UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage
William D. Lindsey
Several days ago, I offered you an initial “teaser” report from the recent SNAP conference in Alexandria, Virgina. In that report, I told you how impressed I was by the sizable contingent of folks from the new SNAP-Menno chapter — people coming out of the Mennonite tradition, with years of activist experience dealing with issues of sexual violence (and exclusion and violence against LGBT people, it should be also noted) in their own religious community.
As I noted in my report, one of the people I had the honor to meet at the SNAP gathering was Ruth Krall, a leading sexual violence activist (with an impressive academic and professional background) connected to the Mennonite tradition. Her name will no doubt be familiar to anyone who has read this blog for some time now. I offered several snippets from Ruth’s presentation on the final day of the SNAP conference. I’m now delighted to be able to share with you the presentation itself, which Ruth will subsequently publish on her Enduring Space blog. Here’s Ruth’s stellar presentation:
Activism in a Mennonite Voice
Ruth E. Krall, MSN, Ph.D. (1)
Professor Emeritus, Goshen College, Goshen, IN
Introductory Comments
During the drive here from the airport on Thursday evening, I was reminded once again that clergy sexual violence and morally corrupted institutions both resemble kudzu. (3) For those of you who do not recognize kudzu, the Washington beltway is lined with it. It is an invasive vine that smothers and kills all other plant forms in its path. It must be aggressively and persistently managed to control its invasive and noxious presence.
Who Are These Mennonites?
We Mennonites are the twentieth-first-century descendents of the 16th-century Reformation Anabaptists. In many ways we are neither Catholic nor Protestant.
In the sixteenth century, our faith ancestors represented a radical divergence from both groups as early as 1530 or 1540. Roman Catholic and Protestant princes and priests hunted down, imprisoned, and killed our ancestors. (4)
Our principal differences in belief from the Christian majority include: 1] adult confessions of faith and adult baptism; 2] a radical separation of church and state; 3] a refusal to carry or use the nation-state’s weapons; 4] communitarian discernment; and 5] discipleship — faithfully following in the footsteps of Jesus of Nazareth.
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