are these symptoms of joining a cult? family estranged, page 1

What do you think about this behavior. Family has been estranged for 4 years. This family (mother father and 5 siblings from age 25 to 15) sell house, business, leave country to live in USA in year 2000. Prior to leaving there wasa lot of talk about the "new order" and fears of cell towers and microchips potentially being implanted in everyone.... stuff I'd never heard of or worried about.

Background behavior of family - prior to disappearing into other country (USA) said family has been devout Catholics (church daily, roseries daily, fasting often etc. and always buddies with various local priests (having them over for dinner etc.) and often participating in religious retreats at a Monestary in Oregon). They have always complained about one priest or another - they are VERY picky and judegmental about members of their church/parishes. Family is **very** patriarchal. Siblings who have had boyfriends/girlfriends always forced to dump the girlfriend/boyfriend or get kicked out of the family - forever. Also, kids aren't alowed to read certain authors like Jane Austen for example.

They disappear in 2000 after abruptly selling house and selling business and filing immigration papers for the USA and completely dumping a professional practice that took 15 years to build - later we find out however that father is tangled up in a lawsuit against him which explains possibly the abrupt move - but leaving the country is extreme. Years have gone by and they are very secretive about where they are. We get emails and phone calls but they will not tell us where they live - nor do we have a telephone number (always unlisted when they call us). They seem to get great pleasure out of being evasive - they don't even try to be subtle about it - it's strange. Older children still living under their influence have gone to non-profit type religious univiersities on west coast and one has recently joined the military and is in Iraq (this kid was from another country just a few years ago - not a word about his desire to fight for the usa until now - all very abrupt).

Do you think these people have joined some kind of secret society? If so - which kind? It's so weird. They have always been the paranoid type... affraid of everything - TV, radio, restaurants, cell towers, micro chips in brains, and so on. I think they also believed the world was going to end in 1984 - and probably 2000 as well... nobody can contact them, though occasionally they do contact their outside family members - w/o leaving traces as to where they are and WHY they are evasive. What's going on?

We miss having extended family and would put up with this bizarre behavior if they would let us cultivate some kind of relationship with them. They are missing out on grandkids - and we have been robbed of the joys of having an extended family. Does any of this sound like they have joined a religious organization - if so - what kind - there are so many out there?

Some other odd things have happend but won't drag this out too much...

[edit on 21-1-2005 by katou]