From: Alec Smith
Date: Mon, Apr 25, 2022
Subject: A Request & An Invitation To A Conversation
To: Helen Keuning

Dear Helen,

Greetings in the Lord and a blessed Easter-tide to you! I hope you and your family are well.

I saw your recent post on acnatoo.org and wanted to write with a brief request as well as a hopeful invitation to conversation.

First, I would ask you to consider redacting the specific portion of Brenda's January 22, 2021 email introducing the members of the Diocesan Response Team [remainder of paragraph redacted for privacy].

Second, I wanted to extend an invitation to have a conversation about some of the questions and concerns you raised in your post. If you are open to this, I would suggest that your husband and my wife join us on a Zoom call to provide a measure of objectivity for both of us. Such a conversation would hopefully be an opportunity for me to answer any questions you may have, and for me to pass along helpful details that you may not have considered. For example, your quotation of what Bp Stewart said at the July 4, 2021 FAQ is materially contradicted by both an audio recording of that meeting and the actual, complete transcript. I share this discrepancy, Helen, not in a competitive posture, or to play "gotcha," but because I know you to be person of great integrity and because I know you would not wish your public statements to misrepresent demonstrable facts.

Lastly, Helen, I hope that you can receive this message in the friendly, collaborative spirit with which it is intended. I have great respect for you and highly valued your opinion on the Diocesan Response Team. I am genuinely sorry that some real misunderstandings seem to have grown between us. I look forward to hearing from you.

God be with you,

Alec

From: [redacted] Keuning
Date: Tues, Apr 26, 2022
Subject: Re: A Request & An Invitation To A Conversation
To: Alec Smith

Good evening, Alec. This is [redacted] Keuning, Helen's husband. I am helping Helen field some of her communications this week.

I wanted to let you know that Helen acted on your first request. That part of Helen's first post has been changed.

Thank you for the feedback,

[redacted]

From: Alec Smith
Date: Tues, Apr 26, 2022
Subject: Re: A Request & An Invitation To A Conversation
To: [redacted] Keuning

Thank you, [redacted]. And thank you, Helen, for honoring my request regarding the redaction.

Do I understand correctly from the limited nature of your reply that you prefer not to engage in further conversation, including as to the factual inaccuracy in what you have cited as a "transcript" of the July 4, 2021 FAQ?

Best,

Alec

From: [redacted] Keuning
Date: Weds, Apr 27, 2022
Subject: Re: A Request & An Invitation To A Conversation
To: Alec Smith

Hi Alec,

The limited answer was an attempt to prioritize, and that request seemed the most urgent. Now to your other two points.

Thank you for the offer, but we are not interested in a meeting right now.

As to correcting inaccuracies of fact, Helen would be happy to address those. The best way to help that along would be for you to provide specifics around what you think is inaccurate, along with the documentary sources that support your corrections (for instance, the audio you mention below).

Thank you,

[redacted]

From: Alec Smith
Date: Weds, Apr 27, 2022
Subject: Re: A Request & An Invitation To A Conversation
To: [redacted] Keuning

Good evening [redacted] and Helen,

Thank you for this explanation. I receive your indication that you are not interested in a meeting right now.

The specific factual inaccuracy I have referenced surrounds the following exchange between Dawn Jewell and Bishop Stewart at the July 4, 2021 FAQ session:

This screen capture is taken from the script that Dawn and Bishop Stewart used to conduct the FAQ. The script was provided to me by Dawn. I have highlighted the relevant discrepancy.

The audio recording of the FAQ session also reflects that Bishop Stewart stated: "The diocese learned that the parents . . . ." I am not free to disseminate the audio recording, but I would be happy to play it for you if you would like to call me, or via a Zoom call for that sole purpose. My number is: [redacted]

[redacted] and Helen, I hope you can see that this factual inaccuracy goes the core of Helen's assertion that Bishop Stewart, and by extension the Diocese, "lied" about who reported the initial abuse of Cherin's daughter.

Thank you for considering this.

Best,

Alec

From: [redacted] Keuning
Date: Weds, Apr 27, 2022
Subject: Re: A Request & An Invitation To A Conversation
To: Alec Smith

If you have the audio, great! Send it on! Or if your don't want to share it with us, post it publicly as a refutation of Helen's facts. Lacking that, and based on what Helen has seen and knows, even outside of the details of that meeting, she stands by what she wrote.

And speaking for myself and not for Helen here, I hope you can see that a snippet of a recording held up to a long distance phone line or the garbled transmission of a Zoom call is liable to hide as much as it reveals, and hardly rises to the level of documentary evidence suitable for refutation.

So, as I said before, if you have documentary sources to correct factual errors, send them. If not, what is written remains as it is.

- [redacted]

From: Alec Smith
Date: Fri, Apr 29, 2022
Subject: Re: A Request & An Invitation To A Conversation
To: [redacted] Keuning

Good morning [redacted] and Helen,

Thank you for your response, [redacted].

Unfortunately, the decision about releasing the audio file itself was and is not mine to make. I was in the process of exploring options to get the audio to you in a satisfactory form when I realized that Helen's initially-posted "transcript" of the FAQ must itself have been based on an audio recording because it included verbal stumbles such as "um" and "(inaudible)."

Helen, I returned to your first post this morning and discovered that it has now been altered to remove the July 4, 2021 FAQ "transcript" and to make associated changes to the "LIES:" section so as to present a more generalized assertion that the "UMD and its leaders" promulgated a false narrative about the initial reporting of Cherin's daughter's abuse. I can only assume that you have now listened to the audio and realized that what you posted as a "transcript" misrepresented a material fact.

These changes were made without acknowledgement.

[redacted] and Helen, I respect your previous indication that you are not interested in further conversation. I do not plan to communicate with you further about these matters.

However, I will leave you, Helen, with this question: Do you feel a responsibility to publicly acknowledge that you falsely accused Bishop Stewart of lying in the FAQ session?

God bless you both,

Alec