Posts by silentlambs

18

Bill Bowen visits German WT branch office

by GermanXJW in

on 12th october, bill bowen went to the german branch office in selters/ts.

he came not further than the gate, where he was allowed to contact werner rudtke, member of the branch committee, via telephone.

after some minutes, rudtke excused for his "bad english" and connected to hans obermeier, another bethel member.

silentlambs

Greetings from Germany!

We have made some excellent contacts in this country as well as other surrounding countries. There are many silent lambs who are finding their voices and exhibiting great courage to come forward. I am to meet with a young woman Thursday who was raped by her JW father who subsequently murdered the resulting baby. As we speak he remains a JW in "good standing", there are many still "in" and trying to make it work while suffering from the affects of their abuse. Another young sister who is still a teenager has to remain silent as her jw father who raped her, remarries another sister with two little girls, he to is a jw with privileges in the congregation. I leave out the detalils as WT would go after them in short order, but it helps the reader to see this is a very current and ongoing problem. These young women need support greater than we can offer. If anyone knows of counslers in Europe that might be willing to assist, please contact silentlambs. In Germany there is a long waiting list for assistance and it can sometimes take months to get in front of help. If you know of resources or contacts please let me know.

The stories are the same and many of these cases are documented wih correspondence directly from the Branch. It truly is a worldwide problem. I have interviewed with media outside of Germany and was able to assist in backing up the interviews of several abuse survivors. The trip to Selters was interesting as they were caught completely by surprise. They were well aware of who silentlambs was as well as Bill Bowen. I will have a further report when I get home, with pictures to boot. The Branch story was the same with all allegience going to New York and to hell with the victims. Silentlambs will have started a more organized effort in Germany to make known the child abuse issue. It is interesting to note that when the German PR man was interviewed and asked about child abuse in Germany he made the statement, "We have no cases of child abuse in Germany..."

"oops they did it again..."

silentlambs

50

Is Ray Franz Great or What?

by silentlambs in

jw
friends

this evening i had a nice conversation with ray and we discussed our previous conversation.

while our previous conversation was remembered differently in certain areas we agreed that we should be peaceful with one another, i apologized for any misunderstanding and decided as a result to remove any negative comments made about him.

i do believe our discussion was productive and will help us both to be more supportive of one another in the future.

silentlambs

This evening I had a nice conversation with Ray and we discussed our previous conversation. While our previous conversation was remembered differently in certain areas we agreed that we should be peaceful with one another, I apologized for any misunderstanding and decided as a result to remove any negative comments made about him. I do believe our discussion was productive and will help us both to be more supportive of one another in the future. Ray is a good man and I certainly appreciate the effort he has put forth to help so many.

Is Ray great or what?

silentlambs

121

Ray Franz Key Witness?!

by qwerty in

jw
friends

this may have been a topic before on the board.

it would be suprising if anyone else as not thought of this.. with regards to the 5 governing body members who have been named as child abusers.

would ray franz be able to confirm these aligations?

silentlambs

Is Ray Great or What?

While there are many doctrinal points that could be debated, I have from day one endeavored to keep silentlambs focused on one thing, the protection of children. That is why many brothers and sisters from within support silentlambs as an organization that works ultimately for their children. If there were any other motive it would have to be the education and support of abuse survivors. Through silentlambs more abuse JW survivors have been given a voice to the media and public than ever before in history. Personally it is a great source of satisfaction to see that happen. That in a statement is the direction of the silentlambs organization, a direction I strongly support and suggest everyone support.

I have never demanded people support me or my personal "agendas", whatever that is I do not even know. I do not have a church, I do not want anyone following me for anything. I did that for 43 years. If on the other hand I ask people to come to a court trial to support and abuse survivor, is that following me? If I ask people to come for a candlight vigil and burn candles for over 300 abuse survivors, is that following me? If I ask people to march on Brooklyn, deliver lambs and let WT know abuse survivors exist, is that following me? I just do not see what I am getting out of this deal, it certainly isn't money. On the other hand if you were one of those persons who "showed up" and looked into the eyes of those who have been terribly hurt and see them have hope. You see them finding strength and taking back the power that was robbed from them. You hear laughter from people who haven't laughed in a long time, you see kindness and compassion that has been withheld by those they hold dear, expressed by people they do not even know. That is the work of silentlambs, and is not subjecting yourself to the will of Bill Bowen.

Is Ray Great or What?

Child abuse is happening as I write this because the GB refuses to change WT policy. Call it "black and white" thinking but I truly believe anyone who comes to a clear understanding of this would certainly throw their support with silentlambs. We do not ask you to change your religion, beliefs, or love Bill Bowen, just support JW abuse survivors and ask for a wicked policy to change.

I am not going to hunt you down and kill you if you do not, but I have difficulty understanding why aanyone with full education of these matters chooses to not support silentlambs. Are you a bad person? Certainly not, but in my opinion you are certainly missing a great opportunity to help those who truly suffer.

Is Ray Great or What?

We have fought a night and day battle with the media to get the coverage we have, was it for Bill Bowen's fame and prominence? or was it so more abuse survivors could come forward? I think you know the answer to that question.

