CultNEWS101 Articles: 8/27/2025

Nine O'Clock Service, Neuroscience of Religion, Peru, Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, Legal, Sexual Abuse

BBC: Ex-priest found guilty of 17 indecent assaults

"A former priest accused of abusing members of a "cult-like" church group he led has been found guilty of 17 counts of indecent assault against nine women.

Chris Brain, 68, was head of the Nine O'Clock Service (NOS), an influential evangelical movement based in Sheffield in the 1980s and 90s.

Brain, of Wilmslow, in Cheshire, was convicted of the charges following a trial at Inner London Crown Court.

He was found not guilty of another 15 charges of indecent assault, while jurors are continuing to deliberate on a further four counts of indecent assault and one charge of rape."

" ... The NOS began in Sheffield in 1986 and was initially celebrated by Church of England leaders for its nightclub-style services, which attracted hundreds of young people.

The Church fast-tracked Brain's ordination as a priest in 1991 due to the success of the NOS, with jurors told the group spent "large sums of money" to obtain robes worn by the actor Robert De Niro in the film The Mission for Brain to wear in his ordination ceremony.

In the early 1990s the NOS moved to the city's Ponds Forge leisure centre in order to accommodate the growing congregation.

But prosecutors told the jury NOS "became a cult" in which Brain abused his position to sexually assault "a staggering number" of women from his congregation.

The group was dissolved in 1995 when concerns about Brain's behaviour were first raised.

The jury heard Brain later admitted in a BBC documentary, aired the same year, to having "improper sexual conduct with a number of women".

He resigned his holy orders two days before the programme was broadcast."

Patheos: The Real Neuroscience of Religion – Doing Drugs in Church

" ... In the 1980s, Nancy Reagan encouraged us to say no to drugs, but some chemicals are produced inside our bodies, not ingested. When we get excited at concerts or we feel love and acceptance from our relationships, our bodies release pleasurable chemicals. Other chemicals occur naturally to protect us, like stress hormones. We often even experience these types of chemicals in church.[1]

Our cortisol levels tend to be lower when we pray, meditate, or even just breathe. Cortisol is the stress hormone often linked to belly fat. Elevated cortisol levels also contribute to high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, anxiety, depression, and a weakened immune system. Chronic stress levels decline during certain church activities, though they can also be elevated during other parts of the experience. Prolonged high cortisol levels from chronic stress can harm the brain, raise the risk of heart problems, and weaken the immune system.

My main concern with religious practices and this chemical is that church services now seem designed to trigger this stress hormone intentionally.

We might call it conviction, accountability, or rebuke. Still, sometimes these practices increase our cortisol levels and then quickly lead us to use things like prayer to bring us back down, reducing the cortisol again. My issue is that these chemicals are meant to protect us from real danger and shouldn't be used as tools to dysregulate us, so we feel regulated shortly afterward. The damage is still done, even if we feel better after leaving the church.

It's almost like someone punches us in the arm, then rubs it to make it feel better, and afterward looks to us for approval.

What about serotonin and dopamine? Practices like group singing, prayer, and worship trigger the release of this "feel-good" hormone that creates feelings of happiness and well-being. The same neurotransmitters are also activated during other pleasurable experiences. They are released whenever we feel good, even from harmful activities like overeating, using drugs, and taking risks.

Chemicals motivate us to keep coming back because we want to feel that high. Even if it is just the high of righteousness from attending religious services, we experience these pleasurable hormones and crave them again, so we return, keep eating, or use more of what produces that feeling.

Someone once said, "Religion is the opiate of the masses." We rely on these chemicals to motivate us to get our next meal, seek safety, and enjoy life. However, in my opinion, religion often creates a high and a co-dependency where we feel like we are forever "chasing the dragon" of our learned co-dependence and our addiction to the chemical high."

RNS: Pope Leo abuse case in Peru muddled by language, cultural barriers

"A Peruvian woman who says she was sexually abused by two priests as a girl traveled to Pope Leo XIV's hometown of Chicago in late July to personally tell the media her claims of how the newly elected pope mishandled her case when he served as bishop of Chiclayo, Peru.

