| Author | Message | ||
     tabby1979 New member Username: tabby1979 Post Number: 25 Registered: 8-2007 Posted From: 70.69.121.31 |
While I was cruising the net, I found this historical data about GCC about when it was taken over by the "Bereans" from the Redemptorists in 1969. It is a small blurb on page 263. I find it interesting that when my brother attended the school in 73 I believe, Mr. Haig and Mr. Farnsworth were not reverends, however, when I started in 1976, two years later, they are suddenly well versed in the biblical teachings and are now reverends. Most theologians take years of college and university to earn their right to be called reverends or pastors. http://books.google.com/books?id=JQ4FturiYLcC&pg=PA263&lpg=PA263&dq=grenville+christian+college&source=web&ots=scf-ECbWmj&sig=S3MNBtw-vpTRIiIwPFcunMxamzs#PPA263,M1 | ||
| bonnieb New member Username: bonnieb Post Number: 7 Registered: 1-2007 Posted From: 170.215.128.211 |
I was not at Grenville but was at the Community of Jesus for 2 1/2 years. I ordered a book called "Head Master" by J. Alastair Haig and read the history of how The Community of Jesus came to become the "mother cult" of Grenville. On April 28, 1973, Cay Anderson, Judy Sorenson, Fr. Art Lane and his wife Lenny, Tom Witter and Win Graham, all members of the CoJ, came to speak with the Grenville staff for 2 days. The visit turned into 2 weeks. To quote from the book, "Judy spoke first. God has given us a scripture verse to descibe what He is about to do here. The axe is laid to the root of the trees. This college is like a twisted tree that must be hewn down to its very roots, in order that a tall, straight, fruit-bearing tree can grow up in its place. Your methods, your ways of doing things, your philosophy of education, your ways of dealing with young people, your opinions, your plans have failed. So ti's time to start all over again - this time, God's way. There is a way that pleases God, and brings prosperity and blessing, but it is exactly the opposite of the way you people have been living...it's call the Way of the Cross. Cay then took up where Judy left off. The key is death to self. Jesus said, Except a grain of whet fall into the ground and die, it abides alone. But if it dies, it will bring forth much fruit. Pride, jealousy, disobedience, self-centeredness, self-satisfaction, willfulness - all these are enemies of God and stop His life from flowing here on this campus. You preach and talk a great deal about the Gospel around here, but you're not willing to really live it. There is a price to pay if you live for Jesus, and you people have not been willing to pay it. Those of you who are in leadership, you've got to be the first to change. If you don't change, there is absolutely no hope for this college. You leaders must take your place of authority and lead by a strong example. And Al Haig, I want you to stop smiling and nodding. It's all a cover up for a lot of hurt and anger underneath. You don't really mean it: it's painted on. You have got to begin to be more honest and real, by sharing your true feelings and hurts. And furthermore, stop saying "Praise the Lord" all the time. That, too, is just a cover-up, to hide a hurt little boy underneath. And one thing, Al: remember that our correction is not rejection. It's really love, when you stop and think about it." | ||
| bonnieb New member Username: bonnieb Post Number: 8 Registered: 1-2007 Posted From: 170.215.128.211 |
The entire Grenville community went to visit the CoJ in two separate groups of 50. After the 2nd group visited, the Mothers called the Haig's into the Bethany living room. Judy spoke. "Cay and I believe that God has spoken to us today with regard to you, Al. We think that the only way you can ever change is to stay right here for a while. What do you think?" Time and time again, we've seen God work in situations just like this, and impossible as it seems, if we all obey God with an undivided heart, He will completely cover the fact that Al is not in his office to greet and talk with parents and students on opening day. Charles Farnsworth and his wife Betty will help you, along with all the other staff members. Rest assured that the God who has kept the College afloat through all these storms in the past, will guide her through the period ahead. Trust in Him completely and be obedient, and He will take care of all the rest." He stayed for 3 months while Mary went back to Canada. They wouldn't even allow him to speak with his wife on the phone. Once he tried to ask Helen Helms of the CoJ if she had spoken with his wife and she wouldn't tell him. He indicates that "her sole intent was to bring proud Al Haig, who thought more highly of himself than he ought, down to a place of genuine humility." He was assigned work duty and talks about his time there. "The first thing I needed to learn was obedience. I was always doing the wrong thing, utterly ignoring specific instructions". He tells the story of picking the wrong sized beans. Buzz Elmer of the CoJ said to him, "Al, most of the beans in your basket are too short. Don't you remember me telling you to pick the beans that are at least four inches long? And not to pick them if they were under? Your basket is full of unripe beans." Another man joined in, " Why didn't you simply do what you were asked to do? I know it seems trifling, Al, but it shows