Asaph Bar-Roka’s rise to ‘superior general’ of fundamentalist Christian cult Australian Catholic Mission Community

This is the bizarre and chilling phone call with the leader of a secretive Christian cult that enforces a set of extreme rules on its followers. READ THE INTERVIEW

The leader of a fundamentalist Christian cult fought his way to the leadership in a fiery coup that effectively handed him control of a multimillion-dollar property empire.

Asaph Bar-Roka, is the “superior general” or “reshan” of the Australian Catholic Mission Community, a controlling and secretive group founded in North Queensland in the 1970s by a polygamist religious fanatic, Daniel Landy-Ariel.

Daniel’s eldest son Nathanael became the leader in 2015 when his father died, but his reign was short-lived.

A fiery dispute raged for years within the Anglican Catholic Mission Community over the cult's multimillion-dollar property empire.

Just three years later, after Nathanael had moved to Germany to pursue a career in modelling and acting, the ACMC missioners voted him out and appointed Mr Bar-Roka as their new leader.
When The Courier-Mail approached the cult for comment, it was given a number for a man named Arthur to speak on behalf of the community.

The phone number was listed on court documents as belonging to Mr Bar-Roka. Asked whether his community was a “cult”, he said: “Define what a cult is”.

Mr Bar-Roka’s successful coup sparked a years-long Supreme Court battle over the cult’s massive property portfolio – which had been placed in Nathanael’s name.

The court ordered Nathanael be removed as trustee and instead appointed the company ACMC Property Holdings Pty Ltd in his place – of which Mr Bar-Roka is a director.

It also restrained Nathanael from “exercising or attempting to exercise control” over the properties or community members’ use of the properties.

Initially called The Jesus People of North Queensland, the group began with a cafe and communal house in Cairns but now has multiple properties in Queensland, two in Sydney, one in regional New South Wales and others in Germany, Kenya and Portugal.

The group requires its members to hand over all their property on joining and take on a biblical name.

The Australian Catholic Mission Community’s Watsonville commune near Atherton, in Far North Queensland. Picture: Brian Cassey

One of its main properties, in Watsonville in the Atherton tablelands, is a large commune with a mango orchard, basketball courts, a swimming pool and a dining hall and chapel.

The group also runs a thriving cafe in Atherton, a gym north of Gympie and a mechanics workshop.

Each property is overseen by a “governor”, with the reshan having ultimate authority on all matters. The reshan is also responsible for appointing his own successor.

Past members have told the Sunday Mail they were drawn to the group by the idea of communal living where all things were shared, but over time the rules and doctrines enforced by Daniel became more and more restrictive.

The Village Kahawa cafe in Atherton, which is owned by the Anglican Catholic Mission Community. Picture: Brian Cassey

Women are not allowed to hold positions of authority, must wear headscarves and the group has been the subject of many allegations of domestic violence.

“The superior general (Reshan) of the ACMC will have full and ultimate jurisdiction in all matters in the community (as he has) and this will also include deciding/censuring what forms of literature, learning, entertainment are to be accepted into the community and the form of schooling for adults and children,” one of the documents that sets out the rules of the group states.

According to a history written by Asaph Bar-Roka as part of the legal dispute, the Jesus People joined with the Anglican Catholic church in 2010 and became known as the ACMC.

Mr Bar-Roka said the ACMC is an unincorporated association, with many of its properties developed with evangelism and community service in mind.

“We acquired a property in Redfern, Sydney, so that a group could live close to Aboriginal residents of Redfern who were severely disadvantaged because of substance abuse (like) drug and alcohol addiction, and cook meals and purchase and distribute fresh fruit and vegetables to disadvantaged residents twice weekly and provide support, training and assistance to the Tribal Warrior Aboriginal Corporation,” he said.

He also wrote that the ACMC acquired a property in Kenya “to have a presence in a local slum to help feed local residents and participate in local street clean-up programs for youth.”

