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PUBLIC STATEMENT July 26, 2005 from Mother Shirley
Anne Marie (Mother General) To whom it may concern: My name is Shirley Helena Stokes, in religion, Mother Shirley-Anne Marie, Mother General of the Second Branch Religious Sisters, in the Order of Saint Charbel. The Order is a Catholic community combining four branches: First -- priests, Second -- nuns, Third -- families, Fourth -- external associates. My background is one of traditional Catholicism and from 1987, when I first became aware of this Community, its mission and its charism, it had been my desire to be part of it. The Founder of this Order is William Kamm, known as the 'Little Pebble'. He was given a direction from God to found this Order. Since William was eighteen years of age, when he first received the call of God, he has approached the appropriate priests and bishops of the Catholic Church to seek guidance and direction in this Mission given to him by God. In his spiritual journey he has always sought this help. William is a true Catholic and has always upheld the true teachings and tenets of the Catholic Church. He knows his faith well and, over the years he has preached the faith to countless numbers here and overseas. Throughout the world, he has been respected and honoured for what he is: the Prophet of God. William has received an enormous number of messages from God but, because of the controversial nature of their content, the media came to the forefront and attacked his credibility and purpose continually, labelling him as a charlatan. All of this culminated in adverse statements against him from the Church. This media campaign has persisted throughout the history of this work given by God. Throughout all this time, William has been faithful to the charism he received from God and to a life of Christian virtue. Over the years, a worldwide following of his work has become evident and I myself have been a part of this growth process of the work of the 'Little Pebble' and have witnessed first hand the truth of what I write. I state without reserve: this man is a man of God and of true virtue and has my love, loyalty and allegiance as the Founder, my Moderator and highest Superior in the Order of Saint Charbel. I became a member of this Community in Cambewarra in 1996, and entered the religious life as a nun in 1997. Our Branch has nuns in Australia, Africa, Canada and France, over four hundred members with vocations continually on the increase. Since I have been associated with this Community, it has been subjected to a barrage of biased publicity which, indeed, goes back further, to the early 1980s. The picture of this Order and its community painted by the media, is one of total distortion. Our Founder has accepted invitations for media visitation and reporting inside our Community, time after time, for our life is an open book -- for all the world to see. Most of the reporting ensuing from these visits has veered away from the truth, and highly coloured, sensational, self-influenced and inaccurate reporting has been presented to the public. Our trust and that of our Founder has been violated continuously, and yet, many times, he has given the media reporters another chance for no other reason but in the hope that truth and justice will prevail. Sadly, it has not, and still we have reports of 'cult,' 'sect,' 'guru,' and 'doomsday cult' headlines splashed across the pages of the local, state, interstate and, on occasion, international, press reports. I reiterate that this Order is a religious order, not a commune, nor a compound for a sect or cult, hemmed in by restraining barbed wire and padlocked gates. Indeed, the media, it seems, is accountable to no one or nobody, but can use its sway to influence public opinion. Our property is protected for one reason: to ensure that the 'vigilantes,' drunken locals, and those who are lying in ambush at our gate under cover of darkness, will not enter to terrorise our members and children. We are a religious Catholic Community in the Traditional Way. At the present time, we are in dispute with the Hierarchy of the Catholic Church and, as I have already stated, it too has imbibed the media reports and has also adopted a disaffected attitude to our Order and Founder. The media has portrayed the Community members as sheep following blindly wheresoever the shepherd leads. Not so! We, the Sisters, have taken religious vows. We honour our Founder and Religious Head -- just as the Franciscans loved and honoured their Founder and Head, Saint Francis -- for it was the charism that he developed that drew us to the Community and by which we answered the call of our religious vocation. The Sisters of this Community number twelve. We range from age twenty-three to age eighty-one. In our company are teachers, nurses, a solicitor, university-educated women. We have experience in all walks of life: horticulture, cooking and sewing. We have worked in shops, hospitals and schools. We are a multi-cultured and multi-lingual group; we come from lands near and far, yet we are all of one mind and heart because we have heard and understood the call of God for each and every one of us. There may be only twelve in our complement, but we come from six different lands, speaking ten different languages, but living in peace and harmony confirmed in the knowledge that we follow the one true God and His Prophet for these times. If the world could but follow the pattern of this little family of God on a larger scale, truly there would be peace and fraternal love throughout this world. In this Second Branch of the Order, we live the consecrated life in service of God and the families with whom we share our lives. We live the life of prayer and service, helping the families in their need and assisting the Community with our many talents. We live the way of consecrated life which our Founder introduced well before His Holiness, Pope John Paul II introduced it to the Catholic world in his writing Vita Consecrata. The presentation of the media is one of denigration and insult to these women of faith and virtue whom I am privileged to lead. There is no respect given whatsoever to their integrity and beliefs but pure assumption and snide remarks recorded in the press and television coverage. I am an Australian and, as such, have a right under the Constitution to live my life, to practise my beliefs as a Catholic, to associate with whomsoever I please and to be respected and upheld in these rights by my fellow citizens. I grew up in the post World War II era where a suffering people still lived in the true spirit of Australian 'mateship' -- where people were given a 'fair go' and the rights of the oppressed were fought for by a just society. Sadly, I have seen this spirit deteriorate into a pale image of what once had been so precious to the true Australian. Today, we have a society full of violence, rage, injustice and cruelty which is shown to us each day. Why is it so that the people of this country who desire to live a life in a community in peace and service of God and their fellow man are subjected to so much prejudice and scorn? Why does the media find it so abhorrent, that they will use all means to discredit, drag down and destroy this work? This Community has lived with prejudice and insult for nigh on twenty years; nevertheless, God's work cannot be put down by mere mortals. It will continue; and by its fruits it shall be proven and justified. This Order will continue to grow and flourish and its work of re-evangelisation will be perpetuated until God is once more recognised in the hearts and minds of His children. Yours faithfully, Mother Shirley-Anne Marie of the Holy Face of Jesus |
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