Part 3: Child Survivor’s Mother Speaks
Below is a transcribed version of @ACNAtoo’s guest twitter thread by the mother of the 9 year old victim at the heart of this case, sharing important further evidence of the Upper Midwest Diocese’s malpractice, including legal misinformation that caused great harm.
You can read an ‘easy read’ version of the thread in its entirety by clicking the button below.
Start of twitter thread.
We’re publishing this guest thread from the mother of the 9yo victim of sexual assaults by Mark Rivera. We’ll be using her initials to protect her & her daughter’s identity. She wants to correct the record about public statements put out by Church of the Resurrection and the Anglican Diocese of the Upper Midwest of the Anglican Church of North American.
Who’s who:
The Rt Rev. Stewart Ruch, III: Bishop of the Diocese of the Upper Midwest
Church of the Resurrection (Rez, Church Rez): Diocesan headquarters in Wheaton, IL, where CM, the victim's mother, attended for 18 years
Christ Our Light Anglican Church (COLA): small church in Big Rock, IL that CM helped plant in 2013
Dean William Beasley: Diocese of the Upper Midwest Missioner General, Dean & former head of Greenhouse Movement
Greenhouse: a church planting organization that planted Christ Our Light Church (COLA) in 2013 & approved Mark Rivera to become a COLA Church Catechist in 2014
I am the mother of Mark Rivera's 9 y/o victim. It was never my desire to speak publicly but I am left with no choice. I learned recently of deliberate deceptions that +Stewart Ruch has told the Church of the Resurrection congregation regarding the handling of my daughter's abuse allegations.
I attended Church Resurrection for 18+ years, starting when I was 8. I knew +Stewart Ruch before he was even ordained as a priest. I have also lost almost all my Church Rez friends due to how +Stewart Ruch and Church Rez handled this 2 years ago when my family came to them for help.
The time has come for me to break silence on behalf of my daughter and my family. There are sadly more deceptions than I can address in this thread, but I would like to share portions of an email I sent to +Stewart Ruch on May 1, 2021 that speaks to some of them.
This email has been redacted to protect the identity of victims and minors. I have added last names and church titles for clarity in places. This gives an outline of what my family went through when we came to Church Rez for help in May '19 but is far from the whole story.
Among other things, this email names the Diocese of the Upper Midwest who tried to cover up Mark's sexual abuse of my daughter. One of these leaders, Diocesan Chancellor (lawyer) Charlie Philbrick, is currently on the diocesan team that is “overseeing” the investigation process.
On 1/19/21 Joanna “Laurel,” myself, and two advocates had emailed +Stewart Ruch and told him about how COLA leaders and members mistreated my family in the wake of my daughter's abuse disclosure. He never even acknowledged this story. So I emailed him on 5/1/21 to explain more.
“Dear Stewart, Joanna’s email to you in January outlined some of what my family went through at Christ Our Light after disclosing [redacted]’s allegations against Mark Rivera; it also touched on some painful things that happened to us at Resurrection. In the last two years following [redacted]’s story coming out, my family has been through terrible things at COLA and at Rez which have yet to be acknowledged, spoken to, or resolved in any way, and all the leaders responsible remain, by all public appearances, to be in good standing with the church, still visibly serving in various capacities. I indicated, through Joanna’s email in January, that there were additional failings and things that I wished to share, at COLA and also at Rez. Since no one reached out to me to ask for more of the story, I am taking the initiative here. The fact that no one in church leadership has yet to even acknowledge the part of the story Joanna shared three months ago, let alone asked for the rest of it, has sent my family the message “we don’t care”. So it is very painful to share these additional things with you, but I think it is best that you hear them now, and that you hear them directly from me. This story is specifically about what my family experienced after coming to Resurrection. I would appreciate it if you would ask before sharing this story with anyone else.”
My family began attending Church of the Resurrection on 5/19/19 after we were pushed out of COLA. It took a whole month before we received any pastoral care at Rez. While we waited for someone to meet with us, Diocese of the Upper Midwest leaders were giving Mark legal, spiritual, and financial support.
