ORGAN OPENING MUSIC
Rev. Führer: SALUTATION
Rev. Gandow:
On December 5, 1995 a "Church of Scientology" vehicle drive up to the New Port Richey Hospital north of Clearwater, Florida. The driver explained to the doctor on emergency duty that he had a seriously ill woman. What he had with him, however, was only a body in bad condition. The woman was emaciated and dehydrated. Her body was covered with bruises, sores and cockroach bites.
The only thing the doctors were able to do was to make a finding of death for Lisa McPherson, who had been a Scientologist from age 18 to 36, when she died after being held by Scientology in isolation for 17 days.
Two and a half weeks prior, on November 18, 1995, McPherson was involved in a minor auto accident. Lisa was not wounded. While the emergency workers made preparations to depart, she ran to the emergency vehicle, ripped off her clothes and pled for help.
Bonnie Portolano, a kind emergency worker, asked Lisa what was wrong and why had she removed all her clothes, to which Lisa replied that she wanted people to think she was crazy because she needed help. Bonnie said they talked about help and what had gone wrong, along with much else.
Lisa was reported to have said the Scientology Organization (SO) found out she had done something wrong, but she herself did not know what it was. Bonnie took Lisa into the ambulance, covered her with a blanket, sympathetically asked her about her problems and talked more with her. Bonnie reported, "She said literally, 'I need someone to talk with.' I am a medical technician. I told her that I could not stay with her, but that I could bring her to another place where people would listen to her. 'You can speak with them there. Is that what you want?'"
Bonnie brought Lisa to a hospital that had psychiatric services available.
But things stopped there. Lisa's place of work had been notified. Soon thereafter two Scientologists arrived at the hospital and explained that Lisa did not want to have anything to do with psychiatry. They took Lisa with them to get her "rest and relaxation."
Little is known of what happened to Lisa McPherson in Scientology's Fort Harrison Hotel between November 18 and December 5.
Although the Introspection Rundown records submitted show that isolation and the silent treatment were used against Lisa in accordance with the rules, SO attorney Elliot Abelson contested it being an Introspection Rundown that Lisa was treated with. From his point of view, the death of the Scientologist was the result of her being in a "suicide mode" when Scientology took her under its care. He said she spent 17 days in a very beautiful hotel room without television, but with room service, and that she had the choice to come and go.
Criminal proceedings against the local Scientology branch (FSO) were dropped after Lisa's "tenders" had already been granted immunity from prosecution to break through the "wall of silence."
Today the family is still looking for an explanation for Lisa's death, and this includes a civil lawsuit that is still in process.
Today, on Saturday, 7 December 2002, people all over the world, wherever Scientology is active, are being invited to silent vigils and to memorial services. This, as in six previous years, is to remember the death of Lisa McPherson and pray for those victims who, in their search for total freedom, have found death as victims of a malicious totalitarian organization.
People today can no longer say they didn't know it.
Human freedom and dignity are not threatened only by states or by state infringements. Prisons and intelligence agencies are also operated by private organizations, including here in Europe, with [personality] disintegration measures [implemented] not by the Stasi, but by OSA.
Today, on this international day of remembrance for Lisa McPherson, we, as Christians, want to pray for justice and for God's peace for the victims of Scientology.
Let us not forget to pray for ourselves, either, that we may receive hope and courage
for the courage to guard our human freedom and dignity and the freedom and dignity of all on earth as if it were our own.
for the hope that more people and more politicians will gain the courage they need to resist tyranny, wherever tyranny appears, and in spite of the threats and promises accompanying it.
ViSP: Pfr. Thomas Gandow, Dialog Zentrum Berlin, Heimat 27,
14165 Berlin,
email: gandow@dialogzentrum.de
HYMN EG 7: O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf Herab, herab, vom Himmel lauf ! Reiß ab vom Himmel Tor uns Tür, Reiß ab, wo Schloß und Riegel für 3. O Erd', schlag aus, schlag aus, o Erd', Daß Berg und Tal grün alles werd' O Erd', herfür dies Blümlein bring, O Heiland, aus der Erden spring. 4. Wo bleibst du, Trost der ganzen Welt, Darauf sie all' ihr' Hoffnung stellt ? O komm, ach komm vom höchsten Saal, Komm tröst uns hie im Jammertal. 5. O klare Sonn', du schöner Stern, Dich wollten wir anschauen gern. O Sonn', geh auf, ohn' deinen Schein In Finsternis wir alle sein.
