Crisis of Conscience

by Raymond Franz

  The next day, a call came from Albert Schroeder.

  Before considering the conversation and the way he, as the Chairman of the Governing Body answered my questions, consider what I eventually learned had already happened and was in the process of happening at the time he talked to me.

  On April 14, eight days before Schroeder returned my call, a Witness in New York named Joe Gould phoned the Brooklyn Service Department and talked to Harley Miller, a member of the five-man Service Department Committee.26 He told Miller that a fellow employee, a Cuban Witness named Humberto Godínez, had told him of a conversation in his home with a friend who was a Bethel family member. He said that the Bethel family member expressed himself on a number of points that differed from the organization’s teachings. Miller recommended to Gould that he try to find out from Godínez the name of the Bethel family member. This was done and the name of Cris Sánchez was supplied. Godínez also said that my name and those of Ed Dunlap and René Vázquez came into the conversation. Miller did not recommend to Gould and Godínez that they endeavor to clarify matters with those involved nor to seek a solution through brotherly discussion. Miller did not speak to Ed Dunlap who was well known to him and in an office just across the street from him. He did not make a phone call to René Vázquez whom he had known for years and whose services as voluntary chauffeur he regularly employed. He did not endeavour to contact Cris Sánchez who worked in the Society’s factory and was accessible by telephone.

  Instead, he first spoke to the members of the Service Department Committee asking them if any of them could supply any similar information. He then went to the Chairman of the Governing Body, Albert Schroeder.

  He was told to arrange for Godínez and his wife to come to the headquarters for an interview with Miller. Nothing was said to Cris Sánchez, Ed Dunlap or René Vázquez, nor was anything communicated to me. The Chairman’s Committee of the Governing Body evidently felt that to have acted in such a friendly way, thereby endeavoring to keep the matter from becoming a major issue, was not the desirable way to proceed.

  During Miller’s interview with the Godínezes, he suggested to Humberto Godínez that he phone René Vázquez and “tactfully” see if he would express himself about the matter. Miller himself did not see fit to do so, nor did he consider it advisable to phone Ed Dunlap or walk across the street to talk to him about the matter. The phone call to René was made and the apparent goal was achieved, René responded in a way that could be viewed as incriminating. Another interview with the Godínez couple was arranged, this time with the Chairman’s Committee, composed of Governing Body members Schroeder, Suiter and Klein, present. This was held on Tuesday, April 15. Still nothing had been said to René, Ed, Cris or myself. The interview ran two hours and was taped. Through Godínez’ recollections and impressions, they heard of his conversation with fellow Cuban and longtime friend Cris Sánchez, following a meal in the Godínez home. A number of controversial points were discussed. Godínez’ presentation included numerous references to René, Ed Dunlap and myself. At the close of the taping, each of the three Governing Body members, Schroeder, Suiter and Klein, commended the Godínez couple for their loyalty and expressed (on tape) their disapproval of those who had been implicated by the interview.

  Like Miller, the Chairman’s Committee of the Governing Body had made no effort to talk to Cris Sánchez, about whom they had heard only hearsay evidence. They had made no effort to talk with René Vázquez, Ed Dunlap or myself, about whom they had heard only third-hand information. Yet the next day, Wednesday, April 16, 1980, at the regular Governing Body session, the Chairman’s Committee played the entire two-hour tape of the interview to the Body (Milton Henschel, Lyman Swingle and myself being absent).

  All this had taken place one week before Schroeder spoke to me on the phone, a phone call that he made only at my request.

  It was after this playing of the tape to the Governing Body that the questioning of Ed Dunlap and, subsequently, of the entire Writing staff took place. It was that tape that motivated the questioning. The Governing Body members who did the questioning, Barry, Barr and Schroeder, knew that was the case. Yet they said nothing about it, even when Barry and Barr were asked by Ed Dunlap the reason for the interrogation. Why?

  The action taken was swift, extensive, coordinated. Both Cris Sánchez and his wife and also Nestor Kuilan and his wife were now interrogated. Cris and Nestor both worked in the Spanish Translation Department where René served two days a week.

  Harley Miller now phoned René and asked him if he would come to the office, saying, “We just want to pick your brains a little on some points.”

  The Chairman’s Committee had arranged for investigating committees to be formed to handle the interrogation of these different ones. With the exception of Dan Sydlik, all the men on these committees were staff members outside the Governing Body. The Governing Body through its Chairman’s Committee directed all the actions but from this point on remained in the background. They now arranged to have the various men serving on these investigative committees listen to portions of the two-hour tape that had been played to the Body so as to equip them for their committee action. That is why these committees subsequently used my name and Ed’s name repeatedly in their questionings of Sánchez, Kuilan and Vázquez. Yet the Chairman’s Committee had still not seen fit to inform us that the tape even existed. Why?