Organized by The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, the July 31 press conference was the first time Ana María Quispe Díaz, whose story has been amplified by advocates and rehashed in the media, spoke for herself since Leo's election.

Quispe Díaz told reporters she first met with Leo, then-Bishop Robert Prevost, in 2022 to report two priests that she and other Chiclayo women claimed abused them as girls. Initially, she said, Prevost encouraged her to report the abuse to civil authorities, but, according to Quispe Díaz, he later failed to properly investigate, remove the accused priests from ministry or provide adequate support for survivors.

Despite Prevost's initial posture of support, Quispe Díaz claimed he told her there was no way to carry out a church investigation and that they must rely on the civil system. She said Prevost and other diocesan leaders did not approach the situation with transparency and did not take sufficient actions against the accused priests, the Revs. Eleuterio Vásquez Gonzáles and Ricardo Yesquén Paiva.

SNAP, a survivor-run advocacy group based in the U.S., said they organized the conference to give Quispe Díaz a platform to tell her story to English-speaking media. However, a Spanish-to-English translator hired by SNAP for the press conference made several translation errors that altered the meaning of Quispe Díaz's words.

"We were listened to and encouraged to report what happened to us," said Quispe Díaz in Spanish at the press conference. "We reported exactly what happened to us," the translator incorrectly said in English.

"We were mistreated by those representatives of Christ who, by faith, we call fathers," she said in Spanish at the press conference. "We have been denied representation of Jesus Christ who through faith we call father," the interpreter mistranslated.

Sarah Pearson, spokesperson for SNAP, told RNS she had hired CBS translation for the first time based on Google reviews, something she would not do again. Pearson is now working with another translator to dub a correct translation over the video of the event to send to reporters.

The press conference, with its serious translation errors, indicated the difficulties Quispe Díaz has faced as her story is scrutinized on an international stage — and the challenge for the international Catholic community in understanding a Peruvian abuse case that now has global implications.

Paola Ugaz, a Peruvian investigative journalist who exposed sexual abuses by the powerful Peruvian Catholic group Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, told RNS Prevost's handling of the case needs to be understood within a Latin American context.

Many Latin American bishops "persecute the messenger" with threats and wouldn't encourage women to go to civil authorities as Prevost did, according to Ugaz. Prevost also sent the case to the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Ugaz believes showed he took it seriously and wanted the women to be protected. Sending the case to the Vatican is "a measure that Latin American bishops don't do because either they don't know or they want to protect priests," said Ugaz in Spanish.

Leo is credited by Sodalitium survivors as having an instrumental role in moving Pope Francis and the Vatican to suppress the group, and he has praised Ugaz's "unwavering pursuit of justice and commitment to truth" as she and another journalist have faced lawsuits, death threats, false accusations and judicial harassment.

"Unfortunately, in my country, Peru, most people who report cases of abuse do not find justice at the end of their story. The system is designed to favor the perpetrator and neglect the victim. It's a mistake to apply North American standards," said Ugaz.

The church's actions against Sodalitium, suppressing the group, only came 15 years after she began to investigate, Ugaz said, and despite over a decade of investigation into Sodalitium abuses, no perpetrators have been convicted in Peru courts.

SNAP has not reached out to Sodalitium survivors and has not included those survivors' praise for Leo in its communications. For Pearson, different global norms shouldn't mean an abuse case is dealt with any less expediently, thoroughly or safely."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

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Intervention101.com to help families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexity of a loved one's cult involvement.

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CultNEWS101 Articles: 8/12/2025

Event, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Peru, Legal

Doomsday Comedy: The End is near - Come and laugh with us!

"Doomsday Comedy is a unique stand-up comedy show featuring comedians who grew up in religious fundamentalist communities — and now use humor to process their experiences.

These comedians share personal stories about growing up with doomsday warnings, strict religious rules, and the journey of leaving fundamentalism behind. Through laughter, they transform trauma into comedy and create a space for healing and connection. The shows also feature other types of comic material beyond religious themes."

 

RNS: Survivor of clergy sex abuse in Peru visits pope's hometown to call for more reforms

"A Peruvian survivor of clergy sex abuse brought her public campaign for reforms to the American hometown of Pope Leo XIV on Thursday, saying he failed in investigating her case when he was a bishop in her home country and needs to step up now as leader of the world's Catholics.

