G’Day World #352 - Sarah Mac’s Mercy Ministries Experience
Today’s show is the latest in my series examining the Christian charity Mercy Ministries and it’s relationship with the Gloria Jean’s Coffee chain and the evangelical Christian church Hillsong.
My guest today is an Australian woman who is using the pseudonym “Sarah Mac” to protect her identity. She spent 8 months as a voluntary patient at Mercy’s now-closed center on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast and her story is horrifying. She tells me she was subjected to punishments if she forgot to take her medication, denied regular access to friends, family and qualified therapists, and kept in solitary confinement when she finally decided to leave Mercy. She left feeling worse about herself than when she entered and tried to commit suicide a few weeks later. She has since met with Mercy’s founder Nancy Alcorn and received an unconvincing apology. Despite her experiences, Sarah remains a Christian.
Despite her obvious discomfort is talking about her experience, Sarah was brave enough to share it with me in the hope that it will help other girls think twice about the decision to enter Mercy.
This is her story.
The G’Day World theme music:
Conquest
“Secrets of Life” (mp3)
from “End of Days”
(Dark Star Records)
October 21st, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Was at Sydney airport this morning, coming back to Brissie and was just about to buy a Gloria Jeans coffee at their shop opposite Gate 2, when a vision of Cam appeared who told me to buy a Juice from the shop next door instead ;). So I did.
October 22nd, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Good work Gavin! I confess that a couple of weeks ago I was walking between meetings in Brisbane when I stopped at a little hole in the wall and ordered a coffee. It wasn’t until they handed it to me that I realized it was a GJ! I was horrified.
October 22nd, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Cameron can we youtube this?
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Really enjoyed this podcast. “Sarah” showed a lot of strength and courage to come on and tell her story and it’s similarities to the girl from the USA a few months back were remarkable. It is hard to believe that the compound Sarah was in is a one-off as their stories are too similar and they are a world apart. Sounds like those practices are the norm and they trying to cover it up by closing down the compounds that get bad press.
I hope Sarah gets a lot of power from telling her story and that it helps her with her to overcome some of the problems she has had in the past and she turns out even stronger than she already has proven to be.
Thanks for sharing Sarah and would love to hear a follow up later on maybe to see how your life has developed and how it has changed.
October 24th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Hey Cameron can we put this on Youtube?
October 28th, 2008 at 4:45 am
Yes Anon, please put it up.
October 29th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Thanks
December 17th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
[...] Mac for bringing us further insight into Murky… I mean Mercy Ministries. In this wonderful episode we learn [...]
January 3rd, 2009 at 5:11 pm
[...] Mac for bringing us further insight into Murky… I mean Mercy Ministries. In this wonderful episode we learn [...]