http://posttrib.suntimes.com/news/78740 ... haven.htmlProtesters target FairhavenBy MICHELLE L. QUINN Post-Tribune correspondent
September 25, 2011 11:26PM Updated: September 26, 2011 2:00AM
CHESTERTON — Catherine Selter isn’t angry at her adoptive family anymore, but she does have a question she would like answered.
Selter, 40, wants to know, if none of the accusations being leveled against Fairhaven Baptist Church by several former members are true, why did her adoptive brother, associate pastor the Rev. Jeff Voegtlin, write a letter apologizing for what he allegedly did to her years ago, before she left her family and the church in 1989? Selter said she still has the letter at her home, along with about 40 emails, also apologizing.
Others in the more than 150 protesters outside Fairhaven Baptist on Sunday weren’t as concerned with apologies for the rampant, brutal abuse they said they endured during their time under the church’s tutelage, because what’s done is done. All they want is for Fairhaven leaders to stop preaching about and, more importantly, stop using corporal punishment on young members.
And, if it takes a civil lawsuit they plan to file this week to do it, they’re fine with that, said former member Alison Lavery, 25.
Selter, Lavery and several other protesters were among some 17 former Fairhaven members interviewed for “Ungodly Discipline,” an investigative segment featured on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” on Sept. 22. Lavery, a member from the age of 4 to 19, said she officially was excommunicated from the church because she’d gotten married, but another issue hastened her departure: the alleged rape of her 13-year-old sister by another church member.
“(The church leaders) called it ‘an affair’ and blamed her, so my family left the church because that wasn’t right,” Lavery said. “But I had just transferred into the (church’s school) dorms, so they put me on grounds arrest, meaning I couldn’t leave the property or talk to anyone outside of the church. And they told me if I ever left, my life would be destroyed.”
Dean Leslie, a representative of Fairhaven, sat outside the church entrance Sunday in a late-model white truck with one of its security guards. He declined comment.
Jeremiah Souza, 26, and his sister, Rachel Souza, 25, left the church five years ago because they said they couldn’t tolerate the abuse and humiliation any longer. Jeremiah, who said he had been raped by a church member for three years, said he wasn’t there to protest out of spite, either.
“This is a chance for us to say, in a peaceful way, that the abuse has to stop,” said Jeremiah, who also was featured in the CNN segment.
Both Souzas said their parents still are members of the church and that, because of pressure by church elders to disassociate from people who leave Fairhaven, they haven’t spoken to either of them since they left.
Karen Kenney, who organized the protest along with her daughter, Lauren, said she never really thought the church would be accused of such things, even though Lauren said she thought the place was “creepy” whenever she’d visit with friends who were members. When she saw the CNN segment, however, she couldn’t ignore it any longer.
“We live right down the street, so how can we just pretend that we don’t know what’s going on there?” Karen said. “There’s a segment of people who don’t believe that children should be beaten and humiliated, and even if we can reach one (member) and make them think, this is worth it.”
Tiffany Parker, also of Chesterton, said she felt sick to her stomach when she saw the CNN show. Her children had gone to Fairhaven on occasion, picked up by the white buses the church sends to shuttle children to and from church services, Sunday School and other activities.
“I had the kids stop going when I realized they were going more for the candy and not because they wanted to go,” Parker said. “Because my kids were sort of outsiders, they really didn’t see a lot of what they’ve been saying and, thankfully, they were never hurt. But I do not want them coming to my house anymore.”