"I've been quiet since the pope has been elected," Ana María Quispe Díaz said in Spanish at a news conference in downtown Chicago. "But I'm not planning to be quiet forever."

She appeared with members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. The advocacy group sent a letter to the pope on Thursday renewing demands for more accountability on clergy sex abuse complaints and released documents related to Díaz's case."

Carol Merchasin: Head of Sexual Misconduct in Spiritual Communities Practice and Of Counsel

Carol Merchasin has been called "the Cult Assassin," the "Wonder Woman of taking down cults," "one of the United States' most feared legal eagles," and a "magnificent legal warrior."

Carol Merchasin brings her deep legal experience to McAllister Olivarius, heading up cases involving sexual misconduct in religious, faith-based and spiritual communities. As an investigator, she has worked to uncover sexual misconduct within the Shambhala International lineage of Buddhism, the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers, and is currently assisting other spiritual communities in bringing allegations of sexual misconduct to light. She has worked with survivors of abuse and misconduct across a number of global spiritual and religious movements and has extensive experience as both a litigator and an investigator.

Before joining McAllister Olivarius, Carol was a partner in the Philadelphia office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius where she was a member of the firm's employment law practice and the director of Morgan Lewis Resources, providing training on harassment and discrimination as well as investigation services for clients. She has conducted dozens of workplace investigations and taught investigative techniques to human resource professionals at many Fortune 50 companies. She is based in New Jersey and is registered as an attorney with the Massachusetts Bar.

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

Reform or suppression: Troubled lay movements need outside oversight

Junno Arocho Esteves
Catholic News Service
November 5, 2020


ROME — For decades, lay movements and communities have given countless Catholics a chance to rediscover and deepen their faith.

Yet, while many bring people closer to God, questions have been raised about the influence some lay groups exercise over their members and about how the church should determine whether the movement should be reformed or dissolved when there is abuse or corruption.

In his 1998 message for the World Congress of Ecclesial Movements and New Communities, St. John Paul II recognized their importance and said lay movements were “one of the most significant fruits of that springtime in the church which was foretold by the Second Vatican Council.”

But not all the fruit was good. And several movements and communities have faced Vatican-imposed reforms and even dissolution.

Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, a professor of psychology and president of the Centre for Child Protection at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, told Catholic News Service Nov. 4 that before deciding to dissolve a movement or community, certain criteria should be met to indicate reform is possible.

“One condition would be how much that community or that movement is really willing to revise its statutes and its way of proceeding under the guidance of someone external,” such as a commissioner, Zollner told CNS.

A key issue, he said, is a willingness to have a clear separation of “spiritual guidance and external power” when it comes to decision-making.

“A spiritual director should never have the power to direct the movement or a decision for a person,” he said. “There needs to be a separation between who decides the mission aspect (‘forum externum’) and who knows about the spiritual side (‘forum internum’). This is a very important point which some of those movements and some of those religious congregations have not been taking seriously, against the tradition and the law of the church.”

Perhaps surprisingly, the Catholic Church has a limited number of options for intervening when it comes to lay movements and communities. While a pope can remove cardinals, priests and bishops, laypeople can be punished only by excommunication.

Another condition, Zollner said, is that there must be a set period of time — preferably between three and five years — for changes to be implemented and that a person not affiliated with the movement must determine whether the conditions of the reform have been met.

The movement itself “can’t be the one to testify that they have changed because then you blow your own trumpet and people will question that,” he said, “and rightfully so.”

The situation of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, a Catholic movement founded by Luis Fernando Figari in Peru in 1971, provides one example of the difficulty of deciding whether to push for reform or move toward suppression.

In 2015, Peruvian journalists Paola Ugaz and Pedro co-authored a book titled, Mitad Monjes, Mitad Soldados (“Half Monks, Half Soldiers”), which detailed the alleged psychological and sexual abuse, as well as corporal punishment and extreme exercises, that young members of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae were forced to endure.

