Asbury Park Press/JW's & Molestation

ARoarer

www.app.com

The Asbury Park Press called yesterday and interviewed my husband. I am glad the local paper here finally did the story. They got it off the AP wire.

mpatrick

ARoarer,

I have been following some of your postings, and my heart goes out to you...KEEP ROARING!

Gopher

Here's the address of the story. Sorry the link isn't perfect, you have to copy and paste it into your browser.

http://www.app.com/app2001/story/0,21133,562079,00.html

-J.R.

Don't let yesterday use up too much of today.--Will Rogers, 1879-1935

Dutchie

Yes, that is good news. Especially, if there is a Kingdom Hall in Asbury Park. In that way your friends and neighbors will be aware of just what is going on right under their nose.

Its possible that after the article comes out, the witnesses will be treated as something more than just a minor annoyance as they go from door to door.

I just read the interview at app.com. Your family is incredibly brave in the face of terrible circumstances! Without a doubt much unhappiness will be avoided in people's lives as a result of the way you've handled things as you have. If your family has divided anything away from Jehovah's Witnesses by your actions then it was something worthy of amputation in the first place.

Please accept my best regards and appreciation. So many of us gain from your experience and efforts.

ARoarer

If it were not for the internet and the media, I believe WT would be able to say anything and get away with it. Though they would like everyone to believe in the congregation that the kicked us out, the fact remains that we walked away 4 years ago because we were tired of their "abuse after the abuse". Because we chose to answer questions from the media last year they have been shunning and treating us as if we were disfellowshipped anyway, because of the circulation of the apostate label by the elders. Their decision to formally df us is really hurting and theatening those who chose to remain our friends. They are the ones being victimized by this and threatened with shunning should they be caught talking to us. There was no reason to bring us up on their charges of apostasy. They are like those during the Inquisition. They themselves are the persecutors. I guess after all the years of them throwing mud on other religions they are getting a taste of their own medicine. Oh well, a "Rotten tree can't produce fine fruit" And by thier fruitage they are recognized.

Marvin Shilmer

Hi again, ARoarer

Your comments about the WTS' abusive shunning policy reminded me of a short take I made a few months ago. It follows.

Weaponry

Of Jewish shunning:
*** it-1 787 Expelling ***
One who was cast out as wicked, cut off entirely, would be considered worthy of death, though the Jews might not have the authority to execute such a one. Nevertheless, the form of cutting off they did employ was a very powerful weapon in the Jewish community. [Bold added]

Of WTS shunning of immediate family members:
*** w52 11/15 703 Questions from Readers ***
The law of the land and God’s law through Christ forbid us to kill apostates, even though they be members of our own flesh-and-blood family relationship. However, God’s law requires us to recognize their being disfellowshiped from his congregation, and this despite the fact that the law of the land in which we live requires us under some natural obligation to live with and have dealings with such apostates under the same roof.

What is an apostate:
***ks91 94 Overseers 'Ruling for Justice Itself'***
Persons who deliberately spread (stubbornly hold to and speak about) teachings contrary to Bible truth as taught by Jehovah's Witnesses are apostates.

One straight-talk version of what is an apostate according to WTS:
If you are a JW and for good reason you spread a teaching that is true but contrary to that taught by the Watchtower Society then you are an apostate.

Question:
Who's using shunning as a weapon today?

Yerusalyim

Yall are just TOO cool, I have a running Email battle with some "hovahs" about yall, the loyalists are going crazy trying to find ways to discredit you.

YERUSALYIM
"Vanity! It's my favorite sin!"
[Al Pacino as Satan, in "DEVIL'S ADVOCATE"]

sf

<
[Corinne Holloway (center) believes the Jehovah's Witnesses are wrong for holding a disciplinary hearing against her parents, Barbara and Carl Pandelo.]

Molestation case leads to church fight

Published in the Asbury Park Press 5/14/02
By JASON METHOD
STAFF WRITER

A Belmar couple say they face excommunication from a local Jehovah's Witnesses congregation for publicly complaining about how child sexual abuse cases are handled within the church.

Carl and Barbara Pandelo, who have criticized the church in published reports for allowing their daughter's molester -- her grandfather -- back into membership, said they are awaiting a decision on excommunication from the Jehovah's Witnesses of Bradley Beach.

"They're defaming our name," said Barbara Pandelo, 53. "They make it sound like we did something wrong."

A letter from the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, the denomination's legal corporation, informed the Pandelos they were to appear May 6 at the local Kingdom Hall for a church judicial hearing on charges of apostasy, or abandonment of faith. The couple delivered letters of protest but didn't stay for the hearing.

The letter did not say why the charges were being brought. "The judicial committee would like to try and help Mr. and Mrs. Pandelo if they have sincere doubts," the letter said.

Leaders at the local church could not be reached for comment.

The Pandelos say they and two others who are also upset by handling of molestation cases -- William H. Bowen of Kentucky and Barbara Anderson of Tennessee -- were each given similar letters by their local congregations after they granted interviews to an NBC-TV news magazine show.

"Headquarters wants everyone to believe it's a coincidence, that people are being brought in for being sinful," said Carl Pandelo, 51, a wholesale health food salesman. "I have a hard time believing that."

A Jehovah's Witnesses national spokesman, David Semonian, cited confidentiality rules and said the church could not discuss the Pandelos' case. "The proceedings may focus on sins unrelated to any public comments on sexual abuse," he said.

Semonian said the church does not have specific rules against talking to the media, but churches could take action against those who disrupt the unity of the church.

The Pandelos say their daughter, Corinne, was molested by her grandfather, a Jehovah's Witnesses elder in Passaic County, from the time she was a toddler until age 12 when, in 1988, she reported the assaults to her parents.

According to The Associated Press, the grandfather, Clement Pandelo of Paramus, pleaded guilty to two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and one count of criminal sexual conduct. Court documents reveal Clement Pandelo admitted to having fondled girls for 40 years.

Clement Pandelo was placed on five years' probation in the plea agreement. He could not be reached for comment. The Belmar Pandelos said they agreed to the deal because they didn't want their daughter to have to go through a trial, and because of pressure from the church.

Barbara Pandelo said the couple sued Clement Pandelo and won a multimillion-dollar judgment.

The Pandelos said they became angry at the Jehovah's Witnesses church when, during the civil trial, the elders of the Passaic County church declined to testify on their behalf about what they knew of the offenses.

"We witnessed elders covering up," Carl Pandelo said. "It was such a broken trust. I could not bring myself to go back in there. I could not step foot into a Kingdom Hall."

Clement Pandelo was excommunicated from the church, but he was later allowed to return. Semonian confirmed that he is a member of the Hawthorne congregation.

Semonian said he did not know about the Pandelo case. He said anyone convicted of child molestation cannot hold a position of authority in the church and cannot perform church work alone.

The Pandelos said they do not attend a church of any denomination at all now and are disenchanted with organized religion.

Corinne Pandelo Holloway, now 25, lives in Spring Lake Heights and works at the Atlantic Club in Wall. She said she has been attending therapy for years.

She said she is also disenchanted with the church over the way it has handled the situation.

"It's a really sad situation, and heartbreaking," she said. "My parents aren't bad people. All they've really done is try to pro-tect me."

ARoarer

A radio station from California just called and asked us to do a radio talk show regarding cover-up of child sex abuse by the leaders of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Asbury Park Press/JW's & Molestation

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