UNITED STATES
The Mennonite
11.4. 2016 Written By: Barbra Graber
Barbra Graber is a leader of the Anabaptist Mennonite Chapter of SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests). She attends Park View Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
“It is very tempting to take the side of the perpetrator. All the perpetrator asks is that the bystander do nothing. [The perpetrator] appeals to the universal desire to see, hear and speak no evil. The victim, on the contrary, asks the bystander to share the burden of pain. The victim demands action, engagement and remembering.”— Judith Herman
Sometime in the early 1990s, Meetinghouse, a consortium of Mennonite and Brethren in Christ editors, commissioned James Coggins, associate editor of the Mennonite Brethren Herald, to write an article he entitled “Should We Report Scandal in the Mennonite Press?” It appeared in the April 1991 issue. Coggins answers the question with a resounding yes.
Coggins writes: “Why do we name the names of church leaders who have violated and betrayed the trust instilled in them by brothers and sisters of their faith communities? Why drag it all back into the open? Why not let it go? Think of their wives and children. Is it really worth all the embarrassment they will feel?
“Any abuse of power, in any form, must be dealt with publicly, swiftly, with termination of duties, and ongoing support for any victims. These decisions can either pave the way toward a truly vibrant, redeemed and renewed pacifist denomination or continue to promote denial, complacency and inaction.”
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