A 2017 internal investigation found that Figari and three other high-ranking former members abused 19 minors and 10 adults.

Although Pope Francis has named U.S. Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, as delegate and Colombian Bishop Noel Antonio Londono of Jerico as “apostolic commissary” to oversee the movement and its reforms, Ugaz and Salinas continue to face a steady stream of legal troubles from current and former members of Sodalitium.

Both were sued in 2019 by Peruvian Archbishop Jose Eguren Anselmi of Piura, a professed member of Sodalitium since 1981. The prelate later dropped the lawsuits after facing considerable backlash from the public and the Peruvian bishops’ conference.

The strongest denunciation against Sodalitium, however, came from Peruvian Cardinal Pedro Barreto Jimeno of Huancayo, who said that Sodalitium Christianae Vitae and any other religious movement mired in sexual abuse should be dissolved.

“Personally, I think that when a religious organization has committed a crime, because it has to be said that way — from the point of view of sexual abuse and the economic side where there are also problems — it has to be dissolved,” he said in an interview with Peruvian radio station Radio Santa Rosa in early March.

“The fundamental problem is that the founder — and I say this with much pain and sorrow and I have said it on another occasion — is a perverted person, and such a person cannot transmit the holiness of life that Pope Francis himself has expressed in one his apostolic exhortations,” he said.

Ugaz told CNS Nov. 3 that personal attacks against her and Salinas have worsened, that there are five lawsuits currently against her, and that she received an anonymous threat that read, “You are going to die all (covered in) red if the Peruvian Charlie Hebdo comes; we will smoke you out with lead,” referencing the 2015 terrorist attack in France, when gunmen stormed the offices of the controversial satirical newspaper and killed 12 people.

Still, Ugaz said she has felt encouraged by support from the Peruvian bishops’ conference and by Peruvian Archbishop Carlos Castillo of Lima.

No matter what actions the church should or will take when it comes to Sodalitium, Ugaz said the Catholic Church must always place the well-being and the psychological and spiritual care of survivors first.

On Holy Thursday 2019, she recalled, Castillo washed the feet of Jose Rey de Castro, “one of the victims who suffered the most at the at the hands of Figari.”

Holding back tears, Ugaz said that during his time in Sodalitium, Rey de Castro was forced to not show any emotions or facial expressions. Yet, after the archbishop washed his feet, she saw him smile for the first time.

“This is important, and what Archbishop Castillo did is important,” she said. “Symbolically, it was important.”



https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2020/11/reform-or-suppression-troubled-lay-movements-need-outside-oversight/

Chile: A 33-year-old engineer dies after taking ayahuasca

RIES Secretariat

Info Catolica
September 4, 2018

Google Translation 

It is a well-known brew of Andean and Amazonian origin that allows hallucinogenic experiences, which some describe as true  "mystical journeys" . We talked about the ayahuasca , the same that the Chilean leader Antares de la Luzconsumed   with his group of followers of the sect that he headed, and that ended up murdering a baby in 2012, as El Morrocotudo recalls.

According to  La Estrella de Arica , a 33-year-old civil engineer died on September 2 in his home located in the Chile town of Arica. The publication details that the police have an important clue to determine the cause of death of the man. It turns out that a colleague of the fatal victim informed the PDI that his friend had traveled to Tacna (Peru), where he supposedly  got ayahuasca, which he introduced into the country in a coolant can  for vehicles.

According to the background that is handled, the engineer  died minutes after having ingested the liquid. "Although the autopsy of rigor declared the death as indeterminate, similarly the expert opinions will follow to determine if the fatal victim finally ingested the liquid and if it was precisely ayahuasca, which should be checked after the chemical tests , " hetold  La Estrella  the Deputy Commissioner of the BH of the PDI, Rafael Herrera.

As reported by  El Mercurio , people close to the deceased, who underwent an autopsy to determine the causes of his death, would have testified about  the purchase of the plant in Peru , and its subsequent transfer and eventual consumption in Chilean territory.

