Greetings, readers. Today’s post is not pleasant, but I think it’s important—a list and descriptions of source materials presenting first-hand accounts of women who say they were sexually abused by Victor Paul Wierwille, founder of The Way International (1916-1985). He was married and had five children.
Note: Frankly, with the Epstein files in the news every day, this topic in my personal history has come back to haunt me. I feel compelled to speak out again on this outrageous and damaging aspect of my Way experience. There are more adjectives I could use, but those are enough for now.
Many former Way followers and leaders assert without question that he was a sexual predator. Since he was never proven guilty in a court of law, I will refer to him as “alleged sexual predator.” My intention is not to hurt anyone who loved Wierwille. My intention is to take scattered published information on this topic and combine it in one place—here.
Note: There’s a photo gallery at the end of this post. I’ve also published the following at Charlene Lamy Edge Speaks about The Way International
Was V. P. Wierwille a sexual predator?
First, let me tell you this: after I published Undertow, some women wrote me about this awful period of their lives. Some were Wierwille’s alleged victims, some learned that their mothers were one of Wierwille’s “girls,” others were friends of alleged victims.
I first met Wierwille in 1970. Seventeen years later, just before I escaped Way headquarters in Ohio, I found out about Wierwille’s alleged secret sexual abuse. You know this if you’ve read my memoir, Undertow.
Why didn’t women speak up?
Wierwille was never taken to court by any victims of his alleged sexual misconduct. According to statements in the sources below, women either were too afraid to seek legal help, or they did not interpret his conduct with them as being wrong. He apparently convinced many of the women that they were doing a special service for God. Wierwille was their spiritual leader, their man of God, and when they engaged in sexual relations with him out of love for him and for God, this activity was okay with God.
One Woman’s Memoir
To my knowledge, there is only woman who wrote an entire book alleging Wierwille’s seduction and sexual abuse of her: Kristen Skedgell, author of Losing The Way: A Memoir of Spiritual Longing, Manipulation, Abuse, and Escape (2008).
Although we weren’t close friends, I knew Kristen Skedgell. As a teenager, she was part of the Way fellowship in Rye, New York, in the early 1970s when we met. Later, she entered The Way Corps leadership training program.
Kristen kept her relationship with Wierwille a secret, as she tells us in her book, even after she married a fellow Way Corps graduate.
I learned about Kristen’s involvement with Wierwille just before I escaped The Way headquarters in 1987. I write about this near the end of my book, Undertow.
I vouch for the truth of Kristen Skedgell’s story.
TO ORDER Kristen’s book
Unfortunately, Skedgell’s book is out-of-print and second-hand copies are very expensive, but sometimes a very expensive used copy shows up on Thriftbooks or other online booksellers.
Wierwille and me
In my book, Undertow, I write a scene in which Wierwille hits on me, but I was too unimaginative to realize he was doing that, so I kept on walking. I suspect that Wierwille didn’t risk coming after me because he knew my father-in-law, a minister who took Wierwille’s Bible class, Power for Abundant Living, and arranged for Wierwille to run that class and various Way meetings in his church. Later, Wierwille invited him to speak to thousands of Way followers at The Way’s annual festival, The Rock of Ages. Or perhaps Wierwille just didn’t like me enough in that way or thought I might spill the beans.
Near the end of my book Undertow, I describe how a brother of one victim confided in me about his sister’s sexual experience with Wierwille. He also said some of Wierwille’s women were not only Way Corps “girls” but older females well-known in The Way organization.
TO ORDER my book
Undertow: My Escape from the Fundamentalism and Cult Control of The Way International (2017) is sold at major online booksellers like Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
474 pages, including Notes and Bibliography. Paperback list price: $24.95.
eBook list price: $9.99. Other eBook vendors sell it, too. Public libraries usually can order the book upon request.
The Cult That Snapped
In Karl Kahler’s book, The Cult That Snapped: A Journey Into The Way International, several women tell their stories about sexual liaisons with Wierwille.
Some of those women use their real names, which I recognize because I met them during my years in The Way (1970-1987).
None told me about their sexual relations with Wierwille, keeping it a secret. These women were in The Way Corps leadership training program or were graduates of it, and some of them recruited more girls for Wierwille.
Some women who had sex with Wierwille say he warned them that if they ever told anyone about it, he would deny it and they’d be cast out of The Way as liars working for the Devil. Some say he told them to keep their relationship with him in a “lock box,” which meant no one would ever know.
Seems as if that “lock box” didn’t work out so well for Wierwille.
TO ORDER Karl’s book
His book is available in a 318-page 8.5 x 11 paperback or in a PDF e-book that can be read on any computer, tablet, cellphone or e-reader. Paperback: $24.99 E-book: $5.99 Either can be ordered from this page: https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/kkahleratverizondotnet/
You can also order the e-book and read reviews and excerpts here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/35199
Another resource on this topic
In Undertow, I cite a newsletter by Rev. John Juedes about V.P. Wierwille’s plagiarism of a book about the Holy Spirit. That was a huge wake-up call for me on my road away from The Way.
Rev. Juedes, a Presbyterian minister, has also done extensive research on V.P. Wierwille’s alleged sexual misconduct and lawsuits brought against the second President of The Way, L. Craig Martindale. If you want to see it, visit these two of his web pages:
- About The Way International: Lawsuits Against TWI and Allegations of Sexual Misconduct.
- empirenet.com/~messiah7/tdy_lcmrsgn.htm: Lawsuit Charges TWI Leadership with Fraud, Sexual Abuse
If you want to see Rev. Juedes’ evidence about V.P. Wierwille’s plagiarism, visit About The Way International
What The Way International says about Wierwille
From their website: About the Founder – Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille
Some of the photos below are included in my book, Undertow. Some faces are blurred to protect people’s privacy.
Thanks for reading!
Your writer on the wing,
Charlene Edge
Note: I do not use AI to produce content!
Suzanne Keefe
So proud of you and grateful you wrote this. He certainly was evil and sick. I pray for the victims. Much love.
Kathleen Brandt
Many former Way followers and leaders assert without question that he was a sexual predator.
If anyone reading this post is in doubt whether or not he was, let me say – from personal experience, and talks with others who definitely knew — no question about it, VPW was a sexual predator. And unfortunately, many TWI ‘leaders’ followed in those footsteps.
Let the truth be known. Thanks for writing this, Charlene.
Charlene L. Edge
That’s the truth. Thanks for sharing, Kathleen.
cynthia sowers
Thank you Charleene the truth need to expose this evil.
Charlene L. Edge
We must speak up wherever, whenever, and however we can.