There are days when I wish this sordid tale of Mercy Ministries would end, not because I am tired of helping survivors, but because the actions of ex-mercy staff erode away that hope I have for humanity.
A concerned reader sent me a link to a former Mercy Residents blog, a girl obviously still suffering despite having graduated Mercy successfully. In a post discussing the undertaking by Ex-Mercy Directors she quotes an email sent to her by Chelle, who is by all accounts a former resident and Deb Malcolm who appears to be the former Mercy Ministries Advocacy Manager. That specific email referenced in the post is below:
Hi Girls,
I’m not too sure if you girls have all received the letter in the mail about Mercy from the ACCC or not, but when i got it i thought i so needed to email all girls i knew from mercy to tell you some stuff i know.
I know we all had different experiences from our time at Mercy, some good, some a lot better than others, but i guess we know that a lot was given for us to be there, and a lot of incredible people made a lot of sacrifices for us to be there.
I read the ACCC letter about receiving money from the money that we paid for centrelink, and to be honest i thought about how much it would help. What i didnt know was that the money we are all able to get paid isnt from Mercy Ministries, it isnt from the sale of the Sydney or the QLD home, it isn’t from Nancy Alcorn, the money we are being offered is from the own pockets of 7 of the board of directors.
I know these people did only what they thought was best for each one of us girls and the running of the program, and yet they are the ones having to pay from their own pockets for us girls. some of the board who are paying were only on the board of mercy for a short time.
I dunno if this changes anything for any of you about whether you will be accepting the money or not, but i know for me it definitely did. I know we are all so on our own journey and i know that we have all had our own experiences, good or bad, but maybe i guess i just wanted you to think about the fact that this is the 7 board members paying a huge amount for doing what they thought was right, and it isn’t money from the sale of either of the homes…. just thought once i found this out that maybe i should let others know too who we are taking money from.
here is a link for the article that told me about the ACCC rulings if you want to read it.Please dont take this the wrong way, im so not judging whatever you decide, just thought i would inform you of what i found out.
Deb Malcom said she is happy for anyone to facebook her with any questions anyone has about this. Also, i dunno if anyone wants to, but it would be great to send letters of support to Mark and Darlene if anyone wants too, its been pretty rough on them all that has gone on. you can fb them to me or Debs and we will make sure they get passed on. Thanks so much guys.
Hope you’ve all had a great christmas and the best year yet is ahead of you.
From Chelle.
The rest of the post can be read here.
Some serious and disturbing questions surface in my mind:
Is Chelle acting of her own accord, through some misguided notion of loyalty?
Is Chelle being manipulated by a former Mercy Ministires Advocacy Manager (Deb Malcolm)?
Are the directors covertly trying to influence the take up of compensation?
I simply shudder to think that any of the scenarios outlined above might have some currency. In examining the email I can see it as heartfelt email written by a desperately loyal Graduate or some of the best written manipulative prose I have come across( in that it looks genuine but hits all the right buttons). Breaking it down by paragraphs it’s essentially:
Para 1 – You don’t have the whole truth
Para 2 – Lots of people made lots of sacrifices for you to be at mercy
Para 3 – I thought about the money but didn’t now it was coming out of the pockets of directors
Para 4 – They(directors) were only trying to help, and some of them weren’t even there that long
Para 5 – It changed my mind about taking the money, its coming out of the pockets of directors (2nd mention)
Para 6 – I am not trying to influence you (really?)
Para 7 – You can contact Deb. Malcolm and Mark and Darlene could do with your support
Another question:
Why is Deb Malcolm, who hasn’t worked for Mercy for some time and who now as I understand it works for Compassion Australia, involved in this?
The directors of Mercy have signed an undertaking, they have admitted responsibility for wrong doing they have publically copped it on the chin. When you become the director of a company you accept certain responsibilities, Peter Irvine as a “successful businessman” would surely have known his legal responsibilities having served on two boards. These are not lambs led to the slaughter( maybe some were patsies – a discussion for another post), these are not innocent victims. They are adults who took the responsibility along with the power and the pay.
There is a 4 month window of opportunity for the compensation to be taken up, after this point it will be returned to the Kennedy Lawyers and presumably to the directors . So every Mercy resident that can be influenced not to take up the monies, or to delay decision till the time has run out means less money out of the pocket of the directors.
