Articles 
| Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses Grows Old |
| Written by Randall Watters + Barbara Anderson |
| Monday, 01 December 2008 15:50 |
The new arrangement was not particularly welcomed by Knorr and Franz, and while attending the Gilead Graduation ceremony of the WT's missionary class in 1975, Franz spared no words in saying that he and Knorr did not like forfeiting some of their power in the organization's decision-making process. A decades-old tradition of honoring the "forefathers" and assigning somewhat of a lesser honorable position to the new powers-that-be was still being played out. When C. T. Russell founded the Watchtower in 1879, he expected the end before or during 1914. As more and more began to claim to be of the Watchtower's special "anointed" class, there began a tradition of assigning a lesser "status" to each successive class of leadership. The older "anointed" were sometimes referred to as the "Naomi" class, as opposed to the younger and more inexperienced "Ruth" class of anointed. Those who were determined to be of the "other sheep" and who were said by Judge Rutherford to have the inferior "earthly calling" were sometimes referred to as the "water-drawers" or servants of the "anointed, " and the New Testament Scriptures were supposedly not even written to these ones, who had to rely on the interpretation of the Bible as handed down by the "anointed." Yet even these of the "anointed" had no real authority, but were represented by the leaders. In 1975, a total of 18 men were to share that most-favored status of being God's interpreters of the Bible for all mankind. To question their interpretation was to speak out against Jehovah himself. (For proof of such arrogance, see the book, Thus Saith Jehovah's Witnesses by Randall Watters.) This most-favored Caucasian leadership was already well up in years in the mid-70s, and several have passed on since their appointment. Two were supposedly removed for being practicing homosexuals, and Raymond Franz, nephew of Fred Franz, was disfellowshipped for talking about his knowledge of the corruption manifest in the GB collective. (See the book, Crisis of Conscience by Raymond Franz). This dwindling body of older men are aware that they have not long to live, and have arranged a lesser body of leaders referred to as the "given ones" to carry the mantle of power as they pass from the scene. Many of these are not of the special "anointed" class, now numbering less than 8800 worldwide.
Rumours Of Power PlayAs yet there is no indication of any form of outright dissent within Bethel or the current leadership, but GB member Ted Jaracz is the hard-line boss squelching all reform at present. He is in charge of the organization's "storm troopers," the Service Department. One dissenter writes:
Jaracz, however, is one of the youngest of the GB members. Perhaps before his light fades away his rule will be toppled, much as happened to Knorr in 1975. All it really takes is a change of assignment, a tactic used at Bethel to move people in and out of key positions. Sometimes your greatest danger is from those you work alongside.
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These are the current officers of the Watch Tower organization as of 11/27/06: Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania (Incorporated 1884) President Don A. Adams Vice Presidents Robert W. Wallen, William F. Malenfant Secretary/Treasurer Richard E. Abrahamson Directors Danny L. Bland, Philip D. Wilcox, John N. Wischuk Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. (Incorporated 1909) President Max H. Larson Vice Presidents George M. Couch, Lonnie R. Schilling Secretary/Treasurer Gerald F. Simonis Directors Gerald D. Grizzle, David G. Sinclair, Robert M. Pevy Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses (Incorporated 2000) President William L. Van De Wall Vice Presidents Charles I. Woody, Leon Weaver, Jr. Secretary/Treasurer William H. Nonkes Directors Harold K. Jackson, Merton V. Campbell, Stanley F. Weigel Religious Order of Jehovah's Witnesses (Incorporated 2000) President Patrick J. LaFranca Vice Presidents Peter D. Molchan, Ralph E. Walls Secretary/Treasurer Joseph D. Mercante Directors Marvin G. Smalley, Kenneth J. Pulcifer, Eugene D. Rosam, Jr. Kingdom Support Services, Inc. (Incorporated 2000) President Harold L. Corkern Vice Presidents Alan D. Janzen, Robert L. Butler Secretary/Treasurer Alexander W. Reinmueller Directors James F. Mantz, Jr., Thomas Kalimeris, Alan G. Browning Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New Jersey, Inc. (Incorporated 1955) President Charles V. Molohan Vice Presidents James L. Bauer, J. Richard Brown Secretary/Treasurer Alan K. Flowers Directors Allen E. Shuster, David L. Walker, Vernon C. Wisegarver Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Florida, Inc. (Incorporated 1986) President Leonard R. Pearson Vice Presidents Alejandro G. Rodriguez, Maurice C. Turcot Secretary/Treasurer Mark L. Questell Directors Jim Moody, Sr., Anselm J. Packnett, Donald R. Krebs Valley Farms Corporation (Incorporated 1987) President Charles J. Rice Vice Presidents Kent E. Fischer, Robert L. Rains Secretary/Treasurer Albert L. Harrell Directors John R. Strandberg, Samuel D. Buck, Louis A. Travis
UPDATE (10/3/99) Four new Governing Body membersSpeaking of working alongside, four new members have just been added to the Watchtower's Governing Body this year (1999) All claim to be of the anointed. In contrast to the other eight, they are presumably fairly young. They are: Samuel Herd - former district overseer, living at Bethel this past year, also the first African/American on the GB. Guy Pierce - former circuit overseer, living at Bethel this past year, Steve Lett - (our) former circuit overseer, living at Bethel this past year, David Splane - was missionary in Canada, Bethel for some years, graduated from the 42nd class of Gilead September 1966.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- UPDATE (8/25/05) Two new Governing Body membersAnthony Morris raised a family and then went into the traveling work. Later they were called to Patterson Geoffrey Jackson is an Australian who was a missionary and a branch committee member before being going to Patterson. HTML clipboard Carey Barber (deceased April 2007)
Governing body members (current as of 04/27/09):John Barr
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update May 20th 2009Theodore Ted Jaracz of the Governing Body had a stroke yesterday. Barb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes he is a hard-liner. All the following information was told to me by old-timers in the Writing Department. Jaracz was single-handedly responsible for the hard-line attitude taken towards child abuse victims and the way that the Service Dept mishandled child abuse. He absolutely detested the October 8, 1991 Awake! about molestation and the following April 8, 1992 Awake! article that contained letters thanking the GB for the Oct. 8th Awake! He actually ordered the factory not to print that Awake! He sent out Circuit Overseers to intimidate victims with disfellowshipping if they continued to accuse elders and MS of molesting them. One of these Circuit Overseers became a GB. This man is Pierce who was rewarded for his deeds. One of the other COs who also threatened victims was named Beagle? He died after he was in Bethel for a year. He didn't like Bethel and wanted to go back out in the field but then died of a virus in his heart. Jaracz was called "Boss" by the other GB and had been a thorn in their side ever since he was invited