shall we call it
The Raptor and the Redactor?
Max
Maximus
JoinedPosts by Maximus
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14
MAJOR MESSAGE FOR "WAITING"
by hawkaw inwaiting,.
i have provided the details of how to build a "nuclear hydrogen bomb" via your email.. if your reading this go to your email asap.. oh, if anyone has the urge keep bumping this to the top until "waiting" responds - please feel free.
thanks in advance.. hawk
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Maximus
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Watchtower Website to Report Child Molestations
by Ray Skyhorse inive been reading a lot on the issue of child molestion and the watchtower society.
ive read some things about the borg settling cases out-of-court but i havent heard many details.. does anyone know if the watchtower has agreed to any terms for settling a case that involve non-monetary terms?
for example, today i read in the l.a. daily journal about the catholic church settling a case that involved these terms:.
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Maximus
: I understand the Berry case IS against the WTS itself
More specifically the Writ indicts the congregation, which means its elders, and the corporate entities--for the first time the Governing Body is also fingered. The Berry case puts a face on "the Society." Please note that the indictment clearly spells out the relationship of COs and DOs to the GB and elders in the organizational schema. Think not for one minute that attorney Anderson will leave it to the imagination as to how this specifically works.
What is of more than passing interest to me is that the Catholic Church, the Episcopal and many other churches have had very enlightened policies and procedures in place, even though not monolithic; they even provide treatment centers for offenders as well as victims.
The Watchtower Society has had a very bad policy in place to begin with, and a culture of protecting the organization rather than a vulnerable child. Some "treatment" has involved sending victims to a theocratic therapist who reports back to the elders, thus victimizing the victim yet again.
Treatment of the offender consists in moralizing with scriptures, and the prescription of more prayer, more meetings, more study, and------more service. Really enlightened, wouldn't you say?
Sure, they are going to let elders hang out to dry. But they themselves will not be able to hide.
I say again that a Berry victory will open the floodgates of civil suits. Rest assured the Society will pull out all the stops to win that case.
Remember too, they cannot afford to lose their largest market: the U.S. public.
Maximus
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141
JW Kids Leave the Organization: Facts
by Maximus inthe october 1 watchtower 2001 features articles on training children "properly" and dealing with a "prodigal child.
the latest inside u.s. figures reveal that 86% of jw children leave the fold, with some 29% who eventually come back for reasons of family ties, most never "reaching out.
" that means over half leave permanently.
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Maximus
Nicodemus,
Couple what you have said with the GB inability to view children for what they are rather than as little adults with 'foolishness bound up in their heart.'
Here's a key element missing in their badly flawed child abuse policy: Failure to see first and foremost the need to protect a vulnerable CHILD not protect the organization or some elder with years of service.
Light will eventually flash from the temple, to the effect that Romans 13 is seen to supersede the two-witness rule, that Caesar has an interest in these cases whose Authority must be considered. We're already seeing that in the PR release that speaks about the "absolute right" which "no one should interfere with" for the family to report charges.
As to organization, here's a quotation from a textbook:
Sociologists have long pointed out the inherent
tendency of institutions to develop increasingly complex
structures. The division of labor, established initially to
improve efficiency, ends by fragmenting interpersonal, human
connections. Relationships are replaced by communication
channels and chains of command, and before you know it you have
huge, faceless bureaucracies where no one takes responsibility
and the quality of the enterprise -- whatever it is -- steadily
deteriorates.Sound familiar?
Maximus
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5
Giovanni DeCecca - GB Member BIOGRAPHY
by Utopian Reformist incan anyone direct me to material concerning the life/biography (if any exists) about giovanni dececca?
her served during the russell/rutherford/knorr days.. anything you have to offer would be greatly appreciated!
thank you in advance to everyone.
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Maximus
He's the little guy on the right ...
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141
JW Kids Leave the Organization: Facts
by Maximus inthe october 1 watchtower 2001 features articles on training children "properly" and dealing with a "prodigal child.
the latest inside u.s. figures reveal that 86% of jw children leave the fold, with some 29% who eventually come back for reasons of family ties, most never "reaching out.
" that means over half leave permanently.
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Maximus
Please note my figure was 86.4%, which I rounded off to 86%.
I assure you some of the above posters above are individuals who also know whereof they speak. The Society continues to be in serious trouble.
Max
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3
Adam Bauerlein: anyone remember him?
by Room 215 inone of the most remarkable acquaintances i made during of my four-year stint at bethel was that of adam bauerlein.
by the time i got there, he was well into his ninth decade, and quite senile.
his story was fascinating... it seems that apart from katherine bogard and grace dececca, he had the most seniority of the bethel family.
