The Tavi Rendon case is another reminder of the horror that some children in conservative Anabaptist settings suffer, while those who know (or should know) remain silent. The words of the judge in the Jeriah Mast case, when I attended the sentencing, will echo in my memory for the rest of my life. In my own words, “Someone had to know and no one did anything to intervene.” He called out the church and its leaders for that failure. The same is true in this case. Someone, somewhere, sometime had to suspect that something was terribly, terribly wrong. And no one intervened.

Among the charges Mr. Rendon faces are allegations that he took the victims to another location for others to abuse them as well. There is no indication whether these other abusers were also in the Charity Fellowship Churches or any church, for that matter.  While it is sometimes easy to speculate, it is seldom beneficial. I am grateful the law is looking into this and taking the case seriously.

Law enforcement continue to ask anyone with information about Rendon to contact Pennsylvania state police at 717-290-1965.

To read the article visit: Lancaster County man to face 33 counts of sexual abuse, including of children: prosecutors

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Numerous people have written to ask if it is true that Harold Herr has been cleared of all charges by the committee looking into the allegations. To my knowledge this is not accurate.

First of all, no professionals have been hired to look into the allegations, so even if he is ‘cleared’, it does not mean he didn’t do it. It just means the group of Anabaptist men investigating did not get a confession and did not find evidence. That said, last I heard — and I contacted Allen Hoover directly — they had not reached any conclusion, though that was quite a few months ago. I have not heard otherwise. I do know that to date they have not met with Daniel Herr or the other alleged victim in USA, and I’m not certain they even know who the alleged victim is in Haiti. They have not contacted me for any information.

I continue to hold that the allegations are credible, and the evidence/testimony is a strong indication that the sexual abuse took place. However, I am also comfortable leaving that in the hands of Almighty God, who sees the past, present and future clearly. He loves truth and is Truth. He is just. He is merciful. He is compassionate. And He will not be duped one way or the other. I find peace in that.

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To those who have asked regarding my silence, thank you for messaging. It has been an interesting season. Between working on my final pre-comp-exam assignment — a study on female sex offending — and working as a TA for the university, taking care of my health, as well as my love for outdoors, I have been busy. Blogging had to take a back seat, temporarily.

I am currently going through some medical testing, looking for answers to some of the health issues I have developed in the past year or so. I will do an update at some point when I know more. For now, I am at peace and doctors are helping me manage symptoms while they look for root causes. They have almost certainly eliminated congestive heart failure — to which my symptoms pointed most strongly — and for that I am very grateful.

As always…

Love,
~ T ~

© Trudy Metzger 2020