Category: Involuntary

  • MCC investigation finds harassment by senior personnel

    MCC investigation finds harassment by senior personnel

    An investigation commissioned by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in response to complaints put forward by John Clarke and Anicka Fast, who were abruptly terminated in August 2023, found that “MCC processes and some decision making by senior personnel as a whole … is reasonably understood to fall within the threshold of harassment as defined by MCC’s…

  • Readers Write: November 2024

    Readers Write: November 2024

    Good people hurt by MCC I am writing this letter in support of the individuals who wrote and signed the open letter to Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and in support of the former and current MCC service workers and staff who have been and continue to be hurt by MCC. I personally know of former…

  • MCC accused of inadequate response to sexual assault allegation in Mozambique

    MCC accused of inadequate response to sexual assault allegation in Mozambique

    “I wanted to help people gain access to water,” Katie Moyer says of her motivation for taking an assignment with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in Mozambique in 2016. It was her first job after earning an engineering degree from Messiah University in Pennsylvania, her home state. During her four years with MCC, Moyer worked on…

  • MCC responses to questions, September 2024

    While writing the article, “MCC accused of inadequate response to sexual assault allegation in Mozambique,” Canadian Mennonite sent questions to Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) via email. Some of the responses are, of course, quoted in the article. Below are the complete replies sent on September 16 by Laura Kalmar, interim senior director of advancement for…

  • Readers Write: September 2024

    Readers Write: September 2024

    Questions about MCC ethos I appreciate Canadian Mennonite’s reporting on the open letter from terminated Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) workers (“Involuntary,” July 2024). Well done. When I first read the open letter, I was distraught, but I shouldn’t have been; the appeal for accountability should be heard by leadership in all of our organizations. I’ve witnessed abrupt…

  • Readers Write: August 2024 – Responses to ‘Involuntary’

    From resigned MCC’ers For 17 of the past 32-plus years, we worked with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in four countries. MCC was instrumental in forming the values we try to live by today. We are grateful for this.  On our last assignment, during which Dave served as an interim representative (overseeing programing in a country),…

  • Involuntary: Terminated MCC workers call for accountability and change

    Involuntary: Terminated MCC workers call for accountability and change

    “I still use it,” Anicka Fast says of the brownish knitted potholder she received at Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) orientation in Akron, Pennsylvania, in 2009. Fast and her husband John Clarke were en route to their first MCC assignment at the time. Fast is grateful to the women who, for many years, offered those hand-crafted…

  • MCC executive directors respond to concerns of former workers

    MCC executive directors respond to concerns of former workers

    The following is an additional response by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) to serious concerns raised in our “Involuntary” article (July 2024) as well as in the online petition and open letter referenced in that article and posted online by a group of seven former MCC workers. – Eds. As the executive directors of Mennonite Central…

  • Involuntary: Behind the scenes

    Involuntary: Behind the scenes

    Our article, “Involuntary: Terminated MCC workers call for accountability and change” (posted online on June 20, 2024 and appearing in the July 2024 print issue), is a particularly sensitive and important piece. We believe some readers may value hearing how the story came about and how we make decisions about a story like that. How…

  • Statement from Mennonite Central Committee

    The following statement was provided to Canadian Mennonite by Laura Kalmar, Director of Marketing and Communications, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Canada May 14, 2024 (MCC posted a subsequent statement(link is external) online on June 18, 2024.)  We are aware of the grievance submitted by John Clarke and Anicka Fast, former Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) representatives for Burkina Faso, related…