Toronto Star, requesting ”…please that you
close the case.”
Mayer Rosner, one of the directors of the
Lev Tahor community, says he had been in
frequent contact with the members since
they fled to Guatemala and described
them as “calm” when police arrived, saying
they were not surprised when the
authorities showed up at their hotel. He
added the group had not been trying to
avoid police since landing in the country.
“They have nothing to hide,” he said.
A source in Guatemala’s Ministry of Foreign
Affairs said the group had applied for
refugee status. Officials at the Ministry of
Immigration said they had no record of the
application, but if there was one it would
be confidential. Weingarten refused to talk
about any matters related to the group’s
immigration status in Guatemala and did
not confirm or deny the refugee
application. (Toronto Star, 3/14/14)
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Superior Court judge Lynda Templeton has
ruled that Judge Stephen Fuerth erred in
his original February 3, 2014, decision to
uphold a Quebec court order requiring 14
Lev Tahor children to leave Ontario and
return to Quebec. Judge Templeton
directed the Ontario Court of Justice to
address the question of what will happen
with the seven children, who are currently
in foster care as the result of an
impromptu flight that saw some of the 14
children removed from the country ahead
of the first appeal hearing. Eight of those
children were apprehended and seven
were placed in foster care with Jewish
families in Toronto.
The Ontario Court of Justice is the court
with the jurisdiction to decide whether
they should remain in foster care. The
court has already ordered 8 hours of
weekly visits by the parents of the children
and directed Chatham-Kent Children’s
Services to pay a portion of the travel
costs.
Guidy Mamann, lawyer for the group, says
the orders apply to all children in the sect.
It’s unclear if, or when, they will be
brought before an Ontario court. The
appeal decision instructs Chatham-Kent
Children’s Services to continue
investigating the community, which it has
been doing since the group’s arrival in
November. (Toronto Star, 4/14/14)
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Girish Chandra Varma, chairman of the
Maharishi Vidya Mandir schools group,
was released on bail after spending almost
a month in Bhopal Central jail. He has been
charged with raping a former
schoolteacher at one of his schools over a
period of 15 years. (Times of India, 2/1/14)
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
In an update to police charges of assault
last November against 15 adults in a
Manitoba Old Order Mennonite
community (which remains anonymous to
protect the identity of its children) that
alleged the adults were subjecting
children to “extreme discipline,” the court
recently dropped the charges against four
of the men originally charged, and the
charges against others are expected to be
stayed if they agree to undergo counseling
and sign peace bonds.
Child and Family Services (CFS) has now
returned to two families six children who
had been taken to foster care, but 36 still
remain with other Mennonite caregivers.
One father of nine children, whose charges
have been stayed, said he is hopeful his
community can rebuild. "I'm very happy to
have the charges resolved, and hopefully
that's a big roadblock out of the way to the
return of the children.”
The four men who signed 1-year peace
bonds to have their charges dismissed this
week did not admit to any criminal
misconduct. Also this week, the charges
against one other man and two women,
one of whom is the only teacher for the
community’s one-room schoolhouse, were
moved to Winnipeg court the three are
also expected to sign peace bonds and
have their charges stayed. Three women
still face assault charges in relation to
alleged abuse, but it’s not clear whether
the court system will offer them peace
bonds or some other diversion. Crown
attorney Nicole Roch said the decision
about whether these events will speed up
the return of children to their homes is up
to CFS. (Brandon Sun, 2/12/14)
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
A female member of an Old Order
Mennonite community, which can’t be
identified because of ongoing court
proceedings and a publication ban,
pleaded guilty to assault charges in March.
The Crown says adults strapped, kicked,
and shocked children with a cattle prod.
The 57-year-old woman who pleaded
guilty admitted to two counts of assault
with a weapon against two girls who were
placed in her home after they were
removed from their own.
The woman's sentencing will be at a later
date. Seven community members remain
charged charges against six of them were
stayed. (Winnipeg Free Press, 4/5/14)
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
The Raëlians, who believe extraterrestrials
created human beings so that mankind
could experience joy, including sexual
satisfaction, have established a clitoral-
restoration hospital in Burkina Faso that is
scheduled to open in March. The group
already supports a San Francisco clinic
whose surgeons claim they can restore
sexual feeling and orgasms, although
some physicians dispute this contention.
The Raëlian nongovernmental
organization (NGO) Clitoraid says it has a
waiting list of 300 women from African
countries where genital mutilation is
practiced. (Herald Sun, 2/11/14)
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
In March, health officials in Burkina Faso
(Africa) shut down a “pleasure hospital”
created by Clitoraid—a charity founded by
the religious movement Raëlianism for
the purpose of reversing female
circumcision. Lene Segbo, the minister of
health, refused to sign documents
necessary to open the hospital and
revoked the licenses of doctors associated
with Clitoraid. “Medical organizations
should be focused on saving lives and not
advertising their religion in an attempt to
convert vulnerable people,” he declared.
Like the Raëlians’ previous initiative
Clonaid, Clitoraid has been mired in
controversy since it began. (Religion
Dispatches (RD) Magazine, 4/2/14)
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Elizabeth Kunze, who spent 16 years as a
consecrated celibate in Regnum Christi,
has denounced the order and says the
Vatican effort to reform it was faked.
Kunze, who reviews her involvement in
Regnum Christi and the recent history of
the organization, calls it a “cult,” adding,
“People inside the Legion have not been
given clear information about what has
happened. There is fear to speak openly or
to question.” Father Peter Byrne, now
leaving the order, reports more than sixty
dissident priests have already done so, and
hundreds more have left their training
before reaching the priesthood. (National
Catholic Reporter, 12/27/13)
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
34 ICSA TODAY
close the case.”