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Maximus
I'm chuckling with laughter, yet feeling the poignancy of Adam's dilemma.
Adam was the Great Procurer for kids under legal drinking age. Was always available to introduce the newboy to the unrefined Bethel art of drinking beer. The puzzlement is why he never got nailed. (Did he have pictures??) He had some stories about the boys in Legal drinking at nearby hotels in the afternoons.
Roomie, you have fingered Bethel's dirty little secret: the number of functional alcholics there. So many wives too ...
Way underage, my first alcoholic drink was at 124 Columbia Heights, in the office of a guy in Writing who served me lots of sherry. Looking out at the lower Manhattan skyline, I was king of the world ...
Do you remember Grant Suiter's habit of Chivas followed by Heineken chasers? (Gives authenticity to the boys who will know I KNOW.)
Thanks for the memories,
Max -
141
JW Kids Leave the Organization: Facts
by Maximus inthe october 1 watchtower 2001 features articles on training children "properly" and dealing with a "prodigal child.
the latest inside u.s. figures reveal that 86% of jw children leave the fold, with some 29% who eventually come back for reasons of family ties, most never "reaching out.
" that means over half leave permanently.
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Maximus
I went to bed last night reflecting on the wisdom of Lisa's insightful post about the developmental aspects of growing up, key to understanding the needs of young persons. There is an abundant supply of printed information that is basic to understanding, which JW oversight completely ignores.
Instead of counting sheep, I found myself wanting to make sure I had correctly counted the number of GB men I spoke of actually knowing well, not just those of casual acquaintance. While counting such, ahem, sheep I had a flash:
Only one GB member of the ten has IMNSHO the capacity for introspection. Possibly only one has ever cracked ANY textbook on childhood development or developmental psychology. The sum total of their information has come from what the organization has published and whatever the Watchtower culture has accepted as truth!
Their imprinting has been total.
I believe GB member Ted Jaracz holds the record for being the youngest DO ever appointed by the Society. You know whence his training.
Nicodemus, you are spot on in your observations. That's why one constantly reads admonition in the publications not to envy "those younger ones receiving privileges," blah, blah. Some long-time COs and DOs are not too happy seeing some virtual kids on Service desks or teaching them about life. I wonder why.
: Max,
: I would like to know exactly where you get your figures from. Thanks!Golly, that's just what the lurkers from Legal are asking. Let's just say I get a little help from my friends now and then, who want the truth not just to be "out there" but to be understood by all. Like Kent, I don't publish anything unless it is true.
Maximus
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3
Dioceses settle sex suit
by CPiolo indioceses settle sex suit .
religion: o.c.
man who alleged molestation by o.c.
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Maximus
Duplication bug ...
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Dioceses settle sex suit
by CPiolo indioceses settle sex suit .
religion: o.c.
man who alleged molestation by o.c.
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Maximus
I wonder how much the Society would be willing to pay to settle the Berry case? The lawsuits cherry tree is full of fruit, ripe for shaking ....
Here's another article on the incident:
http://www.msnbc.com/local/knbc/nbc5vioinqc.aspSnippets:
Under the settlement providing for payment, the church also will implement a program of action against priests and other church employees alleged to be molesters, according to the attorneys and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
The $5.2 million settlement stems from a lawsuit filed by Ryan DiMaria of Laguna Hills against the Bishop of Orange and the Archbishop of Los Angeles, alleging that as a 17-year-old he was molested in 1991 by Monsignor Michael A. Harris, then principal at Santa Margarita High School in the southern Orange County community of Rancho Santa Margarita.
Kathy Freberg, the attorney for DiMaria, said the church has agreed to pay her client $5.2 million -- "the largest pretrial settlement of any Catholic priest molestation case in the United States."
Under the settlement, Harris agreed to ask the Vatican to remove him from the priesthood, Freberg said.
But despite his reported agreement to leave the church, Harris continued to deny he molested anyone and said in a statement that church leaders agreed to settle the case for "their own business reasons."
One senior cleric, Bishop Tod D. Brown, head of the Diocese of Orange, effectively derided Harris's denial of involvement.
"Although Michael Harris continues to deny any wrongdoing, the Diocese of Orange has grave doubts about his innocence in these matters, taking into consideration the number of complaints made against him, the similarity of those complaints and the apparent sincerity of the persons making these statements," Brown said in a statement.
He expressed "profound sorrow" over the ordeal experienced by Harris's accusers, who he said had been courageous to come forward.
