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Life Inside a Cult of Obedience

Who: Sarah Patrick

Tickets: $15/person

“Sarah Patrick’s searching and heartfelt memoir throws open the door on one of Canada’s most notorious cults. Through meticulous research and unflinching self-examination, Patrick reveals how Grenville Christian College, and the Community of Jesus preyed on her youthful insecurities and her need to belong, shaping her into a perfect monster of obedience, complicity, and self-hatred. Binding Shame will horrify and enrage you, yes. But it will also ferry you toward the healing that comes with truth, accountability, and forgiveness. A fearless, important book.” – Sarah Henstra, Governor General’s Literary Award for The Red Word, Professor of English at Metropolitan Toronto University

Update

Congratulations to Sarah Patrick for winning the 2025 Dianne Casoni International Award — Popular Literature Category award for her book.

Bio

Sarah was raised in Toronto, the child of a British war bride and a father who worked as an addiction counsellor. At 16, she attended Grenville Christian College in Brockville, ON, which was recognized for its “tough love” approach to Christian education. Upon graduation, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Drama and English from Queen’s University. Sarah began her professional journey as a publicist in Toronto in the early 1980s, focusing on theatre, dance, and visual arts. She eventually returned to her high school in Brockville to teach English, drama, and history, holding that role for 16 years. In 2001, she relocated to Toronto to work as an executive assistant in commercial real estate, a role she held for eleven years. In 2007, students from her former school initiated a class action lawsuit alleging damages due to the cult-like abuse they experienced there. This prompted Sarah to pen her memoir, Binding Shame: Life Inside a Cult of Obedience, as a way to understand and process her experience as both a student and staff member in a religious cult. In 2014, she relocated from Toronto to Algonquin Highlands, purchasing a historic farmhouse that had once belonged to well-known local trapper James Sawyer. Sarah and her husband, Steve, converted the house into “Sawyer’s Creek Bed and Breakfast,” which they ran for five years before retiring in December 2024.