In  Ahora Noticias  we read that according to the first data provided by the Investigative Police, the 33-year-old professional worked for the Natural Resources Information Center (CIREN) of the Ministry of Agriculture, and was at the northern gate of the country performing work for that company.

http://www.infocatolica.com/blog/infories.php/1809040742-chile-muere-un-ingeniero-de-3

A Creepy Sex Cult Scandal and Firebombed Churches Greet Pope Francis In Latin America

Dealing with a Catholic organization that allegedly tortured children may be the easiest of Pope Francis’ challenges as he visits Chile and Peru this week.

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU

The Daily Beast
January 15, 2018

ROME—What is a boy to do when his spiritual mentor, part of a group that claims it is leading young people on the path of Christ, says that God, working in mysterious ways, wants him to fondle and be fondled, to lie naked with grown men, to be sodomized? Too often and for too long in too many parts of the world, those experiences have been kept as guilty secrets, not by the perpetrators but by the victims.

“I thought I had been selected by the devil to provide sexual services to this man,” as one of those boys explained to investigators.

Only when the press has documented the cases has action been taken to expose some of the perpetrators, although far from all of them.

Such is the situation in Peru and Chile, where Pope Francis is paying a visit this week. However beneficent his reputation, the sordid past of such men and institutions keeps coming back to afflict his papacy like a recurrent, debilitating disease.

Luis Fernando Figari, the 70-year-old founder of Peru’s conservative Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV) Catholic movement used psychological manipulation and sexual torture on young members of his Catholic organization, according to his victims. He and three other men stand accused, though not yet officially charged by Peruvian authorities, of sexually and psychologically assaulting dozens of little boys and young men throughout the ‘90s and early 2000s by threatening them with the wrath of God if they didn’t succumb to their wanton pleasures of the flesh.

One of the alleged perpetrators, Jeffrey Daniels Valderrama, now lives in Chicago, where he has told authorities he is innocent of the Peruvian allegations, according to the Chicago Tribune.

One of Daniels Valderrama’s alleged victims, Alvaro Urbina, interviewed by the Tribune, said he had been taken to SCV to escape bullying in school when Daniels gave him attention that soon turned sexual. “I was a child. I didn’t know what I was doing or what I wanted. These are scars that I’ll carry for years,” he told the Tribune in December. “It’s a pain I’m going to carry in my heart forever.”

The reported abuses of SCV founder Figari are remarkably similar to those lodged against the late Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, who founded the Legion of Christ in the 1940s and used it as a pool from which those in charge could recruit young victims for sex acts that often included oral and anal abuse. Maciel Degollado did not limit himself to little boys. While serving as a supposedly celibate priest, he also fathered several children, at least one of whom he later abused.

The SCV, which has chapters throughout Latin America and the United States, formally admitted its founder’s crimes last year in a detailed report (PDF), confessing that Figari and three others, including Daniels Valderrama, sexually abused 19 minors and 10 adults.

The report called Figari “narcissistic, paranoid, demeaning, vulgar, vindictive, manipulative, racist, sexist, elitist and obsessed with sexual issues and the sexual orientation of SCV members.” This from the investigative document:

“In the most egregious case of abuse in the SCV, Jeffrey Daniels (Daniels) abused at least 12 minor males who were associated with SCV ministries between 1985 and 1997. Daniels was well-liked in the community, but he was also considered ‘goofy.’ ‘too affectionate’ and ‘immature.’ … On several occasions he took the boys on mission trips or drove them to different events. A victim recalled this about the offender,

“‘When I was 14 years old Daniels became increasingly friendly with me and gave me affection that I did not get from my family…His affections became sexual…. I thought I had been selected by the devil to provide sexual services to this man… Now I have flashbacks…’” [Italics in the original]

The accusations first came to light in the book Half Monks, Half Soldiers, by investigative journalists Pedro Salinas, a former member of the group (although not a victim of sexual abuse), and Paola Ugaz. It outlined alleged abuse that involved enticing young boys to perform oral sex on Figari and adult men lest they face severe punishment by the Almighty, which could include, but was not limited to, death or illness of friends or parents, failure in school, or general bad omens. The book’s authors also write that victims alleged they were made to participate in group sex that included bondage and keeping young boys in pitch darkness while older men fondled them.