to Bethel to be part of the GB. Knorr invited Jaracz to be part of the GB out of anger when the directors were in the process of taking away his power. It was one of his last deeds when in power. He knew Jaracz to be a fanatic and difficult to deal with and he appointed him out of spite and to get even with the directors. Lloyd Barry as Japan's Branch Overseer back in the 60s was sent by Knorr to Australia where Jaracz was Branch Overseer to investigate charges of Jaracz's wrong-doing. Barry removed him and Knorr sent Jaracz to California to be District Overseer. Jaracz and Barry had no love for each other all the years they served together as GB. I was not told what Jaracz did to have Barry remove him as Branch Overseer. Do I have any sympathy for Jaracz? No. I knew the man and he was one of the oddest persons I have ever met at Bethel. He was kind and nice to outsiders such as those in the congregations, but mean as all get out to the average Bethelite. I was with him in both places one day and what a surprise to see the two people that lived in Jaracz's body! - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If anybody in the Writing Dept. had the answer as to why Teddy was removed from his position in Australia, they weren't saying. A few years back, I inquired of a former JW who was I think an attorney in the Australian Bethel for some time, but he didn't have the answer. I guess this secret was closely guarded. Maybe after he's dead, information will start to flow. I remembered something else about him that could or could not be true. I was told he was raised by three maiden aunts in the mid-west somewhere. I believe he has a niece or maybe it was a sister. I know he was was quite close to his wife's family in Western Canada. Did ya know that Sydlik wouldn't go to any social that included Teddy? I was told that if Teddy walked in, Sydlik walked out. I wonder how Nathan, Freddie, Karl Klein, Dan Sydlik, Henschel, Swingle, Booth, Barber, Schroeder, Gangas and Lloyd will get along with Teddy in heaven? Will they welcome him? What will they talk about? Will they continue GB meetings every Wednesday morning? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- His wife's name is Melita. An abrasive woman not really liked. She ran the beauty shops, of course under the guidance of a Bethel Home Office overseer. Melita had been a beautician in her other life, pre-Teddy. One time I was in the Tower's beauty shop after hours with some other sisters. We were doing special stuff to our hair that the beauticians wouldn't do for us at our regular appointments. I was talking to a friend and mentioned something funny about the vulcanized eggs we had been served that morning at breakfast. Melita came from around a partition and scolded me for being critical of Jehovah's provisions. We all sat there in amazement at her anger. But she forgot about the incident and always treated me okay, especially after I was transferred to Writing. It was amazing how much respect one got when one was in Writing! The Jaraczs seemed to really have a lot of affection for each other. One day after breakfast, he ran up the stairs on one side of the building to the 8th floor in Towers where their room was and Melita ran up the other side in a little race. When they got to the door of their room they were like kids, playfully laughing and kidding each other about who was in better shape. It was a fun thing to see. I only wish they could have shown that kind of affection for the Bethel family. The only time the entire family saw and heard him speak with emotion was when he was telling us about the fabulous first convention in Poland. He almost cried with emotion as he described the sight of thousands of believers who came from surrounding countries who then had freedom to worship for the first time. At the Jersey City Assembly Hall, he showed us slides of thousands of people sitting on concrete slabs at those outdoor conventions and once again his voice cracked with emotion. Many Bethelites remarked how unusual it was to see Jaracz showing that side of himself, that he even had emotions. I think I told this once before, but I'll tell it again for the new ones here on the board. One day, Swingle read a telegram from a bunch of assembly overseers in Russia thanking the GB for holding conventions all over the former Soviet Union after it fell apart. When I walked into Peloyan's office he was on the phone with Swingle who was furious. Harry and Swingle were buddies. Harry told me that the GB had no knowledge of conventions all over Russia. They only gave the ok for one and that was St. Petersburg. However, when Jaracz went over to arrange for the convention, he also arranged for a bunch more but he never told the other GB members. They were shocked when they found out after the assemblies were held. They held an immediate meeting and "the boss" came very close to being removed. But he apologized over and over again and they forgave him. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Olin Moyles Ghost: We left Bethel at the end of December 1992. The assemblies I speak of had to be in 1991 or more likely 1992 because that's when I was working with Harry Peloyan and he was frequently spilling the beans to me. Joe and I really liked the Barrs. They went with us out to Long Island to the shore a number of times where Alan Feuerbacher's parents lived. We had great fun and good discussions. However, although he was beloved, Jack was called "wimpy" by the writers because he wouldn't stand up and fight for what was right. He left the battles to Lloyd Barry. When Jaracz tried to stop the April 8, 1992 Awake! from being printed, Lloyd was out of the country. I think it was four senior writers that went into Barr's office to force him to overrule Jaracz. He did give in, but probably wouldn't have if it wasn't for the pressure put on him by these men. One time I had occasion to hear for myself from Jack's lips how he wouldn't do anything to remove Gene Smalley from his position as Assistant to the GB because he said Holy Spirit appointed Gene even though I proved to him that Smalley was deceitful and worse. He made Smalley apologize to me but and encouraged me to forgive him for what he had done and that was all. (At this point I'm not telling what he did.) There were nine people at Barr's door waiting to speak to him about Smalley's corruption the day the announcement was made that Smalley was appointed an Assistant to the GB. But Jack Barr wouldn't listen to anybody because Smalley was part of the "good ole' boy's club." One thing for sure, when push came to shove, these men were loyal to each other. I suppose that's not unusual in large organizations among leaders who have been through a lot together, especially in such an insular community that had a persecution complex. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The person who told me about Jaracz's stroke mentioned that I could put the information on the Internet so I took it for granted that this was not a secret from the flock. However, you know that the news will take a while to spread through the organization because no JW would want to admit to other JWs that they learned about Jaracz's stroke from an XJW discussion board. Unless an announcement is made at Bethel and Bethelites call parents or friends, it will take a while for JWs to learn about it. For those who don't know, announcements at KHs do not include news about a GB's illness or death. Later, when I have more time, I'll answer some of the other questions. Barb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yadda Yadda2: To answer your question about why did Jaracz try to stop the printing of an Awake!. It was the April 8, 1992 magazine and the story can be read in Discoveries of Barbara Anderson on Freeminds.org. YKnot: The senior writer at Bethel who said that little girls are to blame if they are molested because they climb up in a man's lap was John Wischuck. He said in a Thursday morning meeting of the Writing staff, only writers invited. They were discussing the cover of the Oct. 8, 1991 cover. In answer to your other question, my opinion is that Jaracz has been driven by allegiance and devotion to a religion that fit his way of thinking and since 1974 has had the power to slowly modify it to his own personal belief system about life (a 1950s viewpoint), the world at large, and what he thinks is God's viewpoint about all of us sinners. This is just an opinion and you should know that my opinion and $3.00 will get you on the NY subway one-way! (I think that's what it costs now. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.) Barb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm going to relate more of which that has been off this thread's subject, but it is my glimpse into aspects of life at Bethel that have been brought up here. Of course, what I say is my viewpoint and other people have theirs. I know that there is no right and wrong here, just a matter of perspective and experience. The same day we entered into Bethel there were, I think, seven others in our group. One of them, a young woman, married a Bethelite who had been there around ten years or so. She became a widow sometime in the first four or five years of her marriage, if I remember correctly. Her husband was killed in a car accident during a weekend away. There were other Bethelites in the car but only he was killed. She was not asked to leave Bethel. Another young woman, a close friend, was married to the overseer of the Factory Paint Dept. for somewhere around eight years. He died of a liver disease (paint related) and she was not asked to leave. While we were there, two men ran off with other men's wives, and their wives were not asked to leave. I worked in Engineering with a wonderful gal whose husband ran off with another Bethelite's wife sometime in the 1970s. She wasn't asked to leave. An assistant to the guy who ran the office complex Building Office kept a mistress in NYC and when discovered, he was booted. His wife was not asked to leave. A lovely young woman, a proofreader in Writing, whose husband was asked to leave immediately when he transgressed in a big way, was not asked to leave. I would ask that you please don't decide that Bethel leaders are cold and unfeeling people. We would never have stayed there if it was such a horrible place. Granted, the religion has some pretty harmful policies, some that most of us didn't even know about when we were JWs until we found ourselves in a position to be hurt by the policies; but all in all, other than some nut cases in Bethel, who eventually got booted, there was kindness shown by supervisors towards personnel. Bethel is no different from any other large organization with many, many workers. It's actually quite secular. Few people talk about the Bible, etc. We were there to work and when large numbers of people live and work together there are always issues that come up that need addressing, some of which are not handled fairly. Who said life was easy, in or out of Bethel! When I was at Bethel only two years I needed surgery. Usually, people who are that new at Bethel do not have their surgery paid for by the organization and are asked to leave. I won't go into detail here how these things are handled, but will say it depends upon the circumstances. My surgery was paid for because those who made such decisions wanted us to stay. By that time, both of us had become valuable to the expansion work that was going on and it was thought that it was important for us to stay and continue on with our work. We understood when we came to Bethel that we were brought there to work. If we couldn't work, we would go home. If surgery is needed by newer Bethelites, such as a young guy who has been there a year and cleans toilets, etc., WT will pay for it, but the worker will be asked to leave and asked to please pay the money back when he can after he recuperates. It might not seen fair or kind to the reader, but decision-makers were conscience of the fact that it was donated money that was paying the bills. There were 6, 000 people at the US Bethels and every sort of circumstance imaginable and I think the people who ran the places, for the most part, tried to do what was right. Of course, I can tell you about some experiences at Bethel that were not pleasant due to inept overseers, but I got through it and lived to talk about 'em. Changes in Bethel policy, which touched other Bethelites lives, occurred because of those experiences, but it was due to certain circumstances that made things work out well for all of us. I'm going to share some of those experiences in the future in my blog on Freeminds. Barb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm not working on a book about my experiences at Bethel. I'm trying to piece my life together in parts and put it on Freeminds in the form of blogs. I've posted 3 parts and #4 is due any day now. In the future when I get up to the years I was in Bethel, I'll include some of the info I've been posting here yesterday and today so I won't have to reinvent the wheel and that's when I'll talk about events that I've never publicly talked about before. What I've been working on for the past few years is about the organization's old history and finding it fascinating. Some of it is making its way to the blog and more is on the way, but the majority will come out in another medium. Also, I'm working on some speeches that I will be giving in Europe in the future. I'll post more about that later when all the plans are in place. Barbara -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In those years. The WT did not financially help widows of COs and DOs. Whether they had little money to do so is something I can't speculate upon. I could talk about the mind-set in those days towards this issue, but we old timers know what the attitude we all had then was like. We gave our all to the work, and in many cases our life. It was the work that was important, not us. I remember when we were in Bethel there was a couple in the district work named Franke?. Their territory was Washington State and surrounding areas. When he died of a heart attack, she had nothing but the little trailer they pulled to live in. She had to go to work. We felt so sorry for her, but what else could be done. Is the Society under obligation to support people who are in special work even when they are no longer in special work? In recent years, people who sign on to do this kind of work are informed by WT about the ins and outs of the work, but not years ago. Special servants were true believers and never expected to grow old and die. On both sides of the fence--the people in the Service Dept. who sent special servants out into the field and those in the field believed the same about their future: there wasn't any so why worry about it. Only later due to complaints from a growing organization, the Society was forced to confront this issue and began to provide insurance, cars, places to live, etc., to special servants, but they had the money to do so. However, now they have to reorganize again. Special servants are a liability and money is