Another lawsuit has been filed agains the now closed private Grenville Christian College.
Published 10 months, 2 weeks agoThe suit, filed by former students as a class action, asks for $200-million in damages and seeks a so-called Mareva injunction to block the sale of the school and its 107-hectare property overlooking the St. Lawrence River. An earlier class-action suit was filed in November. The Ontario Provincial Police are also conducting a criminal investigation into complaints of sexual and physical abuse. None of the allegations against the school, church or individuals have been proven in court.
The latest lawsuit details the close relationship over 30 years between the school and the Kingston-based Diocese of Ontario and alleges the school prospered because of its advertised connection with the diocese and the Anglican values it was supposedly promoting.
Instead, the school and its founding headmasters, both ordained priests of the diocese, fell under the influence of the Community of Jesus, a Massachusetts-based organization identified as a cult in the U.S. news media, the suit says.
The suit states that Anglican authorities knew or should have known that the school was deviating from Anglican doctrine and that the practices being followed would lead to students suffering sexual, physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual harm.
…The suit - filed by the Toronto law firm of Torkin, Manes, Cohen & Arbus LLP - names as defendants the school, the Anglican diocese, Rev. Charles Farnsworth and his wife, Betty, and former headmaster Rev. Al Haig and his divorced wife, Mary, who lives at the Community of Jesus on Cape Cod.
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it sure is interesting how the “lust” theme is always surrounding Farnsworth. I have a few interesting tidbits re: Farnsworth and Haig. First, before we moved up to Canada to Berean Christian School (before it became Grenville) Farnsworth was involved with several groups of Bereans. My mom took me and my sisters to the Bereans in Dallas where he was living with his family, then when we moved to Chicago he would come up there and preach to the home groups in Chicago. One night he asked my mom if he could sleep over at our home in Chicago and catch his flight back to Dallas in the am. My dad was gone on a business trip. Apparently, he tried to seduce my mom into having sex with him, climbing all over her. She finally fought him off, and then he got down on his knees in front of her and asked for forgiveness, saying he had a “lust problem” in his heart and had no control over it. When he came to Canada after we were already there, he then told everyone on staff that my mom tried to seduce him, and that SHE had no control and had a problem with yes…LUST! Also, I played with Haig’s and Farnsworth’s boys and they were ALWAYS talking about sex, (they called it “itchy gitchy”) and tried to get me and my sisters involved with that. I was the oldest one in 4th grade, my other 2 sisters were 7 and 5 years old! It was so bizarre!
(From a previous blog: All female students were told by Farnsworth that the female uniform was designed in such a way so that it would hide our bodies. Women held a powerful influence over men, and men just can’t help themselves. A woman only need to look at how she was dressed or was behaving if she ever found herself in harms way from a boy. That happened in the Blue Lounge of Murray hall one evening. After this speech, we were forced to chant Chastity and Abstinence over, and over.)
I am astounded with the recent comments by Diana. I have been following this sad state of affairs since it went public. I am writing a fictional account of this story, though I know the events are very real, that touches on this school and the painful events. Not that I have ever been published but writing is a passion of mine. It has just got under my skin and I think about it and I have compassion for all of these students abused and I admire their honesty and courage and perseverance. I do have a connection in that my oldest brother attended this school in the 70’s for a year. He died a few years ago ( my mother was very saddened that all of this came out and he had already passed away but she wasn’t suprised) however I remember how unhappy he was, or heard from my parents. He too experienced harsh treatment, the light therapy and controlling behavior-not being able to call home often etc. He lasted a year and pleaded to come home and my parents relented. Thankfully. I will never know what other experiences he may have been subjected. Also, my parents were good friends years ago who ran off to the Community of Jesus at that time, changed their names and lived there for years. It was a strange time and my parents trusted their son to the powers that be. Power in the wrong hands can wreak havoc. I am not sure how this blog works but I would be open to communicating with those who have a story to tell/ more and will use the info. in my story. Even without that I have more than material to work with.
–I tried when the story broke to get my mother to write online. She found it too painful to go back. So here I am.