what we have been trying to tell you: you will not listen and obey instructions. How can you possibly expect your staff and students to be obedient, if you yourself don't know the meaning of the word?" The story goes on to tell of these two men "faithfully discharing their duty and pointing to my disobedience almost every day. A better recipe for producing a humble, broken and contrite heart could not be found. I repeatedly faced the fact that my nature was proud, disobedient and willful to the core, but by painful degrees, my haughty heart softened". He speaks of Hal and Helen Helms and how Helen would say "Al Haig, you get out of the stinking thinking right now! You're judging Hal and me, and I won't stand for it. You consider yourself better than us and anyone else in this universe. You're so high and mighty, a satellite tracking station couldn't reach you. Earth to Al - earth to Al - do you read me, Al?" The Helms' told him, "Whenever you have an ugly thought, you need to be honest and tell us about it. Bring those dark, jealous, judgmental thoughts up out of the darkness, and into the light, and they will die. You'll see. Confess them to us and to God, and they will slowly let go their hold on your mind." He eventually had to write down all of his bad thoughts in notebooks and give those to them every night. The final thing that I was left with from the book was this paragraph, "God had given us our beautiful college home for a fraction of its worth. All we had to do now was stay low, stay needy, stay open, and stay wrong, so that no pride, self-righteousness or rebellion would get in His way. " By the way, according to the book, you guys LOVED the "tough love" approach  | ||
| dream_truth Junior Member Username: dream_truth Post Number: 46 Registered: 3-2006 Posted From: 72.45.165.10 |
Wow, thanks for posting that bonnie | ||
| papillon Junior Member Username: papillon Post Number: 29 Registered: 7-2007 Posted From: 24.40.146.45 |
yes, very nice. thanks. | ||
| rozpriceenglish Member Username: rozpriceenglish Post Number: 74 Registered: 8-2007 Posted From: 172.130.172.126 |
**shivers** and so it began... i remember all those buzz words, and how sad that something that has a grain of truth to it was so perverted. sadly, they thought that they were saving their skins/souls... doesn't it make you wonder - why were the original staff so vulnerable to that? where did the foundation for such blind trust come from? these were all capable, intelligent adults!! | ||
| bonnieb New member Username: bonnieb Post Number: 9 Registered: 1-2007 Posted From: 170.215.128.211 |
I was so happy to be able to read this book and see in print the words that were said to me day after day, year after year. It helped me to see the abuse in the ridiculousness of their demands. I've always felt so weird trying to explain to people why I was traumatized by being confronted for "picking the wrong sized bean". I mean, how dumb is that?!?!? But this book helped me see that it was the very randomness of the infractions that made it so abusive. You never knew which thing was going to be wrong. You tried to learn the rules of engagement, only to find that they had been changed the next day. You were constantly thrown off balance, never knowing if your actions were going to be attacked. And then when they were, to never be able to defend yourself and to be forced to admit to whatever charge you were accused of just breaks down your mind, emotion and will and destroys your soul and self esteem. To live in constant uncertainty and fear causes many to suffer PTSD symptoms. I realized that, not only did they ensure that we were always wrong, they made sure that we could never be right. | ||
| jes_noonan Member Username: jes_noonan Post Number: 97 Registered: 7-2007 Posted From: 74.105.220.14 |
That is literally a reflection of the school towards the students. What was FF's relationship with the CofJ before GCC started up? Was there one? It seems as though the CofJ pre-meditated who would run the school between him and Haig, and this was there method of ensuring that Haig would not get in FF's way. How did you ever find this book??? | ||
| bluesman Junior Member Username: bluesman Post Number: 27 Registered: 5-2006 Posted From: 68.83.79.247 |
This book used to be in the gcc library but all copies were removed when FH left... Long out of print. Also known by its American title: Al Who? You can get a used copy at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0932260055/ref=sr_1_olp_13/103-5833814-1219051?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1188745788&sr=8-13 | ||
| bonnieb New member Username: bonnieb Post Number: 10 Registered: 1-2007 Posted From: 170.215.128.211 |
