Date: March 20, 2021
From: Joanna Rudenborg
To: Rand York
Cc: [Rand York’s wife], Stewart Ruch, Eirik Olsen, Steve Williamson, Anne Kessler, Helen Keuning, Brenda Dumper, Cherin Marie, Eve Ahrens, [redacted advocate]

Dear Rand,

I am cc’ing the rest of Stewart’s team and my team on my response, since this concerns all of us.

Yes, I am hurt by your long silence, as my January email explained. I am hurt that you ignored my December and January emails until March, while you wished my rapist a happy birthday on Facebook and went to his house to serve him Communion. I am hurt that your overdue email sounds like you were pressured to write it, and contains almost nothing of substance. I am hurt that you say it is difficult to know how to respond to me adequately, yet you refuse to do the basic things I've already told you would contribute to an adequate response. I am hurt that you continue to ignore Cherin and [redacted], almost two years after you abandoned them and your church shunned them for daring to speak the truth about Mark. I am hurt that you have chosen my rapist over the women and children he violated, as if our ongoing suffering at his hands is not your concern or your responsibility. 

[Redacted] tells me a diocesan lawyer has advised you not to speak about the Mark situation, so I assume your “cannot comment”s refer to that. As I told Stewart’s team, Cherin and I have not set out to bring a civil suit against the diocese. We want truth, justice, repentance, protection for the vulnerable, and for Mark’s enablers to stop enabling him. We continue to trust that we can achieve these goals in cooperation with the diocese and without lawyers. Meanwhile, your decision to take a lawyer’s advice does not constitute an actual restriction on your speech. The choice not to speak to certain things, with me, is yours alone, and what you have chosen not to say makes it clear where you stand.

Prayer by itself will not bring healing and peace. Healing and peace will come as a result of responsible adults taking deliberate, straightforward steps to care for sheep and banish wolves.

I am glad you read Rachael’s book. I hope you allow her words to sink deeply into your heart. 

Your goddaughter,
Joanna