June 4, 2019 at 11:02 PM
To: Mark Rivera Bcc: [names redacted]
On the mountain of the Lord, it shall be provided.
My dearest people,
I have some good news to report. The lawyer of the Diocese had been looking for a pro bono lawyer for me. But a couple of you had pledged long term loans to cover legal fees, so the chancellor expanded his search to include better lawyers who would be willing to take the case on the cheap. He not only found a willing lawyer but he found us a very good one.
I am going to meet my lawyer tomorrow morning to discuss the case and set up my next meeting with the DCFS. My lawyer is none other than Jim Ryan, former Illinois Attorney General (two terms) and two time candidate for Governor. He is not only prestigious by name but he also is a very good lawyer. The kind you want on your side.
We are getting him for a bargain (but he won’t be cheap), special thanks to those of you loaning me the $ for this. It is my hope that he will get this investigation done with and get me back home to my family as soon as possible.
Please pray for my meeting tomorrow and the eventual meeting with DCFS?
Peace
Marko
I personally told Church of the Resurrection leaders on 6/16/19 about five additional victims and two potential victims who may be in ongoing danger. No one took any action. No reports were made. No one listened. +Stewart Ruch was presumably told there were more victims and he did nothing.
“As you likely know, my family began attending Sunday services at Rez on May 19, 2019, two days after [redacted] disclosed that Mark Rivera had been sexually abusing her. By our second week attending Resurrection we were almost completely cut off from our Big Rock friends and the COLA community, and in desperate need of help, support, and pastoral care.
Although I reached out to Deacon Val immediately after we began attending Rez, it took four weeks before she made herself available to meet with us, meaning that my family went an entire month at Resurrection before we received any personal pastoral care from the church. On June 16, 2019, we met with Deacon Val and Meghan Robins, where we told them, in detail, what had happened after we disclosed [redacted]’s abuse to Fr. Rand. [redacted] and I named five individuals who had concerning and predatory experiences with Mark, in addition to two children [redacted information] who were exhibiting behaviors that are common warning signs of sexual abuse. Deacon Val assured us that everything we told her would be shared in detail with you, and also that she would be creating pastoral care plans for our family. I’m not sure what went wrong here, but somehow it seems that this vital information was either never shared with you, or you did not consider it serious enough to take any action on. It was not until December of 2020 (a year and a half later) that I learned how little seemed to have been communicated to you. Somehow, I shared accounts and concerns about seven additional victims or potential victims, and none of this was taken seriously or acted on in any way by the church. We did leave the meeting with Val and Meghan feeling loved, heard, and supported, but this feeling slowly diminished over the following weeks, as promises were not kept and eventually we no longer felt safe remaining at Rez.”
No pastoral care plans were ever made for my family when we left COLA and came to Church of the Resurrection for help, despite the promise that they would be. Deacon Val McIntyre forgot about multiple prayer appointments and failed to provide even basic pastoral care to my family.
“During our group zoom call in February ‘21 you said that pastoral care plans had been made for everyone, back in 2019, when [redacted] disclosed allegations against Mark. Although Deacon Val promised us that she would be creating pastoral care plans for our family, back in June of 2019, this never actually happened. No one in my family ever received a pastoral care plan from Rez, and the only personal pastoral support our family actually got (aside from Val’s presence at two or three court hearings) was a handful of one on one prayer appointments that I initiated and scheduled with Deacon Val. Some of these prayer sessions were extremely helpful and encouraging to me, but eventually I stopped initiating them because the last few were too painful. At one scheduled prayer appointment with Val I drove 40 minutes to the church office, but she had forgotten about our appointment and was not there. This was an honest mistake, and although I was hurt by it, I forgave her quickly and moved on, but opted to schedule phone prayer sessions after that. A few weeks later we met for prayer again (by phone) but Val called over 30 minutes after our scheduled time and was only able to speak for a few minutes and pray for me very briefly. I had scheduled this appointment many days in advance and was, at the time, in very desperate need of prayer and support, which made the briefness of this call especially hurtful for me. For the following scheduled prayer appointment Val did not call at all. I eventually texted her and was able to have a short prayer session by phone, an hour after our planned time. I have never initiated a prayer session with Val since, and she has not reached out to pray for me either.”