Nathanael Hezekiah Landy-Ariel.

According to Mr Bar-Roka’s affidavit, he received a complaint from members about Nathanael’s leadership, while he was away overseas pursuing a career in modelling and acting.

“Following the process set out in the Customary, we attempted to resolve the dispute but could not, and as a consequence, 88 of 95 members of the ACMC voted to remove Nathanael as Reshan.”

Mr Bar-Roka wrote to his Nathanael to tell him the news on June 22, 2018.

“I now ask kindly that you step down from your position of authority as Reshan … I ask that you do this in a peaceful manner so as not to disturb the peace, harmony or unity of the ACMC,” he wrote, in an email chain filed in the court as part of the civil dispute between the pair.

An angry response followed, with Nathanael demanding Mr Bar-Roka leave the community.

“Try anything crooked and I will bring the full weight of the law and the Ahe to bear on you. Get off my property,” he wrote.

That same day, Mr Bar-Roka replied, telling the former leader not to threaten him again.

“You are NOT RESHAN at this time,” he said.

Nathanael responded: “You have lied, cheated, intimidated and coerced the voters.”

The legal battle would continue on until July, 2022 when the last of the properties was handed over to the community, by way of the company ACMC Property Holdings, which would serve as trustee.

Mr Bar-Roka is a director of the company.

Daniel, who had four wives, spoke of his path to leading a religious community in the many documents he penned.

“A child should learn to walk well before it sees the need to run,” he wrote. “This is not theory. I have 16 children.”

Daniel Landy-Ariel in the mid-1980s with members of what was then known as The Jesus People of North Queensland. Picture: Supplied

In the same document, the man who called himself “Reshan” and “Superior General” wrote: “I don’t mind being a little guy without a title – after all, it’s been 37 years with no attempt from me to attain one.”

The secretive group first attracted media attention in 2011 when police arrested Australia’s most wanted man – fugitive Luke Hunter.

Hunter had been on the run for 15 years after escaping from Borallon Correctional Centre where he was serving a life sentence for the murder of his best mate, Brian Phillip Nagle.

Luke Andrew Hunter after his arrest in 2011 over the murder of his best mate, Brian Phillip Nagle.

Hunter shot Nagle in the head during a hunting trip, having fallen for Nagle’s wife.

Following his arrest, it was discovered he had lived most of his time on the run with the ACMC at its Herberton commune.

Daniel told police and media at the time he had no idea about Hunter’s past, although former members have told The Sunday-Mail he would have been aware.

“I’m not going to condemn somebody to hell just because they lied about their past to protect themselves,” Daniel told Channel 7 in 2011.

“What happens when someone confesses their sins to a priest is up to the church, (as to whether) to dob him in.”

Daniel Landy-Ariel in 2011. He died in 2015.

When the Sunday Mail visited the group’s Watsonville commune, a member who introduced himself as Justin handed over a phone number for “Arthur” who he said would speak on their behalf.

The phone number was listed on court documents as belonging to Mr Bar-Roka.

Asked whether his community was a “cult”, he said: “Define what a cult is”.

He said the group had been subjected to media scrutiny “around the Luke Hunter time” and he did not believe they were given an opportunity to speak.

“To be honest, virtually nobody in the community was actually offered an explanation at the time, of an alternative understanding of what went down there,” he said.

Nathanael Hezekiah Landy-Ariel.

Asaph Bar-Roka.

“And yet everything was published in a frenzy. And so it’s difficult to trust people in that situation, especially with personal details and how we live.

“It’s not a product that we’re putting on sale or on show for anybody else. It’s a personal lifestyle choice.”

He would not respond to questions about whether there was domestic violence within the group.

“They say let a dead dog lie – why would you bring those things back up again?” he said.

“We’re not here to advertise, we’re not a business advertising a product,” he said.

Asked whether people within the community were free to make their own decisions, Arthur said: “You’d imagine that in Australia, that’d be the case, wouldn’t you?”

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