scarce. Barb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I agree with Ray Franz when he pointed out somewhere in one of his excellent books that the leaders believe the lies that were passed on to them and also believe their own lies (I don't have the quote at hand, hence, my words. If I've got the quote wrong, then I agree with my own words.) However, that is no excuse. When you accept a GB position and become part of a group of men that enforce harmful policies (whether you know they are harmful or not), you become responsible for that harm. We all know that. It's been discussed many times on this board especially with regard to Hitler and associates. As much as I enjoyed being around Lloyd Barry, Jack Barr and Dan Sidlik, I had occasion to see complete change in their demeanor if they thought that I or others had overstepped a rule. I can only imagine what would have happened if I had occasion to be critical of a doctrine, etc. or sounded a bit "apostate." From what I was told, the only GB member who had real empathy for Ray Franz was Swingle and he tried, to no avail, to stop the steam roller that was about to run over Ray. Lloyd Barry was hard as nails and turned on Ray; and, of course, Ted Jaracz was in full control of the driving of the steam roller. Dan Sidlik ran for cover because he had skeletons in his closet. Jack Barr just went along with Lloyd. Harry Peloyan and I talked just about everything and I heard from his own lips what he didn't agree with, but I saw twice what happened to his disposition when I crossed a boundary that he thought I shouldn't have. For example: I saw that the number of publishers, peak publishers and baptized in each KM just didn't make sense if you added the numbers up month by month. I brought this to his attention and it was like I had unleashed a small volcano. His face turned red; his fists clenched till the fingers became purple. He told me angrily, in essence, to forget about it, it was not my affair. Another time we had a disagreement about contraception. In this case he was right and I was wrong. I wanted the sisters to know that taking a certain type of birth control pill caused abortion. Please don't ask me any questions because I can't remember much about this ( I know I was reading a medical article that enlightened me on the subject), just that he became angry at me. Wow, did I cross the line. He said the poor sisters had enough to worry about in this organization than for us to put another burden on them. Of course he was right. I was looking at it from the angle of a very dedicated Christian woman who did not want to break God's law on taking a life. To me, back then, there were few gray areas--JWs were against abortion and God would get me if I didn't get the message out. I knew that if I continued on to press for anything he was not in agreement with, I would have been transferred into the laundry area to count hangers. Harry was always very complimentary about my contributions to the organization, but when I went public about child abuse, he was very angry, calling me a Judas. I bet if he could have gotten a hold of me, I would have been dog food! What I'm trying to say is this and hope I'm being clear: No matter how nice or sincere JW leaders are, they would do harm (if they could get away with it) to anybody who crosses a certain line, a line outlined and imposed by them, to a member who questions "mother's" right to rule! Familiar, huh? Catholic Church, Calvin, Puritans, etc. We all know the saying about how power corrupts... Barb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Current experiences are valuable because they are recent. Mine aren't. All of us are very interested in what is happening now. It's a shame that there is little kindness shown because the "business" end of the WT is beginning to suffer or they are changing their mode of operation and are asking people, who might have nowhere to go, to leave. Look at all the people losing their jobs outside of this organization. Technology is changing so many things at Bethel and everywhere. And the bad economy is to blame for other changes at Bethel. WT is being forced to deal with forces beyond their control and we see them stream-lining the business. In many ways, it's a good thing. JWs are led to think that WT is a good caretaker of their donations. If I was still giving them money, I'd be happy to see them acting in a more responsible way with money and people. I understand that they are listening to outside expertise (worldly knowledge) and running their operation like it should have been run when I was there. Bravo! If this is true, then having a business plan and putting it into effect could put in jeopardy many jobs, but if you're not needed anymore or if you can't work, what's the reason to be there? Barb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I keep checking my emails and PMs and I've yet to receive any other information about Jaracz's condition. As pointed out, he could very well live for years more. But we'll patiently wait for his demise. He's been ill for a long time. Probably hasn't been able to contribute much for quite a while and what is going on in the org. today is the work of the new boys in the GB. Yikes! It appears to me what the organization lost were people who loved "Jehovah." Now, the people taking their place are in it for all the wrong reasons. I remember wonderful COs and DOs. (I also remember the other kind but they seemed to be in a minority.) When I was leaving the org. in the late 90s, I saw what winstonchurchill is talking about and it was very discouraging. After Joe left some four years after me, he told me how the elders argued like children in their elder meetings. He was so disappointed in what he was seeing but tried to hang on. Their 'comfort words' are so hollow, pre-fabricated and insincere that it's sickening. This is what I hear from those who are reaching out and speaking to me in private. If anything, this org. is in the process of destroying itself from within, but as it goes down, guess who is getting the blame? Yep, the "apostates." I have it on good authority, disgusted observers inside are saying that it will implode. And it's okay with me. It's the system that has to go, but the misled people will eventually (once they get their heads on straight) be happy it's gone once they taste freedom from the power and control. Who knows, maybe a rebellion will make it a kinder and more gentle organization. It's difficult but I try to look at the bright side because our son and his family are still in although I just found out recently that our son resigned as an elder. We don't know the reason. He's one of those martyr-types and will probably hang on until he dies or the WT dies, which ever comes first. (Sorry to say, we trained him to be like that.) I do know that he believes that everything is happening just like Jehovah wants it to. Jehovah has everything under control and the end is coming soon. He has said he loves Jehovah, not an organization, so it doesn't bother him enough to leave when he sees all the things winstonchurchill says are happening. Barb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I believe that the negatives are amply explained to those who seek out special service. I know I heard them all. However, we didn't want to believe what we heard. It was "Mecca" where we were going and nobody could tell us otherwise. Joe spent three years at Bethel in the 1950s and told me I wouldn't last, but I did, through thick and thin. I became a JW at 14 and had it drummed into my head that Witnesses were imperfect, so no matter