Mark had a group of church leaders supporting him at every court hearing, including Fr. Rand York, the priest at COLA. My husband and I went alone to almost every hearing. Deacon Val McIntyre failed to put hearing dates in her calendar so we had almost no clergy support.
“[redacted] and I were very grateful to have Val come personally to two or three early court hearings at the Kane County Judicial Center. Clergy support was extremely important to us at these difficult hearings, but sadly this did not continue beyond the first few. Although I sent Deacon Val the dates for multiple hearings, weeks in advance, and she promised to reserve each date so she could be there, there were multiple times where I checked in with her the week before to confirm she was able to come, only to learn that she had another commitment scheduled during the hearing time. We eventually stopped informing her about hearing dates, and attended all of the subsequent hearings with no clergy or community support at all. This led to either me or [redacted] going completely alone to many of the hearings, as we did not at the time have any friends or family who were able to watch our young baby so that we could at least attend hearings together. I cannot overstate the devastation and trauma of attending court hearings alone, while Mark had a whole support team surrounding him each time (particularly when his support was made up of our closest friends and our priest, who was no longer ministering to us).”
On 6/29/19 I talked to +Stewart Ruch & learned that he attended Mark’s first court hearing to support him & had given Mark’s family $500 of Diocese of the Upper Midwest funds - all while failing to reach out to my family. My family was offered $500 of support but it was never given to us.
“On Sat, June 29, 2019, [redacted] and I came to the Rez church office for a scheduled meeting with Deacon Val and William Beasley. We were very grateful, Stewart, when you saw us in the waiting area and pulled us into your office to speak with and pray for us. We understood and accepted your apology that you had not been in communication with us, and were grateful when you offered our family the same amount of financial support ($500) that you had given to the Riveras. We were, however, shocked and deeply hurt to hear that you had attended Mark first court hearing, and spoken to and prayed with the Riveras, the Yorks, and others in the COLA community, when we had not had any communication with you at all. The only reason I was not also at that court hearing is because I literally did not know about it. No one from COLA, Rez, or Kane County informed me that Mark had been arrested or that legal proceedings had begun, and I was left to find out on my own, days after the fact, because no one from COLA or Rez communicated any of this to my family.”
+Stewart Ruch told me that he was current on the situation with Mark because his wife, Katherine, was talking to all involved and keeping him informed. She never talked to me but was talking about my family with other Church of the Resurrection members without hearing my family's story.
“There was one especially painful and jarring thing from our time in your office. You casually mentioned that you were up to date on everything that was going on with Mark’s case because Katherine was speaking with everyone involved and keeping you informed. This was deeply hurtful to hear, specifically because Katherine had not spoken to me at any point, and still has not. This means that Katherine was talking to other people about [redacted] and my family, without ever asking for our side of the story. It was additionally concerning to realize that you had not heard the whole story (because Katherine had, at most, only heard parts of our story, second hand), although at the time I assumed Deacon Val had at least passed on the important details of what I had shared with her a few weeks previously.”
Not only was the Bishop's wife, Katherine Ruch, talking about my daughter and my family without ever speaking to us - her opinion was used by an Church of the Resurrection member to affirm narratives that my daughter, a 9 y/o sexual abuse victim, was not trustworthy or credible.
