José Pezoa, 20, Brazil.
(Second-generation member of the Family International.)

My name is José Pezoa, I’m 20 years old, I’m married and have a 1-year-old son. I’m currently living in Brazil where we have wonderful ministries and feel fulfilled and supported.

Well, to start, I was born and raised in “The Family.” As remembering my childhood all I can think about is my parent’s giving me the best school, friends, moral support, all the help I could have and everything I needed, they were there for me. What could I want more than a Heavenly Home?

When I was about 7 my dad and I moved to Rosario-Argentina, and not long after our home was raided by cops and authorities of the city.

They turned everything upside-down and stayed at our house 24/7 for the next week, coming and going whenever they wanted. We had reporters at our doorstep all the time, we couldn’t even go outside our house in peace without having all those reporters taking pictures, asking questions etc. We didn’t have any privacy!
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Nina Moore, 29, North America.
(Second-generation member of the Family International.)

I’m Nina Moore, a 29 year old mother of three and a member of the Family International. I home school my children. They have school five days a week. As a mother I am very concerned about every aspect of their lives, emotional, educational, spiritual and social. My whole life revolves around my children. I spend hours planning their school. I have almost no time to myself, as my children are my life. I have organized a Kids Club where, once a week all my friends with children get together and have Bible studies, games, activities, sports and more. My children are part of the local community soccer league. They have a lot of friends, birthday and dress up parties and do all the normal things kids enjoy doing. I am on the Childcare and Parenting board in the Family where we have board meetings to discuss how we can meet the needs of our children.

My eldest daughter, who is eight years old doesn’t even know what “sex” is. She thinks you get pregnant by getting married. (more…)

(From a second-generation member of the Family)

Hi, My name is Celeste P. Schaaf, I’m 14 yrs old, and currently live in the States.

You (apostates) may say that I’m to young to know or say anything, but since I grew up in the Family my whole life I think I know what I’m talking about!

I met Angela just a few months before all this happened, and I have to say that she was one of the most loving people I have ever met! She took the time to personally talk with each of us teens, she listened to music with me while I cooked lunch, and asked me what I thought about the Family. She listened to everything I had to say, and told me what she thought as well. She was young at heart, even if she was 50-some years old. This Ricky fellow must have been extremely messed up to kill such a wonderful person!

Whether you are in the Family or not, all you ex-members have to agree with this at least, IT’S NEVER RIGHT TO KILL ANOTHER HUMAN!
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Name: Michael Tonazzini
Age: 18
Location: Italy
Nationality: Italian/American

Helloooo People! Peace on earth to men of good will.

Men of good will are hard to find, and I personally, as one who was born in the Family, think that it is a place where men of good will are found.

I personally was never abused in my life in the Family. Actually I think that the Family is one of the last places where you can get abused, and also one of the best places you can grow up in.
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From Timothy Francesco Tonazzini, 21, second-generation former member in the process of rejoining the Family International.

“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Mat.5:9”

My name is Timothy Francesco Tonazzini, currently living in Croatia. I’m 21 and I have been out of the Family for 3 years. I just wanted to speak up and give my opinion on what’s happening. I’m rejoining the Family right now and I don’t know if I’ll make it, but I know that no matter what I’ll always stick up for the good in life, even if it means making some enemies.

I’m not forced to stay in the Family. No one is forced to stay in the Family, in fact when I decided to do my own thing I just told my parents and they did their best to help me get started in a new life. I got a good job and went on my own way but I got sick of what I saw.

I saw abuse so many times out there. I saw young guys and girls who every day got and still are getting abused through drugs, horror movies, “friends,“ you name it. (more…)

“In all the time that [Ricky Rodriguez] and I were friends and in all the conversations we had—and there were many—he never once expressed hate or anger towards those who had raised him, those he lived with, or the circumstances in which he lived his life.”

—Bethy K., 31, second-generation Family member, mother of one.

“To attempt justification, under any motive, for an act that God and society have condemned since Cain killed Abel, is … clearly mistaken.”

—Lorie Richards , 30, second-generation member of the Family International.

“Yes, in the Family we have some unorthodox and untraditional beliefs, but they are ours, we don’t impose them on anyone else. Some might think some of our beliefs are weird, and maybe they are, but they’re not illegal.”

—Anne Boleijn, 30, second-generation member of the Family International.

“I feel at ease knowing that all the children and young people in our Family Homes are free and protected from any harm in the way of physical, emotional, or sexual abuse.”

—Robin Suttin, 30, second-generation member of the Family International.

“Between the age of 7 and 8 my immediate family left the Family to pursue a secular life. As ironic as it may seem to some people, I suddenly found myself surrounded by abusive situations.”

—Jude Osborn, 31, second-generation member of the Family International.