The group’s current leader, Alessandro Moroni Llabrés, released a video in 2016 in which he declared the founder guilty. “After hearing the witness accounts, we find Luis Figari guilty of the alleged abuses. And we declare him a persona non-grata in our organization, which completely deplores and condemns his behavior,” Maroni said.

The bearded and bespectacled Figari is currently living in seclusion in Rome. While he is not an ordained priest, he could still be given protection by the Holy See if it chooses to allow him to live within the protective walls of Vatican City, a sovereign city state.

Last week, the Vatican essentially took over the SCV, putting a Colombian prelate in charge, presumably ahead of the papal visit to Latin America this week. The Vatican issued a statement that the pope “has followed with concern” the goings on in Peru.

The new prelate’s appointment is seen as “too little, too late” by the victims of the alleged abuse, who have asked to meet the pope. No such encounter is on the official agenda, but Vatican spokesman Greg Burke did not rule out a private meeting.

Things aren’t much better for the pope in Chile, where Francis will begin his official apostolic visit when he arrives Monday evening.

Francis recently appointed controversial Bishop Juan Barros to head the diocese of the city of Osorno in the south of the country, even though Barros worked directly under Fernando Karadima, a priest convicted of sexual abuse by the Vatican and sentenced to the usual “life of prayer and penitence” in a secluded monastery. Barros denies knowing of Karadima’s crimes, even though he is named by several witnesses as ultimately aiding in the cover-up, and sent a letter to the Vatican in support of the known predator during the Vatican’s investigation.

According to documents seen by the Associated Press, Francis considered sending Barros on a sabbatical to avoid any potential dust-up among abuse survivors but, as the AP reports, it was a decision “he didn't ultimately take.”

Last Friday, four Catholic churches in Santiago were firebombed ahead of the pope’s visit. A note left behind in the Santa Isabel de Hungría church used Spanish orthography changed to eliminate masculine and feminine gender, declaring, for example, “We will never submit to the dominion they want to exercise over our bodies [nuestrxs cuerpxs]... ” It concluded, “Pope Francis, the next bombs will be in your cassock.”

Francis has been widely criticized for his mixed messaging on clerical sex abuse. He has not yet renewed the mandate of his commission on clerical sex abuse, which expired on Dec. 17. Peter Saunders, a victim of clerical sex abuse and member of the commission who had been on leave for the better part of the year, officially resigned from the commission in December, citing “disappointment that that commission had not done more” as his primary reason. He has been invited by protesters in Chile to join the demonstrations to stand in solidarity with victims in protests against the pontiff.

The pope will begin his apostolic visit late Monday evening in Chile before moving on to Peru later in the week. He will return to Rome Jan. 21.



https://www.thedailybeast.com/a-creepy-sex-cult-scandal-and-firebombed-churches-greet-pope-francis-in-latin-america

America’s First Legal Ayahuasca ‘Church’

Zachary Siegel
The Daily Beast

December 7, 2015

For $1,500, you can spend a week drinking hallucinogenic 'tea' that, devotees say, leads to enlightenment.

Spiritual tourists in pursuit of revelation through ayahuasca, nature's most potent hallucinogen, needn't look further than the state of Washington for their next communion.

"We have successfully established the first public, legal ayahuasca church in the USA," said Trinity de Guzman, co-founder of Ayahuasca Healings, a retreat in Peru—and now Washington. As of Jan. 1, 2016, you can purchase a retreat for $1500 that includes drinking the self-shattering tea inside a teepee, nestled on "160 pristine, beautiful acres" near the town of Elbe, Washington.

Ayahuasca, aya or yagé for short, is a centuries old concoction consisting of two plants turned into a brew. Researchers studying the inebriants of shamans during the 1970s informally classified aya as an entheogen, which from Greek translates to becoming divine within. "Ayahuasca" translates to the vine of the dead, or soul. Those who drink it often say they confront their fear of death.

Drug connoisseur William Burroughs described the trip as the most powerful derangement of the senses he's ever experienced, and given all his experiences, this should tell you yagé is not to be taken for kicks. You won't find it among any cache of concert going drugs. Plus, aya advocates say set and setting (PDF)—proper psychic preparation before dosing and where you are physically when you take it, respectively—is critical in order for the healing experience to take hold.