Hi Jes, Apparently Al Haig was the headmaster of Stony Brook Girl's School on Long Island, NY. The school, I believe, went under after he had been there for a year. The Haig's read a publication called Life in the Spirit by the Berean Fellowship of Dallas, TX which operated the Berean Christian School. This school they decided to visit and is where they met Charles and Betty Farnsworth. The Farnsworth's staff all lived in community, were "spirit filled" and made minimal salaries. After telling the owner of Stony Brook about Berean Christian School, the owner sold Stony Brook to the Berean Fellowship and Charles farnsworth was sent to direct the school. He asked Al Haig to stay on as Headmaster. The Haig's became members of the Berean Fellowship. Before the end of the year, the Fellowship told the Haig's to return to Canada and begin a Berean Christian School there. The Haig's met the Mothers in 1961 at Albert College. Cay and Judy stayed at Mary Haig's parent's house while attending a Christian conference in Toronto and then stayed with Al and Mary for several days. In 1966 Cay and Judy visited the Haig's again, prayed for their sick dog and the dog recovered. When leaving, Judy told the Haig's that she was praying and saw "very clearly a large stone school, rectangular in shape, with four floors...and it was beside a great body of water like a big river. I believe some day God will give you that school. Wait and see." After they purchased Grenville (previously St. Mary's) and called to tell the Farnsworth's, the Farnsworth told them that Stony Brook was closing. So the Farnsworths and all the Berean staff packed up and moved to Canada. I'm not sure how the relationship between the Farnsworths and the C of J began, but if they were a part of a charasmatic christian community, I'm certain that they came in contact with the Mothers that way, as did many christian charasmatic leaders during that time. It's a very interesting history and one I've wondered about for a long time. Hope this helps | ||
| rozpriceenglish Member Username: rozpriceenglish Post Number: 85 Registered: 8-2007 Posted From: 172.168.249.88 |
More history... Did a google search on Grenville and found this old article from an address that Trevor Eyton gave in 1982. Check out how the connection was made between Eyton and GCC. FASCINATING... Reference: http://www.empireclubfoundation.com/details.asp? FT=yes&SpeechID=1005 Dear Mr. Government, Love Me, But Leave Me—Alone Speaker Eyton, J. Trevor President and Chief Executive Officer, Brascan Date 2 Dec 1982 Introduced by: Stalder, Henry J. President, The Empire Club of Canada Published in: The Empire Club of Canada Speeches 1982-1983, Edited by Dunbar, A. Carlyle and Douglas L. Derry (Toronto, Canada: The Empire Club Foundation, 1984) pp. 127-141 Index Term(s): Canada - Politics and government Full Text DECEMBER 2, 1982 Dear Mr. Government, Love Me, But Leave Me--Alone! AN ADDRESS BY J. Trevor Eyton, Q.c., PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, BRASCAN CHAIRMAN The President, J. Henry Stalder MR. STALDER: Distinguished members and guests, ladies and gentlemen: In my search for background information about our guest of honour, I came across such qualifications as enigmatic, mysterious, and secretive, but generally, Trevor Eyton was very highly and respectfully spoken of. So as to reveal a little bit of his cautiously guarded private side, permit me to draw some parallels between two longtime friends: the Reverend J. Allastair Haig and Trevor Eyton. Both are graduates of Jarvis Collegiate. Both became prominent leaders in their academic careers and on the athletic field. Both are distinguished graduates of the University of Toronto. Both hold the much-coveted Bronze T, which one is awarded after excelling three times in senior sports. Both could have played pro football, be it as a kicker, fullback, or lineman and, who knows, maybe the Argos could have beaten the Eskimos. As well, both were chosen Captains of their football team. But now we come to their involvement in Grenville Christian College. Al is Headmaster and Trevor is a Patron of this fine college where, amongst the patrons, you will find as well the Honourable Pauline McGibbon, the Honourable Jean Casselman Wadds, and one of our distinguished Past Presidents, Sir Arthur Chetwynd, BT. We have heard the fine Grenville Christian College Choir both on the occasion of our last Christmas luncheon and on Dominion Day. Currently, the College has a building campaign under way to raise approximately $1.5 million; and to encourage others to do the same, may I, on behalf of The Empire Club of Canada, remit an envelope with a cheque to the Headmaster, the Reverend Al Haig. But our guest of honour is also with us today celebrating the seventieth anniversary of the incorporation of Brascan in 1912. At that time, the company acquired by share exchange substantially all of the shares of a number of Canadian power corporations operating in Brazil. Recently, the company divested itself of Brazilian assets to become one of the most dynamic and versatile conglomerates of Canada. Brascan has substantial, direct or indirect, interests in about twenty-six companies. A few of the more prominent ones are: Brascade, Noranda, London Life, Labatt's, MacMillan Bloedel, and last, but not least, the Blue Jays baseball team. Brascan itself is largely owned by Edper--Edward and Peter Bronfman--but managed by our guest of honour, John Trevor Eyton, Q.c., B.A., LL.B., President and Chief Executive Officer of the company. | ||
| endless_night New member Username: endless_night Post Number: 1 Registered: 10-2007 Posted From: 12.217.208.195 |
Bonnieb thankyou, thankyou, thankyou! what you have shared explains so much, and yet leaves so many question... the Community of JESUS: where was JESUS? from my few experiences there, all I felt was an overwhelming atmosphere of oppression, fear, and stifling judgement. talk about transferal! they took every one of their weaknesses and projected them on others! |
