Jared Earl
There is almost a comical component behind the reason Jared Earl was excommunicated. Radios and television have always been banned among the Exclusive Brethren. By contrast, it can be surprising to learn that almost every Exclusive Brethren meeting room has had state-of-the-art amplification systems installed for the past fifty years. As many EB boys discovered, a simple length of cable can easily act as a radio aerial if carefully positioned and then connected to an amplifier. Using this technique, Jared Earl had fine-tuned access to several local radio stations.
Under the pretext of carrying out Saturday afternoon maintenance work on his local Exclusive Brethren meeting room, Jared would deploy his cable and attempt to supplement his income by betting on local dog races. As can be expected, the Exclusive Brethren did not see the funny side when Jared was discovered by an unexpected visitor one Saturday afternoon, who naturally reported him to the local priests.
It was early 1980’s and during the harsh Symington era. Jared was immediately shut-up and subsequently withdrawn-from. Rather than risk a level of sympathy for his mischievous behavior, a manufactured story was circulated that described Jared Earl as being “mentally unstable” - as if this was sufficient reason to separate him from his wife and six children. To those better informed, they were quietly told that Jared suffered from “a gambling addiction”.
“He was not mentally unstable”
“he was ostracized and victimized - with devastating results.”
- a contemporary observer
Jared was forced out of the family home and then suffered the pain of unwanted marital separation followed by divorce. Eventually Jared managed to find work in a fish and chip shop in Canberra. While working there, he met a woman called Barbara. She had also grown up in the Exclusive Brethren, but had left with her parents many years earlier. There was an immediate link and the two soon decided to marry.
A friend of Barbara records:
“She spoke very fondly and appreciatively of Jared and of the three happy years she had with him. I understand that she met Jared after he had been put out of the Exclusives. They met while working together in a fish and chip shop in Canberra.”
“She said that Jared was always carrying great sadness and pain as to being separated from his first wife (whom I also knew) and his children. He was very troubled by it all and cared for them.”
Jared was more deeply troubled than even his new wife realized. As these pages testify, the pain and anguish caused by the vicious Exclusive Brethren doctrine of Separation can be deadly:
“Nevertheless, it was a great shock to her when she received a knock on the door one day and the Police advised her that Jared’s body had been found hanging from a tree in a nearby recreational forest.”
It is conjectured that Jared chose this place to die because it was a place he enjoyed happier times playing with his first wife and children. It was known as a popular picnic spot and swimming hole that the Exclusive Brethren used to frequent with their large families.
On December 13th, 1987, Jared went to the area, selected a tree and took his own life.
As is common in cases of arranging funerals for those remaining ‘under discipline’, the Exclusive Brethren try to find a way to signify that the deceased was not a member in good standing. In the case of Jared Earl, a funeral service was conducted from a minor sub-division meeting room rather than the main Canberra hall, which was normally used for funerals.
A note from someone who was a child at the time recalls:
“My parents didn’t allow us to attend as they didn’t think it was appropriate. It was not discussed much that I can remember apart from a few comments that he was mentally unstable!”
We mark the passing of Jared Earl. He was a man who loved his children and found that he could not live without them and so, Jared Earl chose to die in a place where he could remember the sound of their laughter.
