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Who we are

ACNAtoo formed in 2021 in response to the alleged mishandling of a sexual abuse case in the Upper Midwest Diocese of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). The hashtag #ACNAtoo, first used in June 2021 by the case’s initial public whistleblower, reflects the tradition of #MeToo, #ChurchToo, and its offshoots.

You can read a detailed timeline of the events that led to the formation of ACNAtoo here and ongoing media coverage here.

About a dozen people organized to form ACNAtoo in the summer of 2021. Most of us are ACNA members or former members, and almost all of us are survivors of abuse, inside and/or outside the ACNA. 

ACNAtoo is an all-volunteer organization. Some of our members maintain a public presence on social media, and others are not public for their personal protection. We work with a broad network of founding members, volunteers, whistleblowers, advocates, and professional experts who help us with research, writing, and various aspects of survivor support.

As a group we do not espouse an overarching theology or political stance, and our members speak for themselves on their personal social media accounts. We hold a diversity of viewpoints, we discuss these differences proactively, and together we act as a coalition focused on supporting abuse survivors and bringing to light the critical failures of the ACNA with regard to abuse.

ACNAtoo exists primarily to support survivors who have experienced sexual abuse and other forms of abuse within the ACNA. Given that abuse survivors are not a monolith and hold diverse opinions, we do not represent or speak for all ACNA abuse survivors.  For instance, some survivors of abuse in the ACNA find the support they require in their local churches. Our primary mission is to walk alongside survivors who reach out to us, because they have not received the support they need inside their church communities.

Our secondary, front-facing mission is to offer educational resources about abuse and abuse response to ACNA parishioners and the general public. This includes providing updates and commentary on abuse cases in the ACNA.

We are not here to reform the ACNA. We’ve discerned through experience that our calling is to serve survivors not to fix the broken system. We still hope that the ACNA will reform its policies and transform its culture into one that centers survivors of abuse and cares for them well. However, we have learned that our energy is best spent creating a confidential and supportive space for our fellow survivors and assisting them however we can. We believe that transforming the ACNA must happen from the ground up and that this work is most appropriately done by ACNA parishioners advocating for change in their local parishes.

What we do

Supporting survivors directly is the cornerstone of what we do, and everything else flows from that. Our mission and day-to-day functions have evolved as the ACNA landscape has become clearer to us over time. We originally set out to advocate for institutional change in the ACNA, but the ongoing failure of ACNA leadership to respond well to abuse survivors has refocused us back on the heart of the #MeToo and #ChurchToo movement: truth-telling and survivor solidarity.

In line with these priorities we do the following:

  • When survivors and advocates reach out to us seeking any kind of support, we listen to their stories and hold them in strict confidence. Our goal is to understand what the survivor needs and wants as they chart their path forward. We determine if that is something we can provide or if we can draw on our larger network to assist them.

  • We engage with our growing network of trusted individuals and organizations to connect survivors with media, investigators, and advocates or advocacy groups that complement our work and might be a better fit for a particular case. Our focus is survivors in ACNA contexts, but we do our best to offer support to any abuse survivor who reaches out to us, since many of our resources are not denominationally specific or limited to abuse in Christian environments.

  • We publish survivor stories and other survivor statements after extensive consultation with the survivor(s) in question and in accordance with our guidelines. If you are considering going public with your account of abuse or mishandling in the ACNA, please contact us. We will connect you with team members who will listen to your story and your priorities and discuss key subjects with you, including the potential impacts of going public and additional options for sharing your story outside of our website.

  • We accompany survivors who want to attempt to address their abuse cases through internal ACNA processes. We offer perspective from our own experiences as well as our knowledge of the ACNA canons and the track records of various ACNA leaders in responding to abuse cases.

  • We write articles as a team on a range of subjects related to abuse and the institutional handling of abuse based on our combined knowledge. We also publish selected articles by experts in our network. Check out the ACNAtoo Blog for posts on assorted topics and see our Resources page for more ways to educate yourself about abuse-related subjects.

  • Since our founding in mid-2021, we have been the point of first contact for many survivors, witnesses, advocates, and whistleblowers. We continue to add to an extensive database of confidential reports as well as publicly available information on past and current abuse cases in the ACNA. While we can’t share much of that information with anyone outside of ACNAtoo for confidentiality reasons, it provides crucial context as new cases arise and important documentation for if and when survivors decide to speak publicly.