Statement from Daniel Roselle (Sr.) re Daniel Roselle
Editor's note: The following was posted on MyConclusion.com, a website run by a member of The Family International which provides a place for Family youth to post positive viewpoints about the group.
Statement from Daniel Roselle (Sr.) re Daniel Roselle
2005-02-06
My name is Daniel C. Roselle. I am Daniel Roselle's father. My wife and I have been married since 1972 and have been missionaries with The Family International/Children of God since before our marriage. We have 7 children, Daniel being the eldest (29 years old).
I am appalled at Daniel’s blatant lies and deception to the media—perhaps for the sake of sensationalism. We have hundreds of photos, poems, cards and video footage of Daniel’s life from the time he was a baby that show his life was one of joy and happiness. We have personal notes and letters from and about Daniel, his education, his happiness in life, and of loving us as his parents and having generally a very happy and positive childhood and throughout his teen years.
His anger, rage and threats did not appear until after he had left our missionary group in 1995 at the age of 20 and later associated with some former members of our organization who were extremely hostile. We had a close family during his whole childhood. As missionaries, we basically lived alone in foreign countries from the time that Daniel was 4 years of age until he was 12. Occasionally we had 1 or more other missionaries living with us. The alleged incident that Daniel speaks of supposedly took place in Panama. We lived there for 5 years (July 1979-June 1984) when Daniel was 4 to 9 years old.
The first time Daniel ever mentioned this alleged abuse to me was on Sunday, October 6, 2002, (when he was 27 years old) when he and I met in Los Angeles and talked for 5 hours about things that were on his heart. I remember that my heart went out to him as I tried to understand his feelings. At the time he refused to give any other information other than “I was abused.” I encouraged him to get help and counseling.
In January 2003 Daniel began a 2 hour phone conversation with his mother by angrily yelling at her. During the course of the conversation he said that he had been abused when he was seven. She lovingly asked him for more details, but he refused by saying that he didn’t have to tell her.
Recently, on January 11, 2005, in a lengthy phone conversation with Daniel, he stated that someone in Panama abused him and that they were in our missionary group. From the brief description he gave we generally know who he was talking about and we explained to him that they were not members of our missionary group in Panama. He gave no more details. Being that he was seven years old at the time I can understand that he might not remember or understand all the details.
I read in one newspaper article that he said it occurred during an ‘orgy’ with naked couples all around the room. We NEVER participated in any sort of ‘orgy’, nor did we have any knowledge of an ‘orgy’ at any time or of anything sexually inappropriate happening to our children. We would never have knowingly allowed our wonderful children to be abused by anyone at any time.
The individuals Daniel described were not missionaries with our organization in Panama and although we visited them once or twice, we were not involved in the scenario he describes.
In stating the above, I do not intend to claim that the alleged abuse could never have occurred. However, neither I nor his mother had any knowledge of such an incident. We understand that sometimes inappropriate things can happen without the parent’s knowledge. It happened to my wife on different occasions years before she ever became a missionary, when she was just a child, without her mother’s knowledge. She never dreamed of blaming her mother for these things and went on to lead a productive life.
Although I do not believe the details Daniel gives to be factual, I believe it is important for him to realize that good counseling can help him overcome his problems of anger and rage. No matter how twisted and confused he might be, professional counseling could help him normalize his emotions at such a time.
(source: MyConclusion.org)