INDIANA
Mennonite World Review
Mar 23, 2015 by Rich Preheim, For Mennonite World Review
ELKHART, Ind. — For 40 years, women who had been sexually violated by John Howard Yoder were left suffering in silence while the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary professor became one of the most influential theological voices of the 20th century. On March 22, AMBS publicly apologized for long ignoring their cries for justice.
In a “Service of Lament, Confession and Commitment” in the seminary chapel, seminary president Sara Wenger Shenk solemnly told victims and nearly 200 other people: “I am sorry that we neglected to genuinely listen to your reports of violation and that even after hearing your warnings, we failed to raise the alarm.
“I am sorry that by choosing to remain silent about your violation, we isolated you, only deepening your sense of betrayal. I am sorry that in our exhaustion and desire for closure, we didn’t listen to those of you who said this is not finished, the full truth of what happened has not yet been named.”
The service was a milestone in the decades-long epic. Starting at least in the 1970s, Yoder sexually harassed and assaulted perhaps more than 100 women worldwide, according to historian Rachel Waltner Goossen, who earlier this year published a major article on Yoder’s abuses and the church’s response.
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