[Oe List ...] Ongoing Reflections

[Cheryl Hood]

Marsha,

I am going to be very presumptive here and offer a reponse on behalf of the
many good folks in this community.  The deafening silence you hear is not
people avoiding the topic you raised; but people who have been stunned,
shamed, and humiliated into silence, not knowing what the proper response
is.

The proper response includes NO defenses, or justification. We are all
internalizing the intense pain you must have felt. How alone, how
powerless, you must have experienced yourself. On behalf of all of us, I
offer an abject apology that we weren't present to that pain at the time.

I was so moved by your affirmation of the other gifts of the Order, and
your colleagues, in the face of that pain. Thank you for offering that; it
provides a glimpse into the healing that has taken place.

I hope that you had the opportunity and experience of confronting this -
and resolving it - with your parents. As a parent, I can tell you that the
pain of knowing your child suffered something so devastating is only
matched by the pain of knowing we failed you in that moment. All the
wonderful Order teachings and platitudes about Grace fall away in the face
of our children's pain at our own hands.

We appreciate your courage as we wrestle with our own justification. Thank
you for sharing; and forgive our inadequate responses.

Cheryl Hood

On Sat, Jul 5, 2025 at 4:09 PM Marsha Hahn via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
wrote:

> Marilyn,
>
> I so appreciate your thoughtful reply. I'm aware of the silence on the OE
> listserv since I wrote several days ago. A heaviness has come over me, too.
>
> Thank you for your deep, honest sharing. I appreciate hearing the
> intensely compelling things going on in the world and the church that drew
> you and Joe to the Order. That was a time of awakening and
> consciousness-raising -- civil rights, war protest, etc. I can see how the
> OE and EI were a vehicle for living out that new consciousness.
>
> It sounds like a brave move for you, Judy, and Mimi to make your case to
> JWM to take your children with you to India. I'm glad the three of you
> prevailed. I have no doubt that it mattered to you and your kids.
>
> Thank you again for being so open and honest in your sharing.
>
> Marsha
>
>
> On Thursday, July 3, 2025 at 08:53:49 PM PDT, Mari Crocker <
> maricrocker at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> OE mailing list
> OE at lists.wedgeblade.net
> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.wedgeblade.net/pipermail/oe-wedgeblade.net/attachments/20250706/522f5746/attachment.htm>