“A year and a half later, in December of 2020, Eve shared a conversation she had with Molly, back in spring of 2019, which added additional pain and concern over how Katherine had been engaging in conversation about my family. Molly had reached out to Eve to explain her reasoning for why she did not believe [redacted] to be credible. The essence of their conversation was Molly’s belief that [redacted] was an anomaly in all the research that shows children almost never lie about sexual abuse allegations. Molly’s main points were her own judgment on [redacted]’s character (based on an anecdotal experience that suggested to her that [redacted] might tell lies for attention or manipulation) and on the instability of [redacted]’s family background. Molly also used a conversation she had with Katherine to defend that she wasn’t the “only one” who thought that [redacted]’s background should call her credibility into question. While this conversation is several steps removed, so I cannot guarantee the specific language that was used, a statement from Katherine that seemed clearly quoted was “of course I would believe [redacted] if she was one of MY children.”, and then some additional conversation about how “there’s just so much you can’t know or trust about a child from that kind of home.” Not only is it disappointing that Katherine did not speak with me or ever listen to [redacted]’s story, but the nature of her conversation with Molly did not seem to be a neutral one as much as one of mutual confirmation. I obviously do not know the entirety of this conversation, but I do know that, whether Katherine meant it or not, Molly used her words as affirmation of it being reasonable and sensible to dismiss [redacted]’s story (and even to convince others to dismiss it), based on the fact that [redacted] came from a “broken home”. This is not only offensive from a spiritual/religious perspective, but is foolish and idiotic from a statistical standpoint as well.”
On 6/29/19 +Stewart Ruch told Deacon Val to connect my family with @ChicagoAnglican priest Fr. Hartsell for support; she never did this. My family also received zero financial assistance from Church of the Resurrection or Diocese of the Upper Midwest. Financial support was offered twice but never given.
“At the end of our time talking and praying together you followed us into Deacon Val’s office (where she and William [Beasley] were waiting to meet with us) and instructed Val to reach out to Fr. Keith Hartsell right away, to fill him in on our situation and get him connected with our family to support us. This was a huge relief to us, and we were extremely grateful and encouraged that we would soon be having Fr. Keith on our team, to minister to and support us. Devastatingly, this never happened. The connection with Fr. Keith was never made and because of this our family did not have the priestly and personal support that you intended for us to have. I followed up with Val about this multiple times, asking whether she had reached out to Keith, and asking her to please do so, but she still did not follow through on this. Eventually, months later, I finally asked her for Keith email, so I could reach out myself, which she quickly provided. I could not figure out what to say to Fr. Keith, so many months after the fact, and felt too uncomfortable making this request on my own behalf, so I never contacted him. Not only did we never receive help and support from Fr. Keith, we did not receive any financial help from Rez, at any point, including the $500 that you offered us, back in June of 2019 (despite directly asking Val if she could please get that to us).”
On 11/2019 I asked Deacon Val McIntyre at Church of the Resurrection if Rez could help pay for professional counseling for me. Deacon Val gave me a therapist referral and offered me counseling assistance, but later capped it at $500 & never reimbursed me even for the $250 intake session.
“In November of 2019 I reached out to Deacon Val at an extremely painful and difficult time and asked if Rez could help me get some counseling. Val said absolutely, and gave me a counseling referral right away, assuring me that Rez would be happy to help and encouraging me to schedule an appointment immediately. I did, and paid $250 out of pocket the following week to meet with the therapist Val referred me to. When I followed up with Val the day after my appointment, to ask how we could go about getting reimbursed and how we should arrange payment for future sessions, she said she could only offer me $500 towards counseling ($250 of which I had already spent). As I could not afford to pay for that therapist out of pocket I did not schedule any additional sessions, and never even received reimbursement for the $250 I paid for the first session.”
+Stewart Ruch recently told Church of the Resurrection that COLA paid for counseling for my daughter; COLA paid for her first 4 sessions, said they would pay more, and then never responded, over 2 years ago. My family has paid out-of-pocket since then with no help. Rez has paid for nothing.
My family was gossiped about and treated badly by some Church of the Resurrection members and finally left the church. We tried getting help from Deacon Val McIntyre but our story was dismissed. Church of the Resurrection protected Mark’s children more than a 9 y/o abuse victim and her family.