“I am just a little older than Ricky [Rodriguez] so we both lived through the same time periods or ‘phases’ in the Family, and all throughout my 29 years I have never personally seen nor experienced anything unloving, dangerous, or damaging to myself or any other children as I grew up in Family communities all throughout Australia, India, Japan, the Philippines, and New Zealand.”

—April Fischer, 30, second-generation member of the Family International.

“It would be naïve to say the Family never made any mistakes as ‘errare humanum est’* (*see your Latin dictionary). Bad things happen to everybody. Nobody has a ‘perfect’ life. It’s about learning to take the bad things and using them as stepping stones, learning from them and not getting bitter and resentful.”

—Zeph Fischer, 31, second-generation member of the Family International.

“My prayer is that before you come to a conclusion regarding the Family and before you tolerate the death of an innocent missionary at the hand of a disturbed and mentally unstable man, that you ask yourself ‘what is the truth?’”

—Samuel Paquette, 30, second-generation member of the Family International.

“Believe me, I wouldn’t raise my kids in an environment that was dangerous and harmful! I’d be a fool! I raise my children—and I have 3 of them now, a 5 year old, 3 year old, and a baby—in the Family because I believe this is a very healthy and wholesome place to raise children where we teach them love, grace, goodness, and godly principles and qualities.”

—Michelle D’Cruz, 30, second-generation member of the Family International.

“I can remember times when I wished life was easier in the Family communities. As a group, we have gone through a natural process of growing and learning—what some have termed in the 70’s, a ‘maturation of a movement.’ This I’ve experienced to some degree while living as a teenager mostly. One thing I can say, is that since those turbulent teenage years our leadership has done their best to ensure that any problems have been sorted out.”

—Bernadine Wolford, 32, second-generation member of the Family International.

“I have seen and ministered to enough abuse victims in our outreach ministries to be well aware and informed of what abuse is and is not! And I am strong on this point that I will NEVER live in a place or environment where I feel my children are at risk in any way.”

—Esther Stevens, 31, second-generation member of the Family and mother of five.

“I understand that not everybody will look back and be crazy about their upbringing, their lot in life, their parents, even their own choices, as they grow older. But isn’t that part of maturity and growing up—learning to take the responsibility for your future and not constantly looking for someone to blame for why your life is the way it is right now?”

—Nadia Paone, 30, second-generation member of the Family International.

“There are more than a thousand second-generation young people in the Family today who feel, like me, that we have a great life to talk about.”

—Marianne Mullen, 32, second-generation member of the Family International.

“While life for anybody in this world has its ups and downs, living the Christian lifestyle within the Family and learning about our unique beliefs has helped me to maximize the ups and minimize the downs as well as learn how to make the most out of the downs.”

—Vas Myers, 31, second-generation member of the Family International.

“I’m 31 years old and have 2 great kids! I’ve been around the world with my little family and been to lots of Family ‘homes’ and there is no abuse going on!”

—Isaac Larson, second-generation member of the Family.

“It’s clear that failing to present the view of our approx. 1800+ current member youth would be like trusting Saddam Hussein to be your only source in obtaining a true account of President Bush’s childhood.”

—Andrew De Bezenac, 30, second-generation member of the Family.

“Here’s my statement: I have never been abused, nor have I ever witnessed any abuse, nor was I raised in a cult. I was raised by missionary parents who truly loved and cared for me and who generously laid down their lives to help others.”

—Michael Mullen, 35, second-generation Family member.

“I know what it’s like to go from being the Family’s most ardent supporter, to feeling hate and bitterness towards the Family to the point of wanting to take action against it. And what was even more confusing to me when trying to interpret and figure out such a change of emotions, was that there was never any real basis for my growing bitterness and hate for the Family.”

—Mark Elder, second-generation former member in his early thirties.

“I lived with or around Ricky [Rodriguez, a.k.a. Davidito] for part of his upbringing during the time such ‘abuses’ would have occurred, and I never witnessed anything of the sort.”

—Bethy K., 31, second-generation Family member, mother of one.

By Regi Roselle, 28, second-generation member of the Family International.

A year and a half ago I sent my immediate family an email announcing the birth of our second daughter, and a photo. Most responded with the usual congratulations and well wishes. My brother’s reply however, read:

Regina,
You work for Zerby, a mentally damaged and damaging woman. I don’t consider you my sister. With future births, please leave me off your emailing list.

Daniel

* * *

It wasn’t always like this. Daniel and I were born 18 months apart and spent much of our lives as each others’ shadow–like most siblings I suppose. I looked up to him as my smart big brother with incredible imagination. He was always doing something creative: exploring, dressing up as famous characters, or building something. He seemed to make friends so easily. I wanted so much to be like him. (more…)