Date: February 11, 2021
From: Joanna Rudenborg
To: Anne Kessler
Cc: Stewart Ruch, Brenda Dumper, Eve Ahrens, Cherin Marie, [redacted advocate]  

Hi Anne,

It was so nice to meet you yesterday! Thank you for taking on this role and for doing all the research you’ve done so far. I particularly appreciate how you heard and understood our concerns about potential investigators and their focus.

Below is the email from Amy Stier at GRACE, replying to my initial inquiry (I don’t think the disclaimer at the end of her email applies, since there’s nothing confidential in it). I talked to her during the Friday time slot she offered, so almost a week ago. Like I said yesterday, I was very impressed with her, and GRACE, based on the phone call. She’s worked on investigations there for 9 years, and was clearly very experienced, and gave solid, nuanced, promising answers to all my questions.

However, it definitely worries me that you never heard back from them, and also that Amy hasn’t responded to my follow-up emails, since it’s now been four business days. I had written her to ask about workarounds to the cases-in-the-legal-system situation, and my proposals were a bit complicated, but I would expect she would have responded with something by now, if just to say she’s still looking into it. So I’m concerned, but not entirely ready to give up hope, yet, that they may be a good resource (for an investigation or for other services). 

During our conversation, Amy encouraged me to have you call her, directly. Her number is below, and you can give her my name and say she and I talked last Friday about a church investigation that involves some cases that are in ongoing involvement with the legal system, and she should remember me. She doesn’t know any individuals' names (besides mine) / the denomination / diocese / church / exact location (I think I said “Chicago suburbs”).

Other immediate things from our Zoom call: 

Could you send the website for the other independent investigation organization you are in touch with? Annemarie [Eve] and I each googled “Equitask” and “Equitas,” which is how we heard it, and couldn’t find them. We’d also be interested in whatever you’ve learned from them so far, to compare it with what Amy told me about GRACE. And could you send us your contact there, so one of us could talk with him, as well?

Would you also send us the link to the part of the CTI website explaining their curriculum, and send along the curriculum itself, if it’s in PDF form?

And of course we’re interested to hear what you find out from your Wheaton College contact.

Let me know if there’s other information we have, that I may not be thinking of, that would be helpful to you. I will type up notes from my conversation with Amy, to send to you, if you like, so you can just verify all that information with her, to save time, and go on to ask your own questions.

Thank you so much! We look forward to collaborating with you on this.

Joanna