As many have stated more need to come forward and get involved in the support of silentlambs and I would certainly welcome fading into the background and let more of a collective carry this load. This is a problem involving crime that is happening in the here and now. There are new cases coming in everyday and many involving children, they need help.

The cause of silentlambs is we support those who need it the most and let them know they are loved. If you want to be a JW, so what? If you hate JW's, so what? We can work together and help abuse survivors make progress on the path to healing and stand up to those who hurt them. Silentlambs is certainly not against Ray Franz is Ray Great or What?

silentlambs

Edited by - silentlambs on 9 October 2002 19:34:46

Edited by - silentlambs on 9 October 2002 19:54:54

Edited by - silentlambs on 9 October 2002 23:19:37

121

Ray Franz Key Witness?!

by qwerty in

jw
friends

this may have been a topic before on the board.

it would be suprising if anyone else as not thought of this.. with regards to the 5 governing body members who have been named as child abusers.

would ray franz be able to confirm these aligations?

silentlambs

Is Ray Great or What?

silentlambs

Edited by - silentlambs on 9 October 2002 23:13:0

121

Ray Franz Key Witness?!

by qwerty in

jw
friends

this may have been a topic before on the board.

it would be suprising if anyone else as not thought of this.. with regards to the 5 governing body members who have been named as child abusers.

would ray franz be able to confirm these aligations?

silentlambs

Is Ray Great of What?

silentlambs

Edited by - silentlambs on 9 October 2002 23:11:52

121

Ray Franz Key Witness?!

by qwerty in

jw
friends

this may have been a topic before on the board.

it would be suprising if anyone else as not thought of this.. with regards to the 5 governing body members who have been named as child abusers.

would ray franz be able to confirm these aligations?

silentlambs

Is Ray Great or What?

silentlambs

Edited by - silentlambs on 9 October 2002 23:10:43

121

Ray Franz Key Witness?!

by qwerty in

jw
friends

this may have been a topic before on the board.

it would be suprising if anyone else as not thought of this.. with regards to the 5 governing body members who have been named as child abusers.

would ray franz be able to confirm these aligations?

silentlambs

Is Ray Great or what?

silentlambs

Edited by - silentlambs on 9 October 2002 23:9:9

9

WATCHTOWER TAKEN DOWN

by Smokey in

i have been pondering a lot of what is going on with jws regarding the current issue of child molestation and i am concerned that a lot of this will be settled out of court and these horrible crimes will not be remembered.

i know already that this situation has died down somewhat since it first came to light.

i feel really bad and hope that these people will receive their justice.

silentlambs

It appears you have been misinformed, these cases will not be settled out of court, the publicity will be huge and the matter will continue to snowball. You think this is dieing down?????

Oh ye of little faith.

silentlambs

66

Hillary Step

by JT in

jw
friends

.

hey man ck your email you are over the limit i tried to email you, hit me at .

silentlambs

I was unaware of this information until today. I am sad for how things have been presented. I refuse nor do I have the energy to embark on a campagne of trying to assasinate a person behind their back nor publicly on a forum.

All I can say is the purpose of my emails to HS was to defend Pat. There was private information disclosed therein that I did not think she would have wished shared on a public forum, thus the reason for my private email. I will continue to defend her and support the decision she made to speak out about her abuse. At silentlambs we support ALL abuse survivors and simply tell them they are believed, I have no ego when it comes to this. I am sorry that portions of private email is being allowed to cloud the real issues that must go forward, I am sorry that some allow bitterness to keep them from seeing the big picture.

From day one I have never defended myself from personal attacks, I have only defended when victims are attacked or what the purpose of silentlambs as an organization is. I will continue that venue.

For those of you who have questions raised in your minds, I think the record to date is all I have to stand on. It is my wish to help people not hurt them, to bring people together for a positive purpose in helping protect children. I have no ill will toward HS he of course is entitled to his opinons, if you email or call me I will be glad to address any concerns you may have about silentlambs or the direction that we intend to go in the future, but I refuse in anyway to speak ill of HS. He is a good man and I hope he comes around.

silentlambs

Edited by - silentlambs on 8 October 2002 17:50:58

213

Governing Body Summoned For Jud Hearing

by silentlambs in

jw
friends

service committee .

25 columbia heights

brooklyn, ny 11201 .

silentlambs

I have decided to not do a press release on this letter, if the GB chooses not to respond it will just provide further confirmation of their unreasonableness or willingness to accept counsel. This represents a fifth attempt to get their attention and properly address child protection. As you will note the letter made no reference to silentlambs as "silentlambs" the organization has no involvement with judicial hearings, or diciplinary hearings dealing with religious matters. The organization simply supports abuse survivors and educates the public therefore the proposed jusicial hearing is not a silentlambs arranged meeting in any sense of the term.

I will be out of the country for a few days, stay tuned for more information concering the silent lambs world wide. We also are developing a new website to open of silentlambs chapters in each state with chapter directors to oversee local efforts in victim assistance as well as public education and political action.

silentlambs