  The objective of the investigating committees was evident from the direction their questionings took. The committee interrogating Nestor Kuilan asked him to describe his personal conversations with Ed Dunlap and myself. He replied that he did not think his personal conversations were something others had a right to inquire into. He made clear that if he felt that anything wrong or “sinful” had been said he would not hesitate to inform them, but that this was certainly not the case. His questioners told him he should ‘cooperate or he would be subject to possible disfellowshipping.’ His response was, “Disfellowshipping? For what?” The reply was, “For covering over apostasy.” Kuilan said, “Apostasy? Where is the apostasy? Who are the apostates?” They answered that this was still being determined, but that they were quite sure that such existed.

  This is somewhat like a man’s being threatened with imprisonment unless he cooperates by giving information about certain persons, and when he asks why, he is told that the imprisonment would be for complicity in a bank robbery. When he asks, “What bank was robbed and who are the robbers?” he is told, “Well, we don’t know yet what bank was robbed or who did it, but we’re quite sure there was a bank robbery somewhere and unless you answer our questions we will find you guilty of complicity and you will be subject to imprisonment.”

  Nestor explained that he had studied in Gilead School under Ed Dunlap as one of his instructors and so knew him since then, and that he had known me from the time I served as a missionary and Branch Overseer in Puerto Rico. He acknowledged that he had conversed with each of us on occasion but that those conversations involved nothing sinful or bad and were his personal affair.

  By April 22, when Albert Schroeder responded to my request and phoned me, the judicial machinery of the organization was in full operation and moving rapidly. As Chairman of the Governing Body he, better than anyone else, knew all these facts, for all the investigating committees involved were under the direction of the Chairman’s Committee.

  He knew that his Committee had had the earlier-mentioned two-hour tape played to the Governing Body one week before his phone call.

  He knew that the various investigating committees had all been “briefed,” hearing portions of the tape and that, at the very time he spoke to me, they were using my name, along with that of Ed Dunlap, in their interrogations.

  He knew that the extremely grave charge of “apostasy” was included in the committee hearings. He had to know the very serious effect this could have on us two men he had known for decades, men he called his “brothers.”

  What, then, was said to me in his phone conversation?
Consider:

  After a brief exchange of greetings, I said, “Tell me, Bert, what’s going on in the Writing Department?”

  His reply was:

  Well—the Governing Body thought it well that some of us make an investigation of the Department to see what could be done to improve the coordination, cooperation and efficiency of the Department—and—to see if any of the brothers had reservations on some points.

  This final expression, as to persons having reservations, was stated in a rather offhand way as if of secondary importance. He had had a clear opportunity to tell me the facts as to what was taking place. He chose not to do so.

  I then asked what reason there could be for such a full-scale investigation? He now had a second opportunity to give me an honest explanation of the situation. His answer was:

  Well, the Department isn’t operating as efficiently as it should. The book for this summer’s convention is going to be late getting to the factory.

  A second time he chose to give an evasive answer rather than a straightforward reply to my question. As to his statement, I replied that this was nothing new, but that the previous year both the Commentary on the Letter of James (written by Ed Dunlap), and the book Choosing the Best Way of Life (written by Reinhard Lengtat) had reached the factory by the first part of January, in good time. (I knew this since it was my assigned responsibility to see that these books were developed on time. The book for 1980, titled Happiness, How to Find It, was being written by Gene Smalley, who had never written a book before, and the project was not under my supervision.) I added that I didn’t see why this should be cause for such an investigation.

  Schroeder continued:

  And then some of the brothers aren’t very happy about the way their articles are being reworked. Ray Richardson said he had turned an article in [here he gave the subject of the article] and he was very unhappy with the way it was worked over.

  I said, “Bert, if you know anything at all about writers you know that no writer likes to have his material undergo ‘surgery.’ But that is nothing new either; as long as there’s been a Writing Department it’s been that way. What does Lyman [Swingle, the Coordinator of the Writing Department] think about this?”

  He replied, “Oh, Lyman isn’t here now.”

  “I know he isn’t there,” I answered, “he’s on a zone trip. Have you written to him?”

  “No,” he said.

  I then stated, “Bert, I find this very strange. If for example, Milton Henschel [the Coordinator of the Publishing Committee which supervises all factory operations] were away and another member of the Publishing Committee were away, let’s say Grant Suiter, and reports came to the Governing Body that the factory there was not functioning as efficiently as it should—do you think that the Governing Body would begin a full-scale investigation of the factory and its operations in the absence of those two brothers?” (I knew such an action would not even be contemplated.)

  He hesitated somewhat and said, “Well, the Governing Body asked us to do this and we’re simply making a report to them. We’re going to make our report tomorrow.”

  My response was, “Well, I’d appreciate it if you would express my feelings on the matter. I think it’s an insult to Lyman Swingle, to the man, to his years of service and to his position to take an action like this without consulting him or even letting him know.”

  Schroeder said he would convey this expression. I added that if there was anything of genuinely great importance that required discussion, I could always go up there. He said, “You could?” I replied, “Of course I could. It would simply be a matter of taking a plane and going up there.” He asked if I could come the following Wednesday. I replied, “What would be the purpose if Lyman Swingle won’t be there then?” The conversation ended there.

  The Chairman of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses had had multiple opportunities to respond openly and honestly to my requests for information by saying, “Ray, what we feel is a very serious matter has come up and there are even charges of apostasy being made. We think you should know that your name has been involved and before we do anything we thought the only Christian thing to do was to talk to you first.”