“Stewart, when we spoke with you briefly in late June 2019 we expressed some of the discomfort we were experiencing at Rez, and you said adamantly that we should continue attending services there. We felt like you truly cared about us being there and this was extremely touching and meaningful to us. Your words gave us the courage to attend a few additional Sunday services, before things became too painful to remain there. We experienced a very real progression of multiple families, who had recently been friendly towards us, suddenly avoiding us, walking the other way if they saw us coming, and not saying more than an awkward “hello” when we greeted them. In some cases it was a night and day difference from the previous week, and I could obviously tell that they had been told “something” about our family. I shared what we were experiencing with Deacon Val, and her response was gut-wrenching. She basically said that we were probably just imagining it, and suggested people might just be uncomfortable and were avoiding us because they didn’t know what to say. She then suggested that we should attend a different service, because our presence at Rez was painful for [redacted] and [redacted] Rivera. In the end we got the message that people at Rez didn’t want us to be there, that Val didn’t care, and that [redacted] and [redacted]’s comfort and protection was more important than ours. To be clear, we love [redacted] and [redacted], but there was nothing loving about the church going along with Mark’s lies to avoid making them uncomfortable. They were identified and prioritized as victims, even though our family, the actual primary victims in this situation, were disregarded and pushed out of the church.”
On 5/18/19 Diocese of the Upper MidwestChancellor/Lawyer, Charlie Philbrick, told COLA church leaders they did not have to report Mark's abuse. COLA leaders Fr. Rand York and Chris Lapeyre asked me to meet with them and Mark, and told me, in front of Mark, they would not be reporting.
With Mark sitting right there, Chris Lapeyre said, “We have been advised by the Diocesan Chancellor [Charlie Philbrick] that we do not need to report this to the authorities - and it sounds like you don’t need to either.” I was pressured by many at COLA not to report Mark.
Fr. Rand York, Chris Lapeyre, and the Diocese of the Upper Midwest Dean William Beasley failed to report Mark’s sexual abuse of my daughter. I reported Mark myself on 5/20/19. No one else reported it. +Stewart Ruch knew this happened, made excuses for it, and no one ever took ownership.
“I know Joanna’s email to you in January recounted Fr. Rand’s, Chris Lapeyre’s, and other mandated reporters at COLA’s failure to report [redacted]’s abuse; I would like to speak to this more. I tried telling Deacon Val, you, and Fr. William, respectively, how absolutely devastating and traumatizing this was for my family. Instead of actually listening to me, each one of you immediately made excuses, explaining that Charlie Philbrick gave that advice to the best of his understanding, that he wasn’t an expert on these matters, and that he never would have given that advice if he had known better. Why did you all seek advice from someone with no experience or expertise in this area? Charlie clearly gave advice outside of his scope of competency; why has he never apologized for that, or been held responsible? What is perhaps the most hurtful and upsetting to me is that Charlie (and presumably all of you) were looking for a way for Fr. Rand to be able to avoid reporting Mark’s abuse of [redacted]. Why was Charlie’s advice even sought out in the first place, instead of a report being immediately made by Fr. Rand, as the law requires, immediately after we came to him for help? None of you have taken any responsibility for what happened surrounding this, or made even the most basic attempt at repentance and reconciliation.”
The failure of Dean William Beasley and COLA leaders to report child sexual abuse led to +Stewart Ruch asking for an internal review of Green House, the church planting organization that planted Christ Our Light in 2013 and made Mark Rivera a catechist in 2014.
I was asked by +Stewart Ruch to participate in this review, told by him that my story mattered, and then was forgotten about. +Stewart Ruch finally told me in late Jan '21 that the review had been completed back in Nov '20. I was never allowed to see the final report.