what I saw I blamed imperfection and never questioned that it wasn't "the truth." I'm sympathetic because "there by the grace of God go I." I understand perfectly what BonaFide is trying to get across. Joe was a servant in a congregation when he was about 18. He would have walked through fire for "Jehovah." That's the way it was. I was like Jaracz. I lived by the letter of the law, but I was not cold or distant as he is. It's probably a personality trait on this part. Maybe that's why he married an outgoing woman. As sincere and whole-souled as he is, we all agree that as unwritten "Boss" of the GB, he's responsible for so much harm that it's impossible to tally up. If you go back and reread what I've written on this thread about Barry removing Jaracz from the Australian Branch for wrongdoing and then Knorr sent him to Calif. as DO, just think about it--You don't get removed as BO unless it's pretty obvious that you really transgressed in a big way. These men in high position in the org. stick together. They only remove a peer when they absolutely have to. I've suspected for a long time what it was that Jaracz did but have no proof. But whatever it was, it was serious. Knorr should have never sent him to California as DO. I have it on good authority and said this in another post that Knorr was so angry with the Directiors for taking away his power, Jaracz was brought in to get even. Knorr knew exactly what he was doing. They didn't want him as Boss, so he gave them Jaracz. I'm as conflicted as the next person about all the issues that have been raised here. I don't have definitive answers. All I can do is pass along information just like the others are doing who were in special service but are now out of the organization. I'm trying to be realistic and think about everybody's point of view. The human personality is so complicated. We are who we are for lots of reasons and with Jaracz we're all trying to figure out what made him tick. But until we know more about his upbringing (raised by 3 maiden aunts) and find out more about his early life and where were his parents?, who of his relatives molded his thinking?, etc., we just go round and round about this enigma of a man who didn't want his life story published nor wanted to talk about himself at all. It was as if he was hiding from something or maybe himself. As I wrote earlier in this thread, this man became totally different under certain circumstances that it was noticed not just by me, but by others. I bet a shrink would have found him fascinating. Maybe in his positions of authority from such a young age, he saw too much bad stuff, so gradually closed down his own personality and navigated his theocratic life happily by blocking out the human element. By concentrating only on the scriptures and the Kingdom message that made up "the work, " he in effect divorced himself from reality. Listen to the discussion Randy Watters put up between Alan Feuerbacher and Ted in 2001. It's fascinating. Jaracz comes across as an extremely kind and loving person. This is the kindly man those outside of Bethel saw, those he didn't know personally. He became emotional when he spoke of the increases in the organization. This is not the man Bethelites as a whole saw except if they were being "groomed" for MTS. I thought the use of that word by Jeff very interesting. Jaracz was grooming young men for reasons not entirely clear. Certainly, the young men weren't harmed by Jaracz, yet his personal involvement with them only with regard to MTS gave him immense satisfaction. Why? That kindness rarely extended to the general run of the mill Bethelite. He treated Bethelites like they were an annoyance except if he needed something from one of them. This was the man who lived in the "50s." It was his influence that prevents the Awake! or Watchtower to show any women in pants. Look at pictures of families going out in service: Dad in a suit; Mom in a dress; One little boy in a suit and a little girl in a pretty dress. The ideal family. If that isn't fantasy, I don't know what is. Jaracz didn't want women in Bethel to wear blue jeans, but was overruled because the work they did required jeans. Then he had to be told to stop scolding women in the elevators if he saw they had on jeans and they weren't working. He brought many a girl to tears. Personally, I don't think he liked women very much. Just certain ones he could control. This man definitely had issues! Barb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I gotta say Yknot, your points are well-taken. Yep, Ted was a service geek. You are so right. We knew that of all the GB, he was the only one that went out in service as often as he could, with his wife, of course. He was extremely comfortable talking about field service and the organization. Interacting with humans on other issues was another story. So sad that of all people in this organization, he was the one that ruled the roost for too many years. If he only had supported Harry, Lloyd, Swingle and Sidlik in the child abuse issue, the outcome of this horrible chapter in their history would have been so different. Jaracz was into the spiritual end of the org. He was on the Teaching Committee. Harry recd his District Assembly writing assignments from him. I have a copy of the short letter he sent to Harry assigning him to write the main Sunday talk for a DC. Without me looking it up, I believe it was something like, The Light Of The World. Jaracz gave directions to Harry about the theme to follow along with a few suggestions. I did all the research and practically made up the entire outline. Joe gave that talk at a dist. convention in Virginia and it was almost identical to what I submitted to Harry. It could be said that the faithful and discreet served up food in this instance because the Teaching Committee sent out the writing assignment with the title of the talk along with suggestions. If only the flock knew how it really works! Well, I bet they wouldn't even care; just explain it away with some sort of specious argument. Barb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BonaFide, you said: Then a few weeks later came the announcement, that the Branch Bethel Family was going to be reduced from 45 to 28. Many Bethelites were reassigned as special pioneers, some as circuit overseers. This was way before the US Bethel reductions. So that was a major shock. Your account rings so true of the man. Calculating is a good description. At the branch during his visit you saw one side, the kindly Jaracz. The results of his visit exemplify the other more sinister person. He used you all. He gained your confidence by appearing so spiritual, but he was not what he appeared to be. He came to your branch for a totally different reason than the staff thought. Certainly, corporate leaders have a right to reduce staff. After all, WT is nothing but a huge business corporation masquerading as a religion. But to do it in such a devious way tells us lots about his character. And to hear that the work load increased for the remaining workers was downright chilling because we know the decision to do this came from him. He cared nothing for the well-being of the staff, only saving money or for whatever other reasons they are downsizing. Ted Jaracz fits the profile and description of a sociopath/psychopath. Your story validates my observations and experiences. Thank you. Yada Yada 2, you asked 1. Does this mean those men did not want the 'two-witness' rule to apply to child abuse allegations? 2. Were they opposed to the legalistic, harsh policy on child abuse? 