Mayer Rosner, one of the directors of the
Lev Tahor community, says he had been in
frequent contact with the members since
they fled to Guatemala and described
them as “calm” when police arrived, saying
they were not surprised when the
authorities showed up at their hotel. He
added the group had not been trying to
avoid police since landing in the country.
“They have nothing to hide,” he said.
A source in Guatemala’s Ministry of Foreign
Affairs said the group had applied for
refugee status. Officials at the Ministry of
Immigration said they had no record of the
application, but if there was one it would
be confidential. Weingarten refused to talk
about any matters related to the group’s
immigration status in Guatemala and did
not confirm or deny the refugee
application. (Toronto Star, 3/14/14)
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Superior Court judge Lynda Templeton has
ruled that Judge Stephen Fuerth erred in
his original February 3, 2014, decision to
uphold a Quebec court order requiring 14
Lev Tahor children to leave Ontario and
return to Quebec. Judge Templeton
directed the Ontario Court of Justice to
address the question of what will happen
with the seven children, who are currently
in foster care as the result of an
impromptu flight that saw some of the 14
children removed from the country ahead
of the first appeal hearing. Eight of those
children were apprehended and seven
were placed in foster care with Jewish
families in Toronto.
The Ontario Court of Justice is the court
with the jurisdiction to decide whether
they should remain in foster care. The
court has already ordered 8 hours of
weekly visits by the parents of the children
and directed Chatham-Kent Children’s
Services to pay a portion of the travel
costs.
Guidy Mamann, lawyer for the group, says
the orders apply to all children in the sect.
It’s unclear if, or when, they will be
brought before an Ontario court. The
appeal decision instructs Chatham-Kent
Children’s Services to continue
investigating the community, which it has
been doing since the group’s arrival in
November. (Toronto Star, 4/14/14)
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Girish Chandra Varma, chairman of the
Maharishi Vidya Mandir schools group,
was released on bail after spending almost
a month in Bhopal Central jail. He has been
charged with raping a former
schoolteacher at one of his schools over a
period of 15 years. (Times of India, 2/1/14)
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
In an update to police charges of assault
last November against 15 adults in a
Manitoba Old Order Mennonite
community (which remains anonymous to
protect the identity of its children) that
alleged the adults were subjecting
children to “extreme discipline,” the court
recently dropped the charges against four
of the men originally charged, and the
charges against others are expected to be
stayed if they agree to undergo counseling
and sign peace bonds.
Child and Family Services (CFS) has now
returned to two families six children who
had been taken to foster care, but 36 still
remain with other Mennonite caregivers.
One father of nine children, whose charges
have been stayed, said he is hopeful his
community can rebuild. "I'm very happy to
have the charges resolved, and hopefully
that's a big roadblock out of the way to the
return of the children.”
The four men who signed 1-year peace
bonds to have their charges dismissed this
week did not admit to any criminal
misconduct. Also this week, the charges
against one other man and two women,
one of whom is the only teacher for the
community’s one-room schoolhouse, were
moved to Winnipeg court the three are
also expected to sign peace bonds and
have their charges stayed. Three women
still face assault charges in relation to
alleged abuse, but it’s not clear whether
the court system will offer them peace
bonds or some other diversion. Crown
attorney Nicole Roch said the decision
about whether these events will speed up
the return of children to their homes is up
to CFS. (Brandon Sun, 2/12/14)
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
A female member of an Old Order
Mennonite community, which can’t be
identified because of ongoing court
proceedings and a publication ban,
pleaded guilty to assault charges in March.
The Crown says adults strapped, kicked,
and shocked children with a cattle prod.
The 57-year-old woman who pleaded
guilty admitted to two counts of assault
with a weapon against two girls who were
placed in her home after they were
removed from their own.
The woman's sentencing will be at a later
date. Seven community members remain
charged charges against six of them were
stayed. (Winnipeg Free Press, 4/5/14)
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
The Raëlians, who believe extraterrestrials
created human beings so that mankind
could experience joy, including sexual
satisfaction, have established a clitoral-
restoration hospital in Burkina Faso that is
scheduled to open in March. The group
already supports a San Francisco clinic
whose surgeons claim they can restore
sexual feeling and orgasms, although
some physicians dispute this contention.
The Raëlian nongovernmental
organization (NGO) Clitoraid says it has a
waiting list of 300 women from African
countries where genital mutilation is
practiced. (Herald Sun, 2/11/14)
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
In March, health officials in Burkina Faso
(Africa) shut down a “pleasure hospital”
created by Clitoraid—a charity founded by
the religious movement Raëlianism for
the purpose of reversing female
circumcision. Lene Segbo, the minister of
health, refused to sign documents
necessary to open the hospital and
revoked the licenses of doctors associated
with Clitoraid. “Medical organizations
should be focused on saving lives and not
advertising their religion in an attempt to
convert vulnerable people,” he declared.
Like the Raëlians’ previous initiative
Clonaid, Clitoraid has been mired in
controversy since it began. (Religion
Dispatches (RD) Magazine, 4/2/14)
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Elizabeth Kunze, who spent 16 years as a
consecrated celibate in Regnum Christi,
has denounced the order and says the
Vatican effort to reform it was faked.
Kunze, who reviews her involvement in
Regnum Christi and the recent history of
the organization, calls it a “cult,” adding,
“People inside the Legion have not been
given clear information about what has
happened. There is fear to speak openly or
to question.” Father Peter Byrne, now
leaving the order, reports more than sixty
dissident priests have already done so, and
hundreds more have left their training
before reaching the priesthood. (National
Catholic Reporter, 12/27/13)
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
34 ICSA TODAY