We are not talking sheep stations here either – each director is required to provide roughly 17 000 dollars each(hardly a lot of money for directors, even those poorly paid by the church).
To my knowledge all the directors are currently working and well supported.
To campaign on the behalf of the directors as if they are some unfortunate victim to be taken pity on makes me sad, as it’s a failure to understand the massive power that people in that position exert over the residents. That mentally and financially robust people could call on the women who struggled at Mercy to show some sort of leniency displays such gross insensitivity that the thought of it makes me ill.
To consider that something more sinister maybe afoot has me wondering about the morals of people claiming to be committed Christians and what level they might stoop to?
In any case I have forwarded the information on to the ACCC and would suggest that any ex-Mercy Residents who receive an email similar to the one above do likewise.
What is this Mercy Ministries? Click here to view more details
Related posts:
- Hillsong’s original press release on Mercy Ministries As I stated in this post, a reader informed me...
- The Evangelical back scratching network – Gloria Jeans, Compassion and Mercy Ministries Now while Gloria Jeans has pulled their funding and...
- Mercy Ministires of America not Affiliated with Mercy Ministries Inc Mercy Ministries of America, headed by Nancy Alcorn has contacted...
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Martin Pribble, SeandBlogonaut. SeandBlogonaut said: New blog post: http://tinyurl.com/yazf47j – A covert attempt to minimise uptake of Mercy Compensation? [...]
Sean, I do hope you will report this letter to the ACCC. It seems like coercion to me.
Oh, sorry, I was so outraged I didn't read all the way to the bottom. Good on you!
Have sent the letter and the web address it was on, have also taken screenshots incase someone tries to coerce the young girl to take it down.
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by SeandBlogonaut: New blog post: http://tinyurl.com/yazf47j – A covert attempt to minimise uptake of Mercy Compensation?…
The ACCC is contacting girls via their last mailing address on file at Mercy. So, many of these people would not be at the same address. In a way, this was a great way for more people to hear about ! Hopefully, coercion aside, it's let more girls know what they are eligible for. May it backfire and cause MORE to accept the money rather than less!
Actually I hadn't thought of that. Lets hope that it does backfire if indeed that was the intention of the e-mailers. I think it would be best for them to have stayed silent in the first place. Mark and Darlene have signed a public statement, to be be playing the sympathy card with or without their knowledge makes them look very insincere.
If they didn't believe in apologizing and making an undertaking then they should not have signed the statement.
Are they sorry? They were MADE to sign something apologising for being misleading, what would the consequences have been for them if they declined? They may claim on paper that they are sorry for being misleading, but they will never apologise for mistreating. They may eventually say that they are sorry we "feel" mistreated, but that'd be the extent of their apology. Besides, as was mentioned previously, on Darlene's website, "We will be ever grateful to a staff who did over and above the call of duty every single day to ensure the girls’ well being." and…"I personally do not regret a moment of our Mercy journey." There is no room for any amount of an apology in those two statements, they have no regrets! I would post the link, but it's been deleted from her website now…
No I don't thing they are. They could have fought the decision legally (but then maybe that would have caused them more trouble) which brings me to my point that they appear to both insincere in the apology and insincere when it comes to their commitment to Christianity.
If they truly believed then they would be willing to put it all on the line, hey? They's be honest and say "no i believe what we did was right" and stand by that commitment instead they (from where I sit at least) took the road that would cause them the least embarassment, least cost.
Don't worry about the link I have saved a copy of the website
It's still there http://www.darlenezschech.com/cmspage.php?intid=1...
I was told by an ex staff member that they have insurance and it won't be coming out of their own pockets.
That certainly is very interesting in the light of the email above.
you have it all wrong…. really wrong.
Who has what wrong? Could you enlighten us? Note I am not saying that this is the case, but I do not think it is wise for Chelle or Deb Malcolm else to be saying anything further on the matter. The directors have made the agreement, they have agreed to pay out of their own pocket for the wrong they have committed.
