The Process Church of the Final Judgment is born again, thanks to an Italian collector
What is the Process ? According to the new Netflix documentary by Joshua Zeman (author of Cropsey, a superb must-see true crime gem), the Process was a dangerous cult who influenced killers such as the Son of Sam and even Charles Manson. Is it really ?
The Process is as fascinating as it is complex. Founded bya small group of Architecture students in the 60s’, it used provocation and satanic imagery to shock and amaze. I strongly advise you watch another documentary, another gem, that explain its whole story. It involves Satan, Scientology and german sheperds — and read this amazing book by Alessandro Papa, about the Process.
Alessandro Papa took his curiosity for the Process Order to another level : after acquiring a large collection of rare objects from the lost church, he founded the Museum of Final Judgement to show them… and the New Processean Order to praise them !
My first question is the hardest: what is The Process?
Alessandro Papa. I’ll answer quoting the Teacher of The Process, Robert De Grimston. “If a man asks: what is The Process? Say to him it is the End, the Final Ending of the world of men. It is the agent of the End, the instrument of the End and the inexorable Power of the End.”
Why did it scare people so much?
People are afraid of things they don’t understand. The Process is a complex belief system requiring knowledge of Jungian psychology, especially regarding the archetypes representing the universal patterns. Besides, The Process’ belief that even the Deity has a dark side is inconceivable to Christians (but it isn’t to followers of some other religions). If you study De Grimston’s teachings you’d realize that it has nothing to do with Satanism: The Process is just a Christian heresy.
What did they actually do?
The Process wanted to build a community based on spiritual values. That was a quite common purpose in the late ‘60s/early ‘70s.
What do you think of the recent surge in attention because of the Sons of Sam documentary? Is there any truth to it?
I am personally very happy, because the reprint of my book “The Process — Archives, Documents, Reflections and Revelations” is selling well after the release of “Sons of Sam.” The Netflix documentary is based on Maury Terry’s bullshit conspiracy theories. However the last episode of the series, after revealing that Terry was actually a moron and a manipulator, end with this sentence: “No member of The Process, nor any affiliated groups, have ever been arrested in connection to the Son of Sam case.” So justice is served.
What of the Scientology connections?
Robert and Mary Ann met in the London headquarters of Scientology but they left in 1963, since they were both totally disenchanted about the real possibility of reaching the stages of evolution promised by Scientology. Soon they were declared one of the main enemies of Scientology, a very powerful organization that later spread false rumors about The Process. In my book I published a Scientology press release proving this. Soon after a large-scale spread of misinformation about The Process started and it has never stopped. We could find it in Ed Sanders’ and Maury Terry’s bestsellers until today’s online disinformation, like in Wikipedia.
What of the Manson connections?
Two members of The Process met Manson in prison after the murders, asking him to write a short article about death for “Process” magazine. No connections before, but it is possible that Manson knew about The Process and maybe he read some processean books or magazines (the print run of some issues exceeded 200,000 copies).
How did you come to be so interested in The Process?
The story of The Process’ development and its crisis is absolutely fascinating. The Process itself is an incredible journey into the mind and into the soul of human beings. Moreover, the huge disinformation we’ve talked before is a motive to investigate further, in order to know and to depict The Process “As it is.”
What is the New Processean Order, and why did you created it ? Does it involve you buying a big dog ;-) ?
New Processean Order is a musical/spiritual project made by a small group of people interested in the teachings and in the vision of The Process. We’re trying to transform these input in some kind of experimental/dark ambient music. We released four albums so far.
Can you describe the most precious items of your collection?
I think that the value (not only economic) of my collection lies in its entirety; it’s difficult for me to determine the most precious single items.
Why did you start collecting? Isn’t it difficult to do that from Italy?
It wasn’t difficult for me, because in 2002 I received the most part of my Process collection almost unwittingly. I told briefly this story in my book “The Process.” So it was more a matter of “destiny” than of will to collect.