Dr. Josep Fábregas, a psychiatrist and addiction expert based in Spain, believes ayahuasca can heal a number of mental disturbances, from addiction to sexual trauma.

While the Washington retreat is brand new, people have already been drinking aya on U.S. soil for decades in clandestine circles. The trend has been a quietly growing subculture among U.S. "drinkers," a nickname for those who partake in drinking the purportedly foul tasting tea. Now that city dwellers are drinking the tea, destinations like Peru and Brazil may no longer necessary for the experience.

"T" teaches yoga in Chicago and participates in regular aya circles throughout the city. Though he does not have any problems with addiction or childhood trauma, he says the tea de-hypnotizes him from the norms of hedonistic, late-capitalism.

"There is a discontent I feel from the society I live in," he told The Daily Beast. "The western culture of competition, this dominator mindset, isn't natural. So I use ayahuasca to look for something deeper, to do inner-searching of my fear of death."

T described one of his hallucinations: "I saw people giving themselves trophies," he said, "They were clutching the trophies, loving the trophies."

While Guzman claims his church is the first non-denominational, public one in the states, there are already a few above ground, sectarian churches, such as Santo Daime and União do Vegetal, that have fought lengthy court battles to keep ayahuasca as part of their rituals—much like the peyotists of the Native American Church.

It is through the Native American Church that Ayahuasca Healers can bypass laws prohibiting it in America. While possessing the plants from which ayahuasca is made is perfectly legal, the synthesis of them creates a Schedule I substance called Dimethyltryptamine (DMT). This classification denotes drugs with currently no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse, making the brew illegal to possess in the states.

If you were to ask drinking circle devotees, they'd tell you the Schedule I classification is dubious, given its potential healing properties are indeed profound.

"I use it when I need to reset or when I'm searching for insight," Michael Slater, founder of ModernRecovery.org, told The Daily Beast. "Years of drug abuse has affected my cognition, and aya helps me focus and puts things in perspective." Slater lives in the states and does not belong to any specific church or adhere to any ritual.

Dr. Fábregas has conducted scientific studies investigating the effects of yagé on the body, and has found no negative effects in long-term drinkers. This fact, coupled with testimony from thousands who have communed in healing with the plant, is more reason to doubt the current Schedule I classification.

"It is not the ayahuasca [itself]," said Dr. Fábregas, "but the ritual use of ayahuasca" where the healing lies. Given Fábregas's emphasis on set and setting, The Daily Beast caught up with several drinkers to get their take on the first above ground retreat on U.S. soil.

Will it tear yagé from its cultural context, which some argue is central to its powerful healing properties? Will a U.S. retreat devolve into psychedelic spectacle (think Burning Man for tech billionaires)?

Tony Elliot, who has years of experience with aya, said, "Ayahuasca in the correct setting is fantastic." But the potential for commodification of the spiritual experience is a concern of his.

The 160 acres in Washington, he said, "Is a very expensive retreat priced at $1500 under the guise of 'donations.'"

The website for Ayahuasca Healings calls for a requested donation of $1497 to $1997 per retreat.

Guzman of Ayahuasca Healings was not available for comment on pricing.

T and his brother R. Eagle told The Daily Beast that a circle in Chicago runs about $250 per night, and they usually last two nights. Retreats in Peru or Brazil are similarly priced but can be more expensive, depending on the accommodations and other services offered.

Given the cost of city circles compared to those abroad, the Washington retreat, which can range from eight to 10 days—with four days of tea drinking—it is not immediately apparent that excessive profiteering is taking place. All meals will be included and you are provided a teepee to sleep in.

But when asked whether the first U.S. retreat will in anyway degrade ayahuasca, R. Eagle said, "Like yoga and cannabis, [yagé] is being commodified. But it's so powerful that regardless, it may change people for the better, it may wake them up."

"Entheogens like ayahuasca, iboga, psilocybin, and DMT teach compassion, love, and empathy," said Slater of Modern Recovery. "It should be everyone's God-given right to consume these plants without fear of persecution. I commend Ayahuasca Healings and their new venture in Washington," he said.