“Stewart, you shared with me that you had identified the need for some changes in Greenhouse, and that you wanted my family to be an active part in bringing about the important institutional change and transformation that was needed. I was greatly encouraged by this, especially that you had asked for an independent review of Greenhouse, to look more deeply into all of these things. Months after our conversation with you, on April 22, 2020, I had a short phone call with Fr. Eric Snyder, who was carrying out the Greenhouse review; that was as far as our involvement went. We hoped and expected to be a real part of that process and to have an opportunity to share our story fully, so others could learn from and develop needed changes from it; instead, I was able to share the bullet points of what had happened with Fr. Snyder, and that was it. When I received your email in January 2021 (sent by Brenda) saying that the Greenhouse review had been completed the previous fall and you had received the final report, it seemed clear that the results and findings were not to be shared with us. We didn’t actually feel comforted by this - we were deeply hurt and greatly troubled by the fact that we still had no idea what the investigation uncovered, and what, if any, positive changes the diocese had taken as a result. We expected and were hoping to see institutional accountability, at least for the fact that Greenhouse child safety training left several mandated reporters thinking they did not have to report allegations of child sex abuse; instead we were omitted from the process, the findings, and any ensuing changes that took place.”
On 11/21/20 @Stewart Ruch encouraged me to get pastoral care from a church I was no longer attending. I told Deacon Val McIntyre that my family had no pastoral care but she did nothing. We were left with no help while Church of the Resurrection surrounded Mark Rivera with prayer and support.
“When you emailed me in November of 2020, after you and Katherine read Joanna’s email to [redacted], you encouraged me to reach out to Fr. Trevor [McMaken] for pastoral care and support. I need you to know that at that time we had not been attending City of Light for several months, and did not have any church or clergy support whatsoever. I told this to Deacon Val, the following day, and specifically asked her to please let you know that we were no longer attending City of Light and that we did not have any pastoral care in place. I would appreciate knowing whether that ever happened. I got the impression on our [Feb 21’] group zoom call that you thought we were being taken care of pastorally and receiving support and care from City of Light, but I did not have an opportunity to clarify this with you.
When we began visiting City of Light in fall of 2019, I specifically told Deacon Val that our family wished to continue receiving pastoral care from Rez, because it was the only place we had established relationships with the clergy, and because it was ultimately where we really wanted to be attending. Shortly after we began attending City of Light Deacon Val communicated that it would be best for us to receive our pastoral care from Fr. Trevor instead of Rez moving forward. This was extremely hard on our family, as [redacted] and I had no established relationships with anyone at this new church and did not feel comfortable reaching out and asking for the care we really needed. We connected and prayed with Fr. Trevor early on, and felt very loved and supported by him, but all of this left us feeling completely abandoned by Rez, solidifying the impression that we were not wanted or welcomed there.”
Deacon Val McIntyre’s pastoral negligence deeply harmed my family. She failed to provide us with proper pastoral care, withheld promised financial assistance, and contributed to my family being pushed out of Church of the Resurrection when we desperately needed support and community.
“I realize that I have implicated Deacon Val in many specific and serious ways in this letter, I believe that she is completely unaware of the many ways that she deeply harmed my family, and I do not harbor resentment towards her for what has happened. Her actions were nonetheless grossly negligent at times, and the consequences to our family have been devastating. I do not assume I’ll intent on Val’s part, but it has nonetheless been impossible not to internalize the message that this sent to me. Val’s collective negligence during our time at Resurrection communicated that I was not at all important to her, that my voice didn’t matter, and that I was not even important enough to make it into her schedule. Since Val was the only church leader we were offered any help from, there was no support at Rez to counteract this message.”
Others at Church of the Resurrection harmed us deeply. Some members gossiped about us, leaders failed to listen or take meaningful action, and my daughter was not believed or supported. I lost many friends and my reputation was destroyed. Church of the Resurrection was not a safe place for victims.
“I love Val and it grieves me deeply to speak up on these things, but it also wasn’t just Val’s actions and failures that hurt my family. Numerous Rez families chose to listen to gossip and avoid us, while others actively spread rumors and lies about [redacted] and our family. This led to us being ostracized and deeply hurt, while attending your church, and to me receiving a long email from a Rez congregant, accusing me of persecuting Mark. Since the church never took a stand or spoke up in support of [redacted], this was allowed to go unchecked, ultimately driving my family out of Rez, and has now been growing and spreading for almost two years. The damage to my family’s reputation is far reaching. Multiple church leaders, in addition to Val and Meghan, also failed to listen and failed to take meaningful action when presented with stories of multiple victims and likely victims. It should not have taken Joanna and [redacted]’s disclosures to get people to believe [redacted]’s story and to acknowledge that Mark is dangerous - there was ample evidence and a clear pattern of predatory and abusive behavior presented to the church in June of 2019. I believe all of you meant well, but the collective treatment we received from the church leadership at COLA and Resurrection has legitimately traumatized my family.”
