Source

SHE'S only six years old, but the Church of Scientology had big plans for Suri Cruise.

"It's like what they do with child soldiers ... they would be loyal from then on because that was all they know"

		"It's like what they do with child soldiers ... they would be loyal from then on because that was all they know"

Paul Schofield, a 30-year Australian follower of the controversial religion, says the daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes was being "groomed" to become a worldwide ambassador for the sect.

Little Suri would also have been encouraged to "spy" on her own mother and "moulded in Scientology teaching until anything from the outside world was completely squashed," says Mr Schofield, who left the organisation in 2008.

And he's not the only one who believes Holmes' decision to split from her husband of five years was the best thing she could have done for Suri.

lives are turned upside down

Independent senator for South Australia, Nick Xenophon, says Holmes may have spared Suri from a life of "exploitation and brainwashing." Mr Xenophon, who took part in the 2010 Senate inquiry into Scientology, says: "The way people's lives are turned upside down is frightening. I've heard some horrific stories."

Mr Schofield, who also took part in the inquiry, which looked at its tax exempt status, was at the Scientology's headquarters in Los Angeles in the 1990s when Cruise first got involved with the religion.

Before leaving the sect in 2008, Mr Schofield, who lives in Newcastle, reached level three in the organisation and was a trained counsellor, supervisor, ordained minister and professor of Scientology.

He says Suri would have soon been entering the cadet org of the organisation, which separates children from their parents for days at a time.

It operates as a "boot camp" in preparation for the Sea Org, which is the base of the religions' most hardened recruits. Mr Schofield says Suri would have been taken away from her parents for more and more time.

"She would have been indoctrinated," he says.

"Anything that Mum said that was anti-Scientology, she would have had to report on." Mr Schofield says in the late '80s when he was at the Clearwater - the Florida township that is a Scientology stronghold - he saw children doing 50 hours a week of work.

"They had kids - 10 to 12 years olds - on the same schedule as me. They would put kids into executive positions telling their parents what to do," he says.

"They were the eyes and ears of the founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard.

child soldiers

"It's like what they do with child soldiers. He (Hubbard) did admire the Hitler Youth concept where you took kids from a young age and you had them trained so they would be loyal from then on because that was all they know."

Mr Schofield says he has "no doubt" that Suri, given her high profile, would have been seen as perfect ambassador for the religion.

A statement to Insider from the Church of Scientology said the religion "is unique in that it does not require or tell anyone to 'believe' anything."

Stories are also emerging Holmes orchestrated an escape plan for "weeks" from her marriage to Cruise, which included switching mobile phones and email addresses, as well as moving apartments.

She also had the help of her lawyer father, Martin, who fired some of her assistants and hired a new team.

The former Dawson's Creek star even hinted in a magazine interview, in next month's US Elle, she was planning a "new phase" in her life.

"I know who I am and where I am and where I want to go, so I want to focus on that," she told the mag.

Meanwhile, on Friday, Cruise's attorney Bert Fields lashed out at Holmes and her legal team, accusing them of "playing the media".