Judy Friesen - Bethel College Mennonite Church, KS
To the Boards of the Mennonite Central Committee
Greetings in the name of our shared Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
I am writing you ahead of your meetings in Akron on October 17 and 18, 2025.
I was privileged to serve with MCC in the northern part of Brazil for three years, 1964-7. I had a very good experience and was able to be a part of making a difference in the lives of the people I worked with. I was also the recipient of positive support from MCC in my work and welcomed the visit of our MCC supervisor. I completed my term thankful for the opportunity MCC gave me and my husband to be a small part of the Christian outreach that MCC is known for.
Consequently, it was with disbelief that I sat as a member of our Abuse Prevention committee of our church and listened to the heart-rendering story of one of our attendees, employed by MCC, as she shared the extremely abusive “mediation” that she endured, in our church building, at the hands of mediators hired by MCC to address a conflict situation. I thought surely this was an aberration. But as our committee explored further, we discovered this was not an isolated experience, but that many other MCC workers in the past few years had very negative ending experiences with MCC. Surely, I thought, MCC, being a Christian organization would be anxious to accept responsibility for this action and reach out to make reparations. The complete opposite was what we experienced as we tried to advocate for this person. Our committee’s letters to the HR people went unanswered, or finally with a short form letter saying everything had been taken care of and it was an isolated experience.
After consulting MAST, we discovered that our person was only one of 67 incidents that were reported 1970-2025. We know that probably there are many more who have not had courage to come forward, or because of NDA agreement that they were forced to sign have not surfaced. We also noted from the graph posted on MAST that the number of abuses has taken a significant upturn since 2000. And yet you say that this was an isolated event.
I join with others in respectfully but firmly requesting that MCC address these allegations by:
Accepting the facilitated external investigation into MCC’s handling of abuse allegations. Only external process can provide the credibility, transparence and impartiality needed to begin rebuilding trust. The choice of firm and mandate of investigation must be approved by the MCC Abuse Survivors steering committee. The investigation must include binding public recommendations and accountability for perpetrators and reparations for survivors.
Accepting the facilitated conversation parameter proposed by facilitators Cory, Lockhart and Russ Funk on June 21, 2025 for conversations with Anicka Fast and John Clark.
Releasing survivors and former staff from Non-Disclosure agreements (NDAs) that prevent truth-telling. If MCC values restorative justice, it must allow those harmed to speak freely.
I understand your fear of losing financial support and respect. But your suffering will be much greater, and only continue to grow as your duplicity is made public, if you do not accept responsibility for wrong-doing and make concerted efforts to repair the wrong that has been done. Following through on the above requests will say to your constituents that you are trying to live by your beliefs, rather than denying any wrong doing. Until I see action in this direction, I will withhold my MCC support and urge others to do likewise.
Show us that MCC is still our beloved church organization and one that we will all gladly support!
Judy Friesen
Member of Abuse, Prevention, Response Committee
I consider this a public letter; I have given MAST permission to post it online.