3. Do you know of any current GB members who would like changes to certain policies? 1. I can't answer that question because the topic never came up. I didn't even know they were applying the 'two-witness' rule in child abuse accusations. As a woman who had no insight into what took place in a judicial hearing or read the "Flock" book at that time, how would I even suspect such a thing? The topic of conversation between Harry and me was about molesters holding positions of authority and how can this be stopped. He was in contact with Sydlik and Swingle about the child abuse situation, not me. I had one conversation about it with Sydlik a few days befor I left Bethel and we had a bit of an argument, but I won. I figured since I was leaving, I'd say what I had on my mind and get away with it because he couldn't dismiss me from Bethel at that point. Dan and I were both Polish and our limited friendship originally came about from this commonality. (I'm ashamed to say Jaracz is Polish too.) During that last conversation we had together, we talked about molesters holding positions of authority. Nothing came up about the two-witness policy. I wonder now if any of these sympathetic men even knew how big a deal this was in a judicial setting in child abuse cases. Of course they read the "Flock" book, and Sydlik was an active elder in a congregation, but unless your involved in a situation, instructions are just words. 2. I don't think that any of the men thought the policies were legalistic or harsh. I never heard Harry critical of the policies already in place. If there were problems, he blamed the elders for not handling child abuse situations correctly or for not doing what they were told by the Society. That's why he told me, "The Society is going to let them dangle in the wind" if elders don't follow their instructions. And those instructions came from the Legal Dept. and that's why elders were told to call that department as soon as an accusation of molestation was made. Apparently many of them were not doing that back then. I do know Harry believed they needed to do something to keep molesters from holding supervisory positions. That's why he was so happy with the January 1, 1997 Watchtower policy statement that said no known molester would hold a position in the cong., and he took credit for that achievement in a letter to me. We never discussed mandated reporting laws either. Back then I was way over my head when talking with him about this topic. I didn't know much about legality issues. I just knew men in authority were molesting children and the Society had to do something about it. After I left Bethel, I started to deeply research the subject and send into the Writing Dept. what I found. Still I didn't know about the two-witness rule. Not until I talked to former elders and victims who enlightened me how it was applied in a judicial setting and after I read Joe's "Flock" book. Then I was stunned and determined to do something about it. 3. No, I don't know much of anything about the current GB members other than about Jaracz and Barr. I do know they all are company men, the newer guys hand-picked by Jaracz. Most likely these men believe if the company says we have the best child abuse policy, that’s the way it is, unless they read the court records we made public. Greetings WAC and Big Tex. Glad you joined the discussion. One thing I want to make clear is this: What made this situation so unique was the sympathy for the victims that Harry and others in the department were showing. No one that I can remember expressed unhappiness about policies. The big thing to those in Writing, who were involved, was that elders were mistreating victims when they came forward with their accusations. In addition, that some elders were molesters. These men on the Writing staff were upset about it. The Oct. 8, 1991 Awake! expressed sympathy for victims and was such an encouragement to them. No one expected what happened after the publishing of that magazine. Jaracz hated it and his Service Dept. hated it. I didn't know why; only could speculate at the time. But it became obvious to me later that Service didn't want to acknowledge that there were molesters who were leaders because they were responsible for carrying out all organizational procedure and it looked bad for them to have put in supervisery positions molesters. It looked like they were asleep at the wheel; that they weren't protecting children. Men in Service blamed the victims. Said they were lying; that this was just a passing fad. Writing had nothing to do with running the organization. This was Service's domain. Can you imagine the war that was erupting between the two departments? Also, Writing Correspondence was involved too. That was J.R. Brown's department, but under Lloyd's control. They were receiving many, many letters from victims after the publishing of that Awake!. So Lloyd Barry had to get involved with Service about the situation. Service was run by Jaracz. Jaracz and Barry were not friends, more like 'friendly' enemies. What a mess! That Awake! opened a Pandora's Box and all kinds of evils flew out that had been hidden under the lid or below the surface for years. The court records reveal those evils. From my point of view, it was JW victims of child sexual abuse who were responsible for getting Harry and others so involved and the organization in deep dodo. Harry Peloyan went into battle because of them. One time Harry had tears in his eyes when he gave me a letter to read from someone who was very close to him and his wife. They had no idea what her father had done to her as a child until she sent him a copy of the letter she wrote to her father when he was going to marry a woman with two young daughters. For too many years the Service Dept. had not been listening to victims' complaining calls and letters. Society’s lawyers were hushing up victims with secret payoffs in settlements authorized by the GB, spearheaded by the "Boss" who the others acquiesced to because of his argument that we can't allow these things to bring reproach upon God's organization. After many secret settlements were made, as I know they were, why no one suggested opening an investigation to look into what was going on in the congregations, is beyond me. This tells us a lot about how the "slave" does not provide food (or direction) at the proper time! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks Mary for your comments. I'm going to pass them on. Also, thank you and also everyone else who have expressed appreciation for my "insider" information. I'm happy to share it because you say it's helpful. Just a few minutes ago, I learned from a friend that he called Watchtower to find out how Jaracz is. The operator put him through to some guy who said that "Brother Jaracz is doing fine." The caller than said, "I want to pass the information along to others who will be out in service this morning." The reply: "Oh that's very good. Tell as many people as possible that Bro. Jaracz is doing fine so that they won't call. We are getting so many phone calls asking about Bro. Jaracz that we can't get any work done. If anybody wants to send flowers or a card, send them to the regular Watchtower address in Brooklyn." How about it, anybody want to send a card? How about flowers? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's something about Sydlik. This is what I was told. Dan was a writer in the Writing Dept. when it was called Editorial Dept. He wrote an article about baseball that went into the Awake! Later it was found out that he plagiarized the article from Reader's Digest. He was transferred to the Factory, the Bindery maybe. I could be wrong about that. This was quite a while before the directors thought of taking over the org. from Knorr and Franz. How he made it from the Factory to the GB is probably an interesting story, but one we'll never know. All that info. died with him. I heard the rumor about Dan and boys, but that's all it was, a rumor. Yes, he had young men in his office often. Yes, he talked to young men when walking home, but Dan was in Bethel for years before he married. Running around with guys was what he did. I've been with Dan and Marina in their room and at social occasions and they seemed to enjoy each other's companionship very much. They were a neat couple together. He was very concerned about her well-being. He said being a GB's wife was difficult for her. She would get a tension headache when she had to stand with him greeting people after he gave a special talk. He told me that she had often been hurt by people who used her to get to him. She was very cautious about making friends because of this. She seemed to many to be unfriendly, but it wasn't that at all. She was on guard in public to protect herself and her husband from crafty people in "Jehovah's wonderful organization" (my words). One time, we took them out to Long Island to Alan Feuerbacher's parent's home on Long Island Sound. We had a really good time. There was, however, one episode that occurred that we'll never forget. There were only three couples there. Three elders two of which were Bethel elders and their wives and the conversation was about organizational stuff. Dan began to talk about how he knew Jehovahhhhh Godddd through his Holy Spirit was with elders in judicial hearings. He was sharing a story of how well a certain "sister's" problems were handled by the elders even though her life was in turmoil and she was in and out of judicial hearings. It was, he said, because Holy Spirit was there to help the brothers and as he continued to extol the virtues of judicial hearings, he began to change. It was while he was saying he could actually feel the presence of the Holy Spirit at this woman's hearing, he seemed to slip off into an outer-worldly thingy experience or something. His voice became different. Hard to describe what we saw and heard. At the time, I thought of the Apostle Paul and the 7th heaven experience. All five of us sat there listening and staring at him for what seemed to be an eternity, but really only minutes, when his wife Marina said (I kid you not): "God damn it, Sydlik, stop that; get off your high horse and come back down to earth." He blinked a few times and returned back to normal. If that wasn't the strangest thing for the five of us to observe. Then we all mentally shook ourselves and continued on with conversation like nothing happened. I have no commentary to offer about this experience. I'm still at a loss for words over it, and for me that's saying something. Barb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dan Sydlik was a character. A Bohemian type. I saw a man that seemed to never tire chatting with people. Most people liked him but no one thought of him as a Bible scholar. Many times when I was going to libraries outside of Bethel, I'd see him walking through the office halls seemingly with nothing to do. When I'd go into his office, I rarely saw any paper work on his desk. He didn't seem to have a very important job, whatever it was. Dan did let it be known that any Bethelite with a problem was welcome to come and talk to him and that's why so many young men were in and out of his office. He was part of the Personnel Office. And in that office was John Booth and two other Bethelites. John Booth typed up Bethel outside speaking assignments. That was his job and I can't imagine that being too important, either. I was friends with a young woman in Bethel who spoke five languages and was brilliant. She was a concert pianist and an accountant. She was assigned to Home housekeeping. One of the Office overseers wanted her in his department, but didn't go through correct procedure to transfer her. He got into lots of trouble with the Building Office for bringing her over to his department for a few days on a trial basis. I saw the hot verbal argument between the two men in the hall one day. She was punished by the Building Office and sent to Shipping. None of this was her fault but she was punished. Her husband went to Dan Sydlik and he made arrrangements to transfer her to Writing where she was sorely needed. However, by that time, she and her husband were so angry that they left Bethel and they left the Witnesses a few years afterwards. I liked Dan and had fun teasing with him. We had only been in Bethel a few months when we found ourselves sitting at the same table with him at supper. Joe is a big tease and said something about me being Polish. So Dan responded by saying something to me in Polish like "Hello." Joe said he knew Polish too and he said a few words to Dan that he heard my mother say to our son when he was little at least a million times. Joe had forgotten the meaning of the words, but what he said to Dan was, "kiss me." Dan replied, "You're not my type!" That gives you some insight into Dan Sydlik. Can you imagine what Jaracz would have said if Joe uttered those Polish words to him? One time after work, I was walking from the office back to the Towers and talking to Dan. We had just heard that either the Watch Tower or JWs had been banned in Poland, I can't remember which one. However, the other entity was not banned. So I said to Dan, "Don't they know that the two are the same?" He turned and with a straight face said, "Well, they're Polish, you know." The Bethel family enjoyed it when Dan conducted morning worship because he was always good for a laugh. One morning I gave my text comment to the family of 6, 000 people through TV hook-up. It was about something new and interesting I had read about the buzzing of bees in National Geographic and somehow I linked it with JWs preaching work. Joe was next to comment. So when Dan introduced Joe he said, "Let's see you top that!" The whole family laughed and laughed and I heard about it for the whole day and the next, and the next. Dan loved liked a son Lee Waters, a very special younger man who wrote the Young People Ask book and quite a few very nice books like Happiness, etc. (I'm not sure about Happiness, but Lee excelled at that type of writing.) Lee wrote the Oct 8, 1991 Awake! articles about helping abuse victims. He died a few years ago of a brain tumor and I was told that Dan had to be helped out of the KH after the funeral talk. He was crying and moaning, "My son, my son... How will I live without you." I have a very soft spot in my heart for both of these men and can hardly write about this. Dan was a reformist. He told Joe and me that he came up with the idea of Assistants to the GB thinking this would bring in new, fresh ideas to the organization. He suggested men from the outside of Bethel. The idea was accepted. Dan was extremely disappointed in that the Assistants who were appointed were ole' school Bethelites and nothing would change, he said. We know nothing about what part Dan played in the events of 1980. About Fekel: He was in Linotype when Joe was in the Press Room in the 1950s. He had been there since the Rutherford days. We don't know when he died. He was a George Hanna type, just an ordinary soul who did his job and stayed out of trouble. The Jackson you speak of who was there ten years is not the one we knew. The Jackson we knew eventually ended up one of