"In a lawsuit brought by Ryan DiMaria against the Roman Catholic Bishop of Orange, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles and Michael Harris, it has been stated that in 1980, a priest of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles was informed of but failed to act upon information that Father Harris had sexually abused a student in the late 1970s while he was principal of Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana.
"Sexual abuse is a serious sin. It devastates its victims physically, emotionally and spiritually. It also erodes the confidence the faithful place in their pastoral leaders. Such activity simply will not be tolerated in our church."
Freberg said the church has agreed to issue apologies to DiMaria, to three other victims, and to the mother of a victim who is now deceased, and to send letters to all Catholic organizations in Orange and Los Angeles counties informing parishioners of the allegations.
The district attorney's office reviewed DiMaria's accusations last year but found insufficient evidence to file criminal charges.
A settlement between DiMaria and church authorities was reached nonetheless. "The evidence in our case was so strong," Freberg said, adding that lawyers uncovered documents and four other victims who said they were molested between 1977 and 1983.
"They have come forward and acted as witnesses in our case," she said.
Slated to receive apologies are David A. Price, who says Harris molested him at Mater Dei between 1979 and 1983 and who is pursuing his own suit against church authorities; Lenora Colice, whose son, the late Vincent Colice, said he was molested from 1977 to 1979 while a Mater Dei student; former Mater Dei student Mark Curran, who alleged Harris molested him in 1979; and Larry Raheb, who said he was molested by Harris while seeking his spiritual counsel in 1979.
Freberg said DiMaria suffered "emotional trauma and pain and went into a tailspin in 1991" after Harris molested him. He now is finishing law school and plans to specialize in taxes, she said.
Harris no longer says Mass or works as a school principal, but he is still called "father" or "monsignor" and wears a priests' collar, she said.
"We wanted to take away the key he used to gain the trust of his victims and molest them," she said. "The goal is to get his collar removed."
During a settlement meeting, she said, "we demanded that he request to be defrocked."
"At the end of the day, after kicking and screaming, he agreed to the request," Freberg said. "The bishop will file papers with the Vatican so it can issue a decree."
The paperwork should be submitted about Sept. 15 and the process should take about two months, she said, adding that, unless he was formally defrocked, Harris could be a priest in another country.
The statement by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles cited 11 points in the agreement with DiMaria "which are already in place or under development by the Archdiocese." These included:
- Removal of priests who molest children
- The establishment of an 800 number and a Web site to allow for child-abuse complaints to be submitted anonymously
- The distribution of an informational pamphlet on sexual abuse;
- The reporting of child sexual abuse to the archbishop
- A no-fraternization policy
- Assistance to sexual-abuse victims
- A procedure under which clergy will sign an agreement to be bound by the provisions of the "Archdiocesan Policy on Sexual Abuse by Clergy."
- The reporting to civil authorities of child sexual abuse by clergy
- Check-and-balance procedures involving reviews of Catholic school principals
- The introduction of an exit-interview procedure for use with seminarians who leave prior to ordination
- The maintenance of personnel files, each of which will include information on where additional data about an employee may be obtained.
Harris, known as "Father Hollywood" in Orange County because of his charisma and good looks, stepped down as principal of Santa Margarita High School in October 1994, citing stress.
Weeks later, he spent four days at St. Luke's Institute in Maryland, the Catholic Church's medical treatment center for troubled priests. Church doctors recommended that he be admitted for in-patient treatment and have no unsupervised contact with minors, according to court records cited by the Los Angeles Times.
Doctors offered a psychiatric diagnosis, records show, finding that Harris was sexually attracted to adolescent boys.
"Our clinical team believes that there is substance to the allegations," the institute report said, according to The Times.
"It has been our experience that in many cases like these, the allegations that have surfaced are only a few of the actual incidents of abuse that have occurred."
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A Trail of Secrecy and Deception (more RC molest)
by CPiolo inhttp://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000067948aug22.story
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Maximus
Here's another article on the incident:
http://www.msnbc.com/local/knbc/nbc5vioinqc.aspSnippets:
Under the settlement providing for payment, the church also will implement a program of action against priests and other church employees alleged to be molesters, according to the attorneys and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
The $5.2 million settlement stems from a lawsuit filed by Ryan DiMaria of Laguna Hills against the Bishop of Orange and the Archbishop of Los Angeles, alleging that as a 17-year-old he was molested in 1991 by Monsignor Michael A. Harris, then principal at Santa Margarita High School in the southern Orange County community of Rancho Santa Margarita.
Kathy Freberg, the attorney for DiMaria, said the church has agreed to pay her client $5.2 million -- "the largest pretrial settlement of any Catholic priest molestation case in the United States."
