The Editors
Since 1992 Carolyn Schrock-Shenk has worked with Mennonite Central Committee U.S. She is now Director of Mennonite Conciliation Service, which focuses on issues of conflict. She is also a mediator, trainer, consultant, and editor of Conciliation Quarterly.
Carolyn was born in Middlebury, Indiana, sixth of of seven children in a family known for daring escapades and saying what they thought. It was there she learned how to play and fight competitively and passionately. It was also there that seeds of cooperation and peacemaking were planted (How else can nine people get by with one bathroom?).
Since education was not part of her conservative Mennonite family and church culture, Carolyn ventured slowly into higher education, beginning with Rosedale Bible Institute. In her twenties she graduated from Eastern Mennonite College (now University) with a B.S. in nursing, then later earned an M.S.N. at the University of Virginia. With husband David Schrock-Shenk she spent over three years in the Philippines with Mennonite Central Committee. They have since adopted two sons from the Philippines, Caleb and John. Carolyn is a member of Community Mennonite Church of Lancaster.
Lawrence E. Ressler, Ph.D., is Professor of Social Work and Associate MSW Director at Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, New York. He has had fifteen years of experience as social worker, family counselor, and mediator. He has been president of the North American Association of Christians in Social Work (NACSW) for six years. In addition to writing and speaking on conflict, Lawrence helped develop an educational seminar on conflict attended by more than 3,500 separating parents from 1995 to 1998. He is, he says, “a Mennonite looking for a fight.”