the GB. He was there when Joe was there in the 50s and worked with Covington. Joe didn't personally know him. I think he died around 1982 or so? Swingle was nice. He was not a sophisticated man, but rather coarse; could curse like a trooper at times. He seemed not to be very intelligent, but one time I read a letter he wrote to an overseer where I was working. It surprised me to read a letter that showed tact, kindness and intelligence. After Lyman married a woman with children, he became acquainted with things that he never thought about before and the experiences with her family tempered him. He liked to tell jokes. I remember being in his office looking through all the files in a huge cabinet from Grant Suiter's day that contained lots of Van Amburgh's personal material. Swingle was sitting at his desk and came over to hand me a letter he carried around in his wallet. It was from Rutherford to Woodworth telling him not to publish anymore articles in the Consolation magazine about hemorrhoids or he would be removed from his job. It was a funny letter and Swingle was laughing as we talked about it. Swingle was for many, many years Arthur Worsley's room mate before he married. Both of them were strong-minded characters. Swingle was a friend of Ray Franz and tried to help him during the 1980s debacle, but was overruled. The ole' timers at Bethel lived closely with each other for many many years. It's obvious that there had to have been many negatives that took place between them over those years that we will never know about. What I know about is only the tip of the iceberg. If I had stayed there, imagine what I would have learned. Readers here will never know the inside tales because the participants have died or are dying off. Plus the living don't want to share the stories with the "outside" because "they don't want to bring reproach on Jehovah's organization." Barb --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
During our early days at Bethel, GB member Grant Suiter fell in his bathroom, hit his head on the edge of the tub, and was completely paralyzed. He could only move his eyes, but could hear and comprehend everything going on around him. The nurses had to care for him like they would a baby. I think he lived for about six months after the accident. Suiter wasn't replaced and remained a GB member until his death. One-time poster here, Maximus, a former Bethelite and CO, told us how Suiter came to a city, it seems to me was Baltimore, Maryland, on WT business where Maximus was a CO. Suiter called Maximus a few days earlier and invited him to lunch. Much to his surprise, they met at one of the most expensive restaurants in the city. Maximus was not happy about this because he was CO in one of the poorest sections of the city and it seemed to him to be out of order for them to eat at that place while JWs in his territory lived in extreme poverty. During lunch, Suiter, the overseer of the Treasury Department, pulled out of the pockets of his very expensive suit, jewelry that he asked Maximus to make an offer on. Maximus had no money. He came into the circuit work right out of Bethel and he was incredulous at Suiter’s cavalier attitude. Maximus said he saw lots of very fine jewelry during that lunch which Suiter had just thrown in different pockets. While he displayed gold chains, diamond rings, etc., he complained how he was constantly trying to get rid of the stuff that was willed to the Society by JWs. That’s why he was there, to sell jewelry at outlets. Even the flashy rings Suitor wore on his fingers were part of the loot. This experience was one that disgusted Maximus so much that it contributed towards his leaving the organization Before his accident, I saw Suiter around and he was a lot like Jaracz, wouldn't give an ordinary Bethelite the time of day. So when he had his accident, there wasn't too much sympathy expressed. He certainly was not a beloved figure like Jack Barr was, but we felt sorry for him ending up a helpless vegetable. But years later when Maximus told us his tale about Suiter's expensive suits and the jewelry, I thought that he deserved to be helpless for six months before he died only able to watch life pass him by until he breathe his last breath. I judge no one but this man seemed to be so callous. From other stories I had heard, his interests were not especially spiritual and did not rest with concerns for the flock while he benefited so much from their labors. Considering the way he died, perhaps there is justice after all. As you can see if you have followed this thread from the beginning, I have shared many stories here from Bethel. Memory is not always perfect, but I have tried to write down what I remember and usually check with Joe to see if I'm accurate in what I say. Many things I've related are not first hand experiences, but things I heard over the years. We all know that sometimes people have an agenda and slant the picture, so the reader is encouraged to understand that I'm not trying to slant anything, but just sharing what I know. If anybody has information that contradicts my anecdotes, I welcome their input. We all would like to have the correct picture of this 130 year old organization and its supporters and leaders.
Barb
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  written by Blueeyes 54 , July 09, 2009 As one researcher to another I find the fine blue line to be deceptive in how it attains "New Light". I sent extensive research material to the GB. It is on the "Final Sealing". They rejected it and me and allowed the elders to steam roll over me. Now I am finding my research in the study articles, slightly, ever so slightly altered but recognizable. Since they disfellowshipped me on apostasy for creating sects and divisions(after five years I still have no new religion or group)of which was a lie and they never proved it, then this "New Light" is apostate information. And to top it off all my research was from Watchtower library information of which they were writers of. So. . . when they rejected me, they rejected themselves, Jesus said to watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees. He hates hypocricy. Through my research I could prove when the final sealing occured. Not Armageddon of which they are paranoid of setting dates, but the final sealing of the anointed, of which I am, so therefore should have a great interest in the subject and wondering why, if they claim to be anointed, they do not. I believe that they guilded the cup and became too comfortable and in not so many words, do not want this system to really end. They do not want to give up control. It will be the same issue at end of 1,000 yrs. All have to join Jesus in turning everything over to Jehovah 100%. Not all will want to do that. Now because you are such a brave girl I will tell you that I would not be writing this if it did not have Jehovah's approval. He is about to let Watchtower suffer humiliation for a short while. Hang on for the roller coaster ride! report abuse
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Having worked at Watchtower headquarters in Brooklyn from 1974 to 1980, I just happened to be at the "right place at the right time," so-to-speak, when it comes to getting a good glimpse at the inner workings of the Watch Tower Society. A new Governing Body arrangement had just been put into effect, replacing the former arrangement where almost all decisions were made by the president and vice-president, who at that time were N. H. Knorr and Frederick W. Franz, respectively.
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