But that's also not without reservations. "My only concern is that this plant will be exploited," he said. "Aya, when used with caution and respect, can be used with minimal supervision. I'm not sure fancy retreats and shamans are really necessary."

When asked why ayahuasca is being used more frequently by American urban dwellers, T said that it's because people here need healing, too.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/12/07/america-s-first-legal-ayahuasca-church.html

Peru: New Cases of Child Abuse by Catholics Documented

Telesurtv
October 21, 2015

The head of the wealthy and powerful Catholic organization called Solidatium is involved in cases of child rape and other physical and sexual abuses. 

Journalist and author Pedro Salinas gave a press conference in Lima, the Peruvian capital, to speak of the impact his recent publication is having.

The book is titled “Half Monks, Half Soldiers” and in it Salinas documents the abuses by the Catholic cult called Sodalitium Christianae Vitae.

The publication has stirred up the organization and many sectors of the Peruvian society. Among a series of violations, the book shows five cases of child sexual abuse by leaders of the organization, including repeated rapes by the founder Luis Fernando Figari, who founded Sodalitium in Lima in 1971, and it acquired its canonical recognition from Pope John Paul II in 1977.

According to their website, Sodalitium is a “society of Apostolic Life made up of laymen and priests who live in community as brothers, and have fully given their lives to God, proclaiming the Gospel in the diverse circumstances of human life” and make commitments of “obedience and celibacy.” It operates in seven Latin American countries, the United States and Italy.

Salinas was a member of Sodalitium but quit due to their hierarchical and elitist nature and celibacy requirements. He then wrote a novel called Mateo Diez based on his experiences in the cult and claims the book was an attempt to vent his frustrations with the organization.

After writing the book, many former member of Sodalitium told him about the sexual abuses. Salinas claims that at first he did not believe those stories but things changed when the Vatican canceled the process to make a saint out of one of the founders of the organization, German Doig.

At that time, a close friend approached Salinas and told him that the process had been canceled due to cases of sexual abuse by Doig and confessed that he was one of them. Salinas then started collecting the 30 testimonials that comprise his book with the help of prominent journalist Paola Ugaz.

Four years after, they published the book. Salinas argues that  "what we have run into is the design of a vertical organization, authoritative, and totalitarian which has as it's spiritual guru a cruel, perverse, abusive, manipulative, and intelligent character who promotes the cult of personality around himself."

The five cases of sexual abuse in the book reveal a highly elaborate form of carrying out the crimes, which were through manipulative methods that took years of physical training, brainwashing children, and forcing them to distance themselves from friends and family.

One of the most repulsive stories is the one of Santiago who was told he was selected by God for something big, to change things and transform the world. He was then chosen by Figari to participate in a selected group who practiced yoga. After years of physical training, Santiago was asked by Figari if he wanted to move forward and learn the Kundalini technique.

Figari convinced Santiago that such technique involves awakening his sacrum bone through which he could obtain supernatural powers and a state of total consciousness. Figari also told Santiago that the best way to activate the sacrum bone was to deposit semen there.

“I’m going to deposit my sperm in your sacrum area” Figari reportedly told the boy. Santiago also claims that Figari asked me “to masturbate while he was penetrating me.”

The scandal has inspired many former members of Sodalitium to speak out. Martin Balbuena had been with the group for eight years, and he believes there are many good people in the organization but he thinks the leader who created the structure is deranged.

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He stated that "the idea of changing others, to do good, made me dream and got me involved more every time and I ended up becoming a member of Sodalitium. Once I was there and specially after I left that love turned into a deception."

Another former member, Jorge Ocampo, explained how he became part of a brainwashing system he called “plainly wrong.” He explained that "in the background there is a process of manipulation with kids of 15,16,17 years of age who do not know they are being analyzed to find out who their parents are, planning to  approach the boy in a particular way, telling him something, inviting  him to a BBQ and then we did a casual talk and starting to get him involved."

Cases have been filed denouncing the abuses of Sodalitium to Peruvian catholic officials and the Vatican, but despite the great deal of available evidence, the only action taken so far has been to recall the founder of the organization to a private life in the Vatican.

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