By Stephane Massinon and Jen Gerson
Edmonton Journal
November 20, 2011
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Bible+school+abuse+claims+mount/5739822/story.html
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| Christina Ryan, Calgary Herald A Prairie Bible College sign stands sentinel over the highway passing through the town of Three Hills. The college has been rocked by allegations of sexual abuse dating back 35 years. |
The Prairie Bible Institute, the oldest Bible school in the country, is under investigation by the RCMP after a former student came forward claiming she and dozens of other children were abused by staff as far back as the 1950s and as recently as five years ago.
Linda Fossen, 53, filed a complaint with RCMP this week, alleging years of sexual abuse at the hands of her father, who was a part-time employee at the school at the time.
A second victim has since come forward to the school principal, Mark Maxwell.
On Saturday, Maxwell said he had been approached by a woman claiming sexual abuse at the school 35 years ago.
"There would appear to be an abuse victim," he said. "In other words, I've got her name, and someone on staff that she has identified ... . We may have a real situation."
Maxwell said he plans to address the issue on Monday.
"We'll find out where (that staffer) is, and we'll start going down that road," he said. "It'll be up to the abuse victim what they want to do."
Maxwell said he'll approach police only with the victim's consent.
"If she wants to go that route, we'll help her, and the police will find us most co-operative."
As for Fossen, she began her cru-sade in 2008 after publishing a memoir about her ordeal. Because of that book, she claims more than 80 former students have told her that they, too, were victims of sexual, emotional and physical abuse.
She says administrators at the time - eager to keep the institute's polished image clean - covered up years of sadistic abuse, dismissed allegations of sexual assault and kept a known pedophile on staff.
And, she claims, deference to the school's succession of admired, authoritarian leaders allowed it to happen. She is now pushing the institute to acknowledge the abuse and reconcile with its victims - or risk litigation and censure.
The allegations could prove a fatal blow to the school, which is on the financial brink.
"If God wants the school to continue, he'll provide a way for that," said Samuel Schmake, 20, who is completing his third year of a bachelor's degree in intercultural studies at PBI. "If He doesn't, that's His will."
Fossen, who now lives in Florida, filed a complaint with police this week in which she says her father sexually assaulted her repeatedly. The abuse began in the early 1960s and escalated when he began studying and working part time at PBI.
She said she never lodged a complaint before as she believed, until she found out otherwise this week, that too much time had passed.
"I knew what was in that Bible because I had it preached to me and pounded into me from my teachers and from the pastors at the Tabernacle, that children were to obey their parents and honour their father. He would tell me: 'I'm your father and you have to obey me an you have to do what I say. It's your duty to God,' " she said.
Fossen remembers attending church at the strict school, which forbade dating. She said her father began to rape her in early childhood. The abuse stopped when she was 12.
"I will never forget the pain that shot through my body. If I would have had a gun, I would have shot him right there. I had so much hatred and I just spit the words in his face: 'If you ever touch me again, I will kill you. I will tell every single person on this campus what you've done to me.' " Fossen blames the culture on the school's former authoritarian and insular nature - one that preached absolute deference, especially by women and children.
"We were definitely second-class citizens and we were taught constantly that we were to be in absolute submission to our male authority figures. That meant our fathers, the male teachers. They were like gods to us. We weren't allowed to challenge them. It was just absolute obedience."
Fossen said she's giving PBI until Dec. 31 to hire GRACE, a Christian ministry that deals with sexual abuse in the church. Otherwise, her band of survivors plan to file a class-action lawsuit.
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