This is a very sad story, it involves a desperate ripped apart family.
There have been several delays in the legal proceedings.
In the preliminary trial the judge put a ban on publication in place.
Setting of a trial date has been delayed again until November 2008.
A father, his wife, their son and two family friends were charged.
They believed their adult daughter was involved with a cult.
It appears from news reports the family is Catholic, their daughter is involved with an independent charismatic church.
Dr. Renato Brun Del Re, a Mississauga family doctor and his 25 year old son were charged in August 2006 with forcible confinement and kidnapping. Mrs. Brun Del Re a high school french teacher, is charged with forcible confinement.
Their adult daughter Mirella was snatched off the street on her way to work and kept with the family for 10 days. She says she escaped after talking with Tennessee author Mary Alice Chrnalogar who was flown up by the family. Chrnalogar told her she was not being held against her will and was free to leave.
Mirella went back to Dominion Christian Centre.
If convicted the father and son could face life in prison, the mother could face 10 years.
W5 did a piece on the Hamilton church which was affiliated with Open Bible Faith Fellowship. Dominion Christian Centre has been removed from the fellowship network.
Dominion Christian Centre leader Peter Rigo and his wife are no longer are licenced by the province of Ontario to perform marriages. They set up in Hamilton in 2000. Peter Rigo, originally from Hagerville Ontario, went to the US for bible school and met his wife at the Assemblies of God Zion Bible College, RI. He didn’t graduate, his wife did. (If you click over to the Dominion Christian Centre of Canada website, turn down the speakers)
Looking through old comments at some blogs, people who knew Rigo in Hagersville and at Zion Bible College say he is no longer the man they knew. The statement of faith at Dominion Christian Centre is typical Assemblies of God, and alleged behavior of leadership indicate an abusive church.
The court will have to determine whether the family was justified in breaking the law, they abducted their adult daughter believing she was in danger and peril.
Does her right to religious freedom over ride family concerns for her safety?
Interestingly enough, part of some of Rigo’s scoffing exhibited in the W5 piece is addressed in Mary Alice Chrnalogar’s book, Twisted Scripture. Rigo told W5:
“The gospel separates families. Jesus said very clearly in His word: “I did not come to bring peace and unity, I came to bring division with a sword. And whoever loves the father or the mother, their husband or wife, brother or sister more than me is not fit to serve in my kingdom.”
I think he is referring to Matthew 10:34-37.
“Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. “For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”
Jesus wasn’t making this an either/or proposition, you don’t stop loving your parents because you have come to love Jesus. His love helps you love others more, He is not saying we are to love them less, to reduce or diminish, reject or withdraw.
Jesus isn’t saying followers are to shun their family, he is saying non-Christians will turn believers over.
He is not telling His followers to ostracize, alienate, disassociate, isolate from family. The gospel is not what separates, love of family is an example or a benchmark of our relationship with God.
deprogramming: involuntary intervention in the life of a person believed to have been brainwashed
brainwashing/mind control: Phillip Zimbardo has the most balanced definition I’ve seen – the persuasion methods used to recruit and keep people in groups.
exit counselling: helping voluntary clients make informed choices regarding their group affiliation
cult: has a variety of meanings including theological and sociological; negative, positive or neutral, destructive or benign.
abusive church: control oriented leadership; guilt, fear, intimidation used as intimidation to keep membership in line; leadership touts their church and membership as special, set apart, chosen; other churches, groups and individuals are less holy; subjective experience is highly valued and used to enforce compliance; life style (none-moral) choices are made for members by leadership; questioners are labelled, humiliated and punished; rules change according to leadership whim; legalism is a norm; leaving is difficult socially, psychologically and spiritually.
Update: A law student who pleaded guilty to kidnapping and forcible confinement, has received 15 months house arrest. As part of the plea deal with Alan Honner, the charges against his sister Theresa were dropped. Honner will be permitted to write his bar exam next month, it remains to be seen if he’ll be admitted to the bar.
Dr. and Mrs. Brun Del Re go on trial later this year charged in the same 2005 incident. Mirella Del Re’s brother is also facing a trial.
Update: The crown has stayed the charges against the Dr. and Mrs. Brun Del Re.
via: Religion News Blog
What a sad case. The sooner these cult like groups are disbanded, the better. I can’t believe that these family members could possibly face such stiff sentences for trying to protect their daughter/sister from a religious cult. I know if I were in their shoes, I would do the same.
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What we have to understand is that no matter what anyone thinks, the Brun Del Re family was wrong to kidnap their daughter. It is illegal under the law of the government. Forget what the church is or isn’t, this family went too far… All they are doing is driving a greater wedge between them and their daughter. If the government allows this family to get off, that might open the door to other people kidnapping their kids or whoever for even less of a reason. If anyone reading this really cares about the truth, go find out for your self. The media can manipulate stories into anything they want. Remember, they may say they are looking for peoples best interests but the bottom line is the most important part: ratings & $$$
The law is doing it’s job – you cannot kidnap an adult.
The trial is in October.
I can’t imagine what Mirella experienced that morning, when as she was walking down the street to work, someone jumped out of a van and grabbed her from behind and pushed her into the vehicle. Can you imagine someone doing that to you? And then you find out it’s your brother!!! I would have freaked on him but then it continued, she was handcuffed for 10 days to either the bed or to her brother for the ENTIRE time.
When she escaped she went to the police and it was the police who put the case together and charged the parents and brother with kidnapping.
During the trial it was very obvious that her family was and is extremely unstable!! And it has nothing to do with the church she attends.
So then SM, were you with Mirella for those 10 days and saw this for yourself??
I was under the impression that the trial has not yet take place. There was a preliminary hearing. Did you attend that, SM? Did the family testify at the hearing? That would unusual. If they didn’t testify and tell their story, how do you know they’re “extremely unstableâ€?
VM is correct, this has not gone to trial, it’s scheduled for October.