EINGANGSVOTUM
Führer: The peace of the Lord be with you.
We are holding this
service in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit to remember
people who are victims of new totalitarianism by psychocults.
Gandow: We remember people who today are still being exploited and tormented by psychocults.
Führer: We remember people who are still being insulted, pressured and extorted by psychocults.
Gandow: We remember people who are still being systematically subjected to libel to silence them by psychocults.
Führer: We remember people who have been driven to their deaths by psychocults. As representative of these, we call to mind the death of the German Konrad Aigner and the financial ruin of his family, the tragic death of the Frenchman Patric Vic, and especially Lisa McPherson who, seven years ago on December 5th, met her death after 17 days in Scientology custody.
GOSPEL of the coming Sunday, Luke 21: 25-28
lector: Mrs. Prass
Jesus
said:
And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption is drawing near.
INTRODUCTION TO PRAY
Gandow: We put in our prayer before God the destinies of all people who are waiting for freedom and salvation.
In particular today, we ask consideration for all those suffering unjustly in state prisons and in punitive and concentration camps all over the world, as well as for those in private punitive and reeducation camps, and in the isolation arranged by Scientology in Europe and American, for all those who are prevented from leading lives of physical wholesomeness, human dignity, self-determination and freedom.
We also pray for all victims of terror and tyranny, of violence and force, whose blood cries to God from the Earth.
FÜHRER: So we pray today in memory of Lisa McPherson (....)
Canon EG 21:
Raise your heads and look up, because your salvation approaches, because
your salvation approaches.
FÜHRER:
Lord, we remember this young woman, Lisa McPherson,
who is now with You,
despite the many case supervisors and the OSA
guards outside her door.
She stands before You
in the
company of Patric Vic, Konrad Aigner and all the others
who, in the
search for Total Freedom,
have found Death
as the victims of
a malevolent organization.
Gandow:
Lord, You have known Lisa from the time she was born.
You know about her yearning for love and recognition,
her sorrow at
her brother's murder and her father's suicide;
her joy at speaking
with people,
her happiness in dancing,
her ambition to
perform well,
and her readiness to devote herself fully.
Raise your heads and look up, because your salvation approaches, because your salvation approaches.
Pfr. Führer:
Lord, You know that:
She wanted to be free
from the agonizing memories
of the death of her father and brother
and from the terrible "why."
She wanted to clear up all
her problems.
She dreamt of being "clear",
of
shaping her own destiny,
free from the shadows of her past.
For that she worked hard,
for that she earned much money, and
for that she paid much money.
Gandow:
You know, how seriously she took the Scientology technology;
but we also hear from friends who knew her
that she stayed human
in an inhumane system,
and tried to help others,
even when
her kindness was to her own disadvantage.
Raise your heads and look up, because your salvation approaches, because your salvation approaches.
Führer:
You know, for how much she had to sell her personal
dignity
to move forward on the Bridge of self-salvation:
her
life was organized down to the most intimate details
according to the
absurd regulations
of a science fiction and horror story author;
she had to write knowledge reports
for the greedy eyes and folders
of the OSA intelligence agency
about herself and her friend;
About every kiss and each tender touch:
when,
where,
how
often,
and for how long.
Gandow:
Lord, in this world of violence, confusion and false paths
You do not pronounce those guilty
who get lost and go down the
false paths
in their search for the path of freedom,
but
rather those who exploit and abuse,
seduce and ruin those people.
Therefore forgive them and also us:
for our attempts to
handle others,
for our false superiority,
for our common and
our Scientology betrayal of our fellow man,
for our common and our
Scientology knowledge reports,
for subjecting ourselves to structures
and organizations,
for our attempt, by total discipline and demands
for obedience in advance,
to obtain a part of total control and power
over our fellow man.