I can't see that Sean has anything wrong. He has followed this intimately over many months. He has spoken to the Mercy survivors and heard their tales. He has seen the Mercy manual which directed that these vulnerable young women be subjected to exorcisms. Many of his (and the Mercy Survivor's) claims have been proven correct by the ACCC ruling and the fact that Hillsong and Mercy International are now scrabbling to disassociate themselves from Mercy Australia (perhaps fearing further legal action?). Apologising to the victims of your misleading statements and agreeing to pay compensation and then, behind the backs of the ACCC having someone write a letter trying to get the girls not to accept the compensation is not only insensitive, it is coercive and manipulative. These people have clearly lost all sense of decency. If you support them, Charlie, you are as bad as they are.
She has taken it down now. I do hope the poor girl can get some real help, it sounds like she needs it.
That blogsite was between me and my psychologist and you a fucking asshole to have it put up for the world to see. You have hurt me more than anyone or any organisation ever could have. So thankyou! Thankyou very much for the dagger you so kindly threw at me. And whoever it was that gave you that site and was snooping to find dirt… You are all low lifes who need to find something better to do with you lives!!! Really now!!! Grow up!
I am saddened that you have been hurt. I can't help but think you anger is a little misplaced though.
That blogsite was between me and my psychologist and you a fucking asshole to have it put up for the world to see.
Was it really? It was open to the public you have been doing the online equivalent of publishing your case notes discussions in a public newspaper. I have not put it up for all the world to see, you have. That and the entries were commented on by other members of the public, including myself. There was no indication that it was private to anyone casually viewing it. Rest assured if I had been aware that it was intended to be private I would have advised you of the ability of the public to view it . Indeed I will attach some links at the bottom of my comment that will show you how to make your blog private and invitation only.
Did your Psych suggest this format for dialogue? I suggest that if that was the case she had done you a great disservice, the equivalent of asking you to write a journal and then leave it open in a public cafe for her to drop by and read later. Email is a far more secure mode of conversation by comparison.
What is the dagger that I threw at you? I quoted Chelle's letter which and directed people to your public site to view for themselves. Did I criticise you? No, I expressed concern that members of Mercy appeared to be attempting to prevent people from accessing money that was their due, through manipulation. So it appears we have somewhat of a misunderstanding.
And whoever it was that gave you that site and was snooping to find dirt…
Well not really. My guess is the person who found your site had some google alerts set with keywords relating to Darlene of Mercy ministries – i know I do. Little google bots give me a daily report on a range of sites and keywords that I am interested in (Mercy being one of those).
You are all low lifes who need to find something better to do with you lives!!! Really now!!! Grow up!
I understand you are angry but calling me an asshole and a low life is hardly adult is it. Feel free to talk to me at sbwright@gmail.com where I am quite prepared to have an adult discussion with you.
In the meantime here is the link to how to ensure that you blog is kept private
http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer….
Hi Angry, I think you really need to consider your words more carefully before you freak out at Sean, as he didn’t do anything wrong. Sean didn’t post ANYTHING of yours off your blog. He posted an email that many of us received. It wasn’t exclusively yours. And he’s right, if you want your blog to be private then don’t put it up publically. Go to the link Sean gave you and make it private. A public blog isn’t a good way of communicating with your psych. Somebody seeing your PUBLIC blog doesn’t mean they were a low life or snooping. Public blogs are put online for people to look at! Sean has said nothing bad or nasty about you. He expressed concern for you, and rightly so. He also spoke to you respectfully, even though you swore and carried on at him. I hope you can get some help (and I mean that in the nicest possible way) because I know what it’s like to struggle. Please don’t feel like a failure because graduating didn’t mean everything was rosy. It takes courage to go forward and admit you need help, and to find it. Be courageous, don’t put yourself through stuff when there’s help out there! And again I’ve been there, so I’m totally not judging you!
Both Chelle and Debs had direct involvement in the abuse of many girls.
The laws we have in place are for damn good reason. Those Directors headed up this ministry without holding the program staff accountable or seeking professional advice to run a health care organisation. Choice, consequence. We learned all about that every day that we were there.
That was their part in this, and i am glad they have had to deal with one very very small consequence, considering what happened to us in that hell of a place. That money is nothing compared to having our lives put on the line.
Chelle better be bloody glad she hasn't had to face the music.