Can sex with a pastor be an affair?
(The following article discusses a difficult topic in story form. All characters are fictional, although the events referred to are based on an amalgamation of true experiences.) She went to her pastor for advice, not sex. Another woman accepted her pastor’s invitation to chair a committee he oversaw, not an invitation to be sexually preyed…
Lament for those ‘suffering in silence’
For 40 years, women who had been sexually violated by John Howard Yoder were left suffering in silence while the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) professor became one of the most influential theological voices of the 20th century. On March 22, 2015, AMBS publicly apologized for long ignoring their cries for justice. In a “Service…
Intimacy is not an invitation to abuse
Every 17 minutes, a woman in Canada experiences sexual assault. Many times these women are assaulted by someone they know, sometimes even by someone they’re in a romantic relationship with. The latter was true for Jessica (a pseudonym), who grew up attending a Mennonite Church Canada congregation and agreed to speak to Canadian Mennonite anonymously…
The truth about sexual abuse will set you free
I came across an editorial by Dick Benner a few months ago and was distressed to read about the late—and highly regarded—John Howard Yoder having sexually violated 80 women “at last count” (“Healing sexual abuse,” Sept. 2, 2013, page 2). This was news to me, as I am relatively new to the Mennonite circle. Then…
Church seeks to help Yoder sex abuse survivors
Mennonite Church Canada is discerning how best to respond to Canadian survivors of sexual abuse by theologian John Howard Yoder. Survivors of Yoder’s sexual abuse in the United States, which came to light in the 1970s and ’80s, have renewed their call for Mennonite Church U.S.A. leaders and Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) to “revisit…
Healing sexual abuse
Two stories on sexual abuse have re-emerged recently on the Mennonite scene that call for sober reflection and some self-examination, but not self-obsession. They should be seen, in the present, as “teachable moments” and occasions for healing, rather than harsh judgments on the sins of our fathers. We refer to the re-surfacing, after some 20…
A hidden darkness
While the Mennonite faith community has sometimes been contentiously consumed over the past two decades with one aspect of sexuality—homosexuality and same-sex marriage—another darker side has quietly escaped our notice: sexual abuse of women and children. And for good reason. Sexual abuse is usually shrouded in secrecy, most often to hide or obscure the identity…
Telling stories of sexual violence
In Canada 1,397 sexual assaults occur every day, according to the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women. In the United States nearly one in five women reported experiencing rape or attempted rape at some point in their lifetime says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Mennonite Church cannot assume its members…
