Casey McCann
Michael Thomas M. Casey McCann (c. 1943–2000), commonly known as Casey McCann or M. T. M. Casey McCann, was an anti-cult activist in Britain, Sevenoaks School school master in Kent, and headmaster of St. Paul's British School in São Paulo, Brazil. He is well-known for his co-leadership in Family, Action, Information, Rescue (FAIR) in the 1980s with Lady Daphne Vane.[1][2]
In 1943, McCann was born in Wexford, Ireland. His mother was Irish Catholic and his father was Anglican English. He studied economics at Trinity College Dublin.[1][3] In 1965, he moved to London for research and lived there for at least 20 years.[1] He taught and worked as a master and house tutor at Sevenoaks School, a predominantly boys Public School, from 1965 up until about 1991.[1][3] In 1991, McCann gave a tour to Prince Charles and Princess Diana of Wales of the Sevenoaks School.[4] Soon after, McCann accepted a position at St. Paul's British School in São Paulo, Brazil. On 28 February 2000, a maid discovered McCann dead in his apartment São Paulo; he was likely murdered after a sexual encounter with a man of unknown identity.[3][4][5]
Family, Action, Information, Rescue (FAIR) and anti-cult activity
McCann first became involved with anti-cultism in 1980 when two students joined the Unification Church in San Francisco, California, while on summer holiday.[6][1] While seeking advice from the Foreign Office about how to get the students home, McCann was connected with FAIR.[1] He and Peter Hullah, Sevenoaks School's chaplain, flew to San Francisco and demanded to speak to the two students, which they were eventually allowed to do. One would return to England to resume his university education, but the other stayed with the Unification Church in the United States.[1][3][7]
In November 1981, McCann created a list of British academics who wished to attend a scientific conference in Seoul, South Korea, called the Tenth International Conference for the Unity of the Sciences.[8] The names became public in an early day motion—for which Conservative MP for Gravesend Timothy Brinton motioned—in the House of Commons. Those listed included Professors R. V. Jones, Antony Flew, J. W. Pringle, and Sir Hans Krebs.[9] Professor Jones, in a letter to The Times's editor, wrote that he was erroneously put on the list since he refused the last three invitations he received from the International Cultural Foundation, an organization founded by Sun Myung Moon that organized the conferences.[10][11] Others, like Professors Flew and Kenneth Mellanby, attended the conference and discussed the issue of the Unification Church brainwashing British students and sending them to the United States, which the professors believed was not an issue anymore since the American branch of the Unification Church took measures to allow or encourage British students to return to Britain to continue their education and see family.[8]
Throughout 1981–2, McCann headed a public campaign for academics to pressure the Unification Church to return students who interrupted their post-secondary educations to join the Church in the United States. McCann believed that approximately 50 students interrupted their studies to convert and a further 450 Britons were in the United States because of their conversion to the Unification Church.[12]
McCann supported the measures detailed in the Cottrell Report, a report from the European Parliament's Committee on Youth, Culture, Education, Information and Sport with MEP for Bristol Richard Cottrell as rapporteur, released as a working document on 2 April 1984.[13][14] One of the recommendations of the Cottrell Report was requiring new religious movements to report the whereabouts or address of individual members, which some have criticized as infringing on religious freedoms.[15] McCann, however, believed that these proposals were voluntarily on behalf of the new religious movements and were not intended to be legislative.[2]
By 1980 McCann was a member of FAIR. According to Elisabeth Arweck, he also served as FAIR's treasurer.[6] In late 1984, McCann shared FAIR's chairmanship with Lady Daphne Vane, a French woman and an MP.[16][6] In his article in Journal of Contemporary Religion (formerly Religion Today), it states that he was a "FAIR committee" member in mid-1986.[2]
Death
On 28 February 2000, a maid named Dirce de Olieveira discovered McCann's body in his apartment in São Paulo, Brazil. According to The Times, his death occurred on 26 February 2000.[17] Olieveira found him bounded by the hands and feet on his bed, and he was dressed only in his underwear.[3][4] São Paulo police investigated the death as a murder case. Neighbors and a coffee shop owner identified a man with whom McCann had sexual encounters as a potential suspect; however, this suspect was never identified and the case is unsolved.[3]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g David Cheal, "Cult Follower", She Magazine (November 1985): 82–3.
- ^ a b c McCann, M.T.M. Casey (1986-05-01). "The British anti cult movement..." Religion Today. 3 (2): 6–8. doi:10.1080/13537908608580599. ISSN 0267-1700.
- ^ a b c d e f Ken Foxe, "Teacher was killed in a fit of passion: Police hunt young Black man", The Mirror (London), 1 March 2000.
