Sherah-Leigh Gerber (who resigned as a regional pastor in Ohio Conference of Mennonite Church USA, AW, Nov. 25) was an associate pastor at Harrisonburg Mennonite Church for several years before moving back to Ohio to be closer to her family. She is gifted, knowledgeable, well-read and spiritually connected. To lose her as a pastor at Harrisonburg Mennonite created a huge hole that has been difficult to fill. If she has left ministry, as your article states, for reasons of “patriarchy and sexism,” we have failed as a church to genuinely accept her gifts and of women in general. We can do better, and we must. I’m disappointed in us for letting this happen.

Les Helmuth, Harrisonburg, Va.