Yesterday ( Monday January 21 ) on CBC Radio there was a report on abuse by an RCMP doctor on women officers. It happened over the course of many years, and many women were abused. The women began to talk with each other about examinations by the doctor that seemed wrong. They began to name it as sexual assault. This kind of abuse was carried out over the course of almost thirty years. The doctor who alleged did this is now old, and reported to be very ill. The women were abused. You do not go public to tell the story unless it happened. The first part part of the abuse is the actual crime, and then there is the secondary abuse when the superiors, and the institution, does not believe you. It seems like the institutions whom you work for are more interested in buyouts and liability issues, than caring for the women that have been abused or assaulted .
The women in the story have carried the stories for a long time, and are now wanting the public to hear about it. The RCMP is a revered institution in Canada. The red uniforms are almost sacred in our country. They are the police in many of the areas of the country, and they are to care for victims who are at risk. Their motto is “ Defending the law “. They are to protect us. So, it is difficult to know how to react to their activity in not defending the women of their own force.
I have been a Mennonite minister for almost 30 years, and the Church, Mennonite and others,have have an abuse problem as well. We have buried abuse between four or five layers of carpet in our history. We have not believed the women who have come forward, and have said “what will it do to our churches”. It will make our churches smaller as people leave the congregations, when the church does not stand up for the victim or abused women. We have moved abusive pastors from one church or parish to another, in order to protect the minister rather than the victim. Again, this is secondary abuse to the women who have come forward. Why do we not want to stand up for the people who have been hurt and abused ? Is this not our calling ?
There is a story in John’s biography of Jesus of Nazareth. It is in the earlier part of the book, in chapter 8. The woman has been caught in adultery. Where did they find her, and where is the man ? The group of men want to stone her to death. Jesus makes them wait, and writes in the sand… In the end Jesus says, All right, but let the one who has never sinned, throw the first stone.” John 8:7. SILENCE, and they all walk away. Jesus stands up for this woman , who by law should have been stoned. Jesus confronted the authorities, but more importantly he listened and believed the woman’s story.
Let us believe those who have been abused, and believe them when they tell us the story.
Fred Redekop
Ponder Anew 