  He could have done that. Instead he said nothing, not one word, to indicate that this was the case. Of course, he could not very well have made the latter part of that statement since he and the other members of the Chairman’s Committee had already put into motion a large-scale operation of tapings, investigating committees and interrogations. The picture given me by the Governing Body representative was, plainly put, deceptive, fictitious. But I had no way of knowing then just how deceptive and fictitious it was. I soon began to learn, but primarily from sources outside the Governing Body.

  If the conduct of the Governing Body and its Chairman’s Committee in this regard is difficult to understand, I consider it even more inexplicable—and unjustifiable—that they were not open and above board with Ed Dunlap who was right there at the headquarters. When he asked Barry and Barr what the purpose of their interrogation was, simple fairness should have moved them to tell him why the Governing Body assigned them to question him, what serious, even grave charges were being made. Certainly Scriptural principles, including the statement of the Lord Jesus Christ that we should do to others as we would have them do to us, would have demanded that someone say to his face what accusations of “apostasy” were being made behind his back. The ones who knew this chose not to do so at that time. They chose not to do so for nearly a month thereafter. Yet his name, like mine, was passed on to the members of investigating committees and then of judicial committees—to at least a dozen or more men—and still no one from the Governing Body approached him to tell him what grave charges were being linked to his name. Yet many of them saw him on a daily basis.

  I do not understand how that course of action can be considered worthy of the name Christian.

  On Friday, April 25, just three days after Schroeder’s phone call in response to my request, judicial committees, operating under the sanction and direction of the Chairman’s Committee of the Governing Body, disfellowshipped Cris Sánchez and his wife and Nestor Kuilan. René Vázquez and his wife were also disfellowshipped by another committee as was an elder of a congregation adjoining that in which René served. The names of all except the congregation elder were read out to the entire headquarters staff, stating that they had been disfellowshipped. The Governing Body thus informed well over a thousand five hundred persons. They did not see fit to inform me. I eventually heard it, of course, but from phone calls from those so treated, not from any of my fellow members on the Governing Body.

  Diane Beers, who had been serving as a member of the headquarters staff for ten years and who was well acquainted with the Sánchezes and Kuilans, described her impression of the events of the week of April 21 to 26 in this way:

  I think the thing that was impressed on my mind the most during that week was the cruel way these friends were being treated. They never knew when they would be required to go to a committee meeting. Suddenly the phone would ring and there would go Cris. Then he would come back, the phone would ring and there would go Nestor. On and on it went. They were kept constantly up in the air during that week. One day when I was talking to Norma [Sánchez], she told me that the committee wanted her to talk to them without Cris there and she didn’t know what to do. I suggested that Cris should be there at all times because otherwise she would never have a witness to what they said to her and how she replied. They could say anything, and she would have no way of proving that it was different. It was becoming apparent that they were trying to pit Norma against Cris.

  Finally on Friday afternoon [April 25] at 4:45 pm, the Committee came marching on to the 8th floor where we all worked and headed for the conference room that was directly behind my desk. Shortly, everyone began to leave work and go home, but I stayed around to see what the outcome would be. They called Cris and Norma and Nestor and Toni in and as they each came out, I went
to see what the ‘verdict’ was. I remember that when I went into Nestor’s office to talk to Toni and him, they told me I had better leave before I too got into trouble for being seen with them. I walked home by myself fighting all the way not to break down in tears. I was just devastated. I couldn’t believe what was happening. It’s a feeling I will never forget. This place had been my home for many years and I had enjoyed my time there—now it was like I was in a place totally foreign to me. I thought about Christ saying that by their fruits you will know them and I just couldn’t reconcile what I had seen and heard about during that week as being Christian. It was so harsh and unloving. These were people who had given years and years of service to the Society, had good reputations and were much loved by everyone. And yet no mercy could be shown to them. It was incomprehensible to me.

  I had a meeting that evening, but I refused to go as I was just too upset. Later on that evening when Leslie [Diane’s roommate] had come home from the meeting, we were talking and we heard a knock at the door. This was around 11:00 pm. It was Toni Kuilan: She didn’t even get in the door before she broke down and just sobbed. She didn’t want Nestor to know how upset she was. We all sat there and cried together and talked. We let her know that she and Nestor were our friends now the same as always and tried to encourage her as best we could. I couldn’t sleep very good that night and got up once around 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. I just sat in the bathroom thinking about what had happened and felt like it was a nightmare—it didn’t seem real to me.

  Saturday morning I went to see Nestor and Toni and Cris and Norma and when I got to Kuilan’s room, they had just had a visit from John Booth [a member of the Governing Body]. He was sent to tell them that their appeal had been rejected by the Governing Body. The committee had told them Friday evening that they had to have the appeal in by that next morning at 8:00 am. This in itself was ridiculous, but they complied and had an appeal in by 8:00 am. Booth was sent to tell them No. Nestor asked him why and he told him that he [Booth] was just a ‘messenger boy’—he made it obvious that he did not want to discuss anything with any of them.