Shalom Mennonite Church in Newton has voted to provide sanctuary to undocumented immigrants facing deportation. Rev. Rachel Ringenberg Miller and associate pastor Ben Woodward-Breckbill say that move allows the church to provide temporary relief to immigrants.

鈥淐onnecting as human beings is a source of healing.鈥 These words from plenary speaker, Beth Toner, set the tone for the entire weekend of Mennonite Healthcare Fellowship鈥檚 (MHF) Annual Gathering. On June 22-24, about 60 Anabaptist healthcare professionals and their families gathered at Bluffton University in Ohio under the theme of 鈥淪tories of Healing.鈥

Sylvia Hooley Meyer '09, MA '13 wrote "An Open Letter to Government Officials On the Investigation of Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center." The News Leader published it June 30, 2018, in its entirety.

As a child, I dreamt of seeing an airplane鈥攏ot even being in it鈥攁nd regularly begged my father to take me to the airport to see one. These days, I fly to different regions of the world on speaking engagements as a peace and human rights advocate. The countries I have visited include the United States, Turkey, the Netherlands, Cambodia, South Africa and Rwanda, among others. I did not initially aspire to a career in peace, human rights and women and youth empowerment advocacy; I wanted to be a doctor and had successfully completed undergraduate studies in chemistry and biology at the Mother Patern College of Health Sciences, an affiliate of the Stella Maris Polytechnic, in Monrovia, Liberia. Once I began getting involved in peace advocacy, witnessing the international community鈥檚 peace efforts in my country, I realised that disarming the fighters was just an aspect of peace; to achieve genuine peace requires reconciliation among the various groups, between young and old, the genders, etc.

Six leaders from Mennonite Church USA advocated for peace and justice in Palestine and Israel during congressional visits May 22 in Washington, D.C. The visit took place just days after Israeli soldiers killed more than 60 largely nonviolent Palestinian protesters May 14 in Gaza, and many of the delegates asked their representatives to respond to this. 鈥淚 relayed my deep, deep concern about the situation in Gaza, asking my representatives to take a stand for the rights of Palestinians, and given the significant amount of aid the U.S. provides to Israel each year, to call for an investigation into Israeli military actions,鈥 said Tim Seidel, director of the Center for Interfaith Engagement at 糖心Vlog in Harrisonburg, Virginia.