National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women
December 6
Officially established in 1991, by the Canadian government, as a day of solemn remembrance to mark the anniversary of the murders of 14 beautiful girls who were targeted and slaughtered in the halls of l’École Polytechnique de Montréal.
All across Canada flags fly at half mast. We declare, united as a nation, that violence against women is an outrage against our national values. We declare that we, as a nation, will not tolerate – and will work together to end – violence against women and girls.
The Mennonite church should establish such a day, to mourn and remember and renounce.
A day of solemn reflection to acknowledge their own innocent victims, whom their own adult-water-baptized members have violated and raped inside their Mennonite homes, while their Mennonite brothers and sisters turned a blind eye and their Mennonite pastors silenced the Mennonite victim and demanded that she forgive the Mennonite violators and all those complicit in the crimes.
The Mennonite church should establish a day of solemn Mennonite remembrance and action to confront, expose, root out and overcome the violent crimes committed by their own Mennonite members against their own women and girls.
The Mennonite church should engage in theological reflection to overcome the spirit, logic, and practice of violence, repent for their complicity in violence, and relinquish any theological justification for the culture of impunity sanctioned by their Mennonite doctrines – non-resistance, turn the other cheek, brother (sister) ought not to take brother to court, and unilaterally forgive 70 X 7 – that have granted their adherents tacit license to commit violence with impunity inside their own Mennonite “kingdom of peace”.
But that would mean acknowledging and uncovering what they have covered up.
And that would mean taking responsibility – and being accountable – for their own actions.
And that would necessitate radical change.
That would not be the Mennonite church in Canada that I’ve known.
For the past 50 years, the consistent Mennonite response to me – a Mennonite girl born in Canada, raped in her own Mennonite home, by her own Mennonite father, with the implicit consent of her own Mennonite mother – has been to demand my forgiveness, my silence – and their impunity.
I have put my life on the line; I am praying and working for the necessary change.
Every single day of the year.
Decade to Overcome Violence logo used with permission from the World Council of Churches
