Yes, Jay's point is very important. As I have pointed out before, one Cenacolo commune is never exactly the same as another (Strongly pro-Cenacolo parents who attend mass at my old church and have a son currently living in a "house" in Italy even denounce Our Lady of Hope in Florida as a particularly "raunchy" and horrible place, but - wrongly in my opinion - believe plenty of other communes are just great.), and its leadership - at least the part of its leadership consisting of members actually living the Community life, the parts of its leadership composed of "older guys" - changes over the years. I hope that shortly after I was expelled Chris - who has since left Community - and Jeremy were severely chastised for their blatantly inhumane actions, removed from their positions of trust, and permanently kept from any major leadership positions or duties. Though Joyce, to her credit, was very likely not thrilled by what took place, I highly doubt that Chris and Jeremy experienced all the consequences that they ought to have.
But while its true that individual Community communes can be wildly different from one another, I criticize Community Cenacolo as a whole. My bad experience involved in large part bad ideas, practices, and set-ups that belong to the organization as a whole and which are common to all "houses." Not the least of which is the problem to which Jay alluded but would probably not see entirely in the same light as I do - former hardened drug addicts and criminals, not professionals or medical staff or trained counselors or clergymen, have a good deal of power and control. This has lead consistenly through the years to all sorts of issues and terrible consequences. Many of the examples I gave earlier - drug use, theft, negligence, animal abuse - did not just happen at Our Lady of Hope and/or during the time I was in Community, but at other communes and years in the past as well. For instance, relatively shortly before I entered, Our Lady of Hope was in complete disarray. Nobody did anything constructive and members of the leadership took turns taking vehicles out into the town at night for a spin. People would repeatedly half-drown and revive raccoons in the lake before finally killing them, and one older-guy of about seven years in Community even tried to convince others to allow him to crucify one of the creatures alive. In Ireland, a responsible stole a car, some money, and never returned. Several people in this thread have pointed out that there us a pattern of leadership physically assaulting "younger guys." There is little oversight or accountability for "older guys", something that was certainly the case with Chris and Jeremy. As I said earlier, in order for a troubled, sick, and - frankly - deranged person like Jeremy to have been made second responsible - possibly now responsible - several people have been guilty of serious lapses in judgment. And Joyce and Albino -among others in Community - have consistently not been responsible or ensuring proper oversight.
I have other problems with the organization as a whole.
For instance, in all "houses" it is required of the individual to stand before everyone once or twice a week and confess to all his or her "sins" and rule-breaking (What were called "compromises."). I seriously considered being a smart aleck and confessing to "thought-crime, secretly reading 'The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism', poisoning the water-supply, and having sexual intercourse with both male and female party members".
Additionally, a Community member is constantly having drilled into his head the notion of "shut up and obey", a way of behaving deemed virtuous by the organization. They wish to stifle in all members individuality, free-thinking, and any questioning attitude. A large and important part of the life is what Community very tellingly calls "breaking" - harsh, often barked, correction and/or insults delivered in most cases from an "older guy" to a "newer guy." "Breaking" can be down for anything from forgetting to wash one's hands to secretly smoking cigarettes to what they considered a bad quality or pattern of behavior.
But while its true that individual Community communes can be wildly different from one another, I criticize Community Cenacolo as a whole. My bad experience involved in large part bad ideas, practices, and set-ups that belong to the organization as a whole and which are common to all "houses." Not the least of which is the problem to which Jay alluded but would probably not see entirely in the same light as I do - former hardened drug addicts and criminals, not professionals or medical staff or trained counselors or clergymen, have a good deal of power and control. This has lead consistenly through the years to all sorts of issues and terrible consequences. Many of the examples I gave earlier - drug use, theft, negligence, animal abuse - did not just happen at Our Lady of Hope and/or during the time I was in Community, but at other communes and years in the past as well. For instance, relatively shortly before I entered, Our Lady of Hope was in complete disarray. Nobody did anything constructive and members of the leadership took turns taking vehicles out into the town at night for a spin. People would repeatedly half-drown and revive raccoons in the lake before finally killing them, and one older-guy of about seven years in Community even tried to convince others to allow him to crucify one of the creatures alive. In Ireland, a responsible stole a car, some money, and never returned. Several people in this thread have pointed out that there us a pattern of leadership physically assaulting "younger guys." There is little oversight or accountability for "older guys", something that was certainly the case with Chris and Jeremy. As I said earlier, in order for a troubled, sick, and - frankly - deranged person like Jeremy to have been made second responsible - possibly now responsible - several people have been guilty of serious lapses in judgment. And Joyce and Albino -among others in Community - have consistently not been responsible or ensuring proper oversight.
I have other problems with the organization as a whole.
For instance, in all "houses" it is required of the individual to stand before everyone once or twice a week and confess to all his or her "sins" and rule-breaking (What were called "compromises."). I seriously considered being a smart aleck and confessing to "thought-crime, secretly reading 'The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism', poisoning the water-supply, and having sexual intercourse with both male and female party members".
Additionally, a Community member is constantly having drilled into his head the notion of "shut up and obey", a way of behaving deemed virtuous by the organization. They wish to stifle in all members individuality, free-thinking, and any questioning attitude. A large and important part of the life is what Community very tellingly calls "breaking" - harsh, often barked, correction and/or insults delivered in most cases from an "older guy" to a "newer guy." "Breaking" can be down for anything from forgetting to wash one's hands to secretly smoking cigarettes to what they considered a bad quality or pattern of behavior.