Under the settlement, Harris agreed to ask the Vatican to remove him from the priesthood, Freberg said.
But despite his reported agreement to leave the church, Harris continued to deny he molested anyone and said in a statement that church leaders agreed to settle the case for "their own business reasons."
One senior cleric, Bishop Tod D. Brown, head of the Diocese of Orange, effectively derided Harris's denial of involvement.
"Although Michael Harris continues to deny any wrongdoing, the Diocese of Orange has grave doubts about his innocence in these matters, taking into consideration the number of complaints made against him, the similarity of those complaints and the apparent sincerity of the persons making these statements," Brown said in a statement.
He expressed "profound sorrow" over the ordeal experienced by Harris's accusers, who he said had been courageous to come forward.
"In a lawsuit brought by Ryan DiMaria against the Roman Catholic Bishop of Orange, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles and Michael Harris, it has been stated that in 1980, a priest of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles was informed of but failed to act upon information that Father Harris had sexually abused a student in the late 1970s while he was principal of Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana.
"Sexual abuse is a serious sin. It devastates its victims physically, emotionally and spiritually. It also erodes the confidence the faithful place in their pastoral leaders. Such activity simply will not be tolerated in our church."
Freberg said the church has agreed to issue apologies to DiMaria, to three other victims, and to the mother of a victim who is now deceased, and to send letters to all Catholic organizations in Orange and Los Angeles counties informing parishioners of the allegations.
The district attorney's office reviewed DiMaria's accusations last year but found insufficient evidence to file criminal charges.
A settlement between DiMaria and church authorities was reached nonetheless. "The evidence in our case was so strong," Freberg said, adding that lawyers uncovered documents and four other victims who said they were molested between 1977 and 1983.
"They have come forward and acted as witnesses in our case," she said.
Slated to receive apologies are David A. Price, who says Harris molested him at Mater Dei between 1979 and 1983 and who is pursuing his own suit against church authorities; Lenora Colice, whose son, the late Vincent Colice, said he was molested from 1977 to 1979 while a Mater Dei student; former Mater Dei student Mark Curran, who alleged Harris molested him in 1979; and Larry Raheb, who said he was molested by Harris while seeking his spiritual counsel in 1979.
Freberg said DiMaria suffered "emotional trauma and pain and went into a tailspin in 1991" after Harris molested him. He now is finishing law school and plans to specialize in taxes, she said.
Harris no longer says Mass or works as a school principal, but he is still called "father" or "monsignor" and wears a priests' collar, she said.
"We wanted to take away the key he used to gain the trust of his victims and molest them," she said. "The goal is to get his collar removed."
During a settlement meeting, she said, "we demanded that he request to be defrocked."
"At the end of the day, after kicking and screaming, he agreed to the request," Freberg said. "The bishop will file papers with the Vatican so it can issue a decree."
The paperwork should be submitted about Sept. 15 and the process should take about two months, she said, adding that, unless he was formally defrocked, Harris could be a priest in another country.
The statement by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles cited 11 points in the agreement with DiMaria "which are already in place or under development by the Archdiocese." These included:
- Removal of priests who molest children
- The establishment of an 800 number and a Web site to allow for child-abuse complaints to be submitted anonymously
- The distribution of an informational pamphlet on sexual abuse;
- The reporting of child sexual abuse to the archbishop
- A no-fraternization policy
- Assistance to sexual-abuse victims
- A procedure under which clergy will sign an agreement to be bound by the provisions of the "Archdiocesan Policy on Sexual Abuse by Clergy."
- The reporting to civil authorities of child sexual abuse by clergy
- Check-and-balance procedures involving reviews of Catholic school principals
- The introduction of an exit-interview procedure for use with seminarians who leave prior to ordination
- The maintenance of personnel files, each of which will include information on where additional data about an employee may be obtained.
Harris, known as "Father Hollywood" in Orange County because of his charisma and good looks, stepped down as principal of Santa Margarita High School in October 1994, citing stress.
Weeks later, he spent four days at St. Luke's Institute in Maryland, the Catholic Church's medical treatment center for troubled priests. Church doctors recommended that he be admitted for in-patient treatment and have no unsupervised contact with minors, according to court records cited by the Los Angeles Times.
Doctors offered a psychiatric diagnosis, records show, finding that Harris was sexually attracted to adolescent boys.
"Our clinical team believes that there is substance to the allegations," the institute report said, according to The Times.
"It has been our experience that in many cases like these, the allegations that have surfaced are only a few of the actual incidents of abuse that have occurred."