I asked +Stewart Ruch many questions that he has never answered: Why did no one apologize that Diocese of the Upper Midwest and Green House leaders refused to report my daughter’s sexual abuse? Why did no one listen when I told Church of the Resurrection leaders there were more victims?
“I want to close by asking you a few questions, which I hope you will in turn prayerfully consider for yourself.
Why is it that in May 2019, when my family came to Rez for help, no one listened or took me seriously? I shared stories of seven different victims and likely victims, and no one did anything.
Why did I not have a voice in the church I have attended since I was eight years old?
Why didn’t the church believe [redacted], and take a public stand to support her?
Why did no one take ownership for the diocesan chancellor [Charlie Philbrick]’s devastating advice to Fr. Rand and Chris [Lapeyre], and why did no one apologize to my family for it?
Why did no one in Rez leadership identify that having a sexual predator at large in the church was something the entire congregation deserved to know about, so they could take steps to protect their children or find out if their children had been victimized?
Why was my family pushed out of Rez, while the Rivera family was offered pastoral care, priestly support, personal prayer with you and Katherine, and financial support, on multiple occasions, by the church? “
On 12/2020 I asked a friend to help arrange a meeting with Katherine Ruch so I could discuss, in-person, the painful things my family experienced at Church of the Resurrection - Katherine never responded.
I also told +Stewart Ruch that I am heartbroken over his and the church’s inaction.
“I reached out to Rachel [redacted] back in December 2020, to ask if she and Katherine would be willing to sit down with me to hear my family’s story, because I was so desperate to find some closure and resolution from what my family had been through at Rez. I never heard back from her about whether Katherine was open to this, but my desire remains to find peace and freedom from the pain and devastation that we have been carrying for almost two years now. I deeply desire to see my childhood church repent and do the right thing, to stand up publicaly in support of abuse victims, and to become a safe place where victims are believed and abusers are not protected or harbored. I continue to be heartbroken by the painful inaction I have seen, by all of you.
Cherin”
Advocates and supporters - I need your help! I am calling publicly for the immediate removal of Bishop Stewart Ruch and Diocesan Chancellor Charlie Philbrick from the committee that is overseeing the Diocese of the Upper Midwest investigation.
Both +Stewart Ruch and Diocesan Chancellor Charlie Philbrick are implicated in the mishandling of my daughter's sexual abuse allegations and have a vested interest in keeping the truth covered up. Neither should be allowed to have any say in the investigative process.
Others on the investigation committee, Lay Canon Brenda Dumper and Dean Eirik Olsen, are decades-long close friends with Mark Rivera and his family. Mark's victims and our advocates are not okay with this.
The oversight of this investigation should be immediately turned over to a new team made up entirely of people that have no relationship with Mark Rivera and who are not under Bishop Stewart Ruch's authority in any way. Nothing about this committee is “independent”.
My friend, Rachel, mentioned in the attached tweet has always believed and supported my daughter and me. I have just learned from Rachel that Katherine did express openness to meeting with me when I reached out in December.
At that time Rachel was very sick with COVID and although she forwarded my message to Katherine, she was not able to help more at that time. Once she had recovered some she followed up with me and offered to facilitate a meeting with Katherine.
As I was already speaking with the Diocese I told Rachel it would be better to wait until Diocesan communication resolved before trying to meet with Katherine. Communication with the Diocese went downhill quickly so I never followed up, and Katherine never reached out to me.
I would also like to add that Bp. Stewart and Katherine offered to meet in person after reading my email from 5/1/21. I declined this offer because I did not feel safe meeting together without first seeing them take ownership and accountability for what had happened.
End of Twitter Thread.