Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 25:3 (Summer 2011)
Article: Tribute to Dr. Catherine Clark Kroeger: Her Life and Legacy on Issues of Abuse
Author: Nancy Nason-Clark

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PP 25:3 (Summer 2011) p. 13

Tribute to Dr. Catherine Clark Kroeger: Her Life and Legacy on Issues of Abuse

Nancy Nason-Clark

Nancy Nason-Clark is a faculty member and chair of the department of sociology at the University of New Brunswick in Canada. She is the author of several books on domestic violence and communities of faith, four of which have been written or edited with Catherine Clark Kroeger. Visit the web-based resources of her RAVE team at www.theraveproject.org.

I met Catherine Clark Kroeger over a ball of yarn, so to speak. The year was 1996. We had both been invited to a think tank on abuse. At the opening event, the twenty or so women present introduced themselves with a sentence or two and threw a ball of yarn to another woman who would then take her turn. As personal introductions were made by one woman after another, a web began to form in the midst of our circle. We were knitted together—the twenty of us present—by our interest in helping the Christian church wake up to the reality of abuse in our midst. I introduced myself as an evangelical by persuasion and a social scientist by vocation; I think I said something about teaching at a secular university and researching issues of abuse in families of faith. At the first break that followed our web-making, Cathie marched over to me, smiled broadly, and said in words I will never forget, “We need to work together!” And her words came to pass.

Our first book together, No Place for Abuse: Biblical and Practical Resources to Counteract Domestic Violence, was published by InterVarsity Press in 2001 and launched at the World Evangelical Fellowship (WEF) conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We had been serving together with the WEF task force on abuse. Here, we were prompted by the others on the task force to move quickly to get our ideas in print—prompted by the urgency that many women from around the world were anxious to get resources into their own hands and the hands of their pastors. Our sisters on the task force from Africa, the Caribbean, and India were especially enthusiastic about the project and encouraged our efforts.

A few years later, we wrote a second book for the suffering Christian woman, Refuge from Abuse: Hope and Healing for Abused Christian Women, published by IVP in 2004. Whereas No Place for Abuse was written primarily for pastors and those who walked alongside the women, men, and children who were hurting, Refuge from Abuse was intended as a resource for a woman as she journeyed from despair to hope. It outlined steps on the road to healing and wholeness with a particular emphasis on her journey of faith.

As soon as we finished writing the second book, Cathie was eager for us to bring together a small group of interested partners to...

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