Mennonite Central Committee asserts that John Clarke and Anicka Fast’s case “did not constitute systemic abuse” (“Re­port: Process Caused Further Harm to Couple,” page 31). Of course one case doesn’t constitute systemic abuse. No one is claiming that. The case is symptomatic
of systemic abuse. The evidence of sys­tem­ic abuse is in the totality of the 93 cases that MCC Abuse Survivors Together (MAST) has meticulously documented. That number keeps climbing. 

MCC misleads its donor base by suggesting that this problem is overblown noise from a handful of overly privileged North American employees. This is not the case. It is clear from MAST’s website that survivors from around the world are reporting MCC’s U.S.-centric disregard for local labor laws and employee protections on multiple continents. MCC U.S. profits from a political climate in which religious organizations have great latitude to abuse and discriminate without ­consequences. It is an act of particularly American arrogance to push these low standards in MCC’s treatment of non-U.S. employees. 

As the advocate present for these conversations, I witnessed two non-Mennonite facilitators whose careful work represented peacemaking qualities I used to associate with MCC. I witnessed board members who were shocked by the legal bullying tactics of the organization they supposedly represented. The facilitators’ work was wasted and dismissed, and I felt profoundly disheartened after this experience.

Stephanie Krehbiel, Lawrence, Kan.