Forgive us for our pride and our sin of playing
God.
Raise your heads and look up, because your salvation approaches, because your salvation approaches.
Führer:
Lord, You know,
how she collapsed in despair
when her super-human Scientology abilities
came tumbling down
after a traffic accident like a house of cards
You know, that she
stripped herself naked in confusion
only to display her helplessness
only to find help at last.
And after she had found the help of a good Samaritan
and was so
close to professional assistance,
Scientology did not let go of her,
but fetched her from the life-saving station.
Like an abused
wife who must return to her tormentor,
so the organization got back
its victim
with false promises.
Instead of aides and
protectors, she found guards and tormentors.
Instead of consolation -
isolation.
Raise your heads and look up, because your salvation approaches, because your salvation approaches.
Gandow:
Führer:
Lord, Lisa sought only help and protection.
There were not enough protectors and Samaritans in the hospital
and
too many personnel on watch in the Fort Harrison Hotel,
in room 174
and outside her door;
Sometimes there were more guards than were
needed,
to hold Lisa down when she defended herself.
There
was also a woman guard
who herself broke down and cried.
Lord, you know that:
While she was guarded and tormented,
and rendered powerless with drugs,
her Scientology friends plundered
her bank account.
Only after 17 days in the Fort Harrison Hotel
tormented and
defiled,
covered with bruises and abrasions,
already bitten
by cockroaches,
was she brought
- dead -
to a
hospital.
As her body, at the wish of the Scientology organization
was immediately cremated,
- they told Lisa's family that she had
died of infectious meningitis -
Scientology looters went through her
residence,
wrote checks from her account,
stole her clothes,
and plundered the estate.
Raise your heads and look up, because your salvation approaches, because your salvation approaches.
Gandow:
Lord, hear us!
Now they are taunting their
victim,
by describing their injections of drugs as
"spiritual
sustenance" and religious treatment.
Lord, her tormentors took
down only a few sentences
of what Lisa said.
They did not
understand them.
It was not important for them.
The words,
indeed, came from inside Lisa.
But You know everything that she said.
Let us also understand what Lisa meant
when, on the third day of
her captivity she spoke of light
- completely contrary to Hubbard's
teachings,
whereby light is a trap of deception
that only
leads to an implant station -
Lord, let us understand what it means,
when she, contrary to all
she had learned for 13 years, said:
"You have to follow the
light, as light is life."
Raise your heads and look up, because your salvation approaches, because your salvation approaches.
Führer:
Lord, Lisa only wanted someone
with whom she
could speak
as one speaks with a friend.
Now speak with Lisa and all
who despair in their isolation,
Wipe their tears away.
Send them people as friendly protectors like angels.
Be a
merciful Protector and Helper,
where people fail.
Answer Lisa's and our questions,
"For with thee is the
fountain of life:
in thy light shall we see light." [Ps. 36,10].
Raise your heads and look up, because your salvation approaches, because your salvation approaches.
Führer: OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN.
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done
On Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our trespasses
as we
forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power
And
the glory. Forever and ever.
Amen.
BLESSING
HYMN 16: Die Nacht ist vorgedrungen, der Tag ist nicht mehr fern. So sei nun Lob gesungen dem hellen Morgenstern! Auch wer zur Nacht geweinet, der stimme froh mit ein. Der Morgenstern bescheinet auch deine Angst und Pein. 4. Noch manche Nacht wird fallen auf Menschenleid und -schuld. Doch wandert nun mit allen der Stern der Gotteshuld. Beglänzt von seinem Lichte, hält euch kein Dunkel mehr. Von Gottes Angesichte kam euch die Rettung her. --- Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 06:32:17 EST Dear Rev. Gandow: On behalf of the family of Lisa McPherson, please let everyone know that they greatly appreciate those who continue to observe the tragic death of Lisa McPherson. Their prayers go out to all of you. Thank you, Ken Dandar Attorney for the Family of Lisa McPherson