(Staff) The Bishop of Ontario, George Bruce (right), has received "a sufficient number of written complaints" that enables him to proceed with the investigation into allegations that Anglican clergy engaged in psychological, physical and sexual abuse at Grenville Christian College in Brockville, a school in his diocese.

Wayne Varley, the diocesan executive, told the Planet there were "several written letters and many, but not all, of the complainants also had personal interviews with the Bishop. Both former staff and former students were complainants." Citing confidentiality, Varley would not give even an approximate number of complainants but other sources suggested about 25.

Varley maintains that the Bishop can only investigate clergy over whom he has jurisdiction--not lay persons who had been on staff at Grenville, even if they were Anglicans.

Three of the five headmasters were Anglican priests: Rev. Al Haig in the early 1970’s, Rev. Charles Farnsworth, 71, of Brockville, for two decades until 1997 and Rev. Gordon Mintz for the last two years.

Bishop Bruce can refer the matter to the Diocesan Court and remove himself from the process until the Court has reached a decision and recommended action. Action could range from an admonition to “deprivation of the office and ministry” of a priest.

The school, which offered grades JK-12, closed suddenly this summer after 37 years as a private Christian boarding school. Officials cited declining enrollment and rising costs.

Former students have discussed on an internet site and in the Globe and Mail the psychological trauma that they say resulted from their time at Grenville. Many described being ordered from their beds in the middle of the night and subjected to “light sessions” in which they were forced to sit in a dark room with a bright light blinding their eyes. They were told to confess their sins to teachers and staff whom they couldn’t see. 

One student told of being forced to take part in an exorcism in the school chapel. Another reported being beaten bloody by a teacher wielding a heavy wooden object. Staff forbade a third from playing the piano, claiming it would make him “haughty.”

Three of Bishop Bruce's predecessors were in office while the school was in operation: Henry Hill (1975-1981), the late Allan Read (1981-1992) and Peter Mason (1992-2002).

On Oct. 1 journalist Michael Valpy of the Globe and Mail reported that "at least three Grenville staff members asked Bishop Mason for help in 2001 in dealing with what they said was psychological damage arising out of Community of Jesus practices followed at the school." Mason replied by email to at least one staff member that "he was most anxious about this situation," and that he was "trying to grasp the enormity of the troubles that have ensued over the years." He recommended the staff get counselling. He also visited the Community of Jesus and met with some of its leaders.

But Valpy reported that Mason told the Globe and Mail that "he did not think that the complaints brought to him about Charles Farnsworth--who was both headmaster and head of the religious community that ran the school--were substantive enough for him to take action."

Oct 3, in a feature article entitled "Mothers of Invention" Valpy reported that Haig was originally a United Church minister while Farnsworth was a Pentecostal minister. Bishop Hill confirmed Haig and Farnsworth along with their wives and teenaged children in 1976. Hill then persuaded Toronto bishop Lewis Garnsworthy to fast-track the two pastors for Anglican ordination. They were ordained priests by Hill in 1997. Alan Haig left the school in the early 1980's and is no longer listed in the ACC clergy directory. 

In the same article Valpy traced the close connection between Grenville College and the Cape Cod, Mass. religious group called the Community of Jesus. The Society's founders Cay Andersen and Judy Sorensen, were referred to as Mother Cay and Mother Judy. Rev. Haig invited the two Mothers to visit Grenville in 1973. They came for two weeks and shared (some would say imposed) their ideas on school structure and discipline. Bishop Hill did not seem to question their influence. In contrast, the Episcopal Bishop of Massachusetts refused to designate their community in Cape Cod as an official Episcopal religious order. 

Valpy claims that a 2002 letter from the current spiritual leader, Mother Betty Pugsley, "reminded school staff that 'the vows [to the Community of Jesus] taken by many at Grenville'--among other things, swearing obedience to the group's leaders--still applied."  

Cay Andersen's son, Peter, who is now a lay Roman Catholic counsellor in Vancouver, told Valpy that his mother and Sorensen had a long, lesbian relationship, even though both were in heterosexual marriages when they met. And a 1985 article in the Boston Herald described the women's sleeping arrangements in their Cape Cod apartment as only a single, large bed. Judy Sorenson also had an affair with a German nun.  

The Cape Cod community was an annual summer retreat destination for many of Grenville's staff. More disturbingly, children of staff claim they were sometimes separated from their parents and sent off to the community in Massachusetts while other children from Cape Cod were sent alone up to Grenville to live.  

The OPP are also investigating.