may the hidden become unhidden

may the hidden become unhidden

and may my blogging on this topic have the primary purpose of
1) out of love – for Jesus, for those hurt by what took place at Mt. Hope,
2) NOT to win one side of an argument or debate

3) breaking down any myths that Herbert Thomas Schwartz was a Saint
and
4) reminding those of us who survived Mt. Hope that we are not alone and there is healing from the pain inflicted
5) to forgive

google or bing or yahoo on

"mount hope commune" or "mount hope" "cult"

and pieces of my childhood appear

I was born in 1961 – around 1965 most of my family moved to New York – to 126 Tally Road, Mount Hope. A commune was forming – with Herbert Thomas Schwartz as its leader. His name is mentioned in books about various people – such as Mortimer J. Adler and Herbert Ratner. Sometimes proceeded by the words “charismatic” or in connection with people who converted from Judaism to Catholicism.
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The Ingrafting: The Conversion Stories of Ten Hebrew-Catholics by Rhonda D. Chervin

The Glory of Thy People by Raphael Simon

Seeking a Center: My Life As a "Great Bookie" by Otto A. Bird

Perspectives on Musical Aesthetics by John Rahn

The Night Is Large: Collected Essays, 1938-1995 by Martin Gardner

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The Duty of Delight: The Diaries of Dorothy Day

"Dorothy Day" "herbert Schwartz" "Diaries"

http://ape-connections.org/About%20Dr%20Farians.htm

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A news article from the New York Times – September of 1964 – foreshadows some of what will follow

The headline reads

Communal 'Family' of 27 Faces Ouster

Followed by a article about

"A Roman Catholic lay communal group is facing eviction from it's 20-room house because of the village’s one-family zoning laws.”
the article continues
"The group of 27 persons from four families is led by Dr. Herbert T. Schwartz., who describes his society as "an experiment in religious living." Dr. Schwartz a doctor of philosophy, controls the group's pooled finances, directs his followers’ lives and assumes the responsibility of controlling the families 12 children.“

While my family was not one of those four – it was one of the first to join the others when property was found and purchased in Mt. Hope, NY. (about 75 miles north of New York City)

Obviously I was not reading the New York Times in September of 1964 – and being only three – it’s not likely the line about “and assumes the responsibility of controlling the families 12 children” would have jumped out at me. Reading the NYT column today I can almost hear the theme from the movie “Jaws”.

The physical abuse of children that had already taken place in Ridgewood was to become more common and brutal at Mt. Hope. All under the guise of “this is what God wants”.

To say that Herbert Thomas Schwartz had a sadistic side to him would to be kind to him (and cruel to those he abused). He had enough intelligence to be manipulative to such an extent that he was able to control not just “the families 12 children” but many other families and people as well – along with several Roman Catholic Priests and Nuns. The control was to gain a strong foothold through an unhealthy obedience

occasionally I will come across a blog posted by a fellow survivor of Mt. Hope – and their comments may include “I was at Mt. Hope for 7 years” or “I was at Mt. Hope 12 years”. And I think ‘how did I flub (I can think of a stronger word than “flub” but there is little need to include that word in this blog) up badly enough to have been there for 22?”.

When one is in elementary school and they speak of “brainwashing” in a communist country or elsewhere you tend to think this that almost like classes of some sort they can make you attend. The reality is “brainwashing” is 24/7/365. At Mt. Hope it was the continual misrepresentation of evil as good. Along with forever being instructed to “be obedient” and “offer this up to God”. We were told as children “You are not a victim. You can not be a victim – the only victim is Jesus.”

I am well aware the most of the currently accessible web posting speak in a positive manner about Herbert Thomas Schwartz -

google on "modern" "staretz" "Meditations"

google on "Herbert Schwartz" "converted to Catholicism"

I would hope that my blog page will not so much allow for a point-counter point view but rather to allow for the greater truth to be uncovered – and may there be healing in that uncovering. For myself – I continue on my journey - all I ask of God is that I do so “sans novacaine”

(to be continued – with (I hope) “The role of fear”