[Dialogue] Thanks to P. Schrijnen

[Len Hockley]

Thanks Geri,

At 02:15 AM 6/3/2007 +0000, you wrote:

>Thank you, Geri,
>
>
>
>As Quakers say, "This Friend speaks my mind.
>
>
>
>I would have been disappointed if we had dismissed the hurts we allowed.
>
>
>
>Our pasts are approved and our future(s) open.
>
>
>
>Grace and Peace.
>
>Love and Light,
>
>mary
>-------------- Original message from "Geri Tolman" <gdtolman at comcast.net>: 
>--------------
>
>
>
> > Bill and/or Barbara,
> >
> > I'm surprised and saddened to hear that you were disappointed in the
> > Vale meeting and that you felt that your hopes of building long-term
> > relationships with colleagues got waylaid.
> >
> > It is my view that the abuse of our children that was finally
> > revealed in Vale was one of the most helpful steps we could have taken in
> > allowing our children to be finally heard, believed, and taken seriously.
> > To suggest that the abuse which went on was maltreatment "by a few people"
> > misses the whole point. We set ourselves up to be "an experimental family
> > religious order". In my opinion we were as arrogant and lax as the 
> Catholic
> > Church was during that same period of time when th ey sheltered and
> > re-assigned pedophiles who were reported to their hierarchy. Living out of
> > "the past is approved" assumes, I believe, that you actually KNOW what 
> went
> > on in the past, not that you were blissfully unaware of our organizational
> > failure to care for our children. It happened on "our watch" -- we all
> > failed the children whose lives were so brutally affected -- to claim
> > otherwise, to point the finger at a few, is to admit that the scope of our
> > caring wasn't as comprehensive as we pretended.
> >
> > Hopefully any talks about the future will consider this failure,
> > along with other failures, and will build in the necessary safeguards 
> rather
> > than try to sweep them under the rug.
> >
> > Geri Tolman
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net
> > [mailto:dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On Behalf Of William Alerding
> > Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2007 5:41 PM
> > To: Colleague Dialogue
> > Subject: [Dialogue] Thanks to P. Schrijnen
> >
> > Paul,
> >
> > We enjoyed your recent reflections, as well as Carlos Zervigon's.
> > You have articulated our beliefs also. We were shocked and saddened 
> when the
> > Order was called out of being, but we too have readjusted our lives. Like
> > you, we still feel close to our old colleagues and enjoy hearing from 
> them.
> > Hopefully, something helpful will come out of the gathering in Toronto.
> >
> > We were disappointed in our Vale meeting in 2000. Our hope of
> > building long-term relationships with our colleagues got waylaid when
> > everyone went off on a tangent out of guilt about how some of our youth 
> were
> > maltreated by a few people. The whole experience went downhill from there,
> > while too many of our colleagues could not live out of "the past is
> > approved" unders tanding. It was difficult for us to see how we were going
> > to talk together about the future after it was decided to spend the 
> rest of
> > our time rollercoasting downhill into the past.
> >
> > Thanks for articulating our feelings also. Love to Christine.
> >
> > Bill and Barbara Alerding
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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