- ^ a b c Phil Dampier, "Gay death mystery of head who met Diana", The People (London), 2 April 2000.
- ^ Caoimhe Young, "Principal Victim of Gay Sex Killing: Bizarre death of gay teacher: Headmaster's bruised body found tied up", The Mirror (London), 29 February 2000.
- ^ a b c Arweck, Elisabeth (2006). Researching new religious movements : responses and redefinitions (PDF). London: Routledge. p. 113. ISBN 978-1-134-47246-8. OCLC 1144327058.
- ^ Religious Affairs Correspondent, "Moonies to send Britons home", The Times (London), 26 June 1981.
- ^ a b Times Correspondent, "Professors absolve Moonies", The Times (London), 13 November 1981.
- ^ "Academics in Moonie Row", The Times (London), 3 November 1981.
- ^ R. V. Jones, "Unification Church", The Times (London), 7 November 1981.
- ^ Tim Brinton, "Unification Church", The Times (London), 11 November 1981.
- ^ Ian Bradley, "Campaign for return of Moonie students", The Times (London), 11 June 1982.
- ^ M.T.M. Casey McCann, "Code of Conduct for the cults", The Times (London), 21 August 1984.
- ^ Richard Cottrell, rapporteur, Report on the Activity of New Religious Movements within the European Community, English ed., PE 82.322/fin (Strasburg, Germany: Committee on Youth, Culture, Education, Information and Sport, European Parliament, 1984).
- ^ Beryl Garside, "Code for new cults", The Times (London), 3 September 1984. Garside is a representative of the Church of Scientology.
- ^ Anson Shupe and Susan E. Darnell, "Agents of Discord: The North American-European Anticult Connection", paper presented at the 2001 International Conference: The Spiritual Marketplace, Religious Pluralism and Globalization in the 21st Century: The Expanding European Union and Beyond, London: London School of Economics, 21 April 2001.
- ^ "Personal Column: Deaths", The Times (London), 16 March 2000.
See also
- v
- t
- e
- APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Methods of Persuasion and Control
- Center for Religious Studies in the name of Hieromartyr Irenaeus of Lyons
- Cult Awareness Network
- Cult Information Centre
- Cultists Anonymous
- International Cultic Studies Association
- The Family Survival Trust
- Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network
- National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales
- People's Organised Workshop on Ersatz Religion
- Jean-Marie Abgrall
- John Gordon Clark
- Steve Eichel
- Martin Faiers
- Leon Festinger
- Carol Giambalvo
- Steven Hassan
- Ian Haworth
- Galen Kelly
- Stephen A. Kent
- Masaki Kito
- Janja Lalich
- Michael Langone
- Saul V. Levine
- Casey McCann
- Jesse S. Miller
- Sayuri Ogawa
- Ted Patrick
- Tsutsumi Sakamoto
- Rick Ross
- Chris Shelton
- Margaret Singer
- Eito Suzuki
- Alain Vivien
- Cyril Vosper
- Louis Jolyon West
- Lawrence Wollersheim
- Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry
- Christian Research Institute
- Dialog Center International
- Dialogue Ireland
- Evangelical Ministries to New Religions
- Institute for Religious Research
- Personal Freedom Outreach
- Midwest Christian Outreach
- New England Institute of Religious Research
- Reachout Trust
- Spiritual Counterfeits Project
- Watchman Fellowship
- Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center
- Nicolas About
- Serge Blisko
- Georges Fenech
- Ford Greene
- Stephen Mutch
- Catherine Picard
- Kenneth Robinson
- Paul Rose
- Tom Sackville
- Nick Xenophon
- About–Picard law
- Anti-Mormonism
- Assassination of Shinzo Abe
- Governmental lists of cults and sects
- Mass suicide of Heaven's Gate
- Jason Scott case
- Persecution of Baháʼís
- Persecution of Falun Gong
- Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses
- The Prohibited and Unlawful Societies and Associations Act
- Tokyo subway sarin attack
- Waco siege
- All Gods Children (book)
- Another Gospel
- Bounded Choice
- Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control
- Captive Hearts, Captive Minds
- The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions
- Churches That Abuse
- Combating Cult Mind Control
- Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion
- Cults in Our Midst
- Cults of Unreason
- Deadly Cults
- The Incendiaries
- The Kingdom of the Cults
- The Making of a Moonie
- Misunderstanding Cults
- The New Vigilantes: Deprogrammers, Anti-Cultists, and the New Religions
- On the Edge: Political Cults Right and Left
- Recovery from Cults
- Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change
- Strange Gods: The Great American Cult Scare
- Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism
- Twisted Scriptures
- When Prophecy Fails
- The Wrong Way Home
- Zealot: A Book About Cults