Nonviolent Pressure Builds: Updates on MAST Advocacy, Letter‑Writing Campaign, and MCC Boards’ Limited Responses

‍In late 2025, MAST issued a general call for letters to the MCC US boards ahead of their October meetings in Akron. More than 20 people responded with public letters, urging the boards to (1) commit to an external investigation of all allegations, (2) release survivors from NDAs, and (3) accept the proposed conversation parameters with John Clarke and Anicka Fast.

MAST has learned from a source that the allegations continued to be minimized and dismissed at the board meetings, while discussion focused overwhelmingly on anger that board members’ emails had been leaked.

In the week following the board meetings, the MCC US and Canada national boards agreed to the facilitators’ proposed parameters for a conversation with John and Anicka. And in December, the West Coast MCC board chairs invited another survivor couple, Kathryn and Dan Smith Derksen, to a “listening session” to hear their story. However, MCC has offered no response to the letter-writers’ requests for an external investigation and an end to the use of NDAs.

Overall, MCC’s “listening” continues to be limited in scope and unaccompanied by action for accountability and repair. MCC continues to try to control the timeline and the process of listening to survivors.